Bad Wolf (TV story)

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Bad Wolf was the twelfth adventure of Series 1 of Doctor Who. It is the first of a two-part story. The episode marks the reappearance of the Daleks.

Synopsis

The Doctor, Rose and Captain Jack, have to fight for their lives on board the Game Station, but a far more dangerous threat is lurking, just out of sight. The Doctor realises that the entire human race has been blinded to the threat on its doorstep, and Armageddon is fast approaching.

Plot

The Doctor wakes up, curled into a fetal position on the floor of a cupboard. He stumbles out in a daze, and is informed by a young woman, Lynda Moss, that his disorientation is due to the effects of the transmat. Lynda states that he has been chosen as the newest housemate. The Doctor looks around, noticing the cameras, and then a computerised voice requests that he report to the Diary Room. To his disbelief, he is in the Big Brother House, live on Channel 44,000. The voice reminds him not to swear.

Rose awakens on the floor of a darkened studio, also disorientated by the transmat that brought her there. A man, Rodrick, tells her to remember to do exactly what the android says. Rose asks what android, but a floor manager calls for people to take their positions behind very familiar looking podiums, one of which has her name on it. As the round-headed android is activated, Rose realises that it is the "Anne Droid"; she is playing The Weakest Link.

Jack wakes up and finds himself faced with two gynoids, Trine-e and Zu-Zana, who offer to give him a brand new image, à la What Not to Wear. The two gynoids criticise Jack's clothing and comment that his style is very 20th century. A "defabricator" strips him naked in preparation for a fashion makeover, but Jack seems to rather enjoy the idea of being nude in front of millions of viewers and comments that the viewing figures just went up as a result of him being naked on the show.

Meanwhile, the Doctor tries, unsuccessfully, to find a way out of the House using the sonic screwdriver. Lynda asks, nervously, if people on the outside watching like her and the Doctor lies, reassuring her that people think she is sweet, which seems to please her. The amnesia caused by the transmat starts to clear, and the Doctor remembers. The TARDIS had left Raxacoricofallapatorius and then visited Kyoto, Japan in 1336. They had just escaped from that, and were laughing in the console room when a bright light (the transmat beam) came through the walls and enveloped them. The Doctor tells Lynda that no ordinary transmat beam could have penetrated the TARDIS, which means this is not just a game; there is something else going on. He tells the camera that he is going to get out, find his friends, then find whoever is responsible.

Two programmers, a man and a woman, who are watching the games from a control room elsewhere, are puzzled at the appearance of the three new contestants, as if the games were running themselves.

When eviction time comes around in Big Brother, housemate Crosbie is voted out, and she exits the House into a white corridor. At first, the Doctor is puzzled at everyone's emotional reaction, but is horrified when he sees Crosbie disintegrated. The Doctor asks the others if getting on television is worth the risk of dying, but Lynda and Strood tell him they have no choice. The contestants in this era are chosen at random from the Earth's population and transmatted up to any of 60 Big Brother Houses playing simultaneously: winning simply means they get to live. The Doctor realises that Rose was also caught in the transmat and is probably a contestant. To get out he uses his sonic screwdriver to deliberately destroy the House camera, and sure enough the programmed response selects him for eviction.

In the makeover room, a naked Jack is quite enjoying his experience of having a makeover, but is now faced with the two androids who decide that, quite apart from the fashion makeover, that he should have a face-off — literally. With various cutting instruments, including a chainsaw, the two androids are about to perform some gruesome surgery, where they suggest that Jack would look good with a dog's head. But to the astonishment of Trine-e and Zu-Zana, Jack pulls out a Compact Laser Deluxe pistol from an intimate hiding place behind him and promptly blows their heads off.

Soon the first round of The Weakest Link has been and gone and Rose, not being a native of the 2001st century, knows none of the answers to the questions pertaining to that time. She is more amused than upset at the situation, until she discovers that being declared the weakest link at the end of each round does not just result in expulsion, but disintegration by the Anne Droid. The contestants continue to be whittled down (one contestant quits and attempts to flee but is disintegrated), with Rodrick voting out everyone except Rose so that when it comes to the final round, he will win by answering questions that Rose cannot answer, because of her lack of knowledge of the era. He will then collect his prize, in the form of credits, courtesy of the Badwolf Corporation who run the Game Station. At the mention of the name, Rose recalls how the phrase "Bad Wolf" has been following them — from Gwyneth seeing it in her mind in 1869 Cardiff; the callsign of Henry van Statten's helicopter; the Blaidd Drwg nuclear power plant; as graffiti on the side of the TARDIS in 2006; and a news channel on Satellite 5 in the 2001st century. She realises that if the Bad Wolf is in charge, then her presence has been planned.

In the House, the Doctor cheerfully walks into the white corridor and waits as the countdown towards eviction ticks towards zero. However, nothing happens — the Doctor has guessed, correctly, that whoever brought him wants him alive. He uses the sonic screwdriver to open the exit to the House, and offers to take the surviving housemates with him. Strood refuses, but Lynda, after some hesitation, follows. The House is just one room of several opening on to a larger chamber, which the Doctor recognises as that of Satellite 5, but a century later than when he was last there. The Doctor begins scanning the other doors, looking for an exit and asking where his friends could be. Lynda says they could have been transported into any of a hundred different games, all deadly. When the Doctor tells Lynda that he is a traveller, she asks if she could go with him. He smiles and agrees it would not be a bad idea, but right now, they have to concentrate on getting out and finding out who controls the satellite. When Lynda turns the lights on to reveal the logo of the Badwolf Corporation, the sight of it gives the Doctor pause.

In the control room, the two programmers decide to look at the transmat logs to see how the travellers got on board. However, the female programmer is refused entry to Archive 6, where the logs are kept. The Controller, a pale woman hooked up by dozens of cables to the station, tells her it is out of bounds. The Controller is constantly monitoring the transmissions that flow through her and muttering almost agitatedly to herself. The male programmer tells her about the new contestants wandering around outside the games and asks for security measures, but she denies them, insisting that the travellers are "no one" and telling them to return to work and alerting them to an impending solar flare.

Jack has converted the defabricator beam into a ray gun, and he goes in search of the Doctor, finding him by scanning for the Time Lord's bicardial circulatory system. On an observation deck, Lynda fills the Doctor in on what has happened to Earth since his last visit. To the Doctor's horror, instead of human development having got back on track, things have in fact become worse. When the Doctor shut down Satellite 5, all information broadcasts ceased, the whole planet froze, and society collapsed. Humans are still a race of mindless sheep, endlessly watching the programming that the Game Station transmits. Jack finds them as the Doctor frantically tries to access the computer system to find Rose. The Doctor explains that the station is transmitting more than just games, and that whatever the Bad Wolf is, it is manipulating him, creating a trap that Rose is still inside.

On Floor 407, the final round in The Weakest Link does not go well for Rose. She loses the round to Rodrick just as the Doctor, Jack and Lynda burst into the studio. When Rose runs towards the Doctor to warn him about the Anne Droid, it shoots Rose, turning her into a pile of dust. Numb with shock, the Doctor does not put up resistance when the guards arrive and take all of them away. The Doctor remains silent when the guards process and interrogate the three of them, but when they are about to be transported to a lunar penal colony, the Doctor gives the word. He and Jack spring into action, knocking out the guards, grabbing weapons and heading up to Floor 500.

In the control room, Jack and the Doctor wave the weapons at the programmers, ushering them to one side. The Doctor demands to know from the Controller who is in charge and was responsible for killing Rose, but the Controller does not answer. The male programmer is nervous because of the large gun the Doctor is carrying, but the Doctor casually tosses him the weapon, saying he was never really going to use it. The male programmer explains that as the Doctor is not one of the staff, the Controller's systems do not recognise him. The Controller was installed when she was five years old; she has been plugged in so long that her eyes have atrophied from disuse — all she sees is the programming. The male programmer also says that there is more going on at the station, with unauthorised transmats and encrypted signals that have been going on for years. Jack opens Archive 6, and finds the TARDIS inside. He goes into it and activates the console, discovering something that shocks him.

The predicted solar flare happens, and static floods the screens, blocking transmissions. The Controller unexpectedly calls for the Doctor, explaining that while the solar flare is happening, her "masters" cannot read her thoughts. They have been controlling her mind all her life, but she saw the Doctor in the transmissions and brought him here, hiding him inside the games so he could find her. However, she cannot tell the Doctor who her masters are, because she has been genetically altered to be unable to say their name. Her masters have been hiding and shaping the Earth for centuries, growing stronger in numbers, but they fear the Doctor. As the flare passes, Jack returns and tells the Doctor that the TARDIS worked out that the disintegrators were actually part of a secondary transmat system — people have not died, they have just been transported elsewhere, which means Rose is still alive.

Rose regains consciousness aboard an alien spacecraft, where a strange humming sound fills the background. She sees one of the inhabitants of the spacecraft approaching her, and she backs up against a wall in shock as she recognises it, and cannot believe her eyes — she claims to have seen the creature, who presses it's plunger like hand to the wall, die. Back on the station, the Controller gives the Doctor the co-ordinates to where Rose had been transported, despite knowing that she will be revealing her subterfuge to her masters. As she shouts out the co-ordinates, the Controller is teleported away. Materialising on the same ship that Rose has been transported to, the Controller gloatingly tells her masters that they can kill her now, as she has brought about their destruction. She is promptly killed by an energy weapon.

On the station, the transmat beam is traced to a point at the edge of the solar system. Although the screen appears to show empty space, there is another signal, transmitted by the satellite, that is shielding what is actually there from detection. These are the same people who installed the Jagrafess nearly two centuries before and have been manipulating mankind for generations, playing a long game. The Doctor cancels the shielding signal and is greeted with an impossible sight — a fleet of 200 Dalek flying saucers each containing more than 2,000 Daleks, a force almost half a million strong. Both the Doctor and Jack thought the Daleks had all been destroyed, but obviously they somehow survived.

The Dalek fleet

The Daleks open communications, with a lead Dalek ordering the Doctor not to intervene with the Dalek stratagem or they will exterminate Rose. To the Daleks' surprise, the Doctor simply says no. When the lead Dalek demands an explanation, the Doctor defiantly tells them that he is going to rescue Rose from the middle of the Dalek fleet, save the Earth and then wipe every last Dalek out of the sky. The lead Dalek retorts that the Doctor has no weapons, defences or plan. The Doctor agrees and knows that is exactly what is scaring the Daleks to death.

The Doctor tells Rose he is on his way, and cuts the transmission. The lead Dalek states the Doctor has initiated hostile actions, and the Dalek on the left orders the invasion of Earth to begin. Millions of Daleks gather for the invasion, all chanting their battle cry: "Exterminate, Exterminate, Exterminate..."

Cast

Crew

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

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.


References

Technology

Culture

Locations

Story notes

  • The scene where Jack is disrobed was originally filmed full-length, with rear nudity. According to Barrowman, this shot was vetoed by the BBC; their only complaint of the first season.
  • This is the first episode since The Five Doctors to feature Daleks and not have the word "Dalek" in the episode's title.
  • In an interesting coincidence, this is the second Dalek story to feature a human servant of the Daleks called "controller" betraying the Daleks and commiting self-sacrifice to help the Doctor, the first being Day of the Daleks.

Ratings

  • 6.8 million viewers

Myths

  • Lynda suggesting to the Ninth Doctor she come with him on his travels was to tease fans to make them think in the following story "The Parting of the Ways" Rose was going to leave and Lynda was going to be the new companion. This might have been the original intent, but by the time the episode aired, it was already well known that Eccleston had resigned from the series and that David Tennant would be joining ... that said, however, it was not completely clear at the time whether the regeneration was going to take place at the end of the series, or during the announced Christmas special.

Filming locations

to be added

Production errors

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

Continuity

  • Rose previously encountered a Dalek in DW: Dalek.
  • Rose mentions dropping Margaret the egg off DW: Boom Town.
  • The Game Station last appeared as Satellite 5 in DW: The Long Game.
  • The controller is very similar to the Empress in NA: Original Sin and So Vile a Sin.
  • In the last scene where thousands of Daleks are shouting "EXTERMINATE" in flagship, a small control panel similar with the DARDIS from The Chase can be seen.
  • The beginnings of Torchwood are seen in DW: Tooth and Claw whilst the Torchwood Institute is seen in DW: Doomsday and TW: Everything Changes.
  • The controller is seen again in a flashback in DW: Journey's End.
  • Flashbacks of the words 'Bad Wolf' are seen, including Gwyneth in The Unquiet Dead, the 'Bad Wolf One' helicopter in Dalek, the 'Blaidd Drwg' project in Boom Town, the words spray-painted on the side of the TARDIS in Aliens of London and the Bad Wolf TV in The Long Game. Other references not seen in the flashbacks include the 'Bad Wolf scenario' mentioned in The End of the World, the phrase defacing a poster in Father's Day and the German bomb labled "Schlechter Wolf' (literal, if non-idiomatic German for 'bad wolf') in The Doctor Dances. References in the spin-off media include mentions of the phrase by Melissa Heart in The Clockwise Man, Dennel in The Monsters Inside, Georgi in The Deviant Strain and Tyko in The Stealers of Dreams, as well as a video game by the name of 'Bad Wolf' in Winner Takes All, and a poster on the pub wall in the DWM comic strip The Love Invasion features the phrase. The following episode, The Parting of the Ways (in which the phrase is found on a poster in a cafe and graffitied in giant letters near her council estate) reveals that Rose sent these words throughout time and space as a means to find and save the Doctor. In Doomsday, the Doctor and Rose say goodbye at 'Dårlig Ulv Stranden' (Norwegian for 'Bad Wolf Bay') in Norway. The phrase is once again used by Rose to bring the Doctor in Turn Left. It also appears in several other episodes throughout the series, including Gridlock (where the Japanese word Akurō, meaning 'Evil Wolf', is labelled on poster in a car), Love and Monsters (where the 'Bad Wolf' virus is said to have wiped out all contemporary computer files on Rose) and the Torchwood episode Captain Jack Harkness (where the phrase is graffitied in a Welsh dance hall). In Tooth and Claw the werewolf tells Rose that 'there is something of the wolf' about her, and in Silence in the Library a blond girl and a wolf are featured in one of Charlotte's drawings.
  • Lynda refers to the Bad Wolf corporation as "Your lords and masters". The phrase will be repeated by several times in the following seasons, including The Age of Steel, The Idiot's Lantern, and, most obviously, Last of the Time Lords.

Timeline

Home video releases

Series 1 Volume 4 DVD Cover

See also

External links

Template:Series 1

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Dalek television stories
For the purposes of this list, a "Dalek story" is one in which one living, authentic Dalek plays a part within the confines of the story, outside of flashbacks to previous stories and cliffhangers that lead into the following story. For this reason, stories such as The Space Museum are not counted due to the Daleks' appearance being defined by their importance to following stories, while stories such as The Wheel in Space and The Waters of Mars are absent due to the Daleks' only contribution being references to past Dalek stories. Stories like The Wedding of River Song, Hell Bent, Once, Upon Time and The Vanquishers are also not included due to the Daleks' appearance being restricted to a single scene of no consequence to the plot of the story, while the TV movie is also absent due to the Daleks only being heard from off-screen.
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