Twice Upon a Time (TV story)

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Twice Upon a Time was the 2017 Christmas Special of Doctor Who. It was written by Steven Moffat, directed by Rachel Talalay and featured Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor, David Bradley as the First Doctor, Pearl Mackie as Bill Potts and Mark Gatiss as the Captain.

It featured the final chronological appearance of Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor and introduced Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor in its closing moments.

After a surprise appearance at the end of TV: The Doctor Falls, the First Doctor was an integral part of this narrative. Here, he was portrayed by David Bradley, who had previously played the original actor William Hartnell in An Adventure in Space and Time. Though so-called "classic" Doctors had appeared on 21st century Doctor Who before, this episode was the first televised interaction between a Shepherd's Bush- and a BBC Wales-era Doctor since 2007's Time Crash. Archival footage from The Tenth Planet was used to bookmark the First Doctor's place in this story. The special also introduced Archibald Hamish Lethbridge-Stewart, credited as "the Captain", a new member of the Lethbridge-Stewart family.

Ben Jackson and Polly Wright made a brief re-reappearance in the programme for the first time since their exit in 1967's The Faceless Ones. Bill Potts joined the two Doctors, and Captain Lethbridge-Stewart, as a Testimony glass avatar. Past companions Nardole and Clara, made similar brief appearances. The "good Dalek" Rusty, from Capaldi's second episode, Into the Dalek, made his second appearance—in Villengard, a location mentioned only once before on television, in Steven Moffat's second television story, 2005's The Doctor Dances.

In early 2018, Murray Gold announced his departure from Doctor Who at the Gallifrey One convention, confirming that Twice Upon A Time was his last episode.

Synopsis

As the Doctor nears regeneration, he stumbles on his first self, also refusing to change. It takes a captain, a glass avatar and a familiar face to convince the Doctors the universe still needs them.

Plot

The First Doctor nears his death after an encounter with the Cybermen from Mondas. He is freed from his restraints by his companions Ben and Polly, now that the threat is over. However, he is weak, his body beginning to regenerate. Refusing to give in, the Doctor leaves and wanders the South Pole, mumbling to himself that he will not change. Nearing his TARDIS, he hears a voice in the distance, who also claims to be the Doctor. He approaches the man knelt in the snow next to the TARDIS and declares himself as the "original".

The scene transitions to the Twelfth Doctor as he gets to his feet, shocked to see his past self. The Doctor is delighted at meeting his first incarnation, but realises that he is refusing to regenerate. The First Doctor is confused and dismisses his future self as just another Time Lord, until he notices his TARDIS has changed in size. The Twelfth Doctor questions why his younger self is refusing to regenerate, fearing the consequences the decision might cause. However, the snow suddenly freezes in midair, capturing the pair's attention, as a man dressed in World War I attire approaches them. He seems disorientated and asks the pair if either of them are a doctor. The Twelfth Doctor thinks the man is making some sort of joke.

The worn torn battlefield in Ypres, 1914.

On Christmas Day 1914, the soldier, a captain in the British Expeditionary Force, lies in a shell hole on the battlefield in Ypres. His revolver is aimed at a German soldier, who also has his sidearm trained on the Captain. Both men realise they will kill each other in self-defence, their respective troops far away in their trenches, unable to assist either of them. Just as the Captain prepares to accept his fate and fire, a wave of energy flows through the field, freezing everything around him. As he exits the hole, a bright light suddenly flashes and encapsulates him. He collapses to the ground in the arctic and, hearing the two Doctors discussing the static snow, he approaches them.

The scene once more shifts back to the Twelfth Doctor's perspective. A portal of light opens in the distance, and the two Doctors approach it. The First Doctor orders the portal to reveal itself, while the Twelfth Doctor declares that the planet is protected, to the confusion of his first incarnation. However, the light quickly vanishes, surprising the Twelfth Doctor as "that almost never works." The First Doctor returns to the Captain, telling him to enter his TARDIS, and the Twelfth Doctor coaxes him to follow. As they enter, the First Doctor is shocked by the changes to the TARDIS interior, while the Captain is shocked by the room's size. The Twelfth Doctor attempts to convince his younger self they are the same person by displaying that he too is undergoing regeneration. He also points out that the First Doctor's TARDIS is 70 feet away, and they are inside a later version of the TARDIS, hence the differences in appearance. Regardless, the First Doctor remains sceptical. The First Doctor notices the Captain's unease, telling the soldier to sit down and orders the Twelfth Doctor to fetch some brandy. He does so, and the First Doctor notices that there is less in the glass than he remembered.

Suddenly, the TARDIS shakes violently, prompting the Twelfth Doctor to attempt to take off, only to find that the engines are unresponsive. Looking upwards out of the TARDIS doors, he sees large metal claws pulling the TARDIS upwards. Once the TARDIS has stopped moving, the Twelfth Doctor instructs his predecessor to confront their captors. A humanoid glass figure seated at the top of a staircase speaks to the Doctor, addressing him as "The Doctor of War." The figure requests the return of the Captain in exchange for a friend of the Doctor. Much to the confusion of the First Doctor, Bill then exits one of the corridors. The Twelfth Doctor quickly exits the TARDIS to hug her, before slowly pulling away, drawing his sonic screwdriver, and scanning Bill. To her surprise, the Twelfth Doctor demands that she proves herself to be real, as he believes Bill to have sacrified herself to defeat the Cybermen. Bill insists she is her real self, explaining how Heather had saved her. The Twelfth Doctor asks what happened after Heather saved her and where Heather is now. Bill struggles for an answer.

"Indoors?"

The Twelfth Doctor decides to confront his captor directly and runs up the staircase. He is slowly followed by his younger self, who questions the need to move so fast. They find an empty chair with several panels behind it. The First Doctor takes to observing the panels, commenting on their extraterrestrial origin. He turns to his older self, his eye glass dropping from his eye as he notices the Twelfth Doctor wearing sunglasses to scan the panels. They turn to the chair, where a woman made completely of glass materialises. While the Twelfth Doctor scans the panels with his sonic screwdriver, the original Doctor looks more closely. He berates the Twelfth Doctor for not noticing the asymmetrical features of the woman's face, blaming his use of the sunglasses instead of his eyes. The Twelfth Doctor shyly agrees, and his younger self throws the sunglasses to the ground.

The Doctors, Bill, and the Captain escape the Testimony

The Testimony proceeds to explain its desire for the Captain back in exchange for Bill, insisting the Doctors return him to them. The Captain, having heard the conversation, exits the TARDIS. He declares they let him be taken, not wanting any harm to come to Bill because of his cowardice. However, the Twelfth Doctor disagrees. Picking up his sonic sunglasses, he races down the stairs, remarking he will stop the Testimony once he learns its true purpose. The First Doctor once more berates him for revealing his plan, both firmly declaring they are the Doctor. The Testimony, in an effort to ruffle the First Doctor, reveals the history he is destined to create as a "Doctor of War" by showing how his future incarnations will engage in various battles, which perplexes him.

The Twelfth Doctor presses on with his plan to escape, using the sonic screwdriver to activate the crane which pulled the TARDIS up to take them down, the team jumping onto the chains to escape as well. The Testimony refuses to let them escape, halting the chains and pulling the TARDIS back into the ship, although the team manage to jump to the ground before being pulled back in. Bill expresses concern about what they will do without the TARDIS but the Doctors reveal they have another, younger version, at their disposal. They head to the First Doctor's TARDIS, swiftly entering. As she does so, Bill comments on how much smaller it is, causing the Twelfth Doctor to briefly observe the windows before insisting his younger self take off "deep space, anywhere".

The Twelfth Doctor pilots his younger self's TARDIS.

While in flight, the First Doctor insists Bill clean the TARDIS only for the Twelfth Doctor to distract him by pointing out the astral map. The Twelfth Doctor uses the sonic sunglasses to access the data banks noting what his predeccessor said earlier before placing the shades on the First Doctor. Befuddlfed, the Doctor asks why he must wear them only for his successor to remark on how much he loves it before taking them back. The Twelfth Doctor quickly realises the databanks are rather scarce, given the TARDIS is still young. To compensate, he lands the TARDIS at the centre of the universe, Villengard, impressing his younger self at how easily he did such. While searching the area, the Captain is attacked by a creature with multiple little green legs but they save him, both Doctors recognising the creature as a Kaled mutant. The Twelfth Doctor insists Bill wait in the First Doctor's TARDIS to look after the Captain, but Bill blasts him by calling him a "stupid bloody arse", leading to the First Doctor to threaten her with a "jolly good smacked bottom", much to the Twelfth Doctor's embarrassment. Bill tells the Twelfth Doctor to come back alive, to which he replies: "Be here when I do."

The First Doctor fetches the Captain another brandy, realising that was why his successors was missing some. He soon leaves to join his older self, while Bill looks after the Captain, but when she grabs the brandy, her hand is revealed to be glass. While outside on Villengard, the two Doctors rest, discussing their respective regenerations. The Twelfth Doctor remarks they have yet to change because they are in a "state of grace", though he himself finds his body starting to deteriorate. He asks why his younger self halted the regenerative process, unable to remember himself. The First Doctor admits he is "afraid" about regenerating. Before the Twelfth Doctor can answer the question himself, they suddenly come under attack from a creature in a nearby tower, and only stops when the Twelfth Doctor asks the creature to scan him, announcing: "I'm dying!", before going into the tower. He tells his younger self to wait outside to which he begrudgingly agrees.

The First Doctor observes the area, finding the remains of a Dalek casing. He inspects it though Bill sneaks up on him and begins asking why he ran away. The Doctor insists she return to the Captain but Bill insists, asking what he was running to. Interested by the question, the First Doctor responds that he left to discover why good always defeats evil. Bill suggests it might be because of "some bloke" though the First Doctor doubts such. Bill hugs him, thanking him for his efforts. However, when she pulls away, the First Doctor realises she is a glass avatar.

Alone, the Twelfth Doctor meets with the rogue Dalek Rusty, who has taken refuge from the other Daleks hunting it. He remarks on how he is a "good Dalek" though Rusty continues to fire at the Doctor. The Twelfth Doctor decides to come to a truce to which Rusty agrees by disarming his gunstick. Given access to the Dalek Hivemind, the Doctor learns that the pilot and its ship, known as Testimony, were created on New Earth, designed to extract people from their timelines at the moment of their death, and archive their memories into glass avatars. "Bill" is one such avatar, created from her memories. Time suddenly freezes again, the First Doctor and Bill entering the room. Although disappointed at seeing no evil to fight, the Doctors agree to return the Captain to his timeline.

Upon doing so, the Captain asks the Doctors to keep an eye on his family, introducing himself as Archibald Hamish Lethbridge-Stewart, an ancestor of the Doctor's close friend the Brigadier. The First Doctor assures he will do so, the Twelfth Doctor confirming they did. The Testimony remarks the Captain will not remember the incident and a perception filter will ensure the Doctors are not noticed once time restarts. As time resumes, the Doctors watch as soldiers on both sides begin singing "Silent Night" in their respective languages. Soon, each side disarms their weapons and enters the battle field, leading the Captain and the German soldier to withdraw their weapons and make peace. The Twelfth Doctor explains to the First that he deliberately shifted the Captain's timeline to the start of the Christmas truce, to ensure his life would be spared. The First Doctor is amazed at the fact that his successor altered time to save both men, leading the Twelfth Doctor to explain how "generally the universe isn't a fairy tale, but that's where we come in" and that "it never hurts, a couple fewer dead men on a battlefield." This causes the First Doctor to finally understand what being the "Doctor of War" really means.

With the Captain saved, the two Doctors observe the truce for a time and eventually shake hands. As they do, both Doctors' hands start glowing with regeneration energy. The First Doctor declares that he is finally ready, but the Twelfth Doctor states that his predecessor will have to find out what the Twelfth Doctor decides to do "the long way round." The First Doctor returns to his TARDIS and sets the controls to return him to the South Pole in 1986. Overcome by his regeneration, the First Doctor declares "here we go, the long way round" and collapses as his TARDIS returns to the South Pole. Shortly afterwards, the First Doctor regenerates into a much younger second incarnation.

As the soldiers play football, draw and spend the day together, the Twelfth Doctor watches on, saluting the Captain - who briefly bypasses the perception filter, but dismisses him and returns to his trench. Now alone with Bill's avatar, the Doctor adamantly contends she is not the genuine Bill, only for her avatar to explain that memories are what define a person. To help him understand, the avatar restores the Doctor's memories of Clara Oswald while allowing him to briefly see a vision of his former companion, bringing him joy, before they are joined by Nardole's avatar who joins Bill in asking the Doctor not to allow himself to die. The Doctor refuses to give the avatars testimony of his life, stating he must be left alone to face his end. They respect his wish and leave after he embraces them both.

The Doctor returns to the TARDIS. He laments how the more he saves the universe, the more it seems to be in need of saving. He briefly argues with the TARDIS, conceding that "they would get it all wrong without me" as he decides to regenerate, saying "One more lifetime won't kill anyone. Well, except me", but not before relaying advice to his next incarnation. He collapses as he does so but manages to return to his feet. Finally ready, the Twelfth Doctor utters his last words "Doctor... I let you go". With that, he takes a last quick gasp for air before he regenerates, the process so violent that the energy ignites the console room as his face and piercing blue eyes start changing, morphing into a younger-looking and rounder one with hazel eyes.

The Doctor regenerates.

Smoke fills the console room and the Twelfth Doctor's wedding ring falls from a finger it no longer fits. Once the smoke clears, the Thirteenth Doctor stands in silence for a moment, before grabbing one of the console's monitors. Using its reflective surface, she studies her new appearance in stunned wonderment, realising that she has now become female for the first time. Her face cracks into a wide, ecstatic grin as she as exclaims "Oh, brilliant!" at the discovery. Excited, she presses a button on the console. Upon doing so, the TARDIS suddenly suffers multiple failures and, hanging thousands of feet above the Earth, sharply jerks causing the doors to face the ground. The Doctor tries to hang on but the doors open threatening to suck her out. As the Doctor grabs the console, the ship continues to shake, sending all of her books and papers flying out the open doors. The Doctor tries to close the doors, but the time rotor shatters and the panel she's holding onto breaks away, sending her falling out of the ship. In freefall towards the Earth below, the Doctor watches the inside of her TARDIS be swamped by flames before vanishing from sight as she plummets through the clouds...

Cast

The Tenth Planet
And introducing Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor

Crew

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.
          

• The Tenth Planet was written by Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis •


References

Culture

Technology

Biology

  • Rusty scans the Twelfth Doctor, noticing his life signs are failing.
  • When the First and Twelfth Doctors shake hands, regeneration energy glows intensely from them.

Food and beverages

Art

Sport

People

Species

  • The First Doctor asks the Twelfth Doctor if he is a Time Lord.
  • The Twelfth Doctor says the First Doctor was "weak as a kitten".
  • A bird freezes mid-air.
  • Glass avatars, part of the Testimony, are creatures with the ability to freeze time and extract memories and personality of a dying person so they will remain forever.
  • The TARDIS team encounters Kaled mutants which have mutated even further. The Captain first thinks they are rats, saying he is used to those.

Locations

Events

The Doctor

  • Due to the timelines being out-of-sync, the First Doctor forgets trying not to regenerate and so the Twelfth Doctor does not remember it.
  • The First Doctor's face is, according to the Twelfth Doctor, "all over the place" as a result of him trying to hold off his regeneration. This also results in him regaining the strength he had lost during his fight with the Cybermen on Snowcap.
  • The First Doctor doesn't know who his future self is, and keeps denying it even after the Twelfth Doctor reveals himself to him. Only after the Testimony shows him snippets of his future does he finally give in and accept it.
  • The First Doctor first thinks the Twelfth Doctor is another Time Lord trying to capture him for running away with a TARDIS.
  • The First Doctor later attempts to make the Captain understand better, saying that the Twelfth Doctor is his nurse, however improbable due to him being a man.
  • The First Doctor tells the Twelfth Doctor that he assumed he would get a younger appearance after regenerating.
  • The Twelfth Doctor tells the First Doctor that between those two there are "a few false starts".
  • The Twelfth Doctor calls the First Doctor Mister Pastry.
  • The Doctor is called "The Destroyer of Worlds", "The Imp of the Pandorica", "The Oncoming Storm", "The Shadow of the Valeyard", "The Beast of Trenzalore", "The Butcher of Skull Moon", "The Last Tree of Garsennon", "The Destroyer of Skaro" and "the Doctor of War".
  • The Twelfth Doctor calls the First Doctor Mary Berry.
  • The Twelfth Doctor attempts to distract the First Doctor with the blinking lights on his astral map after his unfavourable remark to Bill about the Twelfth Doctor needing her for cleaning his TARDIS.
  • The First Doctor admits to being afraid of regeneration.
  • The Twelfth Doctor calls himself Corporal Jones.
  • The First Doctor says he travels around to get a question answered about why there is good and evil in the universe and how the balance is held between the two. He explains that this is only what he ran to, not what he ran from.
  • The Twelfth Doctor admits to only pretending to like Bill's rug.
  • The First Doctor regenerates into the Second Doctor.
  • The jacket that he wore on his trip to Spiridon as the Third Doctor is hanging in the Twelfth Doctor's TARDIS.
  • The Twelfth Doctor regenerates into the Thirteenth Doctor.
  • The Twelfth Doctor's ring falls off of the Thirteenth Doctor's hand, as it doesn't fit on her finger.

TARDIS

  • The First Doctor calls the TARDIS "the Ship".
  • The First Doctor remarks on the exterior changes between his and the Twelfth Doctor's TARDISes; notably, the windows being the wrong size, the blue colouring having changed and its size having expanded.
  • The Twelfth Doctor says its size is from having been "bigger on the inside" for many years, implying it is suffering from a size leak.
  • The First Doctor disaproves of the Twelfth Doctor's TARDIS, saying about the console room that it is "the flight deck of the most powerful space time machine in the known universe, not a restaurant for the French".
  • The Twelfth Doctor still has blackboards in his TARDIS.
  • Bill remarks the windows on the First Doctor's TARDIS exterior are the wrong size. The First Doctor makes the same remark about the exterior of the Twelfth Doctor's TARDIS.
  • The First Doctor's TARDIS has a name tag on the console that says Bernard Wilkie.
  • The Cloister Bell rings in the Twelfth Doctor's TARDIS, before he regenerates.
  • The Twelfth Doctor's TARDIS interior ends up exploding due to "Multiple Operations Failures" after the Thirteenth Doctor causes a "Systems Crisis" by clicking a red button on the console. The exploding TARDIS throws out the Doctor as it dematerialises.

Music

  • The British soldiers sing "Silent Night" and the German soldiers sing the German version, known as "Stille Nacht".

Story notes

  • Though brief, this was the debut performance for Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor. Her first line in the role was: "Oh, brilliant."
  • The cinematic release featured two documentaries: The End of an Era, a retrospective and behind-the-scenes look, before the showing, and Twice Upon a Time at the end, an in-depth look into the making of this Christmas special.
  • Twice Upon a Time features a "Previously on Doctor Who..." sequence saying "709 Episodes ago" and showing footage from TV: The Tenth Planet with William Hartnell, Anneke Wills and Michael Craze as the First Doctor, Polly Wright and Ben Jackson respectively. The footage reframes from 4:3 black and white to 16:9 colour, slowly morphing Hartnell into David Bradley, and Lily Travers and Jared Garfield then appear as Polly and Ben, reenacting missing segments on Snowcap from said episode. Following the First Doctor's return to his TARDIS, the episode briefly goes back to 4:3 black and white after Bradley's Doctor is seen lying on the floor unconscious, cutting to the original regeneration from Hartnell into Troughton and visually bookending the First Doctor's involvement in the narrative.
  • This story features a rare instance in which actors that only appeared through use of archive footage were also credited. Another notable instance of this happening is TV: The Day of the Doctor. Unique to this instance, the title of the story from which the archive footage is taken is also included in the credits.
  • Rachel Talalay had actually shot a number of scenes from The Tenth Planet, with a complete set reconstruction, recast characters, and the series 10 Mondasian Cybermen. She said in an interview that she tried to make both the set, and the cinematography, as accurate to the original scenes, and original production values, as much as possible. She did admit to having fun with some parts of the set in particular, and embellishing with a "60s feel", and noted that some details of the action had to be invented. These scene recreations were not used in the final edit of Twice Upon a Time; the original footage was used in its place. However, these specially shot re-tellings were shown in the cinema feature DOC: Twice Upon a Time.[2]
  • The First and Twelfth Doctors meeting also features the scene acted out differently in TV: The Doctor Falls and Twice Upon a Time, similar to how episodes in the 60s reshooting the prior scene’s cliffhanger, often resulting in little differences. The same situation also occurred when TV: The Runaway Bride followed the TV: Doomsday cliffhanger 11 years prior.
  • The recreated Hartnell TARDIS interior set actually included props from the original set in the 1960s. As told by Mark Gatiss, these included the brass pillars, which are indeed the brass pillars from way back in 1963. Other aspects of the set were recreated.[2]
  • The Twelfth Doctor's regeneration has a new visual effect, and even sound effect, to those used previously in the BBC Wales series. Resembling slow travelling, elongated golden lightning. It is the first regeneration for the Doctor, since the Seventh Doctor's in 1996, to use an effect which is visually distinct from that seen in The Parting of the Ways, with the Ninth Doctor up to The Doctor Falls.
  • Toby Whithouse, with his performance here as the German soldier, is the second person to be involved in the BBC Wales series as both actor and writer, following Mark Gatiss. Apart from Steven Moffat himself, Gatiss and Whithouse were the most prolific writers during Moffat's time as showrunner.
  • The First Doctor's amazement and confusion about the Twelfth Doctor's sonic screwdriver would appear to contradict PROSE: Venusian Lullaby, which features the screwdriver used by the First Doctor.
  • This is the third consecutive regeneration story to include the word "time" in the title, following The End of Time and The Time of the Doctor.
  • This is the second multi-Doctor story to feature a regeneration, and the first in which it is the current incarnation of the Doctor who is shown to regenerate.
  • Nikki Amuka-Bird is credited as "Helen Clay" on-screen, and as "The Glass Woman" in Radio Times.
  • When Bill's glass avatar and the Doctor talk and she restores his memories of Clara Oswald, the music from The Husbands of River Song when the Doctor and River were on a date before the Singing Towers of Darillium plays.
  • On the last day of filming, Mark Gatiss brought in the jacket that Jon Pertwee wore in TV: Planet of the Daleks. It was featured hanging from a stand in the background in the Twelfth Doctor's TARDIS during the regeneration scene.[3] He also published a Behind the scenes picture of Capaldi wearing the jacket.[4]
  • Nardole having invisible hair was already jokingly stated by Steven Moffat in a BBC post episode interview. There he also stated that Nardole was the only one able to see it through his glasses and that it was purple.[5] Matt Lucas had been aware of the invisible hair, but not the glass nipples.[2]
  • The Twelfth Doctor's final lines about his name and how humans would understand it are directly taken from a theory Capaldi stated at a press screening interview of The Pilot.[3]
  • The Twelfth Doctor's line "never, ever eat pears" is a tweaked version of the one in a hidden scene in TV: Human Nature by the Tenth Doctor. It was also said in TV: Hell Bent by the Twelfth Doctor.
  • This is the first regeneration story in the revived series without any direct connections to the Last Great Time War.
  • The idea of the First Doctor looking wrong mid-regeneration can be paralleled to the Second-and-a-Halfth Doctor during the events of NOTVALID: Devious.
  • This is the third televised multi-Doctor story, after TV: The Two Doctors and Time Crash, that is not an anniversary special. It's also the first televised Christmas special to also be a multi-Doctor story.
    • Time Crash was also written by Steven Moffat.
  • The Twelfth Doctor's regeneration is the second on-screen regeneration in which the participant changes gender as a result, following that of the General in TV: Hell Bent.
  • During the title sequence, the actor credits zoom further up the screen before fading out than in previous episodes.
  • The episode marks the first time since the series's revival that the Doctor is not in the TARDIS while it is crashing, after regenerating. Instead, it is the first time the TARDIS's gravity has malfunctioned and caused it to drop the Doctor out.
  • Jenna Coleman's appearance had to be recorded separately as she was too busy working on Victoria. She shot her scene in front of a green screen at the Top Gear office.[6]
  • The First Doctor's assertion that "I can't go through with it. I will fight it. I will not change." as he walks through the snow at the start of the episode is a line that was originally cut from the regneration scene at the end of The Tenth Planet, according to the production subtitles available on the The Tenth Planet DVD release.[source needed]
  • This is the second TV story to depict more than one regeneration on screen, following Planet of the Spiders.
  • This is currently the only TV story in which both male and female incarnations of the Doctor appear.
  • For the First Doctor's TARDIS, the wall with photographs of roundels was replaced with the wall behind the Curator from TV: The Day of the Doctor.[7]
  • When the Doctor's ring falls off her finger, only the secondary band of the ring was in the shot. This was because the first band of the ring was Peter Capaldi's wedding ring.

Ratings

  • 7.92 million (UK final) [8]
  • 5.70 million (UK overnight)[9]
  • 1.15 million (BBC America)[10]

Filming locations

to be added

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.
  • Bill's shirt changes constantly throughout the entire episode, from the rainbow shirt that was seen in Smile, to a new shirt which we have not seen before.
    • However, this could be attributed to the fact that this version of Bill is a collection of her memories and not her physical self.
  • Nikki Amuka-Bird fluffs a line: “Step out of the caps-ul.” She should have said “Cap-sule.”
  • When examining the glass woman, the Twelfth Doctor’s right hand is in line with his waist. Next shot, and his hand is down his side. In the next shot, his left hand is next to his waist.
  • When the Captain is taken from the World War One battlefield he has his revolver in his hand. After he falls to the ground at the South Pole, the gun is in his holster and he has to draw it again.
  • At around the 39 minute mark, the date on the electronic display reads 5,000,000,012 & the Doctor says year five million & twelve. 5,000,000,012 is five thousand million & twelve (UK) or five billion & twelve (US).
  • A few times throughout the episode, the doors of the first Doctor's TARDIS open as he approaches them even though he didn't operate the door control on the console.
  • After the Captain requests a favour from the Doctors, the First Doctor can be heard saying "Oh, anything. Name it," but his mouth is not actually moving after the word "oh."
  • In the Christmas scene on the battlefield, fire is seen in several places. In the shots where objects are in front of the fire, the smoke is seen to rise in front of the object, despite the fire being behind.
  • When the medics run with the stretcher, it is brown and has a large stain on it. But when the soldier is on it, it changes to black.
  • During the scene in which the soldiers are playing football, the shot is flipped. This is visible due to the soldier's uniforms.
  • The Twelfth Doctor begins regeneration with his back to the stairs, but immediately following regeneration, the Thirteenth Doctor is standing at a different angle and is further away from the stairs.
  • When the Doctor catches herself from falling through the TARDIS doors with her foot, her boot briefly changes to a different shoe.
  • In the shot where the Doctor falls through the TARDIS doors, the bottom-right section of wall has clearly been digitally extended on the last frame.

Myths

  • The Twelfth Doctor would be killed. The Twelfth Doctor was killed in the previous story, he just refused to regenerate then.
  • Because the opening was set in the events of The Tenth Planet, Cybermen would appear. Although this was technically true, they only appeared through the use of archival footage from said story.
    • A full recreation of several scenes were originally filmed for this purpose.
  • Carole Ann Ford would return as Susan Foreman. This was proven false.
  • The Captain would turn out to be Gilbert MacKenzie-Trench, the man who created the iconic police box design. The Captain was revealed to be Archibald Hamish Lethbridge-Stewart, an ancestor of the Brigadier.
  • The Doctor would regenerate while falling. The Doctor fell out of the TARDIS after regenerating instead.
  • According to the Daily Mirror, this story would see the last day of the Time War from the perspective of the First Doctor and the Twelfth Doctor. This was proven false.
  • Matt Smith would return as the Eleventh Doctor. This was proven false, although archive footage was used of almost all of the Doctor's incarnations by the Testimony to prove to the First Doctor that the Twelfth Doctor was indeed his future incarnation.

Continuity

Home video releases

DVD releases

to be added

Blu-ray releases

to be added

Digital releases

to be added

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Archival footage from TV: The Tenth Planet.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 DOC: Twice Upon a Time
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Doctor Who: The Fan Show – 2017 Christmas Special
  4. ↑ Peter Capaldi wearing Jon Pertwee's jacket from 'Planet of the Daleks'
  5. ↑ Doctor Who: The Fan Show - The Aftershow Ep 1
  6. ↑ http://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2018-01-19/jenna-colemans-surprise-doctor-who-return-was-almost-completely-different/
  7. ↑ Doctor Who production team confirm subtle Tom Baker Easter Egg in Peter Capaldi’s last episode
  8. ↑ UK Ratings; DW News
  9. ↑ Ratings; DoctorWho TV
  10. ↑ BBC America Ratings
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
Twice Upon a Time
 
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
Televised Christmas Specials
Doctor Who
First Doctor
Tenth Doctor
Eleventh Doctor
Twelfth Doctor
Fifteenth Doctor
K9 and Company
Continuity announcements
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.
v • e
Dalek television stories
For the purposes of this list, a "Dalek story" is one in which one living, authentic Dalek 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 The Space Museum are not counted due to the Daleks' appearance being defined by their importance to following stories, while stories such as The Wheel in Space and The Waters of Mars are absent due to the Daleks' only contribution being references to past Dalek stories. Stories like The Wedding of River Song, Hell Bent, Once, Upon Time and The Vanquishers are also not included due to the Daleks' appearance being restricted to a single scene of no consequence to the plot of the story, while the TV movie is also absent due to the Daleks only being heard from off-screen.
First Doctor era
Dr. Who films
Second Doctor era
Third Doctor era
Fourth Doctor era
Fifth Doctor era
Sixth Doctor era
Seventh Doctor era
The "Wilderness Years"
Ninth Doctor era
Tenth Doctor era
Eleventh Doctor era
Twelfth Doctor era
Thirteenth Doctor era
Fourteenth Doctor era
Fifteenth Doctor era
Because of the ubiquity of this race, no attempt will be made here to list every appearance in every medium. Instead, we focus on televised appearances here, and invite you to explore a complete list of appearances elsewhere.
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
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