The Zygon Inversion (TV story)

The Zygon Inversion
Doctor:	Twelfth Doctor
Companion(s):	Clara
Featuring:	Osgood, Kate
Main enemy:	Bonnie, Zygons
Main setting:	London, England, 21st century
Key crew
Writers:	Peter Harness and Steven Moffat
Director:	Daniel Nettheim
Producer:	Peter Bennett
Release details
Story number:	257b
Premiere broadcast:	7 November 2015
Premiere network:	BBC One
Format:	1x50 minute episode
Doctor Who television stories
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Production order
← Previous	The Zygon Invasion
Next →	TBA

The Zygon Inversion was the eighth episode of the ninth series of Doctor Who produced by BBC Wales.

This episode saw the Twelfth Doctor describe the immense pain he felt while fighting in the Time War. It also revealed that there are two Osgood Boxes, and their design is based on that of the Moment; this symbolizes how the Doctor nearly destroyed his entire race with a box, just as Kate and Bonnie were about to destroy theirs.

It was also one of the first episodes to explore the idea of sympathy for an alien race, with one particular Zygon openly committing suicide.

Plot

to be added

Cast

• The Doctor - Peter Capaldi
• Clara - Jenna Coleman
• Osgood - Ingrid Oliver
• Kate - Jemma Redgrave
• Etoine - Nicholas Asbury
• Zygons - Aidan Cook, Tom Wilton, Jack Parker
• Voice of the Zygons - Nicholas Briggs

Uncredited cast

• Bonnie - Jenna Coleman, Ingrid Oliver

Crew

to be added

References

• The Fleet Estate Centre is visited.
• The block of flats that Etoine lives in is called Meelfe House.

The Doctor

• The Doctor claims to Osgood that his real first name is "Basil".
• The Doctor nicknames Bonnie "Zygella".
• The Doctor jokes that as he is over 2000 years old, thus he is old enough to be a Messiah.
• The Doctor calls London a "dump." When Osgood says he goes there often, he says that does not mean he has to like it.
• The Doctor escapes the plane in a parachute with a Union Jack on it. Similarly, James Bond used a parachute with a Union Jack on it to sky-dive in the movie "The Spy Who Loved Me".
• The Doctor once created an invisible watch, which had the terrible design flaw of being invisible.
• The Doctor keeps a browser history in his sonic sunglasses, and advises Osgood not to look at it.

Clara

• Clara has enough authority within UNIT that she can access the Black Archive without question. She is one of only four individuals who can access the Osgood Boxes (the others are Osgood, her Zygon double, and the Doctor).
• In the TARDIS, Clara fiddles with the console's settings. The Doctor does not appear to object, suggesting Clara knows what she is doing.
• The newspaper in Clara's dream that she checks to ensure she's dreaming, which reads gibberish (meaning it wasn't meant to have a role in her dream) is called KMA ORUAS.

Story notes

to be added

Ratings

• BBC One Overnight: 4.13 million
• BBC America Overnight: to be added

Filming location

to be added

Production errors

• When the Doctor, Clara, and Osgood arrive at the TARDIS, the Doctor is a few feet away from it. In the next shot, he is standing right next to it.
• As the Doctor enters the TARDIS, Bonnie is standing to Osgood's left. However, in the next shot, Bonnie and Osgood have switched places.

Continuity

• The painting of the First Doctor in the Unit Safe House opens to reveal a safe. (TV: The Zygon Invasion)
• In her dream, Clara hears Bonnie's last words for the Doctor before firing the missile launcher, as well as the missile being fired (TV: The Zygon Invasion)
• A government-worker is sweeping some electrical wire-human-leftovers. Some leftovers are also seen in the Fleet Estate Centre. (TV: The Zygon Invasion)
• Kate Stewart explains that she survived her encounter with a Zygon by firing "five rounds rapid," a phrase often used by her father. (TV: The Dæmons et.al.)
• Osgood says that if she was evil she would kill him at once, not giving him time to talk, like he usually do and do it 12 times if necessary, referring to his regeneration ability.
• The Doctor uses his iPhone again. (TV: The Zygon Invasion)
• Boat One is blown up again. (TV: Death in Heaven)
• The Doctor says he used the plane to "ponce about". (TV: The Zygon Invasion)
• The Doctor uses his psychic paper. (TV: The End of the World et.al.)
• The Doctor calls himself "John Disco", a variation of John Smith and his fancy name for himself "Doctor Disco". (TV: The Zygon Invasion)
• The naval surgeon who invented the anti-Zygon gas Z-67 is named Sullivan. (TV: Terror of the Zygons, The Zygon Invasion) The Doctor refers to him as an imbecile, just as his fourth incarnation once did. (TV: Revenge of the Cybermen)
• Osgood's glasses are seen broken. (TV: Death in Heaven)
• The Doctor's sonic sunglasses are used. (TV: The Magician's Apprentice et.al.)
• The Black Archive is revisited. And the memory-eraser is activated once again. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)
• The battle helmet of a Mire can be seen in the Black Archive. (TV: The Girl Who Died)
• The Doctor recalls the intense pain of his experiences in the Last Great Time War. Furthermore, the Osgood Boxes are directly based off the Moment to reflect the way his wartime self struggled not to use its destructive potential. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)
• Bonnie, having taken the form of Osgood, wears a facsimile of the Seventh Doctor's costume, with a duffel coat. (TV: The Curse of Fenric)
• The Doctor mentions the Last Great Time War when Bonnie accuses him of not understanding war, telling her he has fought in a bigger war than she will ever know.
• Clara performs a "dream check" to gauge the state of her reality when she wakes up. (TV: Last Christmas)

Home video releases

DVD releases

to be added

Blu-ray releases

to be added

External links

to be added