Theory:Doctor Who television discontinuity and plot holes/The Angels Take Manhattan


 * If the angels were strong enough to move that magnetic lock (which is described as being imposible) in The Time of Angels (TV story), then why can't they break steel chains or locks on a door?
 * Those Angels had the power of the Byzantium's reactor, and possibly some leakage from the infinite power of the crack.
 * Also, the Angels _did_ break in once the lights were out. Presumably the fact that they hadn't done so before didn't mean they couldn't, just that they were waiting for something.
 * No they only get in because they leave the door open.


 * Okay how do they take the form of all the statues in New York? Particularly the Statue of Liberty?
 * Liberty is a separate issue (and the very next one). Beyond that, why should it be any problem for them to take the form of all the statues in New York, given that they had no problem taking the form of all the statues in the graveyard in Alfava Metraxis? If the issue is just "where did they get enough Angels from", clearly they were either gathering from around the universe or reproducing (or both), to share in the best food source they'd ever found.


 * Its stated that when they are seen, they transform into stone, in all there previous apperances, but the Statue of Liberty is made of metal.
 * So if they don't have to replace stone statues, why do they usually do so? There are all kinds of possibilities. Maybe a quantum-locked Angel is less noticeable of a change from stone than copper. Maybe they feel uncomfortable being metal because metal statues are less durable, so they only do it when they're really secure about being in control. Maybe metal just doesn't feel as comfortable. When there are so many obvious possibilities, and it really doesn't matter which one is true, there's no reason for the episode to explain it.


 * What happened Grayl's guards?
 * Presumably they either ran away or got zapped by the Angels.


 * Despite knocking Grayl over and destroying a china pot, the landing of the Tardis has no effect on anything else in the room, even the closer pieces.
 * The TARDIS _does_ have an effect on everything else. In the closeup shot when the vase falls, we see shards of paper flying around, and various other things rocking on the table. In the long shot, we see even more paper flying around and shelves rocking. In the two shots of the aftermath, the floor is covered with shards and scattered pieces of paper. Obviously it did have other effects.


 * If the Doctor can waste regeneration energy and heal others, why has he never done this before? Like with Jenny?
 * Maybe he can only do it with Time Lords? Normally, that would be a useless ability because the other Time Lord could just heal themselves (which is exactly what Jenny did, although the Doctor didn't know). But River used up her regenerations to save the Doctor.
 * The word "waste" is the key here. If he did this all the time, he probably wouldn't have even made it to his 11th life. He clearly wasn't thinking straight when he did it this time, and River chastised him for it.


 * How does no one notice the Statue of Liberty walking around?
 * How do we know they don't? That timeline could be very different from the main one that existed before the Angels took Manhattan or again after the paradox wiped it out.
 * We don't see anybody reacting because we just don't see anybody. Of course you expect the streets of New York to be full of people 24 hours/day, but if you watch the episode, the streets we see at night are all empty.
 * Actually, the streets aren't empty. When Rory is on the ledge, there are several overhead shots that show cars driving around on the road in front of Winter Quay, which would presumably mean that there would have been people near it when the Statue of Liberty was attempted to walk there. Let it also be noted that none of the cars were driving as if to escape from anything, even though it would have been quite easy to see that the Statue of Liberty was about 50 feet away from them.
 * Earlier Grayls said that no one had noticed the statues moving.


 * For several minutes, no one is watching the Statue of Liberty angel, so why doesn't it get them?
 * For almost all of that time, someone _is_ watching Liberty. Amy is watching while Rory climbs onto the ledge. Rory is watching while he's standing on the ledge alone, except for a couple seconds when he looks into Amy's eyes. There's another few seconds when Rory and Amy are looking at each other on the ledge and the Doctor and River are looking at them, before River turns around. And probably a few more seconds while Amy and Rory are falling (but at that point it's too late to matter). That's it; nothing near several minutes anywhere.


 * why can't the Doctor travel back in time, not in New York, but in another area, and visit the Ponds? Would that still affect this whole paradox?
 * Unless something changes in a later story, the Doctor believes that seeing the gravestone and reading the last page makes it a fixed point for him. He makes mention earlier in the episode that "once we read it, it's written in stone". So, having read what seems to be their last ever message to him (and also having read something that is literally "written in stone" on the gravestone) he believes he now knows too much to interact with that timeline. So it may not be that he can't visit them, it's more like he simply won't visit them, in fear of what would happen.


 * Was the Angel Liberty the real Statue Of Liberty? If she was, are we supposed to assume that nobody in New York ever noticed she went walkabout or that her plinth was empty? Okay, it was night time, but even the script as at pains to point out that this is the city that never sleeps. And if the Statue Of Liberty is (or was) an Angel, when did it replace the real one or was the Statue Of Liberty always an Angel? Presumably the paradox that wiped out the battery farm at Winter Quay got rid of the Liberty Angel too, so are we to assume the Statue Of Liberty ever since is, in fact, a giant dead Angel? And how did it get back to its plinth?
 * And what’s all this stuff about the Doctor not being able to visit a “fixed time”? That’s a new bit of mythbabble that’s been handily introduced. And what was River doing in 1938? You get the distinct feeling that it all added up in Moffat’s head – and if you challenged him, he’d have all the answers – but somehow something (a few somethings) got lost in translation.
 * How was the book was written and how did it make its way into the Doctor’s pocket?