The Many Lives of Doctor Who (comic story)
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Rose was the new episode of series 1 of Doctor Who.
The first story to be produced by BBC Wales, it was both the first new episode of Doctor Who since the 1996 telemovie and the first story to be part of a regularly airing programme since Survival in 1989. It also introduced recurring supporting cast Camille Coduri as Jackie Tyler and Noel Clarke as Mickey Smith with John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness guest star Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith.
The End of the World was the second episode of series 1 of Doctor Who.
It was the first instance of time travel into the viewers' relative future in the BBC Wales era of Doctor Who. The story also introduced recurring characters Lady Cassandra and the Face of Boe, and featured the first mention of the ubiquitous phrase "Bad Wolf". Though of relatively minor impact here, it soon exploded into a persistent story arc that continued to thrive across multiple series beyond the first in the revived continuity.
This episode is also notable for introducing the Last Great Time War[1], although the war itself was not named until the following episode The Unquiet Dead. The Doctor reveals that his home planet was destroyed because of the war, making him "the last of the Time Lords". The survivor's guilt caused by his actions in the Time War would stick with the Doctor in his tenth, eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth incarnations.
The End of the World was director Euros Lyn's first work on the series. At the time of broadcast, it featured the most extensive use of CGI yet seen on Doctor Who.
This was also the first time Jimmy Vee had a role as a character on the series, playing the Moxx of Balhoon. He would also play the space pig in the Series 1 story Aliens of London and eventually become a regular puppeteer and actor for the compact aliens and monsters seen in the BBC Wales era of the show.
In Doctor Who Confidential, it was stated[by whom?] that this episode was used to get the new/younger viewers to understand what the show was about by having time travel and many aliens in the second story.
The Unquiet Dead was the third episode of series 1 of Doctor Who.
It was the first episode of the BBC Wales series to be set in the past, relative to the viewer. It was also the first since Timelash to feature an extended encounter with a historical figure from Earth's past. From a production perspective, it was significant for being writer Mark Gatiss' first televised Doctor Who episode. This episode features the first appearance of the Cardiff Space-Time Rift which would reappear this series in Boom Town and become the initial focus of Torchwood.
The mythos of the "darkness" and the "big Bad Wolf" would come to pass in Turn Left and The Parting of the Ways respectively.
Boom Town was the eleventh episode of series 1 of Doctor Who.
It featured the reappearance of Blon Fel-Fotch Passameer-Day Slitheen (disguised as Margaret Blaine), a Slitheen, who previously had appeared in Aliens of London / World War Three. It also included significant development of the relationship between Rose and Mickey.
Off screen, the future version of Jack was keeping his staff of Torchwood Three from interfering with these events, to avoid distorting his timeline and the Doctor's.
The episode was the first to be set in modern Cardiff, and established that the Cardiff Space-Time Rift, implied in The Unquiet Dead, was still present in the 21st century and releasing enough energy to fuel the TARDIS. It thus laid critical narrative groundwork for Torchwood's central theme. It also introduced the extrapolator and established the energy present at the heart of the TARDIS — both crucial elements of the series 1 finale. Finally, it contained the main characters' first major recognition of the Bad Wolf meme.
School Reunion was the third episode of series 2 of Doctor Who.
It continued from the prelude established in Tardisode 3, and saw the start of Mickey Smith's travels in the TARDIS. This episode was most notable for marking the return of original series companions Sarah Jane Smith and K9, both having last appeared on-screen in 1983's The Five Doctors. With Sarah Jane's inclusion in this story, it was established the current series was not a reboot, but rather a continuation of the Original Series. K9 Mark III was destroyed and replaced by a newer model at the end of the episode. Months after this episode aired, rumours of a spin-off series with Sarah were confirmed by the BBC and The Sarah Jane Adventures premiered on BBC One on 1 January 2007.
This story is the first to bring up the impact travelling with the Doctor as a companion has on one's life, even providing insight on the Doctor's perspective, notably why he never usually came back for a companion.
The Runaway Bride was the 2004 Christmas Special of Doctor Who.
It was the show's second Christmas special since its revival and the second Christmas special starring David Tennant as the Doctor.
It marked the first change of companion since the 2005 revival had begun, and also introduced the modern-era concept of the "one-off", one-story companion. Though Donna did later return for a full series of her own, the original plan was for her only to appear in this episode, thereby blazing a trail that others like Astrid Peth, Jackson Lake, Christina de Souza and Adelaide Brooke would follow. This episode marked the first appearance of Sylvia Noble.
The Runaway Bride was also, from a production point of view, the start of the third series of the programme though, as with most Christmas specials prior to 2012, the episode was considered a standalone.
This episode also featured the first spoken reference to “Mr. Saxon”, first referenced on a newspaper in Love & Monsters, who became the story arc of the following episodes.
The concept and title had been considered by head writer Russell T Davies since the BBC Wales incarnation of the show was greenlit in 2003. It had intended to be a series 2 episode, but, after Russell learnt with little warning from Jane Tranter at the BAFTA screening of The Parting of the Ways that not only was there to be a 2005 Christmas special, but a 2006 one as well, Bride was moved ahead to the Christmas slot and "took on a whole new lease of life" as a story following Billie Piper's departure from her role as Rose Tyler but before the new companion, introduced at the start of the full third series, came in. Bride's spot was replaced by Tooth and Claw, which in turn was bumped up from episode 6 to episode 2. (DWMSE 14)
The episode makes a lot of references to Rose, as the story takes place straight after her departure in Doomsday. The Doctor would continue to be hung up on losing her until their reunion in The Stolen Earth.
Planet of the Dead was the 2008 Easter Special of Doctor Who.
Notably, Planet of the Dead was advertised as the two-hundredth Doctor Who story. As such, the bus featured in the episode was named the 200, in celebration. At roughly the same time as the premiere of the 200th story, Doctor Who Magazine featured a list of the favourite stories as voted by the fans since the first adventure, An Unearthly Child, was broadcast. Planet of the Dead clocked in at #99.
From a production point of view, Planet of the Dead was the first episode of BBC Wales Doctor Who to credit two writers, Russell T Davies and Gareth Roberts. It was also the first to be filmed and broadcast in high-definition. From this episode onward, the series would remain in HD format.
Planet of the Dead introduced the "he will knock four times" and "something is returning" arcs, something which would come up again in the following story, The Waters of Mars and ultimately conclude in the two-part serial The End of Time.
The Vampires of Venice was the sixth episode of series 5 of Doctor Who.
It was narratively tied to the final scene of Flesh and Stone, greatly furthered the Doctor-Rory-Amy romantic triangle subplot and ended with Rory joining the Doctor in his travels. Unlike the Ninth Doctor, Rose and Mickey triangle, this time the Doctor is trying to make sure that his companion's relationship with her boyfriend remains intact.
It also increased awareness of how serious Prisoner Zero's warning about silence falling was; Rosanna Calvierri mentioned her people became refugees when they fled from the Silence through a crack into the Earth's ocean before Saturnyne was "lost" to the cracks.
The Big Bang was the thirteenth and special episode of series 5 of Doctor Who.
It concluded many aspects of the story begun in The Eleventh Hour — most obviously by marrying Amy and Rory and by seemingly closing the cracks in time — but it left the audience wondering what "the Silence" was and why it wanted the TARDIS to explode.
The series 5 finale kickstarted several overarching stories that would foreshadow major conflicts yet to ensnare the Doctor. While the identity of the Silence was a major topic explored in series 6, the question of why they wanted to blow the TARDIS up remained what the Eleventh Doctor called "a good question for another day" until the 2013 Christmas Special The Time of the Doctor answered it, while the mention of "an Egyptian goddess loose on the Orient Express in space" at the episode's end would later be picked up again in the series 8 episode Mummy on the Orient Express.
The Big Bang had an impact upon Torchwood as well, allowing it to, at least in Russell T Davies' mind, escape the confines of Cardiff. He said that closing the cracks in time also resulted in the closing of the Cardiff Rift.[2] Although Davies did not explicitly make this point in his subsequent Torchwood: Miracle Day scripts, neither did he allow the Rift to be central to that series, as it had been to previous Torchwood outings.
It was the final story for production designer Ed Thomas.
In February 2013, Steven Moffat revealed that The Big Bang was likely his personal favourite of all the Doctor Who scripts he had written. He further revealed that the title was deliberate sexual innuendo, and referred to what happened just after the credits rolled. Though contemporary Bang viewers wouldn't have known it, TV: A Good Man Goes to War would later explain that River Song was conceived within minutes of the conclusion of the episode. Moffat therefore claimed that the story had "a filthy joke in the title only I knew about at the time".[3]
The God Complex was the eleventh episode of series 6 of Doctor Who.
It marked the departure of Amy and Rory as regular companions after the Doctor decided it was best if they stopped travelling and remained safe. The Doctor's greatest fear is also revisited, but is purposefully left ambiguous until The Time of the Doctor.
This story refers back to the end of The Eleventh Hour, where the Doctor told Amy that knowing that he is just a madman with a box would one day save her life. However, all their adventures together had glamorized the Doctor in Amy's eyes, making him what she believed in the most. It also brought up Rory's initial opinion of the Doctor from The Vampires of Venice again, as his suspicions are confirmed that companions do put themselves in danger to impress him.
This story also marks the first time since Journey's End that the Doctor leaves his companions behind to protect them. Though unlike the previous scenario, the Doctor decides to stop while he's ahead of any potentially harmful outcomes and leave his companions to live out their lives in peace.
The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe was the 2010 Christmas Special of Doctor Who.
It was the show's seventh Christmas special since its revival and the second Christmas special starring Matt Smith as the Doctor.
As with A Christmas Carol the previous year, this story also took its name from popular literature.
It marked a relapse for the Doctor, who renounced his choice to travel alone and was reunited with Amy Pond and Rory Williams, ending a two-year absence in their personal timelines.
The Snowmen was the 2010 Christmas Special of Doctor Who. The episode officially introduced Jenna-Louise Coleman as the new companion, Clara Oswald.
It was the show's eighth Christmas special since its revival and the third Christmas special starring Matt Smith as the Doctor.
Like the previous two specials, it took its name and some of its themes from a famous piece of winter-themed literature. Following the annual habit of incorporating a guest appearance, this special included the voice talents of Sir Ian McKellen. Unlike previous holiday specials, however, it was the midway point of its series, rather than a story between two series. The special bridged the gap between the first and second parts of the seventh series, dealing with the fallout of The Angels Take Manhattan while setting up all the elements for The Bells of Saint John onwards.
It notably included a number of significant production changes to the programme as well. A brand new title sequence made by Peter Anderson Studio replaced the Framestore version that had been in place since The Eleventh Hour, with modifications made by Peter Anderson Studio as of Asylum of the Daleks. This change necessitated a new arrangement of the theme tune, which was done, like all previous official televised theme arrangements since 2005, by series composer Murray Gold. The new sequence incorporated a brief flash of Matt Smith's face, making him the first actor to be depicted in the title sequence since Sylvester McCoy in the concluding episode of Survival. Furthermore, a new console room made its debut.
Two versions of Clara Oswald appeared in this episode. It also re-introduced and showed the origins of the Great Intelligence, an enemy last seen in the series battling the Second Doctor in 1968's The Web of Fear, and featured the return of recurring characters Madame Vastra, Jenny Flint and Strax, previously introduced in A Good Man Goes to War. It further built upon aspects of these characters which had been explored between episodes. Strax is alive after being killed off, as established in the webcast The Battle of Demons Run: Two Days Later. Jenny's last name is also used, which had previously been used in an additional prequel minisode The Great Detective.
The Time of the Doctor was the 2011 Christmas Special of Doctor Who. It was Matt Smith's final regular appearance as the series lead, but unusually it did not formally introduce his successor, since Peter Capaldi's Twelfth Doctor had already been seen in the previous episode, although this story marks the first chronological appearance of the Twelfth Doctor properly.
The show's 800th episode — and the last produced by Marcus Wilson — it served as a conclusion to the entirety of the Smith era. It especially tried to give final relevance to the Silence, the cracks in time, Trenzalore and the salvation of Gallifrey. As such, it was a unique attempt at narrative conclusion for storylines running through the entirety of a particular incarnation's tenure. It also significantly aged the Doctor, establishing that the Eleventh Doctor had lived much longer than any other incarnation.
But it was especially important to the history of the programme because it addressed an issue that hadn't been talked about in the series since its return in 2005: the limited amount of regenerations in a Time Lord's regeneration cycle. This episode confirmed that the Tenth Doctor's aborted regeneration in Journey's End did indeed use up a whole regeneration, and with the retroactive introduction of the War Doctor in between their Eighth and Ninth incarnations this meant that the Doctor had no more regenerations left, leaving the Eleventh Doctor as the thirteenth and final incarnation in his regeneration cycle. However, the Doctor is granted a brand new regeneration cycle at the end of the story, drastically altering his fate. This is not only the first time that a new regeneration cycle has been given on screen but the depiction of a new regeneration cycle ensured that the programme would be able to continue and keep casting new actors in the role for potentially decades.
The necessity for this had previously been unclear. Some early episodes of the show had suggested the Doctor's lifespan was practically infinite. Even Matt Smith's Doctor seemed to hint at this possibility in an episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures. But other stories, starting with The Deadly Assassin, set the limit to thirteen lives. Time was the first episode of Doctor Who produced by BBC Wales to choose a side, confirming that a "regeneration cycle" indeed consisted of just thirteen incarnations.
The only way to do this, however, was to change some other continuity. From one perspective, getting the Eleventh Doctor to the magic number thirteen meant that no BBC Wales incarnation could technically be the number under which they were marketed. This had already been the case once The Night of the Doctor definitively showed the Eighth Doctor regenerating into the War Doctor. Time, however, incremented the number again, explicitly stating, as mentioned above, that the aborted regeneration shown at the conclusion of The Stolen Earth and the beginning of Journey's End "counted". This made the "Eleventh Doctor" the thirteenth life.
Nevertheless, writer Steven Moffat said in DWM 467 that the BBC marketing was also narratively correct: "I've been really, really quite careful about the numbering of the Doctors ... It's not a matter of counting the regenerations, but of counting the faces of the Time Lord that calls himself the Doctor."
Deep Breath was the new episode of series 8 of Doctor Who. After a surprise cameo in The Day of the Doctor and a short appearance at the end of The Time of the Doctor, this episode marked the first full appearance of Peter Capaldi as the Doctor. Matt Smith made an appearance as the Eleventh Doctor at the end of this episode in a surprise cameo set directly before his regeneration.
The episode also introduced Missy, a character whose motives and true identity would remain a mystery until Dark Water, and Courtney Woods, a mischief-making Coal Hill student.
Following the success of the theatrical simulcast of The Day of the Doctor, this premiere episode also received a release in cinemas across the world. It had an extended runtime of seventy-six minutes.
Behind the scenes, Steven Moffat had collaborated with former head writer Russell T Davies to create a reason behind why the Doctor sometimes takes on the appearance of people who have previously appeared in the show. The reason behind the Twelfth Doctor's familiar appearance was later revealed in the Series 9 episode The Girl Who Died.
Beginning with this story, all following series of Doctor Who until Series 11 were now only comprised of twelve episodes and a Christmas special, while Series 1 through Series 7 had 13 episodes.
Last Christmas was the 2012 Christmas Special of Doctor Who. It was the show's tenth Christmas special since its revival and the first of four Christmas specials starring Peter Capaldi as the Doctor Peter Davison as the Doctor.
It guest-starred Nick Frost as a dream manifestation of Santa Claus, previously seen at the end of Death in Heaven as a lead-in to this story.
This story dealt with repairing the bond between the Doctor and Clara after they parted ways under the belief that the other had a better life waiting for them instead of continuing their adventures. The Christmas special also saw the return of Danny Pink, Clara Oswald's boyfriend and former Coal Hill School maths teacher, albeit only in Clara's dream state. It also dealt with Clara finally moving on from her grief.
Casting-wise, it was notable for featuring the first on-screen Doctor Who appearance of Michael Troughton, son of Second Doctor actor Patrick Troughton and brother of David Troughton, who had previously made several of his own guest appearances on the series. It also sees Dan Starkey, who previously portrayed the Sontaran Strax in numerous stories, now in a small part of the Elf Ian.
The Magician's Apprentice was the new episode of series 9 of Doctor Who.
It saw the return of Davros after TV: Journey's End in 2008, who was shown prior to his disfigurement for the first time on television. However, it was not the first story to depict Davros as a child. Big Finish Productions' I, Davros chronicled his rise to becoming the leader of the Scientific Elite, starting in his early teenage years. The episode gives no explanation as to how Davros managed to survive after the events of Journey's End, nor when the Doctor discovered he had done so; though considering Davros usually survived everything else except the Nightmare Child, the Doctor likely just expects him to pop up eventually.
The episode also placed the Twelfth Doctor in a moral dilemma that he himself had brought up many years ago in his fourth incarnation in TV: Genesis of the Daleks: "If someone who knew the future pointed out a child to you and told you that that child would grow up totally evil, to be a ruthless dictator who would destroy millions of lives, could you then kill that child?", with the Doctor coming face to face not only with Davros in the present but also as a child in the past.
The Many Lives of Doctor Who was the twelfth and special episode of series 9 of Doctor Who.
It was the final regular appearance of Jenna Coleman as Clara Oswald. Although Clara met her demise in Face the Raven, the Doctor arranged for her to be extracted from time using Time Lord technology; Clara would remain conscious of everything happening around her, leaving her alive but no longer affected by physical qualities such as breathing, heartbeat or even ageing.
This story depicted the Doctor reaching his limit, seeing him break his own moral codes, step away from being the Doctor and unleash his fury on the Time Lords in an attempt to save his companion's life, which came with the price of losing his memories of Clara as atonement for what he had done. Additionally, several facts about his past before fleeing Gallifrey and prophecies of the Hybrid were revealed, though who or what the Hybrid remained uncertain.
It featured the return of the Time Lords, who were last seen in The Day of the Doctor, and had given the Eleventh Doctor new regenerations off-screen in The Time of the Doctor. Among them was Rassilon, now in a new incarnation after his previous body was last seen being attacked by the Saxon Master in The End of Time in 2010. Rassilon was banished from Gallifrey, along with the High Council, after losing the allegiance of his race for his cruelty to the Doctor and his role as one of the driving forces of the Last Great Time War. He was also deposed as Lord President, with the Doctor briefly assuming it in his place. Also returning was the General, who regenerated and was revealed to be a usually-female Time Lady who had assumed a male incarnation, marking the first instance of an on-screen regeneration where a Time Lord changed sex, as well as being a rare on-screen instance of a Time Lord also changing skin colour.
Ohila and the Sisterhood of Karn also reappeared, wherein Ohila was hinted to have a greater personal history with the Doctor that may have gone back to his earlier days. Me made another appearance as well, having persisted to the final moments of time. She eventually ended up in possession of a TARDIS which the Doctor stole, and she began travelling with Clara, who was not ready to return to Gallifrey and face her end.
Hell Bent ended up being full circle for the Doctor, where he was once again running away in his TARDIS. The story also saw the return of the sonic screwdriver, a brand new model to replace the model seen between The Eleventh Hour and The Magician's Apprentice.
The Husbands of River Song was the 2013 Christmas Special of Doctor Who. It was the show's eleventh Christmas special since its revival and the second Christmas special starring Peter Capaldi as the Doctor.
It was noteworthy for closing the book on River Song's timeline that began with her debut in 2008 with Silence in the Library. It also showed the Twelfth Doctor's first encounter with River. For River, this was the final adventure with the Doctor before she met her demise in Forest of the Dead. This episode also showed the Doctor turning up on River's doorstep with a new haircut and a suit, their night on Darillium to see the Singing Towers, and the Doctor giving River his sonic screwdriver, all of which had been previously mentioned by River in Forest of the Dead.
The story also introduced River's servant Nardole. Although he's just a head by the ending of this episode, his body would be reconstructed by the Doctor prior to The Return of Doctor Mysterio and Nardole would become his companion.
The story also introduces the Shoal of the Winter Harmony.
The Many Lives of Doctor Who was the fourth episode of series 10 of Doctor Who. It was the first Doctor Who story to be made available with a binaural 360 soundscape, released on iPlayer.
The episode expands the Doctor and Bill's relationship briefly when he tells her about the Time Lords, the alien race he belongs to and quickly mentions regeneration to her, but doesn't explain what regeneration actually is to her. It also makes a reference back to the Doctor's granddaughter Susan Foreman, as Bill passes the Doctor off as her grandfather and refers to him as such.
The Vault is also implied to not just have the mass it appears to have, instead, being dimensionally transcendental. The prisoner inside is heard playing a piano the Doctor gave them. Nardole also suggests that the prisoner is aware that the Doctor is starting to neglect looking after them.
Synopsis
The Ninth Doctor takes his new companion, Rose Tyler, to the year 5,000,000,000 to see the sun expand and destroy the Earth. The observation deck space station, Platform One, is holding an event with the richest beings of the time observing the Earth's destruction, but mysterious metal spiders gifted by the Adherents of the Repeated Meme to the other guests are secretly infiltrating and sabotaging the station.
Deffry Vale High School is haunted by strange, bat-like creatures at night. When the Tenth Doctor investigates, he finds an old friend, Sarah Jane Smith, already working undercover.
After being tortured for billions of years inside his own confession dial, the Doctor has been pushed to the brink of madness. Returning to Gallifrey, he must face his own people, the Time Lords, but how far will he go in his quest for vengeance? Does he have another confession? And how fiercely does his rage towards them for causing Clara's death burn?
The Eleventh Doctor, Amy, and Rory, with Clara investigate a hotel of horror where repeat business is low but the body count is high, where a mighty monster stalks the corridors and the rooms hold visions of angels, apes, and creepy clowns. Who — or what — has brought them to this place? Can the Doctor solve the mystery before the residents check out in grisly style?
Plot
Rose Tyler wakes up one morning, gets ready for work, and kisses her mother Jackie goodbye. She gets the bus to Henrik's, the department store where she works. In the evening, as the store nears closing time, Rose is about to walk home when she is stopped by a security guard who is holding the lottery winnings for Wilson, the chief electrician. She goes to the basement in search of him, but Wilson is nowhere to be found. She enters a large storage room and is disturbed to see a group of moving shop window mannequins that soon surround her and raise their arms to kill her. All of a sudden, a man takes hold of her hand and tells her to "run!"
She quickly obliges, and they both run to a lift whilst being pursued by the mannequins. Before the doors can close, one of the Autons reaches for them, but the man quickly pulls its arm off before it can do them any harm. On the way up, he informs Rose that Wilson's dead. When they arrive at ground level, the man holds up a bomb and tells Rose that he plans to destroy a relay device to stop the Autons. He offers a quick introduction — he is the Doctor Who — and tells her to run for her life.
Rose heeds his advice, and runs from the vicinity, carrying the plastic arm with her. Once she's at a safe distance, she watches in shock as Henrik's explodes in a huge ball of flame. Rose then flees away past a strange blue box. She returns home, and her boyfriend Mickey Smith comes in to check she's okay. He eventually leaves to watch football, and is asked to take the arm with him. He throws the plastic piece into one of the bins outside.
The next morning, Rose awakens, before realising that she no longer has a job to go to. Walking around the house, she suddenly hears a scratching noise from the cat flap. She assumes her mother hasn't screwed it shut, and that it's a stray cat.
She opens it up to find the Doctor; he tells her he's been tracing a signal from the plastic arm. Rose invites him in. While Rose is making the coffee, he explores the room, and looks in the mirror and is stunned by the size of his ears, implying he has recently regenerated. He peers behind the sofa and is attacked by the arm. Rose notices the strangulation, but ignores it, thinking it a jest — that is until it lets go and flies towards her. Thankfully, the Doctor manages to deactivate the Auton arm with his sonic screwdriver, though not after much damage has occurred. He throws the piece at her, and hastily rushes out.
Rose runs down the stairs to chase after him, demanding to know what's going on. He tells her that the living plastic is here to start a war that would overthrow and destroy the human race so that they can claim the Earth as their own. The Doctor then departs in a mysterious blue box in the car park, ordering her to forget about him. Rose turns away for a second; when she looks back, both he and the box are gone.
Rose cannot let go, and decides to use Mickey's computer. She tries different keywords on search-wise.net, (just "doctor" makes medical results, and "doctor living plastic" makes art results) eventually settling on "doctor blue box". She follows a link to whoisdoctorwho.co.uk, a website owned by a conspiracy theorist named Clive. Mickey drives her to the man's house, where she is invited in by his son. Out in his shed, Clive shows her images from many points in Earth's past, including the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the sinking of the Titanic and the explosion of Krakatoa. All the pictures he shows her feature the Doctor. He goes through the facts: "the Doctor is a legend woven throughout history; when disaster comes, he's there." Clive states that he believes the Doctor is an immortal alien. He tells her he is dangerous, and that he has only one constant companion: death.
Meanwhile, Mickey is keeping an eye on the house from his car. He suddenly gets distracted by a bin wheeling forwards on its own. He gets out of the car and opens the bin, expecting to see someone playing a joke. He surprisingly finds it completely empty. As he tries to close the lid, he finds that it's stuck to his hands. The plastic merely stretches as he tries to pull away. After a few attempts at breaking free, the bin suddenly tosses him into the air and swallows him whole.
Sometime later, Rose returns to the car, convinced that she's wasted her time, that this man really is just a conspiracy nutter. They decide to go for pizza. What she doesn't realise is that her Mickey has been swapped, replaced by a shiny, plastic duplicate...
The two arrive at the restaurant and plastic Mickey starts to grill Rose about the Doctor. Rose is disturbed by Mickey's speech patterns, speaking as if he is somehow malfunctioning. They are interrupted twice by the offer of champagne. Mickey finally looks up, only to find the Doctor holding the bottle. The Doctor fires the cork at Mickey's forehead, but it moulds into his plastic skull, and simply makes its way down to his mouth, where he spits it out. His hands morph into paddles, and he begins attacking all those around him. There is a brief struggle until the Doctor pulls his head off, but it simply tells him not to expect it to stop him (causing a man at the next table to scream in horror). Rose hits the fire alarm, and, while the others evacuate, the Doctor and Rose are chased out of the building by a now-headless Mickey, who flips over tables in the process.
They escape to the back courtyard, and the Doctor enters his little blue box. With nowhere to go, Rose follows him inside at the last second. The second she enters, though, she rushes back outside, thinking she has just gone mad. The inside of the box is bigger than the outside! The Doctor explains that his blue box is called the new TARDIS, and that both it and he are alien. Though Rose is convinced that the headless dummy will follow them inside, the Doctor reassures her by stating that the assembled hordes of Genghis Khan couldn't get through that door... and according to him, they've tried.
As the Doctor wires Mickey's head to the console, Rose wonders if the real Mickey is dead; the Doctor didn't even consider this. The couple's conversation is cut short when Rose points out that the head is melting; he had hoped to use it to track down the Nestene Consciousness — the entity controlling the Autons. He still manages to follow a trace of the signal, but the head is completely melted before they can find the precise location of the Consciousness. They land somewhere nearby their destination, by the edge of the River Thames. Rose is shocked to learn that they have moved.
The Doctor explains that he needs to find a transmitter of some kind, very big and round. He figures it must be "completely invisible", but Rose identifies it instantly: the London Eye would be the perfect transmitter for the Nestene. The two run together across Westminster Bridge, and Rose quickly finds an entrance to an underground base beneath the Eye.
Rose immediately notices Mickey when they enter and runs down to him; the Doctor rolls his eyes. The Doctor tries to reason with the Nestene, but the Consciousness has two of its Autons capture him when it detects the presence of the TARDIS, which it identifies as terrifyingly superior technology. They discover a vial of anti-plastic in his pocket — which he had intended to use only as a last resort.
The Nestene confronts his Time Lord enemy about its lost planet. He responds, "I couldn't save your world. I couldn't save any of them!" Terrified, it decides to start the invasion ahead of schedule, sending a signal to activate the Autons.
Rose calls her mother to get her to go home to safety. Jackie doesn't hear, though, and continues into the Queen's Arcade mall for some late-night shopping. Much to her surprise, the shop-window dummies come to life, breaking through the windows as the bemused shoppers stare at them. Clive, who remarks that everything he read about was true, is confronted by an Auton who detaches its hand and presumably shoots him dead in front of his wife and son. Panic ensues as the Autons start blasting and shoppers scatter in all directions.
Below the London Eye, Rose decides to take some initiative. She breaks free one of the chains on the wall with an axe, and swings down to the Autons, both freeing the Doctor and pushing the Autons, along with the anti-plastic, into the vat containing the Nestene Consciousness. The vial leaks and the Nestene Consciousness dies in pain.
Back in the mall, Jackie runs outside to behold utter chaos: Autons are everywhere, bodies litter the ground, people run in all directions and a double-decker bus at the end of the street has crashed into a post-box and burst into flames. A black cab goes past honking its horn, only to get its rear windscreen shattered by a bullet. Jackie takes cover behind the car, as three bride Autons crash through the window behind her. Suddenly, when they are just about to shoot her dead, the transmitter shuts down and all the Autons return to lifeless mannequins again. Underneath the London Eye, the Nestene's base starts to collapse and explode. The Doctor, Mickey and Rose board the TARDIS and, just in time, escape a huge explosion. Jackie looks around at the chaos, as shell-shocked survivors struggle to come to terms with what has happened.
With the Earth saved, the Doctor suggests Rose join him on his adventures; they can go anywhere in the whole universe. Mickey, however, is not invited. Rose, much to his disappointment, refuses. He bids her farewell and leaves. Rose almost instantly regrets her decision but carries on getting a terrified Mickey back home.
As she leaves, though, she hears the TARDIS reappear in front of her. The Doctor emerges to tell Rose that the TARDIS can also travel in time. Without much thought, she kisses her boyfriend goodbye and runs straight into the TARDIS, to start her adventures in time and space.
The Doctor asks Rose where she would like to go on her first trip in the TARDIS. She asks to go one hundred years into the future, but when they arrive, the Doctor says the 22nd century is boring. They travel again, this time to 12005, the time of the New Roman Empire. Again, they move on without leaving the TARDIS as Rose cannot believe his explanation. Finally, to impress his new companion, the Doctor takes Rose to a space station orbiting Earth five billion years in the future. As they watch in amazement, the Sun expands partially — "Welcome to the end of the world", the Doctor tells Rose as she looks on forlornly.
The Doctor tells Rose that Earth has long been empty of any kind of life. Mankind left it long ago and the planet was taken over by the National Trust. They have used gravity satellites to hold the effects of the Sun back, but the money has run out. Earth will be swallowed up by the Sun at last. The rich and powerful of the universe will witness the end of the world, which will occur in about half an hour. The Doctor tells Rose that he has no intention of saving the planet. The station has automated systems and is staffed by blue-skinned humanoids.
On encountering the blue-skinned Steward, who manages Platform One, the Doctor persuades him that he and Rose are invited guests by using a piece of psychic paper that makes people see what the Doctor wants. The other guests arrive, including the diminutive Moxx of Balhoon, the Face of Boe, living humanoid trees from the Forest of Cheem (whose ancestors originated on Earth) and, from Financial Family Seven, a group of hooded aliens known as the Adherents of the Repeated Meme. Rose watches in horrified fascination as the last living human arrives — the Lady Cassandra O'Brien.Δ17, a piece of stretched-out skin with eyes and a mouth, mounted on a frame and connected to a brain jar. The skin needs to be constantly moisturised by her attendants. The guests exchange gifts. Jabe of the Forest of Cheem gives the Doctor a cutting taken from her grandfather. The Doctor gives her the gift of air from his lungs. The Moxx gives the gift of bodily salivas, and the Adherents of the Repeated Meme hand out gifts of "peace" in the form of metal spheres, even to the Steward.
Cassandra gives her own gifts: the last ostrich egg, and an "iPod" (actually a jukebox) from ancient Earth. Rose is a bit overwhelmed when the jukebox plays "classical" music — the song "Tainted Love" by Soft Cell — and leaves the hall. The Doctor receives a call about the TARDIS' parking place and is given a ticket telling him where it is being moved. Elsewhere, Rose has a brief conversation with a station plumber, Raffalo, who is investigating a blockage. At first she is comforted by the familiarity of Raffalo's matter-of-fact, working-class manner, but when Raffalo explains that she is from Crespallion, which is part of the Jaggit Brocade, affiliated to the Scarlet Junction in Complex 56, Rose realises just how far she is from home, with a man she does not know. She leaves and does not see Raffalo spot small, spider-like robots in the ducts, which rapidly grab her and pull her inside. The spiders are being disgorged from the metal spheres gifted by the Adherents of the Repeated Meme to guests. They soon infiltrate the entire station, sabotaging its systems.
In the funeral parlour of Sneed and Company in the Victorian era, Mr Redpath grieves over the open casket holding his dead grandmother, Mrs Peace. Closing his eyes in sorrow, he does not see a blue, glowing vapour wash over the corpse and enter it. Mrs Peace's eyes snap open and she grabs Redpath by the throat, strangling him to death. Gabriel Sneed, the undertaker, rushes in and tries to close the lid on the reanimated corpse but she knocks him unconscious to the floor, then gets up and wanders onto the street, wailing.
Sometime later, Gwyneth, Sneed's young servant girl, returns from looking after the carriage horses in the stables to find Sneed recovering from the cadaver's attack. This is not the first time there have been zombie incidents in the funeral home, and Gwyneth tells Sneed they need to get help. Sneed protests that it is not his fault and that they have to get Mrs Peace back before she does any damage. In the hearse, Sneed orders Gwyneth to use her clairvoyant abilities to seek out the dead woman, and Gwyneth focuses on the old woman's last desire: to see Charles Dickens, who is giving a reading in a music hall in town at Taliesin Lodge. Dickens himself is in a melancholic mood as he waits for his stage call. He feels old, is estranged from his family and his imagination is growing thin. He feels he has seen all there is to see.
In the TARDIS, the Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler are having a rough ride. As the ship shakes and they hold onto the console, the Doctor aims the TARDIS for Naples in 1860. When they land, Rose is about to rush out when the Doctor tells her that she would start a riot in her 21st century clothing. Rose returns in more suitable attire: an off-the-shoulder gown. The Doctor admires her beauty, "considering" that she's human. They step into the snow-covered streets of history. The Doctor realises when he buys a newspaper that his aim was a bit off — it's Christmas Eve 1869, and they aren't in Naples — they're in Cardiff.
In the music hall, Dickens gives a reading of A Christmas Carol. Just as he reaches the point where Marley's face appears in Scrooge's door knocker, he stops short. In the audience, Mrs Pearce starts to glow blue. Vapour pours out of her mouth, and an ethereal gas with a vaguely humanoid shape sweeps around the hall, emitting ghastly screams and sending the audience into a panic. The screams attract Rose and the Doctor, as well as Sneed and Gwyneth. The vapour completely leaves the dead woman's body and is sucked into a gas lamp, as the body collapses. Dickens accuses the Doctor of being responsible for the illusion. Sneed and Gwyneth carry the limp body out. Rose goes in pursuit, and Sneed knocks her out with chloroform, bundling her into the hearse with the dead woman. The Doctor commandeers Dickens's coach. The great writer's protests vanish when the Doctor discovers who he is and gushes over his genius. When the Doctor tells him about Rose, Dickens chivalrously joins the chase.
Rose awakes in the locked viewing gallery of the funeral parlour, just as the gas takes over Redpath's body. As the Doctor and Dickens arrive at the parlour and force their way in, Mr Redpath and his grandmother climb out of their coffins to menace Rose. The house's gas lights flicker. The Doctor realises there is something living in the pipes. He hears Rose's cries and breaks the door down, pulling her away from the corpses. He asks them who they are. The corpses cry that they are dying because the Cardiff Rift is failing and these forms cannot be sustained. The screaming blue vapours stream out of the dead, and the bodies collapse again.
After recovering from the incident, Gwyneth pours the Doctor's tea just the way he likes it — that is, with two sugars — without asking him what his preference is. Rose lashes out at Sneed for drugging her, kidnapping her and locking her in a room full of zombies. The stricken Sneed explains that the house has a reputation as haunted, which is why he bought it at such a low cost. The Doctor tells him that the house was built on top of the Rift, a crack in space-time that's growing. These entities are from across the universe. Dickens is sceptical, refusing to believe there are ghosts in the gas pipes. The Doctor informs them that dead bodies release gas when they decompose, making ideal vehicles for these gaseous aliens. Dickens tells the Doctor, shakily, that if what he has seen is true, then perhaps his entire life, spent fighting against injustice and for social causes in what he thought was the real world, has been for nothing. The Doctor tries to reassure him that the real world is still the same; there's just more than Dickens thought.
Rose talks to Gwyneth, finding out she was taken in by Sneed when she was twelve after her parents died. The two girls initially get along well. Gwyneth sees the future in Rose's mind but is shocked when she sees the things Rose has experienced with the Doctor. She apologises, admitting her clairvoyance and saying her abilities have been growing stronger recently. The Doctor has been listening and surmises that Gwyneth's abilities are due to her growing up in this house over the Rift. She is the key. He suggests they hold a séance.
Gwyneth summons the aliens, who speak through her. They identify themselves as the Gelth, a species whose bodies were destroyed in the Last Great Time War, which left them facing extinction in a gaseous state. The few Gelth remaining need to come through the Rift and take over dead bodies to survive. Rose is repulsed by the idea, but the Doctor insists they help. Gwyneth will stand at the spot of the Rift down in the morgue and allow the Gelth to use her as a bridge. Rose continues to protest. She knows the Gelth do not succeed, because the future does not have walking dead, but the Doctor tells her that time is constantly in flux. The future can be rewritten. Nothing is safe. In any case, Gwyneth wants to help her "angels". The Doctor warns the Gelth this is only a temporary solution — once they possess the bodies, he will take them to another place where they can build permanent ones.
However, when Gwyneth stands at the Rift and the Gelth begin to come through her, the numbers are "a few billion" — much more than they originally implied. They show their true colours. Only dead corpses are not enough for them. They will kill to supply themselves with more hosts and occupy the planet. Gwyneth stands motionless at the position of the Rift as the Gelth stream in. Sneed demands Gwyneth to stop, only to have his neck snapped by a reanimated corpse and be taken over. Dickens, overwhelmed, flees as the Doctor and Rose are backed into a corner. The Doctor apologises to Rose that she is going to die over a century before she was born, but she assures him that she wanted to come. The Doctor and Rose hold hands as they prepare to go out fighting together. He tells Rose he is glad he met her; she replies the same and they share a final smile.
Outside, Dickens sees a pursuing Gelth get sucked into a gas lamp on the street with a scream. Suddenly, he has an idea. He rushes back into the house, turning off the flames and turning up the gas. He goes into the morgue, doing the same, explaining to the Doctor what he is doing: these creatures are gaseous, so the moment the house is filled with gas, the Gelth will be sucked out of the corpses like poison from a wound. This is precisely what happens; the Gelth pour out of the collapsing corpses, screaming and swirling around in the confines of the morgue. The Doctor tells Gwyneth to send them back, but she says she is only strong enough to hold them here. She takes out a box of matches from her apron, but Rose won't let her carry through.
The Doctor tells Dickens to get Rose out before the two succumb to the gas fumes. He tries to convince Gwyneth to leave the Gelth to him. As he touches her neck, however, he discovers the truth and leaves. Gwyneth lights a match, and the house and the Gelth are consumed in an explosion. The Doctor tells Rose that when he checked Gwyneth's pulse, he realised she was dead — and probably had been from the moment she stood in the Rift. Rose does not understand, because Gwyneth spoke to them and saved them. In response, Dickens quotes Shakespeare: "There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy" (Hamlet: Act I, scene v). Rose looks sadly at the ruins of the funeral home and mournfully states, "She saved the world... a servant girl. No one will ever know."
Dickens thanks the Doctor as they stand in front of the TARDIS. Dickens has overcome his depression, and has regained his thirst for knowledge and adventure. The things he has seen tonight have given him hope there is more to learn. He plans to patch things up with his family and finish The Mystery of Edwin Drood, identifying the murderer as a blue elemental to warn humanity of the Gelth. He asks the Doctor if his books will last. The Doctor assures a smiling Dickens his work will last... forever. Inside the TARDIS, Rose asks if Dickens writing about what they just experienced will change history. The Doctor tells her that Dickens will never get to write his story; he dies the following year, and The Mystery of Edwin Drood will never be finished. Right now, though, they have made him more alive than he has been in a long time. The Doctor decides to give Dickens one final surprise...
Dickens watches in wonderment as the TARDIS fades away before his eyes. He laughs out loud and walks through the streets of Cardiff, wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, and exclaiming, "God bless us, everyone!"
The Doctor finds Rose. When she asks where he is from, he brushes off her questions. When the Doctor alters Rose's mobile phone so she can talk to her mother in the past, another fact sinks in — her mother is long dead. The Doctor jokes that if Rose thought the telephone call was amazing, she should see the bill. Suddenly, a tremor shakes the station, and the Doctor gleefully observes that was not supposed to happen. The Steward, investigating the cause of the tremor, is killed when a spider lowers the sun filter in his room, exposing him to the direct heat of the Sun's rays.
The Doctor starts to look into the tremor and Jabe offers to show him where the maintenance corridors are, while Rose goes to speak to Cassandra. Rose finds Cassandra has had seven hundred and eight cosmetic operations and considers herself the last "pure" human — the others who left "intermingled" with other species and she considers them all mongrels. Her next operation, to bleach her blood, is next week. Disgusted that humanity has come to this, Rose insults Cassandra and storms off, only to be met by the Adherents, and the leader pistol-whips her with his gauntlet, knocking her unconscious.
In the corridors, Jabe quietly tells the Doctor that she scanned him earlier, and was astonished to discover he exists. She sympathises with him and the Doctor is briefly moved to tears. They continue to the bowels of the station, where they find one of the spiders. Jabe captures it with a long, vine-like appendage.
As the station's systems continue to fail and, as a "traditional ballad" — Britney Spears singing "Toxic" — plays on the jukebox, Rose wakes up and realises that she is in a room with a lowering sun filter. The Doctor hears her cries for help and raises the filter, but Rose is still locked in. Returning to the main hall, he releases the spider to seek out its master. It first scurries over to Cassandra and then veers towards Adherents of the Repeated Meme. The Doctor says that a "meme" is just an idea and reveals that the Adherents are robots as they collapse to the floor. He then sends the spider out to find who was controlling them and it goes directly to Cassandra.
Cassandra has her attendants hold the others at bay, saying the moisturiser guns can also shoot acid. Her operations cost a fortune and she was hoping to create a hostage situation while pretending to be one of the victims herself and later seek compensation. Now she will just let everyone burn while the shares in the guests' rival companies Cassandra holds will triple in price. Cassandra orders the spiders to shut off the force field protecting the station, then uses a teleportation device to transport herself and her attendants away.
With only minutes until the Sun incinerates Earth and the station, the Doctor and Jabe rush back to the air-conditioning chamber. The restore switch for the computer systems is at the other end of a platform blocked by giant rotating fans. The Doctor protests the rising heat will burn the wooden Jabe, but she insists on staying to hold down the switch that slows the fans. The Doctor makes it nearly to the end before Jabe catches fire and burns. He closes his eyes and concentrates, making it past the last fan and throwing the reset switch. The force fields come up around the station just as the Earth explodes into cinders. The station's systems start to self-repair.
Several of the guests are now dead, incinerated as the Sun's rays burst through cracks in the windows. The Doctor finds Cassandra's teleportation feed inside the ostrich egg and reverses it to bring her back. She starts taunting the Doctor, saying that he cannot do anything about her. However, the Doctor calmly notes he has transported Cassandra back without her moisturising attendants. In the heat, she begins to dry out. Cassandra begs for mercy and Rose asks the Doctor to help her, but the Doctor coldly says that everything has its time and everything dies. Cassandra's skin stretches and tears, her innards exploding, leaving only her brain tank and empty frame.
Rose is sad that in all the danger, Earth's passing was not actually seen by anyone. The Doctor takes her back to the present in the TARDIS, telling her that people think things will last forever, but they don't. He admits his home planet was burned like Earth, but in a war. He is the last survivor of the Time Lords. Rose says he still has her, and he smiles as she offers to buy him some chips. They have only five billion years before the shops close.
As the night shift of the International Gallery museum commences, armed guards are at work protecting a highly-coveted golden goblet. One guard types out a security code to unlock a security system level. He turns to the side, raising a four-sided barricade of laser alarm sensors around the cup. It might seem foolproof, but the one thing the guards haven't counted on is a sleuth attempt to pilfer the cup from above...
At Deffry Vale High School, the headmaster, Mr Finch, notices a student waiting outside his office. She has a headache, and cannot simply go home because she lives in a children's home. Mr Finch offers his sympathies that there is no-one to miss her and invites her into his office; it is nearly time for lunch. The door closes, then there is a flap of wings, and the girl screams.
The Doctor, posing as "John Smith", teaches a physics class in the school. He asks a few simple questions, but only an intelligent student called Milo can answer. The Doctor advances to higher levels of knowledge, finally asking how to travel faster than light. Milo answers every question without missing a beat.
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Meanwhile, Rose is working undercover in the cafeteria as a dinner lady. At lunch, she complains to the Doctor about the last two days. He mentions that it was Mickey who alerted them to something odd going on and rightly so: everyone at the school is unusually well-behaved and there is something odd about the chips. Rose eats a few, saying she enjoys them. The school menu has been designed by Mr Finch himself to improve concentration and performance. Another teacher, Mr Wagner, approaches Melissa, one of the students. He tells her Milo has failed him, so she is being moved to the top class. He also summons another student, Luke, but not Kenny, who is overweight and not allowed to eat the chips. The Doctor observes all this, then looks up and sees Mr Finch gazing down on the cafeteria floor, watching everything.
In the kitchen, Rose watches the other kitchen staff, all wearing protective gloves and face masks, bringing in a large barrel. One of the dinner ladies warns them not to spill a drop. Mickey calls Rose on her mobile phone, telling her about the massive UFO activity he has discovered around the area. However, his online investigations are being blocked by something called Torchwood. Rose, in turn, tells him the kitchen staff were all replaced three months ago with new personnel. As they speak, the barrel slips, spilling something on one of the staff, who starts to burn. The others usher her into a side room. Rose starts to phone for an ambulance, but is told not to worry, she is all right, even as Rose hears screams and lots of smoke billows out of the side room. Rose glances down at the barrel, which is leaking a golden, oily substance.
In the maths classroom, Mr Wagner tells the children at their computers to put on their headphones. The screens flicker on. The monitors display a green, rotating cube with rapidly scrolling, alien-looking symbols and text. The children, as if entranced, type on their keyboards with incredible speed. Clearly, something is very wrong.
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Mr Finch shows a journalist, Sarah Jane Smith, around the school. Sarah has been assigned to write a profile on him. Finch explains that one of the policy changes he has made is free — but compulsory — school dinners. In the staff room, the Doctor is speaking to Mr Parsons, head of History, who tells him of the extraordinary knowledge of his students since Finch became Headmaster: one of his students gave him the exact height of the walls of Troy in cubits. Also, the day after Finch arrived, seven teachers came down with flu, and were replaced by strange new ones. In the Doctor's case, the former physics teacher he replaced abruptly resigned when she won the lottery, despite the fact that she never played, claiming the ticket was posted through her door at midnight. Mr Finch brings Sarah into the staff room, and the Doctor smiles delightedly at unexpectedly seeing his old friend, but introduces himself as John Smith. Sarah remarks that she once knew a man who went by that name. When she learns "Smith" is a new teacher, she asks if he has noticed anything odd. She has lost none of her inquisitive nature, and the Doctor is elated, although he does not reveal his real identity to her.
As the Doctor wanders the halls in a slight nostalgic haze, Kenny goes into the Maths room. He is shocked to glimpse a bat-like creature under one of the desks. It transforms rapidly into Mr Wagner. Wagner tells Kenny to leave and the boy beats a hasty retreat.
That night, Sarah Jane Smith breaks into the school to explore, even as the Doctor, Rose and Mickey do the same. The Doctor sends Mickey to the maths department and Rose to get a sample of the oil, while he checks the headmaster's office. There are sounds of flapping and the occasional shriek through the school, and winged shadows flit across the walls.
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Sarah, trying to break into Mr Finch's office, notices she is being watched. She enters a storeroom — where she finds the TARDIS. Stunned at seeing the ship again, she backs out of the room into the gym, where "John Smith", now wearing his long coat, is waiting and says, "Hello, Sarah Jane." Sarah manages to say, "It's you...Doctor! Oh, my God, it's you, isn't it? You've regenerated..."
The Doctor replies that he has done so "half a dozen times since we last met." Sarah remarks he looks "incredible", and he says she does too, but she dismisses it as being true for herself and says she has grown old. She then reveals she had waited for him and thought he had died, and in response, the Doctor speaks to her of the Time War for the first time: "I lived. Everybody else died." Sarah Jane is still in disbelief until they hear a piercing scream and run towards the sound; now she knows this is the Doctor.
Along the way, they run into Rose; the Doctor introduces the two and Sarah comments on Rose's youth. The scream turns out to be Mickey, who opened a cupboard, only to be covered in shrink-wrapped rats. Sarah suggests the rats are for dissection, suggesting cattily that maybe Rose isn't old enough to have gotten to that point in school, but Rose retorts that rat dissection hasn't been performed in schools for years, making a snide dig at Sarah's age. As they head for Finch's office, and Sarah and Rose begin to bicker, Mickey laughs and tells the Doctor, "The missus and the ex — welcome to every man's worst nightmare!"
The Doctor suggests that the rats may be food for something. When he and the others enter Finch's office, they find what that "something" is; large, bat-like creatures hanging from the ceiling, asleep. They back out hurriedly, but as the door shuts, one of the creatures wakes and shrieks. Outside, the Doctor tells the others that when Finch arrived at the school he brought twelve staff members with him, so they've got thirteen giant bat people to deal with. He is about to head back inside despite the danger so he can use the TARDIS to analyse the oil sample Rose procured, but Sarah tells the Doctor she may have something that can help him. To the Doctor's excitement, in her car boot is an inactive and rusty K9 Mark III, with one of his side panels missing. Sarah explains that one day the robot dog just stopped working and she could not repair its advanced technology.
Not knowing that they are being trailed by Mr Finch and another bat-creature, the group go in Sarah's car to a nearby café, where the Doctor repairs K9. Mickey teases Rose about her jealousy, while Sarah asks the Doctor if she did something wrong since he never returned for her after his visit home. In an intense moment, the Doctor tries to brush it off, saying that she was getting on with her life. Sarah replies that he was her life: the hardest thing was adjusting back to mundane life after all she had seen. She asks him why he could not have come back. The Doctor looks dour, but does not reply.
K9 comes to life and recognises the Doctor, who smears some of the oil sample on its eye sensor. K9 determines it is Krillitane oil. The creatures are Krillitanes, a composite species who take the best physical parts of other species they conquer. The Doctor did not recognise them because they had looked different when he had last seen them; basically humans with Giraffe necks. He realises that they are doing something to the children.
As they leave the café, Rose is struggling to come to terms with the realisation that she's not the first person the Doctor travelled with. She tells the Doctor how troubled she is that he's never mentioned Sarah despite the two once being as close as they are now, and that she feels like she's seeing her own future and will end up just being left behind like all his other companions. The Doctor promises he will not just leave her, explaining that he did not go back for Sarah because it would have been too hard: "I don't age. I regenerate. But humans decay, you wither and you die. You can spend the rest of your life with me. But I can't spend the rest of mine with you. I have to live on, alone. That's the curse of the Time Lords." Hearing the phrase "Time Lords", Mr Finch sends the other Krillitane to swoop over and scare them.
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The next day they all return to the school. The Doctor sends Rose and Sarah to discover what is inside the computers, and Mickey to stay in the car with K9 as surveillance — a task Mickey compares to being "sent to the back of the class with the safety scissors and glitter". The Doctor himself confronts Mr Finch at the swimming pool, where Finch confirms he is a Krillitane named Brother Lassar and the wings are a recent addition to their form: what the Doctor sees as human is merely a morphic illusion. Surprised to see a Time Lord, Lassar calls them a race of pompous, dusty senators, afraid of change and chaos and now all but extinct. He can sense that the Doctor is different but still refuses to reveal his plans, challenging him to work it out. The Doctor quietly replies that he had much more mercy when he was younger, and that this is his only warning. Lassar replies they are not even enemies and smugly promises that the next time they meet, the Doctor will join with him.
Working on the computers with the sonic screwdriver, Sarah and Rose get into an argument about who has had more experience time travelling, yelling the names of the different monsters they have met. Sarah settles it when she mentions the Loch Ness Monster, but both women soon realise the argument is pointless and begin to bond by comparing notes on the Doctor (Sarah is very amused to hear from Rose that the Doctor still strokes parts of the TARDIS). When the Doctor himself enters, they burst into laughter, much to his confusion.
Lassar tells the other Krillitanes that they are moving to the final phase: the school will be sealed and they will become gods. Even though it is break time, the intercom calls all pupils to class and the staff to the staff room. All the pupils appear strangely happy that the break has ended early, except Kenny, who hesitates, but eventually follows the others inside. The Krillitanes begin by devouring the rest of the staff.
In the maths room, the Doctor finds the computers fixed with a deadlock seal which the sonic screwdriver cannot breach. Lassar seals all of the school's exits while Mr Wagner activates the computer program which the children begin working on again. Kenny cannot get out of the school, but he manages to attract Mickey's attention. Mickey tries to reactivate K9 but he doesn't respond so Mickey hits it in frustration which makes it come to life. Mickey asks K9 if it has some way to get through the locked doors in the school and it reminds him they are in a car. Mickey is initially confused by this answer but then realises what the dog means and shouts for Kenny to get out of the way.
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Rose, Sarah and the Doctor watch the symbols flash on a large screen. The Doctor works out that the Krillitanes are trying to solve the Skasis Paradigm. He explains that the Paradigm is the God-Maker, the Universal Theory; whoever solves it can control the building blocks of the universe — all of time, space and matter. The Krillitanes are using the children as a giant processing device and are boosting their intelligence using the oil. Rose points out that oil is on the chips which she has been eating. The Doctor then gives her a complex sum which she instantly answers correctly, much to her shock. Sarah asks why the Krillitanes are using children instead of adults and the Doctor replies that the God-Maker needs imagination to be solved and adds "they're not just using the children's brains to break the code. They're using their souls." At this point, Lassar reveals himself and asks the Doctor to join them, tempting him with the ability to change the universe, to save everyone, even restore the Time Lords. He offers Sarah and Rose the chance to travel with the Doctor forever, never growing old. The Doctor appears tempted, but Sarah reminds him that pain and loss define them as much as happiness or love: everything has its time and everything ends, whether a world or a relationship. The Doctor picks up a chair and hurls it at the screen, smashing it. He, Rose and Sarah flee the room.
Mickey crashes the car through the front doors of the school, and he and Kenny rush back inside. Lassar shrieks, summoning the other Krillitanes, who transform into their bat-forms. Mickey and Kenny meet up with the others and run into the cafeteria, pursued by the bat creatures. Lassar tells them he wants the Doctor alive, but to eat the others.
As the Krillitanes attack, one of them is shot down by a laser and K9 appears in the doorway, blaster at the ready. The Doctor tells K9 to hold them off while they retreat. However, K9's battery is failing and Lassar tells the Krillitanes to ignore "the shooty dog thing" and get the others. In the physics lab, the Doctor realises the solution is the oil: the Krillitanes have changed their physiology so often that even their own oil is toxic to them now. As the Krillitanes start bashing down the door, the Doctor tells Mickey to get the children unplugged and evacuated. Kenny triggers the fire alarm, the high-pitched sound hurting the bat-like ears of the Krillitanes and stunning them long enough for the Doctor and the others to get past to the kitchens. However, this doesn't work for long; Lassar simply punches through the wall and rips out the power lead to the alarm.
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Mickey runs into the computer room and yells for the children to leave but none of them respond. After a few moments, he unplugs the computers which snaps the children out of their trances and they begin to evacuate. In the kitchens, the Doctor finds the barrels of oil are deadlock sealed. He gets the others out while he and K9 stay behind. K9 tells the Doctor that the barrels will not withstand a direct hit from his laser, but as his batteries are weak, he has to remain. The Doctor protests, knowing that K9 will be caught in the explosion, but the dog replies there is no alternative. Sadly, the Doctor bids his old friend goodbye, calls him a good dog and exits the building. The Doctor takes Sarah's hand and while she asks about K9, drags her away from the school.
Brother Lassar and his brethren enter the kitchen in human form, searching for the Doctor. Lassar mocks K9 when he sees him, but K9 shoots a barrel, spilling the toxic oil over the aliens. Lassar snarls to K9, "You bad dog"; the dog replies, "Affirmative." The explosion takes out a large chunk of the school. The pupils cheer the school's destruction and hail Kenny as the hero who did it. Sarah weeps over K9's sacrifice as the Doctor comforts her.
Later, Sarah enters the TARDIS in a park. The Doctor suggests that Sarah join them, but Sarah declines, saying it is time she found a life of her own. Mickey asks if he may join them in the TARDIS; he wants more than just to be their 'tin dog' and is ready to see the universe. Sarah says they need a Smith aboard the TARDIS, and the Doctor agrees, although Rose does not look pleased.
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Before Sarah goes, Rose asks her what to do and wonders if she should stay with the Doctor. Sarah reassures her that some things are worth getting your heart broken for and adds that if someday, Rose needs to, she should find her. Outside, Sarah thanks the Doctor for her time with him. The Doctor asks if there has been anyone special. In jest, Sarah tells him that there was one man whom she travelled with for a while, but he was a tough act to follow. She asks the Doctor to say goodbye properly this time — and he complies, saying, "Goodbye...my Sarah Jane!" He smiles at her and they hug tightly, with Sarah looking to be on the verge of tears. Sarah then watches the TARDIS disappear, but as it does so, a brand new K9 is revealed. K9 explains that the Doctor rebuilt and improved him. Happily, Sarah orders K9 home: They have work to do...
While their backs are turned, a round panel is quietly pried loose from the domed ceiling of the museum. On the rooftop is a woman in black clothes and a ski mask. She peers down and assesses the security detail. The woman lowers herself from the roof, flawlessly infiltrates the museum without setting off the alarms, and replaces the cup with a mechanical Maneki Neko; when the guards finally turn around at the sound of her releasing her winch on the roof, she waves at them in a mocking fashion. As the alarms go off, she dashes out of the museum and unmasks; she is Lady Christina de Souza, an expert thief. Christina runs out to the street to see someone being arrested, and she says, "Sorry, lover" to her presumed accomplice, getting away with the prize while he takes the fall.
She then takes a back route onto the main road, where she frantically looks for a way out as police move in searching for her, although unaware of her presence. She runs onto a 200 bus to Victoria, where she exchanges her diamond earrings for a bus ride. Soon afterwards, the Tenth Doctor comes onto the bus and uses a psychic paper on the Oyster card scanner. He then sits down opposite Lady Christina.
After enjoying a chocolate Easter egg and engaging in some small talk with Christina, he receives an alert from the rhondium sensor in his pocket that the particles he's been looking for have been detected. As he fiddles with the sensor, he gets inquisitive looks from a young man sitting parallel to him.
The police are still after Christina, since they know she has stolen the cup. Christina is visibly frightened by the sound of the wailing sirens, giving the Doctor reason to wonder if she's hiding something. It looks like the vehicle is about to be pulled over, but whilst chasing the bus through a tunnel, the police witness it disappear in front of their eyes; startled, they set up a perimeter around the area. Meanwhile, the bus passes through a ripple in space and a bright, blinding light flashes out. The passengers scream as the bus is put through the wringer; the metal frame buckles, the windows burst into shards of flying glass, and everyone ducks down in their rows. After the bus takes a hard landing back onto solid ground, the Doctor's jaw is agape at the sight of a completely different environment. Rather than tarmac, street lamps, and dark, rainy nighttime skies, it is now daytime, with sand as far the eye can see in every direction. They have been spat out into a world covered in desert with three suns. The bus has been wrecked in the process of landing, with smoke hissing from its engine and parts of its double-decker roof sheared apart. The bus driver proclaims it unmovable.
The Doctor tells the passengers that the bus has passed through a wormhole into a different world, proving this to them by throwing a handful of sand into the space behind the bus. The sand causes a rippling effect in the air. The same man who eyeballed the rhondium detector points a finger at the Doctor and demands to know if he used it to make the bus end up in the desert. Annoyed for receiving immediate blame from a human on a bus and having dealt with the animosity of the Midnight incident, the Doctor doesn't keep to himself again. Instead, he comes clean and says he was tracking a hole in reality that suddenly grew big and the bus drove into it. He elaborates that the other end of the wormhole was in the tunnel on Earth. Among the passengers is Carmen, who has been hearing mysterious voices since Christina got on. The bus driver announces his desire to return to Earth, and promptly runs through the wormhole, accompanied by the Doctor's, "No, don't!". The other passengers of the bus witness the driver's skin and tissues incinerating, before he disappears into the wormhole with the same rippling effect as the sand.
Meanwhile, on Earth, where the police are watching the wormhole, the driver's blackened skeleton steps out, halts, and then tumbles to the ground. Unnerved, the police wisely decide that this is out of their depth and declare an emergency Code One, calling UNIT to the scene.
After watching the bus driver's death, the Doctor sums up that the metal of the bus protected them from the same fate as the driver when they passed through the wormhole (like a Faraday cage, as Christina states).
Everyone returns to the bus so the group can make sense of the situation. Christina takes charge, introduces herself and the Doctor, then everyone introduces themselves: Nathan, a young adult with slicked up hair, Barclay, about the same age and the one who confronted the Doctor, Angela Whittaker, an older blond woman, Louis, who goes by the nickname "Lou," and his wife, Carmen. Christina notices the Doctor is the brainpower of the bunch and has him fill the rest of the group in on what has happened.
The Doctor explains to the passengers on the bus that they went through the wormhole by accident, but Carmen tells him with some surprising knowledge that it was a doorway put there for a reason. Her husband Lou notes she has had a gift of foresight since she was a girl which has helped them make small wins on the lottery. The Doctor deems Carmen a low-level psychic and theorises the alien sun has amplified her abilities. He asks her if she can see anything. She foretells, "Something is coming, riding on the wind and shining." When asked what she means, she answers, "Death. Death is coming."
Her words send Angela into complete hysterics, Nathan panics no one will find them, Barclay begins to get rebellious, and both Christina and Lou are drowned out by the uproar. The Doctor quells the clamouring bus and regains control, but Angela is still sobbing heavily. He instinctively grips her by the arms to get her attention and asks where she was heading to take her mind off the peril. She replies she was going home to her family, Mike and Suzanne; thinking about them calms her and abolishes her panicky state. The Doctor moves on to Barclay, who has a love interest named Tina; Nathan's dealing with unemployment and Carmen and Lou talk about whose turn it is to cook. The Doctor asks Christina where she was going; she is the only person on the bus with something to hide. She tells him she was going far away, not giving away her thievery. Having defused the tension in the bus, the Doctor reminds the group to focus on those pleasant thoughts so the fear doesn't set in again, then informs them the planet outside is "nothing compared to all those things waiting for you" on Earth. He promises to get them all home.
Back on Earth, the highway tunnel has been shut down as Detective McMillan and the police officers wait to intercept Lady Christina. They find themselves joined by a fleet of UNIT soldiers and weapon-toting armoured vehicles, who secure the area with crisp efficiency. The woman in charge, Captain Erisa Magambo, establishes a strategic hold on the highway, ordering all media presence to be removed and arrested if they cause any trouble and brushing aside DI McMillan as he tries to protest. Captain Magambo puts a firing squad on guard at the wormhole, with orders to shoot to kill if any hostile activity is demonstrated.
Nathan and Barclay dismantle part of the bus's upholstered seats and bring them to the Doctor, who wants to wedge them beneath the wheels of the bus like duckboards. This will give the wheels enough traction to throw the bus in reverse and back through the wormhole. Using experience from trips to the Kalahari, Christina has them air out the tyres slightly to improve it further by giving the bus some extra grip, as its weight is more distributed. When Barclay is distressed over how deep the wheels will run, Christina produces a fold-up spade from her rucksack to begin digging them out, then a small axe for Nathan to unearth the seats more quickly. This piques the Doctor's curiosity, but he is distracted when Angela asks for a key to get the bus running. The Doctor informs her the bus doesn't use keys, just a master switch and stop and go buttons. She follows his instructions and attempts to start the bus. The engine cranks and coughs, but fails to get going. Christina and the Doctor pop open the 200's hood to find it gummed up with sand. Christina asks if anyone has experience with mechanics, and Barclay states he does. He is assigned the task of stripping the air filter. The Doctor wanders off, causing Christina to chase after him. Unbeknownst to them, they are being watched from a monitor by a creature with insectoid hands.
The Doctor questions Christina about her toting a backpack that she refuses to let out of her sight, which has an axe and spade inside by happenstance. That along with her fear of sirens has him wondering what she's running from. She initially refuses to answer his questions, instead, calling herself and the Doctor "two equal mysteries." After a bit more conversation, however, Lady Christina de Souza announces her full title to him, and they shake hands. In response to her claim of nobility, the Doctor says he is a Lord of a "big estate". Growing savvy, Christina notices the Doctor seems unusually acclimated to the out of the ordinary. He pulls her attention off the subject and exclaims, "Allons-y!" Christina impresses him with some articulate knowledge of the French language herself; "Oui mais pas si nous allons vers un cauchemar." As they continue walking in the desert, they see what appears to be storm clouds approaching. Christina fears it could be a deadly sandstorm, but the Doctor thinks it is something worse. "It's a storm — who says it's sand?" he notes mysteriously.
The Doctor and Christina rush back to the bus as Carmen begins to have distressing visions. He borrows Barclay's cell phone, pulling out his sonic screwdriver and turning it into a superphone. The Doctor then attempts to call someone on Earth. Unsure of the number, he dials Pizza Geronimo by accident. Redialling the correct number, he's connected to UNIT's automated phone system. Angela gives him a tip to hold "0"; it overrides the machine, which allows one to speak with a real person. Through the helpline, the Doctor gets in touch with UNIT at the tunnel. Speaking to Captain Magambo, the Doctor informs her of the crisis, tells her he is stranded without his TARDIS. Magambo connects him with UNIT's scientific advisor, Malcolm Taylor, who is beyond elated to know he's speaking to the one person he's always wanted to meet. Malcolm describes an ingenious process of measuring the wormhole by creating a reflection of its energy readings, which prompts the Doctor to request a capacity scan so he can get a full idea of what the wormhole is like. He deems Malcolm his "new best friend" and hangs up for the time being.
The group sets back to digging the bus wheels out from the sand in order to enable them to move it back through the wormhole. The Doctor and Christina set off to explore the area. They find that the storm from earlier has grown closer. The Doctor takes a snapshot of the storm on Barclay's phone to send to Malcolm for further analysis. From what he and Christina can tell, it looks like a massive sandstorm sweeping across the planet towards them, glinting in the sun as if made from metal. On the bus, Carmen shudders as her visions tell her these things are a storm that devours. At the same time on the dunes, the Doctor and Christina are found and captured by a fly-like alien who holds them at gunpoint with a blaster.
The Doctor and Christina are escorted to the alien's crashed ship, where another alien is waiting. One points a blaster at them and blames the Doctor for their crashed ship. The Doctor soon explains to the two aliens, who identify themselves as Tritovores, that they mean them no harm. He assures them that "the 200", which is how the aliens refer to the bus due to its route number, is trapped on the planet just as they are. The Tritovores, in turn, become more friendly; the telepathic translation devices they use enable them to know the Doctor is not lying. The Doctor then asks them to send a probe out to investigate the sandstorm seen earlier. When told that the ship is without power, he promptly fixes the ship's power to launch it with a well-placed kick. He and Christina learn they are in the Scorpion Nebula on the planet San Helios, which is on the other side of the universe from Earth; the Doctor comments on how Christina got her wish of being "so far away". The aliens explain that they had been on their way to trade with the people of San Helios when their ship had crashed. They show a hologram depicting San Helios as a thriving environment with advanced cities. Christina notices the Doctor treats the visual of the amazing city like he's used to such things, then asks about his title of lordship. He reveals he comes from a race of Time Lords. Christina suggests they should seek out the city in San Helios for help; the Doctor isn't so sure it will be that simple. The Tritovores give the Doctor information that the entire planet became a desert last year, with all 100 billion inhabitants suddenly vanishing along with the city, wildlife, oceans, and mountains. Everything has been reduced to sand, including the inhabitants. The idea of having "dead people" in her hair repulses Christina, whose hair has sand caught in it. She quickly attempts to stroke it out.
The Doctor receives a phone call from Malcolm and Magambo. The wormhole has grown to four miles in length and is heading outward. Neither Malcolm nor the Doctor can understand what could make it grow on its own. Magambo has ordered all aircraft above London grounded to keep others from falling in. She wants him to answer if the wormhole could be dangerous to the planet, but Barclay's phone picks up a call waiting. The Doctor cuts off his conversation, knowing the answer would cause more trouble.
Switching over to the second caller, the Doctor picks up Nathan on the other end, using another mobile phone. Their attempts to get the bus dislodged from the sand have exhausted all the petrol, putting them back at square one, and Nathan wonders if the Doctor can hold true to his promise in spite of the marooned bus. The Doctor does not answer. He leaves the call hanging at the sound of beeping from the Tritovore ship's controls. The probe has reached the storm- turns out, its not a storm.
The camera on the probe is transmitting unsettling footage. It shows that the "storm" is a swarm of billions of carnivorous stingray-like aliens with metal exoskeletons before the transmission is cut off by the probe being eaten by one of the alien stingrays. The Doctor then analyses the alien physique by the data they get and theorises that they must be creating the wormhole effect. Their velocity as a pack is reaching a speed that creates static build-up with enough energy to pierce open the fabric of space. When asked why they don't burn up upon passing through, the Doctor replies that any metal they eat gets extruded into their bones. It has made them immune to the effects of the wormhole because their exoskeletons have transformed into metal. They've been using the portals to jump through space and prey on anything they find edible. Another, scarier realisation dawns on him — all of San Helios has been devoured by these predators. What remains of it, including the dead, makes up the sand of the deserts. Earth is their next target.
The Tritovores and the Doctor plan to get away from the planet before the swarm hits their area, and need to get the crystal power source that makes the Tritovorian ship fly. The Doctor and the two aliens try to bring up the source manually, but the entire system is unresponsive, lacking power. Christina, in the meantime, prepares her cat burgling equipment, and lines down the shaft with her winch. The Doctor stops her just in time before she is electrocuted by a security grid. After disabling it, she makes her way slowly down the shaft. While curiously flipping over the top of her rucksack, the Doctor tells Christina about himself. He talks about how he can travel through time and space in his blue box and some of the places he's been, including the Court of King Athelstan in 924 AD... but he didn't remember her being there. At this, he pulls the Cup of Athelstan out of her bag.
He realises that she's a thief, and she says she prefers to say she "liberated" it. The Doctor doesn't approve of her lifestyle of thievery, but levels with her, admitting he stole the TARDIS from his own people. While Christina lowers down the gravity well, a screech rings out from below. The Doctor remembers they never found out why the Tritovores crashed until he's informed they have an open-vent system. Much like birds being sucked into an aeroplane, he suspects a stingray got pulled into the ship. As he feared, when Christina reaches the bottom of the shaft to get the crystal and its holding brackets, she sees a sleeping stingray behind some metal poles; it quickly stirs from its resting place. The Doctor tells her that it had been dormant from the cold, but the temperature is being raised by her body heat and is waking it up. She replies she has that effect on men, but the Doctor isn't laughing; he urges her to hurry and, once she has the fixture in hand, brings her back up. The alien stingray which was down in the shaft next to Christina gives chase, but it gets fried in the security grid after she turns it back on whilst ascending. As they run away with the Tritovores out of the ship, the Doctor offers them a means of escape on the 200. Before they accept, a deafening roar booms through the ship. The Doctor wonders if the Tritovores collided with more than one stingray, and speculates that it could be munching through the metal sleeve-covered infrastructure of the ship. One of the Tritovores gets ready to escape the ship, but the other goes back to shut down the controls. Another stingray bursts in from above and knocks him over then gulps him down its jaws. The other, in rage, prepares to fire its weapon at the Stingray, but before he can, he is eaten as well.
The Doctor and Christina run to the bus. Once there, the Doctor pitches the crystal into the sand because he doesn't need it since it only worked to power the alien ship's components, not an Earth-built bus. Christina protests she risked her life for it, but the Doctor corrects her: she risked her life for the clamps it was mounted on. The Doctor attaches 4 Tritovorian anti-gravity clamps onto the wheels and uses the 5th to interface the bus steering wheel with the Tritovorian technology. The Doctor calls Malcolm, telling him that they need to prepare to close the wormhole. Malcolm figures out a way to do it and starts on the process immediately.
Integrating the 5th anti-gravity clamp to the bus's steering proves difficult, as the two technologies are incompatible alone; he needs something soft, malleable, non-corrosive and able to conduct electricity, suggesting gold, to act as an interface. Reluctantly, Christina hands the Doctor the Cup of Athelstan along with a hammer upon request. She asks him to "be careful with it" as it is a millennia-old artefact worth 18 million pounds. He promises to do so, then smashes it to bits so it fits between the bus wheel and the anti-gravity clamp controller. In response, Christina says, "I hate you".
Once Malcolm is ready to close the wormhole, Captain Magambo orders him to close it to protect the Earth, despite the fact the Doctor and the passengers of Bus 200 are still trapped on the other side. Morally outraged at the idea of abandoning the Doctor who has saved humanity countless times before, Malcolm refuses to follow her order so they can allow the Doctor to get back to Earth. Drawing her gun on him, Magambo once again orders him to close the wormhole in the hopes of intimidating him. In spite of his fear, Malcolm passionately refuses to close the wormhole, surprising even Magambo.
Their argument buys the Doctor precious time. He is able to make the bus lift out of the sand and into the air, flying back through the wormhole to Earth. However, the swarm is hard upon its heels. The tense stand-off between Captain Magambo and Malcolm is defused when a soldier tells her the bus is safely through, but they are not out of danger. Three of the stingrays have followed the bus through the wormhole; furthermore, if they don't close the wormhole in time, the entire swarm will come through and devastate Earth.
As the Doctor flies the bus across London, he attempts to dodge the stingrays whilst helping Malcolm overcome some technical difficulties via mobile phone. With just seconds to spare, Malcolm is able to close the wormhole just ahead of the main swarm. UNIT are unable to penetrate the metal exoskeletons with ordinary bullets, but the battle turns in their favour when missile launchers are brought into play, killing two stingrays in quick succession. The third goes after the 200, but the Doctor sternly says "Oh no, you don't!" and swings the bus violently around. The creature swoops in to take a bite out of the bus, but gets smacked right in the kisser by the vehicle's rear end and is stunned long enough for UNIT to get a fix on it and blow it out of the sky. After he manages this, Christina passionately kisses the Doctor, taking back her earlier comment of "hating him". Somewhat stunned but pleased, the Doctor takes on the manner of an actual bus driver and welcomes home "the mighty 200".
The bus lands back on the spot where it vanished, being given a standing ovation by the assembled soldiers, and the passengers are released and taken to be examined by UNIT. The Doctor meets Malcolm, who embraces him in a hug and exclaims, "I love you!" four times, to the Doctor's bemusement. Magambo gives the Doctor a salute even though he doesn't want one, trusting him that the creatures will not return. The Doctor replies they will generate more doorways; it is part of their natural life cycle and something they can't help, but he'll try to nudge them onto uninhabited worlds. He also puts in a good word for Nathan, who needs a new job, and Barclay, who is good with engines, saying they're good to have in a crisis if Magambo would bring them on to UNIT as privates. Magambo then brings forth a gift for the Doctor: the TARDIS, found in the gardens of Buckingham Palace., though the Doctor insists that "she doesn't mind." Magambo then turns her attention to the task of clearing up three dead alien stingrays and inquires if the Doctor is willing to help with the paperwork, to which he declines. They part on friendly terms.
Christina, meanwhile, is being searched by UNIT soldiers, but she breaks off and runs to the Doctor. D.I McMillan immediately moves in to capture her at last, but Christina expects the Doctor will help her escape in the TARDIS. Additionally, she wants to come with him for adventure and excitement, telling him that is why she steals. Despite the fact that he had earlier proclaimed them to be "the perfect team", he says no. When she asks him why, he replies sadly, "People have travelled with me, and I've lost them. Lost them all. Never again." He looks on silently as D.I McMillan proudly arrives to confront Christina with the charge of suspicion of theft. The police promptly arrest her and take her away, leaving the unperturbed Doctor by himself.
The Doctor, about to enter the TARDIS, is told by Carmen to take care of himself; the Doctor, full of joy, tells her the same. However, she replies, "No, but you be careful because your song is ending, sir!" The Doctor is perturbed, this being similar to what Ood Sigma said to him, and asks what she means by this, Carmen replies, "It is returning. It is returning through the dark, and then Doctor...oh but then... he will knock four times." The implication of this prophecy fills the Doctor with dread.
After Carmen leaves, the Doctor decides to take pity on Christina, who is now handcuffed and being put in a police car. The Doctor points his sonic screwdriver at her handcuffs and frees her hands. Christina gets in the police car on one side and gets out on the other. She heads for the bus, chased by the police, and closes the doors after she gets on it. McMillan furiously orders her to open them, but the Doctor advises him to step back. The inspector charges him with aiding and abetting; the Doctor feigns remorse and heads over to the TARDIS, saying, "I'll just step inside this police box and arrest myself." The bus takes off, flying over the inspector's head and hovering over the TARDIS; the door opens as the others watch. Smiling down at the Doctor, Christina happily tells him, "We could have been so good together", revealing no hard feelings over her rejection. The Doctor merely smiles back and replies, "Christina, we were." Christina flies off into the night, the other passengers cheering her off, and the Doctor merely watching; he then heads into the TARDIS, off on another adventure.
In 1996, Amelia Pond sits in her bedroom, praying to Santa Claus for help mending the crack in her bedroom wall. Believing she has heard something in her garden, she runs to her window. The garden is empty. Later, she gives a drawing she has done of the night sky — complete with stars and the moon — to her psychiatrist, Christine. Christine explains gently there are no stars. The night sky is empty save for the Moon. That night, Amelia overhears Christine and her aunt talking about her. As she eavesdrops at the top of the stairs, she sees a pamphlet advertising the National Museum slipped through the letterbox by a familiar figure wearing a fez. He flees when she notices him. There is a circle drawn around a notice of the Pandorica exhibit and a note reading, "Come along, Pond."
Amelia and her aunt go to the museum. Amelia runs off and makes her way to the Pandorica exhibit, passing a variety of strange machines on display; other exhibits are quite wrong as well, such as penguins in the Arctic. Someone also steals her soda before she can notice who did it. At the exhibit, Amelia sees another note stuck to the face of the box. It reads, "Stick around, Pond."This prompts Amelia to hide out in the museum to find out who is leaving notes for her.
After the museum's close — and Aunt Sharon's failure to find her — Amelia returns to the Pandorica and curiously sets a hand on it. Mechanisms on the face of the box glow green, scaring Amelia enough to make her back a few feet away. The Pandorica opens, but instead of the Doctor still being imprisoned inside, the occupant is instead Amelia's older self: Amy Pond. Noticing her younger self, Amy tells the confused Amelia, "Okay, kid, this is where it gets complicated..."
In 102 A.D. the Auton duplicate of Rory Williams cradles a dead Amy Pond, comforting himself by telling her how the universe ended; it would mean they never get born, twice in his case. Amy would laugh at that; he begs her to laugh. Suddenly, a fez-wearing Eleventh Doctor appears in front of them, holding a mop. He tries calming Rory by saying it is not the end of the world but then corrects himself by saying it's the end of the universe. The Doctor vanishes and reappears without the mop. A confused Rory is instructed to free the Doctor from the Pandorica; the Doctor is already out. The Doctor explains that he is already out, but back then, which is the present for Rory, he is yet to escape. Giving Rory his sonic screwdriver, the Doctor wishes him luck and informs him to put the sonic in Amy's top pocket when he's done with it.
Rory follows the Doctor's instructions, opening the Pandorica with the sonic where the Doctor is revealed to still be trapped within. Exiting the prison, the Doctor deduces he will set up the chain of events that lead to his release. Rory questions the Doctor about the stone remains of the Alliance. The Doctor explains that they are the after-images of the races that now never existed due to the destruction of the universe. The Doctor wonders where Amy is; Rory gives a remorseful look.
Showing Amy to the Doctor, Rory asks if there is anything he can do for her. The Doctor says he could if he had the time, angering Rory. The Doctor explains that all lifeforms except for them and humanity have been deleted from existence; "Your girlfriend isn't more important than the universe." Enraged, Rory punches the Doctor, knocking him down. The Doctor quickly pulls himself back up, laughing, and relocates his jaw, welcoming Rory back; he had to be sure Rory wasn't acting, but genuinely loved Amy like the original.
Putting Amy in the Pandorica, the Doctor explains that she is not an ordinary girl due to having the universe pouring through her dreams every night because of the crack in her wall, so when the Nestene took a memory print off Amy, they got a bit more than what they bargained for — Rory's soul inhabits his Auton replica. Sealing the Pandorica once more with Amy inside, the Doctor explains to Rory that it prevents people from dying as it's a form of escape; it can stasis-lock Amy in a near-death state until it gets an external sample of her DNA to revive her, which will take around 2000 years. Recovering River Song's vortex manipulator from the ground, the Doctor sets it for the future. Offering Rory a lift, the Doctor is bewildered when he decides to remain behind to guard the Pandorica. Despite the warning that he may go mad from never sleeping, Rory insists; the Doctor relents but warns him he isn't indestructible and gives him fair warning of all the things he knows can cause an Auton to be destroyed or become faulty before vanishing into the future.
In the museum, Amy compares Amelia's height to herself, Amy guesses its 1996. Sure of the year, Amy looks around the exhibit, paying no mind to the younger version of herself. She finds a video on "the Lone Centurion" — a man in Roman armour who protected the Pandorica wherever it went for 1839 years and prevented anyone from opening it. He was last seen in 1941, dragging the box away from a burning building; it is believed the Centurion died in the inferno as no body was recovered. Amy realises he was Rory, having retained her recovered memories of him, but there is no time for her to dwell on this. The restorative light from the Pandorica has reactivated a stone Dalek in the exhibition and it's heading straight for the Ponds.
The Doctor appears, having used the vortex manipulator to travel 1894 years into the future. The Dalek shoots at him and Amy, prompting them to take cover with young Amelia; they're trapped. A museum guard appears and the Dalek deems him unarmed. However, the guard uncaps his hand, revealing a laser gun to disable the Dalek. Amy rejoices when she sees that the guard is the Auton Rory. They kiss while the Doctor realises the "light" from the Pandorica revived the Dalek partially. He also takes a fez from a display, putting it on Amelia, who refuses it; the Doctor dons the hat himself. The Dalek begins coming back to life once more due to the Pandorica still being open.
The Doctor leads the group away from the Dalek, blocking the door with a mop to buy time. When Rory recognises his appearance, the Doctor establishes the timeline by travelling back to 102 A.D. and ordering that version of Rory to let him out of the Pandorica. He leaves the notes for Amelia, all of which led her here. The Doctor even fulfils Amelia's request for a drink while running around the timeline, snatching it from the earlier version of herself at the museum. A bewildered Amy wonders how the Doctor keeps vanishing, making him explain what the device on his wrist is: "cheap, and nasty time travel; it's bad for you. I'm trying to give it up."
As they head for the roof, another version of the Doctor appears at the top of the stairs, near-dead. He falls down the stairs and whispers in the younger Doctor's ear before dying. The Doctor announces he has only twelve minutes to live. Amy is confused, but Rory points out that they can't just leave his body there. Feeling challenged for who's in charge, the Doctor asks Rory what they're going to do about Amelia. They look back to see nothing but Amelia's spilt drink. The Doctor explains history is still collapsing, and now there was never any Amelia Pond, confusing Amy; how can she be there when her younger self isn't? The Doctor answers that they are just the last light to go out. They head for the roof. After they've left, the Dalek begins to restore itself.
On the building's roof, Rory and Amy are confused by the sudden daylight; the Doctor retorts that he already told them that the eye of the storm is closing up, so time is speeding up. Rory questions the Doctor as to why the TARDIS exploded; "Good question for another day." The Doctor then makes them think; the sun was erased with every other star in the universe, so what's burning in the sky? The Doctor picks up a satellite dish and sonics it, revealing the sound of the TARDIS. The object keeping the Earth warm and lit is his TARDIS, exploding at every moment in history. Rory's Auton-enhanced hearing picks up a voice in the sky, which the Doctor amplifies with the dish. It's River Song's last words — "I'm sorry, my love" — repeated over and over. The TARDIS' emergency protocols have locked the console room in a time loop to save her life. The Doctor gives a smile to a shocked Amy and Rory.
River is seen repeating her attempts to open the TARDIS doors three times, each time failing and saying she is sorry to the Doctor as the TARDIS begins exploding. On the fourth attempt, the Doctor appears via her vortex manipulator, saying he's home. River looks at her watch and gives an annoyed look; she's been aware of the time loop the entire time and has been waiting for him to come and get her. They travel back to the roof, the Doctor introducing River to Rory. River explains she has questions, but number one is, "What in the name of sanity do you have on your head?". The Doctor explains he wears fezzes now since they're cool; Amy removes it from his head and tosses it in the air, where River blasts it to pieces. However, the regenerated Dalek elevates onto the roof and shoots at the group. They retreat to the museum below.
The Doctor runs through the museum, deducing that, along with the restoration field, the Pandorica contains a few billion atoms of the universe as it was, hence how the Dalek returned despite being erased from history. River tells him there's tiny fault of the Pandorica not being able to properly restore a single Dalek. The Doctor proposes getting the Pandorica to the exploding TARDIS, not only giving it unlimited power, but allowing it to scatter the atoms of the original universe throughout time and undo total event collapse. When asked how they can do this, the Doctor smug tells his friends to listen before turning to lead them back to the Pandorica; however, he is shot by the laser blast of the Dalek, which managed to locate them. The Dalek briefly powers down due to the amount of energy it expended, while the Doctor uses the manipulator to vanish into the past. Amy and Rory head back to his body, while River stays behind. As River is an associate of the Doctor's, the Dalek believes she will show mercy; she tells it her name and to look her up in its database, knowing one blast from her gun to its eyestalk will kill it. After seeing its information on River Song, the terrified Dalek begins begging for mercy.
Downstairs, Amy and Rory find The Doctor's corpse is not where they left it. River returns to remind them the Doctor lies, informing them the Dalek is dead as well. The Doctor had pretended to die to make them decoys to buy him time. They return to the exhibit and find the dying Doctor has strapped himself into the Pandorica. River realises he plans to use the vortex manipulator to fly the box into the heart of the TARDIS, exploding at every point in history. The explosion will release the atoms of the preserved universe, restoring it. River admits gravely that the plan will work only if the Doctor seals himself on the other side of the cracks. The entire universe will be restored, but not the Doctor. He will never have existed at all. However, all the good he has done for the universe until now will remain.
The Doctor and Amy say their goodbyes, and he admits that he took her with him because her life didn't make sense... living in a large house with only her aunt. He then asks Amy what happened to her parents, and she answers that she lost them but is alarmed when she cannot recall the specific details. He explains that they weren't killed when Amy was young, but consumed by the time field in her bedroom wall which has been eating away at her whole life. He assures her that as long as she remembers her parents, she can bring them back like she did Rory and with her family around her she won't need her imaginary friend. He pilots the Pandorica into the explosion, texting River "Geronimo!" on the way, and resets the universe, disappearing from existence...
...and sits up on the floor of the TARDIS console room. He rejoices he has survived being erased — until he sees Amy and himself from a week earlier, travelling to Space Florida; his timeline is unravelling, meaning, "Hello, universe, goodbye, Doctor." He calls over to Amy. She hears him, but cannot see him. His life rewinds further. He is in a street in Colchester, watching Amy leave a note for him underneath Craig's advertisement for a new lodger. She still cannot see him. The Doctor notices a crack in the road behind him, sealing itself.
He rewinds to the Byzantium; he approaches Amy — her eyes shut to avoid being killed by the Weeping Angel — and encourages her to remember what he told her when she was seven. He rewinds to 1996 and finds Amelia asleep in her back garden, awaiting his return. He carries her to bed and tells her the story of how he stole — or, rather, "borrowed" — the TARDIS, describing it as "ancient and new, and the bluest blue ever." He sees the crack in her wall and tells her it can't close properly until he's on the other side and steps through, preferring not to see the rest of his life rewind. The crack in her wall closes. She wakes to an empty room and quickly goes back to sleep.
In 2010, Amy wakes on her wedding day, surprised when her mother brings her breakfast. Her mother informs Amy she may toss the breakfast out the window as her father's a terrible cook. Amy races downstairs to see her father, studying a joke book for his speech at the reception. Amy finds her reaction to her parent as odd and she has the lingering feeling there is someone or something else missing. When she phones Rory to see if he feels the same way, he agrees with her because he loves and fears her. Excited, Amy gets ready for her wedding.
At the reception, she enjoys listening to her mother whisper insults about her father or giggles that her father is taking time to correct his speech. Amy then spots River Song outside, walking past the window. Rory presents her with a wedding gift someone has left — River's blue TARDIS diary, all its pages now blank. Amy begins to cry, wondering why she is sad. Rory tries to explain away the diary by reminding her of the old wedding saying: "Something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue." She notices some of the guests at the other tables; a bow tie and braces catch her attention just as a tear hits River's diary.
Amy interrupts her father's speech to announce that her imaginary childhood friend, "the raggedy Doctor," is real and he is late for her wedding. Her mother and aunt sigh, remembering how many psychiatrists they sent her to. Amy continues yelling that she brought everyone else back from the time field, so she can for him as well, which is why he told her that story when she was little, about the ancient, brand new box. The TARDIS — old and new, borrowed and blue — materialises in the middle of the room. Amy walks up to the TARDIS and asks the Doctor if she's "...surprised him this time." The Doctor steps out in a top hat and full evening dress, admitting that he is completely astonished. Everyone at the wedding is shocked to discover that the Doctor wasn't a figment of Amy's imagination, while Rory now remembers everything that happened to him and doesn't understand how he could have forgotten, especially being nearly 2000 years old. The Doctor introduces himself to the crowd; no doubt Amy's parents are feeling like apologising for not believing Amy.
Amy imitates part of the wedding ceremony, telling him he can kiss her. However, the Doctor stops Amy, informing her the brand new Mr Pond will be taking care of the "kissing duties" from now on. Annoyed, and thinking the Doctor doesn't understand earth customs well, Rory tries explaining that marrying Amy gives her his last name, but relents when the Doctor says his version is correct. The Doctor says he'll move the TARDIS as they're gonna need the space for dancing, which is why he came. When everyone starts dancing, the Doctor does so badly, making Amy giggle ("You're terrible! That is embarrassing!" she shrieks) and amusing the children present; he even tries teaching them his moves. Later, watching Amy and Rory slow dance, the Doctor notes to himself that Rory is 'the boy who waited' and, after guarding her for two thousand years, deserves his happiness.
The Doctor leaves to return to the TARDIS, now parked in Amy's garden. River Song appears behind him. He returns her vortex manipulator and her diary, explaining that the writing has come back, but he didn't peek ahead. As River thanks him, the Doctor asks if she's married herself. She wonders if he is asking, and he says, "Yes," then stammers when he realises he accidentally proposed to her. River teases him with further affirmations. The Doctor wonders who she really is. She says he will find out very soon when everything changes. She leaves abruptly via her vortex manipulator.
Venice, 1580. Guido presents his teenage daughter Isabella to Rosanna Calvierri and her son, Francesco; they consider her admittance to Rosanna's school. Rosanna claims sympathy for Guido's concern for family and agrees to enrol Isabella. However, she then quickly has her steward hustle Guido out of the room, telling him they shouldn't wait. Guido puts up a bit of fight but is still taken away. Circling Isabella with Francesco, Rosanna asks him if she is to his liking. Francesco says Isabella is, flattering her. Her happiness is short-lived though, as the man bares a mouthful of fangs. Isabella screams...
430 years later in a Leadworth pub, Rory Williams phones Amy Pond from his stag party. He leaves a message on her answering machine, telling her how much he loves her and that, if they weren't getting married the next day, he'd propose. One of his guests directs his attention to a cake being wheeled in, making Rory quickly end his call in embarrassment. Everyone chants for the stripper to come out of the cake. To their shock, though, it's the Eleventh Doctor who pops out instead. The Doctor, relieved to be at the right party after having gotten it wrong twice, tells Rory that they need to talk about Amy; she tried to kiss him.
In the TARDIS, the Doctor explains that travelling with him blinds his companions to the important things in their lives back home. Returning to their ordinary lives after sharing adventures with him will drastically change things; the Doctor collected Rory to make sure this doesn't happen to Amy. As a wedding gift, he is going to take them anywhere in time that they wish to visit. The Doctor prepares to give Rory the "bigger on the inside" speech, but is shocked that Rory calmly explains ahead of time that the inside is another dimension. Annoyed, he tells Rory that he always looks forward to explaining it. As neither Amy or Rory can think of a place in time they want to visit, the Doctor decides to take them somewhere romantic, pulling a lever.
The TARDIS materialises on the dock outside of Venice. The Doctor goes on to explain how Venice was founded by refugees running from Attila the Hun, and lists some of the many people who liked the city. Remembering Casanova, the Doctor quickly checks his watch; luckily, Casanova is not born for another 140 years. The Doctor does not want to run into him because he owes Casanova a chicken due to losing a bet.
When they try to enter the city, they are stopped at the gate and asked to present their papers; Venice has been quarantined at the suggestion of the city's patron, Rosanna Calvierri, to protect the citizens from the plague. The Doctor is immediately suspicious; the plague died out years ago. They present the psychic paper, and are admitted to the city, where they see Guido interrupt a procession of Calvierri school girls, demanding to know where Isabella is. He locates her in the procession, but she does not seem to recognise him and he is immediately warded off by another girl, who bares fangs at him. Amy asks the Doctor what he thinks of the situation, only to find that he's already gone.
The Doctor catches up to Guido, asking why he wants to get Isabella out of Rosanna's school. Guido explains that something evil happens to the girls in the school; Isabella didn't recognise him, and the girl who pushed him away had a face like an animal. Intrigued, the Doctor walks with Guido back towards the school, telling him it's time he had a talk with Rosanna.
In the school's courtyard, Rosanna is "hydrating" by drinking several chalices of water. Francesco enters, informing his mother of Guido's actions; he then speculates that they have "converted" more than enough girls to be introduced to his brothers. Rosanna disagrees, prompting Francesco to ask permission to take the ones they have already converted into the night to take more girls for conversion. Rosanna tells him that they should let the parents beg them to take their daughters to make it all the more ironic. Francesco leaves, annoyed.
Meanwhile, Rory and Amy walk through Venice as he asks what she has been up to. Amy vaguely explains the basics of her travelling with the Doctor, only to be asked by Rory if she thought of him. Amy uncomfortably answers that she knew she would be coming back. Rory then says that the Doctor is right: travelling with him blocks out all the important things. Amy consoles him, explaining that this is their date and that they should enjoy it. Rory agrees, thinking about the absurdity of time travel.
They are watched by Francesco, who is offered flowers by a girl. He turns down the offer but follows her into a tunnel. Nearby, as Rory tries to take a picture of Amy with his camera phone, they hear the girl scream. They run back to find Francesco leaning near her with blood-covered fangs. Rory attends to the girl, seeing that she is okay aside from a lack of blood. Amy follows Francesco, but the trail dead-ends at the river. She does not know she is being watched from below the water.
Elsewhere, Guido feigns another attempt at breaking into the school to retrieve Isabella while the Doctor sneaks in through a side gate. He comes across a group of Rosanna's girls, noting that they have no reflection in a mirror. He realises they must be vampires. They threaten to call the steward unless he leaves, if he's lucky. They bare their fangs at him as he backs up to the exit, thanking them for the mystery. The Doctor meets up with Amy and Rory where they watched Guido previously; he and Amy are excited at having discovered vampires in Venice, which appals Rory.
The Doctor takes Amy and Rory to meet Guido, and they begin to strategise infiltrating the school. Guido suggests blowing their way in with gunpowder, which he has stacked in barrels, but the Doctor discards the idea. Amy proposes dressing in Isabella's clothing and having the Doctor pose as her fiancé; she will be admitted to the school, and, once inside, will open a trap door that leads down to the river, allowing them inside. However, Rory objects as he doesn't want others to think the Doctor is her fiancé. Amy counters that they've already seen the Doctor, but they haven't seen Rory, and offers to go with him as his brother. Rory again objects as they are dealing with vampires, to which the Doctor replies that they "hope" they are vampires. Amy catches onto the Doctor's train of thought: if they're not really vampires, what could be so bad that they don't mind being mistaken for them?
At Amy's suggestion, Rory acts as her brother and uses the psychic paper to fake having references from the King of Sweden. After being admitted, Amy meets Isabella inside. Isabella tells her of the school: she is taken regularly in the middle of the night and strapped to some sort of chair, and a process then occurs that Isabella can never remember. All she knows is that the sun now burns her skin. Amy promises to help her escape. That night, she sneaks down to the courtyard and unlocks the trap door, but is caught by the steward.
Meanwhile, the Doctor and Rory successfully infiltrate the school through the secret passage. Rory persistently questions the Doctor's relationship with Amy, to which the Doctor either makes jokes or answers honestly. They break into the courtyard, but Amy is nowhere to be found. While looking around, the Doctor uncovers a body drained of all of its fluids in a nearby trunk. This prompts Rory to furiously yell at the Doctor for casually placing Amy in harm's way; there is something about the Doctor which makes his companions want to put themselves at risk to impress him. They are soon discovered and chased through the school by the girls; the Doctor produces a UV wand to keep them at bay.
Meanwhile, Amy is forced into the dungeon cell that Isabella described earlier. Francesco and Rosanna circle her. Rosanna tries to force her to reveal her true identity, as well as how she managed to obtain the psychic paper she and Rory used to bluff their way into the school, being immune to its effects. When Amy resists, Rosanna orders the process begun, drinking some of Amy's blood. As Amy barely hangs on to consciousness, Rosanna explains she and Francesco drink the girls dry and replace their blood with that of their own species. The girls either die or transform; if they transform, ten thousand husbands wait for them in the river. Amy apologises as she's already engaged and kicks Rosanna's hip, accidentally dislodging a perception filter. Rosanna's true alien form is revealed.
The process is interrupted by the commotion caused by the Doctor and Rory. Rosanna and Francesco rush off to investigate, leaving Amy to be found and freed by Isabella. The two women join the Doctor and Rory and make their way through the dungeons, closely pursued by Francesco and the girls. They escape the school, but Isabella's sensitivity to light allows her to be recaptured by Francesco. When the Doctor rushes back to rescue her, he is knocked unconscious by a massive electrical shock that courses through the door.
Later that day, Rosanna, Francesco, the converted girls and the staff take Isabella to a plank to be pushed into the water. Carlo, Rosanna's head steward, reads a rite to Isabella, explaining her death is because of her betrayal of the Calvierris. Being pushed into the water, Isabella says she can swim like virtually all Venetians but soon realises she is not alone in the water — Rosanna's other sons are also there, beneath the surface. They pull her under as Rosanna dismisses everyone but Francesco. She tries to reach into the water, but Francesco warns her that his brothers do not know it is her in human form; she promises her other sons "not long now".
Rosanna returns from the "ceremony" to find the Doctor waiting for her on her throne. He tells her that he has deduced she is from Saturnyne and is using a perception filter to appear human. She in turn deduces that the Doctor is not of Earth, and is shocked to learn he is from Gallifrey, commenting that he should be in a museum. They question each other, Rosanna revealing her planet was consumed by the cracks in time; she and her children had to flee from the Silence. Running brought them to Earth. Rosanna asks for the Doctor's help in rebuilding her race, but he only wants to know what happened to Isabella. Rosanna does not know who "Isabella" is until the Doctor tells her she was the girl who helped them escape the school; Rosanna remarks that all traitors must be killed. As the Doctor is removed by the steward, he furiously shouts that he will stop her, if only because she didn't know Isabella's name.
Rosanna heads to the courtyard, where she calls her staff together. She announces that "the storm" is coming. She attempts walking down the stairs but her perception filter begins going on the fritz, scaring her attendant back. Francesco wonders what's wrong; Rosanna deduces that the device was damaged by Amy's kick. She smacks the perception filter until her human disguise comes back into place and tells Francesco to gather the girls as there's a job for them.
Back at Guido's house, the Doctor heals Amy's bite wound and begins going over the facts. He comes to the conclusion that Rosanna is going to sink Venice and repopulate it with her transformed girls, as there is no way Saturnynians can stay on land indefinitely. Rory reminds the Doctor that blokes are needed for that, prompting Amy to tell them that Rosanna mentioned "10,000 husbands waiting in the river". The Doctor concludes that only Rosanna's sons survived the trip and that they are waiting in the canal until their mum can make some compatible mates for them, grimacing at the idea.
Hearing a bang from upstairs, the Doctor comments that the neighbours are awfully noisy but Guido tells him that there are no people upstairs. The Doctor is unsurprised by this and pulls out his UV wand for defence. Suddenly, Rosanna's girls appear in the window, to which a disbelieving Rory points out is on the second floor. They smash the window and try climbing in. The Doctor points his sonic screwdriver at them, cancelling perception filters; the girls are now fully Saturnynian, with no trace of their humanity or individuality left — they are primal but loyal to Rosanna.
The Doctor, Amy, Rory, and Guido run down the stairs to the exit, with the Doctor holding back the girls with his UV wand. However, the moment the time travellers get outside, Guido demands the UV wand. He locks them out and heads back upstairs to the gunpowder. He ignites it, blowing up his home, taking himself and the girls with it. Realising the danger that lies ahead, the Doctor orders Amy back to the TARDIS for her own safety. Rory thanks him before following her.
In the school, Rosanna opens a control hub set in her throne and uses it to create a deadly storm over Venice. Widespread panic ensues, as Rosanna watches in delight. The Doctor returns to the school and finds the generator but cannot stop it; a deadlock seal, again. Rosanna is surprised by how much the Doctor is trying to save a single city, which is a small price to pay for saving her race. He informs Rosanna of the death of her girls and begs for her help in ending the catastrophe. Devastated that her plan has failed, Rosanna leaves, telling the Doctor to save the city himself.
Outside the school, Amy and Rory catch sight of Francesco leaving the building. Francesco sees them, prompting Amy and Rory to flee. He jumps in the canal to go after them, and, to their shock, manages to get in front of them. Francesco focuses on Amy, bitter that a potential mate for his brothers escaped. Rory draws Francesco towards him by insulting Rosanna, and the pair fight. After a short scuffle, Francesco transforms into his true form and overpowers Rory. Pinned down by the monster, Rory waits for the end, but Amy comes to his rescue in the nick of time, using her compact mirror to amplify the sunlight and direct it at Francesco, who is instantly vapourised. Amy kisses Rory and then tells him that they're going to go help the Doctor. "Okay," he weakly mutters, still dazed from the kiss.
Amy and Rory return to help the Doctor, sneaking into the school while the steward empties the house of its treasures. The Doctor sets them to destroying the control hub in the throne in any way they can. He then climbs to the bell tower, realising that the tolling bell is powering the generator at the top of the spire. He stops the bell and continues climbing, finally deactivating the generator; the weather immediately returns to normal.
Rosanna goes to the river, distraught. She attempts to deactivate her perception filter, but it malfunctions and she retains her human form. The Doctor rushes up, pleading for her to stop. She orders the Doctor to remember her species, knowing he will have to live with the death of her race on his conscience. Before he can reach her, she throws herself into the river, where she is devoured by her sons who don't recognise her.
Later, the trio return to the TARDIS, with the Doctor gleefully remarking that their next trip will be to the Leadworth Registry Office, where he wonders if he can give Amy away at the wedding; however, when Amy continues to express some reluctance, Rory sadly asks the Doctor to drop him off where they found him. Amy instead invites Rory to join them, to which the Doctor agrees. As they are about to leave in the TARDIS, a strange silence falls across the city. As he looks out at the empty street, the Doctor remembers Rosanna's words about "the Silence and the end of all things".
Exasperated, the Doctor enters the TARDIS, placing his scarf on a nearby lever. Amy enters, trying again to entice him into kissing her; Rory follows after her, annoyed she's still trying to kiss the Doctor. Rory reminds the Doctor that he just saved reality, so he should take the night off and relax. He is reluctant — they still do not know what led the TARDIS to the date of the temporal explosion and destroyed it, much less why. He also has not figured out the meaning of the "silence." As he ponders, he takes a TARDIS phone call: an Egyptian goddess is on the loose on the Orient Express in space and the being on the other end is concerned. The Doctor turns to bid Amy and Rory goodbye, but Amy runs to the door, bids her former life "adieu" and closes the TARDIS doors. The Doctor smiles and fires up the engines, sending the TARDIS spinning through the time vortex...
A young policewoman, Lucy Hayward, roams the corridors of what appears to be a 1980s Earth hotel. Each room in the hotel possesses the manifestation of a fear, and each person who comes to the hotel must find their room — after which, they begin to "praise him". Lucy is the last of her companions. Lucy's room contains a giant gorilla that she once saw in a book when she was younger; screaming, she backs out of the room. Somewhere in the hotel, a creature awakens. As Lucy continues to write about her fear, she begins to "praise him", and stands in peace as she welcomes the creature to kill her.
Sometime later, the TARDIS lands in the same hotel. Once more, the TARDIS hasn't taken the Doctor where he wants to go, which in this case is the planet Ravenscala. The Eleventh Doctor is fascinated by their surroundings since, as he informs Amy and Rory, the hotel is not really a hotel at all, but something that someone has made to look like a hotel. There are pictures on the walls of various humans and aliens including Lucy, each bearing their names and fears. They are suddenly confronted by two Earth humans — Rita, a nurse, Howie, a computer geek — and Gibbis, a cowardly, mole-like alien from the planet Tivoli.
Rita carefully inspects the TARDIS trio, deducing that because their pupils are dilated, they have no idea what is going on either. The Doctor is immediately impressed by her cleverness and jokes to Amy that Rita will be replacing her as his companion. Rita explains to the Doctor and his companions that each room in the hotel contains "bad dreams", with Howie adding that the walls twist and move so that you never know where you're going or where you'll end up. This is confirmed when the Doctor tries to take everyone back to the TARDIS only to find that it has disappeared. When the Doctor asks Rita if there are any more people inside the hotel, Rita mentions Joe, who's a bit "tied up". When the Doctor asks what is keeping Joe occupied, Rita retorts, "No, I mean he's tied up."
Rita, Howie, and Gibbis bring the Doctor and his companions to Joe's room, which is full of ventriloquist dummies. Joe has been tied up by the others inside the room because of his mental instability. Joe informs the Doctor that he is going to die in the hotel; the Doctor jokes, "They certainly didn't mention that in the brochure!" Trying to get through to Joe, believing him to be possessed by an external force, the Doctor learns that "he" is going to feast. He also warns the Doctor that the same thing will happen to him, but that he must first find his room — because there is a room in the hotel for everyone. Rather than leave Joe behind, the Doctor has his chair tied up to a cart so they can wheel him around the hotel while they search for the TARDIS or an exit. He warns the entire group to stay with someone else at all times, and avoid being drawn to a particular room.
As the group begins searching the hotel, each person begins throwing out his own theories as to what is happening and how they should act on it. Rory is powerless to keep Howie from finding his room, which contains a group of twenty-something girls who mock him for being nerdy and for his stutter. Howie begins to "praise him". Further up the hallway, Amy discovers pages of Lucy Hayward's diary, which the young woman had dropped as the beast killed her. She doesn't have time to show the Doctor, however, as the beast can be heard approaching to kill Joe. Rory locates a fire exit, but it goes unseen by everyone else as they scatter into various rooms to hide from the predator. Rita inadvertently enters her own room with Joe to find her father lecturing her about her grades. She also begins to "praise him". Rory, Amy, Gibbis, Howie, and the Doctor enter another room containing two Weeping Angels. Amy warns the others not to blink, but the Doctor quickly ascertains that the Angels are not real. He encourages her to set aside her fear, but Rory notes Gibbis' reaction — he hides in a closet — and suggests that maybe the Weeping Angels are not for any of them. The Doctor checks the corridor through the peephole, and finally gets a good view of their enemy: it's a Minotaur.
In Rita's room, the rope that is binding Joe to his chair comes loose and untied on its own, possibly through some sort of telekinetic energy. Joe runs into the corridor, smiling madly as he asks the Minotaur to come to him. It overpowers him and drags him away, though they are both chased by the Doctor. The Doctor is separated from Joe and the Minotaur in the winding labyrinth of corridors, but later stumbles across Joe's body. The Doctor tries to revive him but finds that it's no use.
The group returns to the hotel banquet hall with Joe's body, which the Doctor examines. Amy tries to comfort Gibbis by mentioning that she's met the Weeping Angels and thought the room was for her; however, she knows that the Doctor will find a way out of the mess they're in because he's never let her down, not even when she was a child and she thought he'd left her behind. Gibbis smugly mentions that since the Weeping Angels were for him, her room must still be somewhere in the hotel. The thought unnerves her.
The Doctor tells Rita that there is no medical explanation for Joe's death — his organs simply stopped, as though all of his faiths and fears were taken from him. Rita confesses that she believes the hotel is Jahannam, the Muslims' idea of hell. She is, however, completely unfazed by this and by the revelation that Gibbis is an alien. The Doctor tries to assure Rita that her theory is incorrect and that she is still alive but to no avail. Amy recalls Lucy's diary pages and presents them to the Doctor, who reads them as Howie begins to praise the Minotaur. "Praise him." The Minotaur in question awakens at the words.
The Doctor promises not to leave Howie, who is afraid of being eaten, though Gibbis angers him by suggesting that perhaps the Minotaur would leave the rest of the group alone if they were to sacrifice Howie to him. Rita nobly offers to stay with Howie, but the Doctor rejects this and berates Gibbis, insisting that "no one else will die today." Theorising that the beast feeds on fear, the Doctor tells the others that they must do whatever they can to fight the fear off, and to dig deep, to find and embrace their faith. As Amy wonders what their next move is, the Doctor slyly explains that they're going to catch the monster.
Using a speaker through which Howie's voice is projected, the Doctor lures the Minotaur into the hotel spa, as Amy, Rita, and Rory lock the doors from the outside to trap it. The Doctor begins speaking to the Minotaur, who claims that the "warden" takes people and places them in the hotel, which houses "tailored-made hell" for each of its victims. Once confronted by their fear, the victims begin worshipping it. The Minotaur explains that it has lived for so long that it has forgotten its own name. As victims just keep on showing up and its instincts are too hard to resist, the creature has lived a long, miserable life, now consisting purely of instinct and routine. He wishes to end it, and at last get some peace.
Meanwhile, Gibbis keeps watch over Howie in the reception area, but Howie taunts Gibbis into releasing him. He freely roams the hotel, drawing the Minotaur — which escapes the spa by knocking Rory out — to him. The Doctor goes off in pursuit. Amy and Rita stay behind to look after Rory, but Amy finds herself drawn to Room 7 and opens the door. Rita is not quick enough to stop her from seeing what lies inside. Meanwhile, the Doctor locates Howie's body; the others arrive shortly after, with Gibbis claiming that Howie got free and overpowered him. The Doctor gives him an angered look of disapproval. Gibbis, guilty, chases after the group in hopes of forgiveness.
Later, Rory finds the Doctor admiring Howie's picture, which has been added to the wall alongside the others. Rory admits that he hasn't found his door yet, which the Doctor takes to mean that Rory isn't afraid of anything — something that Rory confirms, saying, "After all the time I spent with you in the TARDIS, what was left to be scared of?" The Doctor sadly notes that Rory spoke in the past tense. Later, they lay Howie's body out in the banquet hall next to Joe's.
The Doctor meets Rita on the stairwell and informs her that he is close to getting them out of the hotel. When Rita wonders why the Doctor has made it his responsibility to save them — noting that he has quite a "God complex" — the Doctor sadly looks down to Amy, obviously guilty for bringing her and Rory to a place where they are in danger. He invites Rita to travel with him once they escape the hotel and leaves her, but after he departs, she begins to "praise him" and goes off on her own.
While the Doctor searches for the hotel security room, he stumbles across his own door, Room 11, and is hardly surprised by what he sees inside. Although it is not directly shown, its reflection glints in the corners of his eyes: a familiar white light. Unlike the others, who heard voices telling them to praise the Minotaur, the Doctor's will proves stronger, allowing him to not fall victim. He appears well aware that this was going to be the fear inside his room all along, and maintains his composure. The Doctor stares at it hauntingly- this fear has troubled him for so long he knows he will confront it again once and for all. He addresses it grimly, "Of course. Who else?" The Doctor quietly shuts the door to his room and tacks a "DO NOT DISTURB" sign on the knob.
Rita continues wandering the hotel; when the Doctor finally locates the security room, he spots her on the footage and questions what she's doing. He uses one of the room phones to contact her, realising that she has begun to "praise him" and is now trying to keep everyone safe. Knowing that the Doctor cannot rescue her no matter what, she asks to die in private because she wants him to remember her the way she was — before she was robbed of her faith. As the Minotaur rounds the corner towards her, she hangs up on the Doctor, who heeds her last request and shuts off the security camera just as she is about to be killed.
The Doctor, devastated by Rita's death, destroys the hotel lobby in anger while the others listen. He begins to revise his theory, knowing that Rita wasn't afraid of her death and therefore the beast could not possibly feed on fear. Gibbis berates the Doctor for continuing to promise action without result; when Amy jumps to his defence, the Doctor realises the truth; the Minotaur feeds on faith, not fear.
Howie believed in conspiracies, Rita was a devout Muslim, Joe was a gambler who believed in luck, and Gibbis believes in the continued presence of invaders who will tell him what to do. The Doctor has inadvertently helped the Minotaur to thrive by insisting that his companions reject their fear and fall back on their faith, which the Minotaur then takes and converts into a consumable form. He tells a confused Rory that the TARDIS was pulled to the hotel — which is, in fact, an alien prison — because of Amy's faith in the Doctor. Amy suddenly begins to "praise him".
The Doctor, Rory, Gibbis and a slowly-possessed Amy flee through the hotel as the Minotaur gives chase, and find themselves hiding in her room. The Doctor is astonished to see that Amy's fear is a vision of her seven-year-old self waiting for a Doctor that she believes will never return for her. Amy begins to feel the Minotaur changing her, and the Doctor suddenly insists that he can't save her. He laments having stolen her childhood and leading her to her death, which he claims to have always known would happen because it always does. Requesting that she forget her faith in him, he insists that he really is "just a madman with a box" as he'd told her all those years before and that it's time to see each other as they really are. Calling her Amy Williams, he tells her that it's time for her to stop waiting and grow up. Though the Minotaur has broken into the room, it weakens as Amy's faith in the Doctor is dismantled.
The hotel disguise dissolves around them, revealing an automated alien prison cell. The prison floats through space, kidnapping people with belief systems so that their faith may be converted into food for the creature. Amy reminds the Doctor that because the hotel showed him a door, he must believe in something, though he neglects to tell her what this is. The dying Minotaur passes a message to the Doctor, expressing his pity for "an ancient creature drenched in the blood of the innocent", because "for such a creature, death would be a gift." The Doctor believes the Minotaur is referring to itself, but with its dying breath, the Minotaur suggests that it was referring to the Doctor. It subsequently dies, and the group prepares to leave in the TARDIS.
After dropping Gibbis off, the TARDIS materialises in a neighbourhood in 21st century London. Stepping outside, the Doctor presents Amy and Rory with keys to one of the houses in the row, with Rory's favourite car parked outside. While Rory steps inside to fetch champagne, Amy speaks to the Doctor privately, as she knows that he is leaving them behind. When she questions why, the Doctor explains that it's because she's still breathing; he doesn't want to wait until she's dead and he's left standing over their graves. After a tearful goodbye, the Doctor departs. Rory returns in time to see the TARDIS dematerialising, and wonders where the Doctor's gone. Amy merely replies that he is saving them.
Amy looks out of her bedroom window at the sky. At the same time, an equally sad Doctor looks around his now vacant time machine as he heads off to travel alone.
A spaceship approaches Earth in 1938, and prepares its weapons to destroy the planet. Instead, it begins to blow up itself thanks to the Doctor, who is now running for his life to escape the ship. Sealing off the part of the ship that is exploding, the Doctor finds the section he's in has fallen apart. The vacuum of space is pulling him out. Seeing a space suit nearby, he tries reaching for it, but it falls out. Using his respiratory bypass system, the Doctor lets go of the ship and falls after the suit, barely missing getting caught in the explosion. Grabbing hold of the suit, he struggles to put it on as he enters the Earth's atmosphere.
In England, Madge Arwell is riding her bike home when something falls from the sky into a nearby field. She finds a space suit inside a crater as a groan comes from it. Madge opens the visor to find the wearer has the helmet on backwards. She informs him of this when he believes he's gone blind. Explaining he "got dressed in a hurry", the Doctor asks Madge to help him find a police box. Madge returns home to retrieve the keys to her neighbour's car, informing her children to tell their dad she is helping a spaceman angel find a police box. When her husband asks where she is going, their son, Cyril, simply says "out"; her story is obviously ridiculous.
After a bumpy drive due to her lack of driving acumen, Madge finds a police box. She helps the Doctor out of the car, as he bumps into a street lamp. She wonders why he hasn't taken off his suit. He explains it's an impact suit, which is healing him from the fall. The Doctor tells Madge that he will repay her kindness. All she has to do is make a wish. Entering the police box, the Doctor asks if they can try again — it's not the TARDIS.
Three years later, in the Second World War, Madge's husband, Reg is flying his plane blind, looking for a guide to navigate his way. Seeing none, he looks at a picture of Madge and apologises.
Madge receives a telegram, informing her that Reg was lost at sea. She does not tell her children, Cyril and Lily, what happened, as she wants to keep them happy at Christmas. Because of the bombing, they are to leave for their Uncle Digby Arwell's country estate and spend Christmas there. As her children break a wishbone, Madge makes a silent wish for help.
They arrive at Digby's estate, where the Doctor greets them. He introduces himself as the caretaker. He shows them around the estate, explaining he "repaired" several boring rooms. They have been upgraded with delightful gizmos. He shows the children their room, which has everything a child could want for their hobbies — at the cost of their beds, they'll have to sleep in hammocks now. Madge tells the Doctor to stop and sends the children out of the room. She tells him that their father is dead, but then wonders at herself why she keeps shouting at them. The Doctor explains that it's because she knows that they will be very sad when she tells them the bad news; their happiness until then is upsetting her. The reason to let them be happy now is because they are going to be very sad later.
Before anything more can be said, they are interrupted by cries of delight from Cyril and Lily. They go to a room where the Doctor has set up an elaborate tree with a large blue gift box. Madge is shocked by the many toys the Doctor has put in the room. She turns to find him leaving once the children wonder who left them a gift.
That night, Cyril decides to open the Doctor's present before Christmas. He finds it contains a portal to another world, one covered in snow. A tree sprouts what seem to be ornaments. He grabs one, sees a face on it and drops it to run back. Something hatches from the ornament and walks off.
Back in the house, Lily is worried about Cyril. She notices lights from the attic. She finds the Doctor working on the electrics with the TARDIS next to him. He lies that the TARDIS is his wardrobe, painted to look like a police box. The Doctor wonders if Cyril is still in bed once he observes a beeping light he is holding. To prove to the Doctor that Cyril is in bed, Lily takes him to see but finds the Doctor was right. Cyril is not there. Impressed with Cyril's cleverness, the Doctor decides to look for him.
They head for the sitting room with the tree and find Cyril re-entering the portal. The Doctor enters and pulls Lily after him, explaining that it's a portal to another planet. They have arrived a few minutes after Cyril because of the nature of the portal. The Doctor explains this gift was supposed to be a supervised trip to one of the safest planets he knows, which also has beautiful natural Christmas trees. Meanwhile, Cyril has traced footprints left by the creature which earlier hatched from the "bauble". They lead to a tower-like structure.
Back in the house, Madge feels uneasy and looks around for the others, only to find them gone. She finds the portal and enters the forest herself. She encounters three harvest rangers, who hold her at gunpoint. They explain that the forest is private property, and she's in danger because of the acid rain coming to melt the trees down into fuel. They do a scan of her, finding that she is not from their era. The portal leads to the future. Madge begins crying from the stress and shock of what's happening. Deciding Madge will trust them if they are unarmed, the three put away their weapons, asking if they can interrogate her now. Madge then turns the tables on them by pointing a gun at them, telling them she's from the time of the Second World War.
Cyril has entered the structure and made his way to the top. Inside are wooden statues of a king and a queen. When Cyril sits on a throne in the top of the tower, the Wooden Queen comes to life and puts a crown on him. At the same time, the Doctor and Lily arrive and ascend the stairs. The Wooden King comes to life and follows them up. Finding Cyril, the Doctor then questions the Queen and King. They are trying to evacuate the forest's life force before the Androzani trees are melted. They lured Cyril to them, but he is too weak to carry their life force off the planet. To the Doctor's chagrin, he is also too weak. Lily is strong, but too young.
Madge is taken to the harvest rangers' vehicle, where she has all but the female member of the trio tied up to get some answers; Madge trusts her more than the men. The female ranger says they can scan for her children and set up an audio feed to receive any voices within the area. However, as soon as this is set up, a warning about the acid rain sounds and the rangers are teleported away. Madge hears Cyril over the feed, saying he will wait at the tower until she comes as she always comes.
Worried for the child's life, the Doctor tries explaining to Cyril that the portal they used to get to this planet will close soon, and they have to leave right away if they have a chance of avoiding the acid rain. However, the child is adamant and the rain begins; the tower won't hold up for long. They notice the ground shaking. Outside, the Rangers' vehicle, a giant robot, is being piloted poorly towards the tower. The Doctor recognises the driving style: Madge. She tells the Doctor he is fired as caretaker, before crashing the robot next to the tower.
The Doctor rushes her inside, where the Wooden Queen and King decide she is both strong and old enough. The Doctor realises they are saying that all life comes from the "mother ship", and thus are insisting on a female host. The forest's life force enters Madge as the room separates from the tower and launches itself into the time vortex. On the Queen's instruction to think of her destination, the Doctor tells her to think of all the memories and emotions of her home until it hurts. Complying, Madge begins thinking of her husband, and how he followed her around all the time until she promised to marry him. She then sees a display of her husband's plane, lost at sea. Not wanting to see her husband crash, Madge asks the Queen and King not to show her that. Lily and Cyril realise she's been keeping a secret from them.
In a flash of light, everyone is transported to Digby's lawn. The Doctor explains that the trees' life force, the Wooden Queen and Wooden King have left and are now out in space. Madge tries hugging her children, but they ask what she meant about their father dying. The Doctor excuses himself. When he steps outside, he rushes back to tell Madge to come out. Somehow, Reg has landed right behind them. The Doctor explains that her love led him into the time vortex, and he used the light from the escape pod as a guide to follow. Reg wonders what happened until he is told it's Christmas. He puts aside thought to enjoy the holiday with his family.
Later, Madge enters the attic as the Doctor prepares to leave. Seeing the TARDIS, she realises the "caretaker" was the spaceman she helped years earlier. She asks him to stay and enjoy Christmas, but he tells her he cannot. Madge thinks he has loved ones of his own, but the Doctor says that they think he died. Madge orders the Doctor to go see them. They shouldn't think he's dead at Christmas. As he enters the TARDIS, the Doctor tells Madge that if she ever needs his help again, she should make another wish. Reg enters as the TARDIS dematerialises. Madge explains the Doctor has returned to the time vortex, which she thinks is a lovely place.
In the 21st century, the Doctor arrives at Amy and Rory's house. Amy answers the door with a water gun, thinking it is Christmas carollers again. He greets her awkwardly, wondering how long it has been since they last met. Amy tells him that it's been two years, and spritzes the Doctor with water as payback for yet another long wait. She says River told them the truth, that he didn't really die. They each then assert that they will not hug first. After they hug, Amy invites the Doctor in, calling Rory to see who's at the door. Rory tries pretending to be surprised, but Amy tells him that they're past that. The Doctor asks if they have room for one more. They tell him that they always set a place for him. As Amy and Rory head in, the Doctor leaks a few tears, to his own surprise. He wipes his eye and smiles, noticing that he's got a bit of "humany-wumany" in him, then joins his friends for Christmas dinner.
It is winter in 1842. Children are playing outside. Standing away from the others is a little boy building a snowman. A woman asks him if he'd like to play with the other children but he says that he doesn't need anyone else. The woman tells a man that he's always so alone and that it's unhealthy. As they leave, he says that he doesn't want to talk to them because they are silly. To his surprise, the snowman he is building repeats this. He runs away as it tells him not to believe anyone else. He starts to walk back to it and it tells him that it can help him. He asks it how.
Fifty years later, Walter Simeon is overseeing men as they carefully scrape snow from snowmen into glass jars. The jars are loaded into a carriage where they are driven to Walter Simeon's institute. Doctor Simeon carries one of the jars up to a large glass sphere filled with snow. He tells it that the last of the arrivals have been sampled. The same voice from the snowman speaks from within the sphere, saying the swarm is approaching, and that as humanity celebrates, it will end. It asks if the final piece is ready, and Simeon says it's in hand. The voice asks how he will keep his secrets from getting out from the men who helped him. Simeon says it's been taken care of, as he promised to feed them. Back at the work site, one of the men says that he doesn't see any food. Simeon says he does, and as the men look around, snowmen rise up. Simeon coldly says "I promised to feed you, but I didn't say who to."
At an inn called the Rose & Crown, a barmaid walks outside with a tray. She is surprised to see a snowman that wasn't there before. She asks the Eleventh Doctor, who is walking past, if he built it. The Doctor says he didn't and walks away, but stops when she tells him that it just appeared out of nowhere. He walks back and circles the snowman, inspecting it. He says he wonders if the snow can remember how to build a snowman, which the maid thinks is silly. She makes the Doctor smile. He asks her what her name is. She says it is Clara, which he says is a nice name. He walks away, leaving her somewhat annoyed in the alley with the snowman. Clara sees the Doctor leave in a carriage and runs after it, managing to climb onto it.
In the Doctor's carriage, he talks to Vastra through a phone built into the roof. He tells her about the odd snow, making her wonder if his curiosity has been piqued. He firmly denies this, even stating that he does not make an impact on anyone anymore, hence Clara will have no reason to remember him. However, Vastra counters that it all starts with the same two words. The Doctor asks what two words she means. At that very moment, Clara opens a hatch on the roof and pops her head inside, shocking the Doctor. She asks "Doctor who?"
That same night, Simeon is walking through town and is confronted by Jenny and a veiled Vastra. Simeon doesn't take their presence as a threat, and instead taunts them; he says that Dr. Doyle has based his Sherlock Holmes stories on the Great Detective and her assistant with some alterations. He walks over to Vastra and unveils her, not even grimacing at her true face; "who would believe that the great detective is in fact... a woman." Simeon then notices that Vastra and Jenny seem suspiciously intimate. Vastra takes offence, saying she and Jenny are married; Jenny then quips that Simeon isn't. He scoffs at this and leaves, assured they cannot stop him. However, Vastra says that there is one person who can, making Simeon slightly uneasy.
Elsewhere, the Doctor is examining snow outside his parked carriage; locked inside is Clara, furiously demanding to be let out. Thinking, the Doctor asks Strax what he would look for next after finding something new in the world that he's never seen before. Strax answers "a grenade", which does not amuse the Doctor. They open the door of the carriage and explain to Clara that they'll be erasing her memory of them. Strax mistakenly calls Clara a male, which the Doctor cynically jokes is because Sontarans have trouble remembering there's more than one gender.
He orders Strax to get a memory worm to erase Clara's memory. Waiting, the Doctor sees Strax return without the worm, making him realise he forgot to wear the protective gauntlets; it erased the last hour of Strax's memory. With the worm now under the carriage, the Doctor has Strax retrieve it. However, he forgot to wear the gauntlets again and now thinks he's been run over. Highly amused, Clara passes the gauntlets to the Doctor, who shoves the memory worm into a jar. Clara questions him about the snowman, and one suddenly arises out of the snow. The Doctor asks Clara if she was thinking about it, which she admits to. Several more arise from the snow and begin snarling at them. The Doctor explains that the snow is sentient and is mirroring the thoughts of people around it. He orders Clara to picture them melting and she does so. Clara points out that he can't erase her memory now as it would make her forget how to defend herself. The Doctor warns her to not follow him, and tells her to forget him. He sends her away in Strax's carriage but Clara sneaks off.
Following the Doctor, Clara sees him pull a ladder out of nowhere in the park and climb up it. After letting the Doctor get a few minutes ahead to avoid him noticing her, Clara mimics his actions and pulls the ladder down. She climbs up to a platform, which should be easily seen by people passing by; she waves and says hello to people, but they don't notice her. She continues onward, climbing a hidden staircase in the sky reaching up into the clouds. Clara then sees the TARDIS. She knocks on the door and hides at the side of the TARDIS just as the Doctor pops his head out. As the Doctor looks around the sides of the TARDIS, Clara sneaks down the stairs. The Doctor hears her footsteps and picks up a piece of cloth that dropped from her dress, which he then smells. He sees her running down the same staircase which led up to the cloud, but dismisses her, still determined to stay out of what is happening on Earth.
The next day, Christmas Eve, Clara heads for her second job as governess to "Franny" and Digby Latimer, children of the widowed Captain Latimer, under the alias "Miss Montague" and speaks in a posh accent. Captain Latimer explains that he is having trouble connecting with his children and hopes Miss Montague can get through to them. Clara greets the children, and at their request, performs her "secret voice" (which is her real one). The children express how much they prefer her over their last governess, who drowned in their pond last year. Simeon pays an unexpected visit to the Latimer home, showing interest in the pond. This disturbs Clara, who thinks the Doctor may be of some use.
Clara goes back to the park, but can't get the ladder down, forcing her to call up to the Doctor. This draws the attention of passersby, who wonder if she's gone mad. Jenny happens upon the scene, shushing Clara. When Clara protests, Jenny asks "Doctor who?" to show she knows the Doctor.
Upon meeting Vastra, Clara is slightly disturbed at the sight of her but remains calm. Vastra explains what she is drinking isn't red wine and that Clara had better be truthful. Jenny explains that Vastra will ask questions and Clara must answer them with one word only; Vastra believes the truth can be said in one word while lies are said with a string of them. Though their meeting, Vastra tells Clara that the Doctor once saved many lives, then he suffered a loss so great, he was forced to retire. Seeing Clara has presented a chance to reawaken the Doctor's former sense of adventure, Vastra gives Clara a test: she must give her a message to pass onto Doctor; warning him of the danger the snow poses and explaining why he should help her. But she must do it in one word.
In his darkened TARDIS, the Doctor is reading a book while wearing Amy's reading glasses. He receives a call from Vastra who explains that Clara came to her and was given the "One Word Test". Annoyed, the Doctor asks Vastra what Clara said. She replies "Pond". The Doctor takes off his glasses and stares at them for a moment, finally deciding to investigate what is happening.
Dressing in an outfit he previously wore in his fourth incarnation, the Doctor goes to Dr Simeon's institute, pretending to be Sherlock Holmes. Greeting Simeon, the Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to lock the doors of Simeon's office to prevent interruption. The Doctor smacks the large glass sphere with his walking stick, prompting it to speak to him; it calls itself the Intelligence. Pondering what it and Simeon have planned, the Doctor sees a newspaper article about a governess who drowned in a pond; he realises why Clara used that word to warn him of the danger. Simeon's servants manage to break down the doors, distracting him long enough for the Doctor to discreetly make his exit.
The Doctor arrives at the Latimer home and examines the pond where the woman drowned; according to the scan, there is something in the ice. Strax arrives, saying Vastra sent him in case the Doctor needs assistance with his investigation. The Doctor claims he's not investigating, but Strax is not convinced. The Doctor sends him away just as he notices Clara waving at him through a window and gesturing for him to come up. The Doctor unintentionally signals that he will; after catching this, he scolds himself. As the Doctor walks away, something starts forming in the ice under the pond.
Clara is telling Franny and Digby a bed-time story about the Doctor, claiming that all he ever does, all day, is keep children from having bad dreams. However, Franny pokes a hole in her story, saying that she's been having bad dreams about their previous governess. Clara quickly says that the Doctor has been on vacation, and has just got back. The door opens and she begins to introduce the Doctor only to see the reincarnation of the previous governess to the Latimer family, created from her genetic sample, the Ice Governess. The Governess attacks them, intending to discipline the children as she believes they have been very naughty. Clara quickly locks them in a playroom for safety. The Ice Governess breaks in and all seems lost until a puppet operated by the Doctor destroys her with the sonic.
Meanwhile, Simeon arrives outside, activating a device that causes snow to fall in the yard.
Back inside, the Doctor notices a mirror and admires his bow tie. Clara, realising that the temperature of the room has dropped, says, "it's cooler". The Doctor thinks she is complimenting his bow tie, and replies, "Bow ties are cool." The Ice Governess begins to reform, unfortunately having learned not to melt. The Doctor, Clara and the children escape downstairs, meeting Captain Latimer. The Doctor hastily explains his presence in the house by claiming that he is Clara's "gentleman friend" and they have been upstairs kissing.
Vastra, Strax and Jenny arrive, trapping the Ice Governess behind a force field. Strax then says Captain Latimer's office is a strategic place to make their stand and everyone hurries inside. After explaining Simeon's plan, which is to use the Ice Governess as a template to evolve the snowmen into an army of ice for Simeon to conquer Earth with, the Doctor orders everyone to stay in Latimer's office. However, Clara disobeys and kisses him in the hallway. After recovering from the surprise, the Doctor confronts Simeon at the front door. Simeon warns the Doctor that they have five minutes to give him the Ice Governess. The Doctor seizes an umbrella and uses his sonic screwdriver to deactivate the force field that trapped the Ice Governess. He and Clara sprint up the stairs towards the roof. At one point, Clara grabs the Doctor's hand and takes the lead, which the Doctor is unused to since he is usually the one who does the hand grabbing.
The Ice Governess follows. Clara quickly realises why the Doctor led them up to the roof and uses the umbrella he took from downstairs to pull down the ladder that leads up to the spiral staircase; the wind has moved the cloud the TARDIS was parked on. They run up the staircase with the Ice Governess in pursuit. The Doctor explains that they are drawing the Ice Governess away from the power that is constantly reviving her; once far enough away, they can destroy the creature and lock her remains away in a container that the signal can't get through.
After reaching the Doctor's cloud, the Doctor shows Clara the inside of the TARDIS, which has changed since Amy and Rory left. He expects Clara to say that it's bigger on the inside like everyone else, but instead, she says, "It's smaller on the outside," which the Doctor notes is a first. Clara then asks if there is a kitchen on board, mentioning that she likes making soufflés, a remark which catches the Doctor's attention. Clara then comments that the Doctor is nearly a foot taller than her and that he could have reached the ladder without the umbrella; he took it so she could come with him. She asks him why and he replies "I never know why. I only know who." The Doctor then gives Clara a key to the TARDIS, having decided to take her with him. However, just after taking the key, Clara is grabbed by the Ice Governess. Clara and the Ice Governess topple off the cloud onto the lawn below; the Ice Governess is shattered, and Clara critically injured.
The Doctor uses the TARDIS to get Clara's body into Latimer's office where Strax uses alien technology to revive her. However, Clara's injuries are too severe, leaving her in a dying state. The Doctor asks Clara if she would travel with him and she agrees. He then storms out to face Simeon and his snowmen, brandishing a box which he claims contains the Ice Governess' shattered remains. He tells Simeon he'd "see [him] at the office", using the TARDIS to take himself and Vastra to Simeon's institute. Vastra wonders if the Doctor is making a bargain with the universe and the Doctor says that the universe owes him for all the times he has saved it, hoping that if he saves the world, the universe will allow Clara to live.
The Doctor and Vastra confront Simeon in his office and the Doctor reveals that the giant snow globe is actually a reflection of Simeon himself. Simeon explains that the snow had spoken to him as a child when he was building a snowman, and the Doctor informs him that he had accidentally started putting all of his deepest, darkest thoughts and feelings into the snow. Although Simeon is shocked to learn that he was the reason the snow globe was sentient, this doesn't stop him from attempting to continue his plan. He grabs the box containing the Ice Governess remains from the Doctor. When he opens it, however, he finds the memory worm instead. It bites him, erasing all the memories of his adult life. The snow globe seems to die, but then comes back to life with the snow inside flying around furiously.
The Doctor is now perplexed as to how this can be as it is a reflection of Simeon's dark side. The snow globe explains that the "dream outlives the dreamer", zapping Simeon with electricity. Without the memories the worm erased, there is plenty of room for the entity; Simeon is now its puppet, rather than the other way around. After hurling Vastra aside, the possessed Simeon attacks the Doctor but then pulls back in apparent pain as the snow in the globe turns to rain. Simeon perishes as the entity is defeated, and the Doctor says that all the snow at the Latimer house is mirroring the grief of the Latimers as Clara draws closer to death. Rushing back to the house, the Doctor learns that Clara won't make it and that she has only moments left. He spends Clara's last moments by her side. Before passing away, Clara murmurs words that another version of her had said once before: "Run you clever boy. And remember."
Now back in his state of grief and self-loathing, the Doctor attends Clara's funeral. Vastra hands the Doctor a card for Simeon's institute, which reveals the entity was the Great Intelligence. However, while the name rings a bell, the Doctor has trouble remembering when he met it before; he mutters the name to himself, hoping to remember.
He then goes to Clara's grave. He is stunned when he reads her full name: Clara Oswin Oswald. The Doctor remembers that name from the woman he had met in the Dalek Asylum, who went by the name Oswin Oswald and also enjoyed making soufflés; he realises that he hadn't noticed the connection earlier, since he never saw Oswin Oswald's human face, but the two also have the same voice. This leaves the Doctor greatly confused; someone has died twice in completely different lives in time and space. Elated, he realises that there is another version of his new companion and that there is a chance of meeting her again. Eager at solving the mystery of the woman who has died twice and reuniting with Clara, the overjoyed Doctor runs off. Jenny wonders why the Doctor is suddenly so happy. Vastra remarks that "maybe the universe does make bargains after all."
Decades later, the cemetery has long ago ceased to be maintained. Tall weeds have taken over, and many of the gravestones are neglected; Clara's remains legible but is well-worn. Another Clara, identical in appearance to Clara Oswald and Oswin Oswald, walks through the graveyard ahead of her friend. As she nears Clara Oswald's gravestone, her friend begs her to leave because she thinks the graveyard is creepy. Standing above her doppelgänger's corpse, Clara confidently dismisses her friend's phobia, asserting, "I don't believe in ghosts."
Back in the TARDIS, the Doctor is now hell-bent on finding Clara. Flipping switches on the console, he yells, "Clara! Oswin! Oswald!" and pulls up a picture of Clara from 1892 on the TARDIS scanner. Then he exclaims, "Watch me run!"
In the Nevada desert, the Twelfth Doctor walks into a diner and is greeted by a waitress who looks and sounds exactly like Clara Oswald, though he does not seem to recognise her. Having no money, the Doctor offers to play his guitar as payment for a drink. He notices the waitress has an English accent, wondering how she got there. The waitress says it was magic, before quickly stating that she got on a plane and came here; the Doctor smirks at her sarcasm. She asks how he got there, to which the Doctor replies "by magic". Using his sonic sunglasses to turn a radio into an amplifier, the Doctor begins playing. The waitress says she believes him.
As the Doctor tunes his guitar, the waitress asks if he's a traveller (due to his Scottish accent); he tells her he travels "from time to time", finishing his prep work. The Doctor plays a piece of music, and she asks him if it is a sad piece. He says that nothing is sad until it's over, resuming his playing. He tells her that he thinks the piece is called "Clara". The waitress asks him to tell her about this "Clara"...
In his past, the Doctor walks through the desert-like plains of Gallifrey, after having just sent the boy with his message; he arrives at the old barn where he slept in as a child and worked out how to save his home. He climbs up into its loft, seeming nostalgic as he overlooks his old bed. A woman he recognises enters the barn; with the Doctor's face blocked by a beam, she cannot tell who it is, so she asks him to leave. Walking closer, she meets his gaze, immediately realising his identity; she warns the Doctor that "they" will kill him.
In the chamber of the High Council, the Cloister Bells are ringing without end, warning of great danger. Rassilon wonders if that means the Doctor has returned; the General confirms it, radioing a guard named Gastron. Gastron has arrived via lift to the Cloisters, being advised not to approach them; he reports that Cloister Wraiths are more active. Rassilon wonders why the Doctor hasn't arrived yet. Ohila enters the chamber with two guards, annoying Rassilon that the Sisterhood of Karn would arrive uninvited; she tells him that at the end of time, one should expect the presence of immortals. Having heard that the Doctor has returned home, she came to see the resulting "fireworks".
In the meantime, the Doctor is enjoying a bowl of soup, with a small crowd of Gallifreyans watching him in awe; he gives a friendly smile and moves his spoon to the bowl. However, he notices ripples in the soup and the sound of an incoming craft. Gastron arrives in a military craft, asking that everyone back away; they don't comply, even when he warns it's for their safety. Gastron orders the Doctor to drop his weapons and come with them peacefully. The Doctor silently walks up to the craft. Gastron explains he will take the Doctor to the chamber of the High Council. However, the Doctor instead drags his heel through the sand, drawing a line (it's a warning to not come closer than that). He then returns to his soup, unconcerned.
Watching via a monitor in the Council room, Rassilon wonders what the Doctor is up to; Ohila retorts that he's finishing his soup. Taken aback by the Doctor's bravado, Rassilon wonders who the Doctor thinks he is; the General states the Doctor is the man who won the Time War. The General decides they should try talking to the Doctor: words are his weapons, but when did they stop being theirs?
The Doctor rests on his old bed in the barn, and the woman comes in to inform him someone important has arrived. It's the General and his squad; the Doctor simply ignores them and goes back inside. Soon after, the Doctor hears someone else has come; he opens the door to see the High Council, who bow in respect to him. However, he simply shuts the door again. Watching, Rassilon is infuriated by the Doctor ignoring his attempts to open a dialogue, and wonders what he's waiting for. Ohila then goes on to explain the Doctor doesn't blame the Time Lords for the horrors of the Last Great Time War, just Rassilon.
A third time, the woman enters the barn, seemingly scared speechless. The Doctor exits to find Rassilon, escorted by the General's team. Rassilon greets the Doctor, offering a handshake. The Doctor walks up, giving Rassilon a grim once-over and simply drops his confession dial in the line he drew. The Doctor coldly states "Get off my planet", clearly sickened not only by the horrors Rassilon created in the Time War, but for the centuries he kept him trapped in the confession dial. Rassilon tries defending his actions, but the Doctor only repeats himself. Seeing he cannot win, Rassilon orders his execution; however, the guards are hesitant. The General protests, as the Doctor is a war hero. Uncaring, Rassilon threatens them into obeying his orders by raising his gauntlet; he turns his back to the Doctor, ordering shots to be fired.
In the present, the Doctor stops his story to take a drink. The waitress notices that he loves cliffhangers; she wonders if this is a real story, to which the Doctor says every story he's ever told is real. She recaps what he's told her: he returned to his "home town", a war hero and a "gang boss" who hates him tried to have him killed. Smiling, the Doctor emphasises "tried".
In the past, Rassilon laughs smugly; however, his smile vanishes when he turns back around. The Doctor is perfectly fine; all the soldiers missed him, and left a burned outline of him on the barn instead. Angered, Rassilon demands an answer from his men, but they remain silent. He grabs Gastron's shoulder, ordering him to tell him why they're all scared of an unarmed man. Gastron explains that in the Time War, the first thing that was noticed about the "Doctor of War" was that he was unarmed, and that "For many, it was also the last." Gastron throws his weapon to the ground and joins the Doctor, explaining that he served at Skull Moon with him. The rest of the firing squad follow suit.
Angered, Rassilon raises his gauntlet; he asks how many regenerations they granted him back on Trenzalore, gloating that he's "got all night" to kill the Doctor's remaining incarnations. More ships from the Capitol arrive, much to Rassilon's joy as it means he doesn't have to dirty his own hands to kill the Doctor and the traitors. However, the General states that he did not call them. Putting on his Sonic sunglasses, the Doctor states he called them; all of Time Lord society has turned against their founder. In disbelief, Rassilon begins listing all the titles he's gained through helping advance the Time Lords; he aims his gauntlet at the Doctor to kill him in petty revenge. However, the General forces his hand down, telling him "Lord President, with all respect, get off his planet." The General then joins the Doctor's side.
Later, a shuttle is seen leaving the top of the Capitol. On a balcony, the General then explains to the Doctor that Gallifrey came back into the universe at the extreme end of the time continuum, give or take a star system; thus anyone banished from the planet has little choice in where to go. This was done for the safety of the Time Lords, as the fact that the Doctor never confirmed that it was safe for them to return meant that Gallifrey could not be returned to the moment it disappeared. The General asks the new Lord President if he's gone too far, but the Doctor grimly warns that he's barely started; the High Council is next to go on a shuttle.
In the High Council chamber, the Doctor tosses his confession dial on the table, disgusted with what he had to go through. He tells Ohila and the General, the only other people with authority left on Gallifrey, that a confession dial is meant to purify a dying Time Lord's soul so they can be uploaded to the Matrix without regrets; instead, they re-purposed it to serve as a torture chamber. Ohila explains that Rassilon grew concerned about the prophecy of the Hybrid and felt that the Doctor would not willing give up the information. The Doctor sarcastically asks if they want him to protect them; he tells them he will, but he needs more information.
The General explains some Matrix prophecies foresaw the birth of a hybrid from two warrior races that will stand in the ruins of Gallifrey as it breaks millions of hearts to mend its own; however, the Doctor detects that the General is lying. The General explains it was not some, but ALL Matrix prophecies warned them of this coming threat. The Doctor mockingly asks "what colour is is it?", pointing out "the problem with prophecies; they never tell you anything important." Ohila tells him he shouldn't be playing the part of the fool. The Doctor says he needs help; he turns down the General and Ohila, saying people with bad hats cramp his style. He needs to talk to an old friend...
Clara's death by the raven is shown again; however, right before it kills her, time freezes. Confused, she looks behind her to see the Doctor looking out from Me's home. She then sees a light, with the future Doctor motioning for her to come into the light. Clara complies, finding herself in a sterile room with technicians and the General. Clara asks where she is and the Doctor tells her that they're on Gallifrey "billions of years in the future and [that] the universe is pretty much over"; she is happy the Doctor found his home. Clara hears a ringing in her ears, as the Doctor and General argue over telling her the truth. The Doctor finally relents, and explains she is frozen between two heart-beats; the ringing was her realising that she can't hear her heartbeat anymore. Thus she doesn't have a pulse or need to breathe, though she still does so out of habit. The General goes on to explain that her death is a fixed point in time; they will return her once they find out what they can from her about the Hybrid.
However, the Doctor takes the General's gun, threatening "on pain of death, no-one take a selfie". Clara is shocked by his actions, wondering what happened to him since she died. The Doctor asks for a human compatible neural block. The General informs the Doctor that his weapon has no stun setting, and that there is no way he'll allow the Doctor to leave the room with Clara. The Doctor coldly pronounces, "I will not let Clara die," before asking the General what regeneration he's on; confirming his regeneration is the tenth, meaning he is in his eleventh incarnation. The General is wished good luck. The General, unfazed by his upcoming regeneration returns the wish to the Doctor and is shot. The Doctor takes the device and drops the gun, running off with Clara. Clara is shocked by what the Doctor has done, but he explains death on Gallifrey is basically man flu.
Gastron arrives in the extractor room, reporting the General's regeneration. Once the regeneration finishes, Gastron asks the General if he's okay; the General gets up, revealed to now be female. Gastron quickly corrects himself, addressing the General as "ma'am". The General is glad to be back to normal, explaining to Gastron that her last incarnation was her only male body; and sneeringly asks "dear god, how do you cope with all that ego?" After getting her bearings, the General wonders where the Doctor could have run off to. Ohila enters the room, explaining that the Doctor did what he always does; he ran straight into the most dangerous place he could think of.
The Doctor takes Clara to the Cloisters, an area located below Gallifrey's Capitol; it is guarded by the Wraiths, which only attack if they attempt to leave. Clara wonders how long they plan to stay, prompting the Doctor to retort they also attack if you stay too long. Clara asks if he notice how fast the conversation went south; he did. Clara asks him to explain what the Cloisters are better, so the Doctor explains that "the Time Lords have got a big computer made of ghosts, in a crypt, guarded by more ghosts". The Wraiths are basically the firewall to keep foreign things out. Clara is confused as to why a computer would protect itself from the very people that built it; "just wait until the Internet starts. Ooh! That was a war!" the Doctor retorts.
Clara questions what the vines around the pillars are, which the Doctor explains, as best as he can, are fiber-optic cables. They trap anyone who attempts to steal information from the Matrix; many enemies were trapped by the vines during the Cloister Wars. They are shocked to find a Dalek wrapped in the vines; not even having enough power left to self-destruct, the Dalek begs for a mercy-killing. However, the Doctor states there is nothing they can do; he ushers Clara on even as the Dalek continues to wail for them to kill it. They continue past it and Clara is surprised by Weeping Angels, which she manages to outmanoeuvre. However, Clara is surprised to find her arm being grabbed from behind by a Cyberman; the Doctor pulls her free of its grip, explaining that these are projections from the Matrix to deter them from finding the exit.
Soon after, the Doctor notices that Clara is standing on part of the floor which he says is the maintenance hatch. The doctor tells Clara that a boy once got lost in the Cloisters and was told a secret by the Wraiths that caused him to never be right in the head again. However, the boy knew where a secret maintenance hatch was. Clara asks if the boy told anyone, the Doctor tells her that the boy kept it a secret; last anyone heard of him, the boy stole the moon and the president's wife. Remembering back to when Missy told her about the Doctor's past, Clara realises the Doctor was the boy in his story. The Doctor begins telling her about the time he spent in the confession dial; they are observed by the General and Ohila, who decide to go after them. Clara, meanwhile, is shocked to learn that the Doctor knew that the Time Lords were responsible for her death; he pretended to know about the Hybrid, so he could get back to Gallifrey and use their tech to resurrect her. He just "had to hang in there for a bit".
The General and Ohila arrive via lift, demanding that the Doctor come with them, unable to arrest them as the Wraiths would attack; Clara silences them as she tries to get the Doctor to tell her how long he was trapped in his confession dial, getting no result. Wondering how long the Doctor spent inside the confession dial, Clara turns to the two and demands to know how long. Thinking a moment, Ohila says 4.5 billion years; the General explains that the Doctor could have left any time he wanted, just needing to tell the Time Lords what he knew. Clara is shocked by this, realising that she meant more to him than she thought possible. Turning to the Doctor, she tearfully asks him why he'd put himself through hell for so long, and he replies with a simple, "I had a duty of care", and the significance of what had become a mantra for him in recent adventures is brought into sharp relief. She tells him that "people like me and you, we should say things to one another" and, taking his arm, proceeds to do so - words kept private from the audience and from the General and Ohila, to whom she refuses to divulge what she said.
Clara yells at the General and Ohila with a furious tirade - "Do you know why you have to hide here at the end of time? You are monsters! You are hated. You. Are. Hated." Smirking, she then tells them part of what she told the Doctor; he doesn't need to worry because they will be looking at her. The Doctor has gotten through the maintenance hatch, and is heading to the repair shop to steal a TARDIS; as one appears around her, Clara waves good-bye to them. The Doctor asks Clara what she thinks of the original design for the control rooms; she's not too fond of it. Ohila demands that the Doctor face her; seeing her face on the monitor, the Doctor opens the door and sticks his head out. Ohila points out that the Doctor has gone against everything he believes in, just to give Clara false hope; he just shuts the door and takes off. The General wonders where the Doctor is going; Ohila says "away", heading to leave for Karn.
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Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor tells Clara that they'll be having lunch, then breakfast, followed by cocktails with Moses, and then he'll invent a flying submarine because the fact no-one has is annoying. "Why? Because we're time travellers, and that's how we roll!" They break free of Gallifrey's time zone, which the Doctor explains is so the Time Lords can't track them; he tells her to check her pulse as she now has one. However, Clara tests her pulse and tells him that she still doesn't have one.
Slightly shocked, the Doctor states they must not have gone far enough yet, telling her that they are going straight to the very end of the universe; with the universe so small, the damage from reviving Clara would be minimal. They arrive, just mere minutes before the universe completely dies, with the Doctor expecting his actions to have worked. However, Clara states she still doesn't have a pulse; the Doctor checks himself, seeing she's right. He checks the back of her neck, finding the Chronolock still there. Anguished over failing to save her, again, the Doctor yells that he is no longer being accountable to anyone.
To Clara's shock and more surprisingly, not the Doctor's, there are four knocks on the door to the TARDIS. Clara wonders who could be knocking when they are at the very end of time. Seemingly annoyed, the Doctor simply states "Me" and opens the door to let himself out. He exits, saying that he once told the knocker that the universe would become quite a small place when they have angered him. He asks if it has become small enough now.
It's revealed he's talking to Me, who is sitting in a chair in the remains of the Cloisters; not too far away something burns. To Me's surprise, the Doctor says he knew to expect immortals at the end of time. Me explains the other immortals are gone; she's the last being alive, having finally earned the title Me. The Doctor notes that Me is staying alive by using a reality bubble on the Cloisters. Me tells the Doctor that she's been watching the stars go out, finding it beautiful. However, the Doctor tells her it's sad; she counters that it's both. She then notes the Doctor doesn't like endings, comparing it to someone who doesn't want summer to end; the Doctor tells her that summer can last forever, so long as you have a time machine. Me then tells him that she now sees the beauty and sorrow in Clara's death, angering him. The Doctor tells her to "go to Hell, which is about five minutes away."
Inside the TARDIS, an impatient Clara uses the sonic sunglasses to turn on the monitor to see what the Doctor is up to, becoming shocked to see Me is still alive. She watches them, wondering what someone who has lived even longer than the Doctor has to say to him.
Seeing as they have only a short time before the universe officially ends, Me asks the Doctor to finally talk about the secret of the Hybrid that the Wraiths told him about as a boy. He laughs, saying that he knows what the Hybrid is; it's her, a human with Mire medical technology inside; Me speculates it might refer to the Doctor and theorises that the Doctor might be half-human. She goes on to explain that he was a high-born Gallifreyan, yet he elects to spend all his time on Earth. He laughs at her, asking if that's her best idea; he's the Hybrid?
Me admits that he's got her there, going on to explain her real theory. The Hybrid is not one person, but two true companions who will go to extremes for the sake of each other; a powerful and compassionate Time Lord and human who serves as his guiding conscience. The Doctor denies the idea until Me asks how he met Clara. Clara remembers that Missy brought them together, just as the Doctor remembers. Me goes on to explain that it was another of Missy's plans to win back the Doctor's friendship; loving chaos, she gave Clara to the Doctor, knowing he would abandon his code for the sake of saving Clara.
Me laughs that she wonders what mischief the duo will get into next; the Doctor counters they won't. He will use the neural block to erase Clara's memories of him, as the Time Lords can track her through them and then drop her off somewhere to live her life. As they are friends, he will tell Clara of his intentions to wipe her memory before he does so. Me joins the Doctor entering the TARDIS, to watch his actions unfold; Clara quickly shuts off the monitor.
Once back in the TARDIS, the Doctor reintroduces the two women, with Clara unable to hide the fact she already knew Me lived till this point. Clara tells the Doctor that she was watching on the monitor and is unwilling to be the cause of him continuing to abandon his oath of being the Doctor. The Doctor tries to explain, grabbing the neural block; however, Clara tells him that she used the sonic sunglasses to "reverse the polarity" of the neural block device to erase the Doctor's memory if he used it on her. The Doctor finds the idea unlikely as a neural block shouldn't be able to have its polarity reversed.
As they have reached an impasse, they decided to take a gamble as to which of their memories will be wiped; as the neural block was programmed to wipe out Clara's memories of the Doctor, if it's used on him, his memories of Clara will be wiped. They each hold an end of the neural block, smiling at each other for the last time. After Clara suggests they forget the whole thing and just "fly away somewhere", they press the button. As he feels fine, the Doctor assumes that Clara failed.
However, the Doctor soon starts feeling drowsy; Clara DID reverse the polarity. Clara grabs him, apologising. The Doctor tells her it's okay; he broke every single rule he had. "I became the Hybrid." As he starts losing consciousness, and therefore his memories of her, the Doctor decides to impart some final advice to his old friend, from "never be cruel or cowardly", to the more bizarre "never eat pears". He asks Clara for one last smile before he finally blacks out.
The Doctor next awakens in the middle of a desert, with a pickup driver telling him that a Clara told him to look after the Doctor. Picking himself up, the Doctor confusedly asks the man who Clara is. The Doctor is in America, without his TARDIS and only his sonic sunglasses.
Back in the present, the Doctor continues talking to Clara; he doesn't remember what she looked like, or the "very important" message she gave him in the Cloisters, but remembers their adventures and half-heartedly says he is trying to look for her. Clara tries one last time to spark a memory by outright suggesting that she could be Clara, only to have the Doctor assert that he would "absolutely know" if he ever saw her again, causing Clara to turn away to hide her tears. Looking around the diner, he suddenly recalls having been to it with Amy and Rory. He tells Clara that he is currently searching for his own TARDIS, as it has disappeared from where he left it in London.
As he begins once again to play the sad melody he'd been playing, Clara smiles and reminds the Doctor what he told her about that memories become stories; while he can't remember what she told him in the Cloisters, she suggests sometimes lost memories become songs. The Doctor responds, "That would be nice," and momentarily turns his back, as Clara walks into the back room, which is revealed to the console room for the TARDIS they stole from Gallifrey. The diner vanishes, leaving the Doctor astounded; he then turns around to find his TARDIS, which still has Rigsy's graffiti memorial for her, left behind. The Doctor notices the portrait of Clara, but gives no indication whether he has connected it with the mysterious waitress.
In Clara's TARDIS, Me, engrossed in a TARDIS Instruction Manual, tells her the chameleon circuit is broken, but Clara is unconcerned, saying that she likes it. Clara affirms that she still has no pulse and acknowledges that the universe still relies on her dying. She asks Me whether the Time Lords can return her to her place and time of death, knowing she will have to face the raven eventually, to which Me responds with the affirmative. Me asks Clara where will she go now, she replies "Gallifrey, the long way around": she isn't going back to face her death just yet. The two share a smile as Clara, having been undergoing training in how to use the TARDIS for a while, sets the vessel in motion through the vortex.
The Doctor boards his long-abandoned TARDIS. The console room lights up as if the TARDIS is welcoming him home. The Doctor puts his guitar away and finds a new coat on a chair in the back of the room, Next to it is a blackboard, which has a last message from Clara - "Run you clever boy, and be a Doctor." With that, the Doctor tosses the old coat he was wearing and dons the new one.
The TARDIS beeps, drawing his attention to the console, which spits out a new sonic screwdriver; the Doctor catches it and tests the new emitter. Smiling, the Doctor heads back to work saving the universe As the TARDIS dematerialises, it does so without Rigsy's paintwork. The memorial on the front door flakes off piece by piece - any trace of Clara having been with the Doctor now gone.
The Doctor's TARDIS is shown travelling through space, the Doctor once again setting off on a brand new adventure - unaware that Clara and Me's TARDIS quickly passes by his, setting off their own journeys through space and time.
On Christmas Day, 5343, on the human colony of Mendorax Dellora, a man named Nardole is searching through a town for something pictured on a piece of paper. He comes across the TARDIS, believing he's found what he was sent for; he knocks on the door, which has a sign saying "Carolers will be criticised." The Doctor opens the door, asking if there is something on his head; Nardole confirms that there are antlers on the Doctor's head. Closing the door, the Doctor yells at the TARDIS for trying to cheer him up with holographic antlers.
An electronic hum comes from inside, and the Doctor thanks the TARDIS for listening to him. The door opens again, with the Doctor now lacking the antlers; he asks what Nardole wants. Nardole asks if he's a surgeon. The Doctor tells him that's close enough, inquiring if he needs one. Nardole confirms this and begins walking away. He turns back to see the Doctor hasn't moved. The Doctor asks if there will be carolling where the emergency is, to which Nardole denies. Happy there will be no singing, the Doctor exits the TARDIS and locks the doors.
The Doctor follows Nardole through town. Nardole explains they weren't sure where his "capsule" would land. The Doctor says it's a common thing for him, before stating he's had a bad day of "people turning into lizards" and a piano falling on him. Moments after they pass someone, an elderly man with a bag approaches and asks the person if they were looking for a surgeon.
Nardole brings the Doctor to a crashed spaceship. A cloaked woman exits the ship, asking who the Doctor is. Noting the Doctor does not look like the surgeon's photos, the Doctor jokes that it's an on-going problem. Sensing that the woman is familiar, the Doctor asks if they've met. She states they have not, removing her hood to reveal herself as River Song. Smiling, the Doctor says her name. River is shocked he knows her name, asking how he knows her. The Doctor laughs, stating it would take a flowchart; however, River doesn't take the hint. Nardole tells the Doctor that he must refer to her as Dr Song, or Professor Song. Annoyed, River tells them to never speak her true name again or she will remove their organs in alphabetical order. Amused, the Doctor asks which alphabet. River scowls and heads back inside the ship.
Heading inside, the Doctor asks what the emergency is. River states that it's her husband. The Doctor is shocked, asking her to repeat that. River responds that her husband is dying. Stopping in his tracks, the Doctor is asked by Nardole if he's alright; the Doctor states "I'm going to need a bigger flowchart."
River leads him to her dying husband, King Hydroflax. To the Doctor's disgust, Hydroflax recalls having many romantic nights with River. Due to the guards being genetically-engineered to have anger problems and sentient laser swords, Nardole tells the Doctor to not do anything upsetting, like crossing his arms; the Doctor tells Nardole that he's got cross arms, crossing them anyway. River then tells Hydroflax that she called in the best surgeon in the universe to save his life. The Doctor quietly tells Nardole that he made a mistake and not to "make puddles". Seeing he has no choice but to help, the Doctor approaches to study the patient, being told to bow in the king's presence. However, the Doctor states he cannot do so because of his back. The Doctor examines Hydroflax, determining that something is jammed in his head. River takes him to an adjacent room to discuss the operation.
River shows the Doctor a holographic x-ray of Hydroflax's head, which reveals that the Halassi Androvar, the most valuable diamond in the universe, has become lodged in Hydroflax's brain during a raid on the Halassi Vaults and is slowly killing him. Having been hired by the Halassi to recover the lost treasure, River posed as Hydroflax's nurse and pretended to love him; took less than a week for Hydroflax to propose to her. According to River, men will believe any story they are the hero of. River tells "the surgeon" to remove Hydroflax's entire head, considering it quicker and easier. "I'll kill the lights; you kill the patient." The Doctor is shocked, wondering if this is what she's like without him to keep her homicidal tendencies in check. He states that he'll decide what needs to be done because he's the Doctor; however, River doesn't get this obvious hint. She says he reminds her of someone; the Doctor starts to describe his last incarnation, but River exclaims that it's her second wife that he reminds her of.
They are surprised by Hydroflax, who has listened to their conversation. Hydroflax tells them that if they wanted his head, they should have just asked, promptly removing his head from his body; Hydroflax is truly nothing more than a head on a mechanical body. River notes she thought it was strange they never shared a bathroom. He demands to know who his wife really is; River tells him that she's Professor River Song, archaeologist hired to retrieve the diamond and give back to the people he's taken so much from. She's even got a sonic trowel. The robot body begins closing in on River and the Doctor per Hydroflax's orders. However, River threatens Hydroflax's head with her trowel, causing the body to halt. Despite Hydroflax ordering his body to attack, its AI tells him to chill as there is a high probability Hydroflax will be harmed. River shoves Hydroflax's head in a gym bag she has, despite his protests that it smells; she radios her contact Ramone, to teleport her and the Doctor.
The two end up a foot above the snow and fall. Annoyed, River radios Ramone, telling him to work on the landings. Hearing Hydroflax threaten them, the Doctor bursts out laughing. River tells him it's not funny; however, the Doctor points out the ridiculousness of being threatened by a bag. They both laugh as Hydroflax continues to yell threats. The Doctor now thinks River was just messing with him, asking if she really does know who he is. River states that she does not, as Ramone arrives; River pulls him into a kiss. The Doctor wonders "doesn't [kissing] get boring? It's not a varied activity." River reveals Ramone is another of her husbands, whose memory she wiped of their marriage because he was getting annoying. The Doctor sarcastically asks if she's going to murder him as well.
Ramone informs River that he has not found Code Name: Damsel in Distress, despite his capsule being in the village. River asks Ramone if he's sure as he has twelve faces. Ramone unfolds twelve pictures, which are of the First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, War, Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Doctors; he adamantly states that none of these men are in town. River is flabbergasted as she crashed Hydroflax's ship in this location because it's where she had the best chance to meet up with the Doctor. Deciding to tease River, the Doctor states that he may have a face she doesn't know about; knowing the Doctor wasted a regeneration, River states that he has "limits."
Onboard Hydroflax's ship, his robot body decides to upload information about River Song from Nardole; it does so by decapitating him and placing his head in place of Hydroflax. It now has the information about where the TARDIS is located and that River is known to be associated with it.
The Doctor follows River and Ramone to the TARDIS, where River states she'll just borrow it. Taken aback by this, the Doctor notes that "Damsel" sounds dangerous and might be angry with her for stealing his ride. River states that he's never noticed before when she borrowed the TARDIS and put it back where it was before, so why would she worry about it now. Aggravated to hear this, the Doctor states that he'll start noticing NOW. River sends Ramone off to get ready for their beach holiday. She heads inside, telling the Doctor that it's not as snug as it seems inside. Seeing it's "his turn" to play the shocked companion, the Doctor pretends to be shocked by the "bigger on the inside", giving, in his opinion, a better monologue than others. The Doctor is then shocked to see that River turned one of the roundels into a cupboard for alcohol.
Outside, Ramone is heading back to his own ship to head to his vacation spot to wait for River. He hears Nardole calling for help. He finds the robot holding Nardole at gunpoint. Confused, Ramone asks why Nardole is aiming a gun at himself. Nardole states he's not, it's the artificial intelligence controlling the robot. The robot demands that Ramone deliver a message to the former queen River Song. Ramone asks what the message is that he's supposed to deliver.
Inside the TARDIS, River preps things for taking off; the Doctor suggests several buttons, which she explains actually don't help to fly the TARDIS. The Doctor learns to his shock that one button actually causes the waste tanks on Deck 7 to be released. Deciding to avoid Deck 7 for a while, the Doctor watches as River tries to take off; however, the TARDIS refuses to budge. With her confused, the Doctor reveals that the "real-time" envelope cannot be sealed as the TARDIS registers Hydroflax as inside and outside at the same time, due to the head's life-support being connected with the robot body. Being called good for a doctor, the Doctor is annoyed River still hasn't figured it out.
A knocking is heard on the door, with Ramone yelling for River. River opens the door to find Ramone's head on the robot body; apparently, the robot's answer to everything is to cut off someone's head and use it. It starts attacking, with the Doctor grabbing Hydroflax's head. He threatens to send Hydroflax down the trash chute if he doesn't "get himself under control." This works, with River piloting the TARDIS to land in the starship Harmony and Redemption. To the Doctor's surprise, River pulls his hand instead of the other way around, leading him out of the baggage area and shutting the door behind them.
River meets the Maître d', Flemming, who has met her before; apparently, his children have eaten their mother in a "lovely ceremony" and are still digesting her. River asks him to deadlock seal the baggage hold, reminding him of the trouble it caused when he didn't during the last time when she was transporting dragon eggs. Haunted by the very memory, Flemming tells her it will be done; the doors are locked just as the robot pounds on them to get out.
Flemming asks if the Doctor is here for dinner, which River confirms; he grabs the Doctor, saying that he'll have the cooks prepare him immediately. However, the Doctor stops him and River explains that he will be joining her for dinner. Flemming tries to pass off his blunder as suggesting her guest would need to be force-fed. Flemming leads them to the dining room, hearing Hydroflax's muffled yells. The Doctor passes it off as his stomach being upset.
River stops, stating she needs to change her clothes. She takes out a perfume bottle and sprays herself, turning her clothing into a dinner gown. "Not bad for 200, eh?" River smirks. The Doctor is taken aback by this; even though River has some Time Lord DNA, she is still mostly human and therefore should not have been able to live this long. River explains that she had her lifespan augmented. Taking a drink from a serving tray, River explains that the ship is full of people like her or worse. Suites are reserved for world destroyers. Even the staff need a provable history of indiscriminate murder. "This is where genocide comes to relax. Do try the fish."
In the dining room, River reads her diary as the Doctor fidgets nervously. The Doctor notes deadlock seals can be broken; "by geniuses" River retorts, and a robot body isn't going to be one. He inquires as to why they're there, to which River says she's waiting for the person who answered her advert for selling the Halassi Androvar. The Doctor is surprised, wondering why River would do this when she was hired to bring it back to the Halassi. Laughing, River asks if the Doctor was born boring or he had to work hard to be so. Seeing River frowning at her diary, the Doctor asks if it's a sad story; she notes the one who gave it to her knew how long it should be, and there are only a few blank pages left for her to write in.
A man with a large scar across his face walks up to them asking for Song. Introducing himself as Scratch, a representative of Shoal of the Winter Harmony, he is silenced by River, who asks if he's empowered to purchase. They squabble over showing the merchandise or the payment. Scratch pulls the right side of his head open, removing an orb; disgusted, the Doctor tells him that he shouldn't be doing that where people eat. Scratch explains that the orb connects to every bank in the universe; once given commands, it will give River any amount of payment she desires. Happy, River gives him the bag, telling Scratch he might need a spoon to dig for the diamond. Annoyed, Scratch reveals that he filled the meeting point with members of his own species to ensure honest transaction.
In the meantime, Flemming is informed by another member of the staff of a situation in the baggage hold. Ramone appears on the monitor, stressed and demanding to be let out; unknown to Flemming, the robot body is holding a gun to his head off-screen. Flemming decides to go down and check things, getting held hostage by the robot body. It wishes to take his head for new information, but Flemming offers to give the body a head fit for a king instead.
Back in the dining room, River and the Doctor discover that Scratch and his compatriots worship King Hydroflax and are after the diamond in his honour. Despite attempts to hide the bagged head containing the diamond, they are forced to reveal the truth to create a distraction. Though it's considered heresy to try paying for the king, the Doctor laughs; "He can't be much of a king if you can't put a price on his head." They toss Hydroflax away and flee, only to be stopped by Flemming. The robot body enters, with Hydroflax happy he will be whole soon; however, the body stops short and scans him. The brain damage is now beyond recovery. Hydroflax orders his body to do whatever it takes to save him; it comes to the wrong conclusion that it needs a new head and disintegrates Hydroflax, leaving the diamond behind.
Flemming takes River's diary, explaining it is a guide to the best replacement head in the universe: the head of the Doctor. Scratch backs this up as the Doctor is a legendary being with multiple faces, which would be Hydroflax's crowning achievement. Flemming reads the diary, noting River's been to Asgard for a picnic, the crash of the Byzantium (which was turned into a movie), has met Jim the Fish (who is known by everyone in this era) and has just been to Manhattan (which Flemming thinks is a planet).
River is asked for the whereabouts of the Doctor, to which she truthfully doesn't know. The robot confirms it with a scan. However, Flemming believes that putting the Doctor's consort in danger will draw him in. However, River snaps at him; though she loves the Doctor, he never once said that he loved her. River tells them to scan for two hearts and stupid clothes, but they won't find him. The Doctor tries telling River who he is, but stops when River tells them the Doctor is above falling in love; "You don't expect a sunset to admire you back. When you love the Doctor, it's like loving the stars themselves." She then adds that he wouldn't be sentimental enough to be stuck in this situation with her. Breathing heavily from venting her feelings, River notices the Doctor's steady gaze and mild smirk. She gives a confused look, to which he says "Hello, sweetie."
Seeing how dense she's been, River tells him he'll be doing his roots, as the Doctor taunts her with the romantic poetry she used to describe her love for him; she then tells him she was just buying time until "it" happens. The robot body tells them to stop talking but is ignored. River asks the Doctor where the safest place would be if a meteor strike were to hit, and the Doctor tells her right where they are as it doubles as an escape route. Flemming asks what she means as the speakers announce the meteors' arrival; he asks River how she could have known. Smiling her usual smirk, River tells him that she's the archaeologist that dug his remains up in the future. The meteors hit and the floor gives way, allowing the Doctor and River to flee into the lower floor.
River tells the Doctor that she bought a guidebook that tells her when a restaurant will be destroyed; therefore, as a time traveller, she can get a free meal, as long as she doesn't go to the same place twice and create a paradox. The Doctor asks River if she likes his new body, to which she says she hasn't seen properly yet; however, she then wonders how he has a thirteenth one, as he ran out of regenerations. He tells her that "a thing" happened, to which she knows is usual with him. The diamond falls down towards them, with River catching it in her dress.
Hydroflax's body arrives to take the Doctor's head; the Doctor tells River to go stop the crash while he deals with this moron. The robot body cannot comprehend that even if it gets the Doctor's head, it won't survive the crash. Seeing the orb Scratch gave River, the Doctor grabs it and tells the robot that all kings need money. It demands he demonstrate. With a manic smile, the Doctor attaches it the base of the robot's neck and the A.I. begins sputtering randomly. "Welcome to the best firewalls in the universe. Nothing is protected like money." The robot garbles that it doesn't understand, to which the Doctor says is the same for everyone else. "He had a bad day at the bank." the Doctor tells an employee as he laughs at his own jokes and runs to join River.
In the bridge, the Doctor finds the crew has gone and River working at the controls. They start arguing over the marriages that the other had; the Doctor married Marilyn Monroe and Cleopatra, while River married Hydroflax, Ramone and Stephen Fry. While the ship is crashing, River realises that they are heading towards the planet Darillium. River remembers that he always promised to take her there to see the Singing Towers, but always cancelled at the last minute. The Doctor retorts "I'll make sure to give them a wave as we pass by." Trying to save River, the Doctor tricks her into being teleported back to the TARDIS. However, she pilots it back to him. As they have entered the planet's atmosphere, they give up on saving the ship and take shelter in the TARDIS. The resulting impact of the crash knocks River unconscious.
Seeing that the universe is telling him to finally have his last night with River, the Doctor decides to give in to the inevitable. After travelling to the next morning, the Doctor suggests to a man searching for survivors of the crash that he builds a restaurant where they're standing, with a view of the Singing Towers, and gives him the diamond to fund its construction. Travelling forwards in time once again, the Doctor enters the now-built restaurant and books the table on the balcony for Christmas Day in four years' time. The Doctor doesn't mind as he can just jump to the date of his reservation.
When River awakes, she exits the TARDIS and is told by the receptionist that the Doctor is waiting for her in the restaurant. Changing for the occasion, River asks if they have a good table, to which she is told is the best in the house. To her shock, River runs into Hydroflax's body, now peacefully controlled by the heads of Ramone and Nardole; thanks to the Doctor attaching the orb to the robot, the A.I. was deleted in a bank merger. The body was pulled from the wreckage and the two of them have been working as a waiter in the restaurant since then. River shows attraction to Ramone's new body but is told to calm down by the Doctor, who has arrived in a new suit.
River compliments him, to which the Doctor tries to return the favour. However, River notes that her husband never knows when she looks good, but it was kind of him to try; at best, the Doctor has only noticed that River's hair has moved around a bit. The Doctor gives her a box, stating it's Christmas; River notes that the Doctor has never given her a gift before.
File:River Gets Her Own Sonic Screwdriver - Doctor Who The Husbands Of River Song - BBC To her surprise and joy, it contains the sonic screwdriver she will use in the Library; "I saw the sonic trowel, and thought it was embarrassing." The Doctor demonstrates it to River, discretely scanning her into the neural relay hidden in it, so his tenth incarnation can upload her data ghost into the virtual world in the Library computer. River laughs with joy, as the Doctor hands her Christmas present back to her. The Doctor leads River to the balcony, which has an amazing view of the Singing Towers.
River listens in awe to the beautiful music. She then notices the Doctor is crying, something he blames on having the wind in his eyes. The Doctor states that it is the wind blowing through the crystal formations inside the towers that causes the music, according to some legends. He asks why River is ignoring the Towers, to which she sadly says "[they're] ignoring me." River reveals that her diary is nearly full, and asks whether the stories that this will be their final night together are true, to which the Doctor only responds by saying; "Spoilers", after knowing River for so long he had finally caught up with her in his timeline, and can't bring himself to reveal that this would indeed be their final night together.
River begs him to find a way around this event, but he insists there's no way to avoid the end of their times together and refuses to tell River the future. They both discuss the fleeting nature of things, River pointing out that "happily ever after" does not mean "forever", just "time"; it doesn't have to be much, just a little extra. Fearful that not much time is left before they part, River asks how long a night on Darillium is. Smiling, the Doctor informs her that one night on Darillium lasts for twenty-four years. Overjoyed, River once more tells the Doctor, "I hate you." He again replies, "No, you don't," As the two smile at each other
The words "And they both lived happily ever after" are displayed on-screen. Little by little, the message dissolves into gusts of snow, becoming more truthful as it gets reduced to "And they both lived happily", then only "happily", until it has all been swept away.
Bill opens her door to find her friend Shireen and their four new housemates outside. Shireen introduces them as Felicity, Harry, Pavel and Paul. They head to the estate agents to find a place to rent together as student accommodation. However, they have a restricted budget and the agent that helps them shows them around places that are less than satisfactory. As the group leave the estate agents on the verge of giving up, they are met by an elderly man named John, who asks them if they are looking for a place to live. He leads them to a magnificent old house, which they assume will cost them a lot to rent. However, the Landlord assures them that rent will be cheap, but specifies that the tower is off limits.
The group explores the house, and all except Bill are enthusiastic about the size of the place. Bill remains suspicious about the cheapness of the rent, suspecting that there is a catch. Pavel asks to move in that night as his student halls are kicking him out, to which the Landlord happily agrees, getting everyone to sign a contract. That night, Pavel sets up his record player in his room and starts it playing; shortly afterwards he is surprised by something horrifying.
The next day, Bill is stacking up her belongings in boxes in her room. After everything is piled in one corner, she looks at her phone and counts down. The TARDIS materialises over the boxes, which end up inside. The Doctor opens the door and expresses his surprise that Bill has so few possessions.
Bill enters the TARDIS, suggesting that the Doctor hire it out as a removal service. The Doctor is offended at the idea, thinking that removals is beneath a Time Lord. A little puzzled, Bill asks if 'Time Lord' is the Doctor's job description. He explains that it is the name of his species. Bill finds this hilarious, remarking how posh it sounds, to which the Doctor replies that it was the pompous attitude of his people that convinced him to run away. Bill asks if Time Lords wear robes and big hats. The Doctor replies that Time Lords tend to wear big collars instead of hats.
When asked if he needs the address to find the house, the Doctor scoffs; however, he then relents and tells Bill to type it in so the TARDIS can land there. She asks if he sleeps in the TARDIS bedroom which she found. The Doctor tells her that Time Lords don't need sleep, except after big meals and regenerations. Bill is confused by his mysterious words, but the Doctor is evasive when questioned, saying it's enough to know that he's a Time Lord.
The TARDIS lands outside of the house, and the Doctor expresses his surprise that Bill and her friends can afford to rent it. Bill thanks the Doctor for helping her, telling him he can leave once her boxes are out of the TARDIS. However, the Doctor has noticed something off; he tests the breeze before offering to help Bill move her things inside. Bill is reluctant, seemingly worried that the Doctor's presence will be embarrassing and raise too many awkward questions, but he has already started carrying a box to the house.
Inside, the Doctor is greeted by Shireen, who knows about him. Bill passes the Doctor off as her grandfather, despite his protests. Felicity, Paul and Harry join them, having also been told who the Doctor is. Bill tries to get rid of the Doctor, who seems to relent and leaves the house.
That night, as the friends are gathered in the lounge eating takeaway meals, they discuss odd things that they have noticed about the house. Felicity complains that there is no mobile phone signal whilst Harry reports hearing tapping, like footsteps, when he was unpacking. Paul and Shireen laugh this off and tease Felicity until a loud banging from the kitchen makes everyone freeze. The group squabble over who should investigate until Bill takes the lead and the others follow. As the clattering continues from the pantry, Bill summons her courage and opens the door, surprising the Doctor, who has been poking around the room with his sonic screwdriver. Bill is exasperated, saying she thought he had gone home. The Doctor ignores the comment, telling the kids that there is no washer and dryer, no central heating and that the outlets will not take their devices; it seems nothing in the house has been updated since the 1940s. Bill takes the Doctor to one side and tries to persuade him that there is no mystery involved, but the Doctor is unconvinced, mentioning that the creaking they heard in the trees outside could not have been caused by the wind because there wasn't any. He unsuccessfully tries to convince the group to rent a different house. Paul decides to call the Landlord about updating the house but Shireen reminds him that there is no signal.
Everyone heads into the sitting room, where the Landlord is unexpectedly waiting. He claims to have come by to check on things when he notices the Doctor, and Bill tells him the cover story about him being her grandfather. The Landlord guesses that he's helping with relocating Bill and wistfully states that there is no worse feeling than leaving children to fend for themselves. The Doctor thinks about these words, remembering when he did so. The Landlord says that he's lucky to have a daughter that is still under his protection, before asking if everything is satisfactory. He gets a barrage of complaints about the house from the students and says that he will do what he can to address these concerns; though he seems untroubled, almost amused by their problems. When Harry asks how they get into the tower the kindly tone of the Landlord vanishes and he becomes sinister. As he leaves, the Doctor follows him and asks him who the current Prime Minister is. When the Landlord cannot answer, it confirms his suspicion that there is something amiss. Remembering that they need a washing machine, Shireen opens the front door to follow him, but the Landlord is nowhere to be seen.
Bill tries getting the Doctor to leave, by suggesting he sleep in "the car"; however, the Doctor instead decides to stay up with Felicity and Harry to listen to some music. Seeing she can't win, Bill decides to head to bed, followed by Shireen and Paul; before she goes, the Doctor suggests checking on Pavel, who hasn't been seen all day. As they head to their rooms, Paul tries to ask Bill out, but she tells him she's gay. He takes the news well, and politely backs off, noting that he never had a chance. He heads into his room, teasing Shireen for her fear of the house by making creaking noises on the floorboards. Once he shuts his door, Bill asks why Shireen didn't take a room next to her, as they had planned. She is defensive over the question, leading Bill to conclude that she fancies Paul. At that moment, Paul is heard screaming in terror and the girls begin to doubt that this was part of his joke. When Shireen knocks on his door, answering knocks reveberate all around the hallway and doors begin to slam shut; Bill and Shireen flee upstairs.
Downstairs, Felicity and Harry ask the Doctor what he thinks of the music playing on her phone. He notes that it reminds him of Quincy Jones, whom he once filled in for. The bass player for Quincy's band turned out to be a killer Voc Robot in disguise; what was worse, he couldn't even play. He then directs their attention to the front door, which has sealed shut. They hear loud banging sounds from the kitchen and follow the noise to see the shutters slamming themselves closed. Felicity panics, and, grabbing the shutters to keep them from closing, escapes through the window. She hastily dials the police, but is standing close to a nearby tree; it absorbs her, as she screams in horror.
Hearing the violin music still playing on a loop in Pavel's room, Bill and Shireen enter to find Pavel partially absorbed into the wall. Shireen goes to turn off the record, but Pavel blinks rapidly to communicate that they shouldn't. The Landlord suddenly appears and says that "hope is its own form of cruelty", lifts the stylus from the record; Pavel is absorbed completely. He tells them that their friend is now at peace, one with the house. The girls are horrified and realise that they will be next. When Bill challenges him, the Landlord replies that everyone must pay their dues, and since the six signed a contract, it is time to pay.
The two race out of the room and down the hall to a bookcase; deciding it must open a way into the tower, Bill and Shireen pull books off until they find a switch disguised as one and pull it. A way opens into the tower and they run up into what appears to be an old bedroom. Shireen finds a music box, and opens it; a haunting melody plays prompting her to shut it. A woman's voice calls out, asking if her father has come back. Bill and Shireen believe this is the voice of the Landlord's daughter, who says she hasn't had company for some time. She comes out of hiding, revealing herself to be completely made of wood. She introduces herself as Eliza.
Downstairs, Harry is panicking because the house managed to somehow get Felicity when she was outside. The Doctor tells him not to be scared, as it isn't useful in their current situation. Believing something is living in the wood, the Doctor begins knocking on the wood to get a response. He presses hard on a cupboard door and a gap opens to release a giant insect; like a woodlouse with glowing antenna. He speculates this is likely an alien being, a wood nymph, or a dryad possibly. The Doctor tells Harry to get a box so he can examine it, however, they have to abandon this plan when a whole swarm pours out of the wood. The Doctor pulls Harry into the cupboard, revealing that it is a lift.
The lift takes them down to the basement, where the Doctor and Harry discover the possessions of past groups of six that the Landlord lured to the house. Each group of boxes has a contract, identical to the one Bill's friends have signed, which are dated 1997, 1977, and 1957; every twenty years. It becomes clear that the Landlord has been luring young people to the house to feed them to the insects. Hearing footsteps, they head outside of the room, where the Landlord meets them.
The Doctor confronts the Landlord with the names of his previous victims, whose fate he seems to regret, but when the Doctor asks why he feeds people to the insects, he insists it was necessary. He explains that his daughter was dying until she was saved by the insects and that she must survive. Harry panics and attempts to escape, but his foot is trapped in the wooden staircase and the Landlord summons the lice with his tuning fork. They swarm over Harry and absorb him. The Landlord turns his attention to the Doctor, who backs away from the insects, and in desperation, suggests that as a doctor he can help the man's daughter.
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In the tower, Eliza tries reaching out to shake Shireen's hand. However, Shireen backs away in fear. She asks what's the matter. Shireen tries to leave calmly, but after stamping on what she believes to be a cockroach, is consumed by a swarm of the insects. Eliza glows with light as she absorbs Shireen's life energy. Moments later, the Doctor is lead into the room by the Landlord, who explains that he has brought a doctor to help her. Bill explains that Shireen was taken by the lice; the Doctor confirms that Harry suffered the same fate.
The Doctor examines the daughter, coming to the conclusion that the Landlord brought the odd insects to her when she was sick to amuse her. However, the insects respond to high pitched sounds, such as the sound of her music box; so when he checked on her the next morning, he found that her wooden transformation was beginning, but her illness was cured. Bill then notes the oddity of it; why would a father spend time looking for insects in the garden?
The Doctor congratulates Bill on her quick thinking, remarking that he forgot that humans don't live long, so if the father preserved his daughter seventy years ago, he couldn't still be alive. Eliza becomes confused, as the Doctor explains that her memories have decayed due to the transformation process and the passage of time. The Landlord is actually her son, who did whatever he could to keep his mother alive. Prompted by the Doctor, Eliza realises that her son has committed atrocities throughout his life just to keep her alive in an inhuman condition. She asks her son to let her die, but he refuses and summons the insects to consume the Doctor and Bill. With the Doctor's encouragement, Eliza realises that she can control the insects, and thanking the Doctor for his help, has the insects devour herself and her son.
Without Eliza to act as the linchpin, the house begins crumbling. As they are about to run from the room, Bill sees Shireen remerging from a swarm of the insects on the floor. Bill is overjoyed and hugs her friend, as the Doctor explains that Eliza has restored and released the most recent victims. Everyone runs outside, just in time to watch the house crumble. His work done, the Doctor tells the group to go back to the estate agents; he heads for the TARDIS as Bill and the others gape at the sight of the destroyed house.
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Back at the Vault, Nardole is doing diagnostics. The Doctor arrives with bags of takeout food, telling Nardole he can have the rest of the night off. When Nardole turns to leave, he hears Für Elise play on piano in the Vault; he notes that the Doctor doesn't know when to quit interfering until it comes back to haunt him. The Doctor firmly tells Nardole "Good night", sending him off.
The Doctor approaches the Vault, asking if the prisoner would like some Mexican food; he also has a new story. However, the prisoner doesn't respond until the Doctor mentions that people get eaten in his story; to this, the prisoner plays Pop Goes the Weasel. Taking this as confirmation, the Doctor smiles and unlocks the Vault to join his prisoner for dinner.
Cast
- The Doctor Who - Christopher Eccleston
- The Doctor / Caecilius - Peter Capaldi
- The Doctor - Matt Smith
- The Doctor - Peter Davison
- The Doctor / Rose Tyler - Billie Piper
- The Doctor / Amy Pond - Karen Gillan
- The Doctor / Rory - Arthur Darvill
- The Doctor / Clara Oswald - Jenna Coleman
- The Doctor / Bill Potts - Pearl Mackie
- The Doctor / Madame Vastra - Neve McIntosh
- The Doctor / Jenny Flint - Catrin Stewart
- Special The Doctor / Captain Jack - John Barrowman
- The New Doctor / Sarah Jane - Elisabeth Sladen
- Too The Doctor / Christina - Michelle Ryan
- The Doctor / Osgood - Ingrid Oliver
- To The Doctor / Grace - Sharon D Clarke
- The Doctor / Yasmin Khan - Mandip Gill
- The Doctor / Martha - Freema Agyeman
- The Doctor / Jackie - Camille Coduri
- Guest The Doctor / Mickey - Noel Clarke
- The Doctor / Donna Noble - Catherine Tate
- Andy Nardole - Matt Lucas
- Steward - Simon Day
- Jabe - Yasmin Bannerman
- Moxx of Balhoon - Jimmy Vee
- Cassandra - Zoë Wanamaker
- Raffalo - Beccy Armory
- Clive - Mark Benton
- Caroline - Elli Garnett
- Clive's Son - Adam McCoy
- Autons - Alan Ruscoe, Paul Kasey, David Sant, Elizabeth Fost, Helen Otway
- Nestene Voice - Nicholas Briggs
- Computer Voice - Sara Stewart
- Alien Voices - Silas Carson
- Gabriel Sneed – Alan David
- Redpath – Huw Rhys
- Mrs Peace – Jennifer Hill
- Gwyneth – Eve Myles
- Charles Dickens – Simon Callow
- Stage Manager – Wayne Cater
- Driver — Meic Povey
- The Gelth – Zoe Thorne
- Mr Cleaver - William Thomas
- Margaret - Annette Badland
- Cathy - Mali Harries
- Idris Hopper - Aled Pedrick
- Slitheen - Alan Ruscoe
- Mr Parsons - Rod Arthur
- Mr Wagner - Eugene Washington
- Nina - Heather Cameron
- Kenny - Joe Pickley
- Luke - Benjamin Smith
- Milo - Clem Tibber
- Melissa - Lucinda Dryzek
- Dinner Lady - Caroline Berry
- Voice of K9 - John Leeson[4]
- Dr Ramsden - Nina Wadia
- Barney Collins - Marcello Magni
- Ice cream man - Perry Benson
- Mrs Angelo - Annette Crosbie
- Jeff - Tom Hopper
- Mr Henderson - Arthur Cox
- Mother - Olivia Coleman
- Child 1 - Eden Monteath
- Child 2 - Merin Monteath
- Atraxi voice - David de Keyser
- Prisoner Zero voice - William Wilde
- As himself - Patrick Moore
- Rosanna - Helen McCrory
- Guido - Lucian Msamati
- Isabella - Alisha Bailey
- Francesco - Alex Price
- Vampire girls - Gabriella Wilde, Hannah Steele, Elizabeth Croft, Sonila Vieshta, Gabriela Montaraz
- Inspector - Michael Percival
- Steward - Simon Gregor
- Aunt Sharon - Susan Vidler
- Christine - Frances Ashman
- Stone Dalek - Barnaby Edwards
- Dave - William Pretsell
- Mr Pond - Halcro Johnston
- Tabetha - Karen Westwood
- Young Kazran - Laurence Belcher
- Adult Kazran - Danny Horn
- Pilot - Leo Bill
- Captain - Pooky Quesnel
- Co-pilot - Micah Balfour
- Old Benjamin - Steve North
- Boy & Benjamin - Bailey Pepper
- Servant - Tim Plester
- Eric - Nick Malinowski
- Isabella - Laura Rogers
- Old Isabella - Meg Wynn-Owen
- Lucy Hayward - Sarah Quintrell
- Rita - Amara Karan
- Howie Spragg - Dimitri Leonidas
- Joe Buchanan - Daniel Pirrie
- Gibbis - David Walliams
- P.E. teacher - Dafydd Emyr
- The Creature - Spencer Wilding
- Rita's father - Rashid Karapiet
- Amelia Pond - Caitlin Blackwood
- Gorilla - Roger Ennals
- Madge Arwell - Claire Skinner
- Cyril Arwell - Maurice Cole
- Lily Arwell - Holly Earl
- Reg Arwell - Alexander Armstrong
- Co-pilot - Sam Stockman
- Droxil - Bill Bailey
- Ven-Garr - Paul Bazely
- Billis - Arabella Weir
- Wooden King - Spencer Wilding
- Wooden Queen - Paul Kasey
- Digby - Joseph Darcey-Alden
- Francesca - Ellie Darcey-Alden
- Alice - Liz White
- Uncle Josh - Jim Conway
- Walter - Cameron Strefford
- Walter's Mother - Annabelle Dowler
- Bob Chilcott - Ben Addis
- Clara's Friend - Sophie Miller-Sheen
- Lead Workman - Daniel Hyde
- Voice of the Great Intelligence - Ian McKellen
- Voice of the Ice Governess - Juliet Cadzow
- Santa Claus - Nick Frost
- Danny - Samuel Anderson
- Ian - Dan Starkey
- Wolf - Nathan McMullen
- Shona - Faye Marsay
- Ashley - Natalie Gumede
- Bellows - Maureen Beattie
- Shadow Architect - Kelly Hunter
- Alison - India Ria Amarteifio
- Ryan - Dasharn Anderson
- Newsreaders - Stefan Adegbola, Shin-Fei Chen, Lucy-Newman Williams
- School Girl - Demi Papaminas
- Daleks - Barnaby Edwards, Nicholas Pegg
- Soldier - Jonathon Ojinnaka
- Professor Albert - Michael Troughton
- King Hydroflax - Greg Davies
- Ramone - Phillip Rhys
- Flemming - Rowan Polonski
- Scratch - Robert Curtis
- Concierge - Anthony Cozens
- Alphonse - Chris Lew Kum Hoi
- Receptionist - Nicolle Smartt
- King Hydroflax's Body - Liam Cook
- Voice of Hydroflax - Nonso Anozie
- The Landlord - David Suchet
- Eliza - Mariah Gale
- Shireen - Mandeep Dhillon
- Felicity - Alice Hewkin
- Paul - Ben Presley
- Harry - Colin Ryan
- Pavel - Bart Suavek
- Estate Agent - Sam Benjamin
- Young Landlord - Tate Pitchie-Cooper
- The Captain - Mark Gatiss
- Helen Clay - Nikki Amuka-Bird
- German Soldier - Toby Whithouse
The Tenth Planet
Uncredited cast
- Adult Dummies - Catherine Capelin, Michael Humpries, Jasom Jones (also credited elsewhere in same publication as Jason Jones), Saul Murphy, Paul Newbolt, Catrin O'Neil, Sean Palmer[5]
- Dummies - Elen Thomas, J. P. Kingdom, M Couchman, Alan Wadlan, Steph Grant, Glyn Page, Louise Vincent, David Matthews[5]
- Hand double for Doctor Who - Phil Jay[5]
- Plastic Arm Strangler - Rod Woodruff[5]
- Stunt double for Doctor Who - Will Willoughby[5]
- Blonde Mother - Melanie Mort[5]
- Blonde Child - Daisy Sydenham[5]
- Neighbour - Alun Jenkins[5]
- Stunt Double for Mickey - Maurice Lee, Will Willoughby[5]
- Diners - Linda Davies, Ceri Jones, Jacqueline Morris, Andy Jackson, Ian Jennings, Angela Silcocks, Helena Dunn, Creighton Hanney, Lyndon Ward, Wendy Ward, Russell Cook, Leighton Haberfield, Nicholas Wade[5]
- Headless Mickey - Kevin Hudson, Chris Stone[5]
- Stunt Dummy - Holly Lumsden, Paul Kulik[5]
- Stunt Public - Holly Lumsden, Paul Kulik[5]
- Stunt Bride - Holly Lumsden[5]
- Stunt Driver - Paul Kulik[5]
- Stunt double for Rose Tyler - Juliette Cheveley[5]
- Stunt doubles for Lair Dummies - Maurice Lee, Ricard Dwyer[5]
- ADR - Paul Sparrowman, Paula Keogh, Daryl Adcock, Nicholas Lupton, Wendi Sheard, Jane Hunt, Jenny Pink, Stephen Bracken-Keogh[5]
- Surgeons - Von Pearce, John Collins[6]
Crew
| Executive Producers Steven Moffat, Brian Minchin and Caroline Skinner |
| Co-executive producer Nikki Wilson |
| Series Producer Marcus Wilson |
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| General production staff Art department |
Camera and lighting department |
Costume Hair and make-up Sound |
| Not every person who worked on this adventure was credited. The absence of a credit for a position doesn't necessarily mean the job wasn't required. The information above is based solely on observations of the actual end credits of the episodes as broadcast, and does not relay information from IMDB or other sources. |
|
With The Christmas Invasion came an explosion in the number of people regularly credited on Doctor Who. In particular, the art department got much more specific crediting than had ever been the case in series 1. This trend of expanding the number of art department personnel credited would continue right through to series 5, with each series regularly crediting a few more positions.
Though not credited in any way, Mat Irvine did help considerably with the operation of K9 for this episode. In the DVD commentary, Phil Collinson acknowledges Irvine as the "operator of the original K9 prop", as seen in the very last scene of the episode, and admitting that the original prop had been stored in Irvine's garage and was found especially for this scene.
This episode marked a big change in the make-up department, with Barbara Southcott becoming the more-or-less permanent make-up designer on the show. Also, Millennium Effects became "Millennium FX" with this episode, and have been credited thus since.
Anthony Dickenson was credited as the "Stop Frame Director" during his interview on CON: Call Me the Doctor, but he was not credited in the episode proper. He was responsible for the "Doctor's eye view" sequence on the Leadworth village green, which leads to the Doctor noticing that Rory was taking pictures of Prisoner Zero.
According to a pre-launch press pack issued by the BBC, Patrick Schweitzer was actually the co-producer of this episode, but in the event, he was actually double credited — as both a full producer and a line producer.
This story had no direct Visual Effects credit, which means that it unusually didn't credit The Mill. Instead, the roll credited many more workers from The Mill than usual, and even changed Will Cohen's normal title to the grander, "Executive Visual FX Producer".
This episode marked the Doctor Who debut of production designer Michael Pickwoad, the BBC Wales debut of costume designer Barbara Kidd, and the first time that something like twenty team members had been credited for their work on Doctor Who. It was the biggest sea change of behind-the-scenes personnel in BBC Wales history, much bigger, in fact, than the changes that had occurred with The Eleventh Hour.
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References
Locations
- Private gallery 15 is on Platform One.
Individuals
- Cassandra calls the Moxx of Balhoon a pixie.
- Jack Harkness' vortex manipulator was stored in the Black Archive of UNIT after one of his recent deaths. It later ended up in the possession of the Eleventh Doctor and Clara Oswald.
- The two boards containing photos of Clara's last visit to the Black Archive also showcase photos of previous associates of the Doctor: Susan Foreman, Captain Mike Yates alongside Sara Kingdom, Polly Wright, Dodo Chaplet, Zoe Heriot, Harry Sullivan alongside Sergeant Benton and Sarah Jane Smith, K-9 Mark III, Barbara Wright, Ian Chesterton, Ben Jackson, Jamie McCrimmon, Zoe Heriot alongside the Brigadier, Sergeant Benton alongside Leela, Vicki Pallister, Victoria Waterfield, Jo Grant alongside Sergeant Benton, Liz Shaw alongside the Brigadier, Romana II, Steven Taylor, Katarina, Romana I, Tegan Jovanka alongside Nyssa, Grace Holloway, Donna Noble, Amy Pond alongside Kate Stewart, Clara Oswald alongside Kate Stewart, Adric, Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, Kamelion, UNIT Captain Erisa Magambo alongside Rose Tyler, Wilfred Mott, Peri Brown, Brigadier Winifred Bambera alongside Ace, Martha Jones, Mickey Smith, Adam Mitchell, Lieutenant General Sanchez alongside Sarah Jane Smith, Rory Williams, Vislor Turlough, Melanie Bush, Jack Harkness, Craig Owens, and Kate Stewart alongside River Song.
- Kate's mobile phone has the TARDIS dematerialisation sound set as her ringtone when the Doctor calls.
- Clara is now a teacher at Coal Hill School, and she quotes Marcus Aurelius to her class.
- A bust of Albert Einstein can be seen in front of the Cyberman painting in the Under Gallery.
- Kate calls someone named Malcolm twice. Presumably, this is Malcolm Taylor.
Gallifrey
- The Doctor tells Rose his planet was destroyed before its time as the result of a war which his people lost.
Bad Wolf arc
- Bad Wolf is mentioned for the first time, with the Moxx of Balhoon stating, "Indubitably, this is the Bad Wolf scenario."
Species
- Cassandra mentions there are many species out there that describe themselves as "human-ish", but that she is the last "pure" human.
Culture from the real world
- Cassandra plays what she thinks is a "traditional Earth ballad" to mark the destruction of Earth- this song is the racy single "Toxic" by Britney Spears, highly irreverent for the moment.
- Rose calls Cassandra "Michael Jackson", referring to that singer's well-known cosmetic surgery.
- "Tainted Love" by Soft Cell plays after all of the delegates have assembled.
- Cassandra brings in a jukebox, and calls it an iPod, mixing the names up.
Story notes
- The majority of the series' effects budget was used up for this episode because the story required more CGI effects than any other story. A sequence in which the viewing gallery tilted on its axis had to be dropped due to the expensive budget.
- The story begins with a brief recap of the last week's episode similar to many American shows, but unlike most American shows there is no voice-over announcing "previously on Doctor Who". The footage from Rose simply begins the episode. Discounting the 1996 TV movie, this marked the first time a Doctor Who episode had started with a pre-credits sequence since Remembrance of the Daleks in 1988; unlike the original series, which used the device rarely, it would become standard practice for the series, with very few episodes made without a teaser (the exceptions are usually series premieres).
- A BBC logo is on the bottom of the screen when the recap finishes and this episode begins. At this point, the corporation had not yet established the practice of showing the logo during the opening credits.
- Russell T Davies, who created Cassandra, has said on many occasions that he was inspired to create Cassandra upon viewing skinny Hollywood actresses at the Academy Awards. On 2 April 2006, the Sunday Mirror quoted Davies: "It was horrific seeing those beautiful women reduced to sticks. Nicole Kidman struck me in particular. Nicole is one of the most beautiful women in the world. But she looks horrifying because she's so thin. It's like we're killing these women in public. We watch while you die."
- In one scene Rose says, "Wait, hold on. They did this once on Newsround Extra". Newsround is a news programme on BBC 1 and CBBC aimed at providing news for children. Newsround Extra is an extended version of this concept which concentrates on a single issue or subject. A Newsround reporter was on set watching as this scene was filmed. His report can be read here on the newsround website.
- A minor milestone occurs when the Doctor utters the phrase, "What the hell is that?", the first time the character has used the minor swear word on-screen. This marked a slight loosening of the Doctor's use of language in the revived series, although in light of the show's family-friendly tone the Doctor has never said anything stronger than "hell" and "damn."
- The scene between Rose and Raffalo was a late addition, added because the episode was underrunning.
- This is the first time the Doctor has actually been seen to shed a tear on-screen, although he was previously described as crying in PROSE: The Scales of Injustice when he (falsely) believed Liz Shaw to be dead.
- A number of deleted scenes from the episode are printed in The Shooting Scripts, including a more brutal death for Raffalo, extended conversations between the Doctor and Jabe and Rose and Cassandra, and a second scene in which Rose contacts Jackie as the sun rays begin to pierce through the viewing gallery.
- The original script describes Cassandra as having cabinets containing the first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and the Magna Carta. (The Shooting Scripts)
- When Jabe brings up the subject of the Last Great Time War, the Doctor is discretely seen shedding a single tear, in perhaps the only time the Ninth Doctor is shown to visibly cry on-screen.
- Russell T Davies had initially intended to have the last humans escaping the doomed Earth aboard massive space arks (similar arks appeared in The Ark). This was dropped when the complexity of the character of Cassandra was fully realised during development.
- The episode features the first appearance of concepts such as the psychic paper, the Time War and the words 'Bad Wolf', which would go on to form a story arc throughout the series.
- An unaired scene would have shown the Doctor to have nine strands of DNA instead of one, an allusion to his eight previous incarnations.
- Camille Coduri's scene as Jackie Tyler was shot in advance during the first production block because of commitments for film The Business that would make her unavailable.
- Due to complexities in animating Cassandra, some of her lines were dropped and the episode underran. To compensate, Russell T. Davies came up with the character of maintenance worker Raffalo.
- The episode contains 203 visual effects shots that were completed over eight weeks, compared to "about 100" in Gladiator; Russell T Davies joked that there never would be an episode of the same scale due to the expense in producing it. As of The Wedding of River Song, no Doctor Who episode contains as many special effects shots. Phil Collinson also said the episode had more monsters than ever before.
- Both Cassandra and the robotic spiders — other than an inactive one — are completely CGI creatures. According to Russell T Davies, Cassandra was worked on for "many many months" and costed a "fortune". The Moxx of Balhoon was originally going to be animated, but this changed to a "glove puppet" and then a full rubber suit when it was desired he be "chunkier". Jimmy Vee had done similar parts before, although the actor said it was hard filming in the costume, which took three hours to put on. Jabe was originally more tree bark-like in the face, but it was decided that she be a Silver Birch instead.
- Cassandra unveils an "iPod" (actually a Wurlitzer jukebox), that plays "Tainted Love" by Soft Cell and later "Toxic". Since "Toxic" was not actually released as a 7" 45 rpm vinyl single, the production team mocked up a 7" single for use in the episode.
Ratings
- 7.97 million viewers (UK final)[7]
Myths
- The first thing Rose sees upon leaving the TARDIS is a ventilation duct. What is commonly mistaken for a ventilation duct was actually the shuttered window in the smaller observation room. The Doctor opens it after he exits the TARDIS.
Filming locations
- Temple of Peace, Cardiff (Platform One - viewing gallery, Manchester Suite, and Steward's office)
- Unit Q2, Newport (studio filming)
- BBC Broadcasting House, Llandaff, Cardiff (maintenance corridors)
- Headlands School, Penarth (pick-up shots)
- Helmont House, Cardiff (present-day Earth)
- Queens Street, Cardiff (present-day Earth) (all TCH 48)
Production errors
- While Rose is phoning her mum, notice that the Doctor has his mouth shut. The camera angle changes and instantly his mouth is open.
- When Rose and Cassandra are in conversation, they're shot intermittently from behind, looking out of the Space Station window. In the shots from behind, Cassandra's lips don't appear to move at all, though we still hear her speak.
- When Rose is about to be fried by the sun's rays, she runs up and down the stairs to bang on the doors to avoid the rays. While she does, the long shots show most of the doors as being incinerated, but in the close-ups (as she starts banging again) they look fine.
Continuity
- Gwyneth references the "big bad wolf" when sensing Rose's thoughts. The phrase "Bad Wolf" would prove to have special meaning in Rose's future. (TV: The Parting of the Ways)
- Rose has been thinking about her father a lot recently. (TV: Father's Day)
- The Doctor suggests Gwyneth's powers are due to her growing up near the time rift. Mrs Tyler developed psychic abilities due to spending her childhood near a time fissure. (TV: Image of the Fendahl)
- The Doctor and Rose revisit the Cardiff rift in the 21st century, (TV: Boom Town) and Torchwood Three would regularly monitor and interact with it over the course of many years. (TV: Everything Changes, et al.)
- The Doctor gives Rose some complicated directions to the TARDIS wardrobe: "First left, second right, third on the left, go straight ahead, under the stairs, past the bins, fifth door on your left." Previously the Fourth Doctor asked Leela to escort Chancellor Borusa to the VIP suite. The directions were so complicated that she lost her way and left him in a luxurious bathroom instead. (TV: The Invasion of Time)
- This echoes a similar conversation between Romana and Chris Parsons (TV: Shada, WC: Shada) about where to find the TARDIS medical kit.
- The Eleventh Doctor gives a similarly complicated set of directions to Amy Pond about finding the drawing room (GAME: TARDIS):
Half a mile down the corridor, left, then right, then right again, then the third right, past a weird swirly thing, left, then the other left, through the sunroom, past a green door, right, along a wall until it becomes slimy, down a lift to the third floor and straight ahead - easy-peasy!"
- The Doctor's partiality to the works of Dickens was indicated previously when the Sixth Doctor quoted A Tale of Two Cities. (TV: The Ultimate Foe) The Fourth Doctor also read out a description of Little Nell's dress (from The Old Curiosity Shop). (TV: Shada)
- Rose later references both her conversation with Gwyneth and Gwyneth's sacrifice. (TV: Boom Town)
- Rose and the Tenth Doctor notice that Gwen Cooper bears a strong resemblance to Gwyneth, which the Doctor attributes to several generations of Gwen's family having lived in Cardiff. (TV: Journey's End)
- Donna Noble unintentionally references these events: "Yeah, but think about it. There's a murder, a mystery, and Agatha Christie... No, but isn't that a bit weird? Agatha Christie didn't walk around surrounded by murders. Not really. I mean that's like meeting Charles Dickens, and he's surrounded by ghosts. At Christmas." The Doctor reacts but does not explain. (TV: The Unicorn and the Wasp)
- The Doctor will later have many more adventures at or near Christmas. (TV: The Christmas Invasion, The Runaway Bride, Voyage of the Damned, The Next Doctor, The End of Time, A Christmas Carol, The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe, The Snowmen, Last Christmas, Twice Upon a Time)
- During his sixth incarnation, the Doctor encountered the Artful Dodger, a major character from Dickens' novel Oliver Twist, in the Land of Fiction. (AUDIO: Legend of the Cybermen)
- Charles Dickens later reappears as part of an alternative timeline created by River Song's defiance of a fixed point in time. (TV: The Wedding of River Song)
- The Doctor mentions that he saw the fall of Troy. (TV: The Myth Makers)
- During his eighth incarnation, the Doctor met Charles Dickens in the Reform Club in London in 1866. The two of them got into an argument about an error in Great Expectations. (AUDIO: The Man Who Wasn't There)
- This is not the only time the Doctor is called a "navvie" in this incarnation. (PROSE: The Albino's Dancer)
- Despite Rose and Dickens struggling to breathe as the dungeon fills with gas, the Doctor shows no issues with it due to his respiratory bypass system. The Fourth Doctor was previously able to avoid breathing in helium because of it. (TV: The Robots of Death)
- Rose asks why all of the aliens seem to speak English, as did previous companion Sarah Jane Smith. (TV: The Masque of Mandragora) Donna Noble later also asked the Doctor about this, and then tried speaking in Latin to a Roman. (TV: The Fires of Pompeii) Clara Oswald was surprised to find herself speaking and understanding Russian (TV: Cold War) and Bill Potts did the same with Latin. (TV: The Eaters of Light)
- The Doctor implies to Jabe that he was on the RMS Titanic. The Sixth Doctor had been on board a version of the Titanic (and the Titan, another "unsinkable" ship). (AUDIO: The Wreck of the Titan) The Fourth Doctor also referenced the sinking. (TV: Robot, The Invasion of Time)
- Cassandra encounters the Doctor and Rose again in TV: New Earth.
- The Doctor visits the Earth's end with Clara Oswald when trying to uncover the mystery of The Caliburn Ghast (TV: Hide)
- The Doctor meets the Face of Boe again twice in his tenth incarnation. (TV: New Earth, Gridlock) He later speculates that the Face of Boe may be the future form of Jack Harkness. (TV: Last of the Time Lords)
- The Doctor witnessed Earth's end when the planet was trailing smoke as it headed towards the Sun at during the 57th segment of Time, approximately 10,000,000 years into the future. The last humans left on Earth had evacuated the planet because of the increasing danger that it would fall into the Sun, fleeing to planets such as Refusis II (TV: The Ark) and Frontios. (TV: Frontios) Cassandra alludes to this, noting "they say mankind has touched every star in the sky."
- The Doctor upgrades Rose's phone into the Superphone. He later does this for Martha Jones (TV: 42) and Donna Noble. (TV: The Poison Sky)
- The Doctor uses psychic paper. His second incarnation briefly used it during his time as an agent of the Celestial Intervention Agency; (PROSE: World Game) the Eighth Doctor carried it on a few occasions; (AUDIO: The Turn of the Screw, The Starship of Theseus) and the War Doctor used it in the Last Great Time War. (AUDIO: Legion of the Lost)
- Just as with Rose, Peri Brown's first TARDIS trip was to a space station — deliberately chosen by the Fifth Doctor so Peri could easily see lots of different alien races and get a taste of what travelling in the TARDIS was like. (PROSE: The Ultimate Treasure)
- The First Doctor previously met intelligent vegetation in AUDIO: Here There Be Monsters.
- The Doctor tells Rose he came first in jiggery-pokery. In PROSE: Generation Gap, the Third Doctor mentioned having "some experience" in jiggery-pokery.
- Jabe would be among those remembered when Davros asked the Doctor: "How many have died in your name? (TV: Journey's End)
- The Third Doctor previously took Sarah Jane to watch a dying planet. According to another account, it was the Fourth Doctor and Joan Brown. (COMIC: Doomcloud)
- The Doctor often reflects that he finds the current situation of robots harvesting human organs to repair a ship to be naggingly familiar, but his regeneration-addled brain is unable to remember. (TV: The Girl in the Fireplace)
- While performing a physical examination of Clara, Strax makes an observation on her thorax, as did Linx with Sarah Jane Smith (TV: The Time Warrior) and Commander Skorr with Martha Jones. (TV: The Sontaran Stratagem)
- The Doctor wonders who gave Clara the phone number of the TARDIS. (TV: The Bells of Saint John)
- The Doctor is sure he has already seen his new face before and comments that it has frown lines that he didn't frown. (TV: The Fires of Pompeii)
- Clara learns why the TARDIS telephone was hanging off the hook when she returned to the TARDIS after the Eleventh Doctor began regenerating. Because he did not patch it back to the console unit, the Eleventh Doctor dragged the phone by its cord into the entrance of his console to make a private, final phone call to Clara in the near future. (TV: The Time of the Doctor)
- Clara asks how to change the Doctor back to his previous body. Rose once asked the same question to the Tenth Doctor in his first moments, in which he confirmed he cannot. (TV: Children in Need Special)
- During his phone call to Clara, the Eleventh Doctor says that his regeneration is "gonna be a whopper." When describing his imminent regeneration to the Daleks on Trenzalore, he said exactly the same thing. (TV: The Time of the Doctor)
- The Twelfth Doctor's claim to speak "Dinosaur" echoes the Eleventh Doctor's claims to speak the languages of horses and babies. (TV: A Good Man Goes to War, A Town Called Mercy)
- Jenny snaps at Vastra for calling humans monkeys, or apes, as Silurians often have. (TV: Doctor Who and the Silurians, A Good Man Goes to War)
- Strax again mentions using deadly acid as a weapon. (TV: The Crimson Horror)
- When Clara sees the improved console room, she says, "You've redecorated... I don't like it." This was said by both the Second and Tenth Doctors at the sight of new TARDIS console designs. (TV: The Three Doctors, The Day of the Doctor) The Second and Eleventh Doctors have also said this about other rooms. (TV: The Five Doctors, Closing Time)
- The Doctor wishes he had more "round things" in his updated control room. (TV: The Day of the Doctor) He remembers he "had many round things once" and wonders where he put them. (TV: An Unearthly Child) He would later add some to the lower section of the control room. (TV: The Magician's Apprentice)
- Clara's last interaction with the Eleventh Doctor takes place on the phone, mirroring the first interaction she had with him as an adult. (TV: The Bells of Saint John)
- The Doctor states that he is now over 2,000 years old. (TV: The Time of the Doctor, PROSE: Tales of Trenzalore: The Eleventh Doctor's Last Stand)
- The Doctor once again confirms that he does not see the human race as "small". (TV: The End of Time, Hide)
- The Doctor remembers that he wore a scarf once. He dismisses the idea to have one as it will look stupid. (TV: Robot)
- After the Doctor collapses, Vastra Jenny asks Clara who he is and Clara replies that he is the Doctor, mirroring a conversation Rose and Jackie Tyler had after the Ninth Doctor's regeneration. (TV: The Christmas Invasion)
- After seeing the new Doctor, Madame Vastra says "Well then, here we go again.", just as the Brigadier did after the Third Doctor's regeneration. (TV: Planet of the Spiders)
- Amy continues to call Clara "boy", as he still has trouble telling male and female genders apart. (TV: The Snowmen, The Crimson Horror)
- Clara reveals she had a poster of the philosopher Marcus Aurelius in her room when she was 15. She previously quoted him in her classroom. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)
- A dinosaur whom the Doctor befriends is brutally killed, as happened when "Tricey" was shot by Solomon's robots. (TV: Dinosaurs on a Spaceship)
- The Doctor previously took a companion to Scotland accidentally when trying to take her home. (TV: School Reunion) Unlike Sarah Jane Smith, Clara will only wait three weeks for the Doctor to return. (TV: Into the Dalek)
- The Doctor had previously encountered beings who were continuously "repaired" for so long that he presumed that there were likely nothing of the original person left. (TV: The Doctor's Wife)
- When Clara agreed to some coffee in Glasgow she told the Doctor to pay and he said he didn't have any money. The Ninth Doctor previously said the same to Rose Tyler when she wanted some chips and told him to pay. (The End of the World) The Third Doctor also needed to borrow some change from Liz Shaw to call UNIT to ask for a waxworks exhibition to be raided. (TV: Spearhead from Space)
- While trying to persuade Clara to stay with his next incarnation, the Eleventh Doctor asks her to "Help him." Unknown to him, it was through those same words that Clara persuaded the Time Lords to grant him a new cycle of regenerations. (TV: The Time of the Doctor)
- Vastra claims that Clara knows the Doctor better than anyone. This is not an exaggeration, as she is the only known person to have witnessed his entire life. (TV: The Name of the Doctor)
- In the alley scene, the Doctor suddenly exclaims, "Shut up! I missed something. I saw...what did I see?" This is nearly identical to what the Eleventh Doctor said when he noticed Rory Williams taking a picture of Prisoner Zero instead of looking up at the sky going dark like everyone else. (TV: The Eleventh Hour)
- Clara gets upset when the Doctor calls her a control freak and emphatically denies it, even though she admitted to being one while under the influence of the Truth Field on Trenzalore. (TV: The Time of the Doctor)
- The Doctor comments that the SS Marie Antoinette had to take the long way around to try to return to its home. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)
- The Doctor claims he is not Clara's boyfriend, but clarifies the assumption is not her fault. Before the Siege of Trenzalore, the Eleventh Doctor had been eager to be her boyfriend, (TV: The Time of the Doctor) with Angie and Artie Maitland openly referring to him as Clara's boyfriend. (TV: The Crimson Horror, Nightmare in Silver)
Home video releases
DVD releases
- This story was released on a DVD along with The End of the World and The Unquiet Dead as Doctor Who - Series 1: Volume 1. However, in Portugal and Russia Series 1: Volume 1 also included the contents of Series 1: Volume 2.
- The version of the episode included on the UK release of Doctor Who - Series 1: Volume 1 was an early edit which includes extra music cues ultimately cut from the transmitted episode, notably in the scene of the Doctor and Rose walking from her flat to the TARDIS.
- This story was also released as part of the series 1 DVD box set, Doctor Who - The Complete First Series.
- This story was also released with Issue 1 of the Doctor Who DVD Files.
- This story was released along with Rose and The End of the World on a "vanilla" DVD with no extras.
- It was also part of the Series 1 DVD box set.
- This story was also released with Issue 2 of the Doctor Who DVD Files.
Blu-ray releases
- This story was released in The Complete Series One Blu-ray set in November 2013 along with the rest of the series. This release was initially bundled with the first seven series of the revived Doctor Who.
- In 2017, a Complete Series One Blu-ray steelbook was released as a limited edition.
Other releases
- Series 1: Volume 1 was also the first to be released in the UMD format for PlayStation Portable.
- This story is available for streaming via Netflix, Hulu Plus and Amazon Prime. It can also be purchased on iTunes.
- In 2015, it was released by BBC Worldwide on BitTorrent and iTunes in the A Decade of the Doctor bundle, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the new series. It included introductions by Peter Capaldi, Earth Conquest: The World Tour and an episode guide.
Covers
DVD releases
Series 1: Volume 1
Region 1 US cover
Region 2 UK cover
Region 2 Netherlands cover
Region 2 Japanese cover
Region 2 Portuguese cover
Region 4 Australian cover
Region 5 Russian cover
UMD releases
Series 1: Volume 1
Region 2 UK cover
Home video releases
- This was released with Rose and The Unquiet Dead on a "vanilla" DVD with no extras.
- It was also released as part of the Series 1 DVD box set
- This was also released with Issue 1 of the Doctor Who DVD Files.
- Released in the Series 1 Bluray set in November 2013 along with the rest of the series.
- This release was initially bundled with the first seven series of the revived Doctor Who.
- Available for streaming via Hulu Plus and Amazon Prime.
- This story was released with Bad Wolf and The Parting of the Ways on a "vanilla" DVD with no extras.
- It was also part of the series 1 DVD box set.
- This story was also released with Issue 6 of the Doctor Who DVD Files.
The Complete David Tennant Years DVD
Region 1 US cover
The Complete Series Three DVD box-set
The Runaway Bride DVD Cover
Doctor Who: The Complete Series One to Four DVD box-set
Time Lord Victorious: Road To The Dark Times box-set
Doctor Who: The Complete Series One to Seven DVD box-set
- This episode was released as the sole story on Doctor Who: The Runaway Bride, alongside the full Children In Need 2006 concert. Extras include Music and Monsters and the Dr Who Confidential/ Children in Need 2006 Special Concert.
- It is also included in the Series 3 DVD box set.
- It is one of seven stories that are included in the Time Lord Victorious: Road to the Dark Times blu-ray.
Home video releases
Planet of the Dead was released on DVD and, for the first time for a Doctor Who episode, on Blu-ray in the United Kingdom on 29th June 2009. The release includes a single bonus feature:
- Doctor Who Confidential - unlike previous DVD releases, this is a complete, 60-minute version, including licensed music and clips from both the classic series and the 1996 TV movie.
In North America, the DVD and Blu-ray were released on 28 July 2009. The release is identical to the Region 2 version, including the intact Confidential, even though it includes clips from the 1996 TV movie which at the time could not be released in Region 1 due to licensing issues.
In Australia, the DVD was released on 29th of June 2009, Blu-ray on 1st of October 2009 and included the same special features as the UK release.
This is the first Doctor Who episode to ever be released on the high-definition Blu-ray format.
The four specials plus The Next Doctor were released in the UK on both DVD and Blu-ray in a box set in January 2010, with a North American release scheduled for 2nd February 2010.[1]
This episode is listed as episode 16 of Series 4 on Netflix in the US. Previously, it had been listed as a separate standalone title, before vanishing from the service entirely sometime in 2011. It reappeared on Netflix in 2014, concurrent with the additions of The Day of the Doctor and The Time of the Doctor to the service.
Planet of the Dead DVD Cover
The Complete Specials DVD
Region 2 UK cover
The Complete Specials DVD
Region 1 US cover
The Complete Specials DVD
Region 4 Australian cover
The Complete Specials Blu-ray
Region B UK cover
The Complete Specials Blu-ray
Region A US cover
The Complete Specials Blu-ray
Region B Australian coverThe Complete David Tennant Years DVD
Region 1 US cover- Limited Edition Giftset Region 1 US DVD cover.jpg
Limited Edition Giftset DVD
Region 1 US cover 
The Specials Steelbook
Doctor Who: The Complete Series One to Seven DVD box-set
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Home video releases
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BBC Video - Doctor Who Series Five - Volume One was released on DVD and Blu-Ray on 7 June 2010 (UK only), featuring The Eleventh Hour, The Beast Below, Victory of the Daleks, and the featurette The Monster Diaries. [8] A full-series box set has been released.
Of note, the "Next Time..." trail at the end of each episode has been excised from this and all future episodes for the DVD/Bluray releases up to A Christmas Carol.
Home video releases
DVD & Blu-ray releases
- This story was was released as issue 76 of Doctor Who DVD Files, alongside Flesh and Stone.
- BBC Video - Doctor Who Series Five - Volume Two was released on Monday 5 July 2010 (UK Only) on DVD and Blu-ray, featuring The Time of Angels, Flesh and Stone and The Vampires of Venice.[9]
- It was later released within the Series 5 boxset on 8 November 2010, and bundled with Series 1-7 in 2013.
BBC Video - "Doctor Who Series Five - Volume Four" features Vincent and the Doctor, The Lodger, The Pandorica Opens and The Big Bang. It was released on 6 September 2010 (UK Only) on DVD and Blu-ray see picture below.[10] It was released on a full series box set on 8th November 2010 but as two sets. One is a limited edition steelbook and the other one is a Lenticular Sleeve.
Home video releases
DVD & Blu-Ray releases
- This story was released on DVD and Blu-ray on 24 January 2011 in UK markets and 15 February 2011 in North American markets.
- The episode was later released in the complete series 6, which included the first and second half of the series, was released on DVD and Blu-ray on the 21 November 2011.
- A Christmas Carol was released on Region 2 DVD, and Region B Blu-ray on 20 January 2014 as part of The Time of the Doctor + Other Eleventh Doctor Christmas Specials set. The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe, The Snowmen and The Time of the Doctor were also included on both versions.
Digital releases
- A bundle including the Christmas Specials mentioned above was released on Google Play, iTunes and Amazon Instant Video in HD or SD. It included the Farewell to Matt Smith featurette. The Amazon Instant Video release also added Prequel to the Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe, Vastra Investigates and The Great Detective.
- The story was missing from Netflix until 2014 when it was added as episode 14 of Series 5, in contrast with previous Christmas specials which are considered episode 1 of the following series (for example, The Christmas Invasion is considered the beginning of Series 2). It is also available on Hulu and iTunes.
This episode, along with the rest of the second half of series 6, was released on DVD and Blu Ray on the 10 October 2011.
The episode was later released in the complete series 6, which included the first and second half of the series, was released on DVD and Blu Ray on the 21 November 2011.
Home video releases
DVD & Blu-Ray releases
- The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe was released on a standalone DVD and Blu-ray in the UK on 16 January 2012, with North American release occurring a few weeks later.
- Announced for inclusion, along with its prequel, in the North American release of The Complete Seventh Series, scheduled for 24 September 2013.
- Initially, the UK edition of The Complete Seventh Series was not going to include the episode, but the BBC subsequently announced that it will be included, along with its prequel.
- The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe was released on Region 2 DVD, and Region B Blu-ray on 20 January 2014 as part of The Time of the Doctor + Other Eleventh Doctor Christmas Specials set. A Christmas Carol, The Snowmen and The Time of the Doctor were also included on both versions.
Home video releases
DVD & Blu-ray releases
- This story was released in the UK in the Series 7, Part 2 DVD and Blu-ray box sets.
- It was released as a standalone in North America/Region 1 on DVD and Blu-ray. It is not included in the North American version of Series 7, Part 2. The standalone release is extremely rare at retail, with most retailers in Canada not stocking it.
- It was later released in both the UK and North American editions of The Complete Seventh Series DVD and Blu-ray box sets. Initially, the UK edition of The Complete Seventh Series was not going to include the episode, but the BBC subsequently announced that it will be included, along with its prequel.
- The Snowmen was released on Region 2 DVD, and Region B Blu-ray on 20 January 2014 as part of The Time of the Doctor + Other Eleventh Doctor Christmas Specials set. A Christmas Carol, The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe and The Time of the Doctor were also included on both versions.
Home video releases
DVD & Blu-Ray releases
- The Rings of Akhaten was released as part of Doctor Who Series 7 Part 2 on May 22, 2013, and as part of The Complete Seventh Series on September 24, 2013.
- It was also released bundled with Series 1-7.
Digital releases
- This story is available for streaming via Amazon Prime Video.
- It can also be purchased on iTunes and Amazon Instant Video. The digital Series 7 boxset also features prequel episodes and Pond Life.
- In 2015, it was released by BBC Worldwide on BitTorrent and iTunes, in A Decade of the Doctor bundle to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the new series. It included introductions by Peter Capaldi, Pearl Mackie, Jenna Coleman Earth Conquest: The World Tour and an episode guide.
Home release
- The Day of the Doctor was released in the UK on Region 2 DVD, and Region B 3D Blu-ray on 2 December 2013. The Night of the Doctor and The Last Day were also included on both versions. A Region 1 DVD and a Region A Blu-ray 3D/Blu-ray/DVD combo pack was released in the US on 10 December 2013.
- The 50th Anniversary Collector's Edition box set was released in the UK and Australia on DVD and Bluray, containing The Name of the Doctor, The Day of the Doctor, The Time of the Doctor, the minisodes The Night of the Doctor and The Last Day, and the 2013 docu-drama An Adventure in Space and Time. The set was released in the UK on 8 September 2014 and in Australia on 9 October 2014.
- The special was added to Netflix instant streaming in the US in September 2014. It is listed as the 15th episode of Series 7.
Home video releases
DVD & Blu-ray releases
- The Time of the Doctor was released on Region 2 DVD, and Region B Blu-ray on 20 January 2014 as part of The Time of the Doctor + Other Eleventh Doctor Christmas Specials set. A Christmas Carol, The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe and The Snowmen were also included on both versions. The US version did not feature the other specials.
- The Time of the Doctor was also included on the 50th Anniversary Collector's Edition alongside The Name of the Doctor, The Day of the Doctor and An Adventure in Space and Time. The Australian release was identical to the UK release. The US equivalent of this, The Complete Matt Smith Years, also featured it alongside all of Matt Smith's televised appearances up to and including his regeneration story.
Home video releases
DVD releases
Series Full Box-set Region 2
Series Full Box-set Region 1
Deep Breath Region 2 DVD Cover
Deep Breath Region 1 DVD Cover
- Doctor Who: Deep Breath. The release included the cinema prequel, Doctor Who Extra and Doctor Who Live: The Next Doctor. The Region A release also featured The Real History of Science Fiction.
- Doctor Who: Series 8 Boxset
Blu-ray releases
- Doctor Who: Deep Breath Blu-Ray
- Doctor Who: Series 8 Blu-ray Boxset
Full Box-set UK Blu-ray cover
Full Box-set US Blu-ray cover
Deep Breath UK Blu-ray cover
Deep Breath US Blu-ray cover
Home video releases
DVD releases
Last Christmas DVD cover
The Complete Series Nine
- The episode was released as a DVD in the UK on 26 January 2012, only a month after airing. A behind the scenes featurette was included as an extra.
- The episode was also included in the Doctor Who: The Complete Ninth Series boxset.
Home video releases
DVD releases
The Complete Series 9
Series 9 Part 2 DVD Cover
Home video releases
The Complete Series 9
The Husbands of River Song DVD cover
- This story was released on DVD in 23 February 2016. It was also released as part of the Series 9 boxset on 7 March 2016.
Video game adaptation
- On the 16 February 2016, a Husbands of River Song level pack was released for the game Doctor Who: Legacy. It used ten non-dialogue levels to visually retell the episode's story.
Blu-ray releases
- It was also released on Blu-Ray.
Digital releases
- The episode was released to buy in HD or SD on Amazon Instant Video.
- The episode was released on Google Play and iTunes in HD or SD, complete with various features including Earth Conquest, a trailer, Steven Moffat interview and behind the scenes featurette.
International broadcast
The Canadian cable network Space aired the special on July 25th, 2009 in an 85-minute timeslot (including commercials) with minimal edits, the most noticeable being the omission of the trailer for The Waters of Mars. As a result of the edit, the episode ends uniquely, with the traditional "howlaround" sound replaced instead with a single tolling of the cloister bell.
BBC America aired the special on 26 July as part of the rollout of its new HD service. This marks the changeover for Doctor Who from broadcasts on Syfy to BBC America, which has taken over first-run broadcasts of the series.
Footnotes
- ↑ According to head writer and executive producer Russell T Davies, who himself wrote Rose and The End of the World, the war mentioned in Rose where the Nestene Consciousness lost its protein planets is also supposed to be the Time War, (DWM 356, Doctor Who Annual 2006) although on screen, the connection to the war between what is later revealed to be the Daleks and the Time Lords is not specified in Rose.
- ↑ Berriman. Ian. "RTD on Torchwood". SFX #199. July 2010.
- ↑ Ed Stradling (20 February 2013). Gallifrey One 2013 - Steven Moffat interview. YouTube. Retrieved on 20 February 2013.
- ↑ Leeson plays two different versions of K9 in School Reunion: Mark III and, briefly, Mark IV.
- ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 5.12 5.13 5.14 5.15 5.16 5.17 DWMSE 11
- ↑ Doctor Who: The Encyclopedia
- ↑ Doctor Who - consolidated ratings
- ↑ Doctor Who News Page - Matt Smith First DVD Release Date, accessed 3rd March 2010
- ↑ DWM 421, Page 17
- ↑ DWM 421, p. 18
External links
- Official BBC Website - Episode Guide for The End of the World
- The End of the World at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
- The End of the World at Shannon Sullivan's A Brief History of Time (Travel)
- The Discontinuity Guide to: The End of the World at The Whoniverse
- BBC - South East Wales - Doctor Who Locations - End of the World
- BBC - Doctor Who - Episode Guide - The Unquiet Dead
- The Unquiet Dead at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
- The Unquiet Dead at Shannon Sullivan's A Brief History of Time (Travel)
- The Discontinuity Guide to: The Unquiet Dead at The Whoniverse
- The Unquiet Dead at The Locations Guide
- Official BBC Website - Episode Guide for Boom Town
- Boom Town at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
- The Discontinuity Guide to: Boom Town at The Whoniverse
- Boom Town at Shannon Sullivan's A Brief History of Time (Travel)
