Oxygen (TV story)

This episode started a minor arc for Series 10, in which the Doctor is rendered permanently blind after saving Bill from the vacuum of space by giving her his helmet.

This is the first occasion where Nardole joins the Doctor and Bill on an adventure, after he was usually left to stay behind on Earth.

Synopsis

The Twelfth Doctor, Bill and Nardole investigate a strange space station, but are interrupted by walking dead in spacesuits... will they make it out alive? And how much does air actually cost?

Plot

On the outer hull of the space station, Chasm Forge, workers Ivan and Ellie make their way to the top of the space station to make repairs. The two are romantically involved and Ellie attempts to tell Ivan via her comms system that she is now ready to have a child with him, but he can't hear her due to interference with the system. Ellie examines her air tank to discover that she is running low on oxygen and is required to purchase more. From behind two figures start walking toward her, also wearing suits but without their helmets -- the humans wearing the suits are obviously dead. Ellie turns to see them advancing on her and she screams, but Ivan can't hear anything. Just as he finishes his repairs, Ivan turns to look behind him and sees the two figures along with a now dead, helmet-less Ellie advancing on him and he screams.

On Earth, the Doctor is in the middle of a lecture which is supposed to be about crop rotation, but he chooses to speak about space instead. After the lecture, Nardole approaches the Doctor and calls him out on his desire to go back into space. When working on the vault, he voices his concern that the Doctor has plans to take another unauthorised trip, but the Doctor rebuffs that, stating that he is still on Earth guarding the vault. Later in the TARDIS, the Doctor is telling Bill about the possibilities that exist with exploring space; he suggests that Bill select a destination for a trip, but then himself sets course to investigate a distress signal. At this point, Nardole arrives and insists that the Doctor remain on Earth and guard the vault. He presents a fluid link component he took from the TARDIS after one of the Doctor's lectures, under the assumption that it would render the TARDIS immobile. However, this was a lie on the Doctor's part as he then suddenly sets the TARDIS engines in flight, much to Nardole's surprise and chagrin, but to Bill's delight.

The TARDIS materialises in a corridor on the space station and the Doctor, Bill and a very-angry Nardole emerge. The Doctor expands the TARDIS' air shell so that they can explore. Bill is amazed by the depths of space when looking out the space station's window, while Nardole is still moaning about the Doctor breaking his oath again. The trio then discovers a man in a suit standing in the middle of the repair bay. Upon examining him, they discover the man to be dead, but Nardole finds his airfield is still up, meaning he didn't suffocate. Bill finds it rather distressing that the mechanical suit is keeping the dead man propped upright. The Doctor examines the computer logs and discovers that the station was declared non-profitable after a majority of its workers were killed.

Unauthorised oxygen will be expelled.

The three proceed further into the station and discover a suit with no operator doing work. Suddenly, a computer, whose voice Nardole remembers as an ex-girlfriend called Velma, states that there has never been oxygen in the station and the unauthorised oxygen from the TARDIS has been detected and will be expelled. The Doctor, Bill and Nardole race back to the TARDIS when the section starts decompressing the expanded air shell from it. The Doctor seals the section off using the sonic screwdriver, but this leaves them unable to return to the TARDIS. A comms unit suddenly engages on the computer, and the voice on the other end introduces himself as Tasker. While the Doctor, Bill and Nardole are distracted, the suit propping up the dead man becomes active and starts advancing towards the trio. The Doctor tries to disable it with his sonic screwdriver, but the suit magnetically pulls the instrument from the Doctor's hand. The sonic screwdriver is crushed and the suit is disabled. Nardole looks outside and sees that the deceased workers are being operated by the suits and are advancing on them from the outer hull. The Doctor deduces that the oxygen is contained in the suits, so in order to survive they put on the suits present in the repair bay.

While escaping from the Smartsuits pursuing them, the TARDIS crew are rescued by Tasker, Ivan and other survivors on the station, Abby and Dahh-Ren. The crew tells the Doctor that the suits are the property of the company which has turned access to oxygen into profit and that the suits have received instructions to 'deactivate their organic components'. All other crew members were killed by an electric shock to their nerve systems, rendering them zombies. The crew make plans to retreat across the station's hull and escape to an uncompleted section of the station that isn't present in their station's mapping. Suddenly, the suits break into the section where the crew are hiding and kill Tasker with an electric discharge transmitted by touch. The remaining survivors retreat to an airlock at the end of the section, all putting on helmets to protect themselves from the vacuum. During the process of decompression, the suit Bill took from the repair bay begins to malfunction, deactivating Bill's helmet of its own accord. The Doctor attempts to release Bill's helmet from the suit's grip, but to no avail; he warns Bill that she is about to be exposed to the vacuum and to breathe normally. The airlock opens and Bill loses consciousness when exposed to the vacuum. She briefly reawakens to find herself being walked across the hull by the Doctor, without his helmet, as Ivan and Abby shoot the advancing suits. Bill falls unconscious again.

Bill awakens alone in an empty section of the station. She looks up the hallway to see the suits outside the open door but not entering. Bill is approached by Nardole and Ivan, who reveal that the suits can't get into the section because it's a new area that isn't in their mapping system. Bill asks about the Doctor -- Nardole tells her that he gave her his helmet and walked her to safety, but it did cost him. He tells her that he is in Section 12, a statement which the suits register and begin trying to locate. Bill finds the Doctor sat alone in the section. He stands to face her and reveals that walking in the vacuum unprotected has blinded him. He ensures her that the condition is temporary and that his sight can be restored on his return to the TARDIS. The crew regroup and the Doctor makes plans on how to get them out alive, but Abby doesn't believe him due to his inability to save Tasker and threatens him. At that point, the suits log Section 12 into their mapping system and come in, killing Dahh-Ren. Abby attempts to hold them off, but the crew end up fleeing.

Just before making it to the next section, Bill's suit malfunctions again, magnetising itself to the floor and rendering her immobile. Knowing that there is no way of getting Bill to the next section, the Doctor leaves her behind while the others escape and the suits approach her. Bill makes an appeal to her mum while the suits deliver the electrical discharge and seemingly kill her. The remaining survivors arrive at the station's power room, where the Doctor highlights on the suits' operation being heavily established by a capitalist attitude. The Doctor claims that he is attempting to redirect the flow of water cooling the generators to convert it into oxygen, but instead connects the generators to their suit's life signs, meaning that if they die, the generators will overheat and explode. The Doctor insists that the suits be let in, seemingly as a grand statement about the inevitable downfall of capitalism, and Ivan reluctantly complies. As the suits advance and are about to kill them, the Doctor declares that their deaths would be expensive and the suits stop. The suits analyse the generators and conclude that it would be a greater loss for the company if the crew were to die and the station were to explode, so the suits remove their oxygen tanks and give them to the survivors. The Doctor also re-engages Bill's oxygen tank and Bill revives, her suit's battery having too weak an electric charge to prove fatal.

Back onboard the TARDIS, Nardole restores the Doctor's eyesight, and the Doctor gives Abby and Ivan the option of what they wish to do. They wish to be taken to head office to make a complaint about the company and the events that transpired on Chasm Forge, to which the Doctor complies. Later, back at the university, the Doctor tells Bill that the after-effects of Abby and Ivan's complaint was the catalyst for the eventual downfall of space capitalism. After Bill leaves, Nardole emerges from the TARDIS, still furious at the Doctor's reckless behaviour. He berates the Doctor for endangering himself in a selfish gesture and points out that he knows the stakes of leaving the vault unattended -- if the Doctor were ever injured, or sick, or dead, there would be no-one left to guard the vault effectively. The Doctor refuses to look at him, and as Nardole continues to berate him and demands that the Doctor look at him, he rises and removes his glasses, claiming he 'can't look at anything, ever again'.

He's still blind...

Cast

Uncredited cast

Student - Lauren Pate^[1]
White-Haired Zombie - Clem So

Crew

Executive Producers Steven Moffat and Brian Minchin


Written by Jamie Mathieson	Produced by Nikki Wilson	Directed by Charles Palmer	Director of Photography Mark Waters	Production Designer Michael Pickwoad	Visual Effects Milk BBC Wales VFX

Make-up Designer Barbara Southcott	Casting Director Andy Pryor CDG	Music Murray Gold	Costume Designer Hayley Nebauer	Edited by Will Oswald	Special Effects Real SFX
Original theme music by Ron Grainer • Titles by BBC Wales Graphics • With thanks to National Orchestra of Wales Music conducted & orchestrated by Alastair King • Music score assistant - Jack Sugden • Music mixed by Jake Jackson • Music recorded by Gerry O'Riordan

General production staff

Script department

Camera and lighting department

Art department

Costume department

Make-up and prosthetics

Movement

Casting

General post-production staff

Special and visual effects

VFX Editor - Dan Rawlings
Special Creature Effects & Prosthetics - Millennium FX
Wires - Bob Schofield
Colourist - Gareth Spensley

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.

Worldbuilding

Physics

The Doctor gives a lecture about space, describing how one dies when exposed to the vacuum, while the audience was expecting a lecture about crop rotation.

Chemistry

The boiling point of water is much lower in a vacuum.
Electrolysis is splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen. Nardole assumes this is the Doctor's plan, to produce more oxygen which would last 5 minutes.

Biology

Nardole mentions that he hasn't seen his true face for years. He swapped it for his current one on the run.
The Doctor intentionally "maxes out" his companions' adrenaline as "fear keeps you fast." Fear also causes an acceleration in breathing, though, which would constitute a waste of oxygen credits while on Chasm Forge.
When the suits kill the crew, they deactivate the organic component and disable the central nervous system.
Bill wonders what happens if she were to throw up in the space helmet.
After having been exposed to the vacuum of space, Bill suffers from oxygen deprivation.
The Doctor says he has spare eyes in the TARDIS, though they're from lizards, though the validity of this claim is never brought up.

Technology

The space helmets experience an error on the Radio Com Channel.
The Doctor calls distress calls "[his] theme tune", and emphasises that "[he] only [sees] the true face of the universe when it's asking for [his] help."
Chasm Forge uses artificial gravity.
The Doctor is happy that the "space doors", as Nardole calls them, are of a classic design. They have pressure seals and hinges. He and Nardole disagree on whether space doors should go "shuck-shuck" or groan like these do.
The smartsuits employed at Chasm Forge uses gyro stabilisers, magnetic boots and gloves, and has on-board computers. According to the Doctor, it can run, jump and update one's Facebook. They also have force fields to keep the air in, and oxygen tanks for air supply. The suits' AI have "limited problem solving".
The Smartsuits have unfolding helmets.
To send the distress call, the miners boosted a smartsuit through the dish.
Nardole relates the smartsuits' nav system to "when your satnav doesn't know a new road".
The Smartsuits uses a Powercell to get into the Power Core.
The Doctor hacks into the Coolant System.
The Doctor likens the Smartsuits to an algorithm and a spreadsheet.

Medicine

The Doctor claims he has "stuff in [the TARDIS] that'll cure anything", though he is unable to completely heal his eyes.

TARDIS

The Doctor once told Nardole that the TARDIS can't go anywhere without the fluid link K57. However, he reveals this to be untrue after Nardole steals the fluid link in an attempt to prevent the TARDIS from taking off.
The air shell emanating from the TARDIS can provide oxygen to enough of the space station for the TARDIS crew to stroll around.

Travelling

The Doctor compares going to outer space to camping, and refers to tents and campsites.
Bill asks if there are reviews for space locations, like there are online for restaurants.

Units of measurement

Distance is measured in average breaths, rather than in metres.

Locations

The Doctor sent Nardole to Birmingham for a packet of crisps.
Chasm Forge is a mining station in outer space. It has a crew of 40.
The TARDIS crew gets trapped in the repair station.
The surviving workers ask the Doctor to drop them off at head office.

Business and economics

The smartsuits are made by Ganymede Systems.
Ganymede provides oxygen for personal use only, charging credits for air, and making breathing into a capitalist endeavour. Unauthorised oxygen is automatically expelled, to protect market value.
The Doctor sees the endpoint of capitalism as "a bottom line where human life has no value at all".
According to the psychic paper, TARDIS crew is from the Union.

Currency

The Chasm Forge crew has to pay oxygen credits to stay alive.

Resources

Chasm Forge is a station for mining copper ore.
The managers of Chasm Forge are seeking a bottom line for oxygen usage, and are seemingly prepared to kill off and replace workers if they're using too much of it.

Foods and beverages

The Doctor says that it takes five minutes to "boil the hell out of an egg."
Bill mentions lasagna when giving examples of what a restaurant review is.
The Doctor sent Nardole out for crisps.
The Doctor tells Dahh-Ren he sent him out for a latté.
The Doctor says the phrase "the universe is your crustacean".

People

Nardole recognises Bill's smartsuit's interface voice as his ex Velma, and remembers her as a "nice girl, [was an] actress. Bit orange, left me for an AI at a call centre."
As a result of saving Bill from dying through exposure to the vacuum, the Doctor has now become blind. An attempt to return his vision was made, but only the colour in his eyes returned.

Time Lords

Time Lords can survive in the vacuum of space longer than humans can.

Literature

The Doctor says, "Death, where is thy sting?", quoting the First Epistle to the Corinthians in the New Testament.
Bill reads a book called Leonardo, on Leonardo da Vinci. This book has the image of the Mona Lisa on its back cover.

Culture

The Doctor uses the phrase "fun fact!" in his lecture.
The Doctor mentions, amongst other things the smartsuits can do, updating Facebook.
Dahh-Ren cannot understand why Bill would experience racism herself. He suspects her to be racist because of her reaction to his blue skin. Nardole says that "some of [his] best friends are bluish".
The Doctor insinuates that the purpose of jokes, in general, is to distract people from whatever's about to kill them.
The Doctor jokes that "too many rescue ships" is a "first-world problem".
The Doctor quips that he thought he was just tweeting, rather than locking the crew out of the subroutine.
Bill wonders whether the deceased man in the working suit has "his tunes on", when he doesn't respond.

Story notes

This episode's Aftershow on Doctor Who: The Fan Show.

An early teaser with clips from this episode. The Doctor's eyes are not shown to be cloudy in his Oxygen scenes.

Two scenes of the blind Doctor were featured in an early teaser shown at the end of The Return of Doctor Mysterio, except his eyes weren't cloudy in order to not to spoil this plot point.
On The Fan Show, Jamie Mathieson worried that this episode would turn out "too political", due to its blatant anti-capitalist themes.

Cast

Three out of the five guest actors in this episode had previously voiced roles in Big Finish Doctor Who or Bernice Summerfield. Namely, Kieran Bew was in The Lady of Mercia and The Helm of Awe, Peter Caulfield was in Cold Fusion, and Mimi Ndiweni was in Big Dig.
On The Fan Show, Jamie Mathieson said that an ongoing joke on set was calling Peter Caulfield "Blue Peter".

Allusions

Two references to Star Trek are made:
- The Doctor makes a speech about space being "the final frontier", quoting the monologue that opens each episode of Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: The Next Generation.
- Nardole mentions the "Swish Swish" sound the doors always make. The Doctor says he hates that noise.
While standing with Dahh-Ren, Nardole states that some of his best friends are "bluish". This joke, of calling a blue person "bluish" as if it is their race, was first seen in the 1969 Beatles animated film The Yellow Submarine, where it was used by a Blue Meanie in an attempt to identify if the Beatles were a member of their ranks. The original use was meant as a satire of the then-common phrase "you don't look Jewish", but it was not intended to be derogatory.

Ratings

3.57 million (UK overnight)
5.27 million (UK final)^[2]

Filming locations

St Luke's lecture hall scenes were shot in the Reardon Smith Theatre.
The Doctor's office was shot on location at Cardiff University.

Production errors

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.

to be added

Continuity

The Fifth Doctor makes his way through the vacuum of space. (TV: Four to Doomsday)

Time Lords can survive in a vacuum for limited periods of time far longer than humans can. (TV: Four to Doomsday, The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe) The Tenth Doctor once said he had "a knack" for it. (COMIC: Interstellar Overdrive)
Nardole once more stresses the Doctor's oath to stay on Earth to guard the Vault. (TV: The Pilot, Smile, Thin Ice, Knock Knock)
The Doctor and his companions are almost sucked into the vacuum of space. (TV: The Daleks' Master Plan, The Impossible Planet, Voyage of the Damned)
The Doctor refuses to believe he can't save his companion. (TV: Voyage of the Damned, The Snowmen, Hell Bent)
A picture of Bill's mum appears in Bill's flashback. (TV: The Pilot, Knock Knock)
The sonic screwdriver is broken. (TV: The Visitation, Smith and Jones, The Eleventh Hour, A Christmas Carol)
The TARDIS extends its airshell so those around the outside of it can breathe. (TV: The Runaway Bride, The Beast Below; GAME: TARDIS)
The Doctor says that fear is good, as it keeps one fast. (TV: The Time of Angels) He previously described it as a superpower (TV: Listen) and as a generator of savagery. (TV: Amy's Choice)
Nardole removes the Doctor's fluid link in an attempt to keep him grounded on Earth. (TV: The Daleks)
The Doctor says that there's always the last option to be "dying well". He previously didn't think this was possible. (TV: For Tonight We Might Die)
The Doctor acknowledges a history between Fate and him. (PROSE: Christmas on a Rational Planet)

Home video releases

DVD & Blu-ray releases

This episode was included in the Series 10, Part One DVD and Blu-ray boxsets in region 1/A on 6 June 2017, in region 2/B on 29 May 2017 and in region 4/B on 31 May 2017.
This episode was also released as part of the Complete Tenth Series DVD and Blu-ray boxsets in region 1/A on 7 November 2017, in region 2/B on 13 November 2017 and in region 4/B on 29 November 2017.

Digital releases

In the United Kingdom, this story is available on BBC iPlayer.

External links

Official Oxygen page on the Doctor Who website

Footnotes

↑ BBC Doctor Who website (13 May 2017). Oxygen: The Fact File. BBC Doctor Who. Retrieved on 14 May 2017.
↑ Ratings DW

[1] BBC Doctor Who website (13 May 2017). Oxygen: The Fact File. BBC Doctor Who. Retrieved on 14 May 2017.

[2] Ratings DW

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