Perhaps Steven Moffat could write an episode (perhaps for Comic Relief) in which he takes us to an alternative past where Russell Davies had written some better stories.

Plus, what everyone else said.

On the technical points

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Not to mention full of holes, because since The Doctor is dead, he wouldn't have been able to stop the Carrionites (The Shakespeare Code), the Daleks (Daleks in Manhattan), the Family Of Blood or the Pyroviles (The Fires of Pompeii) destroy the human race in the past anyway.

It's a parallel world, it doesn't mean that everything that would otherwise have happened in our world would still happen - clearly some of it did, but there may have been other causal reasons why other things didn't.

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One more problem to add, though - how come the TARDIS didn't translate the 'Chinese' symbols into English for Donna, though, like it did the Latin in Pompeii?

The Tardis doesn't change reality, it can only change Donna's perception of it. Any time she looks at something to want to read it she mysteriously finds she can, but that doesn't mean that the structure of the universe is already altered for her on the off-chance of her wanting to do so.

Actually, no, I'm being too harsh. I'm more in accord with Purves' view that it was slight but innocuous, than I am with the view of anyone dismissing it as drivel. A few cosmetic changes (such as a creature that looked less like a novelty backpack) and a less plagiaristic denouement would have helped it no end, and at least it didn't descend into the kind of gratuitous, over-wrought climax that was the downfall of Boom Town.

My Key To Time odyssey has finally brought me to The Armageddon Factor, one of the least well regarded season finales of the classic series (although the first four episodes have been surprisingly entertaining). I wonder how this season's conclusion will fare, and if, with so many companions hogging the limelight, Dave will get any more screen time than the Black Guardian.

Yoss wrote:

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On the technical points

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Not to mention full of holes, because since The Doctor is dead, he wouldn't have been able to stop the Carrionites (The Shakespeare Code), the Daleks (Daleks in Manhattan), the Family Of Blood or the Pyroviles (The Fires of Pompeii) destroy the human race in the past anyway.

It's a parallel world, it doesn't mean that everything that would otherwise have happened in our world would still happen - clearly some of it did, but there may have been other causal reasons why other things didn't.

It wasn't a parallel world - it was *this* world without the Doctor. And it just so happenned that the only things that did happen were the present day RTD-written (with one exception) ones.

I have mired myself in the morass of geekitude that is the Outpost Gallifrey forum and aparrently, as mentioned in the episode, the plastic beetle was part of the 'Trickster Brigade', the Trickster being an adversary in the Sarah Jane Adventures with extended time manipulation powers.

Consider yourself told.

What is perhaps more perplexing is that the Rattigan Academy and the ATMOS factory were presumably destroyed by the replica Titanic, thus making it impossible for the Sontarans to carry through their invasion plans.

It was so a parallel world, the doctor even specifically said so towards the end.

So how did real world Donna know how to pass on the message that parallel world Rose gave parallel world Donna?

See! That wasn't one of the better episodes as the whole thing was far too confusing. The casual viewer, who may not have seen all the episodes referenced, would also have no idea what was going on.

I wondered about how and why Donna would remember anything of the episode too, IVT, but apparently she can.

I watched City of Death yesterday - one of the Douglas Adams co-written efforts from the Tom Baker days. The plot is pretty much the same as Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. Which just interested me, slightly. Carry on.

Ever watched Shada?

No, is there any point? How much of it did they make?

They completed the location work (in Cambridge) and one of the three studio sessions. The only reasons for watching it would be a. if you enjoyed the rest of season 17 (but don't expect it to be anywhere near as good as City Of Death) and b. if you're interested in Doctor Who stories that had their plot lifted by Douglas Adams for Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (which you clearly are).

Oh, and against immense competition, it features for my money the campest villain ever to feature in the classic series.

coughcoughcoughHarrisonChasecoughcough

Well, if Harrison Chase had also minced flambouyantly around Cambridge in a silver cape and fedora, he might have stolen it.

Okay, I might have a gander at some point.