Theory:Doctor Who television discontinuity and plot holes/The Visitation


 * Believing the Doctor and Richard Mace to be warlocks, the villagers attempt to burn them by setting fire to the mill. This is somewhat historically incorrect, as while persons accused of witchcraft were burned on the Continent, in England and Scotland they were more often hanged.
 * "More often", perhaps - but sometimes, they were burned. This is one of those instances.
 * They were also suspected of having the plague, so it would make sense to burn the bodies.


 * During the fight in the first episode, the Doctor apparently loses his trademark stalk of celery from his lapel. But a short time later inside the barn when he goes behind a pillar, a replacement stalk appears in his hand.


 * The Doctor often carries an odd assortment of useful items in his pockets. The fact that it is in his hand indicates that we are meant to assume he picked it up somewhere, from pockets or elsewhere, and it was not simply an oversight by the production crew.


 * The ornaments in Nyssa's and Tegan's room disapear in episode four.
 * They were damaged during the destruction of the robot.
 * The TARDIS knew that Tegan was leaving, so it started cleaning up her possessions.


 * The Terileptil Leader's refusal to accept the Doctor's offer of help seems rather irrational. Even if they do wipe out the human race, they will still face the prospect of a primitive existence on Earth, and will be forever in danger of the authorities of their homeworld recapturing them. Plus, isn't the whole Earth a bit big for just three of them?
 * It is acceptable to assume they were behaving rashly - they were fugitives after all.
 * They probably mistrusted the Doctor and assumed he would return them to custody.