Wednesday 24 August 2022

What's Wrong With... Carnival of Monsters


Can the TARDIS controls really be so useless that they can't tell the difference between Earth and a planet in another galaxy?

How, exactly, does the Miniscope work? 
If the exhibits exist in time loops, then the Doctor and Jo should be caught up in them as well and be stuck in their 20 minute loop. The Doctor might be immune but Jo shouldn't be. The "aggro-meter" shouldn't work as no external force should influence the exhibits. (Unless it's a Chronic Hysteresis, which is a really c**p type of time loop).
Alternatively, if the people and creatures have simply been programmed in some way to repeat their actions then they will need to be fed and watered to survive. Constantly walking round the deck, with no sleep, should have an impact on them, and Major Daly should be paralytic with all that alcohol he consumes every 20 minutes.
And lets not forget toilet needs...

The big one - how can the Doctor recall the mystery of the SS Bernice if it gets put back where it was supposed to be and continues on its journey? The only way round this is if the ship suffers some other disaster soon after and sinks without trace, so all these people - Major Daly, Clare and Lt Andrews - are doomed to a watery grave.
The plesiosaur's presence is never explained. Was it just thrown into the mix by whoever stocked the Miniscope, or was it actually swimming around the Indian Ocean in 1926, and was the cause of the ship's disappearance after all?
Maybe blowing a hole in the hull with dynamite was the cause of the sinking. Andrews didn't think that one through properly, did he?
(And how do miniaturised sticks of dynamite cause so much damage to the Miniscope's innards?).
Why does Daly's calendar have the dates for 1925 when it's supposed to be the following year?
The back of the Cyberman's helmet is clearly hanging open.

Orum doubts that the Drashigs will break through the external metal plating of the Miniscope, despite having just witnessed the Doctor emerge from it.
The strange metal plate on the floor of the ship may not be visible to the passengers and crew, but it sticks up by half an inch or so. Don't people stub their toes or trip over it?
Do the people who maintain Miniscopes have to be shrunk to do it? The hatches to each domain  have metal bands across them, which suggest that they are designed for tiny people.
Vorg is treated like a national hero for wiping out the Drashigs - despite the fact that they wouldn't have been there if it hadn't been for him.
The locals are going to twig to his sleight of hand pretty quickly, no matter how dumb Pletrac is, so Vorg and Shirna aren't going to survive very long on Inter Minor.

Are the Functionaries supposed to be wearing masks, as that's exactly what it looks like.
In any other story the plight of the Functionaries would have been a major plot point. The Doctor would have fought to free them from servitude. Not the case here. The Doctor doesn't raise an objection, let along take action to free them, and just clears off leaving them enslaved.

Behind the scenes, Barry Letts actually liked the new arrangement of the theme music - the one known as the Delaware version. It's the awful boingy-boingy one. Everyone apart from Letts hated it - even the people who made it.
What did the Australians do to upset him that they were sent episodes which included it?

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