The Beast Below (TV story)

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The man above might say hello, expect no love from the Beast Below!Poetry Girl

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The Beast Below is the second episode of Matt Smith's first series.

Synopsis

The Doctor takes Amy to the distant future, where she finds Britain in space. Starship UK houses the future of the British people, as they search the stars for a new home. But as Amy explores, she encounters the terrifying Smilers and learns a deadly truth inside the Voting Booth.

Plot

Starship UK is floating through space - the words 'Yorkshire', 'Kent' and 'Surrey' visible on some of the buildings. The scene cuts to a classroom on board Starship UK where a line of children are receiving praise from a Smiler. One boy, Timmy, stays seated until his sister, Mandy, persuades him to join the line. When it is his turn to face the Smiler, he doesn't receive any praise , instead getting a 0, but the Smiler turns it's head 360 degrees to show its frowning face. Because Timmy got 0, he isn't allowed on the lifts back down to his house in London. He protests about having to walk down 20 decks and wants to take the lift. However, his sister says that if he were to ride a lift, he would get sent down 'below'. As soon as the lift has gone, he steps into the other one and says to go to London. On the screen, a girl reads out some verses - ending in 'The man above might say hello, expect no love from the Beast Below'. The Smiler in the lift turns its face from happy to frowning and then looks at Timmy. Suddenly, the lift shudders and starts plunging down to Floor Number 0. On arriving, the floor opens up onto a deep red cavern, and as Timmy falls in the Smiler's frowning face swivels and is replaced by an almost demonic face.

The scene cuts to the TARDIS drifting through space with the doors open, with the Doctor holding Amy as she joyfully drifts around. The Doctor pulls her in and comments that he was not lying to Amy when he stated it was a space ship. While Amy goes mad with enthusiasm, the Doctor notices a ship flying under the TARDIS. The Doctor sets a course for the ship and tells Amy about the Sun turning on Earth, and all of humanity migrating to the stars.

The Doctor tells Amy that as this is not their time, they should only observe and not get involved in affairs. As Amy comments on how hard that is, she notices that the Doctor has already left and is trying to talk to Mandy, who is silently crying and runs away from him. Amy exits the TARDIS to be in the "London Market". She comments on how shes hundreds of in the future and already dead, but the Doctor dismisses the fact. The Doctor asks Amy to look around and try to spot somthing wrong, as the Doctor notices that they all seem to be afraid of somthing. The doctor then Puts a glass of water on the floor, under the alias of searching for an escaped fish, Amy questions why, but he ignores the query by saying he thinks too much and has already forgotten.

The Doctor the redirects Amy's attention to Mandy, whom is still crying. Amy tells the Doctor that little girls cry all the time, so there is nothing unusual about the situaton. But the Doctor has other thoughts: he says that children cry for attention because their hurt or scared, but children cry silently because they can't stop, claiming that every perant knows that. Amy asks if the Doctor is a perant, but the responce is silence. The Doctor notes that there must be loads of perants walking past her, none of whom have gone to ask whats wrong; which means they all know, but don't talk about it.

Meanwhile, a man in a black cloak was watching the Doctor while he was "searching for fish", and phones someone to tell them. The witness asks if they have to tell her, and the other one just responds that they are under orders to do so. The scene then cuts to a highly decorated room, with a person wearing a red cloak is sitting on the floor with hundreds of glasses. Them woman answers the phone and is told about the sighting. She then picks up a mask, and leaves.

While the Doctor and Amy discuss Mandy, a smilers face turns slightly as she leaves. The doctor tells Amy to follow her, and gives her a card with Mandys name and address; commenting that it took 4 times "accedently" bumping in to her to get it.

Cast

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.


References

  • The Doctor tells Amy about some of the events that happened in The End of Time and how he is still coping with the fact that he is the last of the Time Lords since all the others were taken back to the day Gallifrey was destroyed.

Story Notes

  • Like DW: The End of the World, this episode featured the Doctor taking a new companion into the distant future for her first trip in the TARDIS.
  • This story leads directly into the next.
  • Another crack could be seen at the very end of the story, continuing the new theme of cracks appearing throughout the universe.
  • Nobody is killed in this story, as with previous Moffat stories (which only feature deaths from natural causes on screen and sometimes have nobody die at all), unusually for the series.
  • Counting his flashback appearance in the previous story, this is the first episode to not show David Tennant since Series 1's Bad Wolf.
  • This is the first average length Doctor Who episode since DW: The Stolen Earth, the following all being specials or extended.

Ratings

to be added

Filming Locations

  • Mamhilad, Monmouthshire, Wales

Rumours

  • It was originally rumoured that Sophie Okonedo was to play the character called "Liz Ten" which then was rumoured to be "Queen Elizabeth X". Sophie Okonedo was confirmed to play The Masked Woman. In dialogue, it was confirmed that her character was indeed "Elizabeth X". In the credits, she was listed as "Liz 10".
  • It was rumoured that The Doctor and Amy will be swallowed by a creature 'The Beast' and have to make the 'Beast' regurgitate then to escape. This is proven more likely with them both being drenched (having wet clothes) in the trailer[1]. The Doctor and Amy actually managed to escape being swallowed, only entering the creature's mouth. [2].

Production errors

to be added

Continuity

DVD/Blu-Ray release

  • BBC Video - Doctor Who Series Five - Volume One is scheduled for release on DVD and Blu-Ray on 7th June 2010 (UK only), featuring The Eleventh Hour, The Beast Below, Victory of the Daleks, and the featurette The Monster Diaries. [1]

External Links

to be added

Footnotes

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