Death of the Doctor (TV story)

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Death of the Doctor was the third story of Series 4 of The Sarah Jane Adventures. It saw the return of Jo Grant and the appearance of the Eleventh Doctor.

Synopsis

When the Doctor is declared dead, old companions Sarah Jane and Jo Grant meet for the very first time, and join forces to discover the truth. As an interstellar conspiracy gathers around UNIT HQ, Clyde finds that he holds the fate of the Time Lord in his hand – quite literally!

Plot

Part 1

Sarah Jane and the gang are talking to Luke on a webcam, when suddenly UNIT arrive on Bannerman Road outside Sarah's house. When she goes out, she is informed by officer Tia Karim that her friend, The Doctor, is dead. Inside, Sarah Jane doesn't believe UNIT. Colonel Karim tells the gang that alien undertakers, The Shansheeth, will be organizing the funeral. This makes Sarah Jane more suspicious until Mr Smith tells her the Shansheeth are called the Galactic Undertakers. That night Sarah Jane is telling Luke the news and tells him she thinks the Doctor is still alive although Luke thinks that the idea is crazy. The next day Sarah Jane goes to the funeral, accompanied by Rani and Clyde. Just as he is getting into the private car, Clyde receives what seems to be a static electric shock to his hand. Sometime later the gang arrive at Mount Snowden, home to the UNIT base which will host the Doctor's funeral.

When the gang arrive they bump into the Groske, a blue, tame version of the Graske. One of the Groske follows them and tells Clyde he "Smells like Time." That makes Clyde looks down at his hand, where he sees Artron energy. The gang are taken to the parlour where the funeral is taking place. There, the Shansheeth play music to help the mourners remember The Doctor. As Sarah and the others remember time spent with the Doctor, their thoughts are interrupted by the entry of Jo Jones (née Grant) dropping the flowers she brought. Jo and her grandson Santiago pick up the flowers. Jo then sits next to Sarah Jane, with Santiago sitting behind Rani and Clyde. Sarah Jane and Jo soon start talking and make friends, as does Santiago with Clyde and Rani.

File:The Doctor.PNG
The Doctor after swapping places with Clyde.

After the remembrance, the gang is in a bed room where Jo agrees with Sarah Jane's theory that the Doctor is still alive. As Clyde, Rani and Santiago leave the room, they again encounter the Groske who told Clyde that he "Smells like Time". Clyde gives chase but The Groske jumps into a ventilation shaft. Meanwhile, the Blue Shansheeth is trying to find out who had the most fond memories of The Doctor. The Red, Yellow and Green Shansheeth agree it is Sarah Jane and Jo. They begin to play music through the vents, putting Sarah Jane and Jo into a trance. Clyde, Rani and Santiago follow the Groske into the vent where they lose him, but overhear the Shansheeth discuss their plot to steal Jo and Sarah Jane's memories - killing them in the process. Just then the Artron energy on Clyde's hand starts up with a bright, blue light, alerting the Shansheeth to their presence. Clyde, Santiago & Rani shuffle their way backwards out of the vent. Sarah Jane and Jo hear the clatter of the vents, which breaks their trance. They run into the corridors and bump into the others. Clyde tells Sarah Jane and Jo that this is a trap and they are the prize.

Just then Clyde freezes and starts talking in a different voice, a voice that knows Clyde, Rani, Jo & Sarah Jane. Clyde regains control of his normal voice to realise that he has someone else’s hand. Suddenly Clyde disappears as the Doctor takes his place. He has managed to trade places with Clyde by using the residual Artron energy left on Clyde's hand form his previous encounter with the Doctor. Clyde is now stuck on a red, wasteland-like planet. After The Doctor explains who he is and what has happened, the Shansheeth arrive and tell the gang the death warrant had been sent out early. Then they shoot the Doctor with an energy beam implanted on their claws.

Part 2

Still caught in the energy beam, the Doctor disappears, and Clyde reappears. He and Clyde keep swapping places. The energy beam disengaged, the Doctor, Jo, Sarah Jane, Rani, and Santiago run away from the Shansheeth, find safety behind a locked door. The Doctor takes Jo and Sarah by the hand, and all three swap places with Clyde on the alien planet. As the Doctor works on the machine he used to swap places, they talk. The Doctor says that he looked back on Jo and all his old companions before he last regenerated. He tells Jo that her forthcoming thirteenth grandchild will be dyslexic, but also a great swimmer. With the help of Sarah's sonic lipstick and some natural juice being carried by Jo, the Doctor enhances the machine so that they can travel to Earth without sending Clyde to the planet.

Clyde and Rani talk with Santiago, who reveals he hasn't spoken to his parents in six months. Colonel Karim meanwhile is working with the Shansheeth. They are plotting to use Jo and Sarah Jane's memories of the TARDIS to create a new TARDIS Key, so the Shansheeth can stop death across the universe by interfering with the timelines.

Rani, Santiago and Clyde are rescued by a Groske, and are taken through the ventilation shafts. The location where they are hiding is heated up so it is possible the children may boil. The Doctor, Jo and Sarah Jane come to the rescue, but the two companions are kidnapped, and strapped into the Memory Weave. Their minds are scanned and they begin remembering the TARDIS. These memories begin to generate a new TARDIS Key as the Shansheeth and Colonel Karim make their intentions clear.

File:Jo, Sarah and the Shansheeth.jpg
Jo, Sarah Jane and the Shansheeth.

The Doctor, Rani, Clyde, Santiago and a Groske come to the door of the room where Sarah Jane and Jo are strapped into the Memory Weave. The door is locked. The Doctor tells them to remember all of their adventures with him, in as much detail as possible. Sarah Jane and Jo both remember past encounters with the Doctor and all the creatures and enemies they met. Clyde and Rani tell Sarah Jane to remember their experiences fighting aliens as well, and Santiago tells Jo to remember all the places she's visited. Jo remembers all the countries she has been to as Sarah Jane remembers her battles with aliens. The memory weave overloads and explodes.

Sarah Jane and Jo enter the Doctors coffin and shut themselves inside to survive the explosion. Later, they are taken to Sarah Jane’s house, alive and well. Jo and Sarah Jane are with the Doctor inside the TARDIS. Jo mentions the Time Lords. Sarah and Jo share their feeling that if the Doctor were to ever die, that they would know somehow. The Doctor says that if he ever were to die, the entire universe would probably shiver. He then laughs, and the two companions depart. The TARDIS dematerialises as Jo, Sarah, Rani, and Clyde look on. Jo and Santiago leave for Norway, and the trio are left behind. Sarah Jane says that she googled TARDIS and learned of others whom she believes to have been companions of the Doctor. She tells them of Tegan Jovanka, Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright, Harry Sullivan, Ben Jackson, Polly and a Dorothy. They say that with friends like themselves, the Doctor would never die.

Cast

Crew

to be added

References

Time Lords

  • The Doctor says he can regenerate 507 times and change to any colour of skin. When the three digits are added together the sum is 12. Later statements by Russell T Davies suggest this was likely a joke, however.
  • Jo says she should leave before the Doctor "gets in trouble with the Time Lords." The Doctor gives her a sombre look and neither he nor Sarah Jane choose to tell her that the Time Lords are dead. (Jo became aware of the Time Lords in DW: The Three Doctors.)

Individuals

  • This story contains the most extensive updates of past companions since DW: The Five Doctors.
  • Liz Shaw is mentioned as being stranded on a UNIT Moon Base. The fact she's alive and well contradicts the events of the novel NA: Eternity Weeps, set in the early 2000s, in which she died, though in that novel she was also working on the Moon for UNIT.
  • The Brigadier is mentioned as being stranded in Peru, on an ongoing mission. He is also mentioned as being in South America in SJA: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith and DW: The Poison Sky.
  • Jo has seven children and twelve grandchildren with a thirteenth on the way, at this time. The Doctor mentions that the thirteenth will be Dyslexic but a great swimmer.
  • Tegan Jovanka is mentioned to be fighting for Aboriginal rights. Sarah Jane actually met Tegan in The Five Doctors, however School Reunion indicated that she does not appear to remember this adventure, a fact supported by her apparent "discovery" of Tegan via Google here. This reference indicates that Tegan is still alive in 2010, despite being revealed to have a life-threatening health condition in 2006 (BFA: The Gathering).
  • Ben Jackson and Polly Wright are mentioned to be running an orphanage in India.
  • Harry Sullivan is said to have worked with vaccines and saved thousands of lives. He is referred to in the past tense by Sarah, in tones that imply that he died. Harry was previously implied to be dead in the novelisation of The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith; actor Ian Marter died in 1986.
  • Ian and Barbara Chesterton are mentioned to be professors at Cambridge and according to rumour haven't aged since the 1960s, suggesting something they encountered during their travels with the Doctor caused them to stop aging. (This, however, would contradict the links William Russell recorded for the VHS restoration of DW: The Crusade, which were performed in character as a now-elderly Ian, if those links were considered canonical.)
  • One companion is called Dorothy, said to have raised billions of pounds through her charity "A Charitable Earth." As the charity spells out the words "ACE," this is presumably a reference to Ace, which would make this the first on-screen reference to Ace's name, Dorothy McShane, which was established in the novels.
  • Three of the companions mentioned by Sarah Jane are played by actors now deceased: besides Marter, Michael Craze (Ben) and Jacqueline Hill (Barbara) have passed away.
  • Jo says she's aware of the Doctor's ability to change his appearance. Aside from the fact her involvement with UNIT likely brought this to her attention, she saw this first-hand in DW: The Three Doctors.
  • Tia Karim refers to Clyde Langer, Rani Chandra and Santiago Jones as "three ASBO kids"

Planets

  • Jo mentions Metebelis III.
  • Jo and Sarah both reminisce their trips to Peladon, specifically their encounter with Aggedor. The Harp music reminded Jo of The Royal Palace on Peladon.
  • Jo mentions visiting Karfel.
  • The Doctor mentions that he had left Amy Pond and Rory Williams on a honeymoon planet - that is, a planet which had gotten married to and was on honeymoon with an asteroid.

Races and species

Earth technology

  • The mention of a UNIT moonbase marks the first time since the revival of Doctor Who in 2005 that Earth is revealed to be somewhat more advanced in terms of some technology than it is in the real world. For example, in DW: The Christmas Invasion, the UK is shown sending its first probe to Mars, even though we'd already been there and beyond in the Third Doctor era. Although the airship Valiant (DW: The Sound of Drums) is also advanced technology, this is the first time we learn in the modern era that Earth has an ongoing presence off the planet.

Story notes

  • This episode marks the last on-screen adventure Sarah Jane has with the Doctor. Elisabeth Sladen, who portrays Sarah Jane Smith, died on 19th April, 2011.
  • Russell T. Davies thought about using Death of the Doctor as the name for the End of Time Part 2 (REF: The Writers Tale: The Final Chapter).
  • The Doctor says "Smith and Jones," the title of the Doctor Who Series 3 opening episode.
  • As UNIT arrives at 13 Bannerman Road, UNIT musical cues are played as the incidental music.
  • This is only the second time that the Doctor has appeared in one of the televised spin-offs. The first was also on The Sarah Jane Adventures in The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith.
  • This is one of the first times since Doctor Who's revival that the issues of how many regenerations has been mentioned, with the number being stated as 507, despite the fact that (onscreen) it has previously been mentioned as being only 13. Russell T Davies, who wrote this episode, pointed out in an interview, "they only said 13 once or twice." [1] It's worth noting that, within the context of the episode, the Doctor appears to simply be teasing Clyde.
  • Steven Moffat stated in an interview that the controversial topic of the regeneration limit for Time Lords would be "addressed in a very, very cheeky way by an old friend of mine" at some point in Series 5. [5] It turns out that the "old friend" was Russell T. Davies and the "very, very cheeky way" was the 507 line.
  • The death of Tia Karim marks one of the only times in the young viewer-friendly Sarah Jane Adventures of a human adversary being killed through the direct actions of the heroes (if unintentionally).

Ratings

  • Part 1 - 0.92 Million[2]
  • Part 2 - 0.96 Million[2]

Part 2 is currently the highest rated show on the CBBC channel ever.[2]

Myths

  • Amy and Rory would appear.[source needed] This rumour was false, but a reason was given for why they didn't appear (see Continuity).

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

Timeline

For The Sarah Jane Adventures

For Doctor Who

The fact that the Eleventh Doctor Doctor's TARDIS has the old square gray railings from Series 5 (Doctor Who), which are no longer present in A Christmas Carol (TV story), replaced by rounded silver railings from thereon, places this story before the mentioned Christmas special.


Home video releases

DVD releases

to be added

Blu-ray releases

to be added

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ SFX - INTERVIEW Russell T Davies talks about THAT Sarah Jane Adventures line accessed 18th November 2010
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 The Doctor Who News Page - Death of the Doctor Tops Ratings accessed 18th November 2010
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