The Eleventh Hour (TV story)

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Why did you say five minutes?!Amy Pond

The Eleventh Hour was the first episode of Matt Smith's first series. It featured the debut of Karen Gillan as new companion Amy Pond and Arthur Darvill as recurring character, Rory Williams.

Though not the first episode filmed of the 2010 series, it was nevertheless the public's first full exposure to a new production ethos, as shaped by then-new executive producers Steven Moffatt, Piers Wenger, and Beth Willis. It was also the public's first exposure to director Adam Smith's work on a Doctor Who universe programme.

The episode was extensively previewed prior to broadcast, with special screenings in several British cities as part of a special promotional tour at the end of March 2010, and a special US pre-screening at a major science-fiction convention. The first minute of the episode was released as a special preview on the digital Red Button service in the week prior to its first BBC One broadcast.[1][2]

Synopsis

The Doctor has regenerated into a brand new man, but danger strikes before he can even recover. With the TARDIS wrecked, and the sonic screwdriver destroyed, the new Doctor has just 20 minutes to save the whole world - and only Amy Pond to help him.

Plot

The newly regenerated Eleventh Doctor is hanging from the edge of his damaged TARDIS, which is hurtling towards the city of London. The TARDIS nearly crashes into Big Ben, but the Doctor manages to use the sonic screwdriver to turn the TARDIS away from it. In her bedroom, a young Scottish ginger girl called Amelia Pond prays, saying there is a crack in her wall and needs someone to sort it out. Suddenly, she hears a noise in the garden. The TARDIS crashes in Amelia's garden. The young Amelia comes to investigate and sees the bedraggled and newly regenerated Eleventh Doctor struggling from the burnt out TARDIS. He claims to love apples and as such Amelia gives him one. It actually turned out he hates apples, yoghurt and bacon. Amelia helps him to find what his favourite food is. It turns out to be fish fingers and custard. He then goes and investigates the crack in Amelia's wall. He quickly deduces that it is a crack in time and space. Listening, he hears a voice saying 'Prisoner Zero has escaped'. He presumes that there is a prison on the other side of this crack. To fix it he uses his screwdriver to open the crack, as he knows that by opening it, it will soon close itself, sealing itself at the same time. While its open, the Doctor calls through, and a giant eyeball appears. It sends some blue energy through, which seems to zoom towards the Doctor's pocket. The crack then seals. The Doctor pulls his physic paper out of his pocket and see's that the words 'Prisoner Zero has escaped' written on it. He guesses that he has been sent this, because Prisoner Zero had escaped through the crack. He investigates the corridor and scenes he's missing something, on the corner of his eye. Just before he spots a room, he hears the cloister bells from the TARDIS. The Doctor then goes back to the TARDIS in an attempt to fix it. He promises he will be back in five minutes, as a quick trip to the future will help fix the engines and then promptly de-materialises. An excited Amelia goes to pack her things, not noticing that the door the Doctor was about to discover has mysteriously opened. The Doctor once again shows up at the bottom of Amelia's garden and run's into Amelia's house, exclaiming that he's figured out what he was missing and that Amelia's life was in danger. He is looking around the house when someone comes up behind him and whacks him on the head using a cricket bat. When he wakes, the Doctor see's a Scottish ginger woman dressed in a police uniform. The Doctor asks about Amelia Pond and the woman reveals that Amelia hasn't lived in the house for six months. The Doctor asks the woman to count how many rooms there are on the first floor. She counts five, however there is six as one of them is protected by a perception filter so that no-one but the trained few can see it. The woman is (understandably) shocked at this and investigates the room, ignoring the Doctors warnings not to. She comes face to face with Prisoner Zero, seemingly in its natural form, as a floating Eel like creature. She dashes back to the Doctor and gives him his sonic screwdriver. As he tries to free himself Prisoner Zero breaks through the door and emerges as a human form with a dog. However, the creature doesn't seem to be able to copy two voices at once, and so both the human mouth and the dog mouth bark. While trying to keep the creature at bay, he says that the policewoman had called for back up, to which the woman, not realising that the Doctor was trying to gain time, tells him that the radio was fake, she hadn't called for backup, she isn't a police woman, but a kissogram, a job where she goes to parties and gets paid to kiss people. The Atraxi captain is then heard saying "Attention Prisoner Zero the human residence is surrounded" followed by "Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated" and keeps repeating it. Back at the local hospital several patients in comas keep repeating one word; "Doctor". One of the people in a coma is a direct double of the form that Prisoner Zero has taken.

The Doctor and the woman go outside, to the TARDIS. However the Doctor can't open it because its repairing itself. He then notices the shed which he had previously smashed when he had crashed landed. He licks it and (using an ability he seems to have inherited from his previous self) deduces the shed is twelve years old. He asks the woman why she had said six months had passed, when in fact twelve years had. She then angrily asks why he said five minutes. At this point the Doctor realises that the woman is an adult Amelia Pond, who is now called Amy. Seeing that Prisoner Zero had left the house, they flee into the street, where they discover that the message from the Atraxi is repeated over and over again, on all wavelengths, throughout the world. The Doctor realises that that means that when the Atraxi are saying that they are going to incinerate the human residence, the human residence is not Amy's house, but the Earth.

The Doctor locates Prisoner Zero, and determined not to let him bring the world down in flames, uses his sonic screwdriver to attract the attention of the Atraxi. With light fixtures and telephone booths exploding, his plan seems to be working, until the already-damaged screwdriver overloads and burns out into a useless piece of charred metal. With the distraction gone, the prisoner escapes into a sewer and dissapears. Figuring that it would take approximatly twenty minutes for the Atraxi to power up their weapons and then incinerate the planet, the Doctor rushes Plan B into action: Using Roy's Blackberry, he writes a virus to turn every single digital display in the world into a list of zeroes, uploads it to the web via a laptop, and confronts Prisoner Zero at the hospital. With nowhere left to turn, the prisoner attempts to take on the appearence of a young Amy with the Doctor, and is tricked into disguising himself - as himself. With the threat ended, the Atraxi turn to leave but are summoned back under the rules of the Shadow Proclamation. The Doctor informs them that under no circumstances are they to ever come back to earth again - Earth is under his protection, and he is the Doctor.

With the Atraxi gone, the Doctor notices that his key-fob is glowing - the TARDIS has recovered and is waiting for him. Suddenly bursting with excitement, the Doctor, wearing his new outfit dashes off to see what is in store for him, and his eyes open with wonder as he beholds the newly repaired console room. Amelia and Roy, hot on his heels, skid to a halt as the TARDIS starts to fade.

Amy Pond, dreaming of her younger self waiting for the the Doctor to return, is suddenly startled awake by the sound of the TARDIS returning. Angry at the Doctor for abandoning her once again, he protests that he just went for a short hop to the moon, to "break in" the newly rebuilt engines. Amy furiously responds that their last adventure, when he left her standing in the garden, was two years ago. Trying to mollify her, the Doctor states that she's waited long enough, and welcomes her to join him as his next companion. Highly skeptical after waiting all this time, she initially refuses, but changes her mind when the Doctor snaps his fingers to open the TARDIS, and Amy sees the new console room for the first time. Finally she relents on the condition that the Doctor brings her back to Leadworth by "tommorow morning". The reason becomes clear soon enough, when the camera pans her bedroom to reveal a few slightly packed suitcases....and a wedding dress hanging on the closet door.

Cast

Crew

coming soon

References

  • This story contains minor references to previous episodes written by Steven Moffat. Libraries are mentioned on numerous occasions, a potential reference to the two-parter Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead. The concept of meeting a person at different points of their life - as the Doctor (accidentally) does to Amy Pond - was a major theme in The Girl in the Fireplace.
  • The Doctor intending to return in 5 minutes and accidentally taking 12 years is similar to the first time he takes Rose home. Instead of taking 12 hours, it was 12 months. (Aliens of London)
  • The Doctor says "What? What? What?", much like his previous incarnation.
  • When the Atraxi ask about Earth the Doctor responds with "I've put a lot of work into it." These are the same lines the non-canon Twelfth Doctor stated when regarding the universe before he regenerated.

Story Notes

  • The opening scene, which was released on BBC Red Button, was actually a pick-up. Not originally included in the final shooting script of the episode, it was written months after principal photography had wrapped on the episode. It technically had its own script, subtitled "Opening Sequence". At least two drafts were written, with the second being dated 17th December 2009 . The sequence was in fact its own production. Unlike the episode proper, its producer was Nikki Wilson, its director was Jonny Campbell, and its director of photography was Tony Slater-Ling. Wilson received a credit of "special thanks" in the end credits. The involvement of Campbell and Slater-Ling were established by behind-the-scenes footage of clapperboards. (WC: Doctor Who Video Explorer)
  • According to Russell T. Davies in Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale, Moffat informed him in January 2008 that he had begun writing the first episode of Series 5.
  • This is the only televised story starring a single incarnation of the Doctor to refer to the number of that incarnation in its title.
  • The episode included a sequence showing all previous ten incarnations of the Doctor.
  • Early press reports speculated that Sir Patrick Moore's appearance in this episode indicated that he had a larger part to play within the context of entire series. [3]
  • As of this episode a new logo, insignia, opening titles, theme tune, sonic screwdriver and TARDIS interior are used.
  • This story reveals that at least some sonic screwdrivers are grown/built by the TARDIS.
  • Amy Pond is the first modern Earth companion since the series' revival to not be from London. In the Confidential for this episode, Steven Moffat says that London-set stories had become a cliché and this was an attempt to avoid it.
  • During one part of the Dialogue, Prisoner Zero mentions the phrase "The Pandorica will open", and repeats "Silence". Maybe these are the watchwords for the series, especially seen as one of the episodes of Series 5 is rumoured to be called The Pandorcia Opens and it has also be rumoured that a silent menace will follow the Doctor and Amy on their travels. Much Like The Bad Wolf and Torchwood.
  • Though widely reported that young Amelia's scenes were set in 1996, nothing in the episode actually confirms this. In fact, the only date actually given in the entire episode is on Rory's Royal Leadworth Hospital ID badge, which was issued on 30th November 1990. If this isn't a production error, then Amelia's scenes likely take place in the early 1980s, and the entirety of the episode takes place no later than around the year 2000. It seems most likely a production error, however, as people are not too surprised by alien life. The Atraxi, too, when looking at Earth history, have 2007 events recorded. If one went by the 1996 date, the last scene would be 2010, erasing all Earth history problems, and fitting with dialogue later in the series where the Doctor takes Amy back to her time period, said to be 2010. This would mean that the first scene is in 1996, the majority of the episode in 2008, and the last scene in 2010.
  • The TARDIS scene in which the characters are viewed through the central column mirror those seen in the film.
  • In the final scene, the Doctor is standing next to a monitor in the TARDIS that shows a waveform. The waveform appears to be the same shape as the crack in Amy's wall.

Ratings

to be added

Filming Locations

  • The White House, Llandaff, Cardiff
  • Old Cemetery, Rhymney, Gwent
  • The Vicarage, Rhymney, Gwent
  • Abertillery Hospital, Aberbeeg, Abertillery
  • The Cathedral Green, Llandaff, Cardiff

Production errors

  • On the rooftop sequence near the end of the episode, the editor mismatches footage taken from two different camera positions. The wide shot of the departing Atraxi vessel shows Smith reaching into his coat pocket for the TARDIS key. When we switch back to a close-up of Smith, he hasn't yet reached into his pocket, and we have to wait a couple of seconds for him to complete the same action from that angle. He was shown to have not had his hand in his pocket for a time between the two shots. He could have reached it in twice.
  • Rory apparently started work as a nurse in 1990, but things such as the ability to have webcam conversations with multiple people exist, along with Facebook (created in 2004) and Twitter (launched in 2006, became well-known from 2007 - 2009), and when the Atraxi look at some of Earth history, 2007 events are shown. People also do not appear to be surprised by seeing alien things, something that only came to be following the early 21st century invasions and such.
  • On the rooftop scene, the last yellow tie disappears when the camera is zoomed out to show him faced off with the Atraxi vessel, however reappears in the next shot.
  • In the scene were Prisoner Zero inpersonates the Doctor, you can clearly see there is no one behind him through his legs, but then little Amy comes round, this shouldn't work as he is impersonating Amy not the Doctor. She simply didn't appear until then. It was an illusion, not reality. Also, Prisoner Zero admitted that he was deliberately impersonating a figure from Amy's memories.
  • Amy Pond has blue eyes as a child and brown as an adult. Eye color can change over time.
  • The scene in which the Atraxi show several Earth invasions are not entirely accurate: The Cybermen in the clip invaded Earth in a different universe. The Ood, Hath and Vashta Nerada were ever on Earth and the Reapers from one point of view, never happened. Judging by the fact that the Atraxi showed all the Doctor's past incarnations, they were probably obtaining their information from a psychic link with the Doctor's mind. Therefore, all the scenes shown were drawn directly from his memory; showing all the creatures with which he fought, not just those that directly attacked Earth.
  • If Amy Pond's village is too small to have more than one post office how can there be enough demand to sustain a Kissogram business? It is unlikely that most people in the village had jobs within the village itself. Amy mentioned that there was a larger city about thirty minutes' drive away, most likely the business had its headquarters there and she commuted.

Continuity

International Screenings

The Eleventh Hour will receive its international broadcast debut on 17th April 2010 when both BBC America in the US and Space in Canada will broadcast it, followed by ABC1 in Australia on 18th April.

However, it had pre-broadcast public screenings in North America prior to its official broadcast launch. On the west coast, it premiered on 3rd April at WonderCon in San Francisco.[2] Its east coast debut will be on 14th April 2010 at a the Village East Cinema in Manhattan. This latter screening is sponsored by BBC America, and it will be attended by Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Steven Moffat, who will then field questions after the showing.[4]

DVD/Blu-Ray Release

  • BBC Video - Doctor Who Series Five - Volume One is scheduled for release on DVD and Blu-Ray on 7th June 2010 (UK only), featuring The Eleventh Hour, The Beast Below, Victory of the Daleks, and the featurette The Monster Diaries. [5]
  • A Full Series Boxed Set is believed to be released on DVD & Blu-Ray later in the year.

External Links

to be added

Footnotes

  1. ↑ "Red Button Preview of Eleventh Hour". Doctor Who News Page
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Who Preview at WonderCon. Gallifrey News Base.
  3. ↑ "New Doctor Who Series Preview". thequietus.com.
  4. ↑ "Matt Smith and Karen Gillan in New York" Doctor Who News Page. 31 March 2010.
  5. ↑ Doctor Who News Page - Matt Smith First DVD Release Date, accessed 3rd March 2010]

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