Theory:Doctor Who television discontinuity and plot holes/The Enemy of the World


 * Salamander is sucked into space when the TARDIS dematerializes with the doors open. This contradicts The Edge of Destruction, The Runaway Bride, The Stolen Earth and other episodes in which the TARDIS is shown in space with its doors open, with no ill-effects to the occupants.
 * In those instances the TARDIS was stationary, in this one the doors are still open while its taking off, think off it like what would happen if an aeroplane took off with its doors open.
 * In later episodes, we learn that the doors aren't really the important thing, but the field that the TARDIS uses to contain its interior. They don't have to be in sync with either other, but of course they can be. In The Beast Below (and the 'Meanwhile in the TARDIS' before it), we explicitly see the Doctor extend the field farther out so he can safely open the doors in flight. There's no reason the TARDIS couldn't have done essentially the same thing in Destruction, and not done it here.
 * The TARDIS is established as actively protecting Her Doctor all the way back to the third story, The Edge of Destruction (which you listed). This episode is a reconstruction, so I have to go on the text at the bottom, which says during Salamander and's & The Doctor's struggle a switch was hit. The TARDIS does not take off & open it's doors using a single switch. That means she chose to do one or the other independently. If she is using this to get rid of her invader, of course She won't extend her field to protect him.
 * The TARDIS is established as actively protecting Her Doctor all the way back to the third story, The Edge of Destruction (which you listed). This episode is a reconstruction, so I have to go on the text at the bottom, which says during Salamander and's & The Doctor's struggle a switch was hit. The TARDIS does not take off & open it's doors using a single switch. That means she chose to do one or the other independently. If she is using this to get rid of her invader, of course She won't extend her field to protect him.


 * There's another slow TARDIS landing sound.
 * The TARDIS landing sound isn't always the same, for example in The Impossible Planet where in that case the Doctor referred to it as 'queasy'.


 * The serial is so under budget that Denes is kept prisoner in a corridor. 'It's easier to guard him here,' claims the guard. In episode five, Bruce similarly notes 'You don't really believe I came here with just one guard, do you?'.
 * Surely the serial has actually gone over budget at this point, given that Episode 1 already featured a hovercraft and a helicopter.
 * I always took the guard's unconvincing 'It's easier to guard him here' excuse as being in-universe; the story takes time and scripted dialogue to address Denes' odd imprisonment- and it's significant to the plot, in that people can happen upon him in-passing, and he can run away down the corridor when the guard is distracted, so I'm not convinced that this is a budgetary flaw- the set already has rooms which could have been minimally redressed. Rather, surely, the point is that it's not easier to guard Denes there, but it is certainly easier to assassinate him there; it's far, far easier for someone to casually encounter his food trolley and poison it, or for him to be easily lured into being shot whilst 'trying to escape' if he's not out of the way or locked in a room. It's also more humiliating for him, having his status as a prisoner displayed in a semi-open space for passers-by to see. Bruce objects to it, rightfully on the grounds that it's undignified and unsafe- which is strongly implied to be precisely why Salamander engineered it.
 * Plus they needed so hold some money back for the split-screen Doctor/Salamander fight in Episode 6.
 * It's not really surprising that Bruce only brought one guard into the cramped little caravan.


 * In episode three, Benik completely fails to destroy Kent's portrait.
 * Well, he's nothing more than a nasty (and weedy) little man.


 * In episode 6, how does the Doctor get into the Records room?
 * Based on The Name of the Doctor, it could be argued that a Clara unlocked the door somehow...
 * Benik mentions an emergency key. Anyone thought to be Salamander would have no difficulty getting hold of it.(Although it's possible that a Clara might have done).
 * The Doctor uses his intelligence.
 * In two stories' time, the Doctor will introduce Jamie and Victoria to a handy little toy of his, a screwdriver which works using soundwaves. Whilst it's the first time either of them have seen it, he is familiar with how to use it and has probably had it for some time.


 * Salamander's Sun Store is said to work by directing sunlight to areas which get little sun, such as Canada, Ukraine and Alaska, thus allowing crops to grow there; however, this ignores other factors that contribute to low crop yield, such as low rainfall, cold temperatures, and poor soil.
 * The Sun Store would provide heat as well as light, and its effect on the climate could well help with rainfall. As for soil, that could be dealt with by importing good soil and compost until the soil became self-sustaining.
 * With regards to Ukraine, it has long been a fertile place: its harvests were basically what the USSR lived on. The Suncatcher just enables it to produce three harvests a year.


 * No World Zone Authority and its geopolitical divisions exists in the actual year 2018 series and after.
 * This isn't really a discontinuity with the story proper, but with later stories (and real life, technically) for not picking up the idea of the World Zone Authority. The writers at the time were simply speculating about what the near future would look like and creating a work of fiction based around it, so can't really be blamed for not being actual prophets.