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, now Jo Jones, and the first and only appearance of Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor on the series.

It was the first time Russell T Davies wrote for the Eleventh Doctor after stepping down as executive producer for Doctor Who (he had let Steven Moffat write the Doctor's post-regenerative scene in The End of Time).

Synopsis

When the Doctor is declared dead, old companions Sarah Jane and Jo Grant meet for the 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 UNIT arrive on Bannerman Road outside her house. She is informed by officer Tia Karim that her friend, the Doctor, is dead. Sarah Jane doesn't believe UNIT. Colonel Karim tells the gang that alien undertakers, The Shansheeth, will be organising 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. Some time 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 sits next to Sarah Jane, with Santiago sitting behind Rani and Clyde. Sarah Jane and Jo 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 bedroom where Jo agrees with Sarah Jane's belief 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 fondest memories of The Doctor. The Red, Yellow and Green Shansheeth agree it is Sarah Jane and Jo. They 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. 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 from 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.

Clyde freezes and starts talking in a different voice, a voice that knows Clyde, Rani, Jo and Sarah Jane. Clyde regains control of his normal voice and realises that he has someone else’s hand. Clyde disappears and the Doctor takes his place. Rani is shocked by this, not knowing that it is the Doctor, and demands to know who he is. The Doctor explains that he used Clyde's residual Artron energy to switch places with him, which the Doctor then says is trouble for Clyde as where he sent him in his place is a red, wasteland-like planet full of debris. Sarah Jane marvels that the Doctor has "done it again" as he greets her. Sarah Jane then asks "Doctor?" confirming she is right. Rani and Jo are confused until Sarah Jane asks Jo if she knew the Doctor could change his face. She replies yes, but is shocked that the Doctor is much younger than the other Doctors she met. The Doctor rudely mentions Jo is older than the last time they met in return as the the Shansheeth arrive and tell the gang the death warrant had been sent out early. The Blue Shansheeth says this can be rectified and shoots the Doctor with an energy beam, saying "Rest in peace!".

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, and 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 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. 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 place they are hiding is so hot 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.

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. It 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 Shansheeth begin pancing as the Memory Weave reaches critical. The Doctor tells Sarah and Jo that it's his funeral and they realise there is an empty lead-lined coffin waiting next to them to be used. Karim tires to get in the coffin with them, but they keep her out as the Memory Weave explodes, frying the Shansheeth to "fried chicken" and blasted the doors off. The Doctor and Sarah's companions enter the room and open the coffin to finding Sarah and Jo huggin each other out of fear. They notice the Doctor and everyone else looking down at them and laugh happily that they survived.

The Doctor then takes them in the TARDIS and materialises in Sarah Jane's attic. Mr Smith detects the TARDIS and activates. Clyde and Rani exit the TARDIS as Santiago is shocked that they have a sentient computer, which trumps anything else he's seen. In the TARDIS, both Sarah and Jo examine the new interior and Jo still feels the TARDIS is the same no more how it looks (making it the fourth console room Sarah Jane has seen in the TARDIS). Jo says she could stay and travel with the Doctor forever, but mentions that he could get in trouble with the Time Lords. Sarah and the Doctor remain quiet, but the Doctor tells her that it's about time he got going. Sarah and Jo tell the Doctor that if he ever did die, they believe they'd feel something. The Doctor agrees an says the entire universe might shiver if he did die. He scares his old friends and the exit the TARDIS while he takes off.

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- who is fighting for aborignal rights in Australia, Ian and Barbara Chesterton - Cambridge professors that haven't aged since the 60's, Harry Sullivan - her old friend from UNIT who worked on finding remidies for diseases, Ben and Polly - they are running an orpahnage, and a Dorothy - she has raised millions of pounds (money) through her company "A Charitable Earth". As they watch Jo and Santiago leave, Sarah Jane says, "With friends like us, he's not really going to die, is he?"

Cast

Crew

General production staff

Script department

Camera and lighting department

Art department

Costume department

Make-up and prosthetics


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.
          

Unlike most other SJA stories, Russell T Davies, being the writer of this story, did not get a "created by" credit.


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 DW: Let's Kill Hitler would later confirm that skin colour change is possible in a regeneration.
  • 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

  • The former Jo Grant is named Jo Jones in this story reflecting her marriage to Clifford Jones, introduced in DW: The Green Death. In the Doctor Who franchise the name Josephine Jones was first used in the novelisation DWN: Doctor Who and the Planet of the Spiders, in which former companion Jo makes a cameo appearance (she does not appear in the original TV version, although she is mentioned by name).
  • This story contains the most extensive updates of past companions since DW: The Five Doctors.
  • Liz Shaw is stranded on a UNIT Moon Base and is unable to get back until Monday. 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. (This assumes that Tia Karim, established as the villain, is actually being truthful in reporting Shaw's whereabouts.)
  • The Brigadier is 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. The Doctor mentions that the thirteenth will be dyslexic but a great swimmer.
  • As far as she is aware, Jo hasn't seen the Doctor since the events of DW: The Green Death. She considers the fact Sarah Jane met the Doctor several times after leaving him to be highly unusual.
  • Tegan Jovanka is fighting for Aboriginal rights. Sarah Jane actually met Tegan in The Five Doctors, but School Reunion indicated that she does not appear to remember this adventure, a fact supported by her apparent "discovery" of Tegan via Google here; the only part of The Five Doctors that she remembers is talking to K9 on Earth before being timescooped. 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 running an orphanage in India; it is unknown if they are married as Sarah Jane never says so.
  • 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 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 ageing. (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 are canonical. )
  • One companion, 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 real 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 reminisceabout 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, the planet is on it's honeymoon; it married an asteroid.

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. SJA: The Vault of Secrets, the previous story, suggested somewhat advanced technology for NASA suggesting it has the ability to receive real-time video from Mars rovers.

Story notes

  • This episode marks the last onscreen adventure Sarah Jane has with the Doctor.
  • 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][2] It's worth noting that, within the context of the episode, the Doctor appears to simply be teasing Clyde. The events of DW: Let's Kill Hitler have further raised the question as to whether a regeneration limit still applies to the Doctor anymore.
  • 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[3]
  • Part 2 - 0.96 Million[3]

Part 2 is currently the highest rated show on the CBBC channel ever.[3]

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.
  • One of Sarah's memories depict Sutekh seated on his throne. Sarah, however, did not encounter Sutekh in this way.
  • In The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith the Artron Energy was in Clyde's right hand but in this story its in his left hand

Continuity

Timeline

For Sarah Jane Smith and her gang

For the Doctor

For Jo Jones

Home video releases

DVD releases

to be added

Blu-ray releases

to be added

Novelisation

Novelisation cover.
Main article: Death of the Doctor (novelisation)

Along with The Nightmare Man, the novelisation of Death of the Doctor was cancelled and instead released in e-book format only. It was written by Gary Russell.

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ SFX - INTERVIEW Russell T Davies talks about THAT Sarah Jane Adventures line accessed 18th November 2010
  2. ↑ Contrary to Davies' comments, the 13-regeneration limit has in fact been referenced on numerous occasions and was a major plot point in at least three stories: DW: The Deadly Assassin, Mawdryn Undead, and Doctor Who: The TV Movie, and the idea of regeneration limits had been addressed numerous times as well, such as in DW: [[The Five Doctors (TV story)|]] and The Twin Dilemma.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 The Doctor Who News Page - Death of the Doctor Tops Ratings accessed 18th November 2010
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