From: xoanon@carina.unm.edu (timothy k istian soholt)
Subject: Re: Continuity Catalog, feel free to add to it!
Date: Sat, 12 Sep 92 22:28:49 GMT
Organization: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque

ira2p@faraday.clas.Virginia.EDU (Iain Robert Asplin) writes:

I'm rather fond of trying to explain continuity errors, so I think
I'll add my own two cents worth to a couple of these.


>2.    Some people say "The Edge of Destruction" conflicts with either
>	"Terminus" or "Castrovalva" in their versions of the Big Bang.
>	TThere really is no conflict, since in Edge they were not at
>	the creation point of the Universe, but rather of a single
>	galaxy.

On a related note, there's "Slipback" versus "Terminus." Both have
the Universe being created by an exploding ship's drive -- but it's
a different ship in each case. Solution: The reason the matter in
the young Universe did not just spread evenly throughout space was
that there were two separate, simultaneous (or nearly so) explos-
ions, one of the drive unit of _Terminus_, and one of the _Vipod
Mor_.

>4.    "Mission to the Unknown" and "the Daleks' Masterplan"
>	Problem:  Stories are dated by dialog in the stories themselves
>	as the year 4000 AD.  conflicts with "Remembrance of the 
>	Daleks" where the Doctor destroys Skaro one thousand years after
>	1963 AD, and possibly with "The Evil of the Daleks."
>	I am not sure if Evil was officially dated in the story, but
>	I think the date was about the same time as "Remembrance" 
>	Dalek-wise.  

Stories that give dates create horrendous problems. I tend to con-
veniently ignore dates that don't mesh -- like the UNIT timeline
that's blown out of the water by "Mawdryn Undead." And I have a 
serious aversion to any "The Doctor manipulated the timeline, so
that story didn't happen" theories. No offense meant, I just don't
like them.

>13.  "The Invasion"
>	problem:  This is Earth's frst encounter with the Cybermen
>	sometime in the mid-70s (circa 73 or 74), yet when Mondas turns
>	up in "The Tenth Planet," no one recognizes  them.
>	Solution:  UNIT hushes up this first invasion attempt, helped along
>	by the hypnotic effects of the Cyber-signal.

God help me, I actually like the FASA explanation of this one. In
their "Cybermen" sourcebook for the old DOCTOR WHO role-playing
game, they explain that there are a couple of odd phenomena related
to the Cybermen and time travel. One of these is that everyone on
Earth a certain time after "The Invasion" had their memories al-
tered by some unknown force; no one who went through the invasion
except The Doctor, Jamie, Zoe, and any Cybermen who survived remem-
bers it ever happening. (This sounds a wee bit silly by itself, I
realize, but tied in with all the other oddities it points toward
some bizarre plot.)

>16.  "The Daemons"
>	Problem: Azal hints it was the Daemons who destroyed Atlantis
>	as one of their failures.
>	Solution:  It was only a hint, and perhaps the Master, the 
>	Doctor, and Kronos' later visit to Atlantis qualifies as
>	intervention that changed this history.

Or, an alternative solution: The Daemons probably have some sort of
telepathic translator device or technique. Azal is speaking with 
the Doctor, whom he now knows to be a space traveler when he men-
tions Atlantis. Azal knows of a planet in the area which his people
sterilized, and he tells the Doctor, "Remember [planet's Daemon
name]." The Doctor knows this planet by the name humans gave it
when they went out into space and discovered the remains of an an-
cient civilization -- Atlantis. It is this name which the Daemons'
name for the world is translated to. (Okay, it's a bit more convo-
luted than your explanation, but, like I said, I don't like "this
never happened" explanations.)

-- Tim Soholt (xoanon@carina.unm.edu), The Man With No .sig


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