Orphan 55 (TV story)
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Orphan 55 was the third episode of series 12 of Doctor Who.
It showed one possible future for Earth, in which global warming and nuclear warfare eventually lead to it becoming an orphan planet, with those human survivors left behind evolving into Dregs. Notably, the Thirteenth Doctor explains that the relative future is always in motion, with multiple timelines hanging in the balance, dependent on the decisions of those who act in the present.
Synopsis
After Graham O'Brien wins Team TARDIS a free holiday at the high-end alien resort Tranquility Spa, it becomes clear that not everything is as it seems — why is the staff so worried about oxygen levels in the Spa when the planet appears to be hospitable to humans? What are the monsters stalking the corridors? And why does the planet on which they're all standing bear the ominous name of "Orphan 55"?
Plot
to be added
Cast
- The Doctor - Jodie Whittaker
- Graham O'Brien - Bradley Walsh
- Yasmin Khan - Mandip Gill
- Ryan Sinclair - Tosin Cole
- Kane - Laura Fraser
- Bella - Gia Ré
- Nevi - James Buckley
- Vilma - Julia Foster
- Hyph3n - Amy Booth-Steel
- Vorm - Will Austin
- Benni - Col Farrell
- Sylas - Lewin Lloyd
- Lead Dreg & Creature Movement - Spencer Wilding
Uncredited cast
- "Tranquility Spa guest" - Jordan Ring[1]
Crew
to be added
References
Locations
- The TARDIS travels into deep space.
- Graham collected holiday coupons from Bandohzi Herald.
- Team TARDIS gets teleported to Tranquility Spa.
- Tranquility Spa has security cameras on the Aqua Spa zone, the Ocean View zone, the Tropical Vista zone and the Peaceful Paradise zone.
- Tranquility has a pool, Bar and Refreshment zone, muster stations, teleport pads, a linen cupboard in the north corridor and a steam room.
- Tranquility Spa is in Siberia. The underground tunnel historically served residents of Novosibirsk.
- The entire spa is inside a Dome.
- Ryan notices a sign that says "Made in China".
- The Doctor states that Earth's fate as "Orphan 55" is "one possible future, one timeline". In this timeline, Earth has become an orphan planet.
- The Doctor states that in the the companions' time humanity is too busy arguing over washing ups while houses burn down to notice the red flags in the environment.
TARDIS
- Due to the squids mating, they leave the TARDIS entrance in a sticky liquid mess, requiring Yaz, Ryan and the Doctor to clean up with sponges and mops.
- The "six coupon" offer gets delivered through the coffee machine.
Languages
- Graham says cockle.
- Graham says an underground sign looks like it's in Russian, but the Doctor informs him that it is Novosibirsk.
Events
- The space squids are in their mating season.
- The Dregs, being mutated human survivors, have experienced a large number of catastrophic events:
- Snow avalanches.
- Illegal Burnings.
- Destructive Hurricanes.
- Forest fires.
- Floods
- Volcanic eruptions.
- Military wars.
- Heated desertlands.
- Atomic bomb explosions
- Rocket launches.
- The Doctor mentions scientist warnings of the environment being in danger.
- Yaz mentions global warming.
- The Doctor mentions the food chain collapse, mass migration and war.
Individuals
- Yaz says the Doctor is in a "mardy mood".
- Kane and Vorm are security at Tranquility Spa.
- Benni says to Vilma that he saw some newlyweds at the reception and that Tranquility is a good place for a honeymoon. He has a wedding ring prepared.
- Tranquility have all sorts of different-species humanoid guests.
- The Doctor once had hopper first-aid training.
- Ryan tells Bella he's "a surgeon... pilot... surgeon for pilots". Bella tells Ryan she's a hotel critic.
- Nevi is the maintenance guy at Tranquility Spa. He has a son Sylas who thinks the Spa is way more fun than his mother's house.
- Ryan admits he's working in a warehouse. Bella admits she's unemployed.
- The Doctor says that with crayons and half a can of Spam she could build Kane from scratch.
- Bella was her father's carer until he died. She says her mother made Nevi look like Parent of the Year.
- The Doctor says sometimes when she has a plan she only has 3/8s, sometimes 2/8s and sometimes just the letter "P", but that's all she needs.
Species
- The Deep-Space Squids are in their mating season when Team TARDIS sees them.
- Hyph3n is a humanoid squirrel-creature who is customer host at the Spa.
- Ryan and Bella acquire a multi-platform Hopper virus.
- Ryan thinks he sees bats while he's hallucinating.
- Dregs are roaming around the planet. They are apex predators and can adapt to guns and nuclear winter.
- The Doctor calls the Dreg leader Wheezy and the alpha dog.
Clothing
- Graham has a pair of speedos.
Food and beverages
Science
- The ionic membrane restores the O² levels to 20.5%.
- To be outside the Spa, people need oxygen tanks as there's not enough oxygen in the wastelands.
- Kane justifies building a spa on an orphan planet with the radiation having dropped.
- Kane is hopeful that CO2 levels can be reduced and the planet can be terraformed to become habitable.
- Orphan 55 has toxic mists all around it and gets slowly roasted by sunlight because of having no ozone layer.
Medical ailments and remedies
- The symptoms of a hopper virus in a human include wiggly fingers, which immediately signal the legs giving out, and hallucinations.
- Graham briefly wonders if he is having a stroke after bumping his head on an invisible void panel.
- Kane says she has stashed a medipack in the tunnel.
Technology
- The Bandohzi Herald coupons are, when put together, a teleport cube.
- Tranquility Spa has a computer tannoy that can be heard all over the Spa.
- Vorm thinks there's a system virus.
- Kane and Vorm have radios to contact each other.
- Ryan thinks the vending machine gave him an electric shock.
- Kane and Vorm have guns.
- The Doctor uses her psychic paper to pretend to be a Pan-Galactic Standards and Practices Officer, Health and Safety, Security and Hygiene and Resort Inspector.
- Tranquility is defended by an ionic membrane, which fails.
- The Doctor installs a debug script to neutralise the hopper viruses.
- Kane asks Vorm to uncloak Void panel SE9-13.
- The Doctor figures that Tranqulity Spa is a Fakation.
- Kane's gun is fitted with an exciplex modulator.
- Bella has built bombs all around the Spa.
- The teleports have bounce capacitors which need syrillium 4 to work.
- Syrillium 4 mutates from syrillium 3 via the hopper virus.
- The teleports have a drive core.
- Nevi has a snap hammer and a crash wrench.
Story notes
- Unlike Spyfall: Part One, and arguably Part Two, this episode lacks a cold opening.
Ratings
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 is still in a bad mood, which Team TARDIS have picked up on. (TV: Spyfall)
- Ryan mentions that he works in a warehouse. (TV: The Woman Who Fell to Earth)
- The Doctor previously identified a planet as Earth thanks to an underground station in her sixth incarnation. (TV: The Mysterious Planet)
- The Doctor previously investigated a holiday resort which was hiding a secret, Paradise 5, with Peri Brown. (AUDIO: Paradise 5)
- Bernice Summerfield previously visited Gigamarket where the humans were hidden behind a forcewall to stop the Borvali from hunting them down. (AUDIO: The Greatest Shop in the Galaxy)
- Graham says "cockle." (TV: Kerblam!, PROSE: Mission of the KaaDok)
- Ryan mentions his mother's death. (TV: The Woman Who Fell to Earth, The Tsuranga Conundrum)
- Graham says that he is a bus driver. (TV: The Woman Who Fell to Earth, Rosa)
- The Doctor says "When I say 'run', run" a favourite saying of her second incarnation. (TV: The Power of the Daleks, Kill the Moon)
- The Doctor instructs her companions to be the "best of humanity." (TV: Cold Blood)
- The Doctor previously witnessed a devastated future Earth in her second incarnation. (AUDIO: The Apocalypse Mirror)
- The Seventh Doctor also encountered a possible version of future humanity mutated by pollution. (TV: The Curse of Fenric)
- The Twelfth Doctor and Clara Oswald previously visited a future Earth devastated by climate change in 2089. The Doctor indicated to Clara that this future was not fixed. (PROSE: All the Empty Towers)
Home video releases
to be added
External links
- Official Orphan 55 page on the Doctor Who website
