Time Crash (TV story)

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Cause you know what, Doctor? You were my Doctor.The Tenth Doctor to the Fifth Doctor

Time Crash was a special "mini-episode" produced for the 2007 Children in Need appeal. It featured a brief encounter between the Fifth and Tenth Doctors and was penned by Steven Moffat. It also served as the explanation of how the Doctor's TARDIS was breached by the Titanic at the end of Last of the Time Lords. As such, it was very much a part of the overall continuity of the BBC Wales series of Doctor Who.

Synopsis

The Tenth Doctor accidentally pilots his TARDIS into the path of the Fifth Doctor's TARDIS--which threatens to annhilate an area of space the size of Belgium!

Plot

This story follows on from Last of the Time Lords: the Tenth Doctor has just said goodbye to Martha, and is attempting to take off when the TARDIS suddenly goes haywire.

And someone else is in the TARDIS: the Fifth Doctor. The Tenth Doctor realises straight away this is his past incarnation and is soon reminiscing about his adventures as the Fifth Doctor, much to the latter's confusion. The Fifth Doctor decides that the strange skinny bloke in his TARDIS is an obsessive fan of his--possibly affiliated with LINDA--and the Tenth, to his own bewilderment, can't convince his past self otherwise.

Meanwhile, the collision of the TARDIS with its past self threatens to tear a hole in the universe (The exact size of Belgium). The Fifth Doctor despairs of finding a solution in time, but the Tenth purposefully--if maniacally--manipulates the TARDIS controls and averts the disaster.

Stunned by the unexpected solution, the Fifth Doctor realizes that the other man is in fact his future self. The Tenth Doctor bids a warm farewell to his past self; and, with a final warning to his future self to restore the TARDIS shields, the Fifth Doctor rejoins his own timeline.

But suddenly it's too late to put up the shields... the Titanic has plowed through the wall of the TARDIS.

Cast

Production crew

References

  • The Tenth Doctor mentions running into The Master recently. The Fifth Doctor asks if he still has his "Rubbish beard".
  • The Tenth Doctor asks the Fifth Doctor about Nyssa, Tegan, the Mara, Cybermen and Time Lords 'in funny hats'.
  • The Tenth Doctor mentions the (Fifth) Doctor's celery.
  • The Titanic crashes into the TARDIS at the end of the scene. The Fifth Doctor warns the Tenth to put the shields up. Not doing so resulted in the Titanic crashing into the TARDIS.
  • LINDA are mentioned (looks like the Fifth Doctor is aware of the group).
  • The (Tenth) Doctor makes mention of the TARDIS's Helmic regulator, Zeiton crystals and venting the Thermo-buffer.
  • The two Doctors have a slightly testy relationship (with the Tenth Doctor criticizing his predecessor's decision to go "hands free" without a sonic screwdriver and his decision to wear a stalk of celery in his lapel). This is consistent with previous televised multi-Doctor adventures that have had the various parties getting on each other's nerves. In keeping with the previous stories, however, differences are set aside for the greater good and the different incarnations part on friendly terms.

Story notes

  • This is the third filmed contribution by the new series production team to Children in Need. In 2005, they had offered the Children in Need Special (aka 'Pudsey Cutaway'). In 2006 they provided a live concert of music during the traditional Children in Need charity time period, and subsequently offered it to home viewers prior to the original broadcast of The Runaway Bride.
  • After it was cancelled, the original series was briefly revived by the inaugural Doctor Who filmed entertainment made especially for Children in Need, entitled Dimensions in Time. In 1993, The Five Doctors was also broadcast as a part of, though not made especially for, the Children in Need charity drive.
  • This story marks the first appearance of a Doctor from the original series appearing in the new series, although recognizable drawings of original series Doctors can be seen in Human Nature.
  • This story is directed by Graeme Harper who also directed Peter Davison's last story (DW: The Caves of Androzani).
  • Steven Moffat (writer) also wrote the Comic Relief story, The Curse of Fatal Death.
  • The special was introduced by Terry Wogan and John Barrowman.
  • Peter Davison's name appears in the credits, the first time (discounting the 1996 TV movie) that an original series Doctor has had his name at the start of an episode.
  • The Fifth Doctor remembers how to save the TARDIS when he is the Tenth Doctor because, as the Fifth, he saw what the Tenth did. This is a reference to time going in a straight line, which makes sense, but was not discussed in The Three Doctors or The Five Doctors.

This is the first official episode of Doctor Who written by Steven Moffat that doesn't use his theme of highlighting childhood fears.

Ratings

to be added

Filming Locations

Myths and rumours

  • When the Fifth Doctor asks if the Master "still has that rubbish beard," the Tenth replies, "No ... well, a wife." This was interpreted by some fans as being a gay culture reference; a "beard" is a slang term for a member of the opposite sex who joins a homosexual individual in a marriage or other relationship in order to mask the fact that one or both partners is gay.

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

  • If the Tenth Doctor recalls this meeting from when he was the Fifth Doctor, then why was the Fifth Doctor so worried about his regeneration in The Caves of Androzani? (Perhaps in the heat of his impending "death" the Fifth Doctor simply forgot about his future encounter or perhaps time was in flux.)
  • If the Tenth Doctor tells the Fifth Doctor about meeting the Master in that incarnation then he would have known that he wasn't the last of the Time Lords (although this may partially explain the Doctor's extreme reaction to the news that Professor Yana has a Chameleon Arch fobwatch). Possibly, because The Doctor met the Master several times after his Fifth incarnation, he assumed that the Tenth meant one of those other encounters (such as the TV Movie).
  • The Tenth Doctor was at least as much confused meeting himself as the Fifth Doctor and he did not expect the Fifth Doctor thinking he is a fan (Although he should have remembered it). It might be that the Fifth Doctor, being aware of the problems that paradox may cause, locked these memories in the back of his mind, and remembered at the moment he heard the Cloister Bell.
  • How did the fifth doctor know about LINDA when they where from 2007? The Doctor could easily have visited 2007 at anypoint in his lives. See, for example, the Big Finish audio drama Cuddlesome which takes place in the same era. It's also possible that LINDA survives in some form into the future.
  • Throughout the story, the Doctor's hand-in-a-jar is located to the right of the console (as seen by viewers), but with the glass turned away from the camera (the illuminated interior can barely be glimpsed. It is in this position as Ten says goodbye to Five. Immediately after, the crash into Titanic occurs, and the hand-in-a-jar is suddenly positioned at the same spot on the floor, but with the glass facing the camera.
  • Given this rare opportunity, wouldn't the Tenth Doctor have tried to warn the Fifth Doctor about the upcoming Time War and at the very least ask him to make sure certain individuals (Romana, Susan, Leela) were safe. As indicated in numerous episodes, Father's Day for one, the Doctor is not only forbidden to change certain major events, but may be physically prevented from doing so (witness Dalek Caan's madness in The Stolen Earth). Given the Tenth Doctor's obvious fondness for his younger self, perhaps he didn't want to burden him with the knowledge (especially as it might have impacted his personal timeline). It would be the same as one's elderly self telling himself as a child when his parents will die.

Continuity

DVD and other releases

  • It was released alongside Voyage of the Damned.
  • It will be released on the Series 4 boxset DVD in November 2008.

See also

to be added

External links

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