Extremis (TV story)

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Extremis was the sixth episode of the tenth series of Doctor Who produced by BBC Wales.

Most notably, the episode revealed that Missy was inside the vault beneath St Luke's University. It also explained how Nardole came to travel with the Doctor after the events of The Husbands of River Song.

The episode is also notable for being one of the few stories to have the Doctor not be a part of the events going on within the story; as Bill, Nardole and the Doctor himself never left Earth during the story, aside from the beginning, flashbacks with Missy and the end the whole episode was set in a virtual simulation with artificial versions of the Doctor, Bill and Nardole, with the Virtual Twelfth Doctor discovering an upcoming alien invasion.

Synopsis

The Vatican asks the Twelfth Doctor to investigate a mysterious book called the Veritas. All who read the Veritas immediately kill themselves. When a translation of the Veritas is leaked online, the Doctor must face up to the inevitable truth...

Plot

to be added

Cast

Crew

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References

Time Lords

  • Time Lords have two hearts and three brain stems.
  • One stipulation of the Fatality Index is that a death sentence of a Time Lord must be carried out by another Time Lord. That Time Lord must also swear an oath to guard the condemned's body for 1000 years in case of relapses.
  • The Doctor worries that, because he managed to temporarily "borrow" eyesight from his future self, his future regenerations might all be blind, or he might not regenerate at all (however since it is later revealed that it is a simulation, it can safely be assumed that he most likely borrowed from his future virtual self which likely has no effect on the real world).

People

Biological data

  • Cardinal Angelo is shown to be male, 52 years old, 170.0cm tall, weighs 141.1 pounds, has a resting heart rate of 71BPM and a temperature of 37.3 degrees Celsius.
  • Piero is shown to be male, 35 years old, 185.2cm tall, weighs 165.4 pounds, when in fear had a heart rate of between 129 and 133BPM and a temperature of 37.3 degrees Celsius. His heart rate dropped to 0BPM upon death.
  • The President is shown to be male, 68 years old, 169.7cm tall, weighs 163.2 pounds, in death has a heart rate of 0BPM and a temperature of 32.1 degrees Celsius. This temperature would suggest a very recent death.
  • One of the Monks had a height of 228.7cm and a weight of 94.6 pounds.
  • One member of the Pope's entourage is shown to be male, 46 years old, 176.6cm tall, weighs 183.7 pounds, has a resting heart rate of 72BPM and a temperature of 37.3 degrees Celsius.
  • A second is shown to be male, 48 years old, 156.9cm tall, weighs 168.4 pounds, has a resting heart rate of 74BPM and a temperature of 37.6 degrees Celsius.
  • A third is shown to be male, 56 years old, 179.4cm tall, weighs 187.5 pounds, has a resting heart rate of 69BPM and a temperature of 37.5 degrees Celsius.
  • A fourth is shown to be male, 39 years old, 166.2cm tall, weighs 179.0 pounds, has a resting heart rate of 77BPM and a temperature of 37.9 degrees Celsius.
  • A fifth is shown to be male, 61 years old, 162.9cm tall, weighs 174.7 pounds, has a resting heart rate of 74BPM and a temperature of 37.9 degrees Celsius.
  • A sixth is shown to be male, 67 years old, 158.2cm tall, weighs 170.5 pounds, has a resting heart rate of 68BPM and a temperature of 37.2 degrees Celsius.

Technology

  • A machine has been arranged to execute Missy.
  • The Doctor gets an email on his sonic sunglasses, which the virtual Doctor has sent, from within the Shadow World simulation.
  • The Doctor also uses his sonic sunglasses to scan people's data, as he cannot see them.
    • Data the Doctor can detect are:
    • He can also get a sense of the architecture around him, again using the sonic sunglasses as visual aid. However, the glasses psychically "project" a vector map of the surroundings and do not actually show him what his eyes would see if they worked, which explains how he cryptically asks Nardole to describe or explain things that he can't see, including text and projected beams of light.
  • The Doctor employs a reading aid with circular Gallifreyan script on it, which he hopes will temporarily restore his sight. He confirms that it's deadly.
  • Bill notes that the Haereticum has WiFi, and the Doctor says of course it does; it's a library.
  • According to a plaque at CERN, its Large Hadron Collider, which was first tested on 10 September 2008, is the world's largest and most powerful particle accelerator. It has a diameter of 27 kilometres, and, to work, requires the magnets to be cooled at -271.3°C—a temperature colder than outer space. To achieve this, much of the accelerator is connected to a distribution system of liquid helium, to cool the magnets, as well as to other supply services.
  • The translator has a laptop computer.
    • He emails the translation to CERN.
  • The CERN employees all have TNT explosives wired under the canteen tables.
  • The countdown to destruction at CERN happens on a flatscreen TV.
  • A flatscreen is seen in the White House, as well.

Organisations

Religion

  • An early Christian sect managed to translate the Veritas before all committing suicide.
  • The Veritas is older than the Catholic Church itself.
  • Suicide is understood to be a mortal sin in Catholicism, leading one to hell.
  • The Pope hopes for God to help the Doctor on his quest.
  • Pope Benedict said that the Doctor was "more in need of confession than any man breathing", but when the offer was made, the Doctor replied "it would take too much time".
  • The Doctor says that religion is "designed to confuse the uninitiated", as Angelo says of the layout of the Haereticum.

Food and beverages

  • The man in the cage had been there a long time and eaten lots of food, bananas and sandwiches included. He also had coffee.
  • The CERN employees all drank all sorts of wines before the end. Chateau Cissac included.

Locations

  • A long time ago Nardole told the Doctor that he followed him from Darillium and that he has full permission from River Song to kick his arse.
  • Nardole tells Bill that the Vatican is in Rome, which is in Italy.
  • The Haereticum contains a cage with the Veritas locked inside.
  • A total blackout has occurred at the White House. The Doctor confronts a Monk in the Oval Office.

Weapons

  • Piero has a gun that he uses to kill himself.

Culture

  • Virtual Bill exclaims "Harry Potter!" upon seeing the Haereticum for the first time.
  • Virtual Nardole says that the Doctor and Angelo would be "wizard" at writing Christmas crackers, when, together, they say, "Truth in the heart of heresy" / "And death in the heart of truth".
  • Virtual Nardole relates holographic simulations, with holographic people to the holodeck on Star Trek, "or a really posh VR without a headset".
  • Virtual Nardole compares the simulation to Grand Theft Auto, and the virtual Doctor likens the inhabitants of the Shadow Earth finding out they are a simulation and committing suicide as a result to a hypothetical scenario in which "Super Mario realises he's inside a video game".
  • The Doctor mentions Moby-Dick and the titular whale.
  • The Doctor owns a snakes and ladders game which he keeps in the TARDIS.
  • Upon seeing the Monks, the Doctor pokes fun at the saying that no one looks good in the morning.
  • Many of the simulated people took the Shadow Test to confirm they were not real.

Story notes

File:Michelle Gomez and Nick Lambon - The Aftershow - Doctor Who The Fan Show

Ratings

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Filming locations

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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.
  • Outgoing emails on the laptop are shown, when in fact the inbox, rather than sent messages, is open on the left panel. Later, when the Doctor opens it again, the same messages appear, but now in sent.
  • The reflection of a cameraman can be seen on the TV at CERN, when the camera pans in on the bomb countdown just before detonation.
  • The pope speaks Italian, however the TARDIS should be able to translate any language into English.

Continuity

Home video releases

DVD releases

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Blu-ray releases

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Digital releases

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External links