COMPLETE AND UTTER SILLINESS: A FEW OF MY FAVORITE PLOTHOLES - PART ONE

Once more, I'm trying to keep things a bit light. Another COMPLETE AND UTTER SILLINESS entry should accomplish that nicely...


THOSE DARNED PLOT HOLES JUST CAN'T BE HELPED
It's inevitable that any TV show will have plot holes in certain episodes or stories. The very nature of how television is written lends itself to it. A certain amount of content has to be created in a certain amount of time. This can easily lead to mistakes that just don't get caught. Or, in some cases, the creative team does recognize the problem, but just don't have the time to properly fix it.

Naturally enough, in a long-running show like Doctor Who - there's going to be some issues of this nature. Quite a few, in fact.  Let's has some fun and examine some:


PLOT HOLE TRENDS
There are certain story problems that have now occurred multiple times in several different episodes. It's almost like it's a plot hole that the creators like to go back to every once in a while and use for Old Time's Sake.

Recurring Plot Hole #1: Travel Time Problems 
No, not time travel problems (although those happen, too), but rather the amount of time it takes for a character to get from Point A to Point B can sometimes get a bit muddled. We see this mostly when another character or characters is also trying to make a similar journey. For the sake of expediency, one set of characters gets there far faster than they should.

The best example of this happens in Idiot's Lantern. Magpie is trying to reach the top of a transmitter tower to spread the malevolent influence of The Wire. He hops in his truck and drives off. He arrives at the nearest tower a short while later to begin his perilous climb. During this time, the Doctor and Tommy rummage through Magpie's shop and construct a device to defeat the Wire then head on foot to that same tower. Somehow, they get there only as Magpie is reaching the summit.

I'm not sure how this gets accomplished in that sort of time scale. Particularly since Magpie used a vehicle to reach his destination and his opponents had to walk things out. A fifteen minute ride can easily constitute an hour's worth of walking. And building the contraption that captures the Wire must have taken, at least, a good twenty minutes on top of that. The Wire's plans should have been long-complete before the Doctor and Tommy were even halfway through their walk.  Was Magpie afraid of heights so he climbed extra slow?!  Or, was this just a bit of hastily-written plot expediency that everyone was hoping the audience wouldn't notice?

This actually seems to be a bit more of a trend in New Who than the Classic Series. This is probably because the story needs to move much faster in the New Series and, sometimes, you just have to throw travel logic out the door to get things done. A less obvious example of this happens in The Woman Who Fell to Earth.  Again, climbing seems to be involved. Tim Shaw must scale the side of a crane to reach Karl in the cab. The Doctor and her gang arrive after he's already done a good amount of ascension. And yet, they still manage to reach the top of another nearby crane and swing over to Karl before the Stenza can reach him. We could slightly explain this away. Tim Shaw is a cumbersome fellow so the climb might take him a while. Also, the neighboring crane is a bit lower down so there's less of a climb for the Doctor and friends. But still, it's a bit of a stretch. While not as glaring as Idiot's Lantern, it's still some slightly sketchy scene arrangement.

Sometimes, this problem even works a bit in reverse. Instead of someone arriving at a destination too quickly, they seem to take an inordinately long time to get there. One of my favorite cases of this happens in Part Three of Warriors of the Deep. Take a look at when Commander Vorshak leaves the bulkhead that's under attack to return to the bridge. Other characters in the story have made similar trips in considerably less time. But Vorshak just takes forever. We're amazed when he stops along the way to check on the Doctor's progress with the weapon he's creating against the Myrka.

"He still hasn't reached the bridge yet?!" I cried out the first time I saw that scene. My only guess is that Nature Called in a serious way for Vorshak as he was taking that stroll to the bridge and he had to stop to "use the facilities" for several long minutes before getting back on his trek.

Recurring Plot Hole #2: Not Bothering to Check Things
While Travel Time Problems is more of a New Series issue, this one definitely occurs more often in the Classic Series.

It's the basic idea that, for the sake of a good story twist, certain characters don't check on certain things the way a normal person would. One of the better examples of this happens in Silver Nemesis.  The Doctor steals the bow of Validium from where it was left lying in its case during the big battle at the beginning of Episode Two. With a clever flick of his brolly, he slams the case shut and runs off to the TARDIS with the bow in hand. The Nazis eventually recover the case but never bother to check inside until a most embarrassing moment in Part Three where they are attempting to gain supremacy over the Cybermen. One would think that if you had a precious artifact in your care you would check on it at some point between those two moments and realize, of course, that your case has been empty. But, apparently, De Flores and his crew are not the brightest of fellows. 

Now, you could almost excuse our hapless Nazis for their error. There was a lot going on. It could have slipped their mind to check. But the notorious Eye Patch Reveal in The Android Invasion has no sane explanation.

In this instance, a human astronaut named Guy Crawford has been working with a war-like alien race known as the Kraals to invade the Earth. Crawford was brutally injured on a space mission and presumed dead. But the Kraals recovered him and were able to re-build him. Except for one of his eyes. So Crawford wears an eye patch to conceal his supposedly empty eye socket.

Three years later, the Doctor comes along and  points out that the Kraals have been lying to Crawford. He's had an eye beneath that patch the whole time. Horrified, the astronaut finds a mirror and lifts the patch up. The Doctor is right!

Now, before we even get into the silliness of these logistics, I have to ask: Why would the Kraals even do this?! Why not just let Crawford know he has both his eyes?!

But let's say there was a slightly rational reason behind the gesture. Perhaps it was a means of making Crawford feel submissive in some way. We still have to ask: Why does someone wear an eye patch for three years and never bother to look beneath it?!  In that entire time, Crawford never thinks: "Damn it's getting itchy under this thing, let's lift it up for a second and give myself a good scratch!" Surely, at some point during those three years, the string on the patch probably even broke. Most likely, a few times. As that's a long time for a string to maintain that constant level of tension. Or wouldn't Crawford get curious, at least, once during all that time and look underneath?

None of these things seem to happen. Crawford faithfully wears that patch the whole time til that big moment with the Doctor (who's able to guess after a matter of hours while Crawford doesn't put two-and--two together for a span of years). I consider this the greatest and most ludicrous of all plot holes ever. Not just for Doctor Who. But, perhaps, in the entire History of Television!

Recurring Plot Hole #3: Providing a Means of Escape
Again, one we tend to see more frequently in the Classic Series.

Every once in a while, we see a character placed in some sort of form of imprisonment but, for some reason, they are also given a means of getting out of it. The escape method is almost, but not quite beyond their grasp. Why would anyone do this, though? This is the equivalent of catching a horrible serial killer and incarcerating them in a maximum security prison but then letting them know that, hidden somewhere in their cell, are the keys to get out and a gun to use should he run into any guards!

The best example of this occurs in Pyramids of Mars. A really great story, in many ways - don't get me wrong. This is one of those tales that gets a lot of praise and I actually agree with what most fans say about it. However, why does Sutehk have all this Osirian technology that enables him to break free of the prison he's been placed in? The guy has a missile and robot servants and everything. Why would you let one of the greatest threats to the Universe keep that sort of stuff around?!

A similar thing can be said of the Doctor's exile during his third incarnation. Why is he sent to Earth in the TARDIS and allowed to keep it? Sure, it's been disabled and the Doctor's memory to operate it has been tampered with. But wouldn't it have just been safer to time scoop him there and leave him with nothing?

This can be explained away a bit by pointing out that the Time Lords do, occasionally send the Doctor on secret missions. But it would have been smarter to just send the TARDIS to him when they needed him to do something rather than leave it in the Doctor's care the whole time. He might still find some way to fix it and escape his exile. So why let him have it?

My only guess can be that some people who imprison others are giant sadists and like to taunt their captives a bit. Or, perhaps, some writers don't quite think things through all that clearly.

Recurring Plot Hole #4: Cryptic Messages
One that we tend to see in both New and Old Who.

There's a great example of this issue in The Mutants. The Doctor is suddenly sent a special pod-like thingy from the Time Lords that will only open in the presence of who it's meant for. When it does finally open for that person, it's just a series of pictograms that the Doctor then has to try to decipher. When he works out their meaning, he realizes it has something to do with how the Solonians mutate. That mutation will create the solution to the story's main conflict.

Maybe I'm wrong, but wouldn't it have been easier for the Time Lords to just say: "Hey Doctor. We're sending you to Solos. You'll meet a guy there whose name looks like a brand of sex lubricant. Subject him to a bunch of radiation. That will cause him to mutate and he'll be able fix a problem we need solved."

The reason they don't do that, of course, is because The Mutants needs to last six episodes!

A similar thing can be said about the famous Bad Wolf arc of Series One. Rose stares into the heart of the TARDIS and briefly become a god-like being who can save the Doctor from his peril at the end of Parting of the Ways. She leaves clues for herself to work out this strategy by scattering the message "Bad Wolf" across Time and Space.

Wouldn't it have been easier for her to just leave the message: "Hey Rose. It's me from the future. When you and the Doctor are fighting the Daleks on that space station, you need to stare into the heart of the TARDIS and create a Deus Ex Machina solution to the whole problem." 

Of course, leaving the message "Bad Wolf" all over the place is far more cool and mysterious. But, when you think about it, it doesn't really make a whole lot of sense.



THE ONES NO ONE EVER SEEMS TO TALK ABOUT
Now, there are quite a few plot holes in the show that everyone loves to go on about. All those pics Clive has of the Doctor by himself in Rose don't make sense. The Doctor appears to have just regenerated so he couldn't have had any of those adventures prior to Rose. But Rose leaves with the Doctor at the end of the episode - so she should be in those pics, too.  We all caught that one and have had endless debates about it. But there's a slew of other slips that writers have made that no one seems to talk about much.

Seldom-Mentioned Plot Hole #1: Terror of the Autons 
Like Pyramids of Mars, Terror of the Autons does seem to be another fan-favorite. Everyone loves the Autons and it was great to see them back. And this is the first story with the Master in it. Lots of exciting stuff going on, here.

I'm not as fond of this one, though. Mainly for its ending. Having reached the control room of a transmitting tower (back in one of those, again!), the Master is creating a bridgehead for the Nestene Consciousness. The Doctor makes it up there too and confronts his nemesis. Within seconds, he persuades the Master to stop what he's doing and send the Nestene Consciousness back to where it came.

This seems pretty ridiculous on several levels. The Doctor's main argument to get his rival onto his side is that the Nestene Consciousness will immediately betray the Master as soon as it gets what it wants from the Time Lord. It's my guess that the Master has been working with the Autons for quite a bit, now. A few months, maybe? During all that time, he never clues into this? He never thinks: "Wow! My allies seem pretty ruthless. I think they might not fulfill their end of the bargain!" He needs the Doctor to point this out to him?!

When he's allied himself with other creatures of this nature, he tends to build in a double-cross somewhere. Why does he never do this with the Autons? Instead, he just realizes at the last possible moment that he's made a mistake and changes his mind.

This course of action seems highly unlikely. Particularly since the truth is being delivered to him by his greatest foe. A man he truly deplores and has tried several times within the four episodes to kill. One would almost think that, out of sheer pride, he would not listen to the Doctor's eight second speech and would just keep going on with his plans. It all seems just a bit too convenient for my liking. Thus ruining the end of the whole story.

Seldom-Mentioned Plot Hole #2: The Mind of Evil
This one seems glaringly obvious but I've only ever seen it noted in The Discontinuity Guide (still one of my favorite books about Doctor Who that has ever been published).

During Part One, the Keller Machine keeps attacking various people and killing them by showing them their greatest fear. This makes sense. The victims are so horrified by what they believe to be real that the shock becomes too much and they die of heart failure.

What doesn't make sense are the physical symptoms that accompany the attacks. One victim is horribly phobic of rats, so his body is found covered in small scratches. As if he'd been swarmed by rodents. Another victim is found with his lungs full of water. He, of course, was terrified of drowning.

These physical manifestations are there to signpost their phobias and get the Doctor to see what the method of attack is. I get that. But they still don't make any actual sense. Just because you feel like you're drowning doesn't mean your lungs will, somehow, fill with water when you're in a dry room. Nor will tiny rodent-sized scratch marks magically appear on your body because you believe you're being attacked by rats.

I absolutely love Mind of Evil. I think it's viciously under-rated. But this little bit of the story - and the incredible slipperiness of a glass of water - are a bit too silly.

Otherwise, this story rocks. 

Seldom-Mentioned Plot Hole #3: The Sea Devils
This would be another one that I only ever see mentioned in The Discontinuity Guide.

Fans love to go on about the sword fight between the Master and the Doctor in this tale. To the point where they will deride a similar sequence in The King's Demons. Claiming it is almost a mockery of the brilliance of the Great Sea Devils Duel.

I will admit, it's a pretty fun moment in the story. The fight choreography between Delgado and Pertwee is quite decent. It definitely appears like they've both had some training in the Art of the Blade at some point in their acting careers (many actors of their era, do). The way the Doctor takes the piss out of things a few times adds a nice laugh too.

But I would be bold enough to say that I actually enjoy Five and the Ainley Master's fight just that little bit better. For the plain and simple reason that it's actually somewhat feasible. Whereas the one in Sea Devils makes no actual sense.

Why, in a maximum security prison, would you leave edged weapons right beside the entrance of a master-criminal's cell?! Might as well leave him some explosives, too, so he can blow a hole in the wall and escape after he's finished killing the guard at the door. Maybe even a nearby boat tied off with a week's worth of food and water. I mean, really, if you're going do stupid things with designing a jail - you might as well do it right!

The swords are there merely to provide a fun duel at the end of an episode. Which means, of course, that they shouldn't be there at all. It's just a bad bit of writing.

Seldom-Mentioned Plot Hole #4: The Time Warrior 
I will admit, this barely qualifies as a plot hole. It's more just an issue of lack of realism. But it is something I never seem to hear fans discuss. So I decided to include it.

Like many fans, I am quite fond of The Time Warrior. There isn't quite enough plot to sustain the four episodes but it does such a great job of introducing us to the Sontarans that we're all willing to forgive the padding. We can't wait to see more of this warrior race because Robert Holmes made them just so gosh-darned fascinating in their first appearance.

But there are a few "hoaky" sequences that do make it just that little bit harder to enjoy. The first one happens near the end of Episode Two. In an attempt to evade his pursuers, the Doctor launches a conveniently-placed torch into some conveniently scattered straw on the floor. Within nano-seconds of contact with the straw, the torch creates a huge blaze that Irongron and his merry men are incapable of passing through.

Now, I actually grew up in the country. I've burnt straw. But I think, even if you don't have my range of experience with this substance, you can guess that straw does not combust anywhere near as quickly as it does in that scene. The whole moment seems just a bit silly because of this.

I wouldn't list this here if it wasn't for the fact that there was a second ludicrous sequence that compounds things and makes this all worthy of mentioning. Later on in the story, Irongron challenges his gang to shoot the Doctor. I will admit, these are pretty primitive and probably inaccurate rifles being handled by people who are unskilled at using them. Even though they're firing at point blank range, I could believe that the Doctor might still be able to dodge a handful of shots before aim improved enough.

But this scene goes on for an uproarious period of time. We actually cut to another scene with Sarah Jane in the kitchen while an endless haze of shots are heard in the background. When we cut back to the Doctor, he should have been lying on the floor with, at least, a dozen bullets in his hide. No matter how crude the weapons and poorly-trained the handlers, no one could survive as long as he did in that sort of situation.

As I said, I never hear anyone talking about these sequences. And I could let it go if there was just one moment of this nature in this story. But the fact that there are two of them and no one ever seems to point them out makes me feel as though I needed to bring this up somewhere. This seemed the best place for it.

Seldom-Mentioned Plot Hole #5: Time and the Rani 
Just for fun, I recently re-watched all of Sylvester McCoy's era (even his oh-so-sad death in Doctor Who - The Movie). I caught a few things in Season 24 that do help re-enforce the fact that it is one of the weaker seasons in the history of the show (although, I still think Season 17 is waaayyy worse).

The first big plot hole is in Time and the Rani. The Doctor questions Beyus about why he is collaborating with the Rani. The Lakyertian Leader just tells the Doctor to go to the Center of Leisure. He will find his answer there.

Conveniently enough, the Rani just happens to decide to punish the Lakyertians while the Doctor is at the Center. She triggers a few panels in this large globe suspended from the ceiling to open and release killer insects that instantly murder several people in the room. Point is made. We now see why Beyus is so compliant. He's trying to protect his people.

But the thing that truly baffles me that no one ever seems to bring up is: why do the Lakyertians spend any more time in the Center of Leisure once the killer insects were released?! If you know a place is a death trap, wouldn't you just steer clear of it? But when the Tetraps visit the Center in Part Four, the place is packed with Lakyertians again. I know the Rani claimed that they are a very lethargic race - but is anyone that lazy?!

"Every minute I spend in here could be my last." the Average Lakyertian realizes, "But, screw it! I really like it in here and can't be bothered to leave!"

Seldom-Mentioned Plot Hole #6: Dragonfire 
No, I'm not going to talk about the cliffhanger to Part One. Everyone loves to go on about that one. This is supposed to be one that's seldom-mentioned.

This is another story whose ending gets ruined by a significant plot hole. I don't mind when something like this pops up somewhere in the middle of the story. But if it happens too near to the conclusion, it can truly kill my overall enjoyment of the adventure. Good endings are so important. 

This one concerns the fact that, at the climax of the story, the Doctor reveals to the cold villain Kane that his sinister plans to return to his home planet of Proamnon have come to ruin. The planet was destroyed a few thousand years previously in a supernovae. So disheartened is Kane by this news that he commits suicide right on the spot.

It seems fairly ludicrous that this is the first time Kane is hearing of the destruction of his homeworld. Does the guy have no internet?! You would think that, if your whole life is being dedicated to wreaking vengeance on a certain planet, that you might google the place every once in a while to see how it's doing. And yet, over the course of several millennia, he never bothers.

Yes, Kane does have a bio-mechanoid guarding over him who may have been using some method of blocking Kane's newsfeed from getting any information about Proamnon. But the prison had become a busy spaceport. Wouldn't Kane, at least, ask the occasional intergalactic traveler about news concerning Proamnon? There's no way retrieving information in such a manner could be blocked.

But he never does any of this. He just lives underneath a rock for a few thousand years without ever bothering to check in on how the world he wants to attack is actually coming along.

Seems a bit too preposterous to me. Does no one else think so? 

Seldom-Mentioned Plot Hole #7: The Empty Child 
Moffat's first work is, without a doubt, outstanding. A shining jewel of Series One (and Series One has quite a few of them). But I will say it's off to a bit of a shaky start. That air raid balloon sequence only sits so well with me.

Rose climbs onto the roof of a building to help a little boy that she has seen up on it. The boy has made it up onto a higher section of the roof. A convenient rope dangles down for her to use that isn't quite as opportune as she thought it was. Turns out the rope was attached to an air raid balloon that has come loose. Slowly, it drifts off with Rose hanging on for dear life.

A highly unusual string of circumstances to begin with. And Rose being able to hang on to the rope for so long also seems a little unlikely (even if she got the Bronze in gymnastics). I'm also not sure how the balloon or even Rose doesn't get shot to shreds during that air raid before Jack saves her. 

But what really seems silly about the whole moment is the fact that the balloon must have still been sailing over the rooftop for, at least, a matter of seconds before moving out onto the cityscape. Surely, in that time, Rose could have made the deduction: "Why don't I climb back down this rope or even just let go of it while there's a roof beneath me that's only a few feet down?" Instead, she just holds on tight and ends up several hundred feet in the air a moment or two later. Essentially, this whole sequence should have never happened. Rose could have easily bailed herself out.

There is even a quick shot of her sailing over the edge of the rooftop. They try to make it look like there just wasn't enough time for her to realize her options. But, really, that balloon is moving way too slow in other shots for her to not have that opportunity to figure things out.

I know that the whole thing was a very colorful way for Rose and Captain Jack to meet each other. But I almost gave up on the story because it all seems a bit too preposterous (I'll even be bold enough to say it's nearly as silly as the Part One Cliffhanger for Dragonfire!). Fortunately, the rest of the story is amazing enough for me to forgive it.

Seldom-Mentioned Plot Hole #8: Boom Town 
While I did just mention Series One was brilliant, some of the writers are still trying to find themselves and hammer out the show's new formula. This does make for a few shaky moments in the plots.

I'm amazed no one ever seems to note the inconsistencies in Boomtown. There's a few of them that seem pretty clunky to me.

Scenes between the TARDIS crew's antics and Blon's press conference seem to be running, more or less, concurrently. At the very best, an hour or two may have passed since the press conference finished and the Doctor sees the article about it in the paper (the sun doesn't seem to have gone down much between Mickey getting a "whatever" sign from Jack and them sitting in a restaurant telling stories). Could the picture taken of Blon during the conference really make it into the papers that quickly?

Most newspapers come out every morning and show the news from yesterday. Our four intrepid adventurers have not been in Cardiff for a whole day. I suppose the paper might do a special second edition that just happened to have had the time to include the Mayor's announcement. But it seems like a bit of a stretch. That article really shouldn't have appeared til next morning.

What seems like even bigger plot holes, however, happen in the chase scene an instant later.

First off, her office seems to stay open pretty late. I suppose it's possible for the TARDIS to arrive in Cardiff first thing in the morning. A special late edition of a newspaper comes out early afternoon and they get to City Hall before it closes. But that feels like a bit of a stretch too. Perhaps RTD shouldn't have been trying so hard to squeeze everything into one day. It probably would have been better if the TARDIS had taken longer to re-fuel.

But the silliest thing that happens is the actual chase, itself. Blon has a teleport device. Why does she bother to climb out a window and run down into the streets when she could have just teleported straight from her office? Perhaps she didn't want to "fly blind" again and the teleporter needed a moment to establish proper coordinates. But, maybe, that should have been specified in some dialogue, somewhere. Otherwise, the whole sequence looks like it's there just to create a wacky, fun moment in the story rather than make any real sense. As much as I did enjoy the visual of Mickey running around with his foot stuck in a bucket of toilet paper, I do prefer things have a bit of logic to them!




Wow! I'm really having fun pointing out plot holes! I have more, but I think this particular entry has gone on long enough. Let's do another one of these soon.... 

I do hope, by the way, that this doesn't come across as me just complaining about the show and trying to point out how awful it is. As mentioned in the intro: plot holes in TV shows are inevitable. I'm just trying discuss them a bit and have a laugh over them. Hope you're amused by all this, too.   

CHRONOLOGIES AND TIMELINES: APPENDIXES FOR THE CYBERMEN AND THE MASTER

It's always nice when new episodes come out that interfere with CHRONOLOGIES AND TIMELINES essays that I've posted. It makes for an easy entry, really. I give a bit of thought to where these tales might fit and then write up a quick update. Far less work than actually having to come up with an original idea and develop it into a proper dissertation!   







Series Twelve - for all its controversy - has, at least, brought us back a few familiar faces. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy the "no recurring baddies" policy of Series Eleven. But, like any fan, it's always fun when old monsters and/or villains return to plague the Doctor again. 

Obsessive/Compulsive Pedantic that I am, I'm immediately trying to get these new appearances of old enemies to fit into the timelines that I've created for them. Rather than just sit back and enjoy the story, I'm looking for any clues in the episode that might indicate when the adventure took place within the histories I have envisioned. It's almost a sickness! 

Of course, once I have found a place within my own headcannon for the new stories, I have to come here and write it out for all the internet to see!


PART ONE: THE CYBERMEN:

CYBERMEN FIRST. EVEN THOUGH THEY APPEARED SECOND

We'll start with the events of The Haunting of Villa Diodati, Ascension of the Cybermen and The Timeless Children. A great little Cybermen saga (in my opinion, at least). Technically, this is the second returning baddie of the season that affects an already-written CHRONOLOGIES AND TIMELINES entry but I'd rather tackle this one first. There is a somewhat-controversial decision that I must make about the other recurring villain that appears this season so I'd rather save him for last. It's entirely possible that some readers might be upset about the decision I make about his timeline and won't read on. So it's better we put him second so that you'll still read what I have to say about the Cybermen, beforehand!

Clearly, the events of these three episodes take place at the end of a major war between the Cybermen and Humanity. By my accounts, this could be from one of two different places in Cyber-history that I've chronicled, thus far. The first position is discussed in Part Four of my Cybermen timeline (https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2018/02/chronologies-and-timelines-history-of_18.html). This would be the war that takes place sometime around the 26th Century. It ends when the enemies of the Cybermen discover their weakness for gold. The glitter gun is created using resources from Voga and the Cyber-race appears to be completely wiped out. Of course, some survive and live to fight another day. We learn about this war in stories like Revenge of the Cybermen and Earthshock.

The second possible setting would be the Cyber Wars that I discuss in Part Five of my Cyber-History Essay (https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2018/02/chronologies-and-timelines-history-of_27.html). This battle would have taken place sometime around the 31st Century. This time, a sort of "scorched earth policy" is developed to defeat the Cyber-race. Essentially, any planet that has Cybermen on it is destroyed by special bombs created by the military forces of Earth. The resolution of this war ends up leaving a small hole in the Universe. We learn about this war in Nightmare In Silver.

There is, of course, a third possibility for us to explore. It could be that the dying war we are witnessing in Diodati/Ascension/Timeless Children is one that has never been referenced before. Essentially, a Third Great Cyber War that takes place sometime after the two I've just discussed. I postulate that Nightmare In Sliver happens sometime around the 42nd Century. We see strong indications that the Cyber-Race survives the incident on Hedgewick's World and will go on to terrorize the Universe further. Perhaps their forces grow strong enough to cause a Third Cyber War to erupt. This battle could take place any time after the events of Nightmare In Silver. So, basically, any time after the 42nd Century. How the conflict was actually resolved - we can't say for sure.


SO WHICH WAR WAS IT?

Of these three possibilities, there are several different story elements that indicate that any of these three periods could be the correct one.

When Yaz, Ryan and Graham are setting up a defense system against an attacking Cyber-force at the beginning of Ascension of the Cybermen, one of their weapons uses gold. While the Doctor does mention Cybermen do still have some vulnerability to this particular mineral in Nightmare in Sliver, it would still seem more likely that this is a device made to neutralize Cybermen from the First Cyber War rather than the Second. So this could be the time period they're in.

The Lone Cyberman first appears in Ascension of the Cybermen with two Cybus-Style Cybermen flanking him. It's made fairly clear in Nightmare in Silver that Cybus-style Cybermen were the models that fought in the Second Great Cyber War. This is a very nice visual cue that leads us to believe that this is the end of the Second Cyber War rather than the First.

The fact that we are seeing some new models of Cybermen that we've never seen before (a modern adaptation of the "giant earmuff-style" Cybermen that we first saw in The Invasion and Revenge of the Cybermen and continued on in the beautiful Neomorph model of the 80s) could indicate that this is the tail-end of a hitherto-unheard-of Third Cyber War.

Thus far, things are feeling like a POINT OF DEBATE essay. There's enough ambiguity to make all three assumptions feasible.


SERIOUSLY, THOUGH, WHICH WAR IS IT?!

Let's try to dig deeper and see if we can genuinely establish a valid time period.

I think we can eliminate the First Cyber War. The use of gold as a weapon is a bit tenuous. As I mentioned, it would still be useful against later versions of Cybermen. Also, if this were the First Cyber War than we should still see some Neomorphs lingering about, somewhere. That was the main model that was used during that era.

Another big clue that we haven't really covered is the fact that there is a Cyberiad in Nightmare In Silver. The word "Cyberiad", of course, bears a strong resemblance to the Cyberium that we see in Diodati/Ascension/Timeless Children. Both also seem to achieve a similar function. They are some kind of neural net that exists as a sort of cloud that can turn the entire Cyber-army into a single unified hive mind. Both of them also seem to require a host body of some sort.

The existence of a Cyberiad in Nightmare would indicate one of two things:

1) It's the Second Cyber War:  Sometime after the events of The Timeless Children, the Master will find a way to expel the Cyberium from himself. The formless network of thought will, somehow, find its way to the Cybermen hiding on Hedgewick's World and they will store it til they can find a suitable organic form to carry it. Perhaps the Cyberium changes slightly in nature during its journey to Hedgewick's World and is, thus, re-christened the Cyberiad.

2) It's the Third Cyber War: The Cyberiad that we see in Nightmare In Silver is a sort of prototype of the Cyberium we will eventually see in Diodati/Ascension/Timeless Children. It will change its name slightly as it evolves.


FINALLY COMMITTING TO A TIME PERIOD

Okay, things are getting narrowed down a bit. There does, however, still seem to be an equal amount of evidence to support the idea that this is either a Second or Third Cyber War. So it's time to grasp at straws. Or even just base things purely on personal opinion.

Ascension of the Cybermen does seem to take place in a war-torn section of the Universe. There's still the occasional planet here and there, but much of it seems to just be a bunch of debris. The devastation has spread so far and wide that you need to get to a special gateway that will instantly transport you to a more civilised and/or occupied location in space.

It's likely that this is the Tiberian Spiral Galaxy that gets mentioned in Nightmare in Silver. We are told that this region is a sort intergalactic wasteland, now, with little of anything left in it.  We get a view of it from Hedgewick's World in the Neil Gaiman tale. In Ascension of the Cybermen, we're seeing what it looks like from the inside.

It's also likely that the Cybus-Style Cybermen were the dominant model during the Second Cyber War but that other models were developed and, subsequently, wiped out. All the Giant Earmuff Cybermen that we do see in Ascension are either floating around dead in space or were left in hibernation on a badly damaged ship. So it would seem that they are a, sort of, lost model that are now getting a bit of a re-boot since a batch of them were discovered by the Lone Cybermen. This gets the new model of Cybermen that we're seeing to still be a part of the Second Cyber War rather than the Third.

My final point in support of this being the Cyber War of the 31st Century would be the simple notion that coming up with a Third Cyber War would just be a stretch on credulity. Can the Cybermen really just keep having gigantic wars against Humanity where they get wiped out over and over? Let's just keep things to two Cyber Wars. It seems more feasible.


HOW IT ALL FITS INTO CYBER-HISTORY

So the final verdict is that the saga of the Lone Cyberman and his quest to recover the Cyberium takes place at the tail end of the Second Great Cyber War. The Cyberium is created during this war and it turns the Cyber-Race into the most deadly and efficient army, ever. Humanity manages to, somehow, steal away the control node of this hive mind and send it into the past on Earth (Ko-Shamus appears to have been on a committee of some sort that makes this decision).

The Lone Cyberman, a strange partially-converted Cyberman who believes in the ideology of the Cybermen but still retains much of his humanity, goes back in time to recover the Cyberium. He returns with it to the tail-end of the Second Cyber War.where he intends to initiate a master plan that will fully mechanise the Cybermen. He meets the Master, who lures him to a devastated Gallifrey. The Master then mocks the Lone Cybermen for his strategy and tissue compresses him. The renegade Time Lord steals the Cyberium from his shrunken victim and hatches his own mad scheme to create hybrids that he will use to conquer the Universe.

Ultimately, the Doctor stops the Master's plot (with a little help from Ko-Shamus at the most opportune of moments). Somehow, the Cyberium will still survive this catastrophe and find its way to a group of Cybus-Style Cybermen that are hiding out on Hedgewick's World. On its journey, the Cyberium changed its nature in some way and will re-christen itself the Cyberiad. The Cybus-Style Cybermen will also evolve into a new model. Nightmare In Silver begins here.

So, that reconciles the Cybermen. Now let's deal with the controversy.



PART TWO: THE MASTER/MISSY:

WHERE THE DHAWAN MASTER FITS - THE PRE-MISSY THEORY

There has been much debate about this. Many fans want to believe that the mutual destruction created between Missy and the Simm Master at the end of The Doctor Falls is the final death of the Renegade Time Lord. The Simm Master, of course, will regenerate from the wound his successor inflicted upon him. But Missy dies from the blast she received by the laser screwdriver. It makes sense, really. Only at the end, does the Doctor's arch rival become his friend, again. There's a nice poetry to it all. 

To  maintain this theory, fans speculate that Sacha Dhawan's Master takes place some time prior to Missy. No one knows for sure when. Some place him as early as pre-Delgado or as late as between Simm and Missy (Missy even claims that she's not sure if Simm regenerates immediately into her). But he's definitely not an incarnation that exists after the conflict that takes place on the colony ship bound for Mondas. To place him there would nullify the whole gorgeous redemption arc that Missy moves through during the Twelfth Doctor era.

I can see the point that these fans are making. This really is a great place to kill off this character once and for all. Any new incarnations we meet should exist sometime before this moment. Since there are a lot of "grey areas" within the Master's two regeneration cycles, this theory is quite feasible. 

However, it's not what I like to believe.


WHERE THE DHAWAN MASTER FITS - THE POST-MISSY THEORY
(SUBTITLED: WHERE I REALLY THINK HE FITS)

During Part One of The End of Time, the Doctor finally asserts that the popular Gallifreyan Mean Time theory that fans have held for years is real. He, basically, tells Wilf that Time Lords always have to maintain linear relationships with each other. The Tenth Doctor can't run into the Corpse Master one day and the Eric Roberts Master, the next. He has to keep dealing with the Simm Master and can't even dip back a day or two into his past. His explanation contains a ridiculous amount of techno-babble - but that's, basically, what he's saying.

Which means, quite simply, that Sacha Dhawan comes after Missy. To exist prior to her would be an ongoing violation of Gallifreyan Mean Time. Yes, this rule does get broken slightly here and there. But never to such a great extent as we are seeing with Dhawan and Thirteen. So things must still be moving in a linear fashion between the two of them. Dhawan follows Missy. 

I know we can make all kinds of good arguments against this. The biggest one being: "Why would the Master bother to follow the rules?!" But this is one code he has always adhered to. Anytime we have seen the two Time Lords clash, it has always been their most recent encounter. We've never seen them meet out of order before. So I can't see the Master suddenly breaking this law, now.

Sorry everyone who doesn't want Missy's Redemption to mean nothing, after all. But that's how I feel on the matter.


SO IF YOU'RE GOING TO SAY HE'S AFTER MISSY - HOW DOES THAT WORK? 

Of course, to just say: "Dhawan comes after Missy because of Gallifreyan Mean Time." is not enough. We have to figure out how Missy turns into him when Simm explicitly states that she won't be capable of regenerating from the damage he's done to her. 

Technically, this is my second appendix on the History of the Master. In the first one, I do take a stab at guessing how Missy may have survived the attack. If you'd like to read the full thing, here it is: https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2017/07/chronlogies-and-timeline-history-of.html. I don't actually offer my hypothesis til near the end of the post.

Should you choose not to go back and read the entry, my basic theory is that Missy was lying to Simm when she said her memories of their encounter were sketchy. She falsely claims that their timelines getting tangled have caused her to forget things. That doesn't tend to happen when it's just two incarnations meeting each other (Time Crash heavily supports this idea. There are other circumstances affecting the Doctor's memory during Twice Upon a Time and The Two Doctors. Normally, he would remember those encounters too).  If you're watching carefully, she seems evasive whenever her previous self questions her about her recall of events. She even starts revealing a lot of details about what's to happen next once she stabs himself. It's as if she's known everything all along.

Missy is fibbing about this for a very specific reason. Her earlier incarnation becomes furious that she's joined the Doctor's side. He wants to kill her. Had he known that she would remember everything, he would guess that she would have prepared herself for his attack with the laser screwdriver. Even though he was dealing with his own regeneration, he would have stuck around to make sure she was dead. But, because he believes Missy wasn't expecting his drastic actions, he doesn't hang about waiting for her to die. He departs in the lift he's summoned and returns to his TARDIS.

Because she knew what was coming, Missy has set up some means of defending herself against the attack. A sort of high-tech flack vest or even a personal force field of some sort. But she is keeping the defense system on a very low setting. She still has to absorb some of the impact, herself, to make it all look convincing to her predecessor. The laser can't just bounce off of her or her trick would be ruined.

So the blast does do some damage to her. Not enough to kill her. But enough to make her regenerate.


OKAY, YOU'VE GOT A REGENERATION THEORY - WHERE DOES DHAWAN GO FROM THERE?

So I have a workable theory about how Missy regenerates into Dhawan. Good for me! But when we see Dhawan for the first time in Spyfall, he's on Earth with a TARDIS. How did he end up there? The Simm Master left in his TARDIS - leaving him with no means of egress. So how does he get off a colony ship that is fighting a Black Hole?

It seems apparent to me that the ship will eventually achieve escape velocity and make its way to Mondas. I even believe that the Cybermen on the colony vessel will be responsible for converting the Mondasian population once it arrives on the planet  (for more details, check out this link: https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2018/02/chronologies-and-timelines-history-of_9.html). More than likely, the newly-regenerated Master escapes the Solar Farms before the Doctor blew them up and makes his way to another level. There, he hides until the ship is free of the Black Hole. He then, probably, steals a shuttle and makes his way to wherever he last left his TARDIS back when he was Missy. Or, maybe, he finds some way to steal a new TARDIS from Gallifrey. Or something of that nature.

"But we haven't been given any onscreen explanation of how the Dhawan Master escaped!" those-who-want-to-believe-he's-prior-to-Missy may point out, "This supports the idea that he doesn't come after Missy!"

Personally, I think that explanation will probably come at a later juncture. The Doctor, quite simply, hasn't had a chance to ask him, yet, how he got off the colony ship. We should also take into account that the Doctor was not present when the Master and Missy injured each other. So she probably just believes they left together in the Simm Master's TARDIS and parted ways sometime afterwards. More than likely, she's not even all that particularly curious about how the Dhawan Master now exists.

"But wouldn't they have had that conversation, already?!" the Dhawan-came-before-Missy Camp persists, "Surely, an explanation should have been given by this point! Missy is the final incarnation! Dhawan is an earlier version. Eldrad Must Live!" (I assume the level of fanaticism surrounding this issue would cause weird random expressions of devotion to other villains on the show)

There are many examples that negate the idea that an explanation of the Master's survival shouldn't take that long. For instance: we don't actually learn how the Master escaped his fate in The End of Time until six seasons later. And, of course, there are any number of cliffhanger endings for the Master in the 80s that are never properly resolved. Yet we know that when we see the Ainley Master next, he managed to extricate himself, somehow, from his last peril. So the "if it's never explained how he got out than this must be an earlier version" concept doesn't really hold water. 


BUT WHAT ABOUT THAT REDEMPTION ARC?! 

As I said earlier, I understand why people want Dhawan to be before Missy. If he comes after, it ruins all that progress that she made throughout her era. And I'm not just talking about the rehabilitation she went through once she was placed in the Vault. Look at the way she offers her army of Cybermen to the Doctor in Death in Heaven. Or the how she actually goes to rescue the Doctor in Magician's Aprrentice. Missy was finally moving towards becoming someone good. It would suck if all that was, suddenly, washed away.

But there's more to it than just wishing for this character to die a good person. There's a sort of leap in logic that's going on, too. The Dhawan Master is back to totally hating the Doctor and wanting her dead. He's also plenty happy to mercilessly slaughter people and execute plans that will get him to take over the Universe. If Missy finally made the choice to "be good", how does she suddenly go back to being the wretched villain she once was? It doesn't make sense.

Well, it can still make sense. Particularly when you factor in regeneration. It's not just a change of appearance, it can also be an alteration of attitude, behavior and even personality. Just look how Eleven's cheery disposition changes to a grumpy old man as he transitions into Twelve. Or the huge shift in attitude that happens when Eight transforms into the War Doctor. He went from a man who refuses to fight in the Time War to someone who is ready to dive right in. "Doctor No More" he proclaims. You can't change more radically than that.

Something similar must have happened during the regeneration from Missy into Dhawan. All the work she did on herself during her incarnation can, easily, fade away after a such an unpredictable biological process. So it is quite believable that the Dhawan Master simply rose from the ashes of Missy and thought: "Screw being good! Look where that got me! I'm going back to my old ways!"

But even if you don't bother to factor in the effects of regeneration, there is the plain and simple fact that people will make major life choices and then go back on the decision at a later time. Recovering addicts are the best example of this. Frequently, they have to make the choice to stop using several times over before they well-and-truly quit. Even then, many of them use a "One Day at a Time" mentality and accept that they can go back to their old life at any given moment. The Master/Missy certainly has a compulsive personality that might be comparable to an addict. So it's entirely possible that the Dhawan Master has fallen off the wagon.

It's even more likely that he will never get back on it. That, from hereon in, the Master is back to being evil. 





All right, then. Appendixes Updated. I have a crazy idea to do another type of Appendix, though. One that is based on my BOOK OF LISTS series. So that might be where I go next. 

Wait and see.....


There are a tonne of CHRONOLOGIES AND TIMELINES entries that I am citing, here. It may be good to give you the full histories and appendixes that I have written on both the Master and the Cybermen. 

Here they are: 

History of the Cybermen
Part One: 
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2018/02/chronologies-and-timelines-history-of.html

Part Two: 
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2018/02/chronologies-and-timelines-history-of_9.html

Part Three: 
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2018/02/chronologies-and-timelines-history-of_13.html

Part Four: 
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2018/02/chronologies-and-timelines-history-of_18.html

Part Five: 
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2018/02/chronologies-and-timelines-history-of_27.html

Super Sexy Special Glossary: 
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2018/03/special-glossary-models-of-cybermen.html



History of the Master: 
Part One:
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2016/10/chronologies-and-timelines-master-part-1.html

Part Two: 
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2016/10/chronologies-and-timelines-history-of.html

Part Three: 
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2016/10/chronologies-and-timelines-master-part-3.html

First Appendix: 
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2017/07/chronlogies-and-timeline-history-of.html


Should you actually bother to read all of these entries, you will become my new Best Friend!!!  

BOOK OF LISTS - TEN AMAZING CLIFFHANGERS THAT WEREN'T CONSIDERABLY "CLIFFHANGERISH"

I figure it's time for something a little lighter. I have been doing some heavy analysis of Series Twelve (and even some defense of it in my last entry!). I've also written some ponderous POINTS OF DEBATE essays lately that have picked apart some fairly serious issues. Even when I tried to get a bit silly in a COMPLETE AND UTTER SILLINESS post, I really didn't get into anything all that funny. Instead, it was the pursuing of an idea that was so abstract that I decided it was silly and should, thus, be put under that label. 

It has been a while since I've written a BOOK OF LISTS entry. They tend to be quite fun. So, let's have a good time for a bit.    



THE CLIFFHANGER - A PILLAR OF THE SHOW
Of all the things that have remained consistent throughout the history of the television program, the trick of leaving off an episode on a tense note is definitely noteworthy. Yes, New Who doesn't quite use the device as frequently. But it's still there. I still remember the joy I felt at the end of Attack of the Farters  (er - sorry! I meant: Aliens of London) when we got our very first cliffhanger of the New Series. Something felt right about that moment. Like I was definitely getting "real Doctor Who".

While I don't have a precise number (and am too lazy to google it), I'm certain there have been hundreds of cliffhangers in Doctor Who .We're probably not quite at a thousand, yet. But I wouldn't be surprised if we're getting up there. This proliferation of suspenseful episode endings does mean that writers have, sometimes, tried to get creative. They've recognized that just having someone pointing a gun at the Doctor's head and saying things like: "On this ship, we execute murderers!" does eventually get a bit old. So they try to come up with new and different ways to conclude the parts of their stories.

Essentially, these authors created what I like to call: "A Cliffhanger That Isn't Particularly Cliffhangerish". Instead of going the traditional route of placing a main character in some sort of deathly peril, they will introduce a large twist in the plot right as the last few seconds of an episode plays out. Or they create a huge revelation of some sort. Or something like that. Basically, anything but a cliffhanger that gets us to ask: "However are they going to get out of this fatal situation?"!


JUST LISTING - NOT RANKING
When I first began to compile this list, I thought about trying to rank these special cliffhangers. Often, when I do a BOOK OF LISTS, I try to start with the weakest example of what I'm listing and go to the strongest. Quite honestly, though, it's just too hard to do that, this time. A lot of these non-cliffhangerish cliffhangers are just too damned amazing. It's near-impossible to say one is better than the other.

Instead, I will simply list them in the order they appeared. You will notice, quite quickly, there are more examples from the Classic Series. This is happening for several reasons. There's twice as many seasons of Classic Who than there is of New. So there will be far more cliffhangers to choose from. Also, Old Who stories were made up of shorter episodes. So, again, more potential for wicked endings to parts. Finally, of course, there's the fact that a New Who story is often completed in just one episode. Multi-part tales only happen a few times a season because of this. So there just aren't as many cliffhangers to choose from as there are in the Original Series.

Okay then, basic ground rules and explanations have been laid. Let's get right to it: 



Awesome Cliffhanger #1: Part Two of The Ark 
To the best of my reckoning, this would actually be the first time we witness a cliffhanger in Doctor Who that isn't quite a cliffhanger. It's also the first time we see the TARDIS jump forward in time but not space in order to continue a story. It's also the first time a live elephant was used on the set. That last point isn't particularly relevant, of course. But it's still pretty cool. There's also a funny story about how the director of the story had to keep the elephant in his garage the night before the shoot!

Anyhow, let's stick to the relevant stuff. The first two parts of The Ark strike me as a fairly intelligent piece of 60s sci-fi. The latter episodes would display the more traditional trappings of a "overthrowing a tyranical race" plot, but a good degree of pondering and contemplation take place during Episodes One and Two (I particularly like the moment where the Doctor wonders how many other points in time and space he may have infected!). With so much abstraction going on, that ending to Part Two compliments the plot beautifully.

As the TARDIS materialises several centuries after her initial landing, the Doctor, Steven and Dodo are able to situate themselves in time as they bear witness to the completed statue in the hangar bay.  In that moment, our imaginations are genuinely sent reeling. The statue was meant to have the head of a human, of course. But, instead, it's a Monoid. We are immediately left wondering about what string of events caused this to happen. We're certain it can't be anything good.

This a very thought-provoking way to complete the part. We, immediately, appreciate that. On top of that, though, the actual statue is a very strong image. Even if it is just a model!



Awesome Cliffhanger #2: Part One of The Deadly Assassin
A truly shocking cliffhanger. By this point in the show, the Doctor has been firmly established as a pacifist who would never intentionally end someone else's life. Yes, there is still some blood on his hands. Sometimes, in order to protect others, he was required to bring about the death of an antagonist or two. The resolution of The Dominators is one of the best examples of this. The only way he could save an entire planet from destruction was to plant a bomb on the spaceship of the ruthless alien race that was seeking to obliterate it. Ultimately, he killed two people. But he was left with no choice. Far greater devastation would have happened if he hadn't compromised his principles.

But none of those circumstances are in place as Part One of Deadly Assassin wraps up. As far as we can see, the retiring Lord President of the Time Lords is not up to any sort of foul play that will result in some terrible catastrophe. His intentions, on any level, are entirely innocent. And yet, the Doctor still seems to be pointing a staser rifle at him from a balcony and pulling the trigger. To all intents and purposes, we have just watched the Doctor murder someone in cold blood.

Place the Doctor in a thousand different seemingly inescapable perils and it will still not floor me half as much as that cliffhanger did. A violation of the Doctor's core ethics on that level was so brutal that I could barely believe what I was seeing. The fact that the Doctor has a vision of himself doing this earlier in the adventure causes this cliffhanger to be all-the-more cool.


Awesome Cliffhanger #3: Part One of Face of Evil
Another awesome cliffhanger that involves a giant carving shot as a model!

Like The Ark, it's all about being a visual with a tonne of ominous implication behind it. There's not quite the same shock value that the Monoid statue had, of course. That whole moment seems to come from out of nowhere. Whereas there is a definite build up to the end of Part One in Face of Evil. Which is part of what makes it just as great even without the element of surprise.

An unseen story has taken place before Part One that we are now seeing the results of. The Doctor made some sort of impact on this primitive tribe during a previous visit that he can't recall. He has yet to discover the full extent of what he's done.

And that's what gives this statue cliffhanger its "wallop". If the people he has affected are willing to carve this giant image of him on the side of a mountain, then the damage he has caused must be huge. We, as an audience, cannot wait to discover what the Doctor did and how he will unravel the mess.

It's a great way of using the same device as The Ark, but presenting it in a new manner.


Awesome Cliffhanger #4: Part Four of The Invasion of Time
Monster Reveal Cliffhangers oftentimes fail to pack a punch. Much of this is due to the fact that we have stories like Planet, Death or Destiny of the Daleks - where the conclusion to Part One reveals that the Daleks are behind the whole evil scheme. But, of course, we already know this. It's right in the damned title!

The Sontarans have fallen prey to this problem, too. It happened, once, at the end of the first part of The Sontaran Experiment. After having its identity hidden for an entire twenty minutes or so, a Sontaran finally emerges from one of those cool round spaceships at the climax of the episode. Once more, we're far from stunned when this happened. Their cover was blown within the first few seconds of the opening titles.

However, this does not appear to be the case with Part Four of The Invasion of Time.  I think, even when it was transmitted for the first time on BBC, the Sontarans were kept a secret. Forget that I was a young Canadian boy with little access to British media at the time who was just watching it as a re-run on a PBS station. I still vividly remember that moment where Leela, Andred and all those Shobogans started staring over the Doctor's shoulder during his victory speech. My mind was blown as he trails off and then turns to see what the problem is.

One of the nicer things about this particular moment was that the story really did feel complete by the end of the four parts. It was exciting to see the Doctor back on Gallifrey pretending to be a baddie,  playing hopscotch and explaining to an imaginary Borusa that he's speaking Latin. The Vardans may not have been the most visually-impressive of aliens, but they were still quite interesting. The Doctor's method of dispatch for them was also quite satisfactory. All in all, I thought it was a fairly enjoyable little four-parter. 

Since the adventure felt like it was definitely done, the shock of the Sontarans' arrival becomes compounded. Like any great cliffhanger, it does seem to come from out of nowhere. Had the initial clash with the Vardans not been quite as well-told - this might have signposted that something more was on its way. But I got no hint of the extra two-part adventure that was hiding around the corner. I was so glad that I was watching the whole thing on a TV station that showed an episode every weekday. Having to wait another week to see what was going to happen next would have killed me!

If you want to get technical, this might not truly be a "non-cliffhangerish cliffhanger". Commander Stor does seem to be raising his weapon towards the Doctor just before we get the closing credit sting.Which implies the slightest sense of personal peril. But I'd rather still place this moment in the category that I have. The conclusion of Episode Four of The Invasion of Time represents one of the biggest plot twists I've ever seen in the history of the show. My first viewing of it still sits very strong with me. I had seen the Sontarans before and knew that they were bad-asses. Which meant I also knew some serious Hell was about to break loose in Part Five. So their surprise appearance had me legitimately vocalizing a whole series of expletives for several minutes after the episode was over. This one really blew me away.

The actual plot of The Invasion of Time does have its problems. But this cliffhanger is truly a masterpiece.


Awesome Cliffhanger #5:  Part One of Earthshock 
Another great Monster Reveal Cliffhanger that was smart enough not to put the name of the Returning Alien in the title!

What makes this particular moment even more interesting is the behind-the-scenes stories surrounding it. It had been nearly a decade since the last time the Cybermen had appeared in the show. That, in itself, was a crying shame since they have proved to be nearly as popular as the Daleks. The production team totally understood just how much "wow factor" a surprise appearance at the end of Part One would pack and went to extravagant lengths to ensure secrecy. At the time, people who took public tours of the BBC were allowed to walk through special galleries that enabled them to look down at the various studios but not interfere with any of the shooting going on. The galleries in which Earthshock was being filmed were intentionally locked off so that no one would get a sneak peak and leak to the public that the Cybermen were back.

Now, here's what makes this cliffhanger all-the-more awesome: Because the Cybermen were so popular and had been away for so long, publicising their return would have made so much more sense. From a marketing standpoint, at least. But, instead, JNT and the gang chose the more artistic route of keeping the whole thing a surprise til those fateful final seconds of Part One.

However, there is an even deeper level to the awesomeness of this cliffhanger. Something that's a bit more personal. I was still very new to the show when I saw it. Not only was I unaware that the Cybermen would be in Earthshock, I didn't even know what they were. I had never heard of them. Yet, that shot of the Cyberleader proclaiming: "Destroy them! Destroy them at once!" was so powerful that I knew these odd-looking robot-like beings had to be incredibly significant. No doubt, I would better understand their importance as the second episode rolled around. But I was sure, already, that this whole moment represented something very dangerous for the Doctor.

I couldn't be more right. But I think it had little to do with my instincts as a viewer and everything to do with the effectiveness of this cliffhanger.


Awesome Cliffhanger #6: Part One of Enlightenment 
While I have said I wouldn't try to rank these cliffhangers, I will still admit this was probably my favorite.

There is a beauty to many of Peter Davison's stories that borders on the poetic. Nothing represents this concept better than the final moment of Part One of Enlightenment. Like the statues in The Ark and Face of Evil, it's not the most convincing of model shots. But there is just something so imaginative about sailboats in space that it still takes our breath away when we see it.

Of course, the build up to this visual is part of what makes it so spectacular. So much is done all the way through the first episode to make us believe we are really on an Edwardian sailing vessel. Spending several scenes in the living quarters of the crew is probably one of the more potent devices that achieves this. The crew, themselves, believe they're at sea. So it really helps to re-enforce the illusion. But there are more subtle tricks that work just as well. The sudden shifts of the shooting camera that give Tegan mal-de-mer is one of the better ones.

But then we get that rapid succession of clues that there might be more going on than we thought: The scream of a crewmember as he gets aloft. "Wet suits" in a side-gallery. Technology hidden within a cabinet on the Bridge. The hints are delivered at just the perfect pace so that we still don't have time to guess what the reveal will be. But they build up this fantastic level of intrigue as we get there. It's a sheer work of art that I still fall in love with every time I watch the story.

Not only the best non-cliffhangerish cliffhanger of them all. But, quite possibly, the best cliffhanger ever.


Awesome Cliffhanger #7: Part Twelve of Trial of a Time Lord 
(and/or Part Four of Terror of the Vervoids)   
Even from a structural standpoint, this particular cliffhanger represents a huge unexpected turn-of-events.

It had been established that Trial of a Time Lord would be comprised of three stories that ran for four episodes and then a single two-parter to end it all. So, Parts Four, Eight and Twelve were meant to be the conclusion of an adventure that had been playing on the Matrix screen. They were not supposed to end on a note of suspense that would then be a huge lead-in to the next tale.

Mindwarp's conclusion bent that rule a bit, already. While I wouldn't quite label the Doctor's discovery that Peri is dead as a true cliffhanger - it comes pretty close. There's certainly a tonne of shock value there that packs the same sort of punch that a cliffhanger has.

The final part of Terror of the Vervoids, however, definitely crosses into the realm of full-blown cliffhanger. The Doctor does such a great job of defending himself throughout those four episodes.- even with various Matrix falsifications being thrown at him. There's a palpable sense of triumph as he stops the Matrix at the moment where Commodore Travers asks for his help. He underlines the significance of that discourse with a delightful smugness that Sixie excels at. We really do feel like he's going to be found not guilty of any offense. But then, as he closes his case, the Valeyard pulls the carpet out from under him and finds a whole new charge to lay against him.

Which is the crux of this cliffhanger's potency. It snatches victory from the Doctor's grasp and puts him into a whole new dilemma before we barely have a chance to catch our breath. Essentially, it's a fantastically-executed plot twist.

Yes, it's highly unusual protocol for a charge against the defendant to be changed in mid-trial. But the whole moment is so poignant and genuinely surprising that we're willing to overlook it.


Awesome Cliffhanger #8: Part Three of The Curse of Fenric 
While I have said that Enlightenment 's conclusion of Part One is my favorite cliffhanger, this one gets honorable mention for being the coolest one of them all.

It's odd, really. There isn't a huge element of surprise that accompanies this particular reveal. We can, sort of, see it coming. We know that Fenric is assembling his "wolves" and that Judson is from the appropriate bloodline to be suitable for possession. When bolts of energy rush into him from the flask and send him flying, we're pretty sure Fenric has taken hold of him. There is a quick attempt at misdirection with Millington acting strangely but we see through it fairly quickly and realize that he hasn't been taken over. He's just gone a bit nuts. Judson rises behind the Doctor and opens his eyes. They're glowing. As an audience we're like: "Here it is! Totally saw it coming!"

But then Dinsdale Landen delivers that line:

"We play the contest, again, Time Lord." 

There is an indescribable mega-coolness to that moment that catapults it from something fairly predictable into something magical. I wish I could put my finger on what exactly makes it so great. But I can't quite describe it. And I don't really care. This is just an awesome cliffhanger and it doesn't matter that I can't break it down and determine what exactly makes it so great.

It probably helps that the entire story is an absolute Classic. But I think most fans will say that the absolute best scene in the whole story is this moment. It grabs you by the lapels and screams in your face: "I dare you to miss Part Four!"

I was so happy my first viewing of Curse of Fenric was on a videotape. Never have I hit fast-forward so hard to get to that next episode!


Awesome Cliffhanger #9: Bad Wolf
For our last few cliffhangers, we'll delve into some New Who stuff.

Bad Wolf could have very easily ended on a slightly different note than it did and would still have been an enjoyable cliffhanger. It would have been quite satisfactory for the Daleks to appear to the Doctor on video and threaten to kill Rose right in front of him if he did anything to interfere with their plans. Our last shot could have been one of those traditional zoom-ins on the Doctor's face as he looks on in horror. A bit cheesy, yes. But it's still something fans and casual viewers, alike, would have been happy with.

But it's almost like RTD recognized the fact that the show did non-cliffhangerish cliffhangers in the Old Series and needed to bring that convention back as quickly as possible. So what could have been a simple episode ending with Rose in danger becomes something so much more amazing with just the slightest change of emphasis.

The real "kick" to this cliffhanger, of course, begins as the Doctor simply states: "No". Eccleston delivers that single two-letter word magnificently. It's as cool as Judson playing the contest again in the last cliffhanger I cited. Props must also be given, however, to the actors surrounding the lead as he speaks. They give him a look that is mirroring our own reaction. The safety of the Doctor's companions has always been his Archille's Tendon. His enemies have used that against him countless times. But, suddenly, the Doctor doesn't seem to care that his friend is being threatened. Like those supporting actors around him, we're a bit bewildered by his response.

As the Doctor explains the meaning of his negative, we see that he has turned his weakness into his greatest strength. Instead of controlling him by threatening the people he cares for, it has now galvanised him to fight his opponent that bit harder to ensure he saves his friend from harm. The dedication we hear in Nine's voice as he vows to rescue Rose and wipe out every stinking Dalek is downright exhilarating.

It just might be the most unique cliffhanger ever. It still accomplishes its task: we are dying to tune into the next episode. But not because we're worried about a main character and want to see how they will escape their seemingly horrible fate. This time, we are looking forward to next week's installment because we can't wait to see the Doctor kick some serious ass.


Awesome Cliffhanger #10: World Enough and Time 
Another great cliffhanger that owes a lot of its success to the fact that it messes a bit with conventions.

Had the ending of this episode played out in a more traditional fashion, we would have gotten something a bit hopeful. A more old-fashioned cliffhanger would have had Bill strapped down on that operating table with some fearsome medical instrument descending toward her as the Doctor, Missy and Nardole were racing down the elevator to save her. Will they reach her in time?!

But that's not the way Moffat chose to do things. Instead, the horror of that final scene lies in the fact that the Doctor is too late this time. From what we've seen on the show, once the Cyber Conversion Process has started - it can't be reversed. Just look at poor Lytton in Attack of the Cybermen. There's still quite a bit of him that's organic and, nonetheless, he's begging the Doctor to kill him. He knows there's no hope left for him.

But Bill is far beyond Lytton's stage. While she still seems to retain her identity, her body is completely converted. To all intents and purposes, she's a Cyberman, now. There's no hope in changing her back. For once, the Doctor did not arrive in the nick of time. Her repetition of: "I waited for you" ensures that he understands the full of extent of his failure.

Seeing his arch-rival in two different incarnations certainly adds one more layer to the potency of this cliffhanger and does imply the slightest sense of peril. We're quite certain some nasty things are about to get done to the Doctor as we re-join the adventure in the next episode. But that's not the core impact of this moment. The real terror that's going on here is that the Doctor has failed his friend when she needed him most.




....And there we have it: The ten best cliffhangers that aren't really cliffhangers. I must admit, it felt good to do something that was a bit lighter in tone. There's a lot of controversy going on in the program right now and I have enjoyed addressing it. But, sometimes, you also need to do something that's a bit more celebratory of the things you love about the show.   

Many of my BOOK OF LISTS require several entries to complete their countdown. But I do, occasionally, do lists like this that can be accomplished in just one essay. 

If you enjoyed this format, here are a few other posts like that:

Ten Most Pivotal Moments in the Doctor's Life(ves): 
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2015/05/book-of-lists-10-most-pivotal-moments.html

Five "Not as Bad as They Say They Are" Stories
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2015/07/book-of-lists-5-not-as-bad-as-everyone.html

Ranking the Regenerations (it's an older entry and doesn't include Twelve to Thirteen) 
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-book-of-lists-ranking-regenarations.html