Doctor Who: 11 Previous Stories That The Peter Capaldi Era Should Learn From

8. The Android Invasion

There's an argument to be made that in order to see how effectively the presence of Daleks covers over any plot inconsistencies all one has to do is look at The Android Invasion. Written by Terry Nation, but not including his signature aliens, TAI is a clear example of how plot logic matters more when you aren't distracted by Daleks actually being in the story. But that's not the lesson to be learned at the moment. The lesson to be learned at the moment comes from the realization that this is the last time we saw Sgt. Benton or Harry Sullivan. And did they bring those two once-significant characters back for one last sendoff to show them how much we'd appreciated all they'd meant to the show? No. No, we comprehensively did not. As far as one can tell, they were brought back for no other reason than to say to the actors, 'Hey, remember when you used to be on this show? Well you're not now. Go screw yourselves.' Which is unfortunate, particularly when you remember that John Levene had been a regular presence on the show for as far back as Season Six. All of which is one huge object lesson in recognizing that if we're going to bring back River Song for the next season then we should definitely have a better reason for her being there than just for the sake of her being there one last time.