Theory:Doctor Who television discontinuity and plot holes/The Mysterious Planet


 * The Doctor claims that Earth was moved "a couple" of light years from its original position. Two light years is less than half the distance to the nearest extra-solar star, Alpha Centauri - a tiny distance in cosmological terms.
 * Additionally, the Valeyard claimed Ravolox was in the Stellian galaxy. A move of two light years would still be well within the Milky Way (Mutter's Spiral).
 * Often, people use terms like "a couple" loosely. It could have been many light years, and the Doctor was simply speaking glibly. He's been known to say things like "a couple of years" when referring to centuries.''


 * Why conduct the trial on a space station, instead of on Gallifrey?
 * They were involved in a cover up at this point.''


 * The Third cliffhanger and it's reprise makes little sense. The person who is revealed to have been shot instead of the Doctor is in plain view right behind them - but the Doctor and Peri were walking that way just a few seconds before - surely they would have spotted him. Also, wouldn't it be polite for the person to shout "Look out" or "get down" to alert the Doctor and Peri to the danger behind them.
 * The person who was shot was not their ally, and it is possible that he was following them in an attempt to kill them.''


 * Why didn't Glitz and Dibber blow the door? They instead just ran into Peri, Merdeen and Balazar.
 * Instead of clumsily (and suspiciously) bleeping over Glitz and Dibber's dialogue while they are discussing the Sleepers and the Matrix, why doesn't the Valeyard construct his presentation to omit those scenes altogether?
 * He could simply switch into a different character's point of view (which seems to be a legal form of editing in Time Lord Matrix-based trials), or - since he obviously has no qualms about fabricating huge chunks of his second presentation - make it appear as if Glitz and Dibber are talking about something else entirely.
 * Given how badly the Valeyard flubs almost everything about the trial, it's possible that he was either subconsciously sabotaging himself (possibly a different attempt by the Doctor's future incarnations to stop the Valeyard, in case killing off the 6th fails, or after it succeeded but too late to help), or being manipulated into doing so by someone else (e.g., the Master hoping to force the desperate showdown that follows the failed trial and seize power in the ensuing confusion--which he in fact nearly succeeds at--or just trying to bring down the Valeyard--which he does succeed at).