Doctor Who Moon Episode Inaccuracies

[Helix935]

there have been many things throughout the show that are certainly.... questionable in the face of modern science but please realize that this a children's and yes lots of us can do better to fix those inaccuracies but its hard enough writing for a show that has been going on for 50 frigging years okay so please don't get mad about this, be skeptical but not angry at inaccuracies

@DuoDex

Like you i was also annoyed by them using a space shuttle (the chose it because children have at least heard of it instead of orion okay) *mutters "expensive piece of junk craft* under breath*

also the nukes weren't meant to destroy the moon but kill whatever it was that was messing with the moon (which turned out to be the moon itself and if detonated probably would have caused it to be stillborn/dead)

yeah i was kind of bummed by the use of the weird prokaryote spiders because i was hoping really hard for the episode to be about the revenge of the Racnoss i men who wasn't expecting that

also that moon dragon/bird thing laying an, i know that is bullsh*t but please remember not every 8-year old knows that an animal has to eat something to reproduce or that eggs lose mass unless that kid happened to be the son of a biologist that specialized in birds , a birder or something

and yes i know they should have gotten those measurements right but it was hard enough not making it look as ridiculous as it was but please remember tat episode was a great episode for the amazing Peter Capaldi who is by far the best doctor in a long time (since the 4th)

Edit: one last thing although its a tangent, am i the only one that's bothered by how on the title of the page, the thumbs down when you pass your mouse over it, it says thumbs up

Edited October 23, 2014 by Helix935

[Nikolai]

Nobody was around 100 million years ago to see if the moon was there, and they surely weren't here billions of years ago. There is nothing to say that the Moon, a 4.x billion year object, wasn't placed in orbit around the Earth 100 million years ago.

Sorry, but you're dead wrong about that. Look up "rugose coral".

"Nobody was around" is only an excuse if you're willing to forego Occam's Razor, logic, and all forensic science.

[Superfluous J]

Sorry, but you're dead wrong about that. Look up "rugose coral".

"Nobody was around" is only an excuse if you're willing to forego Occam's Razor, logic, and all forensic science.

The crazy part is that coral did that because of the interplanetary space dock that was about in Moon's orbit before the Golgafrinchams brought the Moon here in the late Pliocene.

Occams razor works great in reality. Not so great in a show about a 1000-plus-year-old time traveler who flies around in a 1960s police box with a screwdriver that can almost literally do anything, and a piece of paper that shows the viewer whatever they expect to see.

I'm in no way saying that there is any basis for the Moon not being here for billions of years. I'm saying that if you can hand wave it in a TV show, it's fine. Go for it.

[Starwhip]

The phone box is magical, the Moon isn't!

No, it's not. It's a highly sophisticated machine that can travel in time and space and a relic of an ancient civilization which was moved to a parallel universe by the same machine.

But you can call it magic, yeah. .-.

[NFUN]

No, it's not. It's a highly sophisticated machine that can travel in time and space and a relic of an ancient civilization which was moved to a parallel universe by the same machine.

But you can call it magic, yeah. .-.

Clark's Third Law, IIRC.

5thHorseman, I agree that handwaving is usually fine, but they didn't even bother to handwave the Moon's age. They just assumed the audience wouldn't know better or didn't know better themselves.

Also, I never knew there was an off-topic lounge in these forums.

[Soda Popinski]

Possible The Doctor knew 100 million years ago, it hatched, and a new moon was "laid."

While I'm reaching here, how about 1.5 billion Gallifreyan tons...

[Nikolai]

I'm in no way saying that there is any basis for the Moon not being here for billions of years.

Sorry -- my bad, I guess, because that's exactly how I took "There is nothing to say that the Moon, a 4.x billion year object, wasn't placed in orbit around the Earth 100 million years ago." You can see how I was confused, can't you?

I'm saying that if you can hand wave it in a TV show, it's fine. Go for it.

On that, we agree, as long as by doing so you don't upset viewer expectations about the kind of show you're making.

[montyben101]

Apart from everything, what I don't get about the episode is why the shuttle crashed??? I mean there was not even an answer given for that. (apart from the fact that it would be impossible for it to land without engines underneath)

[Superfluous J]

Apart from everything, what I don't get about the episode is why the shuttle crashed??? I mean there was not even an answer given for that. (apart from the fact that it would be impossible for it to land without engines underneath)

I just assumed it was becasue it was old and piloted by people who have never piloted one before, without much if any help from any sort of ground control.

[Holo]

What were they doing with a shuttle on the Moon, anyway? I'm pretty sure they should have got something that can land vertically outside of an atmosphere regardless of any future propulsion technology.

Edited October 25, 2014 by Holo

[NFUN]

What were they doing with a shuttle on the Moon, anyway? I'm pretty sure they should have got something that can land vertically outside of an atmosphere regardless of any future propulsion technology.

I think they said that they rehabilitated a shuttle from a museum, and half of it was cut off to make a slide for children on it...so, the show's answer makes less sense than not knowing.

[Helix935]

I think they said that they rehabilitated a shuttle from a museum, and half of it was cut off to make a slide for children on it...so, the show's answer makes less sense than not knowing.

i repeat, they had to pick something familiar (the space shuttle is sadly more well known than orion) that the audience is actually aware of existing and it had to hold some cargo (the nukes) which yes doesn't make sense but it was suppose to get the job done...