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Utopia was the eleventh episode of the third series of the revived series of Doctor Who. It was the first part of a three-part story which marked the return of Jack Harkness and notably featured the first televised re-appearance of the Master since 1996's Doctor Who TV movie.
Synopsis
Jack's back! As Captain Jack comes storming into the Doctor's life again, the TARDIS is thrown to the end of the universe itself. As the last remnants of humanity struggle to reach 'Utopia', unknown to all, the Doctor's greatest enemy is about to rise again...
Plot
The Doctor's TARDIS arrives at Cardiff to refuel at the Rift. The Doctor mentions that the Rift has been active (reference to the events of TW: End of Days), and so refuelling should only take 20 seconds. Jack Harkness is seen running towards the TARDIS. Martha asks the Doctor about the earthquake that happened in Cardiff, to which the Doctor merely replies "A bit of trouble with the Slitheen."
Jack is seen running for the TARDIS, shouting the Doctor's name. The Doctor, shocked, sees Jack approaching on the monitor and takes off. Jack leaps on to the TARDIS as it dematerialises, and the TARDIS console sends out sparks, knocking the Doctor and Martha to the floor. The Doctor is astonished that they are accelerating towards the future, ending up at the year 100 trillion - the end of the Universe. Jack holds on tightly to the TARDIS, screaming for the Doctor as they hurtle through the vortex.
A human is running from the Futurekind. Within his laboratory, Professor Yana notes that there is movement on the surface: a "human hunt". His assistant Chantho asks if she should alert the guards. Yana tells her not to, as there are too few soldiers left. The Professor is asked for a progress report over the radio, but is unable to finish, as he hears the sound of drums in his head. Yana detects the TARDIS on the radar, saying "It would seem something new has appeared".
The Doctor tells Martha that he doesn't know what is outside, remarking that none of the Time Lords came this far. They step outside to find Jack on the ground. As Martha rushes to get a medical kit, the Doctor looks at Jack, saying; "Oh. I'm sorry.". The Doctor realises that
Jack hung on all the way through the vortex, remarking how it is "very him". Martha tells the Doctor that Jack is dead, just before he takes a deep breath and sits up, grabbing Martha by the arms. Jack immediately begins to flirt with Martha, and an annoyed Doctor tells him not to start.
The Doctor and Jack greet each other tersely. The Doctor asks Jack if he has "had work done", to which an incredulous Jack replies "You can talk!" (referring to the Doctor's regeneration since Jack last saw him). Jack accuses the Doctor of abandoning him, which the Doctor shrugs off. Jack asks after Rose, having seen the list of the dead after the Battle of Canary Wharf. The Doctor happily tells Jack that she is safe and sound on a parallel world along with Mickey and Jackie, and Jack and the Doctor embrace.
The Futurekind are once again seen chasing the same man as before. Jack tells Martha of being stranded in the year 200,100 A.D, and of the Doctor going off without him. Jack shows Martha his Vortex Manipulator, and the Doctor compares it to a space hopper compared to his TARDIS, which he labels a sports car. Jack had used the Manipulator, ended up in 1869, and had to live through the centuries, basing himself at the Rift until his life coincided with one of the Doctor's incarnations, Martha asks if the Doctor just gets bored of his companions, with Jack replying "not if you're blonde".
As they come across a city-like conglomeration, the Doctor remarks that all the great civilisations of the universe are gone, and the stars are all burning out; everything in the universe is dying. The Doctor hints that he knows of Jack's "condition", stating that he is not so sure Jack would perish without the protection of the planet's atmospheric shell. When Martha asks about humanity's fate, Jack spots the man running from the Futurekind. Jack catches the man, and pushes him towards the Doctor, drawing his service revolver. The Doctor stops Jack from killing the Futurekind, and Jack fires into the air, scaring them. The Doctor plans to head for the TARDIS, but they are cut off by more Futurekind. The four agree to head for "the silo".
They approach the gates, with the Futurekind closing the distance. The guard yells at them to show their teeth. They are admitted to the silo. A soldier fires an assault rifle at the Futurekind. Jack remarks that the Doctor didn't tell him to put his gun down, to which the Doctor replies that the soldier is not his responsibility. The Futurekind leader tells of his hunger, then reluctantly orders his minions to fall back; they retreat a short distance where they can keep watch on the silo. The man asks the soldier if he can be take to Utopia, which the soldier happily responds to affirmatively.
Professor Yana learns that the Doctor is in the silo, and believes him to be a scientist. He rushes upstairs. The Doctor asks for the men to help retrieve the TARDIS. The Doctor is happy when he discovers that humans have survived to the end of the universe, remarking that though they "spent a million years evolving into clouds of gas", they revert to the same form eventually.
Jack flirts with a male refugee, with the Doctor once again telling him to stop. Jack helps the Doctor open a deadlock seal. The door opens and the Doctor blindly steps out, nearly falling down a shaft. They see a large rocket in the shaft, with neither the Doctor or Jack recognising the engines. The Doctor muses on what "Utopia" can mean if the universe is collapsing.
The Professor arrives, dragging an amused Doctor away, followed by Martha and Jack. They pass a woman, who bares her teeth revealing her to be one of the Futurekind. The four rush into the lab, with Jack immediately flirting with Yana's alien assistant by saying "Maybe later, Blue." The Professor shows the Doctor all the machines within the rocket, but the Doctor cannot help, as the technology is utterly unknown to him.
Martha finds the Doctor's hand in the glass case from Jack's pack. Jack calls it his "Doctor Detector". Martha is disgusted by this, and the Doctor tells her how he lost it in the events of Christmas 2006. Yana enquires as to the Doctor's species, and the Doctor is saddened by the fact that the Time Lords have never been heard of.
Chantho reveals that she is the last of her kind also, the Malmooth, and Yana says that this was originally their planet, Malcassairo, before the humans took refuge. Jack reminds the Doctor of his manners, the Doctor apologises, as Martha muses on the fact that he regrew his hand. Jack asks Yana about the "Beastie Boys" upstairs, and Yana tells them of the Futurekind, which in themselves are a myth. It is feared that they are what the humans will become, unless they reach Utopia.
Yana shows the Doctor the co-ordinates of Utopia,supposedly a project of the Science Foundation to find a way to save mankind from the end of everything. Yana once again hears the sound of drums. The Doctor surmises that the rocket will not fly, but Yana hasn't told the others to keep them from losing hope. Impressed by this, the Doctor applies the relevant knowledge he has and uses the sonic screwdriver to perfect the system. The passengers board the rocket. The Doctor, Yana and Jack work to speed toward the launch process, and the guards run toward the silo.
The Doctor remarks to Yana that he built the system of "food and string and staples", calling Yana a genius, to which Yana replies; "Says the man who made it work". The Doctor tells Yana that he would be revered in a different time. Yana admits wistfully that some admiration just once would have been nice. The Doctor says that Yana must stay behind to launch the rocket; Yana admits this, saying that Chantho will also stay with him, as she refuses to leave him, commenting he is probably too old for Utopia, and he wishes for rest (death). A message comes over the radio that the TARDIS has been found. The Doctor gleefully remarks he may have a way for Yana to go too, though Yana barely hears him, for as he looks at the TARDIS, the sound of drums grows louder...
The Doctor uses the TARDIS to provide extra power. The Professor tells the Doctor of the sound of drums, and their growing louder, as if they are getting closer. He says that he has heard them all his life.
Chantho tells Martha she has been with the Professor for 17 years, letting slip her unrequited love for him, something Martha sympathises with. Martha asks about the sentence structure she uses, starting sentences with "Chan" and ending with "Tho". Chantho replies that it would be rude not to.
Atillo communicates with Yana, and Yana gives him instructions as the communication line fails. Yana has Martha reboot the system every time the picture goes. Atillo sends a man into the couplings room. Yana reveals that the couplings room is flooded with Stet radiation.
The female Futurekind damages the system, and Jack and Yana furiously try to correct the radiation levels. Jack sends a massive electric current through his body in order to jump-start the override system. The man in the couplings room is vapourised by the Stet radiation. Jack has collapsed to the floor, and Martha tries to revive him. The Doctor says no one can enter the room without dying, and as Jack comes around, remarks he has got just the man.
The Doctor and Jack race down to the couplings room, ordering Atillo to board the rocket, Jack asks the Doctor how long he has known that he is immortal, and the Doctor replies; "Since I ran away from you". Jack enters the room. As they watch the process, Martha tells Yana and Chantho of the Doctor's ability to travel through time and space.
Yana has new sounds in his head, including the word "TARDIS". Jack says that he realised in 1892 that he was immortal, when he was killed in a fight on Ellis Island. His past deaths have included: falling off a cliff; trampling by horses; WWI; WWII; poison; strangulation... and a stray javelin. The Doctor remarks that Jack is "wrong"; a fixed point in time and space; a fact. Even the TARDIS knew what Jack was - it travelled to the end of the universe just to try and shake him off.
Jack recalls facing three Daleks and his death at their hands - the words 'Daleks' and 'Extermination' reverberates in Yana's head;the Doctor tells Jack about Rose and the Bad Wolf entity, remarking that if a Time Lord had done what she did, they would have become a powerful and vengeful god. The Doctor then tells Jack that because of her humanity and compassion, Rose used her new-found power to bring him back to life, but unable to control the power, the transformation was irrevocable; the Doctor muses that "the final act of the Time War was life" (the words 'Time War' resounding in Yana's mind). When Jack asks if Rose could reverse the process, the Doctor replies he took the power from her, and explains Rose is not merely living in a parallel universe; she is trapped there.
Jack says that in the 1990s he went back to the Powell Estate, never letting Rose see him, but watching her growing up. The Doctor asks Jack if he wants to die, but Jack, after trying to evade the question, admits he isn't sure anymore. The Doctor points out that Jack has the potential to meet other incarnations of himself across time, and jokes "It's the only man you're ever gonna be happy with". Jack says this regeneration is cheeky, and "regeneration" is another word added to those reverberating around Yana's head.
Yana is in tears, remembering stories of time travel from the old days that he never believed. He pulls out a fob watch, remarking that he was always late with time and the watch never worked. Martha is shocked, and recalls the Doctor having a similar watch which he used to become human to avoid the Family of Blood. She asks where he got it, and Yana remarks that he was found with the watch, "an orphan in the storm", on the coast of the Silver Devastation. Yana says it is broken, and Martha asks how he could know if he has never opened it. Martha turns over the watch and finds Gallifreyan inscriptions on it.
Martha rushes to find the Doctor, having inadvertently piqued Yana's interest in the watch. The countdown for launch begins. Martha tells the Doctor of the watch, and the Doctor dismisses the idea as impossible. Jack says he may not be the last Time Lord, and Martha says it should be brilliant news - though the Doctor says it depends just which Time Lord Yana is. The Doctor screams at Martha, demanding to know exactly what Yana said.
Yana inspects the watch, and malevolent voices call to him from it, demanding he open it. Jack remarks that the end of the universe is the perfect place to hide, and Martha recalls the dying words of the Face of Boe. The rocket launches. Yana stands in front of the TARDIS, and opens the watch. The Doctor realises Yana is an acronym for the words "You Are Not Alone", and the Futurekind watch as the rocket is launched into the sky.
Yana, at this point an unknown Time Lord, closes all the doors, barring the entrance of the Doctor, Martha and Jack to the laboratory. Chantho remarks that Yana has locked them in, and he replies "as one door closes, another must open", opening the front gates and allowing entrance by the Futurekind to the silo. He lowers the defense systems, expertly operating the controls, as the Doctor gets in through the door.
Chantho holds a gun to Yana, and Yana raises one half of the high voltage cable, advancing towards her. The Doctor and the others run into the Futurekind and are forced to double back on themselves. Yana blames Chantho for never asking about the watch, and insults her, saying that the constant "Chan" and "tho" drove him insane. Chantho begs "the Professor" for his forgiveness, but he shouts that it is not his name, merely a disguise so perfect he forgot his own identity. When a terrified Chanto asks who he really is, he replies "I am...the Master".
The Master attacks Chantho with the cable, and looks at the Doctor's dismembered hand, which is bubbling and glowing in its tank. The Doctor and Jack try to gain entrance, but the Master does not help them. As the Master pulls the cable from the TARDIS, the dying Chantho fires a laser at him, Jack smashes the control panel and the door opens. The Doctor finds the Master, who retreats into the TARDIS. The Master locks the door, deadlocks it against the sonic screwdriver and moves to the console.
As the Doctor shouts desperately that everything's changed, Jack and Martha struggle to close the door. The Master reflects that he has been killed "by an insect... a girl...", and muses that if the Doctor can be young and strong, so can he. In a burst of light, he regenerates, becoming the sixth known incarnation of the Master. The Futurekind appear at the door as the new Master laughs in triumph. Martha and Jack fight to keep the Futurekind out as the newly-regenerated Master takes in his surroundings.
Laughing in triumph, the Master uses the TARDIS's intercom to speak to the Doctor-sarcastically remarking about his past propensity to tell the Doctor his plans and remarking that he won't do so this time- and Martha shouts that she knows his voice. The Doctor begs him to stop, to which the Master demands that he use his name. The Doctor then says "Master... I'm sorry." The Master pauses, and shouts "Tough!" as he prepares the TARDIS for launch. The Doctor gets the sonic screwdriver and stops the launch momentarily. The Master overrides it and gleefully bids the three a sarcastic goodbye. The TARDIS dematerialises as the Doctor looks on in horror, while the Futurekind pound at the door...
Cast
- The Tenth Doctor - David Tennant
- Martha Jones - Freema Agyeman
- Captain Jack Harkness - John Barrowman
- Professor Yana / The Master - Derek Jacobi
- Chantho - Chipo Chung
- Padra Toc Shafe Cane - Rene Zagger
- Lieutenant Atillo - Neil Reidman
- Chieftain - Paul Marc Davies
- Guard - Robert Forknall
- Creet - John Bell
- Kistane Toc Shafe Cane - Deborah MacLaren
- Wiry Woman - Abigail Canton
- The Master - John Simm
- Bilto Toc Shafe Cane - Thomas Night (uncredited)
- Rose Tyler - Billie Piper (flashback) (uncredited)
Crew
| Executive Producers Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner |
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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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Though not credited in the original broadcast roll, Simon C. Holden was depicted in CON: "'Ello 'Ello 'Ello" as a visual effects supervisor, and appeared to have been particularly involved with the John Simm/Derek Jacobi regeneration sequence — which logically would have made him an on-set visual effects supervisor. It's unclear why the credited on-set visual effects supervisor, Barney Curnow, did not represent the visual effects crew on Confidential for this episode. |
References
- The Doctor states that the Rift had recently been active. This was due to Abaddon and Bilis Manger.
- The Master returns in this episode.
- Captain Jack Harkness returns in this episode.
- Yana (as in Professor Yana) is an acronym of the Face of Boe's last words "You Are Not Alone"
- Jack isn't the first to grab onto the exterior of the TARDIS as it dematerialises. Father Kreiner also managed this.
- Skagra stole the Doctor's TARDIS to try and locate Shada; the Master stole the TARDIS to escape the year 100,000,000,000,000.
- The Slitheen are mentioned.
- Rose Tyler is mentioned.
Story notes
- Derek Jacobi and John Simm are the fifth and sixth distinct incarnations of the Master (respectively) seen on screen. However there have been eight actors to previously play the Master in different media. This marks the first time two different incarnations have played major roles in a single episode (only the 1996 TV movie and Keeper of Traken previously showed more than one Master).
- In Doctor Who Adventures issue 22 it mentions the Doctor and Martha "discovering" Utopia, meaning it is a place.
- John Bell (who played Creet) won his role on the children's television show Blue Peter during a Doctor Who special that aired the same night.
- This story features the second regeneration scene in which the Time Lord subject is shown to be standing. Including Romana's off-screen regeneration in Destiny of the Daleks, it's the third in which a Time Lord was probably standing while regenerating.
- 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 other magnifying glasses in The Unicorn and the Wasp and Army of Ghosts, a curved window in Journey's End, and with mirrors in Turn Left. This time, it's the Master that's under the magnifying glass.
- Each sentence heard from the watch were spoken by Derek Jacobi and Roger Delgado respectively, the latter taken from an audio clip from classic series episode The Dæmons, and the chuckle is Anthony Ainley's trademark laugh from his classic series appearances, though it is not known which specific episode the audio clip is taken from. Delgado and Ainley, both of whom are now deceased, portrayed the two best known incarnations of The Master.
- This is the first Doctor Who story to feature John Barrowman's name in the opening credits, and thus is the first opening credits of the BBC Wales series to include more than two names.
- This episode marks the start of the first 3-part story since Survival, which also featured The Master. In terms of actual screen time, it is actually more the equivalent of an old-style 6-part episode. The episode was not originally promoted as being connected to the finale two-parter, and there remains some debate as to whether it should actually be considered a three-parter. (A similar scenario involves the 2008 episodes Turn Left, The Stolen Earth and Journey's End; despite being linked, the fan base and show officials tend to consider Turn Left a separate story and not part of a trilogy.)
- This is the sixth televised Doctor Who story which actually shows a regeneration occurring in the Doctor's TARDIS. It was preceded by The Tenth Planet, Destiny of the Daleks, The Caves of Androzani, Time and the Rani, and The Parting of the Ways. Additionally, Spearhead from Space implies, and TVC: The Night Walkers confirms, that the regeneration resulting in the Third Doctor actually occurred in the TARDIS as well.
- For the first time, three names are presented in the opening credits; prior to this only the Doctor and his "current" companion's names were ever displayed, even when the series featured other actors as companions, such as Barrowman and Noel Clarke. Hereafter, most guest companions (such as the returning Martha Jones in The Sontaran Stratagem and the multiple companions of The Stolen Earth/Journey's End) receive similar credit treatment.
- Just before the start of the opening credits, the scene shifts from showing Jack clinging onto the TARDIS, to the arrival of the Futurekind. According to the DVD commentary, this had to be done otherwise the opening credits, showing the TARDIS flying through the vortex, would have felt out of place without Jack being seen clinging to the outside. David Tennant jokes that they could have re-made the titles with Jack clinging onto the TARDIS.
- The keyboard Chantho uses is a keyboard for Japanese hiragana.
Ratings
- 7.3 million viewers - Overnight
- 0.82 million viewers - BBC Three Sunday repeat
- 7.84 million viewers - Final BARB ratings
Myths
- The setting of this episode in the year 100 trillion isn't the farthest in the future of a science fiction story . In fact, there are works that take place in even later times, in particular the works of Stephen Baxter, whose novel Manifold: Time takes place in the year 500,000,000,000,000,000,000 (500 quintillion).
Filming locations
to be added
Production errors
When Jack goes through the time vortex, he clings onto the TARDIS. At the start the windows are clearly blue, reflecting the vortex, but when zoomed out, they are white.
Continuity
- This episode shows flashbacks from DW: The Parting of the Ways (Rose bringing Jack back to life), The Christmas Invasion (the Doctor's hand being cut off), Gridlock (last words of the Face of Boe), and Human Nature (the Doctor explaining the function of the fob watch to Martha).
- This episode is the third of the continuous arc (the end of one episode immediately leading into another) that starts in the Torchwood episode Captain Jack Harkness, switches over to Doctor Who in this one, and ends in DW: Voyage of the Damned.
- The Doctor and Martha references the events of DW: Boom Town.
- Derek Jacobi has previously played an android version of the Master in Scream of the Shalka; he has also played a role usually occupied by the Doctor in the Big Finish audio drama Deadline.
- Yana tells the Doctor that he hears "the sound of drums." That is the title of the next story.
- The last "regeneration" (or the closest thing to regeneration) of the Master occurred in the 1996 TV movie. This is the first-ever episode to show the Master undergoing a natural regeneration.
- The Master last appeared on-screen in DW: Doctor Who.
- Captain Jack last appeared in TW: End of Days and this episode continues directly from the end of that episode which had been first broadcast six months earlier.
- The Master states that he was found naked on the banks of the Silver Devastation. It is also mentioned in DW: The End of the World that that is where the Face of Boe is from.
- Yana hears a phrase from DW: The Dæmons.
- The Doctor previously referred to the Human race as "indomitable" (DW: The Ark in Space), as he does here.
- The Doctor previously referred to himself as a doctor of "practically everything" in DW: Spearhead from Space and DW: Four to Doomsday, here apparently dropping the word "practically."
- The Doctor says that not even the Time Lords had ever traveled this far; in DW: Frontios it was revealed that there was a rule among the Time Lords that they musn't travel beyond a certain time.
- Yana asks how the Doctor could be a Hermit with friends. The Doctor was friendly with a hermit who lived in Southern Gallifrey. (DW: State of Decay)
- When Martha asks about the Cardiff earthquake, the Doctor says "Had a little trouble with the Slideen". This is probably a miss pronunciation of Slitheen.
Timeline
- This story occurs after: DWA: Deep Water
- This story occurs before: DW: The Sound of Drums
- This story occurs after: TW: End of Days
- This story occurs before: DW: The Sound of Drums
For the Master
- This story occurs after: DWM: The Glorious Dead
- This story occurs before: DW: Love & Monsters
Home video releases
- This has been released along with The Sound of Drums and Last of the Time Lords
- It is also part of the series 3 box set.
See also
External links