Doctor Who/Headscratchers/Series 3: Difference between revisions
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== Gridlock ==
* The litter of kittens in "Gridlock". Assuming that humans and sufficiently advanced cats can reproduce together, why would a human female bear a litter of kittens? The size of a litter depends on the number of ova available during fertilization, and modern humans tend to only release one or two at a time. The human may have been part cat herself, or otherwise modified to this effect, but surely if livable space is at a premium, you'd want to employ a more conservative reproductive strategy.
** But sentient beings have been shown not to reproduce "conservatively" in tightly packed urban spaces. In fact, poor people in cities in the Industrial Revolution often had a crap-ton of kids because very few lived to adulthood, due to the squalor. In light of this, the world of Gridlock seems a lot worse. Plus, a species can't "evolve" over the course of what was it, a few decades, unless the trait that's being bred out has become near 100%, immediately fatal. And even then, that's not really evolution, that's just a trait falling out of the gene
** And while we're on the subject, how does a human and a cat-human produce a litter of cats?
*** Maybe they sort of evolve from kittens into adolescent catchildren. Probably more horrifying than human puberty.
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* A very minor point, but Martha is trapped for at least a month in 1913 in the episodes Human Nature/The Family of Blood, yet her hair remains clearly straightened. How come it stayed like that? Was she keeping straighteners in the TARDIS and going back just to use them? Had she had her hair chemically relaxed, and, if so, how come no-one asks her about it? As far as I'm aware, there weren't really any ways of straightening hair back then that were ''that'' effective.
** Best I can come up with: Women in the 1970's would use basic clothing irons to straighten their hair (to get that super straight, flat hair like Cher), and irons go back to ancient times (originally they were flat pieces of metal you could heat in a fire.) Even if Martha wasn't alive in the 70's she would eventually realize that one could straighten their hair this way, especially if she doesn't like the look of her hair not straightened (which she probably doesn't, since it's been straightened in the first place), or if the people she works for feel that it looks improper. So it's not hard to believe that she would find some way to straighten it. As far as anybody asking about it, should could simply say that she straightens it frequently because it's easier to manage.
** I assumed she was going back to the TARDIS for all that kind of
** Chemical relaxers go back to the 1800's, though they contained nasty chemicals like lye.
* How does Latimer's explanation of "the watch was waiting for you" override the fact that he straight-up stole from the Doctor?
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** Wait, doesn't your line of vision change if you're looking through one eye, and then switch? Maybe there's a blind spot between the two exchanges which would have an effect...
** Amy Pond tries this in series five. It appears to work.
** Even though this works it's not an easy fix. Try it
** [[Colin Baker]] actually gave precisely that solution in one of his first Tweets.
*** Except it's not a clear solution. See above.
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*** I never really saw the problem with this; he didn't want to take a chance causing even more serious damage, and by the time he worked out what the Paradox Machine was for, it was too late for anyone to do anything about it. One year later, when they ''can'' do something about it, it happens to be the sort of problem that [[More Dakka]] can fix. Lucky for them.
*** I see it being that the Doctor knows the Master, and the Master knows about the Time War. The Paradox Machine actually protecting the planet is actually exactly what I'd do in his position. The Doctor destroys it, and in turn wipes out the Earth. Not only besting him, but making him directly responsible for the genocide of his people, and the destruction of his favorite planet.
** Ah, that adds another layer to a theory [[Prime Evil|I]] have. Namely, that the whole thing is the Master's colossal practical joke on the Doctor. It's a sick joke, too...the Doctor saves a whole bunch of people at the end of the universe, and the Master uses those people for his own ends. The phrase, "You're your own worst enemy" comes to mind
* Fairly minor, but why didn't Martha take anyone with her when she teleported to escape from the Master at the end of The Sound of Drums?
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* So...at the end of "Last of the Time Lords," the Doctor explains that those aboard the Valiant can still remember the events of the Year That Never Was, because they were "in the eye of the storm." Does this mean that the year still ''literally'' happened for them? (It sure ''looks'' that way: everyone on the bridge of the Valiant is still wearing the same clothing as before, Jack is still battered and filthy, and Lucy still has the black eye the Master gave her.)
** Yes, that's right. It's why Martha leaves at the end of that story, because her family are traumatised by the events and need to be looked after.
** That just proves that her family ''remembers'' the events of that time period, despite its having been erased from history. What I'm asking is, are all the people standing on the bridge of the Valiant a year older now? It's not such a big deal for the Doctor or for Jack (both of whom are practically immortal), but it means that Martha's
*** They didn't ''lose'' an entire year of their lives, they spent it working for the Master. It was a horrible way to spend a year but they did live through it.
** It's a horrible ordeal, but it's not like they're Wilf or Mr. Copper's age.
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**** Well, no, the telepathic field thing never came up in the old series, but the Doctor has always been superintelligent. He somehow figured all along that he could tap into this telepathic field and upend the Master's, ''ahem'', masterplan. It was all a matter of getting himself and his comrades in the right place. HOWEVER, "Curse of Fenric" has an indirect answer to this problem: it's not the WORD "Doctor," but the ideas and emotions associated with the word that Martha gave to the few remaining people on the planet. In "[[Co F]]", the Seventh Doctor says "it's not the cross [that can defeat vampires] but the faith behind it." In that case it's a psionic ''barrier'', but the Doctor has rejigged the effect slightly.
* I know that most viewers think President Winters was a major [[Jerkass]]
** At the time he was written (and to an extent today, although from what I can tell not quite as much since [[George W. Bush]] handed over to [[Barack Obama]]), American politicians weren't very popular in Britain thanks to the overwhelming perception (which, however true it may be, [[Rule of Cautious Editing Judgement|is probably something we don't need to go into too much]]) that the 'Special Relationship' between America and the UK consisted primarily of America bullying the UK into doing what it wanted and following it's lead. It's probably something to do with that.
** A better question might be this: if President Winters had been any other nationality (but otherwise remained the same in terms of his behavior), would the character have been perceived any differently?
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