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Journey's End (TV story)

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For this is my ultimate victory, Doctor! The destruction of reality itself!!Davros


This is the 13th and final episode of Series 4 and featured 6 companions of the Doctor. It is a continued on a cliffhanger from Episode 12. It holds the distinction of being the highest-rated episode in the history of the Doctor Who franchise.[1]

Synopsis

The entire universe is in danger as the Daleks activate their master plan to destroy reality itself. The Doctor is helpless, and even the TARDIS faces destruction. The only hope lies with the Doctor's secret army of companions– but as they join forces to battle Davros himself, the prophecy declares that one of them will die.

Plot

File:A Dalek and the TARDIS.jpg
The TARDIS is captured

The Doctor is regenerating inside the TARDIS while Donna Noble, Captain Jack Harkness and Rose Tyler watch in horror. However, the Doctor transfers his regenerative energy into the container which carries his severed hand. He has healed himself, but chosen not to change his appearance. The TARDIS is transported by the Daleks to the Crucible and rendered powerless. The Doctor, Jack, and Rose leave it, but Donna is distracted because she is hearing the sound of a heartbeat and while looking back, the TARDIS door slams closed. Before the Doctor can free her, the Daleks dump the TARDIS into a waste chute where it will be destroyed in the centre-core of the Crucible. As the TARDIS interior explodes around her, Donna collapses near the severed hand, she hears the heartbeat again and while touching the container energy flows between it and her. The hand bursts out of the container, and forms as a new Doctor, although this Doctor has only one heart and has picked up some of Donna's mannerisms. With his help, the TARDIS escapes destruction and gives the new Doctor and Donna time to come up with a plan.

In Torchwood Three, Gwen Cooper and Ianto Jones find themselves safely in a time lock created by Toshiko Sato, preventing the Dalek from entering but also preventing them leaving. Sarah Jane Smith is saved from two Daleks by Mickey Smith and Jackie Tyler, but in order to follow the Doctor, they lay down their guns and allow themselves to be captured, taken to the Crucible. Martha Jones says her goodbyes to her mother and makes for an abandoned castle in Germany where one of five Osterhagen stations is hidden, and waits for contact from the other bases.

Aboard the Crucible, Jack creates a distraction by shooting the Supreme Dalek with his revolver, but is exterminated by the Daleks; as the Doctor and Rose are taken to the Vault where Davros is held, Jack's immortality allows him to escape. With the Doctor and Rose contained, Davros explains that the 27 planets form an energy pattern that is then amplified into a "reality bomb", able to break apart the forces holding everything together. Mickey, Jackie, and Sarah Jane escape a test chamber where this effect is shown to the Doctor just in time. Jack finds his way to the three, and with a locket from Sarah Jane, creates a device that will implode the Crucible. Meanwhile, Martha makes contact with two other bases in China and Liberia. The Chinese counterpart wants to get it over and done with, but Martha, knowing the Doctor, first broadcasts a signal to the Crucible to give them (probably both Earth and the Daleks) a second chance, promising to use the Osterhagen key to detonate 25 nuclear warheads under the Earth's crust to destroy it and disable the reality bomb. However, the Daleks manage to lock onto their positions and beam Martha, Jack, Mickey, Jackie, and Sarah Jane, with the Transmat to the Vault where the Doctor and Rose are also being held captive.

File:Tardis 5.PNG
the TARDIS pulling the Earth through space

The Daleks prepare to activate the reality bomb that will wipe out all matter in this and every parallel universe through the rifts in the Medusa Cascade, but the new Doctor and Donna arrive in the TARDIS. Both, however, are stunned by shots from Davros. The reality bomb countdown reaches zero, but nothing happens; Donna has manipulated the controls to disable it. The Doctor recognises that the creation of the new Doctor has had an unintended side effect: Donna is now half Time Lord herself, sharing the Doctor's intellect. Donna and the new Doctor free the others, and with the help of the original Doctor, disable the Daleks and start to send the planets back to their proper time and space. Before Earth can be sent, the machinery is destroyed by the Supreme Dalek, who is then destroyed by Captain Jack. The original Doctor races into the TARDIS to replace the functionality of the broken machine. Realising that Dalek Caan has seen the end of the Dalek race and has been manipulating time to achieve this, the new Doctor (probably not kept back by guilt due to the influence of Donna's personality) uses the remaining machinery to destroy all of the Daleks and their fleet. The rest of the companions flee to the TARDIS, and while the Doctor offers to save Davros, he refuses, calling the Doctor the "Destroyer of Worlds". The Crucible is destroyed.

The Doctor enlists the help of the other companions, making contact with the Torchwood base, and with Luke Smith, Mr. Smith and K-9, help use the TARDIS to return the Earth to its proper place. Sarah Jane says her goodbyes, as well as Jack, Martha, and Mickey, who has decided to stay in this universe. Using a retroactively closing rift, the Doctor returns Rose and Jackie to the alternate dimension and leaves the new Doctor with her, as he will now grow old with Rose, no longer able to regenerate due to the human influence. However, a more compelling reason is that the new Doctor, by destroying the entire Dalek Race, has committed genocide. This leads the Doctor to permanently exile him.

Rose asks both Doctors the words that the Doctor was unable to say to her when they last parted (DW: Doomsday). The human doctor, having the same memories and feelings as the proper Doctor, whispers into Rose's ear (most likely telling her that he loves her), and they kiss.

Returning to their universe, Donna finds she begins to have trouble thinking; the Doctor explains that the human mind cannot take in the Time Lord mental abilities. To save her, he wipes her mind of all her encounters with the Doctor, returning her home and explaining to her family, Sylvia Noble and Wilfred Mott, that she must never be reminded of her time with the Doctor or else she will die. As Donna recovers consciousness, she shows no interest in the Doctor; he leaves, though Wilfred promises he will look out for the Doctor every night while he looks at the sky. The Doctor then returns to the TARDIS alone....

Cast

Production crew

This section needs a cleanup.

It contains several grammatical or factual errors, or otherwise offends our our Manual of Style.

References

Also when the TARDIS is pulling the Earth back to it's original place, a dramatised version of the Ood's song is played.

  • The Doctor and Mickey perform a "fist bump" in lieu of a handshake when Mickey departs. This mirrors the way they greeted each other in Doomsday.
  • Mickey and Jack's initial antagonism upon encountering each other reflects their initial meeting in Boom Town. Mickey calls Jack "Captain Cheesecake", referencing his remark about Jack being "cheesy". However, they immediately make it clear that the "insults" are tongue in cheek and that they're on good terms.
  • The theme music playing at the close of the episode also played during the episode The Family of Blood, during a scene in which the Doctor, transformed into a human named John Smith, has a precognition of his possible future life married to Joan Redfern. In that precognition scene, John Smith asks if his children are all safe just before he dies; his last words are "thank you". In Journey's End, the assembled Companions are referred to as the Children of Time by Dalek Caan, and as the Doctor's "children" by Davros; the Doctor's final series of actions in the episode are to make sure that these "children" are safe, and his final words in the episode are "thank you".

Individuals

  • Those shown in flashback who died for the Doctor are Harriet Jones, Jabe, The Controller, Lynda Moss, Robert MacLeish, Mrs Moore, Colin Skinner, Bridget Sinclair, Ursula Blake (who did not die but was left permanently disfigured and incapacitated), Face of Boe, Chantho, Astrid Peth, Luke Rattigan, Jenny (who is in fact not dead, but the Doctor is unaware of this), River Song and the Hostess.
  • Both Rose and the Doctor recognise the familiar resemblance between Gwen Cooper and Gwyneth (who they encountered in Cardiff in 1869).
  • Rose and Mickey, who previously had an on again, off again relationship, appear to have drifted apart. They do not look at each other, speak to each other, or interact at all, even when they are in the TARDIS together. Mickey does not say goodbye to her (though he does say goodbye to Jackie saying he'll miss her "more than anyone") and he tells the Doctor there's nothing for him in the parallel world, "certainly not Rose".
  • Mickey and Jack's initial dislike of each other appears to have been overcome by both men, possibly due to Mickey's growth into a more mature and capable individual.
  • Just before the Doctor is forced to erase her memory, Donna expresses a desire to meet Charlie Chaplin. This is the second finale in a row to have a character state a desire to meet a famous 20th century personality; previously the Doctor told Martha he wanted to meet Agatha Christie (DW: Last of the Time Lords); Christie subsequently appeared in The Unicorn and the Wasp; it remains to be seen if Donna's reference also serves a foreshadowing. As her mind begins to melt down, Donna also references the American comic strip character Charlie Brown.
  • Like Mickey, Jackie seems to have matured considerably during her stay in the alternate universe. She expertly shoots down a Dalek with a large gun, walks into captivity with little hesitation and expresses sorrow and compassion for a woman she barely met.

TARDISes

  • This is the first episode where the TARDIS is fully-staffed with six pilots, and the first time it is noted definitively that it was designed for six, after various mentions about it being made for more than a single Time Lord.

Technology

  • The purpose of the Osterhagen key is revealed in this episode. Martha's key is one of several required to set off a network of nuclear weapons buried deep beneath the Earth's surface. If detonated, these weapons would trigger the explosion of the Earth. Each key must be inserted into a control panel at an "Osterhagen station". There are apparently five around the world, but only three need to be manned with a key to initiate the detonation. Locations seen on screen are Germany, Liberia, China and an unmanned Argentina. The "Osterhagen Project" appears to have been in place for decades, according to the German Woman who supplied food to the guards at the German station. Given the age of the German Woman, and her claim that she knew of the Osterhagen key when she was in London during her youth, the "Osterhagen Project" likely dates to the days when the Brigadier was in charge of the British arm of UNIT.
The technology used to emplace the nuclear weapons at the Earth's crust could therefore be linked to the drilling project featured in DW: Inferno.

Story notes

  • Blue Peter presenter Gethin Jones operates a Dalek in this episode, returning to Doctor Who since his brief appearance as a Cybus Cyberman in The Age of Steel.
  • This was the longest series finale at 65 minutes long, longer even than most of the Christmas specials, except for Voyage of the Damned, which was 71 minutes.
  • Dalek Caan refers to the Doctor as a 'threefold man'. The meaning becomes clear in this episode with both the copy of the Doctor and 'Doctor-Donna'.
  • Once again, as with the previous episode, the opening credits are augmented to include six names, with several overflow acting credits displayed after the opening sequence.
  • This episode marks the first series finale to show a preview of the upcoming Christmas [Special] (2008). After the credits the Cybermen are said to return in the episode. However the episode is unique for being the only series finale in the Russell T Davies era which doesn't end on a cliffhanger.
 
Mickey, Jackie and Sarah hide from the Daleks in a shot that demonstrates an effect nicknamed the "Harper treatment".
  • Graeme Harper's penchant for including a distorted image of a main character is present in this story. Though not included in every single story he's directed for BBC Wales, it's seen often enough to be considered something of a directorial "signature". Similar distortion is achieved through the use of magnifying glasses in Army of Ghosts, The Unicorn and the Wasp, and Utopia, and with mirrors in Turn Left. This time, it's Mickey, Jackie and Sarah Jane that get "the Harper treatment" under a curved window.
  • Davros named the Doctor 'The Destroyer of Worlds', which may be a reference to Fires of Pompeii when it was said the Doctor's name was sealed in the Cascade of Medusa herself or to the Doctor being the Ka Faraq Gatri.
  • The Osterhagen key would destroy the Earth. The word, Osterhagen, is an anagram of the phrase, Earth's gone.
  • This story augments the notion that Time Lords have some measure of control over the regenerative process. as seen in Last of the Time Lords. In truth, most regenerations have added at least a little to the general mythos about the process. From the notion that a particular physiognomy could be imposed upon the Second Doctor in The War Games, details have been added about how the process works almost every time one has been depicted. In this case, writer Russell T Davies builds upon his earlier idea that a Time Lord can re-grow whole body parts during "the first 15 hours" following a regeneration (The Christmas Invasion). Here he suggests that a Time Lord can stop the process prior to entering the final stage, provided that he has a matching genetic receptacle into which he can store the energy. However it is not explicitly stated if this method uses up one of the regenerations in the cycle or not due to it not being completed.
  • After the hand grows into a new doctor Donna notes that the clone doctor is naked. However careful frame by frame analysis of the scene shows that he (the actor) is actually wearing shorts.
  • When the newly created Doctor discovers he's "part Time Lord, part human" he is shocked and refuses to admit it, meaning he has never been a half-human.
  • The scene where the Daleks are speaking German is possibly a tongue-in-cheek reference to the fact that Terry Nation based the Daleks on the Nazis.
  • The word "Exterminieren", which the German Daleks use, is not in common use. In the German dubs of the episodes, the word used in "vernichten" literally, "Reduce to nothing"; colloquially, "Destroy"). The full dialogue for the German Daleks is as follows: "Exterminieren! Exterminieren! Halt! Sonst werden wir Sie exterminieren! Sie sind jetzt ein Gefangener der Daleks! Exterminieren! Exterminieren!" This translates as: "Exterminate! Exterminate! Stop! Or you will be exterminated. You are a prisoner of the Daleks. Exterminate! Exterminate!"
  • This marks the departure of Catherine Tate (Donna Noble) and Billie Piper (Rose Tyler). In an interview with Doctor Who Magazine, Piper was quoted as saying she doesn't see this as a permanent depature. Catherine Tate has no plans to return at the moment, but she has not ruled out a return in the future. Elizabeth Sladen, however, in an interview published after the episode was broadcast, said she doesn't expect to appear on Doctor Who again, although her own spinoff, The Sarah Jane Adventures would subsequently continue a few months later.
  • The story elements surrounding the destruction of the universe have some casual similarity to ideas found in Life, the Universe and Everything, a Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy sequel penned by former Doctor Who script editor, Douglas Adams. Everything was in turn based on an abandoned Fourth Doctor television serial he had written, called Doctor Who and the Krikkitmen.
  • This is the third season finale of four to have a character in the TARDIS speaking about possible places to visit before the unexpected departure of a character. In The Parting of the Ways it's the Ninth Doctor speaking of places like the planet Barcelona before regenerating; in Last of the Time Lords, the Doctor suggests visiting Agatha Christie (among others) before Martha announces her departure; in this episode, Donna speaks of visiting Felspoon and meeting Charlie Chaplin before her mind overloads. The only episode to break this pattern so far is Doomsday.
  • Jack has flirted with or shown interest in all of the Doctor's companions appearing in this episode save Donna and Jackie. While he may currently consider Jackie off-limits because of her marriage and her connection to Rose, it is interesting to note that Jack does not pursue the two women who have exhibited the most aggressive attitudes towards the opposite sex, and who would arguably be the most likely to return his advances.

Ratings

Journey's End was viewed by 10.57 million viewers in its first airing. This placed it as the No. 1 program of the week, beating the Wimbledon finals and episodes of Coronation Street and Eastenders. This makes Journey's End' the highest rated episode in the 45-year history of Doctor Who, surpassing Voyage of the Damned and The Stolen Earth, both of which ranked second in their respective weeks.[2] However, the episode is not the most-watched episode of the revived series; that distinction belongs to the 13.31 million viewers obtained by Voyage of the Damned (the most-watched episode of all time remains The Ark in Space Part 2 with 13.60 million viewers in 1975, although it only ranked 5th for the week it aired). The episode also achieved an Appreciation Index rating of 91, tieing with The Stolen Earth, a number considered unprecedented for a mainstream network drama production.[3]

Myths and rumours

  • The week between the cliffhanger ending of The Stolen Earth and the broadcast of Journey's End included some of the most intense fan speculation and media attention in franchise history. The significance of the cliffhanger, which appeared to show the Doctor regenerating, along with previously reported speculation regarding Donna and other characters led to many speculations being circulated on fan discussion boards and the media. Among some of the most notable:
  • That David Tennant was in fact leaving the series, and that leaked photos and other information regarding him being in the 2008 Christmas special (as well as media reports the preceding week that he was negotiating to return in 2010) were either a "red herring" or that the Christmas special was to include a flashback.
  • The true nature of Donna was the subject of much speculation, with some fans suggesting her to actually be The Rani or Romana living under the influence of a Chameleon Arch, or a manifestation of the Master.
  • Concerning Donna's ring, at the end of the season 4 finale, when the Doctor says good-bye to her it glimmers briefly into the camera. Some fans theorise that the ring is a possible Chamelon Arch containing Donna's memories of her time with the Doctor. It has also been suggested that the ring resembles a ring worn by The Master in a previous episode. Others theorise that the ring is just large, black, and very shiny. But this cannot be so as Donna was not wearing it towards the end of Journey's End before her mind was wiped and why would the Doctor put a ring on Donna anyway?
  • And the prediction that a companion would die led some to believe Donna, Martha or Rose would be the ones destined to die (since it had already been reported that John Barrowman would be returning to Torchwood and Elisabeth Sladen to The Sarah Jane Adventures, ruling out their characters' demise.)
  • A number of fans have begun to speculate as to whether or not the Meta-Crisis Tenth Doctor will eventually become to be known as the enigmatic, malevolent Valeyard.
  • The appearance of K-9 was a surprise to many as it had been previously reported that the character would not be appearing in the episode, given the fact the rights to the character are currently held by another party for the planned K-9 television series.
  • It was strongly believed that Harriet Jones was wanting revenge upon the Doctor for bringing down her reign as Prime Minister, so she decided to help bring the Daleks back, and she was in fact the Supreme Dalek. A supposed "leaked script" showed that Harriet Jones was in fact helping the Daleks. This was proved false.
  • The fact that Jack, Martha and Mickey depart together has sparked speculation that Martha and Mickey may appear in Torchwood, possibly replacing Tosh and Owen. The subsequent announcement that Freema Agyeman had been signed by ITV, a rival network to the BBC, to take a lead role in the series Law & Order: London, has reduced the chances of her appearing in Torchwood.

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

  • Why does Rose say "What is that thing" even though she has seen it before - a Dalek out of the shell. It was acting oddly - so Rose wondered why.
  • Wouldn't the nuclear warheads placed under the crust have melted? UNIT would most likely have thought about this, and provided some sort of way to protect them.
  • If any mention of the Doctor or the TARDIS would cause the Time Lord consciousness within Donna to reawaken and burn up her mind, isn't the Doctor taking a tremendous risk by letting Donna see him in the Nobles' house? Maybe The Doctor wishes to test the effectiveness of the memory wipe and also determine whether there are any negative effects on her. He may also not have realised that Donna would wake up and see him - she entered the room quite suddenly with no time for the Doctor to leave.
  • With all of her memories since The Runaway Bride erased, wouldn't Donna realise that she has lost about a year and a half of of her life, and shouldn't she think it's her wedding day? But the Doctor states that he erased memories of him and the TARDIS, meaning that he never erased 2 full years of her life. She presumably remembers a mundane version of that time, and will naturally dismiss any gaps. She may remember some sort of Turn Left-esque version of her life instead.
  • In Turn Left when the stars are going out, doesn't that mean the reality bomb is already on the loose? It can be claimed the reality was reversed so it never happened, but how could Rose predict it, unless she saw it in her, or another universe? As the Doctor has stated before, it is often possible to see the effect before realizing the source. Perhaps the removal of the Reality Bomb rewrote the histories of all the other universes. Time is relevent. Other universes may be seeing the effect because their time runs quicker than that of ours. Stopping the bomb rewrote the effects.
  • If the Earth was one of 27 planets stolen, how come in Turn Left the Earth has not been stolen but the effects of the Reality Bomb are still seen anyway? Davros stole the Earth in the Doctor's universe, not the universe that was created around Donna as a result of the Time Beetle in Turn Left. The reality bomb affects all universes.
  • How could Sarah-Jane and Mickey possibly run across the hall, up stairs, open a door, and close it without the Dalek looking at the terrified woman, the dozen or so Daleks in the background, the sec. cams and the Dalek that goes past the door noticing?It is only presumed that no one noticed. The test of the reality bomb was imminent and perhaps it was felt that a few escapees were less important.
  • Considering Rose was about to start working for the parallel Earth's Torchwood when she last saw the Doctor, it's odd that she wouldn't mention this to Jack. It is not confirmed on screen that Rose ever did join Torchwood; also, such a discussion may have occurred off-screen.
  • Since Daleks have invaded the Earth and literally broadcast their identities to the whole world, how does Henry van Statten (DW: Dalek several years later not know what his "Metaltron" is really called? There could be several reasons, ranging from the name Dalek not being widely disseminated to van Statten, having been established as a megalomanic, simply making up a name he liked better. There is no on-screen evidence to support the notion that history has been changed, however.
  • Why didn't Davros activate a holding cell on Donna when he did with everyone else? (He thinks there is no way that anyone can stop the plan now that the gun is destroyed.)

Continuity

  • When the Doctor sees Gwen Cooper for the first time, he asks if she comes from a long line of family from Cardiff. This is because of the similarity between Gwen and Gwyneth (DW: The Unquiet Dead), both of whom are played by Eve Myles. Which is explained by Russell T Davies as:"It's not familial as we understand it. There's no blood tie. Spatial genetic multiplicity means an echo and repetition of physical traits across a Time Rift."
  • This is the first occurrence of the Doctor's TARDIS being piloted by six people, that number first being specified in NA: Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible.
  • This episode marks the last appearance of the Tenth Doctor's severed hand which first appeared in DW: The Christmas Invasion and throughout the first season of Torchwood.
  • Davros mentions meeting Sarah at the birth of his creations; this happened in DW: Genesis of the Daleks.
  • Mickey Smith and Jackie Tyler last appeared in DW: Doomsday.
  • Donna tells the Doctor how to fix the Chameleon Circuit which has been broken since DW: An Unearthly Child. The Sixth Doctor had previously attempted this in DW: Attack of the Cybermen, as had the Fourth Doctor in DW: Logopolis. Dialogue in Rose and Boom Town implied he was no longer interested in changing its external appearance and rather liked the police box form, plus in the QuickReads book, Made of Steel, The Doctor talks about fixing the Chameleon circuit, but says he would be worried about forgetting what it looked like.
  • The fact a single TARDIS has enough power to relocate Earth harks back to DW: The Mysterious Planet which established that approximate 2 million years into the future the Time Lords will once again move Earth to another part of the universe, where it will come to be known as Ravolox.
  • This is the fourth time a Doctor has been depicted in a way to suggest he was unclothed. The first time was in Spearhead from Space in which a newly regenerated Third Doctor took a shower. The second was during the regeneration from the Seventh to the Eighth Doctor, where he was merely covered by a sheet. The Ninth Doctor appeared shirtless during the torture scene in Dalek.
  • Gallifrey is mentioned again.
  • The Doctor tells Wilf that he's "fine" after he drops off Donna. This echoes a similar statement in Forest of the Dead which Donna interprets as meaning the complete opposite.
  • The Verron Soothsayer, who gave Sarah Jane Smith the Warp star, was mentioned previously in SJA: Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?
  • The device created by the Meta-Crisis Doctor looks similar to the device used against the Daleks in Remembrance of the Daleks.

Timeline

For Doctor Who

For Torchwood

For The Sarah Jane Adventures

DVD and Other releases

See also

External links

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