Flatline was the ninth episode of the eighth series of Doctor Who produced by BBC Wales. For scheduling reasons, it was a "Doctor-lite" episode.
Flatline was Jamie Mathieson's first script for the show. Two years before writing it, he had pitched his ideas for a story to Steven Moffat, but was unsuccessful. When he again met with the executive producer, he showed him four ideas for episodes, complete with his own illustrations, aided by his background in art college. Taking an interest in the monster he had created for what would become Flatline, Moffat asked Mathieson to produce a story outline and he got the job to script the episode.
It was only after writing several drafts that he was told the episode would need to lock the Doctor away in a single location, as Peter Capaldi's scenes for the episode needed to be filmed quickly to bide by the production schedule.
Mathieson decided to write a script where the Doctor was "in the dark". For this to be successful, he had to create an unknown quantity to feature as his alien enemy. Much like his next creation, the Foretold, he elected to have no dialogue for the aggressors, allowing something about them to remain "unknowable". (DWM 479)
This is also an episode where the psychic paper has failed to show someone what the user wants. Unlike Shakespeare, who was immune due to his genius, Fenton suffers from a severe lack of imagination.
Synopsis
Separated from the Doctor, Clara discovers a new menace from another dimension.
But how do you hide when even the walls are no protection? With people to save and the Doctor trapped, Clara comes up against an enemy that exists beyond human perception.
Plot
A man is on the phone with the police, explaining in whispers that he knows what happened to the people who went missing. When they ask him to speak up, the man tells them he cannot; he needs the police to protect him as the culprits will be coming for him. Hearing something, he screams in fear and vanishes from the room. The officer on the line asks the man if he is okay, getting no response. The camera pans to the trim on the wall of the room, showing an image of the man stretched through the trim, screaming.
After some adventures, the Doctor is piloting the TARDIS back to Clara's time to return her home. She is hurriedly packing her things, to which the Doctor tells her is not necessary as there is LITERALLY infinite space in the TARDIS for her possessions. However, Clara says Danny has gotten possessive, and doesn't want any of her things in the TARDIS.
Not really caring, the Doctor lands the TARDIS, telling her it's the same time the left. However, he then adds "same place-ish". Realizing something is wrong, Clara demands the Doctor not give her that; however, he retorts that the readings he's getting are "ishy". As he looks at the monitor, Clara heads to the door. She stops, shocked; she calls the Doctor to her. He looks at the door as well, stating it's very not good: it's shrunk!
The Doctor and Clara exit the TARDIS, albeit with some difficulty as the exterior shell has shrunk to almost half it's original size. Amazed, the Doctor begins wondering what happened and starts scanning with the sonic screwdriver. Clara looks over at the nearby tracks, reading the sign; they're in Bristol rather than London. She states it's annoying; he retorts she's annoying. What's happening here is huge; something near by is draining the dimensions of the TARDIS.
The Doctor tells her "my house isn't going anywhere" until what's leeching off it has been stopped. He gets back inside for equipment, directing Clara to look around for the source of the problem. She meets Rigsy, a graffiti artist working community service for his art; he tells her that locals are disappearing, and mystery murals of them have appeared in a nearby pedestrian tunnel.
Clara calls the Doctor, bringing him up to speed. She asks where he is since she can't see the TARDIS. However, he tells her he hasn't taken off. She looks down, per his prompting and laughs in amusement; the TARDIS as shrank to size of a toy. The Doctor tells her this not funny; it's very serious. The TARDIS cannot take off in this state; the outer dimensions need to be restored. The Doctor lightens the TARDIS, allowing Clara to carry it her purse; he explains the TARDIS is ALWAYS lighter or it's true weight would fracture the planet. She asks if this is due to aliens, which he responds is the most possible solution.
The Doctor sticks his hand out the door and points Clara back to where she was, explaining a signal is coming from there. He hands Clara an earpiece, which causes her pain when she puts it in; the Doctor explains that he's hacked her optic nerve, allowing what she sees and hears to be sent back to the TARDIS monitor. He then hands her his psychic paper and sonic screwdriver. Clara thinks this means he's chosen her to be his stand-in. Annoyed, the Doctor tells Clara that she's not being him.
Clara goes back to the mural tunnel, scanning around to give stats to the Doctor in the TARDIS; when asked if he has anything, the Doctor tells her that he's getting dizzy from her spinning. Rigsy finds her again, asking for her name. Clara calls herself "the Doctor", annoying the real one, who told her that she wasn't supposed to act as him. When Rigsy asks Clara what of, the Doctor states "of lies". However, Clara decides to get back at him by saying "I'm not sure. I think I just chose the title because it makes me sound important." Being a blow to the Doctor's ego, he sneers "why Dr. Oswald, you're hilarious." She asks Rigsy to take her to where someone vanished.
Rigsy leads her to flat of the most recent missing person, where there's a strange desert mural. Clara reveals that she's in contact with someone via her earpiece to Rigsy, being told by the Doctor that it's like a locked room mystery. Thinking the people could have been shrunken, Clara unnerves Rigsy, who decides to leave. Seeing she needs to prove she isn't crazy, Clara pulls out the TARDIS and tells the Doctor to open the doors to show himself. Rigsy is shocked by how much bigger on the inside it is. The Doctor, looking around, states "that's never been truer." Hearing a bizarre sound, the Doctor shuts the TARDIS doors as the creatures behind draining it of its dimensional energy is at it again. They quickly flee the building.
Now on the same page, Rigsy asks for the help of PC Forrest; Clara is able to use the psychic paper to pass herself of as MI5. The Doctor tells Clara that it's possible that the missing people are in the walls, giving her a hammer to break them down with, while PC Forrest takes a call on the radio in the next room. While they work, PC Forrest is sucked into the ground, screaming; they rush to the room she's in,. only to find another strange mural. The Doctor realizes it's likely to be PC Forrest's nervous system, and believes the first mural was a closeup of human skin of the latest victim.
Clara and Rigsy see what appears to be air moving like fluid coming at them, anything it passes over becomes 2-D. The Doctor quickly explains his theory that their adversaries are creatures from a 2-D universe, and must have been experimenting on the three-dimensional world, trying to understand it. As Clara and Rigsy try to avoid the entity, which is in the walls and ground, Danny phones Clara, and she manages to avoid questions of her whereabouts and quickly hangs up. The Doctor, who is listening in, recognises that Clara has lied to him about Danny accepting her continued travels in the TARDIS.
Clara and Rigsy return to the rest of the community service group, who are about to paint over the murals in the pedestrian tunnel. The Doctor realises that the images are masquerades for the two-dimensional creatures, attempting to understand three dimensions; after the creatures take one of the services workers, Clara leads the rest away with the creatures chasing them. They take shelter in a nearby engine repair warehouse, where the Doctor tells Clara that a leader will soon emerge from this scattered and confused group, and that she must make sure it's her.
Clara takes charge, telling everyone to keep an eye out on the exits. When Fenton demands to know who she is, Clara coldly states she's his best option for staying alive. The Doctor is impressed; he'd do the exact same thing to make people listen. Alone, the Doctor asks Clara what her next plan is; she tells him that it's to lie to the people and give them hope. The Doctor then admits that he does this all the time as hopeless people run slower than people with hope and end up dying.
The Doctor helps Clara to try to communicate with the creatures using mathematics; he explains that there are SEVERAL species in the universe that do things disgusting or dangerous as a way of communication. Knowing they won't believe the Doctor's words, Clara tells the group that he just has a hunch; the creatures respond with the number of the worker they just took. Fenton thinks it's bragging, while Clara believes it could prove they can read or are trying to apologize. They then send another number, which matches the number of George's uniform.
As everyone continues arguing, they turn to see George has stopped moving. Clara moves a little to see George has been taken by the 2-D creatures. George's image dissolves and joins the rest of the invisible force as it chases after the group into the subway tunnel.
As they explore, they find their only escape route has been flattened to two dimensions by the creatures; without a handle to open the doors, they are just being toyed with as they are shepherded to their doom. The Doctor provides Clara with a device to restore the dimensions, and they just manage to escape. The Doctor also tells Clara that he has worked out a way to stop the creatures and return them to their home dimension, but the TARDIS doesn't have enough power. The creatures' noise happens again and another worker is taken by a 3-D hand into the light of the tunnel. The Doctor realizes that the creatures have evolved, they are now able to exist in the third dimension, albeit in rather poor 2-D-like forms.
In the chaos, the TARDIS is knocked down a shaft on to an active railway line, with an oncoming train heading right for the TARDIS and the Doctor. With some advice from Clara, the Doctor is able to get the TARDIS off the rails by using his hand to move it, resulting in the Doctor doing a little victory dance for saving his TARDIS and himself. However, his victory is short-lived, as the TARDIS tips over onto the rails again. In order to protect the TARDIS from the oncoming train, the Doctor activates its siege mode at the very last minute, but without power is unable to return it to normal. The lack of power is also causing the life support systems to fail.
Clara uses the sonic screwdriver to stop an incoming train, getting the driver off. Rigsy offers to sacrifice himself, but Clara uses her hairband to tie the controls so it will go on its own. They watch the train rush off, only to be flattened into the wall by the creatures. As they escape, Clara finds the TARDIS now looking like a plain cube with Gallifreyan symbols, and takes it with her. Taking shelter in a disused office space, Clara comes up with a plan to provide energy to the TARDIS by having Rigsy paint out a fake access door on the back of a large poster. Unsure if Clara can still hear him or even if she is still alive, the Doctor praises her performance, saying that she "Made a mighty fine Doctor."
Hiding in a space above where they placed the fake door, everyone watches as the creatures pour their energy into it. The train driver is confused as to how this defeats them; pouring energy into the wall? However, a smiling Clara tells him "No. Not into the wall, THROUGH the wall. They can't restore three dimensions to a door that never existed. First rule of being the Doctor: use your enemy's power against them." As Clara says this, the energy hits the TARDIS on the other side, restoring its power.
Inside, the Doctor notices that the lights have come back on and so has life support. Activating the controls, the TARDIS takes off and blinks out of siege mode; it spins into the tunnel the creatures are in, returning to proper size and erecting a barrier of green energy to keep the survivors safe. Everyone climbs down and stands next to the TARDIS. Inside, the Doctor says over the speakers that he tried to understand them; he thinks they understand them as well, but they simply don't care. They have chosen to play the role of monsters, and so he must play his: the man who stops the monsters.
Stepping outside, the Doctor names the creatures the "Boneless", telling them that he's sending them back to their home dimension; and if any of them survive the trip, they are to remember his warning to them: "You are not welcome here. This plane is protected. I am the Doctor." Clara tosses the Doctor his sonic screwdriver and he uses it to release a wave of energy from the TARDIS, sending the Boneless screeching back to where they had come from.
The Doctor returns everyone to the surface safely in the TARDIS. Fenton is glad to had lived, but has no remorse for the workers who lost their lives, much to the Doctor's anger. Clara rejects a call from Danny, catching the Doctor's attention; he notes that she enjoyed 'playing the Doctor' for the day. She asks him to admit that she was a good Doctor; he reluctantly tells her that she made an "exceptional Doctor," but that "goodness" had nothing to do with it.
As Clara watches the Doctor enter the TARDIS, Missy, seated in a darkened room, is watching Clara on what appears to be a tablet. Missy says, with regard to "her" Clara, that she has "chosen well".
Cast
Crew
| Executive Producers Steven Moffat and Brian Minchin |
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| 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 names the device he creates 2Dis.
- Clara suggests mimicking a hand motion as performed by the disembodied hand character Thing from The Addams Family to enable the Doctor to move the shrunken TARDIS out of the path of an approaching train.
- Forrest was investigating the disappearance of Mr Heath.
The Doctor's TARDIS
- The Doctor puts the TARDIS in siege mode.
- When the TARDIS is in siege mode, Gallifreyan writing is clearly visible on the exterior.
- When Clara asks if the miniature TARDIS will be light enough the carry around, the Doctor explains that the TARDIS is always lighter, as its true weight would fracture the surface of the Earth.
Individuals
- Fenton is not tricked by the psychic paper; the Doctor suggests this is due to a lack of imagination.
- As he is trapped in the shrunken TARDIS, the Doctor hands Clara his sonic screwdriver and psychic paper.
- This episode revisits a minor theme from Voyage of the Damned in that in the end it is felt that the wrong person survived; Fenton, like Rickston Slade from that episode, is a very selfish and unpleasant man who thinks only of himself, doesn't learn from the experience and cares nothing for the people that died.
Organisations
- Clara pretends to be from MI5 and Health and Safety.
Species
- The Doctor knows a race made of sentient gas who throw fireballs as a friendly wave and a race with sixty-four stomachs who greet each other by disembowelling.
Story notes
- The Radio Times programme listing was accompanied by a small colour head-and-shoulders shot of Christopher Fairbank as Fenton, with the accompanying caption "Doctor Who / 8.25 p.m. / Will guest star Christopher Fairbank be on hand as Clara is forced to go it alone?"
- The first train bears the number A113, an animation in-joke first known to originate in the Amazing Stories episode "The Family Dog" and used in many other movies and television shows. A113 is a classroom used at the California Institute of the Arts for graphic design and character animations, widely recognised by alumni of the institute.[1]
- The shrunken TARDIS[2] and siege mode TARDIS [3] props were cast resin, fabricated by propmaker Nicholas Robatto.
- Coincidentally, this story aired at the same time as the Doctor Who Magazine comic strip, COMIC: The Eye of Torment not only featured Clara taking on Doctor-like responsibilities, it also had her taking a gamble with someone's life in similar fashion and ended with a similar sombre exchange about Clara beginning to think like the Doctor. The DWM strip that followed, COMIC: The Instruments of War, is set one week after the events of Flatline.
- The episode title misled fans into thinking the episode would be about EKG machines and heart failure.
Ratings
- 6.71 million (DWM 481)
Filming locations
to be added
Production errors
- The Doctor's hair is noticeably shorter in several scenes, starting when the TARDIS falls onto the train track, and ending when the TARDIS returns to the surface after the defeat of the Boneless. This makes it clear these scenes were filmed out of order, during a different time than the rest of the scenes in the episode, when Peter Capaldi had recently undergone a haircut. In his regular column for Doctor Who Magazine, embarrassed showrunner Steven Moffat admitted to this continuity goof and that it was because of the scheduling.
- When the TARDIS was first small, the Doctor used one door to get out due to a lining in between in the doors. The second time the TARDIS was very small, both doors were open with there being no lining in between the doors.
- The distance between the shrunken TARDIS and the tracks decreases. It is a safe distance from the tracks as the Doctor was climbing the dirt hill with his fingers, then it appears a little closer to the tracks the next scene when he pulls his hand in, the next scene, it is close enough that when it topples over, the top is laying on the tracks. Also, when the TARDIS topples over, the shock created inside the TARDIS by the fall throws the Doctor towards the doors, even though the TARDIS landed on its rear wall and the doors are facing upwards.
- When Clara's phone rings towards the end of the episode, the ringtone is clearly heard. However, when held up, the icon for silent mode is visible at the top of the screen.
- When the Doctor used the sonic screwdriver to banish the Boneless, its diode doesn't illuminate.
- When the Doctor opens the TARDIS door and declares himself as "The man that stops the monsters" the interior, which can be seen behind him, ripples, revealing that it is just a backdrop.
- As the Doctor tells the Boneless "You are not welcome here." he sweeps his arm across his chest, and it ends up at his side. However, when the scene cuts to the front view of him saying "This plane is protected." he is suddenly pointing towards the Boneless.
- As the Doctor dives under the console to activate siege mode, the piping in the time rotor isn't lit up. However, in the next shot, as the camera zooms out to view the console room, the piping is lit up, and can be seen going out just before the camera cuts to the shot of the train passing over the TARDIS's location.
- A version of the shrunken TARDIS prop made of moulded rubber parts was prepared for the scene in which the TARDIS is dropped. During filming the main prop, made of cast-resin parts, was inadvertently used in the scene and dropped instead, requiring repair. [2]
Continuity
- The TARDIS exterior has shrunk on several previous occasions:
- When the TARDIS doors opened during flight, it was made smaller upon materialisation in England in 1964, as were the First Doctor, Susan Foreman, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright. (TV: Planet of Giants)
- When the TARDIS materialised in a miniscope, the Third Doctor and Jo Grant were drastically miniaturised. (TV: Carnival of Monsters)
- In 1981, while the Fourth Doctor was fixing the chameleon circuit, the TARDIS was reduced in size after the Tremas Master interfered with the Logopolitan's Block Transfer Computation. (TV: Logopolis)
- The TARDIS was twice miniaturised while inside the Teselecta. (TV: Let's Kill Hitler, The Wedding of River Song)
- The Twelfth Doctor adjusts the TARDIS' relative gravity so that Clara could pick it up. He says that if the TARDIS were to land with its true weight, it would fracture the surface of the Earth. The TARDIS was said by Romana II to weigh fifty thousand tonnes in Alzarius' gravity. (TV: Full Circle) "Seventeen thousand tons of thrust", stated to be "Twenty five percent of the architecture." of the TARDIS was once jettisoned by the Fifth Doctor to escape Event One. (TV: Castrovalva) One time, when the TARDIS mapped its exterior dimensions onto its interior ones — making it the same size inside as outside — it was larger than Gallifrey. (PROSE: The Ancestor Cell) It was once described by the Eleventh Doctor as being infinite. (TV: Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS)
- The Doctor again uses "pudding brain" as a mocking description of humans and their intelligence. (TV: Deep Breath)
- The Doctor uncovers Clara's lies about Danny's stance on her travelling with him. (TV: Mummy on the Orient Express)
- Isolus and the Mona Lisa were able to transfer the two dimensional into the three dimensional, and vice versa. (TV: Fear Her, Mona Lisa's Revenge)
- The TARDIS doors are opened from the console, accompanied by the classic TARDIS door sound. (TV: An Unearthly Child etc.) The Eleventh Doctor previously closed the doors via console, though on that occasion it was the result of the Doctor putting the TARDIS in lock down. (TV: Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS)
- When the Doctor is ruling out possibilities of moving the TARDIS out of the way from the train, he mentions the Heart of the TARDIS. (TV: Arc of Infinity)
- There are people naturally immune to the psychic paper; however, where William Shakespeare couldn't be fooled because he was an absolute genius (TV: The Shakespeare Code), and others had training against it (TV: Army of Ghosts, A Good Man Goes to War ) the Doctor implies that Fenton saw nothing reflected at him due to his lack of imagination.
- The Doctor is uncomfortable with how easily Clara assumes his role. Previously, Davros and Rory, in different ways, noted the Doctor's tendency to turn his companions into reflections of himself. (TV: Journey's End, The Girl Who Waited)
- The Cloister Bell sounds as the TARDIS in its weakened state and about to be struck by the train. (TV: Logopolis, etc.)
- The Doctor tells the Boneless that this plane is protected, as he similarly told the Sycorax (TV: The Christmas Invasion) and the Atraxi (TV: The Eleventh Hour) about Earth. A similar statement was pronounced about the planet Trenzalore. (TV: The Time of the Doctor)
- As he has done many times in his past, the Doctor offers his enemies a chance to go away in peace, before fighting them. (TV: The Runaway Bride, Day of the Moon, The Next Doctor, etc.)
- Clara pretends to be from Health and Safety as she previously had done with the Doctor. (TV: Hide)
- Clara mentions that the Doctor has rules. (TV: The Big Bang)
- Rigsy would meet the Twelfth Doctor and Clara again, living in London with his partner and child. (TV: Face the Raven)
Home video releases
DVD releases
- This episode, along with every other episode of Series 8 was released on DVD on 9 December 2014 in Region 1, 24 November 2014 in Region 2, and 19 November in Region 4.
Blu-ray releases
- This episode, along with every other episode of Series 8 was released on Blu-Ray on 9 December 2014 in Region 1, 24 November 2014 in Region 2, and 19 November in Region 4.
Digital releases
- The episode was released on Google Play, iTunes and Amazon Instant Video in HD or SD, also available as part of the Series 8 digital boxset. The digital boxset contains various features: trailer, interviews, The Ultimate Companion, The Ultimate Time Lord, Inside the World Tour and Doctor Who Extra episodes for each episode.
- In the US, the series was released through digital streaming services Hulu and Netflix with a subscription.
External links
to be added