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{{Quote|For this is my ultimate victory, Doctor! The destruction of reality itself!!|[[Davros]]}}
{{title dab away}}
{{real world}}
{{Infobox NewTV
{{ImageLinkTV}}
|image=[[Image:Journey%27s_End.jpg|250px]]
{{Infobox Story SMW
|story name= Journey's End
|image = Journey's-end-donna-memory-wiped.jpg
|series= [[Doctor Who]]  - [[List of television stories|TV stories]]
|series = [[Doctor Who television stories|''Doctor Who'' television stories]]
|number= [[Series 4 (Doctor Who)|Series 4]]
|season number = Series 4 (Doctor Who 2005)  
|story number= 13
|series episode number = 13
|doctor= [[Tenth Doctor]] <br> [[Clone Doctor | Doctor's Double]]
|story number = 198b
|companions= [[Donna Noble]] (Leaves)<br>[[Martha Jones]] (Guest)<br>[[Sarah Jane Smith]] (Guest)<br>[[Jack Harkness]] (Guest)<br>[[Mickey Smith]] (Guest)<br>[[Rose Tyler]] (Guest)<!---Complete list, do not alter--->
|scripturl    = https://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/documents/doctor-who-4-episode-13-journeys-end-blue-revisions-31032008.pdf<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20130922085854/http://www.thewriterstale.com/pdfs/Doctor%20Who%204%20Ep.13%20-%20Shooting%20Script%20-%20Journeys%20End%20-%2031.03%2008.pdf ''Journey's End'' PDF shooting script (archived)]</ref>
|enemy= [[Dalek|The Daleks]]<br>[[Davros]]<br>[[Red Dalek|Supreme Dalek]]
|doctor = Tenth Doctor
|setting= [[Earth]] ([[London]],[[Germany]],[[Torchwood 3]])<br> The [[Crucible]]<br>[[Medusa Cascade]]<br> [[2009]]
|companions = [[Rose Tyler|Rose]], [[Mickey Smith|Mickey]], [[Sarah Jane Smith|Sarah Jane]], [[Jackie Tyler|Jackie]], [[Donna Noble|Donna]], [[Martha Jones|Martha]], [[Jack Harkness|Jack]]
|writer= [[Russell T Davies]]
|featuring = Tenth Doctor (Journey's End){{!}}Meta-Crisis Doctor
|director= [[Graeme Harper]]
|featuring2 = Wilfred Mott
|producer=[[Phil Collinson]]
|featuring3 = Sylvia Noble
|broadcast date=[[5th July]] [[2008]]
|featuring4 = Dalek Caan{{!}}Caan
|format= 1x65 minute episode
|featuring5 = Gwen Cooper
|production code= 202 b
|featuring6 = Ianto Jones
|previous story=[[The Stolen Earth]]
|featuring7 = Luke Smith
|next story=[[DW]]: [[Music of the Spheres]] (mini-episode)<br>[[DW]]: [[The Next Doctor]]
|featuring8 = Mr Smith
|}}
|featuring9 = K9 Mark IV
|featuring10 = Francine Jones
|enemy = [[Supreme Dalek (The Stolen Earth)|Supreme Dalek]], [[Davros]]
|setting = ''[[Crucible]]'', [[2009]]
|writer = Russell T Davies
|director = [[Graeme Harper]]
|producer = [[Phil Collinson]]
|confidential = End of an Era (CON episode)
|broadcast date = 5 July 2008
|network = BBC One
|format = 1x66 minute episode
|production code = 4.13
|prev = The Stolen Earth (TV story)
|next = The Next Doctor (TV story)
|clip = The two Doctors - Doctor Who - BBC
|clip2 = The two Doctors become three! - Doctor Who - BBC
|bts = Who's Davros? - The Graham Norton Show - BBC Two
}}
'''''Journey's End''''' was the thirteenth and final episode of [[Series 4 (Doctor Who 2005)|series 4]] of ''[[Doctor Who (TV series)|Doctor Who]]''.


This is the 13th and final episode of [[Series 4 (Doctor Who)|Series 4]] and featured 6 companions of the Doctor. It is a continued on a cliffhanger from Episode 12. It holds the distinction of being the highest-rated episode in the history of the Doctor Who franchise.[http://www.gallifreyone.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?id=EkEykpAEuAeSoAAghE&tmpl=newsrss&style=feedstyle]
It was the second episode of a two-part story, preceded by ''[[The Stolen Earth (TV story)|The Stolen Earth]]'', which itself had picked up the cliffhanger of ''[[Turn Left (TV story)|Turn Left]]''. It also had an open ending, which was quite different to how the previous seasons of the revived series ended; they each led into the next season's Christmas special, but this one did not. However, several issues were concluded: the [[Cult of Skaro]] had been completely wiped out in this episode with [[Dalek Caan]]'s death, and the relationship between [[Rose Tyler]] and the [[Tenth Doctor]] also received closure in the form of a unique [[regeneration]] where the Doctor did not physically change, but rather, served as the genesis for a [[Meta-Crisis Doctor|half-human clone]]. However, the Tenth Doctor's choice to abort one of his regenerations would still count as a regeneration being used up, leaving him with only one left and paving the way for what would be the [[Eleventh Doctor|final]] [[Siege of Trenzalore|incarnation]] in the [[First Doctor's regeneration cycle]].


==Synopsis==
The story also saw the first exploration into how the Doctor's self-sacrificial nature caused those around him to perform the same acts, something that would come back to plague him much later on, noticeably in [[Twelfth Doctor|his twelfth incarnation]], as seen in ''[[Face the Raven (TV story)|Face the Raven]]'' and ''[[The Doctor Falls (TV story)|The Doctor Falls]].''
The entire universe is in danger as the [[Dalek | Daleks]]  activate their master plan to destroy reality itself.[[Tenth Doctor| The Doctor]] is helpless, and even the [[TARDIS | TARDIS]] faces destruction. The only hope lies with the Doctor's secret army of companions– but as they join forces to battle [[Davros | Davros]] himself, the prophecy declares that [[Donna Noble | one of them]] will die.


==Plot==
The story notably introduces [[The DoctorDonna]], a by product of the [[Human-Time Lord Meta-Crisis]] that resulted in the Meta-Crisis Doctor giving Donna the memories and intelligence of the Doctor. However, much like how becoming [[Bad Wolf (entity)|Bad Wolf]] would have killed Rose, Donna had her memories of her adventures with and of the Doctor completely erased to save her life at the end of the story, and the threat of remembering the Doctor causing Donna's death as well as Donna's missing memories of the Doctor and their adventures would be left unresolved until 15 years later after this episode in 2023's [[The Star Beast (TV story)|''The Star Beast'']], which saw Donna reuniting with the [[Fourteenth Doctor]], played by [[Tenth Doctor]] actor [[David Tennant]].
[[Image:A Dalek and the TARDIS.jpg|175px|left|thumb|The TARDIS is captured]]
The Doctor is [[regeneration|regenerating]] inside the [[the Doctor's TARDIS|TARDIS]] while [[Donna Noble]], Captain [[Jack Harkness]] and [[Rose Tyler]] watch in horror. However, the Doctor transfers his regenerative energy into the container which carries his [[The Doctor's hand|severed hand]]. He has healed himself, but chosen not to change his appearance. The TARDIS is transported by the [[Dalek]]s to the [[Crucible]] and rendered powerless. The Doctor, Jack, and Rose leave it, but Donna is distracted because she is hearing the sound of a heartbeat and while looking back, the TARDIS door slams closed. Before the Doctor can free her, the Daleks dump the TARDIS into a waste chute where it will be destroyed in the centre-core of the [[Crucible]]. As the TARDIS interior explodes around her, Donna collapses near the severed hand, she hears the heartbeat again and while touching the container energy flows between it and her. The hand bursts out of the container, and forms as a [[Clone Doctor|new Doctor]], although this Doctor has only one heart and has picked up some of Donna's mannerisms. With his help, the TARDIS escapes destruction and gives the new Doctor and Donna time to come up with a plan.


In [[Torchwood Three]], [[Gwen Cooper]] and [[Ianto Jones]] find themselves safely in a time lock created by [[Toshiko Sato]], preventing the Dalek from entering but also preventing them leaving. [[Sarah Jane Smith]] is saved from two Daleks by [[Mickey Smith]] and [[Jackie Tyler]], but in order to follow the Doctor, they lay down their guns and allow themselves to be captured, taken to the Crucible. [[Martha Jones]] says her goodbyes to her mother and makes for an abandoned castle in [[Germany]] where one of five [[Osterhagen key|Osterhagen]] stations is hidden, and waits for contact from the other bases.
== Synopsis ==
All hell has broken loose! Humanity is threatened with global annihilation, as [[Davros]] and the [[New Dalek Empire]] prepare to detonate a [[Reality bomb|bomb]] that will wipe out all of existence. The [[Tenth Doctor]] is helpless, and [[The Doctor's TARDIS|the TARDIS]] faces destruction. The only hope lies with the Doctor's [[companion]]s — the "[[Children of Time]]" — but [[Dalek Caan]] predicts that one will die...


Aboard the Crucible, Jack creates a distraction by shooting the [[Red Dalek|Supreme Dalek]] with his revolver, but is exterminated by the Daleks; as the Doctor and Rose are taken to the Vault where Davros is held, Jack's immortality allows him to escape. With the Doctor and Rose contained, Davros explains that the 27 planets form an energy pattern that is then amplified into a "[[reality bomb]]", able to break apart the forces holding everything together. Mickey, Jackie, and Sarah Jane escape a test chamber where this effect is shown to the Doctor just in time. Jack finds his way to the three, and with a [[Warp star|locket]] from Sarah Jane, creates a device that will implode the Crucible. Meanwhile, Martha makes contact with two other bases in China and Liberia. The Chinese counterpart wants to get it over and done with, but Martha, knowing the Doctor, first broadcasts a signal to the Crucible to give them (probably both Earth and the Daleks) a second chance, promising to use the [[Osterhagen key]] to detonate 25 nuclear warheads under the [[Earth]]'s crust to destroy it and disable the reality bomb. However, the Daleks manage to lock onto their positions and beam Martha, Jack, Mickey, Jackie, and Sarah Jane, with the [[Transmat]] to the Vault where the Doctor and Rose are also being held captive.
== Plot ==
[[Image:Tardis 5.PNG|thumb| [[the Doctor's TARDIS|the TARDIS]] pulling the [[Earth]] through space]]
The [[Tenth Doctor]]'s [[regeneration]] is nearly complete. [[Donna Noble]], Captain [[Jack Harkness]], and [[Rose Tyler]] are barely able to watch due to the light. Suddenly, the Doctor directs the rest of the [[regeneration energy]] into the container housing his [[The Doctor's hand|severed hand]]; the regeneration energy dissipates and the Doctor emerges, still in his tenth incarnation, leaving his friends gobsmacked. The Doctor explains that he used the regeneration to heal himself from the [[Dalek]] energy blast, but syphoned off the remaining energy that would have changed his appearance and personality into his other hand — a matching biological receptacle. The Doctor says he didn't want to change; Rose is relieved that "her" Doctor is still there and the two happily embrace.
The Daleks prepare to activate the reality bomb that will wipe out all matter in this and every parallel universe through the rifts in the [[Medusa Cascade]], but the new Doctor and Donna arrive in the TARDIS. Both, however, are stunned by shots from Davros. The reality bomb countdown reaches zero, but nothing happens; Donna has manipulated the controls to disable it. The Doctor recognises that the creation of the new Doctor has had an unintended side effect: Donna is now half Time Lord herself, sharing the Doctor's intellect. Donna and the new Doctor free the others, and with the help of the original Doctor, disable the Daleks and start to send the planets back to their proper time and space. Before Earth can be sent, the machinery is destroyed by the Supreme Dalek, who is then destroyed by Captain Jack. The original Doctor races into the TARDIS to replace the functionality of the broken machine. Realising that Dalek [[Caan]] has seen the end of the Dalek race and has been manipulating time to achieve this, the new Doctor (probably not kept back by guilt due to the influence of Donna's personality) uses the remaining machinery to destroy all of the Daleks and their fleet. The rest of the companions flee to the TARDIS, and while the Doctor offers to save [[Davros]], he refuses, calling the Doctor the "Destroyer of Worlds". The Crucible is destroyed.


The Doctor enlists the help of the other companions, making contact with the Torchwood base, and with [[Luke Smith]], [[Mr. Smith]] and [[K-9]], help use the TARDIS to return the Earth to its proper place. Sarah Jane says her goodbyes, as well as Jack, Martha, and Mickey, who has decided to stay in this universe. Using a retroactively closing rift, the Doctor returns Rose and Jackie to the [[Pete's World|alternate dimension]] and leaves the new Doctor with her, as he will now grow old with Rose, no longer able to regenerate due to the human influence. However, a more compelling reason is that the new Doctor, by destroying the entire Dalek Race, has committed genocide. This leads the Doctor to permanently exile him.
Meanwhile, [[Sarah Jane Smith]] is covering her head with her arms, waiting to be exterminated by the Daleks, but with flashes of blue light, [[Mickey Smith|Mickey]] and [[Jackie Tyler|Jackie]] appear beside the [[car]] and they blast the Daleks to pieces. Sarah gets out of the car, shocked, but immediately hugs Mickey. He jokes, "Us Smiths got to stick together". Jackie introduces herself, but asks, "Where the hell is my daughter?"


Rose asks both Doctors the words that the Doctor was unable to say to her when they last parted ([[DW]]: [[Doomsday]]). The human doctor, having the same memories and feelings as the proper Doctor, whispers into Rose's ear (most likely telling her that he loves her), and they kiss.
Over at [[Torchwood Three|Torchwood]], [[Gwen Cooper]] and [[Ianto Jones]] shoot at the Dalek, raging. But they notice something strange and they cease fire. They walk forward cautiously and see their bullets hanging in the air as if stopped by an invisible wall. Gwen reaches out slowly to touch it — she can't, but her finger makes a ripple in the air; it's a [[time lock]] that their deceased co-worker [[Toshiko Sato|Tosh]] was working on. However, while the Dalek is locked out, they're locked in.


Returning to their universe, Donna finds she begins to have trouble thinking; the Doctor explains that the human mind cannot take in the Time Lord mental abilities. To save her, he wipes her mind of all her encounters with the Doctor, returning her home and explaining to her family, [[Sylvia Noble]] and [[Wilfred Mott]], that she must never be reminded of her time with the Doctor or else she will die. As Donna recovers consciousness, she shows no interest in the Doctor; he leaves, though Wilfred promises he will look out for the Doctor every night while he looks at the sky. The Doctor then returns to the TARDIS alone.
Elsewhere, a patrol of Daleks have found the [[The Doctor's TARDIS|TARDIS]]. Inside, the Doctor prepares to take off with his [[companion]]s to figure out a strategy. However, right as he throws a switch, the Daleks use a temporal loop to make the TARDIS powerless. They then take it to the [[Crucible]]. Upon arrival, the [[Supreme Dalek (The Stolen Earth)|Supreme Dalek]] orders the time travellers to depart the vessel. Jack thinks they are safe because of the [[extrapolator force field]] the TARDIS has, but the Doctor explains that unlike [[The Parting of the Ways (TV story)|last time]] when they were fighting hybrid scavengers, now they're up against a Dalek Empire at the height of their power who have the expertise and technology to get past the TARDIS's defenses. As the Doctor puts it, ''"...that wooden door is just a wooden door"''.


==Cast==
The Doctor, Rose, and Jack exit. However, Donna becomes distracted by the sound of a heartbeat and, while she is looking back, the TARDIS door slams closed. The Doctor demands that Donna be released. The Supreme Dalek denies responsibility calling it ''"[[Time Lord]] treachery"'' and even if the Doctor wasn't responsible they consider the TARDIS to be a weapon that must be destroyed. The Daleks dump the TARDIS and send it to be destroyed in the centre-core of the Crucible, a ball of Z-neutrino energy. The TARDIS plummets into the core and, without defences, begins to burn up. As the TARDIS interior erupts in flames and debris, Donna collapses near the severed hand. Just as she's convinced she's about to die, she hears the heartbeat again and touches the container, and energy flows between it and her. The hand bursts out of the container and forms into a [[Clone Doctor|duplicate of the Doctor]], who quickly dematerialises the TARDIS. A view of the TARDIS in the core is shown to Jack, Rose, and the Doctor, who believe Donna and the TARDIS to have been destroyed.
*[[Tenth Doctor|The Doctor]] - [[David Tennant]]   
*[[Donna]] - [[Catherine Tate]]
*[[Rose]] - [[Billie Piper]]
*[[Martha]] - [[Freema Agyeman]]
*Captain [[Jack Harkness]] - [[John Barrowman]]
*[[Sarah Jane]] - [[Elisabeth Sladen]]
*[[Clone Doctor]] - [[David Tennant]]
*[[Mickey Smith]] - [[Noel Clarke]]
*[[Jackie Tyler]] - [[Camille Coduri]]
*[[Luke Smith]] - [[Thomas Knight]]
*[[Gwen Cooper]] - [[Eve Myles]]
*[[Ianto Jones]] - [[Gareth David-Lloyd]]
*[[Wilfred Mott]] - [[Bernard Cribbins]]
*[[Sylvia Noble]] - [[Jacqueline King]]
*[[Francine Jones]] - [[Adjoa Andoh]]
*[[Davros]] - [[Julian Bleach]]
*Dalek Voice - [[Nicholas Briggs]]
*[[Mr Smith]] - [[Alexander Armstrong]]
*[[K-9]] - [[John Leeson]]
*[[German lady]] - [[Valda Aviks]]
*[[Scared Woman]] - [[Shobu Kapoor]]
*[[Anna Zhou]] - [[Elizabeth Tan]]
*[[Liberian]] - [[Michael Price]]


==Production crew==
Sarah, Jackie, and Mickey, having seen the Daleks transport the TARDIS to the Crucible, lay down their guns, allowing themselves to be captured and taken to the Crucible in order to find the Doctor.
{{section cleanup}}
*Dalek Operators - [[Barnaby Edwards]], [[Nicholas Pegg]], [[David Hankinson]], [[Anthony Spargo]], [[Gethin Jones]]


== References ==
Meanwhile, [[Martha Jones]] says her goodbyes to her mother and uses the [[Project Indigo]] device to take her to [[Germany]], where one of five [[Osterhagen key|Osterhagen]] stations is hidden, and awaits contact from the other bases.
*[[Journey's End]], together with [[The Stolen Earth]], feature references to every episode of the fourth series. In addition, references dating back to the first season of the current series (involving Rose), and Sarah Jane's tenure as the companion of the [[Third Doctor|Third]] and [[Fourth Doctor]] also appear.
*The Doctor mentions that Rose has met [[Dalek Caan]] before, as part of the [[Cult of Skaro]].
*Davros states that Sarah and he met on [[Skaro]], in reference to [[Genesis of the Daleks]].
*The Doctor returns Rose and Jackie to [[Dålig Ulv Stranden]] (Bad Wolf Bay) in the [[Pete's World|alternate universe]]).
* "Doctor Donna" was a quote foretold by the [[Ood]].
Also when the [[TARDIS]] is pulling the Earth back to it's original place, a dramatised version of the Ood's song is played.
*The Doctor and Mickey perform a "fist bump" in lieu of a handshake when Mickey departs.  This mirrors the way they greeted each other in ''[[Doomsday]]''.
*Mickey and Jack's initial antagonism upon encountering each other reflects their initial meeting in ''[[Boom Town]]''. Mickey calls Jack "Captain Cheesecake", referencing his  remark about Jack being "cheesy". However, they immediately make it clear that the "insults" are tongue in cheek and that they're on good terms.
*The theme music playing at the close of the episode also played during the episode ''[[The Family of Blood]]'', during a scene in which the Doctor, transformed into a human named John Smith, has a precognition of his possible future life married to Joan Redfern. In that precognition scene, John Smith asks if his children are all safe just before he dies; his last words are "thank you". In ''Journey's End'', the assembled Companions are referred to as the [[Children of Time]] by Dalek Caan, and as the Doctor's "children" by Davros; the Doctor's final series of actions in the episode are to make sure that these "children" are safe, and his final words in the episode are "thank you".
===[[:Category:Individuals|Individuals]]===
*Those shown in flashback who died for the Doctor are [[Harriet Jones]], [[Jabe]], [[Controller (Bad Wolf)|The Controller]], [[Lynda Moss]], [[Robert MacLeish]], [[Angela Price|Mrs Moore]], [[Colin Skinner]], [[Bridget Sinclair]], [[Ursula Blake]] (who did not die but was left permanently disfigured and incapacitated), [[Face of Boe]], [[Chantho]], [[Astrid Peth]], [[Luke Rattigan]], [[Jenny]] (who is in fact ''not'' dead, but the Doctor is unaware of this), [[River Song]] and the [[Hostess]].
*Both Rose and the Doctor recognise the familiar resemblance between [[Gwen Cooper]] and [[Gwyneth]] (who they encountered in [[Cardiff]] in [[1869]]).
*Rose and Mickey, who previously had an on again, off again relationship, appear to have drifted apart. They do not look at each other, speak to each other, or interact at all, even when they are in the TARDIS together. Mickey does not say goodbye to her (though he does say goodbye to Jackie saying he'll miss her "more than anyone") and he tells the Doctor there's nothing for him in the parallel world, "certainly not Rose".
*Mickey and Jack's initial dislike of each other appears to have been overcome by both men, possibly due to Mickey's growth into a more mature and capable individual.
*Just before the Doctor is forced to erase her memory, Donna expresses a desire to meet [[Charlie Chaplin]]. This is the second finale in a row to have a character state a desire to meet a famous 20th century personality; previously the Doctor told Martha he wanted to meet [[Agatha Christie]] ([[DW]]: ''[[Last of the Time Lords]]''); Christie subsequently appeared in ''[[The Unicorn and the Wasp]]''; it remains to be seen if Donna's reference also serves a foreshadowing. As her mind begins to melt down, Donna also references the American comic strip character [[Charlie Brown]].
*Like Mickey, Jackie seems to have matured considerably during her stay in the alternate universe. She expertly shoots down a Dalek with a large gun, walks into captivity with little hesitation and expresses sorrow and compassion for a woman she barely met.


===[[:Category:TARDIS|TARDISes]]===
Aboard the Crucible, Jack creates a distraction by shooting the [[Supreme One|Supreme Dalek]] with his revolver, but the Dalek Supreme promptly shoots him down. The Doctor and Rose are taken to [[The Vault (The Stolen Earth)|the vault]] where [[Davros]] is held. Rose is desolate; she doesn't know she made Jack immortal as the [[Bad Wolf (entity)|Bad Wolf]] and that his [[immortality]] has allowed him to escape.
*This is the first episode where the TARDIS is fully-staffed with six pilots, and the first time it is noted definitively that it was designed for six, after various mentions about it being made for more than a single Time Lord.  


===[[:Category:Technology|Technology]]===
In the TARDIS, the new Doctor has dressed in the Doctor's blue suit and has finished repairing the interior from its damages. He rambles on about how they have to be quiet — "can't even drop a spanner". Donna then asks if [[Time Lord]]s can multiply like this — "Chop off a bit and grow a new one". However, the new Doctor explains that there has never been anything like him before. He then notices that he only has one [[heart]], like a [[human]]; he's not too pleased with this, saying it's "rubbish". Donna tells the "spaceman" to watch what he says, and the new Doctor tells "earth girl" the same. Both of them are shocked by this; he's absorbed some of Donna's mannerisms. He then begins pondering what Davros could be doing with the [[planet]]s.
*The purpose of the [[Osterhagen key]] is revealed in this episode.   Martha's key is one of several required to set off a network of nuclear weapons buried deep beneath the Earth's surface. If detonated, these weapons would trigger the explosion of the Earth. Each key must be inserted into a control panel at an "Osterhagen station". There are apparently five around the world, but only three need to be manned with a key to initiate the detonation.  Locations seen on screen are [[Germany]], [[Liberia]], [[China]] and an unmanned [[Argentina]]. The "Osterhagen Project"  appears to have been in place for decades, according to the [[German Woman]] who supplied food to the guards at the German station. Given the age of the German Woman, and her claim that she knew of the Osterhagen key when she was in London during her youth, the "Osterhagen Project" likely dates to the days when [[the Brigadier]] was in charge of the British arm of [[UNIT]].  
 
:''The technology used to emplace the nuclear weapons at the Earth's crust could therefore be linked to the drilling project featured in [[DW]]: ''[[Inferno]]''.
[[File:Realitybomb.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Reality Bomb]].]]
*The Daleks have access to [[transmat]] technology.
With the Doctor and Rose contained, Davros explains that the twenty-seven planets form an energy pattern amplified into a "[[reality bomb]]", able to break apart the electrical forces holding everything together, down to the last atom, a creation Davros calls "the apotheosis of my genius!"
*The TARDIS is captured by the Daleks in what they call a [[temporal prison]] but what the Doctor calls a [[Temporal prison|chronon loop]].
 
*[[Toshiko Sato]] installed a [[time lock]] around [[The Hub]] at [[Torchwood Three]].
Mickey, Jackie, and Sarah have been taken with many other humans to a testing of the bomb, but they escape the test chamber just in time. The other humans are not so lucky and vanish out of existence when the bomb is activated.
*Sarah Jane uses her [[sonic lipstick]] in the same manner as the Doctor's [[sonic screwdriver]]. This is the tool's first appearance in the main series.
 
*The "three Doctors" send the planets back to their original position through the use of a "magnetron". It is unclear if this is an intentional reference to the [[magnetron]]s seen previously in the original series ([[DW]]: ''[[Day of the Daleks]]'', ''[[The Mysterious Planet]]''), or just a general reference to real life [[wikipedia:magnetron|magnetron]]s, used to power microwaves, radar screens and televisions.
The effect of the bomb is shown to the Doctor. Both Doctors are horrified as they realise how it works. But that isn't the half of it: the wavelength that the Reality Bomb produces, amplified by the twenty-seven planets, will break through the Rift at the heart of the Medusa Cascade into every single corner of creation. Davros proclaims it is his ultimate victory: "The destruction of reality ITSELF!"
 
Jack finds his way to Mickey, Sarah and Jackie, and, with a [[warp star]] from Sarah, creates a device that will implode the Crucible. Meanwhile, Martha makes contact with two other bases in [[China]] and [[Liberia]]. The [[Chinese]] counterpart wants to get it over and done with, but Martha, knowing the Doctor, first broadcasts a signal to the Crucible to give the Daleks a chance. She vows to use the Osterhagen key to detonate twenty-five nuclear warheads in strategic locations under the [[Earth]]'s crust to destroy the planet and disable the reality bomb. The Doctor is horrified that Earth would ever construct what is essentially a giant self-destruct button. Jack and the others then contact Davros and threaten to destroy the Crucible with the warp star. The Doctor objects again and asks where they even got a warp star. Sarah steps forward and claims responsibility. Davros then interrupts her, recognising her face, and gets nostalgic, recalling how Sarah was on [[Skaro]] at [[Genesis of the Daleks (TV story)|the very beginning of his creation]]. Sarah retorts that she has learned to fight since then and demands that he free the Doctor or be destroyed by the warp star; however, seeing all his friends willing to go to such extreme measures gives the Doctor pause. Davros notices this and tells the Doctor that this is what he does to people: the Doctor may be a man who never carries a [[firearm|gun]], but he turns ordinary people into soldiers in his war; he is told that his "Children of Time" have been transformed into murderers, noting that one has already sacrificed herself opening the [[subwave network]]. The Doctor is then shocked to learn from Rose that [[Harriet Jones]] died to ensure he got to Earth. Davros then asks the Doctor how many other people have died for him and/or in his name, and the Doctor is reminded of [[River Song]], [[Astrid Peth]], [[Jenny (The Doctor's Daughter)|Jenny]] and many others who gave their lives to help him. Davros laughs that this is his final victory over the Doctor, by showing him his true self.
 
The Daleks lock on to their respective positions and [[transmat]] Martha, Jack, Mickey, Jackie, and Sarah to the vault where the Doctor and Rose are being held captive, thereby preventing them from using any of their devices to stop the Daleks. The Daleks then prepare to activate the reality bomb to wipe out all matter in this and every [[parallel universe]] through the rifts in the [[Medusa Cascade]], but the new Doctor and Donna arrive in the TARDIS. Each tries to destroy Davros and the Daleks using a [[Z-Neutrino Biological Inversion Catalyser|weapon]] created by the new Doctor, but both are stunned by shots of [[electricity]] from Davros' robotic hand before they can use it; Donna is sent flying while the new Doctor is put in a forcefield. Despite the revelation that Donna and the TARDIS survived, the Doctor is glum because the reality bomb is still counting down. The Doctor and his companions helplessly watch in horror as the reality bomb ticks down to nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one...!
 
[[File:RoseTylerJE1.jpg|thumb|left|[[Rose Tyler|Rose]] is trapped in the vault.]]
Nothing happens. Suddenly an alarm blares. Everyone looks over to see that Donna has used the controls to disable it. She gives a long technical explanation as to how she did it; this is astonishing because ordinarily, Donna "can't even change a plug". The Doctor recognises that the creation of the new Doctor has had an unintended side effect: Donna is now half Time Lord herself, sharing the Doctor's intellect — she is the DoctorDonna the [[Ood]] saw coming. She explains that the meta-crisis that created the other Doctor had also affected her, but the effect had lain dormant, needing a little spark to start it — "Thank you, Davros!" Donna and the new Doctor free the others and, with the help of the original Doctor, disable the Daleks. The Daleks are left literally spinning round in circles, thanks to Donna.
 
The Doctors then get to work and use the [[magnetron]] to send all the planets back to their correct places. Davros attempts to stop them, but Jack, who had used the commotion to sneak into the TARDIS, emerges with his defabricator gun and Rose's energy blaster; he tosses the latter to Mickey, who holds Davros at gunpoint. Turning to [[Dalek Caan]], he demands to know why he didn't foresee this. From Caan's maniacal cackling, the Doctor realises that he ''did'' see it. Caan admits that he had seen the Daleks for what they were, had seen all the evil they had caused across time and space, and secretly aided the Doctor in their destruction, declaring "No more!"
 
The Supreme Dalek descends to the vault and accuses Davros of betraying the Daleks. Though Davros insists that Dalek Caan is the traitor, the Supreme Dalek declares that he will exterminate them all and fires at the Doctor, striking the machinery. Jack swiftly destroys the Supreme Dalek, but the shot he fired has destroyed the Magnetron, leaving the single remaining planet, Earth, stranded. Getting an idea, the original Doctor races into the TARDIS to replace the broken machine. Realising that [[Dalek Caan]] has seen the end of the Daleks, has been manipulating time to achieve this, and knowing that, even without the Reality Bomb, this Dalek Empire is powerful enough to slaughter the cosmos, the new Doctor uses the remaining machinery to maximise all dalekanium power feeds and redirect the energy output back onto itself. All around them, Daleks and their ships begin to self-destruct. The original Doctor is outraged at the new Doctor for making such a choice. The companions flee into the TARDIS. When the original Doctor offers to save [[Davros]], he refuses. Gesturing at the destruction around them, Davros shrieks, "Never forget, Doctor, ''you'' did this! I name you forever! ''You'' are the Destroyer of Worlds!" — an epithet the Daleks have long associated with the Doctor. Davros howls in fury as the flames surround him, while Caan ominously predicts again, "One will still die...". Unable to save either of them, the Doctor flees into the TARDIS just before the Crucible is destroyed.
 
The Doctor comes up with a plan: he'll use the energy of the Rift as a rope and the TARDIS as a "tow truck" to move the Earth back to where it belongs. With the help of Torchwood's [[Rift Manipulator]] sending the energy, [[Mr Smith]] roping it around the TARDIS and [[K9 Mark IV|K9]] supplying Mr Smith with the TARDIS's base code, the Doctor is ready to go. However, he has a surprise for his companions. He explains that the reason that he has so much trouble piloting the TARDIS is that it is designed to be piloted by six people, and he has had to do it all on his own. He lets Sarah, Rose, Mickey, Martha, and Jack help him pilot while his clone, Donna, and Jackie watch — he specifically does not want Jackie to help. The Doctor flicks a switch and the TARDIS begins to fly with the immense Earth following behind.
 
On Earth, Luke holds onto K9 and cheers as the house on [[Bannerman Road]] shakes, Ianto and Gwen holler in delight in the trembling Torchwood Hub, Sylvia and Wilf frantically try to stay on their feet, and Francine takes cover beneath her kitchen table.
 
With Donna and Jackie watching, the Doctors and companions work the controls until, with a great shuddering halt, the Earth stops and begins to spin on its own, with the Moon hovering in to resume its own orbit. As the Children of Time celebrate in the TARDIS, Wilf, Sylvia and Francine revel in the sunlight and Earth celebrates its return home.
 
With Earth back in its proper place, the Doctor's companions leave the TARDIS. Sarah points out that the Doctor considers himself a lonely man, but he has the biggest family on Earth: his companions. She then leaves, concerned about [[Luke Smith|Luke]]. The next to leave are Jack and Martha, but before the latter goes, he is stopped by the Doctor — "I told you, no teleport" — and has [[Jack Harkness' vortex manipulator|his vortex manipulator]] disabled yet again; the Doctor also tells Martha to dispose of the Osterhagen Key and "save the world one last time". As the two leave, Jack tries asking Martha to leave UNIT and join Torchwood. Mickey also departs after saying goodbye to Jackie; he had initially stayed in the parallel world to be with his [[Rita-Anne Smith (Pete's World)|grandmother]], but she has since passed peacefully. As there is now nothing left for him on [[Pete's World]], "certainly not Rose", he has decided to stay in his home universe, and catches up with Jack and Martha; the latter jokingly expresses irritation, saying he had hoped to be rid of him.
 
Using a closing rift, the Doctor returns Rose and Jackie to Pete's World and leaves the new Doctor with her. The original Doctor explains that by destroying the entire Dalek race, the new Doctor has committed [[genocide]]. He sees the new Doctor as similar to himself after the [[Last Great Time War|Time War]], "full of [[blood]] and anger", and says that Rose had made him better. The new Doctor explains that having only one heart, he will age as a human and not regenerate; he could spend that one life with Rose. Rose, upset that it's still not the same as having the original, asks both Doctors the words that the Doctor was unable to say to her when they [[Doomsday (TV story)|last parted]]. The original Doctor refuses to actually say them, only responding, "Does it need saying?" By contrast, the new, half-human Doctor, having the same memories and feelings as the original Doctor, whispers them into Rose's ear, and they passionately kiss. The Doctor and Donna quickly depart in the TARDIS and the new Doctor and Rose watch, hand in hand.
 
Returning to their [[universe]], Donna is eager for her and the Doctor's next adventure while the Doctor is strangely subdued and asks her how it feels to have all the new knowledge in her head. Donna claims she is fine, however it isn't long belong she starts babbling random facts then gasps in pain holding her head. The Doctor, having expected this, explains that the human brain cannot take in the Time Lord mentality: if she continues in her current state, she will die as her mind will burn up. In tears, Donna protests that she wants to continue her adventures with the Doctor as "DoctorDonna" and is willing to spend the rest of her life with him. Saddened, the Doctor says that he is so sorry; Donna then realises what he is about to do and begs him not to "send her back". The Doctor then tells her that they had "the best of times". Ignoring her pleas, he presses his fingers on Donna's head, wiping her mind of all her encounters with him, rendering her unconscious as a result.
 
Back in Chiswick, [[Wilfred Mott|Wilfred]] is excited when there is a knock on the door thinking Donna has returned home but his happiness turns to horror when he finds the Doctor outside with an unconscious Donna in his arms, asking for help.
 
The Doctor tells [[Sylvia Noble|Sylvia]] and Wilfred everything that happened and warns them that Donna must never be reminded of her time with him or she will die. Sylvia tells the Doctor that the Earth's journey through space is currently all over the news, but the Doctor answers that it'll only be a story to Donna — another event she missed. Wilfred is upset that Donna has forgotten all the wonderful things she did, the people she met and the places she visited knowing that she had become a better person for all of them. Sylvia denies this but Wilfred insists she was a better person. The Doctor states that the Donna that travelled with him is "dead", fulfilling Caan's prediction. However, he adds that the universe will be singing songs about Donna, who was, for one shining moment, the most important woman in the entire universe. When Sylvia tells the Doctor that Donna is always the most important woman to her, the Doctor makes a point of telling Sylvia to try showing her love more often.
 
[[File:TenSullenJE.jpg|thumb|right|Dejected and drenched in [[rain]], the Doctor is alone yet again.]]
As Donna recovers consciousness, she storms downstairs and starts laughing about her being asleep in her clothes, but to her now, the Doctor is a stranger. She shows no interest in the Doctor and chats on the phone to her friends, who are all talking about the Medusa Cascade incident, to which Donna thinks that her friends were either drunk or that she slept through it. Sylvia tells the Doctor he should leave.
 
Outside, the Doctor tells Wilf that the [[rain]] is the result of the atmospheric disturbance created when the Earth was moved back to its proper place but, like everything else, it will end eventually. Wilfred asks the Doctor who he's got now, and asks him what happened to all his other friends. The Doctor tells him that all his friends now have someone else, and that's fine with him. Wilfred promises he will look out for the Doctor every night while he looks at the sky on Donna's behalf. The Doctor quietly thanks Wilfred, then returns to the TARDIS; Wilf solemnly salutes the Time Lord as the TARDIS fades away.
 
Melancholy and silent, the Doctor watches the [[time rotor]] as he sets a new course. He tosses aside his rain-drenched pinstripe blazer, leans on the TARDIS console and stares off into the distance; deep in thought, lonely and heartbroken.
 
== Cast ==
* [[Tenth Doctor|The Doctor]] - [[David Tennant]]<ref>Tennant also plays the [[Meta-Crisis Tenth Doctor|hybrid incarnation of the Tenth Doctor]].</ref>
* [[Donna Noble]] - [[Catherine Tate]]
* [[Rose Tyler]] - [[Billie Piper]]
* [[Martha Jones]] - [[Freema Agyeman]]
* [[Jack Harkness|Captain Jack Harkness]] - [[John Barrowman]]
* [[Sarah Jane Smith]] - [[Elisabeth Sladen]]
* [[Mickey Smith]] - [[Noel Clarke]]
* [[Jackie Tyler]] - [[Camille Coduri]]
* [[Ianto Jones]] - [[Gareth David-Lloyd]]
* [[Gwen Cooper]] - [[Eve Myles]]
* [[Luke Smith]] - [[Thomas Knight]]
* [[Wilfred Mott]] - [[Bernard Cribbins]]
* [[Sylvia Noble]] - [[Jacqueline King]]
* [[Francine Jones]] - [[Adjoa Andoh]]
* [[Davros]] - [[Julian Bleach]]
* [[German woman (Journey's End)|German Woman]] - [[Valda Aviks]]
* [[Scared woman (Journey's End)|Scared Woman]] - [[Shobu Kapoor]]
* [[Anna Zhou|Chinese Woman]] - [[Elizabeth Tan]]
* [[Liberian man|Liberian Man]] - [[Michael Price]]
* [[Dalek]] Voice - [[Nicholas Briggs]]
* [[Dalek Operator]]s - [[Barney Edwards]], [[Nick Pegg]], [[David Hankinson]], [[Anthony Spargo]]
* [[K9 Mark IV|Voice of K-9]] - [[John Leeson]]
* [[Mr Smith|Voice of Mr Smith]] - [[Alexander Armstrong]]
 
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}}
 
== Worldbuilding ==
* The Doctor mentions someone named [[Osterhagen]].
=== Real world ===
* Jack calls Mickey Smith "[[Mickey Mouse]]" when they re-encounter each other.
* As her mind begins to melt down, Donna references the American comic strip character [[Charlie Brown]]. She also mentions [[Charlie Chaplin]].
 
=== TARDIS ===
* When the TARDIS is dropped into the [[Z-Neutrino core]] of the Crucible with its defences down, it begins to be destroyed.
 
=== Technology ===
* The [[Osterhagen key]] is one of several required to set off a network of nuclear weapons buried deep beneath the Earth's surface. Locations include [[Germany]], [[Liberia]], [[China]] and an unmanned [[Argentina]].
* The TARDIS is captured by the Daleks in what they call a [[temporal prison]], but what the Doctor calls a chronon loop.
* The DoctorDonna enables the [[psycho-kinetic threshold manipulator]].
* The Daleks implement [[Defence 05]].


== Story notes ==
== Story notes ==
* Three major scenes were [[deleted scene|cut]] from the episode before broadcast:
:* An extra piece of dialogue on Bad Wolf Bay where the Doctor hands his clone a coral-like piece of the TARDIS, telling him to grow his own. When the clone Doctor protests that it takes thousands of years to grow a TARDIS, DoctorDonna provides him with a faster solution, so that Rose and the cloned Doctor can travel through space "as it should be". This was mentioned in ''The Doctor's Data'' section of the ''Doctor Who Adventures'' magazine, and in the 398th edition of ''Doctor Who Magazine'', Russell T Davies states that it is perfectly fine in his opinion to assume that this part of the scene did actually occur. The scene is included on the Series 4 DVD Box Set.
:* Originally, Donna was to hear the sound of the TARDIS dematerialising, a brief look of recognition registering on her face before being dismissed. This shot was dropped at the suggestion of [[Julie Gardner]] who reminded Davies that it had just been explicitly stated that if Donna remembered anything about the Doctor she ''would'' die. The scene was included in the Series 4 DVD set.
:* The original ending to this episode involved the Doctor, after saying goodbye to Wilf, seeing a strange signal on the scanner making him launch into his traditional, "What? What!? What." response, after which two [[Cyberman (Pete's World)|Pete's World Cybermen]] suddenly rise up behind him — a [[cliffhanger]]. This was included in the Series 4 DVD set; in his commentary, Davies explains that the cliffhanger ending was dropped in response to comments by a ''[[Doctor Who Magazine]]'' writer who stated a cliffhanger was inappropriate after such a sad series of scenes. In [[REF]]: ''[[Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale|Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale - The Final Chapter]]'', [[Benjamin Cook]] is acknowledged as being the one who convinced Davies to drop the Cybermen cliffhanger. Unlike most deleted scenes from Series 4, it is not possible to retroactively work the Cyberman cliffhanger sequences into continuity as the cliffhanger does not coincide with the opening of ''[[The Next Doctor (TV story)|The Next Doctor]]'', which shows the Doctor not in peril (this due, per ''The Writer's Tale'', to the opening being changed due to the changing of ''Journey's End's'' ending). The cliffhanger was replaced with a teaser for ''The Next Doctor ''which first aired immediately following this episode.<ref>http://www.shannonsullivan.com/doctorwho/serials/2008lm.html</ref>
* ''Journey's End'' and ''[[The Stolen Earth (TV story)|The Stolen Earth]]'' together feature references to every episode of the fourth series. In addition, references dating back to the first series of the revived show (involving Rose) and Sarah's tenure as the companion of the [[Third Doctor|Third]] and [[Fourth Doctor]] also appear.
* Almost every companion of the Ninth and Tenth Doctors appears or is referenced in some way in this episode (including [[Astrid Peth]]), with the sole exception of [[Adam Mitchell]].
* ''[[Blue Peter]]'' presenter [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gethin_Jones Gethin Jones] operates a [[Dalek]] in this episode, returning to ''Doctor Who'' after his brief appearance as a [[Cybusman|Cybus Cyberman]] in ''[[The Age of Steel (TV story)|The Age of Steel]]''.
* This was the longest series finale at 65 minutes long and was longer even than all of the Christmas specials except for ''[[Voyage of the Damned (TV story)|Voyage of the Damned]]'', which was 71 minutes. This raised some issues with international broadcasts; for example, the broadcast on the [[CBC]] in Canada on 12 December 2008 was edited to 44 minutes to fit a regular 60-minute timeslot, with commercials (see below for examples). While the American [[Sci Fi Channel]] broadcast aired the episode in its entirety on August 1, it has not since been rerun, instead, ending its rotation with ''[[The Stolen Earth (TV story)|The Stolen Earth]]''. [[Space (TV channel)|Space]], however, has aired it completely uncut on reruns. However, [[BBCA|BBC America]], which now re-airs Doctor Who, only shows episodes edited down to 45 minutes, except for ''[[The End of Time (TV story)|The End of Time]]'', where the two-parter is shown in a three-hour block.
* Dalek Caan refers to the Doctor as a "threefold man". The meaning becomes clear in this episode with both the copy of the Doctor and DoctorDonna.
* As with the previous episode, the opening credits are augmented to include six names, with several overflow acting credits displayed after the opening sequence.
* This episode marks the first series finale to show a preview of the [[The Next Doctor (TV story)|upcoming Christmas Special (2008)]]. After the credits, the [[Cybermen]] are said to return in the episode. The episode is further unique for being the only series finale in the [[Russell T Davies]] era which doesn't end on a cliffhanger.
[[File:MickeyJackieSJSWarped.jpg|thumb|Mickey, Jackie and Sarah hide from the Daleks in a shot that demonstrates an effect nicknamed the "[[Graeme Harper|Harper]] treatment".]]
* [[Graeme Harper]]'s penchant for including a distorted image of a main character is present in this story. Though not included in every single story he's directed for [[BBC Wales]], it's seen often enough to be considered something of a directorial "signature". Similar distortion is achieved through the use of magnifying glasses in ''[[Army of Ghosts (TV story)|Army of Ghosts]]'', ''[[The Unicorn and the Wasp (TV story)|The Unicorn and the Wasp]]'', and ''[[Utopia (TV story)|Utopia]]'', and with mirrors in ''[[Turn Left (TV story)|Turn Left]]''. This time, it's Mickey, Jackie and Sarah that get "the Harper treatment" under a curved window.
* This story augments the notion that Time Lords have some measure of control over the regenerative process. In truth, most regenerations have added at least a little to the general mythos about the process. From the notion that a particular physiognomy could be imposed upon the [[Second Doctor]] in ''[[The War Games (TV story)|The War Games]]'', details have been added about how the process works almost every time one has been depicted. In this case, writer Russell T Davies builds upon his earlier idea that a Time Lord can re-grow whole body parts during "the first 15 hours" following a regeneration (''[[The Christmas Invasion (TV story)|The Christmas Invasion]]''). Here he suggests that a Time Lord can stop the process prior to entering the final stage, provided that he has a matching genetic receptacle into which he can store the energy.
* It is not stated in this episode if the Doctor's "partial" regeneration used up one of the regenerations in his cycle. Later, in ''[[The Time of the Doctor (TV story)|The Time of the Doctor]],'' [[Eleventh Doctor|the Eleventh Doctor]] tells [[Clara Oswald]] he's in his final incarnation, reminding her of his [[War Doctor|Time War incarnation]] and then telling her of the aborted regeneration in this episode, confirming that although he didn't change his appearance it still used up what would have been his eleventh regeneration.
* The scene where the Daleks are speaking German is possibly a tongue-in-cheek reference to the fact that [[Terry Nation]] based the Daleks on the [[Nazi|Nazis]].
* The word "Exterminieren", which the German Daleks use, is not in common use. In the German dubs of the episodes, the word used is "Vernichten" (literally, "Reduce to nothing"; colloquially, "Destroy"). This relates again to the Nazis, who expressively waged a "Vernichtungskrieg" - a war in order to destroy. Another (and mainly used) word to replace the "exterminate" in the translation is "eliminieren". The full dialogue for the German Daleks is as follows: "Exterminieren! Exterminieren! Halt! Sonst werden wir Sie exterminieren! Sie sind jetzt ein Gefangener der Daleks! Exterminieren! Exterminieren!" This translates as: "Exterminate! Exterminate! Stop! Or we will exterminate you. You are now a prisoner of the Daleks. Exterminate! Exterminate!"
* This story marks the departure of [[Catherine Tate]] ([[Donna Noble]]) and [[Billie Piper]] ([[Rose Tyler]]). In an interview with ''[[Doctor Who Magazine]]'', Piper was quoted as saying she doesn't see this as a permanent departure. Tate had no plans to return at that moment, but she had not ruled out a return in the future. [[Elizabeth Sladen]], in an interview published after the episode was broadcast, said she doesn't expect to appear on ''Doctor Who'' again, although her own spin-off, ''[[The Sarah Jane Adventures]]'', would subsequently continue a few months later, with the Doctor making two future appearances in that series. However, all three appeared the following year for cameos in ''[[The End of Time (TV story)|The End of Time]]''. It was however, the final chronological appearance of Rose Tyler.
** Billie Piper would later make two return appearances in ''The End of Time'' and ''[[The Day of the Doctor]]'', albeit as an earlier instance of Rose Tyler and [[The Moment|an entity assuming Rose's form]], respectively.
* This was the only appearance of the [[sonic lipstick]] outside ''[[The Sarah Jane Adventures]]'' until {{cs|Defenders of Earth (webcast)}} showed that [[Jo Jones]] had inherited it from Sarah Jane.
* This is the third-season finale of four to have a character in the TARDIS speaking about possible places to visit before the unexpected departure of a character. In ''[[The Parting of the Ways (TV story)|The Parting of the Ways]]'' the [[Ninth Doctor]] speaks of places like the planet [[Barcelona]] before regenerating; in ''[[Last of the Time Lords (TV story)|Last of the Time Lords]]'', the Doctor suggests visiting [[Agatha Christie]] (among others) before Martha announces her departure; in this episode, Donna speaks of visiting [[Felspoon]] and meeting [[Charlie Chaplin]] before her mind overloads. The episodes that break this pattern so far are ''[[Doomsday (TV story)|Doomsday]]'', ''[[The Big Bang (TV story)|The Big Bang]]'', and ''[[The Name of the Doctor (TV story)|The Name of the Doctor]]''.
* Not counting post-season specials, this episode is also one of only three finales in the revived era to not include the sudden ''arrival'' of a character at or near the end of the episode, along with ''[[Hell Bent (TV story)|Hell Bent]]'' and [[The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos (TV story)|''The Battle of'' ''Ranskoor Av Kolos'']]''.'' The [[Tenth Doctor]] appears in ''[[The Parting of the Ways (TV story)|The Parting of the Ways]]''; [[Donna Noble]] appears in the TARDIS at the end of ''[[Doomsday (TV story)|Doomsday]]''; the Titanic crashes through the TARDIS's hull in ''[[Last of the Time Lords (TV story)|Last of the Time Lords]]''; the [[Eleventh Doctor]] appears in ''[[The End of Time (TV story)|The End of Time]]'', is remembered back into reality by [[Amy Pond]] in ''[[The Big Bang (TV story)|The Big Bang]]'', and is revealed to have faked his death in ''[[The Wedding of River Song (TV story)|The Wedding of River Song]]'', [[War Doctor|an unknown incarnation of the Doctor]] appeared in ''[[The Name of the Doctor (TV story)|The Name of the Doctor]]'', [[Santa Claus]] appears in the TARDIS at the end of ''[[Death in Heaven (TV story)|Death in Heaven]],'' the [[First Doctor]] arrives at the end of ''[[The Doctor Falls (TV story)|The Doctor Falls]]'' and the [[Judoon]] arrive in the TARDIS at the end of ''[[The Timeless Children (TV story)|The Timeless Children]]''.
* Jack has flirted with or shown interest in all of the Doctor's companions appearing in this episode save Donna and Jackie. It is interesting to note that Jack does not pursue the two women who have exhibited the most aggressive attitudes towards the opposite sex, and who would arguably be the most likely to return his advances. Donna even jokes about Jack hugging her, which he laughs off.
* The actor credits for [[Noel Clarke]], [[Camille Coduri]], [[Gareth David-Lloyd]] and [[Eve Myles]] are timed to appear on screen as the respective actors are shown in closeup during the first two scenes. {{As of|2018|September}}, this is the last episode to display "overflow" guest cast credits over the opening scenes.
* ''Journey's End'' has possibly one of the largest body counts, with billions of Daleks, a substantial number of humans and, to an extent, Donna.
* This is the first episode in which the TARDIS is fully staffed with six pilots, and the first time it is noted definitively that it was designed to be piloted by six.
* In the classic series, the Dalek stories after ''[[Genesis of the Daleks (TV story)|Genesis of the Daleks]]'' revolved in some manner around Davros, exploring the tenacious but ambivalent relationship between the Daleks and their creator. It would appear that the civil war between the Imperial and Renegade Daleks (''[[Revelation of the Daleks (TV story)|Revelation of the Daleks]]'' and ''[[Remembrance of the Daleks (TV story)|Remembrance of the Daleks]]'', plus audio stories) has been resolved, with Davros working with a united Dalek Empire against the Time Lords.
* This episode marks the last appearance of the Tenth Doctor's severed hand, which first appeared in [[TV]]: ''[[The Christmas Invasion (TV story)|The Christmas Invasion]]'' and throughout the first series of ''[[Torchwood (TV series)|Torchwood]]''. The Doctor makes reference to losing it in the sword fight against the [[Sycorax]] leader. This is the first time Rose has seen the severed hand, since the Doctor didn't retrieve it from Jack until after her departure.
* When the Meta-Crisis Doctor holds Rose's hand as they watch the TARDIS disappear, he does it with his right hand - the only part of the original Doctor.
* Jack introduces Gwen as Gwen Cooper. This is the first on-screen indication that Gwen has not changed her last name to Williams following her marriage in [[Rhys Williams]] in [[TV]]: ''[[Something Borrowed (TV story)|Something Borrowed]]''.
* Davros' apparent last words are "Never forget, Doctor, you did this! I name you, forever! You are the Destroyer of Worlds!". "Destroyer of Worlds" is a translation of "[[Ka Faraq Gatri]]", a title which had previously been used by the Daleks to refer to the Doctor.
* This was the first regular episode of ''Doctor Who'' produced by BBC Wales in which [[Will Cohen]] was not credited on any [[Visual Effects]] duties.
* This story was chosen by [[BBC America]] to represent the [[David Tennant]] era during their 50th anniversary programming. Edited into an [[omnibus]] format with ''[[The Stolen Earth (TV story)|The Stolen Earth]]'', it was aired by BBCA on [[27 October (releases)|27 October]] [[2013 (releases)|2013]], after the debut of their homegrown special called ''[[The Doctors Revisited - The Tenth Doctor (documentary)|The Doctors Revisited - The Tenth Doctor]]''.
* The outfit the Meta-Crisis Doctor wears mirrors Rose's outfit from this season by having a blue jacket over a red shirt as well as the Ninth Doctor's outfit with a similar type of shirt with a jacket over it.
* The Series 4 finale would turn out to be [[Gareth David-Lloyd]]'s only appearance as Ianto Jones on ''Doctor Who'', as his character would get [[Children of Earth: Day Four (TV story)|killed off]] in the next season of ''Torchwood'', entitled ''[[Series 3 (Torchwood)|Children of Earth]]''. Also, this would be the only time [[Mr Smith]] appears on the show, with ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'' coming to an end after the death of [[Elisabeth Sladen]] in [[2011 (people)|2011]]. However, the Tenth Doctor would instead meet him on his parent series in a crossover story, ''[[The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)|The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith]]''.
* The concept that a Doctor would grow from the Doctor's severed hand who would end up with Rose was planned since ''[[The Christmas Invasion (TV story)|The Christmas Invasion]]''. [[Russell T Davies]] states on the commentary track for this episode'' ''that he had the idea in mind that just prior to the Tenth Doctor's regeneration, a scene would depict him growing a clone of himself from his severed hand, and send him off to live his life with Rose. The concept was ultimately brought forward, and was developed into it's own entire story arc, due to the "timing being perfect". He says that he told David Tennant about the idea he had.
* "The Dream of a Normal Death" is heard as the Doctor remembers the people who have died in his name, and again as he pilots the TARDIS at the end of the episode. This was first heard at the end of ''[[The Family of Blood (TV story)|The Family of Blood]]'' when John Smith and Joan are holding the watch and seeing the future.
* When the Doctor sees [[Gwen Cooper]] for the first time, he asks if she comes from an old Cardiff family, noting the physical similarity between Gwen and [[Gwyneth (The Unquiet Dead)|Gwyneth]], ([[TV]]: ''[[The Unquiet Dead (TV story)|The Unquiet Dead]]'') both of whom are played by [[Eve Myles]]. According to Russell T Davies: "It's not familial as we understand it. There's no blood tie. [[Spatial genetic multiplicity]] means an echo and repetition of physical traits across a Time Rift."
* With the later retroactive confirmation that the Doctor ''does'' regenerate in this episode, ([[TV]]: ''[[The Time of the Doctor (TV story)|The Time of the Doctor]]'') [[Rose Tyler]] becomes the only individual to date known to have directly witnessed two of the Doctor's regenerations.
* This marks, as of 2020, the last televised ''Doctor Who'' story to feature K9.
* The VFX shot of K-9 teleporting into the attic to assist Mr Smith was reused from ''[[The Sarah Jane Adventures]]'' episode ''[[The Lost Boy (TV story)|The Lost Boy]]''.
* [[Russell T Davies]] had Mickey return to his original Earth in the hopes that he would appear in either [[Torchwood (series)|''Torchwood'']] or ''[[The Sarah Jane Adventures]]''. Ultimately, [[Noel Clarke]]'s busy schedule prevented this, though he did make a cameo in ''[[The End of Time (TV story)|The End of Time]].''
* When it seemed unlikely that [[Billie Piper]] would appear due to her honeymoon, [[Russell T Davies]] considered dropping Mickey and Jackie altogether and reducing Rose's role to a short coda in which the half-human Doctor arrived on Bad Wolf Bay in the parallel universe.
* As the writing progressed, [[Russell T Davies]] became concerned that there was no way to conclude his story within the confines of a standard fifty-minute episode. He began to contemplate the necessity of cutting a major element of the story, such as the scenes in the Torchwood Hub or the involvement of Sarah Jane, and contacted [[Julie Gardner]] to discuss the problem. Gardner was able to convince [[Jane Tranter]] to extend the episode by ten minutes, making it the longest regular-season episode ever.
* Before settling on the meta-crisis as the impetus for Donna's departure from the TARDIS, Russell T Davies briefly considered other ideas, like physical injury or death, Sylvia's death, or Donna being lost in time as a lead-in for one of the 2009 specials, which entailed finding an older and wiser Donna on an alien planet.
* [[Russell T Davies]] revealed in [[2020]] that he planned to have a mention of [[Nyssa]] and [[Tegan Jovanka|Tegan]], revealing that they are now a couple. He incorporated this into [[Farewell, Sarah Jane (webcast)|''Farewell, Sarah Jane''.]]
* [[Billie Piper]] disliked having Rose end up with the Metacrisis Doctor, feeling that it was a cop-out from the ending of ''[[Doomsday (TV story)|Doomsday]]'', and also not being keen on the implication that she had settled for an inferior copy of the Doctor.
* In the accompanying ''[[Doctor Who Confidential]]'' for this episode, [[Russell T Davies]] explains "This is so busy and so ''mental'' and so epic and universal in scale that of course you need two Doctors to solve it."
* [[Phil Collinson]], [[Graeme Harper]], and [[David Tennant]] discuss the use of musician [[Colum Regan]], who is a very good physical match for Tennant, as a double in scenes with the two Doctors. Collinson explains that while with an unlimited budget they would use Tennant in every shot, "we only have a certain number of effects shots where you can see the two Doctors together, so we have to pick those carefully."
* [[Graeme Harper]] explained that in "two or three wide shots" they were able to use [[Colum Regan]] and [[David Tennant]] together. For the most part the double is used for scenes where one or the other Doctor is only seen from behind, or only an arm or back of the head is seen in a shot. The double has appeared in other episodes throughout the series.
* [[David Tennant]] described the procedure for making an effects shot involving Tennant as both Doctors. The camera is locked in place while Tennant goes off and changes clothing, with Regan holding his place. A shot is made for reference with [[Colum Regan]], then another shot is made without Regan. This enables the shots to be merged during editing to create the effect of having Tennant in two places in the same shot.
== Ratings ==
The episode gained an overall, consolidated viewing figure of 10.57 million viewers in its first BBC1 airing. This placed it as the No. 1 program in the UK across all channels of the week, beating all the Wimbledon finals and all 5 episodes of ''[[Coronation Street (series)|Coronation Street]]'', all 4 of ''[[EastEnders (series)|Eastenders]]'' and all 5 of ''[[Emmerdale]].'' This makes ''Journey's End'' the highest rated episode in the 45-year history of ''Doctor Who'', surpassing ''[[Voyage of the Damned (TV story)|Voyage of the Damned]]'' and ''[[The Stolen Earth (TV story)|The Stolen Earth]]'', both of which ranked second in their respective weeks. However, the episode is not the most-watched episode of the revived series; that distinction belongs to the 13.31 million viewers obtained by ''Voyage of the Damned'' (the most-watched episode of all time remains ''[[City of Death (TV story)|City of Death]]'' Part 4 with 16.1 million viewers in [[1979]]). The episode also achieved an Appreciation Index rating of 91, tying with ''The Stolen Earth'', a number considered unprecedented for a mainstream network drama production.<ref>[http://guide.doctorwhonews.net/info.php?detail=ratings&type=date Doctor Who Ratings - UK final]</ref>
=== Myths and rumours ===
* The week between the cliffhanger ending of ''The Stolen Earth'' and the broadcast of ''Journey's End'' included some of the most intense fan speculation and media attention in franchise history. The significance of the cliffhanger, which appeared to show the Doctor regenerating, along with previously reported speculation regarding Donna and other characters, led to many speculations being circulated on fan discussion boards and the media, the most notable being that David Tennant was, in fact, leaving the series, and that leaked photos and other information regarding him being in the 2008 Christmas special (as well as media reports the preceding week that he was negotiating to return in 2010) were either a "red herring" or that the Christmas special was to include a flashback. ''Although Tennant had made it known to the producers that he was planning to leave the series, the intent was for him to return for a series of specials later.''
* Though the Tenth Doctor did not change his incarnation when he regenerated, the energy he expelled used up a full regeneration regardless. This put into question how many more times the Doctor can regenerate before permanent death. ''After years of fan debate, this was ultimately proven true in [[TV]]:'' [[The Time of the Doctor (TV story)|The Time of the Doctor]], ''where the [[Eleventh Doctor]] confirmed he had exhausted a regeneration with this course of action (putting it down to the Tenth Doctor having "vanity issues"), and after factoring in the [[War Doctor]] as a suppressed incarnation, had no more regenerations left. He was later given a brand new regenerative cycle or unlimited regenerations by the [[Time Lord]]s as a gift for saving [[Gallifrey]].''
* Concerning Donna's ring, at the end of the series 4 finale, when the Doctor says goodbye to her it glimmers briefly into the camera. Some fans theorise that the ring is a possible Chameleon Arch module containing Donna's memories of her time with the Doctor. It has also been suggested that the ring resembles a ring worn by the Master in a previous episode. Others theorise that the ring is simply large, black, and very shiny.
* The prediction that a companion would die led some to believe Donna, Martha or Rose would be the ones destined to die (since it had already been reported that John Barrowman would be returning to ''Torchwood'' and Elisabeth Sladen to ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'', ruling out their characters' demise). ''Ultimately, this was a partial red herring, as it was an aspect of Donna that died, but not the character herself.''
* A number of fans began to speculate as to whether or not the [[Meta-Crisis Tenth Doctor]] would eventually become to be known as [[The Valeyard|the enigmatic, malevolent Valeyard]]. The six-issue comic book mini-series ''[[The Forgotten (comic story)|The Forgotten]]'' became the subject of related speculation when the final cliffhanger panel of issue #5 featured the unveiling of a villain resembling the clone; ultimately it was revealed that another villain was responsible, although the Doctor still, puzzlingly, refers initially to the character as the Valeyard.
* The appearance of [[K9 Mark IV|K9]] was a surprise to many as it had been previously reported that the character would not be appearing in the episode, given that the rights to the character were held by another party for the planned ''[[K9 (TV series)|K9]]'' television series. ''K9 continued to appear occasionally in ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'', too.''
* Some fans believed that Harriet Jones was wanting revenge upon the Doctor for bringing down her reign as Prime Minister, so she decided to help bring the Daleks back, and she was, in fact, the Supreme Dalek. A supposed "leaked script" showed that Harriet Jones was helping the Daleks. ''This was proved false.''
* The fact that Jack, Martha, and Mickey depart together sparked speculation that Martha and Mickey would appear in ''Torchwood'', possibly replacing Tosh and Owen (Martha had already made several appearances in the spin-off). The subsequent announcement that [[Freema Agyeman]] had been signed by ITV, a rival network to the BBC, to take a lead role in the series Law & Order: London, reduced the chances of her appearing in ''Torchwood''. She did subsequently take part in the BBC Radio adventure ''[[Lost Souls (audio story)|Lost Souls]]'', but that story took place prior to the events of ''The Stolen Earth''. In his book ''The Writer's Tale'' [[Russell T Davies]] mentions that he had promised [[Noel Clarke]] that he would appear in ''Torchwood'' Series 3. Ultimately, however, neither Clarke nor Agyeman did appear in [[Series 3 (Torchwood)|''Children of Earth'']], and dialogue in "[[Children of Earth: Day One (TV story)|Day One]]" indicated that Martha was still with U.N.I.T. and on her honeymoon. The two would ultimately return in [[The End of Time (TV story)|''The End of Time'']] as a married couple at some unspecified point in the future, with Martha no longer affiliated with U.N.I.T.
=== Filming locations ===
Studio
* BBC Studios, Unit ½, Tonteg Road, Treforest Industrial Estate, Upper Boat, Pontypridd
Locations
* Arcot Street, Penarth (Sarah Jane and the others surrender to the Daleks)
* Robinswood Crescent, Penarth (Sarah's car is stopped by a Dalek patrol)
* Hawthorn Road, Pontpridd (Wilf and Sylvia watch the Dalek ships leave Earth)
* High Street, Penarth (The TARDIS is transferred to the Crucible)
* Mir Steel (formerly Alpha Steel), Newport (Inside the Crucible)
* Cwrt-y-Vil Road, Penarth (Martha says goodbye to Francine)
* Castell Coch, Cardiff (UNIT Germany)
* Nant-Fawr Road, Cardiff (Outside Wilf’s)
* Southerndown Beach, Ogmore Vale, Bridgend (The Doctor drops off Rose and new family back at Bad Wolf Bay)
* At the end, the TARDIS lands in Morgan Jones Park, [[Caerphilly]].


*Blue Peter presenter [[Gethin Jones]] operates a [[Dalek]] in this episode, returning to Doctor Who since his brief appearance as a [[Cybus Cyberman]] in [[The Age of Steel]].
=== Production errors ===
*This was the longest series finale at 65 minutes long, longer even than most of the Christmas specials, except for [[Voyage of the Damned]], which was 71 minutes.
{{discontinuity}}
*Dalek Caan refers to the Doctor as a 'threefold man'. The meaning becomes clear in this episode with both the copy of the Doctor and 'Doctor-Donna'.
* When the Doctor returns Rose to Bad Wolf Bay, in the shots of the Doctor and Donna you can clearly see Rose's hair blowing in the wind, yet in the shots of Rose her hair isn't blowing. It happens too often to be random gusts of wind.
*Once again, as with the previous episode, the opening credits are augmented to include six names, with several overflow acting credits displayed after the opening sequence.
* In the same scene, when the Metacrisis and Jackie discuss her child Tony, the shadow of a boom mic can be seen in the sand.
*This episode marks the first series finale to show a preview of the upcoming Christmas [Special] (2008). After the credits the [[Cybermen]] are said to return in the episode.  However the episode is unique for being the only series finale in the Russell T Davies era which doesn't end on a cliffhanger.
* When the Meta-Crisis Doctor arrives at the Crucible and opens the doors of the TARDIS, a bright light is used to hide the rear panel of the police box prop and create the "bigger on the inside" camera effect. However, it fails to cover a small section of this panel at the floor level of the prop.
[[Image:MickeyJackieSJSWarped.jpg|thumb|Mickey, Jackie and Sarah hide from the Daleks in a shot that demonstrates an effect nicknamed the "[[Graeme Harper|Harper]] treatment".]]
* When the DoctorDonna deactivates the holding cells, Davros doesn't move or react, unlike all other characters present. A model, or empty costume, is clearly in his place.
*[[Graeme Harper]]'s penchant for including a distorted image of a main character is present in this story.   Though not included in  every single story he's directed for [[BBC Wales]], it's seen often enough to be considered something of a directorial "signature". Similar distortion is achieved through the use of  magnifying glasses in ''[[Army of Ghosts]]'', ''[[The Unicorn and the Wasp]]'', and ''[[Utopia (TV story)|Utopia]]'', and with mirrors in ''[[Turn Left]]''.  This time, it's Mickey, Jackie and Sarah Jane that get "the Harper treatment" under a curved window.
* When The Doctor and his companions are flying the TARDIS, Martha can briefly be seen looking and smiling at the camera,
*Davros named the Doctor 'The Destroyer of Worlds', which may be a reference to Fires of Pompeii when it was said the Doctor's name was sealed in the Cascade of Medusa herself or to the Doctor being the [[Ka Faraq Gatri]].
* Finger smudges can be seen on the Supreme Dalek's top piece.
*The Osterhagen key would destroy the Earth.  The word, ''Osterhagen'', is an anagram of the phrase, ''Earth's gone''.
* The Bluray release of this story uses the wrong font to credit the additional cast immediately after the opening titles. Traditionally, the font used for the Russell T Davies era is "Futura Medium", and this font is still used to credit the Producers and for the title card. An entirely different font - "Tahoma" - is used to credit Noel Clarke, Camille Coduri, Adjoa Andoh, Eve Myles and Gareth David-Lloyd in this episode. The error is also present in ''[[The Stolen Earth (TV story)|The Stolen Earth]]''.
*This story augments the notion that Time Lords have some measure of control over the regenerative process. as seen in ''[[Last of the Time Lords]]''.  In truth, most regenerations have added at least a little to the general mythos about the process.  From the notion that a particular physiognomy could be imposed upon the [[Second Doctor]] in ''[[The War Games]]'', details have been added about how the process works almost every time one has been depicted.  In this case, writer Russell T Davies builds upon his earlier idea that a Time Lord can re-grow whole body parts during "the first 15 hours" following a regeneration (''[[The Christmas Invasion]]''). Here he suggests that a Time Lord can stop the process prior to entering the final stage, provided that he has a matching genetic receptacle into which he can store the energy.  ''However it is not explicitly stated if this method uses up one of the regenerations in the cycle or not due to it not being ''completed''.''
* When Gwen asks what the power for the rift manipulator is for, there’s no filter over Eve Myles voice suggesting it’s coming through the speaker, instead sounding like she’s also in the room.
*After the hand grows into a new doctor Donna notes that the clone doctor is naked. However careful frame by frame analysis of the scene shows that he (the actor) is actually wearing shorts.
*When the newly created Doctor discovers he's "part Time Lord, part human" he is shocked and refuses to admit it, meaning he has never been a half-human.
*The scene where the Daleks are speaking German is possibly a tongue-in-cheek reference to the fact that Terry Nation based the Daleks on the Nazis.
*The word "Exterminieren", which the German Daleks use, is not in common use.  In the German dubs of the episodes, the word used in "vernichten" literally, "Reduce to nothing"; colloquially, "Destroy"). The full dialogue for the German Daleks is as follows: "Exterminieren! Exterminieren! Halt! Sonst werden wir Sie exterminieren! Sie sind jetzt ein Gefangener der Daleks! Exterminieren! Exterminieren!" This translates as: "Exterminate! Exterminate! Stop! Or you will be exterminated. You are a prisoner of the Daleks. Exterminate! Exterminate!"
*This marks the departure of [[Catherine Tate]] ([[Donna Noble]]) and [[Billie Piper]] ([[Rose Tyler]]). In an interview with ''[[Doctor Who Magazine]]'', Piper was quoted as saying she doesn't see this as a permanent depature. Catherine Tate has no plans to return at the moment, but she has not ruled out a return in the future. [[Elizabeth Sladen]], however, in an interview published after the episode was broadcast, said she doesn't expect to appear on ''Doctor Who'' again, although her own spinoff, ''[[The Sarah Jane Adventures]]'' would subsequently continue a few months later.
*The story elements surrounding the destruction of the universe have some casual similarity to ideas found in ''Life, the Universe and Everything'', a ''Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' sequel penned by former ''Doctor Who'' [[script editor]], [[Douglas Adams]].  ''Everything'' was in turn based on an abandoned [[Fourth Doctor]] television serial he had written, called ''Doctor Who and the Krikkitmen''.
*This is the third season finale of four to have a character in the TARDIS speaking about possible places to visit before the unexpected departure of a character. In ''[[The Parting of the Ways]]'' it's the [[Ninth Doctor]] speaking of places like the planet [[Barcelona]] before regenerating; in ''[[Last of the Time Lords]]'', the Doctor suggests visiting [[Agatha Christie]] (among others) before Martha announces her departure; in this episode, Donna speaks of visiting [[Felspoon]] and meeting [[Charlie Chaplin]] before her mind overloads. The only episode to break this pattern so far is ''[[Doomsday]]''.
*Jack has flirted with or shown interest in all of the Doctor's companions appearing in this episode save Donna and Jackie. While he may currently consider Jackie off-limits because of her marriage and her connection to Rose, it is interesting to note that Jack does not pursue the two women who have exhibited the most aggressive attitudes towards the opposite sex, and who would arguably be the most likely to return his advances.


=== Ratings ===
== Continuity ==
Journey's End was viewed by 10.57 million viewers in its first airing. This placed it as the No. 1 program of the week, beating the Wimbledon finals and episodes of ''Coronation Street'' and ''Eastenders''. This makes ''Journey's End''' the highest rated episode in the 45-year history of ''Doctor Who'', surpassing ''[[Voyage of the Damned]]'' and ''[[The Stolen Earth]]'', both of which ranked second in their respective weeks.[http://www.gallifreyone.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?id=EkEykpAEuAeSoAAghE&tmpl=newsrss&style=feedstyle] However, the episode is not the most-watched episode of the revived series; that distinction belongs to the 13.31 million viewers obtained by ''Voyage of the Damned'' (the most-watched episode of all time remains ''[[The Ark in Space]]'' Part 2 with 13.60 million viewers in [[1975]], although it only ranked 5th for the week it aired). The episode also achieved an Appreciation Index rating of 91, tieing with ''The Stolen Earth'', a number considered unprecedented for a mainstream network drama production.[http://www.gallifreyone.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?id=EkEVuFppyybCfstIhg&tmpl=newsrss&style=feedstyle]
* Davros has previously demonstrated the ability to shoot electricity. ([[TV]]: ''[[Revelation of the Daleks (TV story)|Revelation of the Daleks]]'', [[AUDIO]]: ''[[Davros (audio story)|Davros]]'')
* When the Doctor sees [[Gwen Cooper]] for the first time, he asks if she comes from a long line of family from Cardiff, noting the [[Spatial genetic multiplicity|physical similarity]] between Gwen and [[Gwyneth (The Unquiet Dead)|Gwyneth]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Unquiet Dead (TV story)|The Unquiet Dead]]'') Gwen confirms that her family has been in Cardiff since the 1800s.
* This is the first time the Doctor's TARDIS has been piloted by six people, the number first specified in [[PROSE]]: ''[[Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible (novel)|Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible]]''. This retroactively serves to somewhat explain the Doctor's difficulty in correctly piloting the craft and its frequent use of a hexagonal console. ([[TV]]: ''[[An Unearthly Child (TV story)|An Unearthly Child]]'', et al.)
* Davros mentions meeting Sarah Jane at the birth of his creations. ([[TV]]: ''[[Genesis of the Daleks (TV story)|Genesis of the Daleks]]'')
* The [[Supreme Dalek (The Stolen Earth)|Supreme Dalek]] proves sadistic, mirroring a [[Dalek Supreme (Return to Skaro)|previous one]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Return to Skaro (audio story)|Return to Skaro]]'')
* Mickey Smith and Jackie Tyler return. ([[TV]]: ''[[Doomsday (TV story)|Doomsday]]'')
* Donna proposes a way for the Doctor to fix the long-broken [[chameleon circuit]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[An Unearthly Child (TV story)|An Unearthly Child]]'') The Sixth Doctor had previously attempted this, with some limited temporary success, ([[TV]]: ''[[Attack of the Cybermen (TV story)|Attack of the Cybermen]]'') as had the Fourth Doctor. ([[TV]]: ''[[Logopolis (TV story)|Logopolis]]'') In his [[Sixth Doctor|sixth]] and [[Ninth Doctor|ninth incarnations]], the Doctor indicated that he rather liked the [[police box]] form. ([[TV]]: ''[[Attack of the Cybermen (TV story)|Attack of the Cybermen]]'', ''[[Boom Town (TV story)|Boom Town]]'')
* Donna reiterates that she could type 100 words per minute while working as a temp in Chiswick. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Stolen Earth (TV story)|The Stolen Earth]]'')
* The fact that a single TARDIS has enough power to relocate Earth harks back to the [[Time Lord]]s moving Earth to another part of the universe about two million years in its future, where it became known as [[Earth|Ravolox]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Mysterious Planet (TV story)|The Mysterious Planet]]'')
* The Doctor tells Wilf that he's "fine" after he drops off Donna. This echoes a similar statement he made which Donna interpreted as meaning the complete opposite. ([[TV]]: ''[[Forest of the Dead (TV story)|Forest of the Dead]]'')
* After the Dalek became trapped in the Time Lock at Torchwood Hub, Ianto finds out that the Time Lock was created by Toshiko before her death in the hands of Jack's brother [[Gray (Adam)|Gray]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Exit Wounds (TV story)|Exit Wounds]]'')
* The Doctor once again disables Jack's vortex manipulator's teleport function. ([[TV]]: ''[[Last of the Time Lords (TV story)|Last of the Time Lords]]'')
* Sarah Jane Smith previously mentioned the [[Verron soothsayer]] who gave her the [[warp star]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? (TV story)|Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?]]'')
* Davros taunts the Doctor with memories of people who gave their lives for his, much in the same way that the [[Timewyrm]] taunted the [[Seventh Doctor]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Timewyrm: Revelation (novel)|Timewyrm: Revelation]]'')
* The device created by the Meta-Crisis Doctor looks similar to the device used against the Daleks by the [[Seventh Doctor]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Remembrance of the Daleks (TV story)|Remembrance of the Daleks]]'') That device was similar to one the [[Third Doctor]] built on [[Spiridon]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Planet of the Daleks (TV story)|Planet of the Daleks]]'')
* Davros refers to the Doctor as the "destroyer of worlds". The [[Seventh Doctor]] referred to himself as such previously. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Afterlife (audio story)|Afterlife]]'')
* Donna calls the Meta-Crisis Doctor mental after he dresses which causes him to believe she's objecting to his blue suit. A similar exchange occurred previously with the real Tenth Doctor and Martha, where he believed her incredulous reaction to his absorbing radiation was a critique of him wearing one shoe. ([[TV]]: ''[[Smith and Jones (TV story)|Smith and Jones]]'')
* The Doctor again states his aversion to violence, and in particular his horror of genocide. He is appalled when the Meta-Crisis Doctor destroys the Daleks, evil as they are. He recognises, however, that the destructive impulse comes from himself. The [[Fourth Doctor]] likewise had an opportunity to destroy the Daleks before they left Skaro but was faced by a moral quandary. Circumstances at that time prevent him from having to make that decision. ([[TV]]: ''[[Genesis of the Daleks (TV story)|Genesis of the Daleks]]'')
* Davros points out the apparent hypocrisy of the Doctor's creed of non-violence, saying that he takes "ordinary people and fashion[s] them as weapons". Others have previously made similar accusations:
** [[Blon Fel-Fotch Passameer-Day Slitheen|Blon Fel Fotch]] accused the Ninth Doctor of "running because [he] daren't look back". ([[TV]]: ''[[Boom Town (TV story)|Boom Town]]'')
** Donna, observing the Doctor's terrible power on their first meeting, told him, that he needed someone to stop him. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Runaway Bride (TV story)|The Runaway Bride]]'')
** After [[Tegan Jovanka|Tegan]], sick of the death that seemed to follow the Doctor, left him, the Doctor himself admitted that he had to "mend [his] ways". ([[TV]]: ''[[Resurrection of the Daleks (TV story)|Resurrection of the Daleks]]'')


=== Myths and rumours ===
* Upon first meeting him, the Doctor tried to convince [[Davros]] that the Daleks are dangerous by comparing them to a virus that could kill all living forms. He asked Davros, that if he created such a virus, would he unleash it? Davros considered for a moment, before saying that he would do it, that such power would set him amongst the Gods, confirming his madness. ([[TV]]: ''[[Genesis of the Daleks (TV story)|Genesis of the Daleks]]'') Here, Davros has created the [[Reality bomb]], a device which will destroy all of reality, and all life forms. Essentially, Davros has created the very virus the Doctor described, but in a different form.
* The week between the cliffhanger ending of ''The Stolen Earth'' and the broadcast of ''Journey's End'' included some of the most intense fan speculation and media attention in franchise history. The significance of the cliffhanger, which appeared to show the Doctor regenerating, along with previously reported speculation regarding Donna and other characters led to many speculations being circulated on fan discussion boards and the media. Among some of the most notable:
* The [[Meta-Crisis Doctor]] describes the [[Human-Time Lord Meta-Crisis]] as "wizard". In [[parallel world (Turn Left)|a parallel world]], Donna used this same expression when the [[Royal Hope Hospital]] returned to Earth. ([[TV]]: ''[[Turn Left (TV story)|Turn Left]]'')
:* That David Tennant was in fact leaving the series, and that leaked photos and other information regarding him being in the 2008 Christmas special (as well as media reports the preceding week that he was negotiating to return in 2010) were either a "red herring" or that the Christmas special was to include a flashback.
* The "Doctor Donna" was foretold by the [[Ood]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Planet of the Ood (TV story)|Planet of the Ood]]'')
:* The true nature of Donna was the subject of much speculation, with some fans suggesting her to actually be [[The Rani]] or [[Romana]] living under the influence of a [[Chameleon Arch]], or a manifestation of the Master.
* The Doctor and Mickey perform a "fist bump" in lieu of a handshake when Mickey departs. ([[TV]]: ''[[Doomsday (TV story)|Doomsday]]'')
:* Concerning Donna's ring, at the end of the season 4 finale, when the Doctor says good-bye to her it glimmers briefly into the camera. Some fans theorise that the ring is a possible Chamelon Arch containing Donna's memories of her time with the Doctor. It has also been suggested that the ring resembles a ring worn by The Master in a previous episode. Others theorise that the ring is just large, black, and very shiny. But this cannot be so as Donna was not wearing it towards the end of Journey's End before her mind was wiped and why would the Doctor put a ring on Donna anyway?
* The Doctor's TARDIS has been captured before. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Poison Sky (TV story)|The Poison Sky]]'')
:* And the prediction that a companion would die led some to believe Donna, Martha or Rose would be the ones destined to die (since it had already been reported that John Barrowman would be returning to ''Torchwood'' and Elisabeth Sladen to ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'', ruling out their characters' demise.)
* Mickey and Jack's feigned antagonism on encountering each other reflects their genuine antagonism during their initial meeting. ([[TV]]: ''[[Boom Town (TV story)|Boom Town]]'')
:* A number of fans have begun to speculate as to whether or not the [[Meta-Crisis Tenth Doctor]] will eventually become to be known as the enigmatic, malevolent [[Valeyard]].
* When Davros asks the Doctor "How many have died in your name?", the Doctor recalls [[Harriet Jones]], ([[TV]]: ''[[The Stolen Earth (TV story)|The Stolen Earth]]'') [[Jabe]], ([[TV]]: ''[[The End of the World (TV story)|The End of the World]]'') the [[Controller (Bad Wolf)|Controller]], ([[TV]]: ''[[Bad Wolf (TV story)|Bad Wolf]]'') [[Lynda Moss]], ([[TV]]: ''[[The Parting of the Ways (TV story)|The Parting of the Ways]]'') Sir [[Robert MacLeish]], ([[TV]]: ''[[Tooth and Claw (TV story)|Tooth and Claw]]'') [[Angela Price]], ([[TV]]: ''[[The Age of Steel (TV story)|The Age of Steel]]'') [[Colin Skinner]], [[Ursula Blake]], [[Bridget Sinclair]], ([[TV]]: ''[[Love & Monsters (TV story)|Love & Monsters]]'') [[the Face of Boe]], ([[TV]]: ''[[Gridlock (TV story)|Gridlock]]'') [[Chantho]], ([[TV]]: ''[[Utopia (TV story)|Utopia]]'') [[Astrid Peth]], ([[TV]]: ''[[Voyage of the Damned (TV story)|Voyage of the Damned]]'') [[Luke Rattigan]], ([[TV]]: ''[[The Poison Sky (TV story)|The Poison Sky]]'') [[Jenny (The Doctor's Daughter)|Jenny]], ([[TV]]: ''[[The Doctor's Daughter (TV story)|The Doctor's Daughter]]'') [[River Song]], ([[TV]]: ''[[Forest of the Dead (TV story)|Forest of the Dead]]'') and the [[hostess (Midnight)|hostess]], ([[TV]]: ''[[Midnight (TV story)|Midnight]]'') all people who sacrificed themselves for the Doctor or those he couldn't save from death.
* The appearance of [[K-9]] was a surprise to many as it had been previously reported that the character would not be appearing in the episode, given the fact the rights to the character are currently held by another party for the planned ''K-9'' television series.
* The Reality Bomb is conceptually similar to the particle disseminator possessed by [[the Valeyard]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Ultimate Foe (TV story)|The Ultimate Foe]]'')
*It was strongly believed that Harriet Jones was wanting revenge upon the Doctor for bringing down her reign as Prime Minister, so she decided to help bring the Daleks back, and she was in fact the Supreme Dalek. A supposed "leaked script" showed that Harriet Jones was in fact helping the Daleks. This was proved false.
* This is the first time that Rose has seen Jack Harkness since she, as the [[Bad Wolf (entity)|Bad Wolf entity]], resurrected him and made him immortal. She does not know that he is immortal and is surprised when he comes back to life. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Parting of the Ways (TV story)|The Parting of the Ways]]'')
*The fact that Jack, Martha and Mickey depart together has sparked speculation that Martha and Mickey may appear in ''Torchwood'', possibly replacing Tosh and Owen. ''The subsequent announcement that [[Freema Agyeman]] had been signed by ITV, a rival network to the BBC, to take a lead role in the series Law & Order: London, has reduced the chances of her appearing in Torchwood.''
* The Daleks have previously made extensive use of [[transmat]] technology. ([[TV]]: ''[[Remembrance of the Daleks (TV story)|Remembrance of the Daleks]]'', ''[[Bad Wolf (TV story)|Bad Wolf]]'')
* Donna refers to the Doctor as "Spaceman". ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Technophobia (audio story)|Technophobia]]'')
* Dalek Caan states that he has seen the destruction the Daleks have caused throughout their existence, and decrees "No More". The [[War Doctor]] also made this decree when deciding to end the Time War. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Day of the Doctor (TV story)|The Day of the Doctor]]'')


=== Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors ===
== Home video releases ==
* Why does Rose say "What is that thing" even though she has seen it before - a Dalek out of the shell. ''It was acting oddly - so Rose wondered why.''
<gallery position="center" captionalign="center" hideaddbutton="true">
* Wouldn't the nuclear warheads placed under the crust have melted? ''UNIT would most likely have thought about this, and provided some sort of way to protect them.''
File:The Complete David Tennant Years Region 1 US DVD cover.jpg|The Complete David Tennant Years DVD<br />Region 1 US cover
* If any mention of the Doctor or the TARDIS would cause the Time Lord consciousness within Donna to reawaken and burn up her mind, isn't the Doctor taking a tremendous risk by letting Donna see him in the Nobles' house? ''Maybe The Doctor wishes to test the effectiveness of the memory wipe and also determine whether there are any negative effects on her.''  
File:Bbcdvd-s4-v4.jpg|thumb|Series 4 Volume 4 DVD Cover
* With all of her memories since The Runaway Bride erased, wouldn't Donna realise that she has lost about a year and a half of of her life, and shouldn't she think it's her wedding day? ''But the Doctor states that he erased memories of him and the TARDIS, meaning that he never erased 2 full years of her life. She presumably remembers a mundane version of that time, and will naturally dismiss any gaps.''
File:Series-4-boxset.jpg|thumb|''Doctor Who: The Complete Fourth Series'' DVD cover
*In Turn left when the stars are going out, doesn't that mean the reality bomb is already on the loose? It can be claimed the reality was reversed so it never happened, but how could Rose predict it, unless she saw it in her, or another universe? ''As the Doctor has stated before, it is often possible to see the effect before realizing the source. Perhaps the removal of the Reality Bomb rewrote the histories of all the other universes''
File:Bbcdvd-thedalekcollection.jpg|The [[Dalek]] Collection DVD box-set
*If the Earth was one of 27 planets stolen, how come in Turn Left the Earth has not been stolen but the effects of the Reality Bomb are still seen anyway? ''Davros stole the Earth in the Doctor's universe, not the universe that was created around Donna as a result of the Time Beetle in [[Turn Left]].''
File:Bbcdvd-series1234.jpg|thumb|''Doctor Who: The Complete Series One to Four'' DVD box-set
* How could Sarah-Jane and Mickey possibly run across the hall, up stairs, open a door, and close it without the Dalek looking at the terrified woman, the dozen or so Daleks in the background, the sec. cams and the Dalek that goes past the door notice? ''The Daleks were too busy with the reality bomb'' 
File:Davros (box set).jpg|thumb|The Davros Box-Set
* Considering Rose was about to start working for the parallel Earth's Torchwood when she last saw the Doctor, it's odd that she wouldn't mention this to Jack. ''It is not confirmed on screen that Rose ever did join Torchwood; also, such a discussion may have occurred off-screen.''
File:Bbcdvd-series1234567.jpg|thumb|''Doctor Who: The Complete Series One to Seven'' DVD box-set
*Since Daleks have invaded the Earth and literally broadcast their identities to the whole world, how does [[Henry van Statten]] ([[DW]]: ''[[Dalek (TV story)|Dalek]]'' several years later not know what his "Metaltron" is really called? ''There could be several reasons, ranging from the name Dalek not being widely disseminated to van Statten, having been established as a megalomanic, simply making up a name he liked better. There is no on-screen evidence to support the notion that history has been changed, however.''
</gallery>
*Sarah Jane says she obtained the [[warp star]] from a Verron Soothsayer, however she actually received it from the [[Slitheen]] in [[SJA]]: ''[[The Lost Boy]]''.
* Why didn't Davros activate a holding cell on Donna when he did with everyone else? (He thinks there is no way that anyone can stop the plan now that the gun is destroyed.)


==Continuity==
* This story was released in the [[Series 4 (Doctor Who 2005)|Series 4]] DVD box set in [[November (releases)|November]] [[2008 (releases)|2008]] along with the rest of the series.
* When the Doctor sees [[Gwen Cooper]] for the first time, he asks if she comes from a long line of family from Cardiff. This is because of the similarity between Gwen and [[Gwyneth]] ([[DW]]: ''[[The Unquiet Dead]]''), both of whom are played by [[Eve Myles]]. Which is explained by Russell T Davies as:"It's not familial as we understand it. There's no blood tie. Spatial genetic multiplicity means an echo and repetition of physical traits across a Time Rift."
* It was released as Series 4 Volume 4 in a vanilla edition with ''[[Turn Left (TV story)|Turn Left]]'' and ''[[The Stolen Earth (TV story)|The Stolen Earth]]'' on [[1 September (releases)|1 September]] 2008.
* This is the first occurrence of the Doctor's TARDIS being piloted by six people, that number first being specified in [[NA]]: ''[[Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible]]''.
* This episode marks the last appearance of the Tenth Doctor's severed hand which first appeared in [[DW]]: ''[[The Christmas Invasion]]'' and throughout the first season of ''[[Torchwood]]''.
* Davros mentions meeting Sarah at the birth of his creations; this happened in [[DW]]: ''[[Genesis of the Daleks]]''.
* Mickey Smith and Jackie Tyler last appeared in [[DW]]: ''[[Doomsday]]''.
* Donna tells the Doctor how to fix the Chameleon Circuit which has been broken since [[DW]]: ''[[An Unearthly Child]]''. The Sixth Doctor had previously attempted this in [[DW]]: ''[[Attack of the Cybermen]]'', as had the Fourth Doctor in [[DW]]: ''[[Logopolis]]''. Dialogue in ''[[Rose (TV story)|Rose]]'' and ''[[Boom Town]]'' implied he was no longer interested in changing its external appearance and rather liked the police box form, plus in the QuickReads book, ''[[Made of Steel]], The Doctor talks about fixing the Chameleon circuit, but says he would be worried about forgetting what it looked like.
* The fact a single TARDIS has enough power to relocate Earth harks back to [[DW]]: ''[[The Mysterious Planet]]'' which established that approximate 2 million years into the future the [[Time Lords]] will once again move Earth to another part of the universe, where it will come to be known as [[Ravolox]].
*This is the fourth time a Doctor has been depicted in a way to suggest he was unclothed. The first time was in ''[[Spearhead from Space]]'' in which a newly regenerated Third Doctor took a shower. The second was during the regeneration from the [[Seventh Doctor|Seventh]] to the [[Eighth Doctor]], where he was merely covered by a sheet. The Ninth Doctor appeared shirtless during the torture scene in ''[[Dalek (TV story)|Dalek]]''.
* [[Gallifrey]] is mentioned again.
* The Doctor tells Wilf that he's "fine" after he drops off Donna. This echoes a similar statement in ''[[Forest of the Dead]]'' which Donna interprets as meaning the complete opposite.
* The Verron Soothsayer, who gave Sarah Jane Smith the [[Warp star]], was mentioned previously in [[SJA]]: ''[[Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?]]''
*The device created by the Meta-Crisis Doctor looks similar to the device used against the Daleks in ''[[Remembrance of the Daleks]]''.


==Timeline==
== Non-UK broadcast editing ==
===For [[Doctor Who]]===
''Journey's End'' was broadcast on the [[CBC]] in Canada on [[12 December (releases)|12 December]] 2008 in an extensively edited version, created in order so that the episode, which ran approximately 65 minutes without commercial interruption on the BBC, could fit into a standard 60-minute time slot with commercials, meaning the episode itself had to be whittled down to approximately 44-45 minutes. The deletion of approximately 20 minutes of scenes renders this version of ''Journey's End'' one of the most extensively edited ''Doctor Who'' episodes in the entire history of the franchise. The CBC subsequently made an unedited version of the episode available, but only on its website and only for four weeks after the TV broadcast (the broadcast occurred after Series 4 had been released to DVD in that country).
*''Journey's End'' occurs after: [[DW]]: ''[[The Stolen Earth]]''
*''Journey's End'' occurs before: [[DW]]: ''[[Music of the Spheres]]'' (although it can be argued that ''Music of the Spheres'' could take place anytime during the Tenth Doctor's life) and [[DW]]: ''[[The Next Doctor]]''


===For [[Torchwood]]===
Some of the most major edits included the Meta-Crisis Doctor connecting the dots between his/the Doctor's coincidental encounters with Wilf and Donna, the Doctor's farewell to his companions in the park, Rose's final question to the Doctor and her subsequent kissing of the Meta-Crisis Doctor, and the final scene of the Doctor in the TARDIS, alone.
*''Journey's End'' occurs after: [[TW]]: ''[[Exit Wounds]]'' and the radio play ''[[Lost Souls]]''
*''Journey's End'' occurs before: [[TW]]: ''[[Children of Earth]]''


===For [[The Sarah Jane Adventures]]===
It was subsequently announced that the CBC was discontinuing its broadcasts of ''Doctor Who'', with the competing network [[Space (TV channel)|Space]] taking over broadcasts of the series beginning with ''[[The Next Doctor (TV story)|The Next Doctor]]'' and continuing into 2010.[http://dwin.org/article.php?sid=268]
*''Journey's End'' occurs after: [[SJA]]: ''[[The Lost Boy]]'' (conjectural)
[[BBC America]] also aired an extensively edited version of the episode in February 2009.
*''Journey's End'' occurs before: [[SJA]]: ''[[The Last Sontaran]]''


== DVD and Other releases ==
== External links ==
* This episode will be released as part of Series 4 Volume 4 DVD alongside [[Turn Left]] and [[The Stolen Earth]] on  1st [[September]] [[2008]].
* [https://www.doctorwholocations.net/locations/ Doctor Who - The Locations Guide]
* It will also be released in the [[Series 4 (Doctor Who)|Series 4]] boxset on [[3rd November]] [[2008]].
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/s4/episodes/S4_13 BBC Episode Guide to '''Journey's End''']
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20110809114614/http://www.thewriterstale.com/scr.html Original script] (archived), posted online by [[Russell T Davies]] in conjunction with the release of his book ''[[Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale]]''.


==See also==
== Footnotes ==
*[[Dalek Invasion of Earth (2009)]]
{{reflist}}
{{DWTV}}
{{regeneration stories}}
{{Davros stories}}
{{Dalek stories}}
{{UNIT stories}}
{{Post-regeneration stories}}
{{TitleSort}}


==External links==
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*[http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/s4/episodes/S4_13 BBC Episode Guide to '''Journey's End''']
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{{Series 4}} 
{{Dalek stories}} 
{{Davros stories}} 
 
[[Category:Tenth Doctor episodes]]
[[Category:Dalek episodes]]
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[[fr:Journey's End]]
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Latest revision as of 17:47, 3 November 2024

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Journey's End was the thirteenth and final episode of series 4 of Doctor Who.

It was the second episode of a two-part story, preceded by The Stolen Earth, which itself had picked up the cliffhanger of Turn Left. It also had an open ending, which was quite different to how the previous seasons of the revived series ended; they each led into the next season's Christmas special, but this one did not. However, several issues were concluded: the Cult of Skaro had been completely wiped out in this episode with Dalek Caan's death, and the relationship between Rose Tyler and the Tenth Doctor also received closure in the form of a unique regeneration where the Doctor did not physically change, but rather, served as the genesis for a half-human clone. However, the Tenth Doctor's choice to abort one of his regenerations would still count as a regeneration being used up, leaving him with only one left and paving the way for what would be the final incarnation in the First Doctor's regeneration cycle.

The story also saw the first exploration into how the Doctor's self-sacrificial nature caused those around him to perform the same acts, something that would come back to plague him much later on, noticeably in his twelfth incarnation, as seen in Face the Raven and The Doctor Falls.

The story notably introduces The DoctorDonna, a by product of the Human-Time Lord Meta-Crisis that resulted in the Meta-Crisis Doctor giving Donna the memories and intelligence of the Doctor. However, much like how becoming Bad Wolf would have killed Rose, Donna had her memories of her adventures with and of the Doctor completely erased to save her life at the end of the story, and the threat of remembering the Doctor causing Donna's death as well as Donna's missing memories of the Doctor and their adventures would be left unresolved until 15 years later after this episode in 2023's The Star Beast, which saw Donna reuniting with the Fourteenth Doctor, played by Tenth Doctor actor David Tennant.

Synopsis[[edit] | [edit source]]

All hell has broken loose! Humanity is threatened with global annihilation, as Davros and the New Dalek Empire prepare to detonate a bomb that will wipe out all of existence. The Tenth Doctor is helpless, and the TARDIS faces destruction. The only hope lies with the Doctor's companions — the "Children of Time" — but Dalek Caan predicts that one will die...

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Tenth Doctor's regeneration is nearly complete. Donna Noble, Captain Jack Harkness, and Rose Tyler are barely able to watch due to the light. Suddenly, the Doctor directs the rest of the regeneration energy into the container housing his severed hand; the regeneration energy dissipates and the Doctor emerges, still in his tenth incarnation, leaving his friends gobsmacked. The Doctor explains that he used the regeneration to heal himself from the Dalek energy blast, but syphoned off the remaining energy that would have changed his appearance and personality into his other hand — a matching biological receptacle. The Doctor says he didn't want to change; Rose is relieved that "her" Doctor is still there and the two happily embrace.

Meanwhile, Sarah Jane Smith is covering her head with her arms, waiting to be exterminated by the Daleks, but with flashes of blue light, Mickey and Jackie appear beside the car and they blast the Daleks to pieces. Sarah gets out of the car, shocked, but immediately hugs Mickey. He jokes, "Us Smiths got to stick together". Jackie introduces herself, but asks, "Where the hell is my daughter?"

Over at Torchwood, Gwen Cooper and Ianto Jones shoot at the Dalek, raging. But they notice something strange and they cease fire. They walk forward cautiously and see their bullets hanging in the air as if stopped by an invisible wall. Gwen reaches out slowly to touch it — she can't, but her finger makes a ripple in the air; it's a time lock that their deceased co-worker Tosh was working on. However, while the Dalek is locked out, they're locked in.

Elsewhere, a patrol of Daleks have found the TARDIS. Inside, the Doctor prepares to take off with his companions to figure out a strategy. However, right as he throws a switch, the Daleks use a temporal loop to make the TARDIS powerless. They then take it to the Crucible. Upon arrival, the Supreme Dalek orders the time travellers to depart the vessel. Jack thinks they are safe because of the extrapolator force field the TARDIS has, but the Doctor explains that unlike last time when they were fighting hybrid scavengers, now they're up against a Dalek Empire at the height of their power who have the expertise and technology to get past the TARDIS's defenses. As the Doctor puts it, "...that wooden door is just a wooden door".

The Doctor, Rose, and Jack exit. However, Donna becomes distracted by the sound of a heartbeat and, while she is looking back, the TARDIS door slams closed. The Doctor demands that Donna be released. The Supreme Dalek denies responsibility calling it "Time Lord treachery" and even if the Doctor wasn't responsible they consider the TARDIS to be a weapon that must be destroyed. The Daleks dump the TARDIS and send it to be destroyed in the centre-core of the Crucible, a ball of Z-neutrino energy. The TARDIS plummets into the core and, without defences, begins to burn up. As the TARDIS interior erupts in flames and debris, Donna collapses near the severed hand. Just as she's convinced she's about to die, she hears the heartbeat again and touches the container, and energy flows between it and her. The hand bursts out of the container and forms into a duplicate of the Doctor, who quickly dematerialises the TARDIS. A view of the TARDIS in the core is shown to Jack, Rose, and the Doctor, who believe Donna and the TARDIS to have been destroyed.

Sarah, Jackie, and Mickey, having seen the Daleks transport the TARDIS to the Crucible, lay down their guns, allowing themselves to be captured and taken to the Crucible in order to find the Doctor.

Meanwhile, Martha Jones says her goodbyes to her mother and uses the Project Indigo device to take her to Germany, where one of five Osterhagen stations is hidden, and awaits contact from the other bases.

Aboard the Crucible, Jack creates a distraction by shooting the Supreme Dalek with his revolver, but the Dalek Supreme promptly shoots him down. The Doctor and Rose are taken to the vault where Davros is held. Rose is desolate; she doesn't know she made Jack immortal as the Bad Wolf and that his immortality has allowed him to escape.

In the TARDIS, the new Doctor has dressed in the Doctor's blue suit and has finished repairing the interior from its damages. He rambles on about how they have to be quiet — "can't even drop a spanner". Donna then asks if Time Lords can multiply like this — "Chop off a bit and grow a new one". However, the new Doctor explains that there has never been anything like him before. He then notices that he only has one heart, like a human; he's not too pleased with this, saying it's "rubbish". Donna tells the "spaceman" to watch what he says, and the new Doctor tells "earth girl" the same. Both of them are shocked by this; he's absorbed some of Donna's mannerisms. He then begins pondering what Davros could be doing with the planets.

With the Doctor and Rose contained, Davros explains that the twenty-seven planets form an energy pattern amplified into a "reality bomb", able to break apart the electrical forces holding everything together, down to the last atom, a creation Davros calls "the apotheosis of my genius!"

Mickey, Jackie, and Sarah have been taken with many other humans to a testing of the bomb, but they escape the test chamber just in time. The other humans are not so lucky and vanish out of existence when the bomb is activated.

The effect of the bomb is shown to the Doctor. Both Doctors are horrified as they realise how it works. But that isn't the half of it: the wavelength that the Reality Bomb produces, amplified by the twenty-seven planets, will break through the Rift at the heart of the Medusa Cascade into every single corner of creation. Davros proclaims it is his ultimate victory: "The destruction of reality ITSELF!"

Jack finds his way to Mickey, Sarah and Jackie, and, with a warp star from Sarah, creates a device that will implode the Crucible. Meanwhile, Martha makes contact with two other bases in China and Liberia. The Chinese counterpart wants to get it over and done with, but Martha, knowing the Doctor, first broadcasts a signal to the Crucible to give the Daleks a chance. She vows to use the Osterhagen key to detonate twenty-five nuclear warheads in strategic locations under the Earth's crust to destroy the planet and disable the reality bomb. The Doctor is horrified that Earth would ever construct what is essentially a giant self-destruct button. Jack and the others then contact Davros and threaten to destroy the Crucible with the warp star. The Doctor objects again and asks where they even got a warp star. Sarah steps forward and claims responsibility. Davros then interrupts her, recognising her face, and gets nostalgic, recalling how Sarah was on Skaro at the very beginning of his creation. Sarah retorts that she has learned to fight since then and demands that he free the Doctor or be destroyed by the warp star; however, seeing all his friends willing to go to such extreme measures gives the Doctor pause. Davros notices this and tells the Doctor that this is what he does to people: the Doctor may be a man who never carries a gun, but he turns ordinary people into soldiers in his war; he is told that his "Children of Time" have been transformed into murderers, noting that one has already sacrificed herself opening the subwave network. The Doctor is then shocked to learn from Rose that Harriet Jones died to ensure he got to Earth. Davros then asks the Doctor how many other people have died for him and/or in his name, and the Doctor is reminded of River Song, Astrid Peth, Jenny and many others who gave their lives to help him. Davros laughs that this is his final victory over the Doctor, by showing him his true self.

The Daleks lock on to their respective positions and transmat Martha, Jack, Mickey, Jackie, and Sarah to the vault where the Doctor and Rose are being held captive, thereby preventing them from using any of their devices to stop the Daleks. The Daleks then prepare to activate the reality bomb to wipe out all matter in this and every parallel universe through the rifts in the Medusa Cascade, but the new Doctor and Donna arrive in the TARDIS. Each tries to destroy Davros and the Daleks using a weapon created by the new Doctor, but both are stunned by shots of electricity from Davros' robotic hand before they can use it; Donna is sent flying while the new Doctor is put in a forcefield. Despite the revelation that Donna and the TARDIS survived, the Doctor is glum because the reality bomb is still counting down. The Doctor and his companions helplessly watch in horror as the reality bomb ticks down to nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one...!

Rose is trapped in the vault.

Nothing happens. Suddenly an alarm blares. Everyone looks over to see that Donna has used the controls to disable it. She gives a long technical explanation as to how she did it; this is astonishing because ordinarily, Donna "can't even change a plug". The Doctor recognises that the creation of the new Doctor has had an unintended side effect: Donna is now half Time Lord herself, sharing the Doctor's intellect — she is the DoctorDonna the Ood saw coming. She explains that the meta-crisis that created the other Doctor had also affected her, but the effect had lain dormant, needing a little spark to start it — "Thank you, Davros!" Donna and the new Doctor free the others and, with the help of the original Doctor, disable the Daleks. The Daleks are left literally spinning round in circles, thanks to Donna.

The Doctors then get to work and use the magnetron to send all the planets back to their correct places. Davros attempts to stop them, but Jack, who had used the commotion to sneak into the TARDIS, emerges with his defabricator gun and Rose's energy blaster; he tosses the latter to Mickey, who holds Davros at gunpoint. Turning to Dalek Caan, he demands to know why he didn't foresee this. From Caan's maniacal cackling, the Doctor realises that he did see it. Caan admits that he had seen the Daleks for what they were, had seen all the evil they had caused across time and space, and secretly aided the Doctor in their destruction, declaring "No more!"

The Supreme Dalek descends to the vault and accuses Davros of betraying the Daleks. Though Davros insists that Dalek Caan is the traitor, the Supreme Dalek declares that he will exterminate them all and fires at the Doctor, striking the machinery. Jack swiftly destroys the Supreme Dalek, but the shot he fired has destroyed the Magnetron, leaving the single remaining planet, Earth, stranded. Getting an idea, the original Doctor races into the TARDIS to replace the broken machine. Realising that Dalek Caan has seen the end of the Daleks, has been manipulating time to achieve this, and knowing that, even without the Reality Bomb, this Dalek Empire is powerful enough to slaughter the cosmos, the new Doctor uses the remaining machinery to maximise all dalekanium power feeds and redirect the energy output back onto itself. All around them, Daleks and their ships begin to self-destruct. The original Doctor is outraged at the new Doctor for making such a choice. The companions flee into the TARDIS. When the original Doctor offers to save Davros, he refuses. Gesturing at the destruction around them, Davros shrieks, "Never forget, Doctor, you did this! I name you forever! You are the Destroyer of Worlds!" — an epithet the Daleks have long associated with the Doctor. Davros howls in fury as the flames surround him, while Caan ominously predicts again, "One will still die...". Unable to save either of them, the Doctor flees into the TARDIS just before the Crucible is destroyed.

The Doctor comes up with a plan: he'll use the energy of the Rift as a rope and the TARDIS as a "tow truck" to move the Earth back to where it belongs. With the help of Torchwood's Rift Manipulator sending the energy, Mr Smith roping it around the TARDIS and K9 supplying Mr Smith with the TARDIS's base code, the Doctor is ready to go. However, he has a surprise for his companions. He explains that the reason that he has so much trouble piloting the TARDIS is that it is designed to be piloted by six people, and he has had to do it all on his own. He lets Sarah, Rose, Mickey, Martha, and Jack help him pilot while his clone, Donna, and Jackie watch — he specifically does not want Jackie to help. The Doctor flicks a switch and the TARDIS begins to fly with the immense Earth following behind.

On Earth, Luke holds onto K9 and cheers as the house on Bannerman Road shakes, Ianto and Gwen holler in delight in the trembling Torchwood Hub, Sylvia and Wilf frantically try to stay on their feet, and Francine takes cover beneath her kitchen table.

With Donna and Jackie watching, the Doctors and companions work the controls until, with a great shuddering halt, the Earth stops and begins to spin on its own, with the Moon hovering in to resume its own orbit. As the Children of Time celebrate in the TARDIS, Wilf, Sylvia and Francine revel in the sunlight and Earth celebrates its return home.

With Earth back in its proper place, the Doctor's companions leave the TARDIS. Sarah points out that the Doctor considers himself a lonely man, but he has the biggest family on Earth: his companions. She then leaves, concerned about Luke. The next to leave are Jack and Martha, but before the latter goes, he is stopped by the Doctor — "I told you, no teleport" — and has his vortex manipulator disabled yet again; the Doctor also tells Martha to dispose of the Osterhagen Key and "save the world one last time". As the two leave, Jack tries asking Martha to leave UNIT and join Torchwood. Mickey also departs after saying goodbye to Jackie; he had initially stayed in the parallel world to be with his grandmother, but she has since passed peacefully. As there is now nothing left for him on Pete's World, "certainly not Rose", he has decided to stay in his home universe, and catches up with Jack and Martha; the latter jokingly expresses irritation, saying he had hoped to be rid of him.

Using a closing rift, the Doctor returns Rose and Jackie to Pete's World and leaves the new Doctor with her. The original Doctor explains that by destroying the entire Dalek race, the new Doctor has committed genocide. He sees the new Doctor as similar to himself after the Time War, "full of blood and anger", and says that Rose had made him better. The new Doctor explains that having only one heart, he will age as a human and not regenerate; he could spend that one life with Rose. Rose, upset that it's still not the same as having the original, asks both Doctors the words that the Doctor was unable to say to her when they last parted. The original Doctor refuses to actually say them, only responding, "Does it need saying?" By contrast, the new, half-human Doctor, having the same memories and feelings as the original Doctor, whispers them into Rose's ear, and they passionately kiss. The Doctor and Donna quickly depart in the TARDIS and the new Doctor and Rose watch, hand in hand.

Returning to their universe, Donna is eager for her and the Doctor's next adventure while the Doctor is strangely subdued and asks her how it feels to have all the new knowledge in her head. Donna claims she is fine, however it isn't long belong she starts babbling random facts then gasps in pain holding her head. The Doctor, having expected this, explains that the human brain cannot take in the Time Lord mentality: if she continues in her current state, she will die as her mind will burn up. In tears, Donna protests that she wants to continue her adventures with the Doctor as "DoctorDonna" and is willing to spend the rest of her life with him. Saddened, the Doctor says that he is so sorry; Donna then realises what he is about to do and begs him not to "send her back". The Doctor then tells her that they had "the best of times". Ignoring her pleas, he presses his fingers on Donna's head, wiping her mind of all her encounters with him, rendering her unconscious as a result.

Back in Chiswick, Wilfred is excited when there is a knock on the door thinking Donna has returned home but his happiness turns to horror when he finds the Doctor outside with an unconscious Donna in his arms, asking for help.

The Doctor tells Sylvia and Wilfred everything that happened and warns them that Donna must never be reminded of her time with him or she will die. Sylvia tells the Doctor that the Earth's journey through space is currently all over the news, but the Doctor answers that it'll only be a story to Donna — another event she missed. Wilfred is upset that Donna has forgotten all the wonderful things she did, the people she met and the places she visited knowing that she had become a better person for all of them. Sylvia denies this but Wilfred insists she was a better person. The Doctor states that the Donna that travelled with him is "dead", fulfilling Caan's prediction. However, he adds that the universe will be singing songs about Donna, who was, for one shining moment, the most important woman in the entire universe. When Sylvia tells the Doctor that Donna is always the most important woman to her, the Doctor makes a point of telling Sylvia to try showing her love more often.

Dejected and drenched in rain, the Doctor is alone yet again.

As Donna recovers consciousness, she storms downstairs and starts laughing about her being asleep in her clothes, but to her now, the Doctor is a stranger. She shows no interest in the Doctor and chats on the phone to her friends, who are all talking about the Medusa Cascade incident, to which Donna thinks that her friends were either drunk or that she slept through it. Sylvia tells the Doctor he should leave.

Outside, the Doctor tells Wilf that the rain is the result of the atmospheric disturbance created when the Earth was moved back to its proper place but, like everything else, it will end eventually. Wilfred asks the Doctor who he's got now, and asks him what happened to all his other friends. The Doctor tells him that all his friends now have someone else, and that's fine with him. Wilfred promises he will look out for the Doctor every night while he looks at the sky on Donna's behalf. The Doctor quietly thanks Wilfred, then returns to the TARDIS; Wilf solemnly salutes the Time Lord as the TARDIS fades away.

Melancholy and silent, the Doctor watches the time rotor as he sets a new course. He tosses aside his rain-drenched pinstripe blazer, leans on the TARDIS console and stares off into the distance; deep in thought, lonely and heartbroken.

Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

Crew[[edit] | [edit source]]

General production staff

Script department

Camera and lighting department

Art department

Costume department

Make-up and prosthetics

Movement

Casting

General post-production staff

Special and visual effects

Sound



Not every person who worked on this adventure was credited. The absence of a credit for a position doesn't necessarily mean the job wasn't required. The information above is based solely on observations of the actual end credits of the episodes as broadcast, and does not relay information from IMDB or other sources.


Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

Real world[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Jack calls Mickey Smith "Mickey Mouse" when they re-encounter each other.
  • As her mind begins to melt down, Donna references the American comic strip character Charlie Brown. She also mentions Charlie Chaplin.

TARDIS[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • When the TARDIS is dropped into the Z-Neutrino core of the Crucible with its defences down, it begins to be destroyed.

Technology[[edit] | [edit source]]

Story notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Three major scenes were cut from the episode before broadcast:
  • An extra piece of dialogue on Bad Wolf Bay where the Doctor hands his clone a coral-like piece of the TARDIS, telling him to grow his own. When the clone Doctor protests that it takes thousands of years to grow a TARDIS, DoctorDonna provides him with a faster solution, so that Rose and the cloned Doctor can travel through space "as it should be". This was mentioned in The Doctor's Data section of the Doctor Who Adventures magazine, and in the 398th edition of Doctor Who Magazine, Russell T Davies states that it is perfectly fine in his opinion to assume that this part of the scene did actually occur. The scene is included on the Series 4 DVD Box Set.
  • Originally, Donna was to hear the sound of the TARDIS dematerialising, a brief look of recognition registering on her face before being dismissed. This shot was dropped at the suggestion of Julie Gardner who reminded Davies that it had just been explicitly stated that if Donna remembered anything about the Doctor she would die. The scene was included in the Series 4 DVD set.
  • The original ending to this episode involved the Doctor, after saying goodbye to Wilf, seeing a strange signal on the scanner making him launch into his traditional, "What? What!? What." response, after which two Pete's World Cybermen suddenly rise up behind him — a cliffhanger. This was included in the Series 4 DVD set; in his commentary, Davies explains that the cliffhanger ending was dropped in response to comments by a Doctor Who Magazine writer who stated a cliffhanger was inappropriate after such a sad series of scenes. In REF: Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale - The Final Chapter, Benjamin Cook is acknowledged as being the one who convinced Davies to drop the Cybermen cliffhanger. Unlike most deleted scenes from Series 4, it is not possible to retroactively work the Cyberman cliffhanger sequences into continuity as the cliffhanger does not coincide with the opening of The Next Doctor, which shows the Doctor not in peril (this due, per The Writer's Tale, to the opening being changed due to the changing of Journey's End's ending). The cliffhanger was replaced with a teaser for The Next Doctor which first aired immediately following this episode.[3]
  • Journey's End and The Stolen Earth together feature references to every episode of the fourth series. In addition, references dating back to the first series of the revived show (involving Rose) and Sarah's tenure as the companion of the Third and Fourth Doctor also appear.
  • Almost every companion of the Ninth and Tenth Doctors appears or is referenced in some way in this episode (including Astrid Peth), with the sole exception of Adam Mitchell.
  • Blue Peter presenter Gethin Jones operates a Dalek in this episode, returning to Doctor Who after his brief appearance as a Cybus Cyberman in The Age of Steel.
  • This was the longest series finale at 65 minutes long and was longer even than all of the Christmas specials except for Voyage of the Damned, which was 71 minutes. This raised some issues with international broadcasts; for example, the broadcast on the CBC in Canada on 12 December 2008 was edited to 44 minutes to fit a regular 60-minute timeslot, with commercials (see below for examples). While the American Sci Fi Channel broadcast aired the episode in its entirety on August 1, it has not since been rerun, instead, ending its rotation with The Stolen Earth. Space, however, has aired it completely uncut on reruns. However, BBC America, which now re-airs Doctor Who, only shows episodes edited down to 45 minutes, except for The End of Time, where the two-parter is shown in a three-hour block.
  • Dalek Caan refers to the Doctor as a "threefold man". The meaning becomes clear in this episode with both the copy of the Doctor and DoctorDonna.
  • As with the previous episode, the opening credits are augmented to include six names, with several overflow acting credits displayed after the opening sequence.
  • This episode marks the first series finale to show a preview of the upcoming Christmas Special (2008). After the credits, the Cybermen are said to return in the episode. The episode is further unique for being the only series finale in the Russell T Davies era which doesn't end on a cliffhanger.
Mickey, Jackie and Sarah hide from the Daleks in a shot that demonstrates an effect nicknamed the "Harper treatment".
  • Graeme Harper's penchant for including a distorted image of a main character is present in this story. Though not included in every single story he's directed for BBC Wales, it's seen often enough to be considered something of a directorial "signature". Similar distortion is achieved through the use of magnifying glasses in Army of Ghosts, The Unicorn and the Wasp, and Utopia, and with mirrors in Turn Left. This time, it's Mickey, Jackie and Sarah that get "the Harper treatment" under a curved window.
  • This story augments the notion that Time Lords have some measure of control over the regenerative process. In truth, most regenerations have added at least a little to the general mythos about the process. From the notion that a particular physiognomy could be imposed upon the Second Doctor in The War Games, details have been added about how the process works almost every time one has been depicted. In this case, writer Russell T Davies builds upon his earlier idea that a Time Lord can re-grow whole body parts during "the first 15 hours" following a regeneration (The Christmas Invasion). Here he suggests that a Time Lord can stop the process prior to entering the final stage, provided that he has a matching genetic receptacle into which he can store the energy.
  • It is not stated in this episode if the Doctor's "partial" regeneration used up one of the regenerations in his cycle. Later, in The Time of the Doctor, the Eleventh Doctor tells Clara Oswald he's in his final incarnation, reminding her of his Time War incarnation and then telling her of the aborted regeneration in this episode, confirming that although he didn't change his appearance it still used up what would have been his eleventh regeneration.
  • The scene where the Daleks are speaking German is possibly a tongue-in-cheek reference to the fact that Terry Nation based the Daleks on the Nazis.
  • The word "Exterminieren", which the German Daleks use, is not in common use. In the German dubs of the episodes, the word used is "Vernichten" (literally, "Reduce to nothing"; colloquially, "Destroy"). This relates again to the Nazis, who expressively waged a "Vernichtungskrieg" - a war in order to destroy. Another (and mainly used) word to replace the "exterminate" in the translation is "eliminieren". The full dialogue for the German Daleks is as follows: "Exterminieren! Exterminieren! Halt! Sonst werden wir Sie exterminieren! Sie sind jetzt ein Gefangener der Daleks! Exterminieren! Exterminieren!" This translates as: "Exterminate! Exterminate! Stop! Or we will exterminate you. You are now a prisoner of the Daleks. Exterminate! Exterminate!"
  • This story marks the departure of Catherine Tate (Donna Noble) and Billie Piper (Rose Tyler). In an interview with Doctor Who Magazine, Piper was quoted as saying she doesn't see this as a permanent departure. Tate had no plans to return at that moment, but she had not ruled out a return in the future. Elizabeth Sladen, in an interview published after the episode was broadcast, said she doesn't expect to appear on Doctor Who again, although her own spin-off, The Sarah Jane Adventures, would subsequently continue a few months later, with the Doctor making two future appearances in that series. However, all three appeared the following year for cameos in The End of Time. It was however, the final chronological appearance of Rose Tyler.
  • This was the only appearance of the sonic lipstick outside The Sarah Jane Adventures until Defenders of Earth [+]Loading...["Defenders of Earth (webcast)"] showed that Jo Jones had inherited it from Sarah Jane.
  • This is the third-season finale of four to have a character in the TARDIS speaking about possible places to visit before the unexpected departure of a character. In The Parting of the Ways the Ninth Doctor speaks of places like the planet Barcelona before regenerating; in Last of the Time Lords, the Doctor suggests visiting Agatha Christie (among others) before Martha announces her departure; in this episode, Donna speaks of visiting Felspoon and meeting Charlie Chaplin before her mind overloads. The episodes that break this pattern so far are Doomsday, The Big Bang, and The Name of the Doctor.
  • Not counting post-season specials, this episode is also one of only three finales in the revived era to not include the sudden arrival of a character at or near the end of the episode, along with Hell Bent and The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos. The Tenth Doctor appears in The Parting of the Ways; Donna Noble appears in the TARDIS at the end of Doomsday; the Titanic crashes through the TARDIS's hull in Last of the Time Lords; the Eleventh Doctor appears in The End of Time, is remembered back into reality by Amy Pond in The Big Bang, and is revealed to have faked his death in The Wedding of River Song, an unknown incarnation of the Doctor appeared in The Name of the Doctor, Santa Claus appears in the TARDIS at the end of Death in Heaven, the First Doctor arrives at the end of The Doctor Falls and the Judoon arrive in the TARDIS at the end of The Timeless Children.
  • Jack has flirted with or shown interest in all of the Doctor's companions appearing in this episode save Donna and Jackie. It is interesting to note that Jack does not pursue the two women who have exhibited the most aggressive attitudes towards the opposite sex, and who would arguably be the most likely to return his advances. Donna even jokes about Jack hugging her, which he laughs off.
  • The actor credits for Noel Clarke, Camille Coduri, Gareth David-Lloyd and Eve Myles are timed to appear on screen as the respective actors are shown in closeup during the first two scenes. As of September 2018, this is the last episode to display "overflow" guest cast credits over the opening scenes.
  • Journey's End has possibly one of the largest body counts, with billions of Daleks, a substantial number of humans and, to an extent, Donna.
  • This is the first episode in which the TARDIS is fully staffed with six pilots, and the first time it is noted definitively that it was designed to be piloted by six.
  • In the classic series, the Dalek stories after Genesis of the Daleks revolved in some manner around Davros, exploring the tenacious but ambivalent relationship between the Daleks and their creator. It would appear that the civil war between the Imperial and Renegade Daleks (Revelation of the Daleks and Remembrance of the Daleks, plus audio stories) has been resolved, with Davros working with a united Dalek Empire against the Time Lords.
  • This episode marks the last appearance of the Tenth Doctor's severed hand, which first appeared in TV: The Christmas Invasion and throughout the first series of Torchwood. The Doctor makes reference to losing it in the sword fight against the Sycorax leader. This is the first time Rose has seen the severed hand, since the Doctor didn't retrieve it from Jack until after her departure.
  • When the Meta-Crisis Doctor holds Rose's hand as they watch the TARDIS disappear, he does it with his right hand - the only part of the original Doctor.
  • Jack introduces Gwen as Gwen Cooper. This is the first on-screen indication that Gwen has not changed her last name to Williams following her marriage in Rhys Williams in TV: Something Borrowed.
  • Davros' apparent last words are "Never forget, Doctor, you did this! I name you, forever! You are the Destroyer of Worlds!". "Destroyer of Worlds" is a translation of "Ka Faraq Gatri", a title which had previously been used by the Daleks to refer to the Doctor.
  • This was the first regular episode of Doctor Who produced by BBC Wales in which Will Cohen was not credited on any Visual Effects duties.
  • This story was chosen by BBC America to represent the David Tennant era during their 50th anniversary programming. Edited into an omnibus format with The Stolen Earth, it was aired by BBCA on 27 October 2013, after the debut of their homegrown special called The Doctors Revisited - The Tenth Doctor.
  • The outfit the Meta-Crisis Doctor wears mirrors Rose's outfit from this season by having a blue jacket over a red shirt as well as the Ninth Doctor's outfit with a similar type of shirt with a jacket over it.
  • The Series 4 finale would turn out to be Gareth David-Lloyd's only appearance as Ianto Jones on Doctor Who, as his character would get killed off in the next season of Torchwood, entitled Children of Earth. Also, this would be the only time Mr Smith appears on the show, with The Sarah Jane Adventures coming to an end after the death of Elisabeth Sladen in 2011. However, the Tenth Doctor would instead meet him on his parent series in a crossover story, The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith.
  • The concept that a Doctor would grow from the Doctor's severed hand who would end up with Rose was planned since The Christmas Invasion. Russell T Davies states on the commentary track for this episode that he had the idea in mind that just prior to the Tenth Doctor's regeneration, a scene would depict him growing a clone of himself from his severed hand, and send him off to live his life with Rose. The concept was ultimately brought forward, and was developed into it's own entire story arc, due to the "timing being perfect". He says that he told David Tennant about the idea he had.
  • "The Dream of a Normal Death" is heard as the Doctor remembers the people who have died in his name, and again as he pilots the TARDIS at the end of the episode. This was first heard at the end of The Family of Blood when John Smith and Joan are holding the watch and seeing the future.
  • When the Doctor sees Gwen Cooper for the first time, he asks if she comes from an old Cardiff family, noting the physical similarity between Gwen and Gwyneth, (TV: The Unquiet Dead) both of whom are played by Eve Myles. According to Russell T Davies: "It's not familial as we understand it. There's no blood tie. Spatial genetic multiplicity means an echo and repetition of physical traits across a Time Rift."
  • With the later retroactive confirmation that the Doctor does regenerate in this episode, (TV: The Time of the Doctor) Rose Tyler becomes the only individual to date known to have directly witnessed two of the Doctor's regenerations.
  • This marks, as of 2020, the last televised Doctor Who story to feature K9.
  • The VFX shot of K-9 teleporting into the attic to assist Mr Smith was reused from The Sarah Jane Adventures episode The Lost Boy.
  • Russell T Davies had Mickey return to his original Earth in the hopes that he would appear in either Torchwood or The Sarah Jane Adventures. Ultimately, Noel Clarke's busy schedule prevented this, though he did make a cameo in The End of Time.
  • When it seemed unlikely that Billie Piper would appear due to her honeymoon, Russell T Davies considered dropping Mickey and Jackie altogether and reducing Rose's role to a short coda in which the half-human Doctor arrived on Bad Wolf Bay in the parallel universe.
  • As the writing progressed, Russell T Davies became concerned that there was no way to conclude his story within the confines of a standard fifty-minute episode. He began to contemplate the necessity of cutting a major element of the story, such as the scenes in the Torchwood Hub or the involvement of Sarah Jane, and contacted Julie Gardner to discuss the problem. Gardner was able to convince Jane Tranter to extend the episode by ten minutes, making it the longest regular-season episode ever.
  • Before settling on the meta-crisis as the impetus for Donna's departure from the TARDIS, Russell T Davies briefly considered other ideas, like physical injury or death, Sylvia's death, or Donna being lost in time as a lead-in for one of the 2009 specials, which entailed finding an older and wiser Donna on an alien planet.
  • Russell T Davies revealed in 2020 that he planned to have a mention of Nyssa and Tegan, revealing that they are now a couple. He incorporated this into Farewell, Sarah Jane.
  • Billie Piper disliked having Rose end up with the Metacrisis Doctor, feeling that it was a cop-out from the ending of Doomsday, and also not being keen on the implication that she had settled for an inferior copy of the Doctor.
  • In the accompanying Doctor Who Confidential for this episode, Russell T Davies explains "This is so busy and so mental and so epic and universal in scale that of course you need two Doctors to solve it."
  • Phil Collinson, Graeme Harper, and David Tennant discuss the use of musician Colum Regan, who is a very good physical match for Tennant, as a double in scenes with the two Doctors. Collinson explains that while with an unlimited budget they would use Tennant in every shot, "we only have a certain number of effects shots where you can see the two Doctors together, so we have to pick those carefully."
  • Graeme Harper explained that in "two or three wide shots" they were able to use Colum Regan and David Tennant together. For the most part the double is used for scenes where one or the other Doctor is only seen from behind, or only an arm or back of the head is seen in a shot. The double has appeared in other episodes throughout the series.
  • David Tennant described the procedure for making an effects shot involving Tennant as both Doctors. The camera is locked in place while Tennant goes off and changes clothing, with Regan holding his place. A shot is made for reference with Colum Regan, then another shot is made without Regan. This enables the shots to be merged during editing to create the effect of having Tennant in two places in the same shot.

Ratings[[edit] | [edit source]]

The episode gained an overall, consolidated viewing figure of 10.57 million viewers in its first BBC1 airing. This placed it as the No. 1 program in the UK across all channels of the week, beating all the Wimbledon finals and all 5 episodes of Coronation Street, all 4 of Eastenders and all 5 of Emmerdale. This makes Journey's End the highest rated episode in the 45-year history of Doctor Who, surpassing Voyage of the Damned and The Stolen Earth, both of which ranked second in their respective weeks. However, the episode is not the most-watched episode of the revived series; that distinction belongs to the 13.31 million viewers obtained by Voyage of the Damned (the most-watched episode of all time remains City of Death Part 4 with 16.1 million viewers in 1979). The episode also achieved an Appreciation Index rating of 91, tying with The Stolen Earth, a number considered unprecedented for a mainstream network drama production.[4]

Myths and rumours[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • The week between the cliffhanger ending of The Stolen Earth and the broadcast of Journey's End included some of the most intense fan speculation and media attention in franchise history. The significance of the cliffhanger, which appeared to show the Doctor regenerating, along with previously reported speculation regarding Donna and other characters, led to many speculations being circulated on fan discussion boards and the media, the most notable being that David Tennant was, in fact, leaving the series, and that leaked photos and other information regarding him being in the 2008 Christmas special (as well as media reports the preceding week that he was negotiating to return in 2010) were either a "red herring" or that the Christmas special was to include a flashback. Although Tennant had made it known to the producers that he was planning to leave the series, the intent was for him to return for a series of specials later.
  • Though the Tenth Doctor did not change his incarnation when he regenerated, the energy he expelled used up a full regeneration regardless. This put into question how many more times the Doctor can regenerate before permanent death. After years of fan debate, this was ultimately proven true in TV: The Time of the Doctor, where the Eleventh Doctor confirmed he had exhausted a regeneration with this course of action (putting it down to the Tenth Doctor having "vanity issues"), and after factoring in the War Doctor as a suppressed incarnation, had no more regenerations left. He was later given a brand new regenerative cycle or unlimited regenerations by the Time Lords as a gift for saving Gallifrey.
  • Concerning Donna's ring, at the end of the series 4 finale, when the Doctor says goodbye to her it glimmers briefly into the camera. Some fans theorise that the ring is a possible Chameleon Arch module containing Donna's memories of her time with the Doctor. It has also been suggested that the ring resembles a ring worn by the Master in a previous episode. Others theorise that the ring is simply large, black, and very shiny.
  • The prediction that a companion would die led some to believe Donna, Martha or Rose would be the ones destined to die (since it had already been reported that John Barrowman would be returning to Torchwood and Elisabeth Sladen to The Sarah Jane Adventures, ruling out their characters' demise). Ultimately, this was a partial red herring, as it was an aspect of Donna that died, but not the character herself.
  • A number of fans began to speculate as to whether or not the Meta-Crisis Tenth Doctor would eventually become to be known as the enigmatic, malevolent Valeyard. The six-issue comic book mini-series The Forgotten became the subject of related speculation when the final cliffhanger panel of issue #5 featured the unveiling of a villain resembling the clone; ultimately it was revealed that another villain was responsible, although the Doctor still, puzzlingly, refers initially to the character as the Valeyard.
  • The appearance of K9 was a surprise to many as it had been previously reported that the character would not be appearing in the episode, given that the rights to the character were held by another party for the planned K9 television series. K9 continued to appear occasionally in The Sarah Jane Adventures, too.
  • Some fans believed that Harriet Jones was wanting revenge upon the Doctor for bringing down her reign as Prime Minister, so she decided to help bring the Daleks back, and she was, in fact, the Supreme Dalek. A supposed "leaked script" showed that Harriet Jones was helping the Daleks. This was proved false.
  • The fact that Jack, Martha, and Mickey depart together sparked speculation that Martha and Mickey would appear in Torchwood, possibly replacing Tosh and Owen (Martha had already made several appearances in the spin-off). The subsequent announcement that Freema Agyeman had been signed by ITV, a rival network to the BBC, to take a lead role in the series Law & Order: London, reduced the chances of her appearing in Torchwood. She did subsequently take part in the BBC Radio adventure Lost Souls, but that story took place prior to the events of The Stolen Earth. In his book The Writer's Tale Russell T Davies mentions that he had promised Noel Clarke that he would appear in Torchwood Series 3. Ultimately, however, neither Clarke nor Agyeman did appear in Children of Earth, and dialogue in "Day One" indicated that Martha was still with U.N.I.T. and on her honeymoon. The two would ultimately return in The End of Time as a married couple at some unspecified point in the future, with Martha no longer affiliated with U.N.I.T.

Filming locations[[edit] | [edit source]]

Studio

  • BBC Studios, Unit ½, Tonteg Road, Treforest Industrial Estate, Upper Boat, Pontypridd

Locations

  • Arcot Street, Penarth (Sarah Jane and the others surrender to the Daleks)
  • Robinswood Crescent, Penarth (Sarah's car is stopped by a Dalek patrol)
  • Hawthorn Road, Pontpridd (Wilf and Sylvia watch the Dalek ships leave Earth)
  • High Street, Penarth (The TARDIS is transferred to the Crucible)
  • Mir Steel (formerly Alpha Steel), Newport (Inside the Crucible)
  • Cwrt-y-Vil Road, Penarth (Martha says goodbye to Francine)
  • Castell Coch, Cardiff (UNIT Germany)
  • Nant-Fawr Road, Cardiff (Outside Wilf’s)
  • Southerndown Beach, Ogmore Vale, Bridgend (The Doctor drops off Rose and new family back at Bad Wolf Bay)
  • At the end, the TARDIS lands in Morgan Jones Park, Caerphilly.

Production errors[[edit] | [edit source]]

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.
  • When the Doctor returns Rose to Bad Wolf Bay, in the shots of the Doctor and Donna you can clearly see Rose's hair blowing in the wind, yet in the shots of Rose her hair isn't blowing. It happens too often to be random gusts of wind.
  • In the same scene, when the Metacrisis and Jackie discuss her child Tony, the shadow of a boom mic can be seen in the sand.
  • When the Meta-Crisis Doctor arrives at the Crucible and opens the doors of the TARDIS, a bright light is used to hide the rear panel of the police box prop and create the "bigger on the inside" camera effect. However, it fails to cover a small section of this panel at the floor level of the prop.
  • When the DoctorDonna deactivates the holding cells, Davros doesn't move or react, unlike all other characters present. A model, or empty costume, is clearly in his place.
  • When The Doctor and his companions are flying the TARDIS, Martha can briefly be seen looking and smiling at the camera,
  • Finger smudges can be seen on the Supreme Dalek's top piece.
  • The Bluray release of this story uses the wrong font to credit the additional cast immediately after the opening titles. Traditionally, the font used for the Russell T Davies era is "Futura Medium", and this font is still used to credit the Producers and for the title card. An entirely different font - "Tahoma" - is used to credit Noel Clarke, Camille Coduri, Adjoa Andoh, Eve Myles and Gareth David-Lloyd in this episode. The error is also present in The Stolen Earth.
  • When Gwen asks what the power for the rift manipulator is for, there’s no filter over Eve Myles voice suggesting it’s coming through the speaker, instead sounding like she’s also in the room.

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Davros has previously demonstrated the ability to shoot electricity. (TV: Revelation of the Daleks, AUDIO: Davros)
  • When the Doctor sees Gwen Cooper for the first time, he asks if she comes from a long line of family from Cardiff, noting the physical similarity between Gwen and Gwyneth. (TV: The Unquiet Dead) Gwen confirms that her family has been in Cardiff since the 1800s.
  • This is the first time the Doctor's TARDIS has been piloted by six people, the number first specified in PROSE: Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible. This retroactively serves to somewhat explain the Doctor's difficulty in correctly piloting the craft and its frequent use of a hexagonal console. (TV: An Unearthly Child, et al.)
  • Davros mentions meeting Sarah Jane at the birth of his creations. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks)
  • The Supreme Dalek proves sadistic, mirroring a previous one. (AUDIO: Return to Skaro)
  • Mickey Smith and Jackie Tyler return. (TV: Doomsday)
  • Donna proposes a way for the Doctor to fix the long-broken chameleon circuit. (TV: An Unearthly Child) The Sixth Doctor had previously attempted this, with some limited temporary success, (TV: Attack of the Cybermen) as had the Fourth Doctor. (TV: Logopolis) In his sixth and ninth incarnations, the Doctor indicated that he rather liked the police box form. (TV: Attack of the Cybermen, Boom Town)
  • Donna reiterates that she could type 100 words per minute while working as a temp in Chiswick. (TV: The Stolen Earth)
  • The fact that a single TARDIS has enough power to relocate Earth harks back to the Time Lords moving Earth to another part of the universe about two million years in its future, where it became known as Ravolox. (TV: The Mysterious Planet)
  • The Doctor tells Wilf that he's "fine" after he drops off Donna. This echoes a similar statement he made which Donna interpreted as meaning the complete opposite. (TV: Forest of the Dead)
  • After the Dalek became trapped in the Time Lock at Torchwood Hub, Ianto finds out that the Time Lock was created by Toshiko before her death in the hands of Jack's brother Gray. (TV: Exit Wounds)
  • The Doctor once again disables Jack's vortex manipulator's teleport function. (TV: Last of the Time Lords)
  • Sarah Jane Smith previously mentioned the Verron soothsayer who gave her the warp star. (TV: Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?)
  • Davros taunts the Doctor with memories of people who gave their lives for his, much in the same way that the Timewyrm taunted the Seventh Doctor. (PROSE: Timewyrm: Revelation)
  • The device created by the Meta-Crisis Doctor looks similar to the device used against the Daleks by the Seventh Doctor. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks) That device was similar to one the Third Doctor built on Spiridon. (TV: Planet of the Daleks)
  • Davros refers to the Doctor as the "destroyer of worlds". The Seventh Doctor referred to himself as such previously. (AUDIO: Afterlife)
  • Donna calls the Meta-Crisis Doctor mental after he dresses which causes him to believe she's objecting to his blue suit. A similar exchange occurred previously with the real Tenth Doctor and Martha, where he believed her incredulous reaction to his absorbing radiation was a critique of him wearing one shoe. (TV: Smith and Jones)
  • The Doctor again states his aversion to violence, and in particular his horror of genocide. He is appalled when the Meta-Crisis Doctor destroys the Daleks, evil as they are. He recognises, however, that the destructive impulse comes from himself. The Fourth Doctor likewise had an opportunity to destroy the Daleks before they left Skaro but was faced by a moral quandary. Circumstances at that time prevent him from having to make that decision. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks)
  • Davros points out the apparent hypocrisy of the Doctor's creed of non-violence, saying that he takes "ordinary people and fashion[s] them as weapons". Others have previously made similar accusations:
    • Blon Fel Fotch accused the Ninth Doctor of "running because [he] daren't look back". (TV: Boom Town)
    • Donna, observing the Doctor's terrible power on their first meeting, told him, that he needed someone to stop him. (TV: The Runaway Bride)
    • After Tegan, sick of the death that seemed to follow the Doctor, left him, the Doctor himself admitted that he had to "mend [his] ways". (TV: Resurrection of the Daleks)

Home video releases[[edit] | [edit source]]

Non-UK broadcast editing[[edit] | [edit source]]

Journey's End was broadcast on the CBC in Canada on 12 December 2008 in an extensively edited version, created in order so that the episode, which ran approximately 65 minutes without commercial interruption on the BBC, could fit into a standard 60-minute time slot with commercials, meaning the episode itself had to be whittled down to approximately 44-45 minutes. The deletion of approximately 20 minutes of scenes renders this version of Journey's End one of the most extensively edited Doctor Who episodes in the entire history of the franchise. The CBC subsequently made an unedited version of the episode available, but only on its website and only for four weeks after the TV broadcast (the broadcast occurred after Series 4 had been released to DVD in that country).

Some of the most major edits included the Meta-Crisis Doctor connecting the dots between his/the Doctor's coincidental encounters with Wilf and Donna, the Doctor's farewell to his companions in the park, Rose's final question to the Doctor and her subsequent kissing of the Meta-Crisis Doctor, and the final scene of the Doctor in the TARDIS, alone.

It was subsequently announced that the CBC was discontinuing its broadcasts of Doctor Who, with the competing network Space taking over broadcasts of the series beginning with The Next Doctor and continuing into 2010.[1] BBC America also aired an extensively edited version of the episode in February 2009.

External links[[edit] | [edit source]]

Footnotes[[edit] | [edit source]]