Time Crash (TV story)

Synopsis

The Tenth Doctor accidentally pilots his TARDIS into the path of the Fifth Doctor's TARDIS--which threatens to annhilate an area of space the size of Belgium!

Plot

This story follows on from Last of the Time Lords: the Tenth Doctor has just said goodbye to Martha, and is attempting to take off when the TARDIS suddenly goes haywire.

And someone else is in the TARDIS: the Fifth Doctor. The Tenth Doctor realises straight away this is his past incarnation and is soon reminiscing about his adventures as the Fifth Doctor, much to the latter's confusion. The Fifth Doctor decides that the strange skinny bloke in his TARDIS is an obsessive fan of his--possibly affiliated with LINDA--and the Tenth, to his own bewilderment, can't convince his past self otherwise.

Meanwhile, the collision of the TARDIS with its past self threatens to tear a hole in the universe. The Fifth Doctor despairs of finding a solution in time, but the Tenth purposefully--if maniacally--manipulates the TARDIS controls and averts the disaster.

Stunned by the unexpected solution, the Fifth Doctor realizes that the other man is in fact his future self. The Tenth Doctor bids a warm farewell to his past self; and, with a final warning to his future self to restore the TARDIS shields, the Fifth Doctor rejoins his own timeline.

But suddenly it's too late to put up the shields... the Titanic has plowed through the wall of the TARDIS.

Cast

Tenth Doctor - David Tennant
Fifth Doctor - Peter Davison
Martha Jones - Freema Agyeman (uncredited)

Production crew

Written by - Steven Moffat
Produced by - Phil Collinson
Directed by - Graeme Harper
1st Assistant Director - Dan Mumford
3rd Assistant Director - Andy Newbery
Additional Assistant Director - Kevin Myers
Driver - Kevin Kearns
Continuity - Non Eleri Hughes
Script Editor - Brian Minchin
Focus Puller - Ant Hugill
Grip - John Robinson
Camera Assistant - Tom Hartley
Jimmy Jib - Arun Taylor
Boom Operator - Ramon Pyndiah
Electricians - Ben Griffiths, Clive Johnson
Supervising Art Director - Arwel Wyn Jones
Associate Designer - James North
Senior Props Maker - Penny Howarth
Assistant Costume Designer - Rose Goodhart
Costume Supervisor - Lindsay Bonaccorsi
Costume Assistant - Barbara Harrington
Make-Up Artist - Morag Smith
Assistant Editor - Carmen Roberts
Post Production Supervisors - Samantha Hall, Chris Blatchford
Post Production Co-ordinator - Marie Brown
3D Artist - Mark Wallman
2D Artist - Simon C Holden
On Line Editors - Matthew Clarke, Mark Bright
Colourist - Mick Vincent
Dubbing Mixer - Tim Ricketts
Sound Editor - Paul McFadden
Sound FX Editor - Paul Jefferies
Original Theme Music - Ron Grainer
Casting Director - Andy Pryor Cdg
Production Executive - Julie Scott
Production Accountant - Oliver Ager
Sound Recordist - Ray Parker
Costume Designer - Louise Page
Make Up Designer - Barbara Southcott
Music - Murray Gold
Visual Effects - The Mill
Visual Fx Producers - Will Cohen, Marie Jones
Visual Fx Supervisor - Dave Houghton
Editor - Ceres Doyle
Production Designer - Edward Thomas
Director of Photography - Rory Taylor
Production Manager - Jennie Fava
Executive Producers - Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner

References

The Tenth Doctor mentions running into The Master recently. The Fifth Doctor asks if he still has his "Rubbish beard".
The Tenth Doctor asks the Fifth Doctor about Nyssa, Tegan, the Mara, Cybermen and Time Lords 'in funny hats'.
The Tenth Doctor mentions the (Fifth) Doctor's celery.
The Titanic crashes into the TARDIS at the end of the scene. The Fifth Doctor warns the Tenth to put the shields up. Not doing so resulted in the Titanic crashing into the TARDIS.
LINDA are mentioned (looks like the Fifth Doctor is aware of the group).
The (Tenth) Doctor makes mention of the TARDIS's Helmic regulator, Zeiton crystals and venting the Thermo-buffer.
The two Doctors have a slightly testy relationship (with the Tenth Doctor criticizing his predecessor's decision to go "hands free" without a sonic screwdriver and his decision to wear a stalk of celery in his lapel). This is consistent with previous televised multi-Doctor adventures that have had the various parties getting on each other's nerves. In keeping with the previous stories, however, differences are set aside for the greater good and the different incarnations part on friendly terms.

Story notes

This is the third filmed contribution by the new series production team to Children in Need. In 2005, they had offered the Children in Need Special (aka 'Pudsey Cutaway'). In 2006 they provided a live concert of music during the traditional Children in Need charity time period, and subsequently offered it to home viewers prior to the original broadcast of The Runaway Bride.
After it was cancelled, the original series was briefly revived by the inaugural Doctor Who filmed entertainment made especially for Children in Need, entitled Dimensions in Time. In 1983, The Five Doctors was also broadcast as a part of, though not made especially for, the Children in Need charity drive.
This story marks the first appearance of a Doctor from the original series appearing in the new series, although recognizable drawings of original series Doctors can be seen in Human Nature.
This story is directed by Graeme Harper who also directed Peter Davison's last story (DW: The Caves of Androzani).
Steven Moffat (writer) also wrote the Comic Relief story, The Curse of Fatal Death.
The special was introduced by Terry Wogan and John Barrowman.
Peter Davison's name appears in the credits, the first time (discounting the 1996 TV movie) that an original series Doctor has had his name at the start of an episode.
The Fifth Doctor remembers how to save the TARDIS when he is the Tenth Doctor because, as the Fifth, he saw what the Tenth did. This is a reference to time going in a straight line, which makes sense, but was not discussed in The Three Doctors or The Five Doctors.

This is the first official episode of Doctor Who written by Steven Moffat that doesn't use his theme of highlighting childhood fears.

This episode marked the final use of the 2005 arrangement of the "Doctor Who theme" by Murray Gold; a new arrangement by Gold would be introduced in the next proper episode, Voyage of the Damned.

Ratings

to be added

Filming Locations

Upper Boat Studios, Cardiff

Myths and rumours

When the Fifth Doctor asks if the Master "still has that rubbish beard," the Tenth replies, "No ... well, a wife." This was interpreted by some fans as being a gay culture reference; a "beard" is a slang term for a member of the opposite sex who joins a homosexual individual in a marriage or other relationship in order to mask the fact that one or both partners is gay.

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

If the Tenth Doctor recalls this meeting from when he was the Fifth Doctor, then why was the Fifth Doctor so worried about his regeneration in The Caves of Androzani? (Perhaps in the heat of his impending "death" the Fifth Doctor simply forgot about his future encounter or perhaps time was in flux.)

If the Tenth Doctor tells the Fifth Doctor about meeting the Master in that incarnation then he would have known that he wasn't the last of the Time Lords (although this may partially explain the Doctor's extreme reaction to the news that Professor Yana has a Chameleon Arch fobwatch). Possibly, because The Doctor met the Master several times after his Fifth incarnation, he assumed that the Tenth meant one of those other encounters (such as the TV Movie).

The Tenth Doctor was at least as much confused meeting himself as the Fifth Doctor and he did not expect the Fifth Doctor thinking he is a fan (Although he should have remembered it). It might be that the Fifth Doctor, being aware of the problems that paradox may cause, locked these memories in the back of his mind, and remembered at the moment he heard the Cloister Bell.

How did the fifth doctor know about LINDA when they where from 2007? The Doctor could easily have visited 2007 at anypoint in his lives. See, for example, the Big Finish audio drama Cuddlesome which takes place in the same era. It's also possible that LINDA survives in some form into the future.

Throughout the story, the Doctor's hand-in-a-jar is located to the right of the console (as seen by viewers), but with the glass turned away from the camera (the illuminated interior can barely be glimpsed. It is in this position as Ten says goodbye to Five. Immediately after, the crash into Titanic occurs, and the hand-in-a-jar is suddenly positioned at the same spot on the floor, but with the glass facing the camera.

Given this rare opportunity, wouldn't the Tenth Doctor have tried to warn the Fifth Doctor about the upcoming Time War and at the very least ask him to make sure certain individuals (Romana, Susan, Leela) were safe. As indicated in numerous episodes, Father's Day for one, the Doctor is not only forbidden to change certain major events, but may be physically prevented from doing so (witness Dalek Caan's madness in The Stolen Earth). Given the Tenth Doctor's obvious fondness for his younger self, perhaps he didn't want to burden him with the knowledge (especially as it might have impacted his personal timeline). It would be the same as one's elderly self telling himself as a child when his parents will die.

Continuity

This is the first on screen TV appearance of the Fifth Doctor since Dimensions in Time (and the first 'official' on screen appearance since DW: The Caves of Androzani).
The Fifth Doctor previously met the first three Doctors (First Doctor, Second Doctor, Third Doctor) in The Five Doctors.
The Fifth Doctor has also met the Sixth and Seventh Doctors in BFA: The Sirens of Time.
The Fifth Doctor has also encountered the Seventh Doctor in MA: Cold Fusion which (implicitly) involves the later Doctor remembering having experienced the events as his earlier self, as in this story.
The Fifth Doctor also encountered the Eighth Doctor in EDA: The Eight Doctors.
The Titanic was seen crashing into the TARDIS at the end of Last of the Time Lords. This story occurs inbetween those final scenes.
LINDA last appeared in Love & Monsters.
The reference to "Time Lords in funny hats" is to DW: Arc of Infinity and possibly The Five Doctors, although it could just as easily also refer to earlier Time Lord adventures such as The Invasion of Time and The Deadly Assassin. Considering they're reminiscing about the old home town, it's not exactly a timeline-altering issue.
Fifth Doctor identified new series' TARDIS console room's as a desktop theme named "Coral". Also says it to be worse than "leopard skin". His criticism of the TARDIS' redecoration is similar to that made by the Second Doctor to the Third Doctor in The Three Doctors.
This is the first multi Doctor story to account for the aging of the actor returning to play a previous Doctor, by explaining it as a byproduct of meeting himself; this covers off the aging of the Doctors in The Five Doctors but not The Two Doctors as the Second Doctor (not to mention Jamie McCrimmon) appear considerably older long before they encounter the Doctor.
According to writer (later executive producer-designate) Steven Moffat, in an interview with Doctor Who Magazine #389, the events of Time Crash are considered canonical.

DVD and other releases

It was released alongside Voyage of the Damned.
It will be released on the Series 4 boxset DVD in November 2008.

External links