1. UNIT Dating Controversy - The Sontaran Stratagem/The Day Of The Doctor
If you want to start a fight amongst a group of classic Who fans (and why wouldnt you?) simply mention three medium sized words- UNIT dating controversy. During the Jon Pertwee era, the Doctor worked with the paramilitary organisation UNIT, fighting topical fears like consumerism, pollution and dinosaurs. But what looked like 70s Britain was actually80s Britain. Despite sharing the same aesthetic as, well, the decade it was made in, the UNIT years were supposed to be set in the future. This started to cause problems when the Fifth Doctor revisited UNIT in 1983s Mawdryn Undead. Here, the Brigadier claims he retired in 1976, which makes no sense if he was fighting Sea Devils in 1980. Of course, it makes sense if viewed as a direct representation of our timeline, but not in the half-thought-out continuity envisioned by the Pertwee boys. So what we have is a mess. Doctor Who fans love a mess. They love rationalising messes. Luckily for us, Russell T Davies and Steven Moffat are better than them. Cut them in half and they bleed Who, but they also have a sense of humour, thus explaining those vague lines of dialogue in Sontaran Stratagem and Day of the Doctor- Seventies or eighties, depending on the dating protocol. Theyre not intended to build mystery around the origins of UNIT. Theyre jokes at the expense of hardcore Who obsessives. Whats most brilliant is that theyre the only people who would get the joke. Or even care about it.
I am Scotland's 278,000th best export and a self-proclaimed expert on all things Bond-related. When I'm not expounding on the delights of A View to a Kill, I might be found under a pile of Dr Who DVDs, or reading all the answers in Star Wars Trivial Pursuit. I also prefer to play Playstation games from the years 1997-1999. These are the things I like.
