Theory:Doctor Who television discontinuity and plot holes/Human Nature


 * Didn't the Seventh Doctor have a remarkably similar adventure in the book, "Human Nature"? Bit unlikely that it would happen again so similarly.
 * This wikia doesn't consider everything equally canon, such as, if a book, audio story, comic, ect. contradicts a TV episode based off of itself, the book, audio story, comic, ect. won't be considered canon. So the book this episode was based on is not canon.
 * That's not true. See T:CANON for the actual policy regarding what is and is not considered canon on this wikia. Also, T:VALID explicitly says, in bold text, that "a story cannot be ruled invalid simply because it is narratively discontinuous with other stories."


 * John Smith's statement that his adventures with Martha take place in 2007 contradict the timeline.
 * Incorrect, they are time travellers. They were in 2007, a year in Martha's relative past, when the Family caught up to them. Martha's myspace blog states that they were attending the Eurovision concert of that year.
 * A related point is that is that it is "John Smith" and not the Doctor who is talking, and that he is relating a dream of his, not necessarily the literal truth experienced by the Doctor.


 * Since the Family would have died out pretty soon, why didn't the Doctor and Martha hide out in the TARDIS, in the Time Vortex, both of which would be practically impenetrable, even for the Family, until it was over?
 * It is mentioned during John Smith's dream that the Family had stolen Time Agent technology, specifically, a Vortex Manipulator. Obviously they'd be able to follow them wherever they went and presumably infiltrate the TARDIS.
 * If they could break into the TARDIS why didn't they break in later on inside the episode, Family of Blood?
 * They have no reason to break into the TARDIS, so why would they?


 * How did the Family manage to time-travel when their actual form prior to possessing human was merely balls of gas?
 * Maybe the Family possessed Time Agents when they stole the vortex manipulators from them.


 * John Smith said that he learned how to draw on Gallifrey. The Doctor's conversation with Romana II in City of Death suggests that all drawings on Gallifrey are done by computers.
 * Actually it's said that painting is done on computer not all drawings.
 * Also, John Smith is just guessing he learnt to draw there, as it is the place he grew up.


 * How did Martha get John Smith out of the TARDIS without him noticing where he was?
 * A shock most likely occurred when the Doctor made himself Human thus causing him to faint and giving Martha the time to get him out of the TARDIS.


 * When Martha enters the TARDIS. In the long shot you can see inside the TARDIS, the room inside is lit up but when Marth is inside the walls are dark.
 * The TARDIS lights could flash on for a couple seconds every now and again, and this could be one of those times.
 * That's a production error, not a plot discontinuity.


 * Why does Martha allow John Smith to just leave the watch lying around? Why not keep it herself or, better yet, leave it in the TARDIS until it's safe to use.
 * Maybe the watch had to stay by the doctor, for it to work correctly.


 * When did the Doctor have time to record the instruction video? He wears the same Shirt and Tie as he does in the episode meaning it must have been then (Unless it's extreme coincidence), unless it was a telepathic message when he was in the chameleon arch.
 * He recorded it right before he became human. We just didn't see it, because we would see the recording later on
 * But how did he know he would have to? In the flashback he came up with the plan to use the Chameleon Arch on the spot. And it would seem unlikely every time he gets a new companion to record new messages with their name, I was thinking maybe it's a psychic message that was left when he used the arch.
 * The TARDIS scenes are shown fragmentarily, some time is implied to have passed off-screen, even a short amount. He could record this after explaining to Marta was a chameleon arch is and before putting it on. And he could do it very quickly, as we know from several episodes (e.g. The Power of Three) that sometimes he can do things crazily fast.