The first serial featuring the Fifth Doctors run took place on a spaceship piloted by the Urbanka, a species that had previously abducted humans from the Ancient Greek, Chinese Australian, and Mayan civilizations. Four days journey from Earth, the Urbanka intended to use their collected knowledge of human history to kill the human race and plunder the planet for materials. Of course, bringing together people from four distinct cultures and time periods on an alien spaceship was always going to cause trouble. Putting aside the Ancient Greeks wearing trainers, the Chinese Mandarins in jeans, and the fact that Tegan just happens to fluently speak a random 40,000 year old Australian language, the biggest error here comes from the Doctor's description of the Mayan civilization. The conversations that the Doctor holds with the alien Urbanka clearly place the events of the serial in the late 20th Century, when the episodes were filmed and broadcast. However, the Doctor states that "the Mayans in South American flourished eight thousand years ago." In reality, the oldest Maya cities date from around 750 BC, with the civilization entering their Classic period, and the peak of their civilization, in the early part of the First Century AD. The Spanish Empire colonized began their conquest of Mayan territories in the 16th Century, with the fall of the last Maya city in 1697. At most, the Mayan civilization would have flourished two or three thousand years before the events of the serial, not eight.
With a (nearly) useless degree in English literature and a personal trainer qualification he's never used, Freddie spends his times writing things that he hopes will somehow pay the rent. He's also a former professional singer, and plays the saxophone and ukulele. He's not really used to talking about himself in the third person, and would like to stop now, thanks.
