Turn Left (TV story)

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It's coming, Donna. It's coming from across the stars and nothing can stop it...Rose Tyler


Synopsis

Donna’s entire world collapses, but there’s no sign of the Doctor. Instead, she finds help from a mysterious blonde woman – a traveller from a parallel universe. But, as Donna and Rose Tyler combine forces, are they too late to save the whole of creation from the approaching darkness?

Plot

The Doctor and Donna are on the Chino-planet of Shan Shen, and are mixing with the locals. Donna wanders away from the Doctor to explore. A mysterious Chinese figure (Chipo Chung) tempts Donna with a reading that is 'free for people with red hair'. The fortune teller searches Donna's past for a single event. This event is where Donna and her mother are in a car at a T-junction. Sylvia is trying to persuade Donna to turn right; Donna turns left. As the fortune teller attempts to persuade Donna to turn right, something crawls onto Donna's back. Finally, under the fortune teller's persuasion, Donna turns right, little knowing she has just changed her own life.

Donna is removed from meeting the Doctor. It is Christmas Eve 2006. Suddenly, one of Donna's friends starts looking at her back. Then the Racnoss Webstar appears. When the army destroys it, Donna finds a hospital van, and a group of UNIT trucks. She overhears a UNIT officer telling someone that they found a body. A hand drops out of a bodybag and drops a Sonic Screwdriver. The UNIT officer says "The Doctor's dead. Must've happened too fast for him to Regenerate." The Doctor's body is bundled into the van. As Donna walks away, a blond figure suddenly appears: the Doctor's former companion Rose Tyler. Donna tells her they found the Doctor's body. Rose keeps looking at Donna's back, then disappears.

Weeks on, the Royal Hope Hospital is mysteriously pulled out of the ground. When it returns, it is revealed that everyone inside died, and only one person survived. It is revealed that the hospital was invaded by talking rhinos (Judoon) and that they were running out of air. It is revealed that Martha Jones died after giving the medic the last oxygen tank. The MRI machine was about to explode. It is revealed that Sarah Jane Smith manged to stop it, but in the process she, her teenage son Luke, and her teenage friends Maria Jackson and Clyde Langer died.

On Christmas Day 2007, a replica of the Titanic is reported to be heading straight for Buckingham Palace. It crashes, and causes a nuclear explosion that kills much of London. Donna, Wilf and Sylvia are forced to move to Leeds. Donna is then held at gunpoint by a soldier, but is released. Then the Adipose wipe out much of America's population, because America is full of obese people. Donna wakes up to find soldiers gunning at cars, because the Sontarans are using ATMOS devices. That night, Donna meets Rose again. Suddenly, the sky is cleared by an atmospheric converter. Rose reveals that the Torchwood team have given their lives: Gwen Cooper and Ianto Jones, while Captain Jack Harkness has been transported to the Sontaran homeworld. Rose then tells Donna that the darkness is coming, but will not tell Donna her name. Donna tries to walk away, but Rose then tells Donna that she will have to go with her when she is ready. Rose warns Donna that when she comes with her, Donna will die. Then she vabnishes.

When Donna and Wilf look through Wilf's telescope, they are shocked to see the stars going out. Donna then tells Rose she is ready. Rose takes Donna to UNIT via jeep. Rose switches on a light which reveals what is on Donna's back: a beetle-like creature. The light is turned off. Rose then shows Donna the TARDIS, which is dying after the Doctor's death. Rose tells Donna she must go back in time to make Donna in the car turn left, not right. Donna lands- half a mile away. She tries to run to herself, but eventually steps out in front of a lorry. Rose appears beside Donna, and whispers two words in her ear. With traffic building up, Donna in the car decides to turn left. At once, everything that has happened since Donna turned right is reversed. The beetle falls off Donna's back, and the fortune teller runs away. Donna is reunited with the Doctor.

The Doctor tells Donna that the beetle is part of the Trickster's Brigade. The Doctor tells Donna that she has a parallel world with her. Donna tells the Doctor she is nothing special. The Doctor tells her she is. Donna realizes that Rose said exactly the same thing. She tells the Doctor about Rose, and that she didn't say her name. Donna tells the Doctor she whispered two words in her ear: Bad Wolf. The Doctor is horror-stricken, and runs out to find Bad Wolf written everywhere- even on the TARDIS. Inside the TARDIS itself, the control room is glowing red. The Doctor tells Donna that Bad Wolf means the end of the universe!

Cast

Production crew

to be added

References

Story notes

  • Without The Doctor's intervention, Martha Jones dies when the Judoon attack the hospital where she works (Smith and Jones). Sarah Jane Smith and her teenage assistants also die in the hospital - with the Doctor dead, she has taken it upon herself to investigate the hospital.
  • Gwen Cooper and Ianto Jones die destroying the Sontarans whilst Jack Harkness is transported to the Sontaran homeworld.
  • This is the first story to feature Rose in a starring role since Doomsday.
  • Two phrases said by Lucius Petrus Dextrus in The Fires of Pompeii come to fruition in this episode: "There's something on your back" and "She is returning".
  • Billie Piper was seen at the end of Partners in Crime, as well as a short cameo in The Poison Sky and another in Midnight.
  • Chipo Chung was last seen in the episode Utopia as the Malmooth, Chantho. She plays a human character in this story.
  • This is the 'Doctor-lite' episode of the series, similar to Love and Monsters and Blink, albeit with a much darker storyline. Unlike previous Doctor-lite stories, however, the focus is given to the companion, rather the her also taking a minor role.
  • A reference to something on Donna's back was last heard in The Fires of Pompeii when Lucius Petrus Dextrus saw into the future 'something on your back' is a back story arc as it has never been mentioned up to this episode.
  • In DWM it said that Donna will receive a free tarot card reading and find out something bad is going to happen. When she is receiving it there will also be something behind her lurking in the curtains. The Tarot person will also look for a specific event in Donna's past. The episode, as broadcast, takes place on a Chinese-influenced alien world with no reference to Tarot.
  • A recurring theme in previous episodes hinted that Donna would die in the future which occurs in this episode. However, this was an alternate reality Donna who sacrificed herself in order to prevent her past self from taking the wrong turn thus forcing her to meet the Doctor as was planned.
  • Part of this episode is filmed in China Town, though not the one in London, but recreated in Cardiff. Chinese people living in South Wales were invited to be background extras via Facebook at the end of 2007. They had to reply to the Doctor Who casting crew with their name and sizes for costumes to be made for them and they were paid approx £70 for the day. David Tennant was seen in 'China Town' when he took time out of filming though staying on location to appear on Blue Peter to appeal to viewers to donate shoes to their Shoebiz appeal.
  • Donna is told she can have her fortune told for free because she has red hair. This is a reference to Chinese culture, since red is considered very lucky in China.

Ratings

to be added

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

  • In the 2007 Christmas Special, Voyage of the Damned, the Doctor claimed that if the Titanic hit the Earth it would destroy the entire planet. However, in this Episode, it is shown that it only destroys london and causes radiation to the whole of southern England. It was suggested by Rose that Torchwood, UNIT, and Sarah Jane Smith all attempted to fill in for the Doctor after his death. Therefore it can be assumed that someone (e.g. Astrid or Alonso) attempted to stop the Titanic, but only managed to reduce the effect of the crash. However, this could not have been Sarah Janes Smith, since she was killed when the Judoon abducted the Royal Hope Hospital.
  • It was stated in the episode by the relocation officer that 7 million people must be moved - as London is destroyed it can be assumd that everyone in London at the time dies, therefore the only people needing to be moved are Londoners who were outside of the city at the time and all those living in the area affected by the radiation. The blast may have destroyed London, but the radiation could have spread out further, thus forcing citizens in other cities to relocate. Dialogue in the episode clearly states that the whole of southern England was contaminated.
  • How was Rose able to gain command over UNIT forces (as suggested when one soldier salutes her)? Unrevealed as yet; perhaps to be explained in a later episode.
  • What about The Master's takeover and the Toclafane invasion, the only two major events not referenced in the alternate timeline? Utopia establishes that Martha Jones is responsible for "Professor Yana" discovering his true nature; with her killed before joining the Doctor, this eventuality never occurred and presumably The Master/Yana continued to live as a human in the far future. Plus without the Doctor going to end of the universe with his Tardis, the Master had no method of time travel. If any of the technology would have allowed him to, then he would have done the first go around.
  • With no Harold Saxon present on earth (given the above), why does a tank still destroy the Webstar (as ordered by Saxon in The Runaway Bride)? Presumably a similar order was made by other parties, possibly UNIT, Torchwood or even Rose, they also leave out the line "Orders from Mr Saxon".
  • What happened before the 21st century to stop the Pyroviles invading, the Carrionites from starting a "Millennium of Blood", or the Cult of Skaro from creating a New Dalek Empire? Perhaps the fact that these would cause a paradox and stop the Doctor from dying underneath the Thames Barrier negated the events. However, it can be assumed that anything that happened before when Donna turned left, The Doctor still took part in, since Time acts strangely.
  • If Rose was able to get into Donna's universe, wouldn't she also have access to the other parallel universe? And would Donna's parallel universe have a parallel universe also?
  • Since the events of all the above are self-explanatory, why aren't the events of Time Crash and both Forest of the Dead and Silence in the Library cancelled out as well as the Fifth Doctor and all the adventures afterwards and before (get the logical explanation)?
  • How is it possible for The Doctor to die too quickly to regenerate, as it has been shown with The Master that a time lord will only not regerate if he or she wishes.

Continuity

  • Among other uses of the phrase "Turn Left" in the series: In The Sontaran Strategem the Sat Nav kept saying Turn Left; Captain Jack mentioned telling someone they should have turned left during a joke in Boom Town.
  • Bad Wolf returns as a warning for the end of the universe. Bad Wolf was last heard in Doomsday.
  • The Cloister Bell is heard, again as a warning. The Cloister was last heard in Time Crash.
  • Gwen Cooper and Ianto Jones are mentioned and they will appear in the next episode
  • The Webstar and RMS Titanic are seen.
  • The characters from The Sarah Jane Adventures are named in the news report to be dead in the parallel world.
  • The explanations above for what would've happened if the Doctor died take on a similar context to the Unbound series and DWM: Time & Time Again
  • In The Sontaran Stratagem, Colonel Mace and Captain Price saluted the Doctor but he said 'Don't salute, please'. When Captain Magambo soluted Rose, she told her not to salute as well. The difference is that this time Donna doesn't ask for a salute like she did in The Sontaran Stratagem.

DVD and Other releases

See also

to be added

External links

to be added

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