The Almost People was the sixth episode of series 6 of Doctor Who.
This episode saw the Doctor team up with a duplicate of himself. It also marked the moment he was made aware of his eventual death at Lake Silencio. The story also continued a theme of Rory being faithful to Amy, despite her being less willing to be the same and women being attracted to him for his kind heart.
This marks the second time in the Revived Series that the Doctor has been successfully cloned. The previous time was the birth of the Meta-Crisis Tenth Doctor. It was also part of an ongoing theme of the Eleventh Doctor being copied somehow through his tenure.
In a major plot twist, it is revealed that Amy Pond had been replaced by a Ganger sometime before The Impossible Astronaut. It also revealed the true nature of the "Eye Patch Lady" whom Ganger Amy had been seeing.
Synopsis
As the conflict between the miners and their gangers escalates, the Eleventh Doctor has to deal with Amy Pond's distrust of his ganger, while Rory Williams tries to help Jennifer.
Plot
The ganger Doctor begins screaming in pain, prompting the original Doctor to ascertain what is wrong with his clone. The Ganger Doctor, seemingly exhausted, quotes the First Doctor's good-bye speech to Susan. The Doctor tells his double that the Flesh is having a difficult time coping with his past regenerations, which is causing his Ganger a great deal of difficulty in stabilising into his current one. The Ganger Doctor continues to quote past incarnations such as the Third, Fourth and Tenth Doctors, while the original Doctor encourages him to calm down. Amy looks on in bewilderment as the voice of the Doctor's Ganger changes a few times to match the incarnation he is quoting.
The Ganger stops screaming and is now settled in the Eleventh Doctor's form. Amy helps the factory workers barricade the door, but then the Gangers go quiet, much to their alarm; Buzzer remarking that he liked it when they were being noisy. The Doctor asks his Ganger to describe Cybermats to prove that he is actually him, with the Ganger Doctor explaining that Cybermats are the creation of the Cybermen and kill by feeding on brainwaves.
Amy asks the workers if there are any weapons the Gangers could get their hands on; they're in a factory, so there's no need for weapons. Smoke begins seeping through the door — the gangers are trying to force their way inside by using acid. The two Doctors discuss the situation, amused they can tell what the other is thinking; getting everyone's attention, they establish protocol — simultaneously warning Amy to "breathe". The Doctors tell the group they need to round up everyone, human and Ganger, and get off the island before the they're killed by the acid. "Would you like a memo from the last meeting? They're trying to kill us!" Miranda snaps. The Doctor tells her that they're just acting out of fear.
Both Doctors quickly babble ideas between each other, coming to the conclusion that there have to be maintenance ducts to run the pipes through the building. Finding a vent, the Doctors unlock it, allowing everyone to escape. They run into the hall to discover that the acid leaking from the pipes is interacting with the stone, creating a highly potent miasma or "chokey gas". Cleaves informs them that they can get to higher ground in the evac tower and radio for help. They enter and the Doctors begin working together to get the power back online. Once they have power, they can radio for help and track down Rory and Jennifer.
Amy wonders which is the real Doctor and they tell her their shoes are different — the Doctor changed his shoes after the Flesh scanned him. The Ganger asks "Pond" if she's satisfied and she tells him not to call her that, saying that he's almost the Doctor "which is pretty damn impressive". The Ganger takes offence to this and suggests being called "John Smith" as "almost" being the Doctor is like not being the Doctor at all. They get the power back on and Cleaves begins working the controls.
Meanwhile, Gangers Cleaves, Dicken, and Jimmy go to the factory control room, where they are able to listen to Cleaves sending a transmission to the mainland from the evac tower; Cleaves requests immediate evacuation for herself, the Doctor, and the humans, and orders the gangers' decommission. Ganger Cleaves tries to intercept the transmission, but the real Cleaves cuts off this line of approach, typing and sending a password that she explains must be used in all future transmissions so that the mainland may be able to verify that it is her and not her ganger. Ganger Cleaves comments on how clever she is, joking it's why she gets paid the most out of all of them.
The Doctor's group tries to track Rory and Jennifer on the factory computer, but fail. Amy continues doubting both Doctors are real, saying, "there can only be one." At the same time, the Doctor has booked a phone call for the morning; he does not explain why. Abruptly, the woman with the eyepatch appears again; Amy finally confesses the woman's presence to the Doctor, who insists she's only a "mirage," and encourages her to breathe again. The Doctor's ganger leaves, muttering that something is in his head. Cleaves yells for him to come back, but Amy says she will go after him.
Outside, Amy apologises for her earlier comments but says she's been through a lot with the Doctor, having even seen his death, which she admits to him. She then asks if the ganger could have been the Doctor who was killed at the lakeside when, suddenly, he shoves her up against a wall and repeats what each ganger says when it's decommissioned: "Why?" Frightened, Amy returns to the control room and orders the ganger to be kept away from her.
The now-calm Ganger follows, apologising to Amy for his behaviour. Ganger Doctor asks the original if he heard the telepathic "Why" as well. The Doctor confirms he did, but not as strongly as his twin did. The Ganger Doctor explains the Flesh is growing and wants revenge for all the Gangers that have been decommissioned. Amy cynically thinks the Ganger is acting on behalf of the Flesh and arrogantly refuses to believe the Doctor. Cleaves tells Ganger Doctor to sit down and he does so without an argument, hoping to make Amy feel safe.
Meanwhile, Rory has tracked down two different Jennifers, both of whom claim to be the human Jennifer; one shows a wound on her leg that she claims the Flesh is unable to replicate. Despite Rory explaining that the Doctor will help get both Gangers and humans off the island, one of the Jennifers explains that the Flesh wants to kill them now. Ultimately, the two fight, with one Jennifer dissolving the other by pushing her into a puddle of acid. Trusting Jennifer, Rory rushes off to the thermostatic control room with her, where Jennifer insists they will be able to deal with the deadly choking gas that is filling the corridors.
The factory computer picks up a visual of Rory and Jennifer on their way to the thermostatic room, which greatly confuses Cleaves; there is no way to clear out the air there, it controls the temperature gauge for the acid. The Doctor deduces from the headaches Cleaves is experiencing that a blood clot in her brain is slowly killing her; she then realises the Doctor is an alien when he mentions it's operable from Earth. Knowing Rory and Jennifer need to be rescued and brought to the evac tower, the Doctor gives the sonic screwdriver to his ganger and sends him to accomplish this mission with Buzzer's supervision. Cleaves and Amy ask the Doctor if he's crazy; the Doctor and his Ganger retort that the original once plugged his brain into the core of a planet to both hold its orbit and win a bet, so possibly.
In the thermostatic chamber, as she previously failed to shut down the thermostatic regulators due to not being a human, the Ganger Jennifer tricks Rory into doing so in her place. With the underground cooling vents shut off, the acid will boil and incinerate the factory; the lives of everyone there, Human, Ganger and Time Lord, are in danger. They next find a pile of dumped, faulty Gangers that are fully conscious in a previously sealed-off room. Rory is now completely convinced that the Gangers have an equal right to live just as much as humans do; they have to make the public aware of the Gangers' suffering.
Exploring the monastery, the Doctor's ganger and Buzzer find the real Jennifer's body, deducing that she'd died shortly before their arrival. Both Ganger Doctor and Buzzer realise that the Jennifer with Rory is a Ganger, meaning he's in trouble. However, while Ganger Doctor has his back to Buzzer, he is whacked on the head with a lamp, knocking him out. Buzzer apologises, saying it's Cleaves' orders. Buzzer is subsequently attacked and consumed by Jennifer's ganger (who elongates her jaw and runs at him) when he finds her comforting the pile of dumped Flesh. Rory, however, is not there.
In the evac tower, the computer registers a rise in temperature, forcing Cleaves to change the rescue spot. However, before she can give the password to confirm her request, the computer explodes. Amy hears something break behind one of the walls, forcing them to leave the evac tower and turn the regulators back on. In the meantime, Ganger Cleaves, who has deduced the password, calls the transport captain and reroutes the transport to the courtyard; she and the original are the same person, so it was not hard for her to guess the password.
Meanwhile, the other gangers find the unconscious ganger Doctor, who awakens at that moment and asks for something for the pain the blow to his head is giving him. Ganger Cleaves rants that Gangers will always be treated poorly by humanity. Putting away his sonic screwdriver, Ganger Doctor tells them to call him "John Smith".
Elsewhere, the Doctor's group arrives in the thermostatic regulator room. The Doctor and Cleaves try getting the machine to turn back on, but it's too late; a chemical chain reaction has started and they have less than an hour before the factory is reduced to nothing but a puddle of acid. With the machine exploding, they are forced to run away and to seek the rescue shuttle.
The Doctor's group reunites with Rory, who informs them that Jennifer has found a secret tunnel beneath the crypt — which also doubles as the acid room — which they can use to escape to the TARDIS. When they reach the acid room, however, Rory and Jennifer's ganger lock the group inside; Rory is oblivious to Jennifer's true intentions, merely hoping to convince the group of the gangers' right to live. As Rory becomes more uncertain of what they're doing, Jennifer reveals herself to be a ganger and drags him away before he can release the others.
In the dining hall, Rory scolds Jennifer; she's completely changed from the sweet and kind woman she was before to a revenge-crazed, murderous lunatic, going as far as creating a second Ganger of herself to win his trust and make him think she was the original Jennifer. Jennifer explains that the humans (and the Doctor) will be melted as they deserve and once they get to the mainland, they'll start a revolution to free the other Gangers; she tells Ganger Doctor to join up. Rory then wonders about the real Jennifer and the Ganger Doctor sadly tells him that she is indeed dead.
In the acid room, they have lowered a lid on the boiling liquid to buy time. Jimmy is unwilling to believe it will work as the acid will eventually eat its way out. Snapping at Jimmy, the Doctor says that if he has a better plan, he's all ears — "In fact, I'll take you to a planet where everyone is all ears."
Back in the dining hall, Rory tries to leave to help the others; however, he is ordered by the Doctor's ganger to stay as the holographic phone rings; it's the call the Doctor booked earlier. Jimmy's young son, Adam, is calling to speak to his father. Ganger Doctor speaks to Adam and then asks Ganger Jimmy to speak to his Adam; he's just as much as Adam's father as the real Jimmy. Emotional, the Ganger runs to release everyone. Jennifer snarls at Ganger Doctor, telling him he tricked Jimmy into an act of weakness. When the Doctor explains that this was only an "act" of humanity, Jennifer flees; the other gangers also experience a change of heart.
Jimmy's ganger unlocks the door of the crypt, only to see Jimmy get hit in the chest by acid spitting out from beneath the lid of the tank. The Doctor scans Jimmy with the sonic screwdriver and sadly informs the group that the acid has already reached his heart. As Jimmy dies, he asks his ganger to answer his son's call and be his father now. The Doctor and the remaining group follow Jimmy's ganger back to the dining hall, where he wishes Adam a happy birthday; he is also delighted when the Doctor informs Adam that Jimmy will be coming home that day.
The group takes off running through the monastery as the roof begins to cave in; they are pursued by a deranged and mutated Jennifer, who has taken the form of an elastic Flesh monster. Though they manage to find a safe chamber, the door at the end of the passage will not shut, and so Dicken sacrifices himself to close it. The Doctor and Cleaves's ganger use their bodies to barricade the second door as the TARDIS crashes through the ceiling behind them. Cleaves, Jimmy's ganger, and Dicken's ganger are ushered into the TARDIS by Rory.
Amy calls for the Doctor to return to the TARDIS, with his ganger suggesting perhaps Amy thinks he should stay instead; the Doctor maintains he's staying to keep the door shut and reveals he's the ganger — he and the Doctor switched shoes to prove the two races are not so different. Unfortunately, it also means he is now aware that he will be killed at Lake Silencio, and his earlier reaction in front of Amy was genuine terror. The Doctor gives the sonic to his ganger, who exchanges an emotional farewell with an apologetic Amy. Amy is shocked and ashamed, telling the Doctor that she didn't think it was possible for him to be twice the man she thought he was. He whispers to Amy, saying to push, but "only when she tells you to". They enter the TARDIS and leave. The Gangers realise using the sonic to destabilise the Flesh will kill them too; however, the Doctor optimistically hopes to return. Opening the door, they activate the sonic and all three Flesh beings collapse.
Elsewhere, the Doctor explains exposure to the TARDIS engines permanently stabilised the gangers of Jimmy and Dicken, turning them into true human beings, and gives Cleaves medicine to cure the blood clot. Jimmy is dropped off at home, where he reunites with his son; the Doctor, having given Jimmy balloons for Adam, watches from a distance. He next drops Cleaves and Dicken off at an Army press conference about the incident; he encourages them to spread the word about the gangers and not to let their deaths be in vain. Amy worries about what will happen to them, but the Doctor merely tells her to breathe.
Amy is confused, but suddenly doubles over in pain; Rory and the Doctor bring her back to the TARDIS where the Doctor informs the couple that she is going into labour. The Doctor orders Rory to step away from her, which he reluctantly does. Amy looks on, terrified. The Doctor explains that their trip to the factory was not unintentional: he needed to see the Flesh in its early stages so he could learn how to stop the signal — to Amy. He says no matter where she is, they'll find her. Rory watches in horror as the Doctor points the sonic at Amy and she dissolves into a puddle of Flesh.
Amy wakes up to find herself imprisoned in a medical capsule, dressed in a white hospital gown. A panel in the ceiling slides away, revealing the woman with the eyepatch, seen by her Ganger, who informs Amy that she is nearly ready to pop and that the "little one" is on its way. Looking down, Amy is horrified to see that she is heavily pregnant and due to give birth at any minute. The woman sadistically instructs her to push as Amy screams, going into labour.
Cast
Crew
| Executive Producers Steven Moffat, Piers Wenger and Beth Willis |
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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. |
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Jay Harley was credited under their deadname as assistant director. |
Worldbuilding
- The Doctor and the Ganger Doctor repeatedly tell Amy to breathe. As the Doctor knows her real body is in labour, this is a reference to the Lamaze technique of childbirth.
- Amy says, "There can be only one." This Highlander reference does not seem to be acknowledged by the Ganger Doctor.
- There is a Stokes basket (a type of litter used in altitude and other types of rescue) on the wall of the communications room. The style has not changed much in the intervening centuries.
- Before his death at the hands of the Flesh Jennifer, Buzzer bemoans that he should've been a postman like his dad.
The Doctor
- The Doctor posing as the Ganger Doctor begins calling himself "John Smith", an alias often used by the Doctor.
- The Doctor replaces a set of shoes eaten by acid that were generated onto his Ganger duplicate. This also allows him to pose as his Ganger to see how humans would prefer to treat them but causes Amy to accidentally confide the truth about his eventual death to him.
- To test his copy's memory, the real Doctor asks the Ganger Doctor to describe Cybermats.
Influences
- The final monster was inspired by a drawing in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland that depicted Alice with a long neck.
Story notes
- The working title for this episode was Gangers.
- While the episode premiered in the UK on 28 May, the US premiere was delayed one week to prevent a drop in viewership over the Memorial Day weekend. A Good Man Goes to War also aired one week late as a result.
- This two-part story is thematically similar to the Series 5 two-parter TV: The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood. In both stories the Doctor attempts to broker a peace between two lifeforms on Earth, only to have the truce shattered by mistrust on both sides.
- This is the ninth time the actor playing the Doctor has portrayed a different character in the same television story. This previously happened with:
- William Hartnell (The Chase and The Massacre)
- Patrick Troughton (The Enemy of the World)
- Tom Baker (The Android Invasion and Meglos)
- Peter Davison (Arc of Infinity and The Caves of Androzani)
- David Tennant (Journey's End)
- N.B. Although Edmund Warwick was credited with playing the android Doctor in "The Chase", some shots of the android were of William Hartnell.
- As the Doctor passes the wall of eyes, he says "The eyes have it", a reference to the announcement in the British House of Commons, where the words "The ayes (or the noes) have it" are uttered by the Speaker of the House after a vote.
- Matthew Graham found writing for two Doctors easy, as the Eleventh Doctor had a constant "internal dialogue" and was always finishing his own sentences.
- Matthew Graham wanted Jennifer to be the antagonist as he liked the idea of the quietest character becoming the most evil.
- The original script explained that Jennifer has a perfect memory, and so her Ganger was able to remember every terrible thing that had happened to the Flesh.
- This was the first time Matt Smith had worn prosthetic make-up.
- It was originally planned that Jennifer would eat Buzzer, but The Mill decided only the shadows of the action would be shown on the wall. All of this was cut from the final episode, with the exception of Jennifer's elongated mouth as she advanced towards him.
- Matthew Graham originally intended on setting the story in a different location to "throw everybody", but decided that would be unnecessary.
- Karen Gillan discussed the labour scene with her mother, and tried to make it "really horrific".
- The monster Jennifer transforms into at the end was created with CGI and a photo of Madonna was used as reference, as in the image "her arms were...really sinewy, white, veiny, and fleshy". Matthew Graham wanted the creature to have a real face and an alien body.
- The pile of discarded Jennifer Gangers was originally intended to just be a pile of bodies, but it was decided that would be "too grim". Instead, life-sized dolls were used and computer-generated Flesh was painted on it, giving it a more melted look.
- In the original script, the Doctor quizzes the Flesh Doctor about the events of The Mind of Evil and mentions Jo Grant, Sarah Jane Smith, Romana, Rose Tyler, Martha Jones, and Donna Noble.
- The death of the Ganger Doctor was to be accompanied by a montage of "happy memories" including travelling with Susan, defeating Davros with Sarah Jane Smith (Genesis of the Daleks), meeting Rose Tyler (Rose), eating fish fingers and custard with the young Amelia and more.
- In the original ending, Amy had a vision of Madame Kovarian while the Doctor and Rory headed back to the TARDIS.
- Steven Moffat indicated that the Doctor should be proactively investigating the Flesh, rather than happening upon the St John's monastery by chance.
- This two-parter formed Block Two of season six.
- The closing scene was filmed during the production of A Good Man Goes to War.
- According to Beth Willis, the Amy Pond Ganger has been acting in place of the original Amy Pond since the beginning of the series.
Ratings
- 6.72 million (UK final)[6]
Myths
- Whilst the Ganger-Doctor is stabilising, he briefly adopts the Fourth Doctor's voice. It was believed that this was recorded specially by Tom Baker, at the time recording a series of audio dramas for Doctor Who, but this was proven incorrect.
Filming locations
- Cardiff Castle, Caerphilly Castle, Atlantic College - St John's Monastery
- The Senedd Building in Cardiff Bay - The Doctor drops off Cleaves and Dicken's ganger to the press conference about the equal rights of the Flesh. Later, Amy goes into labour and they help her into the TARDIS.
Production errors
- The Ganger Doctor (posing as the Doctor) hands the sonic screwdriver to the Doctor (posing as the Ganger Doctor) so he could go find Rory and Jennifer with it and is seen in possession of it all the time. Sometime later, the Ganger Doctor and the other humans are locked up by Rory and Jennifer's ganger in the acid room. The Ganger Doctor proceeds to scan the acid with the sonic screwdriver. After that, the Doctor gives back the sonic screwdriver to the Ganger Doctor so he could face off the mutated Jennifer.
- When the TARDIS falls through the ceiling, the doors are facing away from the camera. The Ganger Doctor then comments on how "she does like to make an entrance." However, when cut back to the TARDIS (at the same angle as before), the doors are now facing the camera.
- When the Ganger Doctor and Cleaves are holding the door shut, the TARDIS dematerialises, but when the Ganger Doctor and Cleaves swing the door open to dissolve Jennifer, the box is slightly visible in the background.
- When the Doctor and Buzzer discover Jennifer's body, Sarah Smart is visibly breathing.
- When the Doctor dissolves the Ganger Amy he extends the screwdriver, the camera cuts to Rory and when it cuts back the screwdriver is closed. In subsequent cuts, the screwdriver is open again.
Continuity
- While the Flesh is attempting to stabilise the Ganger Doctor, he begins shouting:
- "One day, we will get back. Yes, one day," as the First Doctor did. (TV: An Unearthly Child)
- "Reverse the polarity of the neutron flow," a phrase used by the Third Doctor, and which became commonly associated with him. (TV: The Sea Devils, The Five Doctors)
- "Would you like a jelly baby?" in the manner and voice of the Fourth Doctor (specific audio clip from TV: The Robots of Death).
- "Hello, I'm the Doctor," as the Tenth Doctor and other incarnations did (specific audio clip from TV: The Girl in the Fireplace).
- After reciting all the previous lines, out of madness the Ganger Doctor starts calling out illogical combinations of some of these phrases, such as "Reverse the jelly baby of the neutron flow" and "Would you like a Doctor?".
- The Ganger Doctor notes that Cybermats kill by feeding off brainwaves. (TV: The Tomb of the Cybermen)
- One of the Doctors says, "Yowza." The other questions him as to whether that's something the Doctor would say, and he passes it off as stress. Apparently, he decides that it is something that he says, as the Eleventh Doctor later uses the word "Yowza" while reading the description of Melody Malone in The Angels Take Manhattan.
- Amy tells the original Doctor (thinking him to be the Ganger Doctor) about her viewing his death two hundred years in his future. (TV: The Impossible Astronaut)
- When Rory and the Ganger Jennifer lock the Doctor and the others in the acid room, the Doctor shouts at Rory angrily through the window, calling him "Roranicus Pondicus". Amy called Rory's Auton duplicate "Roranicus" when he told her his name. (TV: The Pandorica Opens)
- The Doctor is able to tell when a companion is not completely themselves. The Tenth Doctor previously identified when Cassandra had taken over Rose's body, (TV: New Earth) and when Martha had been replaced by a clone. (TV: The Poison Sky)
- In earlier episodes of Series 6, the Doctor's TARDIS was unable to confirm if Amy was pregnant or not. The confusion is explained, as it was scanning Amy's Ganger rather than Amy herself. The real Amy was pregnant, and the Ganger Amy could still feel aspects of the real Amy's pregnancy, however, did not manifest any physical signs.
Home video releases
DVD & Blu-ray releases
- The Almost People was released in Series 6 Part One on DVD and Blu-Ray in region 1/A on 19 July 2011, in region 2/B on 11 July 2011 and in region 4/B on 4 August 2011. It is a collection of the first seven episodes.
- The episode was later released in the Complete Sixth Series boxset on both DVD and Blu-ray, in region 1/A on 22 November 2011, in region 2/B on 21 November 2011 and in region 4/B on 1 December 2011.
Digital releases
- In the United Kingdom, this story is available on BBC iPlayer.
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Smith also plays a Ganger duplicate of the Doctor.
- ↑ Bonnar also plays a Ganger duplicate of Jimmy.
- ↑ Smart also plays a Ganger duplicate of Jennifer and a Ganger duplicate of the first Ganger duplicate.
- ↑ Cassidy also plays a Ganger duplicate of Cleaves.
- ↑ Vickers also plays a Ganger duplicate of Dicken.
- ↑ Doctor Who Ratings - UK final