The End of the Rainbow (short story): Difference between revisions

{{Infobox Story SMW

|setting = [[England]], [[2009]]; [[Filbik storage ship|Filbik ship]]

|writer = Jacqueline Rayner

|anthology= Doctor Who Storybook 2010

|release date= 31 August 2009

}}'''''The End of the Rainbow''''' was a short story published in ''[[Doctor Who Storybook 2010]]''. It was written by [[Jacqueline Rayner]].

== Plot summary ==

In a small [[England|English]] [[town]] at the beginning of the [[21st century]], the Doctor happens across a bright [[green]] [[cat]]. He follows the cat onto the town's [[High Street|highstreet]], where a crowd of people have gathered to look at a [[rainbow]]. The rainbow is arcing to the ground just outside a [[Grocery store|greengrocer's]], stopping inside a tray of [[fruit]]. The fruits all appear to have unusual [[colour]]s – the [[banana]]s are [[blue]], and the [[pear]]s are [[Indigo (colour)|indigo]]. The greengrocer is standing with his arms around the rainbow, trying to stop people from touching it. The crowd around him grows restless, and a surge from the back sends an old woman at the front of the crowd stumbling towards the rainbow. Her arm brushes it, and to her horror she begins to turn [[violet]]. The Doctor helps her to her feet, and the grocer ushers her inside his shop.

 

 

 

Suddenly the old lady and the policeman collapse to the floor. The Doctor checks their [[Heart|pulses]], and confirms they are still alive. There is a shriek outside the shop, and the Doctor runs out to see what's happening. The rainbow colours are spreading out across the ground in a puddle-like manner, and one man in the fleeing crowd is turned blue. The grocer shuts the shop door, but the colours seep in underneath it. He then opens a storeroom at the back of the shop and ushers everyone inside. The Doctor carries the collapsed lady to the storeroom. When he goes back for the policeman he finds that red from the rainbow has already made contact with the collapsed man, but his violet colour is not changing. As the Doctor lifts the policeman he finds that he's unexpectedly light in weight. Then, without a sound, the policeman simply disappears. In the storeroom, the old lady has vanished too. The Doctor gets in and shuts the door, and a pool of red begins to seep under it.

 

The Doctor climbs onto a [[crate]], to prevent himself from touching the pooling red. One of the schoolgirls hypothesises that the colours are like [[acid]], which dissolves you from the inside until you disappear, but the Doctor reassures everyone in the storeroom that this is probably not the case. As the red begins to creep up the crate the Doctor climbs onto a [[chair]]. One of the schoolgirls tells Mr Cousins, the greengrocer, that he will be next, since people are disappearing in the reverse order of the colours of the rainbow. Cousins begins to get flustered, asking for a [[Telephone|phone]] so he can call Mary. The Doctor has an idea – he asks for a [[watch]], and confirms that roughly [[10 (number)|ten]] [[minute]]s passed between the rainbow touching the old lady and her disappearing. Mr Cousins then collapses to the floor. The Doctor announces that ten [[second]]s pass between one colour disappearing and the people with the next colour collapsing. Ted accuses the Doctor of wasting time, and the Doctor admits that he doesn't know enough about what's happening to have saved Mr Cousins. He assures everyone that he will work it out, and estimates that he has about half an hour to save everyone. He then jumps onto the floor and sprints out of the room.

 

Outside, the Doctor grabs onto the semi-solid rainbow and begins to climb it. He wants to find out what's on its other side. When he gets to the top of the rainbow arc the Doctor has turned bright red. He sees that the rainbow touches the ground again in the middle of a cluster of [[Tower block|high-rise buildings]]. Not wanting to waste any more time, he sits on the rainbow and slides the whole way down. As he neared the buildings, the Doctor realises that the rainbow passes through one of their sloping [[roof]]s. He tries to slow himself down, so he doesn't hit the roof at speed and end up falling from the building. To his surprise, the rainbow takes him right through the roof, and through multiple storeys of the building, until he eventually lands with a thump in a carpeted room. Upon seeing a bright red stranger fall through the ceiling of her room, a young girl begins to scream.

 

 

The Doctor wakes up, feeling groggy, in an unfamiliar spaceship. He sees Bobby is there too. She tells him to relax, saying she's spoken to the Filbiks and everything is going to be okay. She explains that she used the rock to dye herself red, but only a little, so she wouldn't be too sleepy on arrival. The Doctor sees that she isn't red anymore, and then notices that the red colour has left his body as well. Bobby explains that they're on a storage ship, like a trailer, which isn't staffed by any Filbiks, but that they have a sort-of [[telephone]] which she used to contact the [[Filbik mothership|main ship]]. She had then noted down their instructions on how to remove the colour dye. The Doctor finds everyone from the greengrocers, still unconscious, noting that they don't have a "[[Time Lord]]'s constitution". He hopes that if he can send them back to Earth before they wake up they won't remember too much of what has happened to them. After looking around the storage ship's control room, the Doctor turns on its auxiliary power and prepares to send the kidnapped people back to Earth. He decides to return all of the stolen [[bird]]s and [[fish]] too, but leaves a [[television]] for the Filbiks to study. He asks Bobby to return to the spot she arrived in, so she can be safely transported back down to Earth, and as she leaves he tells her she's a star.

* [[Ted (The End of the Rainbow)|Ted]]

* [[Cousins (The End of the Rainbow)|Mr. Cousins]]

 

=== Food and beverages ===

* The greengrocer's shop sold [[apple]]s, [[banana]]s, [[cucumber]]s, [[courgette]]s, [[cabbage]]s, [[orange]]s, [[peach]]es, [[pear]]s, [[pineapple]]s, and [[potato]]es.

* While climbing the "rainbow", the Doctor sees that [[The Doctor's TARDIS|his TARDIS]] has turned green. It is not confirmed whether or not it was transported to the Filbik storage ship, but given that the TARDIS does not appear to be green at any point after this it is implied that the TARDIS was transported there, its colour-dye removed, and that the Doctor used it to leave the storage ship after the conclusion of the story.

* The Doctor says he's always wanted to be [[Ginger (trait)|ginger]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Day of the Doctor (novelisation)|The Day of the Doctor]]'', ''[[Rose (novelisation)|Rose]],'' [[TV]]: ''[[The Night of the Doctor (TV story)|The Night of the Doctor]],'' ''[[The Christmas Invasion (TV story)|The Christmas Invasion]]'')

* The Doctor recalls travelling with a [[Donna Noble|red-haired woman]], and this story is set after they parted ways. ([[TV]]: ''[[Journey's End (TV story)|Journey's End]]'')