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Fear Her (TV story)

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Fear Her was the eleventh episode in the second series of Doctor Who.

Synopsis

London 2012, and the Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler set off to see the Olympics, only to find terror in the most ordinary place.

Plot

The TARDIS materialises on Dame Kelly Holmes Close on the day of the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games. On the street, concern is divided between preparation for the Games, as the torchbearer will pass by on the final leg, and the continued disappearance of children from their garden. Rose also meets a ginger cat who walks into a cardboard box and disappears. Cars break down on the street. A council worker, Kel, states this has been happening all week.

The source of the problems is a small girl, Chloe, who can make people disappear by drawing them.

Wandering down one of the estate streets, Rose hears a noise from one of the garages and decides to investigate. As she opens the door a round, fuzzy Scribble Creature flies out, hitting Rose square in the face. Rose swats at it helplessly. Luckily the Doctor arrives and deactivates it with the sonic screwdriver. He deduces from residual energy and the carbon of the scribble that had attacked Rose that the problem is alien in origin.

By talking to Chloe, he learns the disappearance is related to the Isolus, an alien life-form, who had befriended Chloe; she has had a troubled childhood and an abusive father. The Doctor warns that the Isolus is desperate for love too, and will use the billions of people watching the Olympic opening ceremony to replace its family.

The Doctor returns to the TARDIS and locates the Isolus pod in the Close. However, the Doctor and thousands at the Olympic Stadium start to disappear, leaving Rose to dig the pod up with a pickaxe (to Kel's protestations). Rose realises she needs to offer the pod heat, which she does by throwing the pod towards the torch, which had became a morale beacon, passing the Close.

 
The Doctor with the Olympic Flame.

As the missing children start to reappear, Rose realises that so will the demon-like drawing that Chloe had made of her father. Rose and Chloe's mother calm Chloe enough to destroy him.

As the torch-bearer approaches the Olympic Stadium, he staggers, but the Doctor completes the run and lights the Olympic Flame, allowing the Isolus to return home.

As the Doctor and Rose walk off to watch the Games, Rose remarks that however hard "they" attempt, nothing will ever split up the two of them. However, the Doctor does not seem so sure, as he surmises that a storm is approaching.

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

  • The Doctor mentions (to Rose's surprise) that he "was a dad once." This has been implied numerous times by his status as grandfather to Susan Foreman.

Galactic Law

Music from the real world

Species

  • The Isolus are beings that can draw power from other beings' extreme emotion.
  • Humanoid catkind are mentioned.

Other

Story notes

  • Fear Her replaced an unwritten script originally allocated to Stephen Fry.
  • This is the first televised Doctor Who story to deal with actual child abuse.
  • No characters die during this episode, a rarity for the series.
  • In 2009, Doctor Who Magazine conducted a reader poll to rank the first 200 Doctor Who stories in order of preference. Fear Her ranked 192nd out of 200, earning it the dubious distinction of being the lowest-ranked story of the 2005-present revival.
  • The London 2012 logo seen at the start is the bid logo, not the final logo of the games, which wasn't unveiled until after the episode was produced.
  • The writer, Matthew Graham, noted on the DVD commentary that the scribble creature was never to be called a "scribble monster", as the Doctor would never call anything a monster.
  • The idea of a child bringing things to life through drawings was also featured in the 1991 Eerie Indiana episode "Who's Who".
  • When the Doctor mentions having been a father, it is the first time in the revived series that the Doctor has referenced his family. Although, it should be noted that the Doctor has referenced his 'entire family' dying, along with sympathising with Constantine (The Empty Child) over "I was a father and a grandfather. Now I am neither."
  • The mini-episode TV: Good as Gold takes place during the Olympics opening ceremony. However, the circumstances are shown to be clearly different, with an athlete carrying the torch and and Weeping Angels involved.
  • This story idea of the Tenth Doctor's involvement in the 2012 Olympics sparked a petition from thousands of fans all over the world wishing David Tennant to carry the Olympic Torch.[1] However, it was not David Tennant, but Matt Smith who would carry the 2012 Olympic torch in Wales on 26 May 2012.[2]
  • In the real world, it was Sir Steve Redgrave who finally delivered the torch to the Olympic Stadium in London, and a group of seven young athletes who lit the Olympic Flame. However, newsreader Huw Edwards did provide the commentary on the ceremony, and during one of the elaborate production numbers prior to this the sound of the TARDIS materialising was also heard.
  • As is routine for post-2005 Doctor Who, a "NEXT TIME" trailer is shown at the end of the episode. This was a trailer for the two-part finale of Series 2, Army of Ghosts and Doomsday, rather than just the next episode (Army of Ghosts) as usual. Also, the Doctor Who closing theme does not play during the trailer.

Ratings

  • 7.14 million

Filming Location

Temorfa, Cardiff

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.
  • When the Doctor and Rose walk down the lane, the road is perfect, with no blemishes. However, when the Doctor later picks up the Isolus pod, there is a clear paving spot.
  • In a shot before the cat disappears, the white flowers in the ground behind Rose are obviously fabric.

Continuity

Home video releases

 
Series 2:Part 5 DVD cover.
  • This story was released on a vanilla DVD (a DVD release containing no extra features) with Army of Ghosts and Doomsday.
  • It was also released as part of the Series 2 DVD box set.

External links

Footnotes


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