Bullet

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Revision as of 21:40, 17 December 2023 by Tybort (talk | contribs) (Adding footnote about series 4's setting. Also, Partners is almost certainly not 2 years before ATMOS. Pretty sure they're days apart.)
Bullet

A bullet was a projectile propelled by a firearm. Most bullets were made from a type of metal. Sam Swift was of the view that "no brain outwits a bullet". (TV: The Woman Who Lived) Similarily, Graham O'Brien believed that one could not "out-think bullets". The Thirteenth Doctor, however, noted that she had done so all her life, stating "brains beat bullets." (TV: The Ghost Monument)

Effect and defence

In human mythology, bullets made of silver could be used to kill a werewolf. A "real" werewolf like the Lupine Wavelength Haemovariform was unharmed by ordinary bullets; as the Tenth Doctor said to Captain Reynolds, "Bullets can't stop it." (TV: Tooth and Claw) Silver bullets were also utilised by the Brigadier to defeat the Destroyer. UNIT also used teflon anti-Dalek bullets and gold-tipped bullets for use against Cybermen. (TV: Battlefield)

The Cybermen of Pete's World proved invulnerable to bullets, (TV: Rise of the Cybermen, Doomsday) as did survival armour used by Ice Warriors. (TV: The Seeds of Death, Empress of Mars)

The Experimental Prototype Robot K1 was immune to bullets much to the frustration of the Brigadier, who commented "just once I'd like to meet an alien menace that wasn't immune to bullets." (TV: Robot)

In the Sontaran invasion of Earth in the 2000s,[nb 1] the Sontarans used a cordolaine signal which excited the copper in bullets and caused their expansion within a gun barrel, rendering Earth-made guns useless. The Doctor admonished General Staal for this, stating that "a Sontaran should face bullets with dignity". UNIT managed a counter-measure by using rad-steel coated bullets. This made the cordolaine signal ineffective and the Sontarans, despite their use of Sontaran space armour, were easily defeated by UNIT forces. (TV: The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky)

The Ghost's superhero suit withstood bullets fired by Sim. (TV: The Return of Doctor Mysterio)

Bastic bullets, bullets fitted with bastic heads, were used to destroy pre-war Daleks, (TV: Revelation of the Daleks) but eventually Dalek force field technology advanced to the point where bastic bullets were no longer effective against them, though the eyepiece remained susceptible. (TV: The Parting of the Ways)

The matriarch of the Klep-Clotch Slitheen boasted that bullets would bounce off her Raxacoricofallapatorian hide. (AUDIO: Death on the Mile)

Though they could be temporarily incapacitated by gunshots, Weevils were resistant to bullets and quickly recovered. (TV: Exit Wounds)

Usage

During the time of the Old West, Gaylord Lefevre owned and used a revolver to shoot anyone who tried to cheat him during playing cards; during a game with the Celestial Toymaker in the Toyroom, after the Toymaker altered Lefevre's cards after he tried to mark them to gain an unfair advantage, Lefevre tried to shoot the Toymaker, but the bullet merely fell to the table as the Toymaker had complete control over gravity. (COMIC: The Greatest Gamble [+]Loading...["The Greatest Gamble (comic story)"])

Gustave Lytton and his men, who worked on behalf of the Dalek Task Force, used bullets while operating on 20th century Earth. Having been recently fired, some of these bullets were found on a warehouse floor by Tegan Jovanka, who observed that they were "hardly alien". The Fifth Doctor, however, rhetorically asked "why advertise who you are?" (TV: Resurrection of the Daleks)

The Seventh Doctor sustained three gunshot wounds at the hands of a gang in San Francisco on 30 December 1999; one bullet went straight through his shoulder, inflicting no damage, while the other two were caught in his left leg before being removed at Walker General Hospital. (TV: Doctor Who)

Immediately following the Year That Never Was, Lucy Saxon inflicted a gunshot wound against the Saxon Master. Though the Tenth Doctor noted that the Master, as a Time Lord, could easily survive "one little bullet" by regenerating, the Master purposefully chose not to and so died. (TV: Last of the Time Lords)

Matron Cofelia's guards used guns with bullets in the 2000s.[nb 1] (TV: Partners in Crime)

During the Planetary Relocation Incident of the 2000s, the presence of the time-lock within the Hub became apparent when the bullets fired by Gwen Cooper and Ianto Jones against a Dalek were suspended in mid-air. (TV: Journey's End)

Expression

In a shared dream induced by the Dream Lord, the Eleventh Doctor covered Amy Pond and Rory Williams' escape as he confronted the Eknodine, endangering himself. Following this, Amy noted to Rory that the Doctor had "[taken] the bullet" for them. (TV: Amy's Choice)

The Thirteenth Doctor cited the peaceful resolution to the Cuban Missile Crisis as the Earth dodging a "really big bullet". (COMIC: The Piggybackers)

Footnotes

  1. 1.0 1.1 The present day of Doctor Who's fourth series is not consistently dated, with TV: The Fires of Pompeii, TV: The Waters of Mars, and AUDIO: SOS setting the present of the 13 regular episodes in 2008 (heavily implied by TV: The Star Beast and TV: The Giggle as well), and PROSE: Beautiful Chaos setting them in about April to June 2009.