World Enough and Time (TV story)
- You may be looking for the River Song audio story.
World Enough and Time, written by Steven Moffat, was the eleventh episode of the tenth series of Doctor Who produced by BBC Wales.
The episode continued the ongoing vault story arc, the Doctor, notably, takes Missy on her first adventure, and entrusts her with his two companions, in his attempt at making her good. The episode also featured Bill being converted into a Cyberman and displayed what appeared to be the beginning of the Twelfth Doctor's regeneration.
It also notably marked the return of John Simm as the Saxon Master, seven years after his last appearance in The End of Time. The episode also notably showed John Simm's Master acting alongside Michelle Gomez's Missy, marking the first onscreen appearance of more than one incarnation of the Master, making this episode the first multi-Master story in the show's history.
It even marked the return the Cybermen in their very first design for the first time in over 50 years since they were first introduced in 1966 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 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 truely 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.
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 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 in to 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, once for floor 1056 (which registers 365030 days) and another for floor 0 (which indicates 2 days).
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 turning off 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 eye brow 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.
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 upgraded partially. 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 nurse) 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 for 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 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". Bill begins to cry beneath the mask, as the episode ends.
Cast
- The Doctor - Peter Capaldi
- Bill - Pearl Mackie
- Nardole - Matt Lucas
- Missy - Michelle Gomez
- The Saxon Master - John Simm
- Jorj - Oliver Lansley
- Surgeon - Paul Brightwell
- Nurse - Alison Lintott
- Voice of the Cybermen - Nicholas Briggs
Crew
to be added
References
Locations
- After being taken by a group of Patients, Bill is moved from Floor 0 to Floor 1056.
Cybermen
- The Patients are partially-converted Cybermen.
Science
- Due to time dilation, time is slower on one side of the ship than on the other.
Technology
- The sonic screwdriver can be used as a marker pen.
- The ship is fitted with inertia lifts.
Literature
- 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.
People
- In his first incarnation, the Doctor had a crush on the Master, while at the Academy.
Culture
- Missy briefly dabs.
- According to the Doctor, Time Lords don't have fixation on gender and gender roles that humans do.
- Nardole takes a selfie with the Doctor.
- "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.
Foods and beverages
- The Doctor eats a packet of crisps.
- The Doctor and Bill eat chips.
- Bill eats a bacon sandwich.
- Nardole eats a Jaffa Cake.
Story notes
File:Brian Minchin Talks World Enough And Time - The Aftershow - Doctor Who The Fan Show
- The read-through for World Enough and Time took place on 21 February 2017, and filming took place between 24 February and 28 March.
- This episode marks the first on-screen appearance of the original design of the Mondasian Cybermen since the First Doctor television story, The Tenth Planet in 1966.
- This episode marks the return of John Simm's Master, who last appeared in The End of Time in 2010.
- This episode marks the first time that more than one incarnation of the Master has appeared on-screen.
- 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 TV: Genesis of the Daleks, which showed the Fourth Doctor being sent to the creation of the Daleks. Following the success of Genesis of the Daleks, a story entitled Genesis of the Cybermen was planned, but never produced.
- For the first time in the show's history, the Doctor actually self-identifies using the name "Doctor Who". However, it does seem like a bit of an in-joke. He has previously been referred to as such: in The War Machines, WOTAN says "Doctor Who is required" (due to a script mistake); in The Highlanders, the Second Doctor introduces himself as "Doktor von Wer" (German for "Doctor [of] Who"); in The Underwater Menace, the Second Doctor signs a note with "Dr. W."; in The Dæmons, the Third Doctor introduces himself as "the great wizard Qui Quae Quod" (Latin variations of "Who"); from Doctor Who and the Silurians to The Five Doctors and in What He Wants..., the Doctor's car Bessie's plate read WHO 1, in Battlefield it read WHO 7, and in The Dying Days it read WHO 8; in The Kingmaker, the Fourth Doctor wrote a series of children's books accidentally published as Doctor Who Discovers; in Rose, a website called whoisdoctorwho.co.uk asks "Who is Doctor Who?"; and in Fogbound, the Master 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?"
Ratings
- 3.37m (UK Overnight figures)
Filming locations
- Scenes outside the hospital were shot in Cardiff Bay.
Production errors
to be added
Continuity
- The Doctor notes Missy's use of the TARDIS to retrieve him along with Bill and Nardole from Mars. (TV: Empress of Mars)
- Blue-skinned humanoids are seen again. (TV: The End of the World, The Pandorica Opens, Oxygen)
- The original Mondasian Cybermen appear again, and Mondas is shown on a screen. Missy notes that it's a twin to Earth. (TV: The Tenth Planet)
- In his fifth incarnation, the Doctor saw the Mondasians who remained on Mondas convert themselves into Cybermen for a similar reason. (AUDIO: Spare Parts)
- This is at least the fourth time the Doctor has witnessed the "genesis" of some form of Cybermen. (AUDIO: Spare Parts, COMIC: The World Shapers, TV: Rise of the Cybermen / The Age of Steel)
- Nardole has screamed due to being surprised before. (TV: Extremis)
- Missy previously encountered the "Harold Saxon" Master. (COMIC: The Abominable Showmen / The Five Masters)
- The Doctor has been on another space colony that orbited a black hole. (TV: The Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit)
- The Doctor has to travel to a different time zone of the same location to rescue his companion, who waits for him, but he arrives too late. (TV: The Girl Who Waited)
- The topic of the Doctor's "real name" is discussed. (TV: The Name of the Doctor) The Doctor again states how he actually likes being asked "Doctor Who". (TV: The Bells of Saint John) Missy also claims to know the Doctor's real name; previously, River Song possessed this knowledge (TV: Forest of the Dead, et al.) and Clara Oswald briefly did so before a time reset. (TV: Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS)
- The Doctor is shown regenerating. (TV: The Parting of the Ways et. al)
- The Doctor says going on an adventure is something he and Bill do on Saturdays, just as Wednesday used to be his day for adventures with Clara Oswald. (TV: The Bells of Saint John, et al.)
- The Doctor refers to him and the Master meeting at the Time Lord Academy. (PROSE: Divided Loyalties, TV: The Sound of Drums, Terror of the Autons)
- The Doctor and Missy each mention how they met at the Academy on Gallifrey and how they chose their names that day, among other promises. (TV: The Sound of Drums, The End of Time)
- The Doctor mentions the Master's desire to destroy the universe rather than explore it, as they had initially promised. (TV: Last of the Time Lords, The End of Time)
- The Doctor tries to remember if he ever had a female incarnation. All incarnations of the Doctor up to and including the Twelfth are accounted for in TV: The Day of the Doctor, so the answer would appear to be no. This isn't the first time, however, that a question mark has been raised over past incarnations of the Doctor and whether all are indeed accounted for. (TV: The Brain of Morbius)
- Bill remarks on how Gallifreyans differentiate gender by calling themselves "Time Lords" and "Ladies". (TV: Dark Water)
- The Cybermen are shown to be able to cry and feel pain. (TV: Doomsday, Rise of the Cybermen)
- Bill calls the Doctor an idiot, mirroring go how Nardole did likewise. (TV: Extremis)
- The Doctor knocks out Jorj using Venusian aikido. The fighting style was prominently used by his third incarnation. (TV: Inferno, Colony in Space, The Mutants, The Green Death, The Time Warrior, COMIC: The Celluloid Midas)
- The surgeon explains that the headpiece of the cyber-suit acts as an emotional inhibitor so Bill won't care about the pain. (TV: The Age of Steel)
- Once again, the Doctor witnesses a companion suffer a mortal injury, (TV: Face the Raven, Forest of the Dead) only for technology to be used to arrange for them to stay alive; in all cases, their hearts no longer function. (TV: Hell Bent, The Name of the Doctor)
- Other associates of the Doctor have previously been converted into Cybermen, such as Jackie Tyler (TV: Rise of the Cybermen), Yvonne Hartman (TV: Doomsday), and Danny Pink (TV: Death in Heaven). It similarly occurred when Oswin Oswald was converted into a Dalek. (TV: Asylum of the Daleks)
- The Master has allied with Cybermen before. (TV: The Five Doctors, Dark Water / Death in Heaven, PROSE: Birth of a Renegade)
- The Master adopted the guise of "Razor" so Bill would not recognise him from his time as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. (TV: The Sound of Drums / The Last of the Time Lords)
- The Master is sporting a beard, similar in style to his previous incarnations. (TV: Terror of the Autons - Frontier in Space, The Keeper of Traken-Survival) He also mentions and displays a love of disguises, as, again, in past incarnations. (TV: Time-Flight, et al.)
- Missy not remembering being on the ship in her previous incarnation echoes how the Eleventh Doctor didn't remember meeting his other selves until "time caught up", in TV: The Day of the Doctor. In that story, the War and Tenth Doctors, along with all other incarnations involved, did not retain memories of saving Gallifrey until the Eleventh Doctor went through that adventure himself.
- Missy comedically remarks on the age gap between the Doctor and his companions. The Dream Lord made a similar remark. (TV: Amy's Choice)
- When the Master unmasks himself, an alarm bell in the background sounds in time with a drumbeat. The drumbeat is also heard when he enters the operating theater alongside Missy. The Master has had an association with drums before. (TV: Utopia, The Sound of Drums, Last of the Time Lords, The End of Time)
- Razor says the residents of floor 1056 must upgrade, typical of Cybermen. (TV: Rise of the Cybermen, Age of Steel, Nightmare in Silver)
- The Doctor criticises Bill for eating a bacon sandwich when arguing about Missy's morality. This echoes an earlier conservation between the two. “Hardly anything’s evil. Most things are hungry. Hungry can look a lot like evil from the wrong end of the cutlery. Do you think your bacon sandwich loves you back?” (TV: The Pilot)
Home video releases
DVD releases
to be added
Blu-ray releases
to be added
Digital releases
to be added
External links
- Official World Enough and Time page on the Doctor Who website
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