DisContinuity & HyperTime

Who continuity was rather like the 1066 And All That definition of History – What You Can Remember. 

It was what I could remember about my predecessor’s shows, what my successors could remember of mine. 

Not surprisingly, this policy led to occasional confusion about such weighty matters as The Blinovitch Limitation Effect and the exact capabilities of the sonic screwdriver. 

‘A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds,’ said somebody – Ralph Waldo Emerson actually. 

Packed with goofs, fashion victims and dialogue disasters, Doctor Who – The DisContinuity Guide proves that the makers of Doctor Who over the years have been, if nothing else, quite magnificently large-minded. 

It also digs up some of the programme’s roots, homages or ripoffs. ‘The War Games’: All Quiet on the Western Front, Star Trek… 

As my old friend Mac Hulke always used to say, ‘All you need for Television is an original idea – it doesn’t necessarily have to be your original idea.’ 

In my days as script editor, Who never really had a ‘Bible’, a Book of Rules and Facts in which Continuity was set in stone. Who continuity was rather like the 1066 And All That definition of History – What You Can Remember. 

It was what I could remember about my predecessor’s shows, what my successors could remember of mine. Not surprisingly, this policy led to occasional confusion about such weighty matters as the Blinovitch Limitation Effect and the exact capabilities of the sonic screwdriver. 

Personally I’m all in favour of a bit of flexibility, if only because it provides so much material for such delightfully loony works of scholarship as this. 

If you’ve ever stayed awake worrying about Zoe’s erratically photographic memory, Morbius’s inability to keep his head, or the precise ramifications of The Doctor’s relations with The Celestial Intervention Agency, then this is the book for you. 

— Terrance Dicks