Ok, so it has very little bearing on the plot and is not exactly going to shake Doctor Who to the ground but this spot by Redditor Suffocatedwallaby is at least an interesting application of real science to the Whoniverse, and what could be more fun than that, right geeks?

Advertisement

As Suffocatedwallaby points out, something seems to have gone wrong in the Who team's calculations during The Doctor's adventures on the Dalek home planet of Skaro in series nine episode The Witch's Familiar.

Remember that moment when Missy shoves Clara into a hole to see how deep it is...

119119

...and after waiting for the crunch at the bottom decides, "About 20 feet"?

Well if that's true, Clara would have been falling at a suspiciously slow rate, which would either mean the gravity on Skaro was so weak that its inhabitants would be floating, not walking (or, if you're a Dalek gliding), or Missy got her sums wrong (please don't tell her we said that).

Suffocatedwallaby demonstrates this as a result of calculating what the gravity on Skaro would be like if Missy had been right. Full explanation here if you can handle it...

119140
Advertisement

In summary:

119120

Authors

Thomas LingDigital editor, BBC Science Focus

Thomas is Digital editor at BBC Science Focus. Writing about everything from cosmology to anthropology, he specialises in the latest psychology, health and neuroscience discoveries. Thomas has a Masters degree (distinction) in Magazine Journalism from the University of Sheffield and has written for Men’s Health, Vice and Radio Times. He has been shortlisted as the New Digital Talent of the Year at the national magazine Professional Publishers Association (PPA) awards. Also working in academia, Thomas has lectured on the topic of journalism to undergraduate and postgraduate students at The University of Sheffield.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement