Editing The Doctor Dances (TV story)

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{{Infobox Story
|image = The-doctor-dances.jpg
|series =[[Doctor Who television stories|''Doctor Who'' television stories]]
|season number = Series 1 (Doctor Who)
|series episode number = 10
|story number = 164b
|doctor = Ninth Doctor
|companions = [[Rose Tyler|Rose]], [[Jack Harkness|Jack]]
|enemy = [[Empty Child]], [[Nanogene]]s
|setting = [[London]], [[1941]]
|writer = [[Steven Moffat]]
|director = [[James Hawes]]
|producer = [[Phil Collinson]]
|confidential=Weird Science (CON episode)
|broadcast date = [[28 May (releases)|28 May]] [[2005 (releases)|2005]]
|network=[[BBC One]]
|format = 1x45 minute episode
|production code = 1.10
|prev = The Empty Child (TV story)
|next = Boom Town (TV story)
|clip = Are you my mummy? - Doctor Who - The Doctor Dances - Series 1 - BBC
|clip2 = Everybody lives! - Doctor Who - The Doctor Dances - Series 1 - BBC
|bts = Bombs and zombies - Dr Who Confidential - BBC sci-fi
|script=The Shooting Scripts
}}
'''''The Doctor Dances''''' is the tenth episode of the [[Series 1 (Doctor Who)|first series]] of [[BBC Wales]] ''[[Doctor Who]]''.  It was the second of a two-part story, which narratively marked the start of [[Jack Harkness]]' travels in [[The Doctor's TARDIS|the TARDIS]].  Behind the scenes, ''The Doctor Dances'' — along with his script for [[The Empty Child|the preceding episode]] — landed [[writer]] (and future showrunner) [[Steven Moffat]] a [[Hugo Award]].

This is also the first time, as noted by the Doctor, where no-one has died during one of his adventures. It also introduced the concept of what humanity is up to in the [[51st century]]; according to the Doctor, breeding with aliens is a primary focus of the human race by then. Although younger viewers miss the double-meaning and vagueness of the explanations.

== Synopsis ==
[[Empty Child|The Child]]'s plague is spreading throughout [[World War II|wartime]] [[London]], and its zombie army is on the march. The [[Ninth Doctor]] and [[Rose Tyler|Rose]] form an alliance with intergalactic con man [[Jack Harkness|Captain Jack]], but find themselves trapped in the abandoned [[hospital]]. They head to the crash site of Jack's supposed space junk and discover the ground zero for the mysterious plague.

== Plot ==
The [[Empty Child plague|gas-masked virus carriers]] each call out "Mummy?" while they back the [[Ninth Doctor]], [[Rose Tyler|Rose]] and [[Captain Jack Harkness|Jack]] into a corner; meanwhile, in a house in another part of [[London]], [[Jamie (The Empty Child)|the child]] himself is cornering [[Nancy (The Empty Child)|Nancy]]. At the last moment, the Doctor forcefully steps forward and commands the zombies in a stern, parental voice to go to their room. The zombies pause, uncertain, and simultaneously, so does the child. The Doctor repeats his order, saying that he is very cross with them. Slowly, the zombies turn and return to their beds. At the same time, the child turns away from a confused Nancy, leaving the house and wandering off. As Jack and Rose laugh with relief, the Doctor retorts "Glad that worked. Those would have been terrible last words."

Jack explains how his con was supposed to work: he would find some space junk, throw it through time, and convince a [[Time Agent]] that it was worth something. He would then get 50% of the payment up front before a [[German]] bomb (which Jack would know about in advance) would land on it and erase all evidence of the swindle before the buyer could claim it. He says the [[London Blitz]] is particularly good for this, as bombs fall all the time, and recommends [[Pompeii]] as another suitable location that can double as a "vacation". The Doctor does not approve, and points to the dormant zombies around the room as the consequences of what Jack did. Jack protests that the crashed ship was an empty, burnt-out [[Chula ambulance|medical transport]] and so could not have anything to do with this. As the Doctor heads for the door and upstairs, they hear the all-clear siren sounding.

Nancy hears the all-clear as well. Before she can leave the house, she is caught by the family that lives there, who grab and force her back inside until the authorities can deal with her. However, when alone with Mr Lloyd, Nancy adroitly points out that there was much more food on the table than should have been in a time of rationing. She says that half the street believes that Mrs Lloyd is "messing about" with the butcher, but she knows that it is actually Mr Lloyd who is doing so, leaving the implied threat of blackmail hanging. She demands wire cutters, a [[torch]], food, and a trip to the bathroom before she leaves.

Back at the [[hospital]], the three time travellers reach [[Room 802]], where the child, the first victim of the "bomb", was taken. The Doctor gets Jack to use his [[sonic blaster]], identifying the weapon as coming from the [[51st century]]. The blaster digitizes the lock, leaving a clean square hole where it used to be, and they enter. Smirking, the Doctor tells Jack that he went to the factory where the blasters were made once; Jack notes that  it blew up. The Doctor retorts "Like I said, once."

The room is in disarray, the glass separating the observation booth from the rest of the room smashed. The Doctor prompts Jack, who notes that whatever did this was powerful and angry. On the floor are toys, and on the walls are child's drawings in crayon. The Doctor turns on the tape recorder in the booth, and the voice of [[Constantine (The Empty Child)|Dr Constantine]] issues from the [[speaker]]s. Constantine had been questioning the child, but all the child kept asking was if he was his "mummy". Rose is perplexed by this, as it seems the child doesn't even know who his mother is.

As the tape continues to play, the Doctor walks around the room, thinking out loud. The homeless children he encountered earlier were living around the bombsite. He supposes one of them wandered near the crashed ship and was somehow altered. The child is incredibly powerful, and he will soon realise that. The tape has stopped playing, but the cries of "mummy" continue to play. Rose is confused by this, but the Doctor suddenly realises his big mistake; he had sent the child to his room, and ''this'' is his room. The trio turn around and see the child standing there, asking his eternal question.

Jack tries to point his blaster at the child, but finds the Doctor swapped it with a banana. The Doctor uses Jack's blaster to digitise a wall of the room, telling Jack not to drop the banana as it's a good source of potassium. They run into the corridor, and Jack reverses the settings and reintegrates the wall, sealing the child in. However, their respite is short-lived as the child begins to batter his way through the wall and the zombies start approaching them from both sides. The child is not just controlling them — he is every living thing it has infected.
[[File:Nine_jack_screwdriver.jpg|thumb|left|The Doctor defends [[sonic screwdriver|his choice]] of sonic device.]]
Surrounded, Jack explains the functions of his weapon. He asks if the Doctor has anything. The Doctor is about to say what he has, but stops short; he explains that it's sonic. Jack demands to know what, to which the Doctor says "screwdriver!" Rose pulls Jack's blaster down to disintegrate the floor just as the zombies close in and they fall down to the ward below. The zombies in that ward wake up as well, and the trio run for a door, sealing it shut behind them with the Doctor's [[sonic screwdriver]]. However, it is a storeroom, and a dead end. As the Doctor looks for a way out, Jack vanishes.

Nancy reaches her makeshift living space at the abandoned rail yard, and finds the other children there. She chides them, saying that they should have looked for somewhere else to stay, but they say they are safe with her. Nancy disclaims this, saying that it is not that the child keeps coming after them; the child keeps coming after ''her''. As if to prove her point, a typewriter in the hovel starts typing on its own, tapping out the child's question. Nancy leaves, heading for the bombsite.

In the storeroom, Jack's voice comes over a disconnected [[radio]]. He had used his ship's [[teleport]]er, but could not take the others along because it was keyed to his molecular structure. He is trying to override the navigational computer's security, but it will take some time. Jack is able to communicate over the disconnected radio because of his ship's [[Om-Com]] technology — an ability the child also has. The child's voice comes over the radio, tauntingly saying that he is going to find them, and Jack jams the signal by playing Glenn Miller's "Moonlight Serenade", the same music he and Rose danced to on top of his spaceship.
[[File:Nine_rose_chula.jpg|thumb|The Doctor and Rose are rescued by Jack.]]
As the Doctor works on breaking through the concrete by setting up a resonance pattern with the sonic screwdriver, he asks Rose why she seems to trust Jack. Rose says Jack reminds her of the Doctor, except with "dating and dancing." The Doctor is mildly offended that Rose assumes he cannot dance, and Rose, amused, asks him to prove it. As they start to dance, however, they are teleported up to Jack's ship. There, the [[nanogene]]s heal the Doctor's hand that he had burnt on the TARDIS console when it sparked during the pursuit of the cylinder. The Doctor identifies Jack's "borrowed" ship as being of [[Chula]] design like the crashed ship. Jack works on getting the nav-com back online, and in answer to Rose's questions, he explains that his confidence trickster activities are not wholly mercenary. He left the Time Agents when he discovered that they had stolen two years of his memory. Jack observes that the Doctor does not trust him, and he may be right not to.

Meanwhile, Nancy has reached the crash site, and uses the wire cutters to get past the barbed wire. However, as she reaches the tarpaulin-covered ship, she is discovered by the soldiers guarding the site and placed under arrest. She is brought to a hut where [[Jenkins (The Doctor Dances)|Jenkins]], a sick soldier bearing the lightning scar mark of the child's plague, is resting. Despite her pleading with the commanding officer [[Algy]] not to leave her there, he handcuffs her to the table. Once left alone, Nancy can do nothing but watch helplessly as Jenkins painfully transforms into another zombie in a [[gas mask]].

The Doctor, Jack and Rose reach the crash site as well. Rose offers to distract the guards' commander, but Jack points out that he knows Algy - and Rose is not his type. Jack goes ahead instead, leaving Rose slightly shocked. The Doctor points out that in the [[51st century]], people are a lot more flexible in who they "dance" with — "so many species, so little time". However, when Jack tries to talk to Algy, the [[British]] officer transforms into a zombie and collapses. The Doctor hears singing from a nearby hut and finds Nancy, who is keeping the zombie Jenkins asleep with a lullaby. The Doctor frees her from her bonds and they all head to the Chula transport.

As Jack tries to open the coded lock on the transport, he sets off an alarm which awakens the zombies in [[Albion Hospital]], who then start to move toward the site. The Doctor orders Jack to secure the gates and tells Rose and Nancy to reconnect the barbed wire with the sonic screwdriver. Nancy asks Rose who they are, and Rose tells her that they are from the future. When Nancy is sceptical that there will even ''be'' a future, given all the carnage of war around them, Rose tells her that she is from London in the future. Nancy is a little hesitant to believe that since Rose isn't German. Rose confidentially tells her that the British will win the war.

Jack manages to open the transport and reveals that it is empty. However, the Doctor asks Rose what they should expect in a Chula medical transport, and Rose hits on the right answer: nanogenes. The ship was full of them, and when it crashed, billions and billions of nanogenes escaped, programmed to heal everything they came across. However, the first thing the nanogenes found was a dead child wearing a [[gas mask]]; never having seen a "normal" living human before, they used that as their only pattern. They then started to transform everything they encountered to fit that baseline. The nanogenes have given unimaginable power to a little boy searching for his mother. He tells them there isn't a child alive that wouldn't tear the world apart to find their mother and this one who is both willing and able to do it.

Cries of "mummy" fill the air as the zombie army, led by the child, approach the site. When Jack triggered the alarm, the ship thought it was under attack and so summoned the zombies as troops to protect it. The transport was a battlefield medical unit, built to heal Chula warriors and send them back to the front lines; that was why the child was so strong and could transmit his voice using the same technology as Jack's ship. Nancy begins to cry, saying that it is all her fault. The Doctor starts to comfort her, but then realises that the child — Jamie — is not her brother, but her son, whose maternity she kept a secret even from him.
[[File:Mother_and_empty_child.jpg|thumb|left|Nancy answers the child's question.]]
Jack notes the bomb is seconds away from dropping, but the nav-com is back on-line and the teleporter is only working for him again. The Doctor tells him to do what he has to, and Jack teleports away, making Rose think he has abandoned them. The Doctor asks Nancy to tell Jamie the answer to the question he has been asking all along. Jamie steps up to Nancy, asking once again whether she is his mummy. Nancy answers yes, she is, and she will always be. They embrace, and the nanogenes swell up around them in a cloud of glowing particles. To the Doctor's delight, the nanogenes scan Nancy and Jamie, matching their [[DNA]]. Because she is Jamie's mother, Nancy's genetic code provides them the information they lacked with Jamie. The nanogenes recognise Nancy's living form as the correct pattern and, using this as their new baseline, restore Jamie back to full health. With a laugh of joy, the Doctor unmasks the restored Jamie and lifts him in his arms.

Rose suddenly remembers the bomb, but the Doctor says it has been taken care of. As it streaks down towards them, so does Jack's ship, capturing the bomb in its [[tractor beam]]. The Doctor has judged Jack's psychology rightly, and the former Time Agent has returned for the rescue. Jack is riding the bomb itself in the beam, and tells the Doctor that the bomb has commenced detonation. Jack is keeping it in stasis, but it will not last. The Doctor asks him to get rid of it as safely as he can. Jack tells Rose good-bye, and teleports with the bomb back to his ship, which flies away. The Doctor waves his fingers, summoning the nanogenes around them and applying a patch to their programming. He hurls the nanogenes towards the zombies, crying out triumphantly, "Everybody lives, Rose! Just this once — everybody lives!"

The former zombies rise, all of them restored to their normal selves and with their ailments cured by the nanogenes, even to the extent of [[Harcourt (The Doctor Dances)|Mrs Harcourt]] regrowing her missing leg. The Doctor leaves [[Constantine (The Empty Child)|Dr Constantine]] to tend to his patients and take credit for all the cures, bidding them farewell with an exhortation to beat the Germans, save the world, and not forget the Welfare State. He sets the Chula transport to self-destruct once they leave, to fulfil history's requirement of an explosion. As Rose and the Doctor enter the TARDIS, the Doctor is pleased with himself — the reprogrammed nanogenes will fix all the earlier damage they did before they deactivate and Nancy and Jamie will get the help they need from Dr Constantine. Rose then asks about Jack and the unexploded bomb, and his smile fades.

In space, Jack discovers that there is no way to eject the bomb or even himself, and his situation seems hopeless. With an air of resignation, he orders "emergency protocol 417", a large [[martini]] (with too much [[vermouth]]) and begins to drink as the strains of Glenn Miller start to play... from the open doors of the TARDIS appearing at the back of his ship. He enters the console room and the Doctor, pointing out that "your ship's about to explode, there's going to be a draft", tells him to shut the doors, welcoming him to his ship. Rose is trying to teach the [[Time Lord]] how to dance, but he's having trouble remembering how. "Much bigger on the inside," Jack exclaims in amazement, to which the Doctor tells him, "You'd better be," as he sets the TARDIS off on its next course. Rose then interprets what the Doctor is saying to Jack as, "You may cut in." The Doctor then tells Rose he "remembers". Rose wonders what he has remembered as the Doctor changes the music to "In the Mood", saying, "I can dance".  Rose points out that Jack may want this dance. The Doctor agrees, but mischievously asks, "But who with?" As Jack watches, smiling, the Doctor and Rose dance around the [[TARDIS console|console]]. At the end of the music, the Doctor dips Rose, much to her excitement.

== Cast ==
* [[Ninth Doctor|Doctor Who]] - [[Christopher Eccleston]]
* [[Rose Tyler]] - [[Billie Piper]]
* [[Jamie (The Empty Child)|The Child]] — [[Albert Valentine]]
* [[Nancy (The Empty Child)|Nancy]] - [[Florence Hoath]]
* [[Jack Harkness|Jack]] - [[John Barrowman]]
* [[Timothy Lloyd]] - [[Luke Perry]]
* [[Arthur Lloyd|Mr Lloyd]] - [[Damian Samuels]]
* [[Lloyd (The Empty Child)|Mrs Lloyd]] - [[Cheryl Fergison]]
* [[Jim (The Empty Child)|Jim]] — [[Joseph Tremain]]
* [[Ernie (The Empty Child)|Ernie]] — [[Jordan Murphy]]
* [[Algy]] — [[Robert Hands]]
* [[Jenkins (The Doctor Dances)|Jenkins]] - [[Martin Hodgson]]
* Dr [[Constantine (The Empty Child)|Constantine]] - [[Richard Wilson (actor)|Richard Wilson]]
* Mrs [[Harcourt (The Doctor Dances)|Harcourt]] - [[Vilma Hollingbery]]
* Voice of The [[Empty Child]]<!--Exact capitalisation--> — [[Noah Johnson]]
* Computer Voice — [[Dian Perry]]

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== References ==
=== Sonic technology ===
* Jack uses a [[sonic blaster]] from the weapons factories of [[Villengard]], and learns that the Doctor had arranged for the destruction of the site and its replacement with a [[banana]] plantation.
* Waiting to hear what sonic device the Doctor has, Jack mentions his blaster can also function as a sonic cannon and triple-fold sonic disruptor. Using the "squareness" function drains its battery quickly, however. 
* Setting 2428-D of the [[sonic screwdriver]] allows it to reattach barbed wire. The Doctor also uses it in an attempt to resonate and break apart concrete, to allow him and Rose to escape. 

=== Bad Wolf arc ===
* The [[German]] bomb Jack sits atop while his Chula spaceship uses a tractor beam to keep it from impacting and exploding has the words "[[Bad Wolf meme|Schlechter Wolf]]" stamped on the side.

== Story notes ==
* When Nancy approaches the crashed ship and cuts the barbed-wire fence, the score features the brisk string motif that would become the featured motif in the ''[[Torchwood (TV series)|Torchwood]]'' TV series theme.
* This is the second time that the [[cliffhanger]] from the previous episode was resolved before the main [[title sequence]].  The first was in ''[[World War Three]]''.  This practise would fall out of favour amongst the [[BBC Wales]] production staff, however. Since 2005, most "part two" pre-titles sequences have been comprised entirely of a "part one" recap, or of a recap plus a seemingly unrelated teaser.     
* This is sometimes assumed to be the first episode to use a verb in the title, but that honour actually belongs to "[[All Roads Lead to Rome]]", the second episode of ''[[The Romans]]''. In any event, it is unusual for a ''Doctor Who'' title to have a verb in it, but it is more common in the [[BBC Wales]] version of the programme.  [[Steven Moffat]] seems to enjoy titles with verbs, having also contributed ''[[The Pandorica Opens (TV story)|The Pandorica Opens]]'', ''[[A Good Man Goes to War]]'' and ''[[Let's Kill Hitler]]''.  Arguably, ''[[Blink]]'' could also be included, but ''blink'' is both a noun ''and'' a verb.
* It was the first single-Doctor episode since ''[[Doctor Who and the Silurians]]'', part seven, to directly name the programme's main character in its title.  However, it's not quite so unusual as might be thought.  It had happened a couple of time in [[William Hartnell|Hartnell]]-era episode titles, with "[[The Death of Doctor Who]]" (the fifth episode of ''[[The Chase (TV story)|The Chase]]''), "[[A Holiday for the Doctor]]" (the first episode of ''[[The Gunfighters (TV story)|The Gunfighters]]'') and ''[[Doctor Who (TV story)|Doctor Who]]'' (1996 TV movie).  Also, the title of [[season 23]] simply refers to the Doctor by another name, since he is the "Time Lord" indicated by ''[[The Trial of a Time Lord]]''.  And it has happened since ''The Doctor Dances'', with ''[[The Doctor's Daughter]]'', ''[[The Next Doctor]]'', ''[[Vincent and the Doctor]]'', ''[[The Doctor's Wife]], [[The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe (TV story)|The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe]], [[The Name of the Doctor (TV story)|The Name of the Doctor]], [[The Night of the Doctor (TV story)|The Night of the Doctor]], [[The Day of the Doctor (TV story)|The Day of the Doctor]], and [[The Time of the Doctor (TV story)|The Time of the Doctor]].''  
* The word ''dancing'' is frequently used in this episode as a metaphor for [[sex]]. [[Writer]] [[Steven Moffat]] would use the innuendo again in ''[[The Girl in the Fireplace]]'', in which it is hinted that the [[Tenth Doctor]] might have some form of romantic dalliance with [[Madame de Pompadour]].
* Taken in its more innocent context, this episode features one of the few scenes in which the Doctor is actually shown to {{w|partner dance}}. The only time he does so in the "classic" series is when the [[Seventh Doctor]] briefly and awkwardly dances with [[Rachel Defwydd|Ray]] in ''[[Delta and the Bannermen (TV story)|Delta and the Bannermen]]''.
* According to [[Steven Moffat]], the sonic blaster used by Jack to blast open the door is destined to be kept in [[the TARDIS]] for [[River Song]] to find, so that she can use it in ''[[Forest of the Dead]]''. ([[CON]]: ''[[River Runs Deep]]'') 
 
=== Ratings ===
7.9 Million viewers

=== Filming locations ===
* [[Barry Island]]

=== Production errors ===
{{discontinuity}}
* During the scene where the Doctor, Rose and Jack are being confronted by zombies in the hospital, the light from Jack's sonic blaster can be briefly seen reflected in the window.

== Continuity ==
* The [[Eleventh Doctor]] later also visits the [[London Blitz]] during [[1941]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Victory of the Daleks (TV story)|Victory of the Daleks]]'')
* [[River Song]] later mocks the [[Eleventh Doctor]] for brandishing his [[sonic screwdriver]] in a gunfight and tells him to go "build a [[cabinet]]" ([[TV]]: ''[[Day of the Moon]]'') — similar to Jack's taunt that the Doctor could put up some shelves. The [[War Doctor]] asks if the [[Tenth Doctor]] and the [[Eleventh Doctor]] are going to "build a cabinet" when they similarly brandish their screwdrivers while surrounded by Queen [[Elizabeth I]]'s soldiers. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Day of the Doctor]]'')
* Rose tells Jack that when she met the Doctor, he "blew up my job". ([[TV]]: ''[[Rose (TV story)|Rose]]'')
*  [[Jack Harkness]] says, "You've got to set your alarm for Volcano Day", to the Doctor when referring to holidays. The Doctor later uses this same terminology when encountering a real volcano. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Fires of Pompeii (TV story)|The Fires of Pompeii]]'')
* The [[Tenth Doctor]] says, "Are you my mummy?" when given a gas mask to wear, ([[TV]]: ''[[The Poison Sky (TV story)|The Poison Sky]]'') as does the [[Twelfth Doctor]] when he sees the mummy-like [[Foretold]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Mummy on the Orient Express (TV story)|Mummy on the Orient Express]]'')
* The Tenth Doctor says, "Bananas are good." when he tells Rose to always, "bring a banana to a party," ([[TV]]: ''[[The Girl in the Fireplace (TV story)|The Girl in the Fireplace]]). ''This is a reference to what the Doctor says when describing his liking for bananas to Jack.

== Home video releases ==
[[File:Bbcdvd-s1-v3.jpg|thumb|Series 1 Volume 3 DVD Cover]]

=== DVD releases ===
* This story was released on a vanilla DVD with ''[[The Long Game]]'', ''[[Father's Day (TV story)|Father's Day]]'' and ''[[The Empty Child]]''.
* It was also released as part of the series 1 DVD box set
* This story was released with Issue 5 of the [[Doctor Who DVD Files]].

=== Blu-Ray releases ===
* This story was released in the Series 1 Blu-Ray set in November 2013 along with the rest of the series. Despite not being filmed in HD, the Blu-Ray features an upscaled picture and fewer compression artefacts.
* This release was initially bundled with the first seven series of the revived ''Doctor Who''.

=== Digital releases ===
* This story is available for streaming via Netflix, Hulu Plus and Amazon Prime. It can also be purchased on iTunes.
* In 2015, it was released by BBC Worldwide on BitTorrent and iTunes, in ''A Decade of the Doctor ''bundle to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the new series. It included introductions by Peter Capaldi, ''Earth Conquest: The World Tour ''and an episode guide.

== External links ==
* {{bbcdw|episodes/2005/doctordances.shtml|The Doctor Dances}}
{{dwrefguide|who_tv08.htm|The Doctor Dances}}
* {{whoniverse|s01_10|The Doctor Dances}}
* {{briefhistory|serials/2005ij.html|The Doctor Dances}}
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[[Category:Doctor Who (2005) television stories]]
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