Time Crash (TV story)

Cause you know what, Doctor? You were my Doctor.The Tenth Doctor to the Fifth Doctor

Time Crash was a special "mini-episode" produced for the 2007 Children in Need appeal. It featured a brief encounter between the Fifth and Tenth Doctors and was written by Steven Moffat. It also served as the explanation of how the Doctor's TARDIS was breached by the Titanic at the end of Last of the Time Lords. As such, it was very much a part of the overall continuity of the BBC Wales series of Doctor Who.

Synopsis

The Tenth Doctor accidentally pilots his TARDIS into the path of the Fifth Doctor's TARDIS which threatens to rip a hole in space and time the size of Belgium!

Plot

This story follows on from the previous episode the Tenth Doctor has just said goodbye to Martha, and is attempting to take off when the TARDIS suddenly goes haywire.

Suddenly, 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 (or future) self threatens to tear a hole in the universe; one the exact size of Belgium, which, as the Fifth Doctor remarks, is a rather undramatic description. 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 realises 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 recap footage)

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
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", a reference to the fact that, discounting the decayed version of the Master encountered in The Deadly Assassin and The Keeper of Traken, the Master was bearded. (The Fifth Doctor cannot be taking into account the beardless incarnation of the Master later encountered by the Eight Doctor.)
The Tenth Doctor's reference to Lucy Saxon following a question from the Fifth as to whether the Master still has "that rubbish beard?" is a reference to a term used in gay culture. A "beard" is the wife of a man who has not outed himself but wishes to keep up the appearence of a happilly married heterosexual man. The Master used Lucy Saxon to more plausibly maintain his fictitious identity.
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, indicating that 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 Doctors have a slightly testy relationship: the Tenth Doctor criticises his predecessor's decision to go "hands free" without a sonic screwdriver and his decision to wear a stalk of celery in his lapel, while the Fifth Doctor calls his successor skinny and critiques his tendency to comment on "every little thing" he sees. 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 in 1993 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 recognisable 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 DW: The Three Doctors or DW: 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 episode, DW: Voyage of the Damned.
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.
This is the first televised "multi-doctor" story in the history of the show that did not include Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor, who had appeared in DW: The Three Doctors, DW: The Five Doctors and DW: The Two Doctors
Incidental music from the Fifth Doctor era is used as part of the background music.
According to Doctor Who Confidential, the Fifth Doctor's costume consisted of an original series coat, shirt, trousers and hat band borrowed from an exhibit, and a new hat and hand-knitted jumper. The trousers had extra fabric sewn into the bottom, which identified them as the pair worn by Colin Baker in his first scenes as the Sixth Doctor. Peter Davison also remarked that a real stick of celery was included in the ensemble, rather than the fake piece used during most of his tenure.

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. Moffat confirmed it as a gay joke in Death Ray Magazine in 2008, when he proudly claimed "I've got the record for gay jokes. I've got the gayest joke of all time in Doctor Who - I've got the "beard" joke about the Master". However, the presence of the joke does not necessarily indicate that the Master, himself, was gay.
If what the Tenth Doctor says is correct when describing The Fifth's placement, this story must take place sometime after DW: Arc of Infinity and before DW: Mawdryn Undead for the Fifth Doctor. But the Fifth Doctor gave no indication if the Tenth was wrong or right. However, Adric is not mentioned thus saying that either the Tenth Doctor knows where his past self is and knows that the death is still on his mind; or it has been so long for the Tenth Doctor that he has forgotten the unimportant things from that time period, this may include Adric's death as it is not referenced in Journey's End or when the Tenth did not mention Turlough when listing the Fifth's companions.

Production errors