Death Is the Only Answer (TV story)

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Death Is the Only Answer was a mini-episode of Doctor Who broadcast as part of Doctor Who Confidential.

Plot

In the control room of his TARDIS, the Eleventh Doctor is celebrating his acquisition of a new fez formerly owned by his old friend Albert Einstein. The Doctor trips near the console, knocking the fez out of his hands and onto a lever on the console. The Doctor accidentally pushes another lever, causing the fez to vanish. A time portal appears and Einstein himself stumbles through it with the fez, bewildered.

Einstein had been working on his own attempt at a time machine, but when he tried to turn it off, he arrived in the TARDIS. Einstein also thought that he'd discovered the vital part of finishing his time machine — a green liquid, which he believed to be bionic fusion liquid. After scanning the liquid, the Doctor informs Einstein that he is wrong. When Einstein walks away from the console to run some tests on the liquid, the flask suddenly bubbles over and the liquid splashes onto his face, turning him into an Ood who repeats the sentence, "Death is the only answer."

The Doctor has the TARDIS generate an energy field which turns Albert back into his normal self. The Doctor recommends that Albert keeps his fried hair, as it looks "more sciencey". The Doctor drops Albert off on 18 September 1945, and leaves for another adventure; unnoticed by the Doctor, a bit of Einstein's liquid remains on the console room floor, moving on its own.

Cast

References

  • The Doctor mentions that Einstein's toothbrush was destroyed by the Daleks during a recent encounter.

Story notes

Ratings

to be added

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.

to be added

Continuity

  • The Doctor has obtained a new fez, one which had been previously owned by Albert Einstein. He mentions River Song blowing up his old fez. (TV: The Big Bang)
  • Albert Einstein gets temporarily turned into or replaced by an Ood. Their last appearance was in TV: The Doctor's Wife.
  • The Doctor says of the TARDIS that "This 'old Trash' will be around until the end of time. In fact, it was."
  • This is the second time Einstein has been seen in the TARDIS, and references are made to unseen adventures of Einstein and the Doctor. His first appearance was with the Seventh Doctor in TV: Time and the Rani explaining that the TARDIS was all relative. He once had his picture taken with the Eleventh Doctor and Father Christmas at Frank Sinatra's hunting lodge.
  • The Doctor also wore a fez while sharing adventures with Kazran Sardick and Abigail Pettigrew, and when appearing in a Laurel and Hardy film. (TV: A Christmas Carol, The Impossible Astronaut)
  • The Doctor mention that Einstein should keep his frizzy hair as it looks "more sciencey". This is a nod to Einstein's frizzy hair.

DVD/Blu-ray release

Although the episode of Doctor Who Confidential that contained Death is the Only Answer was included in the Series 6 DVD and Blu-ray box sets in a "Cutdown" edit, this mini-episode was not included. As such it remains, as of November 2011, the only revival-era mini-episode to not be released in either DVD or Blu-ray format.