Theory:Doctor Who television discontinuity and plot holes/The Age of Steel


 * When the Doctor disabled the Emotional Inhibitor, why did this not affect the newly-converted John Lumic?
 * It did. He pursued the Doctor and his companions with rage and frustration. He might very well have seen himself as he had become, but due to the power of his mind, as he was a genius, he might have been able to overcome his pain in order to vent his revenge on the Doctor.


 * Lumic planned to be converted eventually. He wished to become like that.


 * Whose to say his wasn't the only suit without an emotional inhibitor. After all, he was already insane, and the only person who actually did want to be converted. So maybe he didn't need an inhibitor.


 * If only the brain is needed in a Cybersuit, why do the Cyber-Converters appear to chop up body parts?
 * It is not known what it chops up. It could easily just be cutting the brain out and creating places for it to be linked up.


 * The machines also need to remove nervous systems, so likely had to remove other body parts to access it.


 * Waste not, want not. Perhaps different bits and pieces are usable for other purposes.


 * If Lumic was so keen on everyone becoming Cybermen, why is he so reluctant to be converted himself?
 * He may have wanted to live as long as possible in his Human body so that if any problems arrived he could fix them easier.


 * The conversion process is also presumably excruciatingly painful since you hear agonized screams whenever you see them being converted.


 * He specifically stated that he only wanted to be converted with his last breath. In other words he was just a selfish man - hardly a discontinuity.


 * Why does Lumic need a tube-ridden chair and dry ice afterwards?
 * It is shown that he did not need it since he chases the Doctor, Rose and Pete.


 * It may help him control the Cybermen and/or electronics.


 * The chair may simply be a throne for effect.


 * The Doctor told Mickey to take Rose's phone as it stored the code to break the emotional inhibitor, yet when they say goodbye for what they think is the last time, Mickey doesn't receive Rose's phone.
 * It could have been given to him off screen.
 * There was no appropriate off-screen opportunity. However, the phone was handed over on-screen; albeit a little tricky to notice.


 * In the scene after The Doctor steps back into the TARDIS for the last time: Mickey turns to Rose. Her hand moves towards him below the camera-line as if giving him something. Mickey (with his back to us) raises his hand and pulls open the left side of his coat. He seems to put something into an inside pocket and then says "Thanks".


 * After this episode, Rose has a different phone.
 * Given that Mickey had taken the phone, believed to be off-screen, it is understandable that she would purchase or obtain another one.
 * The phone was handed over on-screen.


 * When the factory is exploding, they just re use explosion footage from Rose.
 * Even if that is the case, how is it a discontinuity?


 * How did Lumic get on the ladder on the blimp? By the effect his weight affected the ladder once the blimp was far from the ground so when did he get on the ladder?
 * It seemed the ladder just slipped a few rungs down. Perhaps Mickey only dropped down part of the ladder, and failed to secure it properly. So eventually the lever controlling the ladder released, and dropped the rest of the ladder down.