Theory:Doctor Who television discontinuity and plot holes/The Eleventh Hour


 * The selection of clips displayed by the Atraxi vessel includes recognizable footage from events the careful viewer knows didn't happen on Earth, or at least didn't happen on the Earth of the time in which the story is set. The opening Cybermen clip is recognizably from the moment they crashed Pete Tyler's party in Rise of the Cybermen. Likewise, there's a shot of the Vashta Nerada-controlled skeletons from The Library. There are also glimpses of Hath, who might have come to the "standard universe" Earth at some point, but not as early as the 21st century. It is unclear why the Atraxi are seeing these particular images. Perhaps it suggests they have some ability to see across parallel timelines, or indeed have some ability to look into the future. Perhaps it indicates that they have accessed UNIT computers, which might have included formal reports by Martha Jones, or Torchwood computers, which would have included information on the Cybus-created Cybermen. The inclusion of the specific image of the Vashta Narada perhaps indicates they've scanned The Library computer at some point — though, again, this would imply they have some time-travelling capabilities. It is also possible they were somehow scanning the Doctor's memories.
 * The Doctor did state that the Atraxi followed him and were "only late because he was" which suggests that the Atraxi do have at least some level of time-traveling capabilities.
 * What about the Reapers? Because they where in the alternate time line weren't they?As the Atraxi are part of the Alliance at the end of the season, they may have access to intelligence on the Doctor from other sources.


 * This is evidence for them reading the Doctor's mind or UNIT or Torchwood files, rather than scanning history (unless they have a time-space-alternate-timeline-and-parallel-universe visualiser...), but no more so than Pete's party, already mentioned in the original question.
 * It's also been established that the Atraxi is psychic because it was able to broadcast a message onto the Doctor's psychic paper. So it probably read the Doctor's mind for the images.


 * The prominent shot of the London Eye and the Millennium Dome in the opening sequence creates a bit of a narrative problem in dating the episode.
 * The Tardis could have travelled back in time between the 1st scene and crashing into Amy's garden.
 * The date is unknown on when The Doctor was hanging out the TARDIS. It could have been 2005 when The Doctor last left off from. If it was then The Doctor could have travelled back to 1996 because the TARDIS could have ended up anywhere after it was damaged. Although it seems unlikely the first scene is set in 2005 as it was snowing at the end of The End of Time but now it is not and there appears to be no snow on the ground. Plus, Big Ben shows it is 9:10pm but in the previous episode Rose states it has passed midnight.
 * There's precedent in the show that time-travel-capable devices set adrift will "fall through time" (and usually backward)--think of both Dalek and Victory of the Daleks.
 * Of course you'd expect that if he were travelling in a straight line (or a curve or whatever) from 2005 London to 1996 Leadworth the sky would be sort of greyish (from flashing back and forth between day and night faster than we can see) and the stars would all be streaks rather than points and so on.
 * Maybe it wasn't a straight line, but more of a zigzag path--while moving in a straight line spatially, he was mostly moving through time normally, but suddenly "fell" in time a little bit here and a little bit there (like a plane in turbulence), and it just added up to about 9 years.
 * Or maybe when the TARDIS goes berserk while zooming and spinning out of control it travels years into the past
 * May I suggest something: you can clearly see that the TARDIS vanishes mysteriously just before the opening titles. This would sort of mean it did go back to '96, as the visual evidence confirms it. Or if that wasn't good enough, I believe the Moff himself said it did that---either in a DWM issue or the DVD commentary. Styracosaurus Rider 23:52, November 26, 2010 (UTC)
 * May I suggest something: you can clearly see that the TARDIS vanishes mysteriously just before the opening titles. This would sort of mean it did go back to '96, as the visual evidence confirms it. Or if that wasn't good enough, I believe the Moff himself said it did that---either in a DWM issue or the DVD commentary. Styracosaurus Rider 23:52, November 26, 2010 (UTC)


 * In Amy's house, how does the Doctor know that Prisoner Zero is a multiform when he has not seen it?
 * The Atraxi may have sent more information to the Doctor's psychic paper. Or maybe he recognised the glow underneath the door?


 * The Atraxi looks into Amelia's room which is bright compared the prison, shouldn't it's pupil dilate?
 * Maybe they have other systems in their eyes/bodies for adjusting to different lightings, maybe their pupils only dilate for extreme changes. Or perhaps, as they are not human, what looks like pupils to us, may serve a completely different function for them.
 * Faced with bright light, the pupil should contract, not dilate.


 * In the opening scene, the TARDIS windows are clearly intact, despite having been blown out at the end of DW: The End of Time
 * Maybe they are made of some kind of self-regenerating material in which case they could have fixed themselves.
 * They're not real windows, they're a disguise. The chameleon circuit is fixed on police box, not police box with broken windows, so the next time it materialised the windows were back.


 * If Amy has spent most of her life talking about the doctor and the TARDIS, etc., then why hasn't she come to the attention of Torchwood?
 * Who says she hasn't? Lots of people know about the Doctor—the conspiracy theorist from Rose, the LINDA club, etc.—but apart from a notation in the Torchwood files they seem to be left alone.
 * She didn't remember the Daleks or why there were no ducks in the duck pond. There is a very good chance the same reason applies to Torchwood.


 * In the rooftop scene in the hospital, when they step onto the roof the doctor is carrying/wearing various ties, but he has neither the red bow tie or tweed jacket which he is wearing at the end of the scene with him.
 * Rory is carrying a tweed jacket underneath a red one. However at the end of that scene Rory is still carrying a tweed jacket (although the doctor has one on) and the red jacket has disappeared


 * The Doctor has to use a really complicated method to point the Atraxi to Prisoner Zero. But after Prisoner Zero is beamed away, he is suddenly capable of phoning them and complaining about their intent to burn Earth by invoking the Shadow Proclamation. Why didn't he do that in the first place?
 * Well, maybe he had to wait for them to get close to get their exact signal. Once he got them in close he was able to simply send the photos using the phone. Actually to think about it the Atraxi tracked down the phone he had so maybe it's like putting your phone number out there for someone to get but you can't contact them until they contact you with their number.
 * Perhaps The Doctor forgot about being able to phone the Atraxi because he was in the middle of regenerating, or maybe the situation was so intense he couldn't think straight but once it was over he could think clearly and he remembered the Atraxi's number.

The Doctor asks Amy how long it has been since Amelia has lived there. Amy replies six months. Then when the Doctor tastes the shed he says he's 12 years late. Surely he would know that it could have been 11 years and six months until Amelia moved, why suddenly accuse Amy of lying to him?
 * He knows he's 12 years late. He's not necessarily sure that Amy's lying to him. In fact, he's a bit confused, and trying to work things out in his mind. And, as we know from later episodes, 11 can be pretty rude while he's doing that. It's only after he says, "This matters. This is important. Why did you say six months?" and she replies, "Why did you say five minutes?" that he figures it out.


 * When the TARDIS first appears on screen in this episode, the lamp on top (materialisation beacon) does not flash. But when we see the first wide-shot with the Doctor clinging to the TARDIS the lamp does flash.
 * There is sufficient time in between the shots for the light to begin flashing and is likely to not have been working properly as the TARDIS was broken at the time.


 * After the TARDIS flies over the Big Ben, the door sign is on the right door (not the left one).
 * No it isn't.


 * At the end of The End of Time the Eleventh Doctor is wearing the Tenth Doctor's suit jacket, and at the start of The Eleventh Hour he is not. Why?

It is possible this disguise was the wife and kids (or some other relations) of a coma patient. The doctor did say that whatever a coma patient dreamed of Prisoner Zero takes on that form.
 * Because a large amount of time may have passed, and with fire everywhere, it would be hot.
 * When the TARDIS is flying in London the London eye is seen even though it wasn't constructed until 1998. That scene was set in 1996
 * > That scene could have been set any time. There is no proof to say it was set in 1996. It could have been 2005 for all we know.
 * Rory has spent months photographing the coma patients walking the streets, he has pictures of all of them, which The Doctor uses to send to the Atraxi. Why then doesn't he notice that the woman with the two children talking to them when they return to the hospital is in fact a coma patient?
 * Rory has spent months photographing the coma patients walking the streets, he has pictures of all of them, which The Doctor uses to send to the Atraxi. Why then doesn't he notice that the woman with the two children talking to them when they return to the hospital is in fact a coma patient?
 * Rory has spent months photographing the coma patients walking the streets, he has pictures of all of them, which The Doctor uses to send to the Atraxi. Why then doesn't he notice that the woman with the two children talking to them when they return to the hospital is in fact a coma patient?