Rise of the Cybermen / The Age of Steel: | ||
 | ep 1 – | Dr Kendrick states at the beginning that the prototype Cyberman's brain is "welded" to its exoskeleton. Erm, a living human brain is the consistency of custard — how could you "weld" custard to anything?! |
| ep 1 – | Right afterwards, Lumic comments that the Cyber-body "will never age or die". Really? Just because it's made of metal it'll last forever? Hasn't he ever owned a car?? |
| ep 1 – | Dr Kendrick obviously hasn't seen many films, or else he'd know you never, ever tell your evil boss you're going to the authorities and expect him not to kill you there and then...! |
| ep 1 – | A split second before the TARDIS console explodes, the Doctor, Rose and Mickey are all sitting round it on the seats — then, as we cut straight to an overhead long shot as the whole thing goes up in a ball of fire, the seats are empty and the three of them have vanished! |
| ep 1 – | If the TARDIS is dead, why are there still lights on under the floor? And if they're indicative of a power source, then why doesn't the Doctor notice it straight away? (Also, they've disappeared by the time Mickey and the Doctor spot the glowing green power cell later on.) |
| ep 1 – | If the TARDIS fell to Earth as opposed to materialising, shouldn't it have made a whacking great crater? |
| ep 1 – | When Pete's car pulls up to the mansion, the rear registration plate says something like "G705 KRG", but when the car stops, the front registration plate says "PETE 1". |
| ep 1 – | Also, you can see a glaring film light reflected on Pete's car door as he opens it. |
| ep 1 – | Jackie's birthday is 1st February, which she says is "the same as Cuba Gooding Jr." — but his actual birthday is on 2nd January.
[Likely this was caused by a researcher looking up this information online and getting mixed up between US and UK date format (i.e. 1/2 vs 2/1) Though maybe the parallel universe Cuba Gooding Jr. has a different birthday?] |
| ep 1 – | The file on Rose's phone which she clicks to play the welcome video is called "welcome.jpg", which is a picture file, not a video file — it should be called "welcome.mp4" or something similar. |
| ep 1 – | Is Mr Crane sitting in a lorry doing nothing when Lumic calls to tell him that he needs "extra staff"? |
| ep 1 – | When the Doctor recharges the power cell, it gives off a green light. But how could the green light be shining onto the back of his hand? |
| ep 1 – | Why doesn't the Doctor leave the power cell in the safety of the TARDIS instead of putting it in his pocket as he goes running around an unknown parallel Earth? It's their only ticket out of there — what if he loses it?? |
| ep 1 – | What's the blue thing the President is standing in front of while he's waiting to go up to the airship? It's at the wrong angle to be the sky, and in other shots there doesn't appear to be anything blue in the vicinity. |
| ep 1 – | Throughout the episode, the Cybus logo has a small circle on the bottom left-hand side, but as the President goes up the stairs to the Zeppelin, the logo next to the door has the small circle on the upper left-hand side instead. |
| ep 1 – | Why would the President of the UK need to climb a steep ladder/stairs into a Zeppelin which is owned by a man in a wheelchair..? |
| ep 1 – | Right before the crowd on the street get their daily download, you can see one of the extras walking away and then turning straight around and walking back upon himself — clearly he's been told by the director to "mill about" for a bit! (He has long hair; look for him at the right of the screen.) |
| ep 1 – | When the people on the street receive the daily download, everyone freezes and doesn't blink — all except the bloke in the suit on the right of the screen, who clearly isn't paying attention to the director and continues to blink. |
| ep 1 – | All the "earpod" people stop moving when they receive their download; wouldn't this be a little bit impractical/dangerous for people driving, using heavy machinery, crossing the road, etc. Think of the chaos that would cause!
[Plus, pick-pockets would have a field day!] |
| ep 1 – | When the Doctor is reading the info being downloaded from Rose's phone, he says "Daily download published by Cybus Industries" — however the text visible on the phone doesn't mention "Cybus Industries", just "Cybus Network". |
| ep 1 – | Every shot of Ricky's gran shows the cameraman and boom operator reflected in her dark glasses. |
| ep 1 – | When Ricky's gran is hitting Mickey, it looks like Noel Clarke is trying hard not to laugh. |
| ep 1 – | In the van, Jake said the homeless were gathered up at Blackfriars... but they were clearly in front of the Dome in Greenwich (about 5 miles away from Blackfriars, as the crow flies). |
| ep 1 – | Lumic explains that his process uses "copyrighted chemicals" — surely chemicals are patented, not copyrighted? |
| ep 1 – | When Mr Crane directs all of the homeless people into the conversion chamber, we hear their screams as they supposedly undergo the conversion process. But they actually start screaming as soon as the chamber door opens, before any of them have even gone inside! |
| ep 1 – | Where do the Doctor and Rose get their waiter and waitress outfits? |
| ep 1 – | And why doesn't anyone at the party notice that the Doc and Rose aren't wearing the 'earpods', which would mark them out as terrorists? OK, Rose's hair covers her ears, but the Doctor should have stuck out like a sore thumb. |
| ep 1 – | When Mickey is being scanned for bugs, he has his legs spread out — but his virtual image on the computer screen shows him with his legs pulled up against the chair legs. |
| ep 1 – | If you were a secret underground freedom fighter battling the evil machinations of the Cybus Corporation, would you: (a) draw attention to yourself by not wearing ear-pods, like Ricky, or (b) wear dummy ear-pods in order to blend in with the rest of humanity, like anyone with an ounce of common sense would?? |
| ep 1 – | So Ricky is being hunted by the authorities, so much so that he can't even contact his own family, then his exact double turns up out of the blue. Why would Ricky instantly trust Mickey so much that he takes him along for a ride on his most critical mission (and even gives him a gun) instead of believing he's some sort of doppelganger spy sent to infiltrate/kill him?? |
| ep 1 – | You can visibly see the breath coming out of the Cybermens' mouths as they march around in the cold. Er... how exactly can a disembodied brain in a robot body be breathing? |
| ep 1 – | When the Cybermen burst into the mansion & surround everyone, one Cyberman in the background has a wonky head, as if it doesn't fit properly. |
| ep 1 – | How can Ricky's gran have two military guards at the end of the street, while the President of the UK doesn't appear to even have a single bodyguard (or anyone watching the perimeter) at Jackie's party..?? |
| ep 1 – | After the Cybermen have surrounded them at the party, Lumic and the President conveniently stop their conversation just long ehough for the Doctor to explain sotto voce to Rose about Cybermen! |
| ep 1 – | The reference to Cybermen being "Human Point 2" is a little puzzling. If the intended meaning is that Cybermen are the "next upgrade" to current humans, then wouldn't they be "Human Version 2" or "Human 2.0"? |
| ep 1 – | The President is told that because he refuses to be converted, he is "incompatible" and must be deleted. Er, why? The homeless people weren't exactly willing candidates, but they got converted all the same! (And of course, at the end of the episode the Doctor very deliberately surrenders, so why still claim he's incompatible despite surrendering?) |
| ep 1 – | After the President is killed and chaos ensues, instead of letting everyone run around like headless chickens, why doesn't Lumic just do a Cybus download into everyone's earpieces, rendering them immobile so the Cybermen could come and collect them with no muss or fuss? |
| ep 1 – | Does anyone else feel a bit cheated by the way the Doctor just runs away from the party, leaving a whole house full of people to be killed? That's not what you expect from our man, is it?
[Especially since we find out at the start of the next episode that he has a Cyberman-killing power cell in his pocket all along — why not zap the Cybes at the party instead of scarpering?] |
| ep 1 – | Rose loses her right earring when escaping through the Tyler's window, which magically appears back on a minute later when she and the Doc are surrounded by Cybermen. |
| ep 1 – | It's somewhat amusing that the Cyberman pursuing Jackie meekly opens the door to follow her, instead of smashing through it like his colleagues did when gatecrashing the party earlier! |
| ep 1 – | The Doctor and Rose seem to spend a lot of time running directly towards squads of Cybermen at the end of the episode, but only "noticing" them when the camera pans enough to bring them into shot. |
| ep 1 – | When Rose, Pete and the Doctor are on the run and we see Ricky and Jake come running in with their guns, it's clear that there are lights behind them. Are these not the lights from the van? If so, why stop in the middle of the field to fire their guns? Why not keep running for the van? Instead they just wait there meekly until they're surrounded...! |
| ep 1 – | Also, in one shot it looks like the Doctor and company are right next to the van, then all of a sudden Mickey runs out from nowhere and everyone just stands there meekly, but now the van is visibly further away. |
| ep 1 – | Jake shows an admirable regard for Occupational Health & Safety by ensuring he's wearing earplugs in the last few shots of the episode, to protect from the noise of his gun! |
| ep 1 – | Body double alert! When the Doctor says 'Hands up' as the Cybermen surround them for the cliffhanger, look at Ricky moving behind him. He's regenerated... |
| ep 2 – | What are the Cybermen doing while the Doctor & co try to escape in the van at the very start of the episode? |
| ep 2 – | Throughout the episode, why does no-one seem to notice or be concerned that the President of Britain has just been assassinated?
[Perhaps the news didn't get out — don't they have Twitter in parallel Earth??] |
| ep 2 – | What happened to the curfew mentioned by the guard in Rise of the Cybermen? People are clearly walking around after dark in the second episode. |
| ep 2 – | At a certain point you clearly see that Pete Tyler's ear pods are attached to a cork to enable them to fit snugly into his ears. |
| ep 2 – | Speaking of Pete's earpods, he takes them out far too early when the Doctor suggests removing them. |
| ep 2 – | Why is Rose so bothered about putting fake ear-pods on when her hair hides them anyway? |
| ep 2 – | Why does Crane seem to turn traitor so quickly on Lumic once the "broadcast" happened? Surely he knew Lumic's plans all along? |
| ep 2 – | As Lumic has his life support system sabotaged, we see shots of him flailing about, intersparsed with closeups of the Cybermen, with Lumic appearing to be unconscious in the background! |
| ep 2 – | The Doctor states that the "entire population" of London has been taken into the power station to be converted. Approximately 7.8 million people live in the Greater London area (which is how most people would interpret "the population of London") — and yes, Battersea Power Station is a pretty large building, but even remotely able to fit nearly 8 million people? I think not... |
| ep 2 – | When they go into the cooling tunnels, the first thing Mrs Moore says is that it's freezing — so why does she take her gloves off? |
| ep 2 – | The controlled Londoners are marching into the power station in perfect formation, equally spaced. That is, apart from a conveniently-placed gap exactly two spaces wide for Rose and Pete to slip into! |
| ep 2 – | Cybermen to the left, Cybermen to the right... hundreds of them everywhere — but when it comes to guarding the entrance of Lumic's Zeppelin, how convenient that two human guards are left behind, enabling Mickey & Jake to gain easy access to the airship! Why were they left behind when we see all of Lumic's other henchmen being led off for conversion?
[Just as well really — Jake's smelling salts wouldn't have worked quite so well on Cybermen guards!] |
| ep 2 – | When Pete and Rose are being led away to Cyber Control, and they try to look back and locate Cyber-Jackie, there's a group of Cybermen standing around and facing each other as if they're carrying on a conversation! One of them even looks to the camera and then turns back to the group of Cybermen. What on earth could they be talking about??
[It's like Earthshock all over again — even after being Cyber-converted, you can't stop people from standing around and having a natter like they're in the pub!] |
| ep 2 – | While the Doctor and Mrs Moore are in the tunnels, the Doctor taps on the face of a Cyberman and the sound is quite obviously plastic. But later on, when Mickey taps the Cyberman in the Zeppelin, the sound effects man must have come back from his tea break, as it sounds properly metallic. |
| ep 2 – | How the blazes does that Cyberman 'creep up' on Mrs Moore and the Doctor? As mentioned above, they make a STOMP STOMP noise every other time we see them moving around! |
| ep 2 – | So we're told that the emotional inhibitor is vital to the Cybermen, and indeed, we see later that disabling it makes them explode... if so, why on Earth did Lumic design the inhibitor to have an override code??
[Oops, I mean "why on ALTERNATE Earth"] |
| ep 1-2 – | Considering the bloodcurdling screams that accompanied the conversion process in Rise of the Cybermen, there's a noticeable absence of any screaming at the power station in the second episode! |
| ep 1-2 – | What happened to all those security blockades from episode 1? Did the possessed soldiers conveniently dismantle them all before going off to be converted? |
| ep 2 – | Look out for Cyber-Lumic's chair wobbling like a 70s Dalek as it comes through the doorway on the Zeppelin.
[Accidental blooper or deliberate homage??] |
| ep 2 – | When the Cyberman comes to life on the Zeppelin, the shot from behind shows it with its left arm already raised, then the next shot from the front shows it raising its left arm. |
| ep 2 – | Why don't the Cybermen start electrocuting the people running from the factory once the earpods are off? (Or hadn't they received orders?) At least one of the Cybermen is easily shoved aside by escapees! |
| ep 2 – | When Mickey and Jake pick up the video feed from Cyber Control, Mickey notes that the Doctor and Rose are still alive, but no mention is made of the fact that Mrs. Moore is not with them. Wouldn't Jake have noticed/cared what happened to his fellow freedom fighter? |
| ep 1-2 – | Lumic mentions in the first episode that the Cybermen brains are sustained in a vat of chemicals inside the Cyber-helmet. So when we see a Cyberman's head explode near the end of episode 2, shouldn't this liquid have gushed out, along with brain-bits? |
| ep 2 – | How or why is Lumic immune to the emotional inhibitors being deactivated? |
| ep 2 – | When the Doctor, Rose and Pete are heading towards the roof of the power station, the metal staircase they were running up had just been lapped with flames — shouldn't the handrails have been hot to the touch? |
| ep 2 – | Notice that the rope on the Zeppelin's ladder snaps roughly at the same point as the one that's been cut, and also snaps as soon as the cut happens — how on earth?? |
| ep 1-2 – | In episode 1, the TARDIS lands in London during the daytime and the Doctor remarks that they should meet back there in 24 hours, after the power cell has charged up. But when they return to the TARDIS, it's still night time. So surely the power cell shouldn't be fully charged? (or else they're all VERY late for their rendezvous and another day has passed beyond what we see on screen) |
| ep 2 – | In the goodbye scene, the close-ups of Rose (with a grass background) don't match the long shots (showing the Houses of Parliament). |
| ep 2 – | At the end, how can Mickey be sure his nan is still alive (as a human)? |
| ep 1-2 – | Unless the seasons are different on parallel Earth, or runaway global warning has occurred, there are leaves visible on the trees (and some on the ground) even though the story is set in February! |
| ep 1-2 – | The clock face of Big Ben seen in episode 1 is square, however it reverts back to round by the end of the following episode.
[In the first episode, Big Ben is represented by a CGI establishing shot & obviously The Mill changed the face to square to subtly suggest that this is a parallel Earth — however, the following episode is shot on location and hence it's the real Big Ben that we see, with its round face.] |
| ep 1-2 – | Throughout the story, the Cybermen make exactly the same STOMP STOMP STOMP sound, regardless of whether they're walking across hardwood flooring, gravel, or grass! |
| ep 1-2 – | Throughout both episodes, you'll notice that there are Cybermen of differing heights — in reality, that's obviously due to the different extras wearing the costumes, but in the episode, why would Cybus manufacture Cybersuits of ever-so-slightly different sizes?? |
| ep 1-2 – | Major plot hole alert: OK, Lumic is dying and wants to gain immortality though Cyber-conversion. Fine. So why does he insist on having the entire populace converted too? To control them? But he can already control everyone through the earpods! Not to mention that it makes no business sense: Cybus Industries will lose their primary source of income by turning all their customers into Cybermen!
[OK, not that super-villains always need logical reasons for their nefarious schemes, but still...] |