Series 5-7: all the timelines, plot holes, and ways to fill some of them

[ibishtar]

I’ve attempted to make sense of the plot of Series 5-7 of Doctor Who (up to and including The Time of the Doctor). I’ll have to heavily summarise this in order to put it in infographic form, but here’s the full version of my write-up in case anyone’s interested. I’ve pointed out all the timeline changes as long as they pertain to the series arc (

Comments

[fanbot]

Thank you. This nicely sums up why I have not been able to get fully attached to Matt Smith and this whole mess of over used "hey look a paradox!" plot lines. I completely understand the concept of wibbly wobblilyness, but look at this inconsistent mess!
I just pray that Capaldi's run will be "cleaner."

[ibishtar]

Thanks. A common defence of Moffat's plotting is that the fans who criticise it just aren't paying close enough attention, that it all makes sense really. Well, I was paying attention, and there are numerous, major points where it doesn't make sense, not even with the most generous fanwanking imaginable.

[ibishtar]

I haven't seen B5, but that sounds like an impressive approach. It's not one I feel is totally necessary for television, I think making story up as you go along is fine, but not when, like with Moffat's DW and Lost, your storytelling consists on setting up future plots, and then not being consistent or satisfying when the time comes to answering the questions, or leave stuff hanging.

[glowing_fish]

Babylon 5 is a very important show, because the entire trend of everything in the past 15 years that isn't a reality show or a sitcom comes from Babylon 5. It might seem like an exaggeration, but Babylon 5 basically invented the story arc.