Theory:Doctor Who television discontinuity and plot holes/The Space Pirates


 * Zoe does not know how candles work. However, in The Mind Robber she recognised them without hesitation.
 * One rumour (and DWM) says that The Mind Robber takes place in a dream.
 * You can recognize many things without knowing how they work.


 * In the cliffhanger to episode three the screams of the Doctor and the others can be heard for ages; in the next episode they've only fallen a few feet.
 * An echo effect due to the cave system.


 * There are noisy explosions in space, but no stars.
 * The number of stars visible would depend on how wide an area one is looking at, and the relative position in space. The "noise" from the explosions is essentially a special effect, equivalent to the background music, or to the noise one would hear if one were standing at the point of the explosion.


 * In Episode 3 Major Warne says that his sonar has been knocked out after Clancey's attack. However, it is an incredible suggestion that a spacecraft would have sonar, as sound cannot travel through the vacuum of space.
 * "Sonar" could be a colloquial term (or military jargon) for, say, a low-frequency microwave navigation and ranging system that bears some similarities to thee active sound navigation and ranging used by ancient submarines. Just like their "Marines" don't actually make amphibious assaults from the sea, their "Ships" aren't buoyant sea vessels with full-rigged sails, etc.


 * When the Doctor fiddles with the magnetic field on their pod in the group of 8, shortly after the explosion of Alpha 4, he attempts to attract their pod to the nearest one by increasing the strength of the field. Zoe points out that since he doesn't know the charge of their pod or the next one, he may very well repel the pods, rather than attracting them. Sure enough, the pods are repelled, but when we see it occur, their pod does not move laterally away from either of the two pods next to them, nor are either of the two closest pods affected in in anyway. The Doctor's pod zips through the middle of the ring of pods and off into space.
 * Budget restaints.