Theory:Doctor Who television discontinuity and plot holes/The Tomb of the Cybermen


 * In episode one, the Doctor and Jamie hold one of the tomb doors closed with their feet.
 * Hardly an error, just a theatrical device; they had to make sure it didn't open, so Toberman could do it. It's actually not that noticeable.


 * Not a discontinuity/plot hole.


 * The Cybercontroller uses a visible harness to lift Toberman over his head.
 * Not a discontinuity/plot hole. Please use appropriate section for "production errors".


 * Toberman returns the favour in episode four by spinning a dummy Cybercontroller.
 * Not a discontinuity/plot hole. Please use appropriate section for "production errors".


 * The Cybermen retreat into their tombs backwards, the film having been reversed.
 * Seems like just a practical consideration, and, again, it's not that noticeable.
 * Not a discontinuity/plot hole. Please use appropriate section for "production errors".


 * Kaftan and Klieg are locked in the weapon testing room, complete with deadly weapon. (The room features a psychedelic target that can hypnotise humans, with a 'subliminal centre you're trained to see', which is not a very Cyberman sort of thing.)
 * There's no explicit reason Cybermen wouldn't make use of a subliminal centre. Their brains remain largely human.


 * The Doctor's plan to lock the Controller in the revitalising cabinet would appear sound were it not for the fact he decides to switch on the apparatus which will return the Controller to strength.
 * The equipment will only lock and restrain the occupant if it is switched on. He knows the Controller will eventually get out. It is simply a delaying tactic.
 * In episode 1, the cabinet locked and restrained Victoria before it was switched on.
 * The Doctor specifically mentioned that the device must have had a timer to automatically switch off. Perhaps he had hoped to overload the Cyberman-Controller. After all, simply leaving him in the cabinet wouldn't help, because Kaftan and Krieg could be expected to investigate soon enough.


 * Earlier, when the rocket's fuel pumps were sabotaged, Hopper said that it would take three days to repair them, working non-stop. Then at the end of the story, after far less time than that has passed, he walks in and blithely says, "Well, the fuel system's OK. We can blast off any time"!
 * He may be using a different day time. Also, he may be using the 'Scotty Method' of telling your captain something will take longer than it actually will, so he'll think you're amazing.
 * Or he may have misjudged how long it will take to fix.
 * It's generally good practice to overestimate time and deliver early rather than the other way around - otherwise people start 'hovering' and interfering because 'you should be finished by now'. But in this case, there was a more important consideration: Hopper suspected sabotage (as discussed with the Doctor in episode 1). He didn't want anyone anywhere near the ship while he effected repairs.
 * Furthermore, we can't be certain exactly how much time had passed. We know at one stage they were sleeping shifts to keep guard. And don't forget, the Cybermen had enough time to make their alterations to Toberman.


 * When the archaeological team discovers their rocket has been sabotaged and are distressed at the possibility of spending three days on Telos, no one even considers using the Doctor's ship to escape, or at least to hide in.
 * If they had, the Doctor would almost certainly have dissuaded them from doing so (why reveal the TARDIS to strangers?)
 * No one had seen The Doctor's ship. And even if someone had thought about the possibility, it would have probably been discarded almost immediately. The Doctor's party had 3 people, their party many more. They would consider it unlikely The Doctor's ship could accommodate everyone.
 * Also, there's just no need to offer to ship everyone out on the TARDIS; the expedition's rocket is still right there. It's been sabotaged, not destroyed; it's just in need of repairs, and they're able to affect repairs then and there, so there's no need to abandon it (not to mention that it's probably pretty costly to do so). Had the rocket been destroyed, the Doctor would almost certainly have been willing to extend the offer of a ride home to them; but it hadn't, so there's no need, so he doesn't. They're just annoyed that they'll have to hang around a bit longer than anticipated, that doesn't mean they're immediately going to commandeer the Doctor's TARDIS.


 * When Captain Hopper opens the hatch after disarming Kaftan, he pulls an entirely different switch on a different section of the control panel than the one they had identified seconds earlier.
 * Not a discontinuity/plot hole. Please use appropriate section for "production errors".


 * Whereas The Doctor figured out the controls based on the interface provided by the Cybermen, Hopper and Callum went 'under the hood'. They fiddled with the wiring and could conceivably have chosen to alter the interface to set a specific lever to do the desired job.


 * Regarding the shooting of Kaftan: while acknowledging the Cybermen's ruthlessness, the Doctor's "evil must be destroyed" argument (that somehow instantly breaks Toberman's cyber-conditioning) seems rather unjust, under the circumstances. Kaftan has shown herself to be just as ruthless, as well as treacherous, sadistic, and eager to exploit the Cybermen for her own self-aggrandising agenda. The Cyber-Controller, by contrast, is desperate to prevent the extinction of his own very threatened race, and shoots Kaftan only after she has ignored warnings and fired repeatedly at him.
 * His conditioning was already near breaking. He had just smashed the controller to the ground. The story showed Tomberman was either mentally disabled, or at least not particularly all there, and he clearly either loved Kaftan or at least held her very highly, as he broke into tears when holding her dead body. People in that state are easily convinced that 'the killer is evil'. Plus as the doctor said, the Cybermen had enslaved him. They beat him up, ripped out his arm, cut him open, replaced several good pieces with metal and machine and brainwashed him. It's doubtful he wouldn't see them as evil after all that. Kaftan was clearly evil, but he didn't see her as such. As for the Cybermen on the other hand, he was easily convinced.
 * Kaftan is an awful person, but she is at least a person. Horrible and ruthless she may be, she nevertheless has the potential for decency and humanity. The Cyber-Controller, meanwhile, is a driven, implacable machine determined to complete a goal that most sentient beings would consider utterly monstrous. In short, while Kaftan might be evil, she is at least a lesser kind of evil than the Cyber-Controller.
 * Also, the two are not necessarily mutually exclusive; Kaftan, after all, is "destroyed" as well by the end of the story.


 * Would Victoria really be able to shoot a Cybermat with a handgun with just one shot?
 * Yes, it appears. It wasn't that far away, and we don't know her background and capabilities in that regard.


 * The Cybercontoller's head breaks off when Toberman throws him. Minutes later, he is alive


 * At the end of the story, the Doctor tells Jamie that this is probably the final end of the Cybermen, but claims that he doesn't like to make predictions. He seems to be forgetting the previous episode where he made the rather large and inaccurate prediction that the Daleks had finally been destroyed for good.
 * That may have looked more final, a civil war between the Daleks where their city was destroyed. The Doctor is less sure as the Cybermen have been to other planets and they still exist.
 * For a long time, Evil of the Daleks was regarded as the very last Dalek story.
 * People are not consistent with their every word and thought. Just because the Doctor states that he doesn't like to make predictions does not mean that he will never ever ever ever make anything that could be considered a prediction ever; it simply means that in this particular case he is acknowledging some uncertainty in a way that he didn't feel regarding having seen seemingly all the Daleks be destroyed.
 * Considering the depth of the Doctor's enmity towards the Daleks and how many times he has fought them, one can also assume that his statement that it is "the end, the final end" may also be more of a hope than a definite certainty.