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The Rebel Flesh (TV story)

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Revision as of 14:48, 24 October 2011 by CzechBot (talk | contribs) (Enforcing T:HUMAN.)
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The Rebel Flesh was the fifth story of the sixth series of Doctor Who. Like many previous stories, it saw the Doctor duplicated and it was the second time the Eleventh Doctor was copied following The Eleventh Hour.

It was notable for the first use of motion control cameras since The Mysterious Planet, and for containing the first instance of motion control use on actors, rather than inanimate models, in Doctor Who history.

Synopsis

A solar tsunami sends the TARDIS hurtling towards a futuristic factory on Earth, where human doppelgangers are used to mine dangerous acid.

A second wave hits and the "Gangers" separate. They can remember every second of their "originals'" lives and feel every emotion they've ever experienced. But are these memories stolen or have they been bequeathed? Are the Gangers merely faulty machinery that must be shut down or are they living, breathing, sentient beings? Can the Doctor convince the terrified humans to accept these "almost people" and prevent an all-out civil war before the factory explodes? [1]

Plot

On an island in the 22nd century, Jennifer, Buzzer and Jimmy walk in an abandoned monastery. They enter a room and open a large vat, making sure their acid suits are fully closed, to reveal a large amount of acid. Jennifer accidentally pushes Buzzer into the vat, but they seem more concerned with the loss of the suit than Buzzer, who is surprisingly unconcerned. As Jennifer and Jimmy leave, Buzzer enters the hallway they've begun walking down with no suit, though he is still seen melting in the vat of acid.

In the TARDIS, the Doctor is still scanning Amy for pregnancy, and getting strange readings while she and Rory play darts. The Doctor asks them if they'd like to go for fish and chips while he takes care of something else, but Amy objects to the idea.

The TARDIS gets hit by a solar tsunami, which lands them on the same island seen earlier. The Doctor notices a supply pipe, and deduces that it's there to pump acid to the mainland. They enter the monastery and go into a room full of harnesses where people are sleeping. They are quickly surrounded by exact doubles of the people in harnesses. Claiming to be from the meteorological department, the Doctor warns them a bigger solar wave than the one they just survived is on the way. The Doctor asks to see their "critical system".

 
The Doctor examines the Flesh.

Miranda Cleaves, the boss, leads them to a vat of 'flesh'; fully programmable matter which can replicate any living organisms. All the workers in the room but Jennifer are flesh, controlled by the real people in the harnesses. The site is too dangerous; they were losing a worker every week. With flesh 'gangers', they can mine the site without putting anyone in danger. The Doctor is concerned by their low opinion of the flesh, scans the flesh with his screwdriver and touches it. As Jennifer steps into the harness, the Doctor, Amy and Rory watch flesh pour into a tub. The liquid flesh drains, leaving an exact copy of Jennifer. Cleaves refuses to let the team leave the island. The Doctor notes that the factory runs on solar energy and there will be a power surge when the wave hits.

File:DW 60x5 The Rebel Flesh 204.jpg
The Doctor climbs up to the roof.

Tthe solar energy is absorbed by the weather vane, so the Doctor heads to the roof, where he is knocked unconscious to the ground as the solar storm hits. Acid pipes leak everywhere, including near the TARDIS, which begins to sink into the ground. As the power surges, the gangers switch between full human forms and their semi-flesh forms.

The Doctor wakes on the roof to see the vane gone and its stump smoking. The Doctor greets Cleaves, who is deeply shaken and worried for her team. He says they've been out for an hour, rather than a few minutes as Cleaves believed. Amy and Rory return to the harness room to find everyone awake. Jennifer is in a state of shock, and Rory comforts her. The Doctor and Cleaves join them. Cleaves says that the gangers should have returned to pure flesh, but is interrupted by someone playing Jimmy's records. The gangers are controlling themselves.

The group run to the dining hall, where they discover that someone has been searching. The Doctor explains that the gangers were searching for confirmation of their identities. The workers have trouble accepting that they gave their identities away, and that all their possessions are equally the possessions of their gangers. Jennifer feels ill and heads to the toilets, quickly followed by Rory.

File:DW 60x5 The Rebel Flesh 255.jpg
Jennifer realizes that she is a ganger.

In the toilets, Jennifer vomits up flesh while Rory is looking away. Terrified that she is a ganger, she disappears into one of the cubicles. Rory steps in front of the sink she vomited in. Jennifer's arm extends and punches through the cubicle door, aiming for Rory but missing him. Her neck extends through the hole in the cubicle door, and she tells Rory to "just let us live!" Rory runs out of the room.

In the dining hall, the Doctor heats food as Jimmy talks about arming themselves and the Doctor's odd calm behavior. The Doctor asks Jimmy if he's a violent man. Jimmy says no. The Doctor says that if Jimmy is not violent, there is no reason to believe his Ganger is. The Doctor hands Cleaves a hot plate, but she doesn't feel it. He explains that her nerve endings aren't what they should be, and reassures her that she'll stabilise. Cleaves turns away, and turns back with a flesh face, revealing herself as a ganger and runs out. Amy remembers Rory and goes to find him with Jimmy and the Doctor. They arrive at the toilets and realise that Jennifer is a ganger. The Doctor says that, though they aren't violent. They are scared,. He needs to talk to them if he's going to fix it. He runs off to get the TARDIS, and Amy goes to look for Rory.

Rory finds Jennifer's ganger. She tells him she is Jennifer Lucas, not a mere factory part. She takes offence when Rory asks her where the real Jennifer is, and she takes on full human form while yelling that she is just as real as the "other" Jennifer.

The Doctor returns to the vat of flesh and scans it again before leaving. The tub fills with flesh, and drains enough to reveal a mouth that says "Trust me." The Doctor returns to where he left the TARDIS to find only the top inches above ground; the acid on the ground is melting his shoes, and he abandons what is left of them before he melts. Meanwhile, all the gangers except for Jennifer have gathered with the remaining acid suits.

 
The Eye Patch Lady appears again.

While searching for Rory, Amy sees the Eye Patch Lady. Rory and Ganger Jennifer find Amy, as do Buzzer and Dicken.They return to the main room with Jimmy. The Doctorarrives with the rest of the gangers, in full human form. Before beginning his usual attempt at persuading them all to co-exist, the Doctor asks for replacement shoes. He explains that the gangers are now truly alive, and that can't be changed. The real Cleaves enters, refusing to work with the gangers, and electrocutes Ganger Buzzer with a battery. The Gangers conclude that the humans can't be trusted and run out. Cleaves tells the humans that it's war. Ganger Jennifer tells the gangers the same thing when she regroups with them.

The humans take refuge in the Ganger-manufactory. Rory goes in search of Jennifer as the Gangers began to advance on them. Blocking the door, the Doctor notices that there is another presence in the room. Amy tries to get the Doctor to focus on the situation at hand, but the Doctor's voice comes from the shadows. An unfinished Ganger of the Doctor steps out of the shadows, adjusting his bowtie as he says "Trust me. I'm the Doctor."

Cast

Crew

General production staff

Script department

Camera and lighting department

Art department

Costume department

Make-up and prosthetics

Movement

Casting

General post-production staff

Special and visual effects

Sound



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

  • The Doctor says he wears size ten shoes and that his feet are quite wide.

Earth Locations

  • Jimmy and Buzzer refer to an incident on the Isle of Sheppey, in which an electrical surge resulted in a Ganger animating and killing its former controller.

Foods and Beverages from the real world

  • The Doctor suggests dropping Amy and Rory off on Earth for fish and chips.

Music from the real world

Story notes

Music

  • When Amy and Rory are playing darts, the music in the background is "Supermassive Black Hole" by Muse.
  • The song played by Buzzer on the turntable when the TARDIS crew arrives and later by the Gangers is Dusty Springfield's "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me", her version of the Italian song "Io che non vivo (senza te)".
  • The music playing in the background when the vat of The Flesh is first shown is "Flying" by Tomandandy.
  • The music that plays when the TARDIS crew is discovered, if listened to carefully, sounds like the first few seconds of the song "Flashback Coste" from the soundtrack Splinter Cell: Conviction Original Soundtrack.

Ratings

  • 7.35 million (34.1% market share)

Myths

  • The TARDIS will be cloned.[2] Incorrect.

Filming locations

to be added

Production errors

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.
  • The positions of the two cards on top of the card pyramid slightly alter between shots.

Continuity

Home video releases

Released as Series 6 Part 1 with The Impossible Astronaut, Day of the Moon, The Curse of the Black Spot, The Doctor's Wife, The Almost People and A Good Man Goes to War on 11th July 2011.

External links

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