World Enough and Time (TV story): Difference between revisions

From Tardis Wiki, the free Doctor Who reference
Line 161: Line 161:
* This episode marks the return of [[John Simm]]'s {{Simm|n=Master}}, who last appeared in ''[[The End of Time (TV story)|The End of Time]]'' in 2010.
* This episode marks the return of [[John Simm]]'s {{Simm|n=Master}}, who last appeared in ''[[The End of Time (TV story)|The End of Time]]'' in 2010.
* This episode marks the first time that more than one incarnation of [[the Master]] has appeared on-screen together.
* This episode marks the first time that more than one incarnation of [[the Master]] has appeared on-screen together.
* The Master's line comparing the scenario to being more like a "''Genesis'' of the Cybermen" is a reference to the 1975 ''[[Doctor Who]]'' story ''[[Genesis of the Daleks (TV story)|Genesis of the Daleks]]'', which showed the [[Fourth Doctor]] being sent to the creation of the [[Dalek]]s. Following the success of ''Genesis of the Daleks'', a story entitled ''[[Genesis of the Cybermen (TV story)|Genesis of the Cybermen]]'' was planned, but never produced (although this is just one of many later stories to take up the concept, a full list of which can be found at [[Genesis of the Cybermen]]). It is also a play on [[Operation Exodus]] and the biblical books of Exodus and Genesis. Perhaps coincidentally, [[Doctor Who Magazine]] had previously published a trilogy of stories entitled ''[[Exodus (comic story)|Exodus]]''/''[[Revelation! (comic story)|Revelation!]]''/''[[Genesis! (comic story)|Genesis!]]'', which also featured the [[Cyberman|Cybermen]]. Also, ''[[Genesis of the Daleks (TV story)|Genesis]]'' and ''[[Revelation of the Daleks (TV story)|Revelation]]'' (but not Exodus) have been used as titles in the '...of the Daleks' format.
* The Master's line comparing the scenario to being more like a "''Genesis'' of the Cybermen" is a reference to the 1975 ''[[Doctor Who]]'' story ''[[Genesis of the Daleks (TV story)|Genesis of the Daleks]]'', which showed the [[Fourth Doctor]] being sent to the creation of the [[Dalek]]s. Following the success of ''Genesis of the Daleks'', a story entitled ''[[Genesis of the Cybermen (TV story)|Genesis of the Cybermen]]'' was planned, but never produced (although this is just one of many later stories to take up the concept, a full list of which can be found at [[Genesis of the Cybermen]]). It is also a play on [[Operation Exodus]] and the biblical books of Exodus and Genesis. Perhaps coincidentally, [[Doctor Who Magazine]] had previously published a trilogy of stories entitled ''[[Exodus (comic story)|Exodus]]''/''[[Revelation! (comic story)|Revelation!]]''/''[[Genesis! (comic story)|Genesis!]]'', which also featured the [[Cyberman|Cybermen]]. Also, ''[[Genesis of the Daleks (TV story)|Genesis]]'' and ''[[Revelation of the Daleks (TV story)|Revelation]]'' (but not Exodus) have been used as titles in the '...of the Daleks' formula.
* For the first time in the show's history (but far from without precedent across the franchise), the Doctor actually [[Aliases of the Doctor|self-identifies]] using the name "[[The Question|Doctor Who]]". He has previously been referred to as such: in ''[[The War Machines (TV story)|The War Machines]]'', [[WOTAN]] says "Doctor Who is required" due to a script mistake; in ''[[The Highlanders (TV story)|The Highlanders]]'', the [[Second Doctor]] introduces himself as "Doktor von Wer" ([[German language|German]] for "Doctor [of] Who"); in ''[[The Underwater Menace (TV story)|The Underwater Menace]]'', the Second Doctor signs a note with "Dr. W."; in ''[[The Dæmons (TV story)|The Dæmons]]'', the [[Third Doctor]] is introduced as "the great wizard Qui Quae Quod" ([[Latin]] variations of "Who"); from ''[[Doctor Who and the Silurians (TV story)|Doctor Who and the Silurians]]'' to ''[[The Five Doctors (TV story)|The Five Doctors]]'', the Doctor's [[car]] [[Bessie]]'s plate read ''[[WHO 1]]'', in ''[[Battlefield (TV story)|Battlefield]]'' it read ''[[WHO 7]]'', and in ''[[The Dying Days (novel)|The Dying Days]]'' it read ''[[WHO 8]]''; in ''[[The Kingmaker (audio story)|The Kingmaker]]'', the [[Fourth Doctor]] wrote a series of children's books accidentally published as ''[[Doctor Who Discovers]]''; in ''[[Rose (TV story)|Rose]]'', a website called ''[[whoisdoctorwho.co.uk]]'' asks "Who is Doctor Who?"; and in ''[[Fogbound (comic story)|Fogbound]]'', {{Delgado}} addresses a [[postcard]] to the Third Doctor as "Dr. Who". Although Missy claims that "Doctor Who" is the Doctor's real name, she also explicitly says she calls herself Doctor Who to head off the usual response heard when the Doctor introduces himself and people reply, "Doctor who?". She also states that he chose the name himself, suggesting she means 'real name' from a more philosophical perspective rather than that it's his birth name, in the same way that the name of a [[transgender]] human or indeed any human who changes their name for any reason at all is certainly REAL, even before the going through of any legal process of changing it.  
* For the first time in the show's history (but far from without precedent across the franchise), the Doctor actually [[Aliases of the Doctor|self-identifies]] using the name "[[The Question|Doctor Who]]". He has previously been referred to as such: in ''[[The War Machines (TV story)|The War Machines]]'', [[WOTAN]] says "Doctor Who is required" due to a script mistake; in ''[[The Highlanders (TV story)|The Highlanders]]'', the [[Second Doctor]] introduces himself as "Doktor von Wer" ([[German language|German]] for "Doctor [of] Who"); in ''[[The Underwater Menace (TV story)|The Underwater Menace]]'', the Second Doctor signs a note with "Dr. W."; in ''[[The Dæmons (TV story)|The Dæmons]]'', the [[Third Doctor]] is introduced as "the great wizard Qui Quae Quod" ([[Latin]] variations of "Who"); from ''[[Doctor Who and the Silurians (TV story)|Doctor Who and the Silurians]]'' to ''[[The Five Doctors (TV story)|The Five Doctors]]'', the Doctor's [[car]] [[Bessie]]'s plate read ''[[WHO 1]]'', in ''[[Battlefield (TV story)|Battlefield]]'' it read ''[[WHO 7]]'', and in ''[[The Dying Days (novel)|The Dying Days]]'' it read ''[[WHO 8]]''; in ''[[The Kingmaker (audio story)|The Kingmaker]]'', the [[Fourth Doctor]] wrote a series of children's books accidentally published as ''[[Doctor Who Discovers]]''; in ''[[Rose (TV story)|Rose]]'', a website called ''[[whoisdoctorwho.co.uk]]'' asks "Who is Doctor Who?"; and in ''[[Fogbound (comic story)|Fogbound]]'', {{Delgado}} addresses a [[postcard]] to the Third Doctor as "Dr. Who". Although Missy claims that "Doctor Who" is the Doctor's real name, she also explicitly says she calls herself Doctor Who to head off the usual response heard when the Doctor introduces himself and people reply, "Doctor who?". She also states that he chose the name himself, suggesting she means 'real name' from a more philosophical perspective rather than that it's his birth name, in the same way that the name of a [[transgender]] human or indeed any human who changes their name for any reason at all is certainly REAL, even before the going through of any legal process of changing it.  
* "[[Operation Exodus]]" was a continual concern for the inhabitants of Moonbase ''Alpha'' in the 1970s TV series ''Space: 1999''. There, it was an evacuation plan for an orderly transfer of the Moon's inhabitants to another location--originally back to Earth but eventually adapted to any habitable body.
* "[[Operation Exodus]]" was a continual concern for the inhabitants of Moonbase ''Alpha'' in the 1970s TV series ''Space: 1999''. There, it was an evacuation plan for an orderly transfer of the Moon's inhabitants to another location--originally back to Earth but eventually adapted to any habitable body.

Revision as of 15:14, 23 April 2020

RealWorld.png

You may be looking for the River Song audio story.

World Enough and Time was the eleventh episode of series 10 of Doctor Who.

The episode concluded the ongoing vault story arc, with the Doctor taking Missy on her first adventure and entrusting her with his two companions in an experiment to test how good she has become. It also showed Bill Potts being converted into a Cyberman and displayed what appeared to be the beginning of the Twelfth Doctor's regeneration.

World Enough and Time notably featured the return of John Simm as the Saxon Master, seven years after his last appearance in The End of Time, marking the first time a previous actor of the Master had returned to the television series after being recasted. The episode also showed John Simm's Master acting alongside Michelle Gomez's Missy, marking the first onscreen appearance of more than one incarnation of the Master.

It also marked the return of the Cybermen in their original design for the first time since they were introduced in 1966 in The Tenth Planet, and their first formal appearance since Death in Heaven. The episode depicted a fourth alternative account of the genesis of the Mondasian Cybermen - different origins have been shown in the comics The World Shapers and The Cybermen, and the audio story Spare Parts.

Synopsis

The Doctor decides to test how good Missy has become by sending her on a trial run with Bill and Nardole. However, when things go wrong, the Doctor takes over. With Bill trapped in a different time zone, can the Doctor make it to her before it is too late, and who are all those people getting cured?

Plot

The Doctor regenerating.

The Doctor stumbles from his TARDIS onto a snow-filled landscape, repeatedly chanting no as he falls to his knees. He begins to regenerate.

Sometime prior, while walking through the courtyard at St Luke's University, the Doctor decides to test if Missy can turn good, despite Bill's objections. They discuss it further in St Luke's kitchen, Bill claims even Nardole will resist, but the Doctor assures he won't as he agreed "in his head", Nardole sheepishly agreeing. Their short dispute causes the Doctor to become emotional, due to Missy being the closest thing he has to someone else like him, something that amuses Nardole, who takes a selfie with him to chronicle the moment. Later that day, Bill and the Doctor eat together, the latter convincing her it is a good thing to let Missy try to prove herself as she was once his "man crush". After a brief discussion about the Time Lords and gender stereotypes, Bill confesses that Missy truly scares her. The Doctor tries to promise he can ensure Bill won't die but admits it can't be guaranteed. Regardless, he assures her that he will be there should things get out of hand.

The plan set, the Doctor drops Missy, Bill and Nardole off on a colony spaceship facing a black hole in the hopes of saving it. Missy introduces herself as 'Doctor Who' to the cameras, which she claims is the Doctor's real name despite the Doctor denying such. He soon becomes impatient with their progress, walking around the TARDIS eating crisps. Missy finally follows suit by deducing why a distress call was made. She also mocks Nardole and Bill's roles as "comic relief" and "exposition" given their genders. They are soon met by a blue-skinned humanoid named Jorj who demands to know which one of them is a human. Bill confesses, the Doctor exiting the TARDIS, taking charge as Jorj prepares to shoot Bill as creatures at the bottom of the ship begin to come up in the elevators. Despite the Doctor's pleas, Jorj shoots Bill in the chest, mortally wounding her. Figures with bandaged faces in hospital gowns collect her body, and, using a voice synthesiser, claim that they will fix her but shall not return. The Doctor trusts them, leaving a psychic message for Bill to wait for him when she awakes.

The TARDIS lands on a colony ship.

Jorj threatens the Doctor when he attempts to scan the elevators but is threatened by Missy with her umbrella, who states only she is allowed to kill the Doctor and that it will only make the Doctor cross. Once things settle down, the Doctor explains that, due to the lower part of the ship being further away from the black hole, time moves faster than the one they are in, the top floor, noting how lifts slowed down when they neared the top due to the difference in gravitational pull, using a red pen in his sonic screwdriver to illustrate. He also states that the creatures on board the ship are the descendants of the crew who went to the lower part of the ship when it got dragged towards a black hole and needed to be reversed, as decades have passed for them even though it has only been two days for Jorj. Jorj admits his confusion; the Doctor mocks him for his lack of knowledge despite supposedly going to "space school", causing the man to reveal he is only a janitor. The Doctor then knocks out Jorj using Venusian aikido so that he and the others can follow Bill. Nardole, stating it has been ten minutes for them, wonders how long Bill has been living below, to which the Doctor replies he hopes they aren't too late.

Meanwhile, at the base of the ship, Bill awakes in a hospital ward with a cybernetic heart fused into her chest, too shocked to look at it. A feral caretaker looks at her before running off. Coming to her senses, she briefly sees a vision of the Doctor telling her to wait for him only for him to vision. She observes the room, noticing two clocks on the wall, one for floor 1056 - which registers 365034 days, 23 minutes, and 26 seconds, or 999.430015 years - and another for floor 0000, which indicates 2 days, 10 hours, 45 minutes, and 17 seconds.

Bill eventually clambers to her feet and begins to follow the noise of someone chanting "pain", soon finding it be another patient on the ward. She goes to fiddle with its voice synthesise but has to hide as the feral man and a nurse enter the ward, the nurse mutes the synthesiser. The caretaker, revealed to be called Mr Razor, takes a liking to Bill and brings her to his room. He explains how time passes faster for them compared to the top, using a tin can to illustrate, and offers Bill tea. He explains how Bill was hurt on the upper levels so had to have her heart replaced with a "shiny" cyber heart and that she has been at the hospital for a few months. He also shows her a live feed of the upstairs, which Bill then spends her time watching despite its extremely slow pace. Months go by, Bill witnessing how the Doctor raised his eyebrow for a week and braced to explain the situation to his associates. While waiting, Bill recovers enough that she is eventually put to work cleaning the hospital by the nurse while plagued by the Doctor's message to keep waiting.

The patients on floor 1056.

On one particular day, she contemplates leaving the hospital only for it to alarm the other patients on the ward, unnerving her enough to stay. After being there just over a year, she eventually convinces Razor to take her out of the hospital, where he reveals to her that the patients are being converted in preparation for "Operation Exodus" as the humans' finite lifespan cannot survive the journey back up to the top. They witness how the dying residents are guided to the hospital by the partially upgraded. After a while, Bill's cyber heart fails, forcing them back to the hospital.

More years pass, Bill eventually convincing Razor to take her to the elevators so she can be transferred back upstairs. They sneak in, Razor revealing he has a key to the conversion theatre, wearing a mask in skit attempt to disguise himself. However, once inside, it was revealed to have been a scheme to condemn Bill to a full conversion as (according to the surgeon) people usually scream if alerted to the real reason why they are taken into the theatre. The prototype patients in the room restrain her as the surgeon remarks how the headpiece he will fit on her head will inhibit emotion so she won't care about the pain of the process.

Meanwhile, the Doctor, Missy and Nardole make it to the bottom floor, the Doctor having Missy delve into the ship's computer history to find out what has occurred below, annoying Nardole as that tends to be his job. He and the Doctor explore deeper into the hospital, finding a surgery room. The Doctor uses his sonic to activate the light above the bed, Nardole jumping in surprise at there being partially converted patients in the room. Elsewhere, Razor approaches Missy as she researches, the Time Lady threatening to kill him if he comes closer than three feet.

The Doctor discovers he is too late to save Bill.

The others eventually learn of "Operation Exodus", while Missy simultaneously learns the ship came from the planet Mondas, twin planet of Earth. Razor teases her again, drawing a pistol, agitating Missy enough to confront him directly, but he discards the weapon. Razor states that he is "worried about his future" and is surprised Missy can't remember being on the ship beforehand. He talks to Missy about his love of disguises, wondering if she still likes them, revealing "Mr Razor" was an invention so that Bill did not recognise him as a former prime minister of Britain. He removes his mask, revealing himself as the Saxon Master, in his "Harold Saxon" incarnation, now sporting a beard and grey hair. He greets his future self, smiles and says "give us a kiss".

In the surgery room, the Doctor opens a door, revealing a complete Mondasian Cyberman. Backing away, he confirms he means no harm and asks for Bill's location. To his horror, the Cyberman asserts that it is Bill. Missy and her predecessor enter, the latter surprising the Doctor as they profess they have made "the genesis of the Cybermen". Nardole runs away in fear, as the Doctor looks on in horror; his trial to test Missy's goodness has just been turned upside down in more ways than one. Not only has Missy reverted to her cruel self, the old Master is here too. Bill reaches towards the Doctor, stating "I waited. I waited for you..." as she begins to cry beneath the mask.

Cast

Crew

to be added

References

Locations

Cybermen

Science

Biology

  • The Doctor calls the heart the "most important [human] organ".
  • The Doctor notes that humans only have one heart.
  • The Doctor says he has hidden arms.

Technology

TARDIS

Species

People

Nicknames and aliases

  • Missy uses the alias "Doctor Who" and gives Bill and Nardole the nicknames "Thing One" and "the Other One" respectively. Missy claims that the Doctor's real name is "Doctor Who".
  • Missy calls Bill "exposition" and Nardole "comic relief", referring to two types of stock characters typically found in story writing. She calls them their genders.
  • Missy calls Jorj her stallion.
  • Missy calls Jorj "Smurf".

Culture

Foods and beverages

Music

  • Opera music can be heard from the Conversion Theatre.

Story notes

File:Brian Minchin Talks World Enough And Time - The Aftershow - Doctor Who The Fan Show

Ratings

  • 3.37 million (UK Overnight figures)
  • 5.01 million (UK final)[1]

Filming locations

Production errors

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.

to be added

Continuity

Home video releases

DVD releases

This episode was released as part of the Series 10 DVD box set on 13 November 2017.

Blu-ray releases

to be added

Digital releases

to be added

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Ratings DW
v • e
Doctor Who television stories
 
Seasons 1-4: William Hartnell
Season 1: 1963-1964
Season 2: 1964-1965
Season 3: 1965-1966
Season 4: 1966
 
Seasons 4-6: Patrick Troughton
Season 4: 1966-1967
Season 5: 1967-1968
Season 6: 1968-1969
 
Seasons 7-11: Jon Pertwee
Season 7: 1970
Season 8: 1971
Season 9: 1972
Season 10: 1972-1973
Season 11: 1973-1974
 
Seasons 12-18: Tom Baker
Season 12: 1974-1975
Season 13: 1975-1976
Season 14: 1976-1977
Season 15: 1977-1978
Season 16: 1978-1979
Season 17: 1979-1980
Season 18: 1980-1981
 
Seasons 19-21: Peter Davison
Season 19: 1982
Season 20: 1983
Children in Need 1983
Season 21: 1984
 
Seasons 21-23: Colin Baker
Season 21: 1984
Season 22: 1985
Season 23: 1986
 
Seasons 24-26: Sylvester McCoy
Season 24: 1987
Season 25: 1988-1989
Season 26: 1989
 
TV Movie & 2013 specials: Paul McGann
TV Movie: 1996
Specials: 2013
Minisodes
 
Series 1: Christopher Eccleston
Series 1: 2005
Regular episodes
 
Series 2-4: David Tennant
Series 2: 2005-2006
Minisode
Christmas Special
Regular episodes
Series 3: 2006-2007
Christmas Special
Regular episodes
Animated special
Series 4: 2007-2010
Minisode
Christmas Special
Regular episodes
Minisodes
Animated special
Seasonal specials
 
Series 5-2013 specials: Matt Smith
Series 5: 2010
Regular episodes
Series 6: 2010-2011
Christmas Special
Minisodes
Regular episodes
(Part 1: Apr 2011)
Regular episodes
(Part 2: Aug 2011)
Minisode
Series 7: 2011-2013
Christmas Special
Minisodes
Regular episodes
(Part 1: 2012)
Minisode
Christmas Special
Regular episodes
(Part 2: 2013)
Specials: 2013
 
Series 8-10: Peter Capaldi
Series 8: 2014
Regular episodes
Series 9: 2014-2015
Christmas Special
Minisode
Regular episodes
Christmas Special
Series 10: 2016-2017
Christmas Special
Regular episodes
Christmas Special
 
Series 11-13: Jodie Whittaker
Series 11: 2018-2019
Regular episodes
New Year Special
Series 12: 2020-2021
Regular episodes
New Year Special
Series 13: 2021
Minisodes
Regular episodes
Seasonal specials
 
60th Anniversary Specials: David Tennant
Specials: 2023
Minisodes
60th Anniversary Specials
 
Season 1 (2023)-present: Ncuti Gatwa
Season 1: 2023-2024
Christmas Special
Regular episodes
v • e
The Master stories
Early life
Television
Prose
Comic
Audio
Webcast
"Inventor"
Audio
War Chief
Television
Prose
UNIT era
The cycle
ending
Decayed
Master
Tremas
Master
Old
Master
Television
Prose
Bruce
Master
Android/
Echo
Webcast
Prose
"Preacher"
Comics
Reborn
Master
"Merlin"
Prose
Pryce
Television
Child
Master
Comics
War Master
Saxon Master
Missy
The Lumiat
Audio
Spy Master
Unclear
incarnation

Prose
.
Other
realities
Barusa's universe
Prose
Unbound Master
Inferno Earth
Prose
The Warrior's universe
Audio
From stories
considered
not part
of the DWU
by this Wiki
"DWM"
Prose
"Battle"
Games
"Exclusive!"
Prose
"DWMS"
Comics
According to one account, the Master had the appearance of Roger Delgado while on Gallifrey. According to another, he had Anthony Ainley's likeness. According to another one, the one with James Dreyfus's appearance was the incarnation who ran away from Gallifrey.

Divided Loyalties, A Brief History of Time Lords and The Legions of Death feature, or otherwise acknowledge, the War Chief, but in the process contradicted the notion put forward by other stories that he was an incarnation of the Master.

One account suggests that the incarnation portrayed by Roger Delgado may be the same as the one portrayed by Peter Pratt while some others distinguish them.

According to one account, the incarnation portrayed by Gordon Tipple is the one portrayed by Anthony Ainley, while some others state that the Ainley one was already lost by then.

While fighting to extend his life at the end of his regeneration cycle, many bodies were possessed by the Beevers incarnation, but all kept somehow reverting to his real being until he finally regenerated into the MacQueen one. Hence, these sections cannot be strictly chronological
v • e
Cyberman stories
For the purposes of this list, a "Cyberman story" is one in which one living, authentic Cyberman plays a part within the confines of the story, outside of flashbacks to previous stories and cliffhangers that lead into the following story. For this reason, stories such as Dalek are absent due to only featuring deceased Cybermen on display. Stories like Carnival of Monsters, A Good Man Goes to War and The Vanquishers are also not included due to the Cybermen's appearance being of little consequence to the plot of the story.
Television
Webcast
Audio

Sword of Orion • Spare Parts • Real Time • The Harvest • Silver Lining • Professor Bernice Summerfield and the Crystal of Cantus • The Reaping • The Gathering • The Blue Tooth • Human Resources • The Girl Who Never Was • The Ultimate Adventure • Kingdom of Silver • Legend of the Cybermen • The Silver Turk • Last of the Cybermen • Return to Telos • The Isos Network • The Tyrants of Logic • Code Silver / Master of Worlds • Hour of the Cybermen • Conversion • Return of the Cybermen • The Gates of Hell • Scourge of the Cybermen • Altered Status • Monsters in Metropolis • Secrets of Telos • Way of the Burryman / The Forth Generation • Bad Day in Tinseltown • Willkommen • Wulf • Übermensch • Auf Wiedersehen • The Great Cyber-War • Sins of the Flesh

Cyberman
Prose
Novels
Short stories
Features
Comics
The Cybermen
Supremacy of
the Cybermen
prologues
Video
games
Complete list of appearances
v • e
Regeneration stories
The Doctor
TV series
Comic Relief
Comics
Prose
Audio
Home video
Webcast
The Master
Television
Prose
Comics
Audio
Alternate universe
Romana
Television
Prose
Audio
Other
Time Lords
Television
Prose
Audio
Comics
Non-Time Lord Gallifreyans
Prose
Shobogans
Television
Proto-
Time Lords
Television
Audio
Others
Television
Prose
Comics
Audio
For the purposes of this list, a "regeneration story" is one in which a regeneration is actually and initially depicted. For this reason The War Games is not included below, even though it is commonly thought of as a "regeneration story". It doesn't actually include a clear scene of regeneration, and the preponderance of stories in other media confirms that the Second Doctor did not regenerate at the end of it.
Additionally, immediate post-regeneration stories, like the 2005 Children in Need Special Born Again — and ones like Castrovalva, where the regeneration sequence was replayed — are not included.
Retrieved from "https://tardis.wiki/w/index.php?title=World_Enough_and_Time_(TV_story)&oldid=2882377"