The Impossible Astronaut (TV story)

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The Impossible Astronaut was the first episode of the sixth series of Doctor Who. It introduced the Silence as a species, building on the references of the previous series. This story is perhaps most notable as the first opening two-parter of the BBC Wales series.

Synopsis

Four envelopes, numbered 2, 3 and 4, each containing a date, time and map reference, unsigned, but TARDIS blue. Who sent them? And who received the missing envelope numbered 1? This strange summons reunites the Doctor, Amy, Rory and River Song in the middle of the Utah desert and unveils a terrible secret the Doctor's friends must never reveal to him. Placing his life entirely in their hands, the Doctor agrees to search for the recipient of the fourth envelope and figure out just who Canton Everett Delaware the Third is. Also what is the relevance of their only other clue: 'Space 1969'? Their quest lands them—quite literally—in the Oval Office, where they are enlisted by President Nixon to assist enigmatic former-FBI agent Canton in saving a terrified little girl from a mysterious spaceman. [1]

Plot

In the 16th century, a man bursts into a room, questioning the lady present as to the Doctor’s whereabouts. She asks “Doctor Who?” A sneeze is audible from beneath her skirt and the man lifts it with his sword to find the Doctor hiding naked underneath.

In 2011, Amy Pond and Rory Williams are in their kitchen. Amy reads an account of how the Doctor was imprisoned in the Tower of London without trial on the personal request of the king. Rory is not certain that it is the Doctor until Amy reads that he was seen flying from the tower two days later on a sphere. She reads of how the Doctor took part in a World War II breakout from a POW camp.

Amy ponders whether he is being deliberately ridiculous in order to gain their attention. Rory is distracted and so doesn’t see the Doctor waving at the camera in a scene from a Laurel & Hardy film. Amy answers the door and is handed her post. She finds a letter in a TARDIS blue envelope. It gives her a map reference, a time and a date. In Stormcage Containment Facility, River Song receives an identical letter. The prison goes on alert after a guard warns that she is packing.

Rory and Amy arrive in Utah where they are greeted by the Doctor. River Song arrives shortly after. In a café, the Doctor and River compare diaries. They have both “done” Easter Island and met Jim the Fish. The Doctor says they're going to space in 1969.

They move to sit by a body of water, where they have a picnic. Amy sees a mysterious figure but, as she turns away, she forgets. Behind them a man known to the Doctorpulls up in his car, and from the water an astronaut rises wearing an Apollo 11 style space suit.

The Doctor tells them not to interfere and moves to face the astronaut. Out of earshot of the others, he announces that he knows who is within. The astronaut shoots him, and fires again before regeneration can complete and save his life. The astronaut then retreats into the water, unfazed by River Song’s bullets hitting it.

File:Dining on the sand.jpg
The Doctor dines with his friends.

The man approaches and introduces himself as Canton Everett Delaware III, before hands the grieving trio a canister of gasoline. They orchestrate a Viking-style funeral by burning the Doctor’s body aboard a boat to prevent his body being studied. Canton shows them that he too has an envelope: number four. Rory and Amy have three and River has two. They return to the café and find letter number one on a table. They ask the owner who was seated there and he replies “some guy”. They turn and the Doctor emerges from a side door.

They come to realise that this is a younger version of the Doctor, by some two-hundred years. River tells him that they have been hired and it involves 1969 and Canton Delaware III.

They return to the TARDIS and River tells Rory and Amy that they cannot tell the Doctor of his coming death. She also mentions that neither the Doctor's death nor her own scares her, as there is a far worse day coming for her. They use the TARDIS to travel back to 1969, and land in the Oval Office after switching the TARDIS to a setting in which it is invisible and silent. The Doctor emerges alone and listens to Richard Nixon and a young Canton as they discuss the president being called by a mysterious source. The Doctor makes notes as a recording of one call is played. The recording mentions “Jefferson Adams Hamilton”.

Canton and Nixon become aware of his presence and security is called. They quickly overwhelm the Doctor and the TARDIS becomes visible. The Doctor proposes to sort out the mysterious calls and pretends to be an undercover agent sent from Scotland Yard, Amy, Rory and River being his top operatives. Canton prompts Nixon to agree, telling the Doctor he has five minutes to solve the mystery.

Again Amy sees the mysterious creature, more clearly now as it stands just a few feet from her. Rory blocks her vision and she again forgets what she has seen. She feels ill and asks to go the toilet. Canton allows her to do so. She enters to find one of the Silence. She remembers the events she forgot. A woman emerges from one of the cubicles and sees the Silence. She looks away and forgets, looks again and repeats the same words. Joy looks a third time and the Silence kills her with electricity. The Silence names Amy and names the woman as Joy; it also says Amy will “tell the Doctor what he must know, and what he must never know”. Amy then exits and immediately forgets. She returns to the Oval Office.

File:Doc in Oval Office.jpg
The Doctor dissects the problem.

The Doctor finds the only place the calls can be coming from. Another call from the mysterious caller is answered by Nixon. The Doctor and his companions leave with Canton in the TARDIS. The Doctor tells the others that Jefferson, Adams and Hamilton are three of America’s founding fathers and the only place with the three street names on one junction is an area five miles from Cape Kennedy Space Center.

Rory explains to a stunned Canton that the TARDIS is bigger on the inside. They search a building at the junction, unaware of the astronaut’s presence. Amy and River both discuss neutralising the astronaut to prevent him from killing the Doctor. However, River tells Amy that if the Doctor never died then they never would have come to 1969, and killing the astronaut would create a paradox.

River discovers a tube leading down through a drain. River goes down, to see if any hostile life forms are there, and sees a nest of Silents, but forgets them and says there's nothing there. She then searches the tunnels accompanied by Rory. As River opens a locked room, she explains to Rory that when she first met the Doctor he knew everything about her, and she most fears the day when their roles are switched, and she thinks that day will kill her. They then enter a large cavern. In the centre sits a structure akin to a TARDIS console. They set off an alarm and Rory checks if anything is coming. He sees many of the Silence but forgets as soon as he turns to warn River. River discovers that the tunnels run under the surface of the entire Earth and have been around for hundreds of years. Electricity crackles behind Rory and something approaches him.

Meanwhile Canton and Amy discuss the former agent's FBI career. He was kicked out for “attitude problems”; he wanted to marry. The group hear the little girl and Canton runs towards her. Amy keels over as she and the Doctor run after him. They find Canton unconscious and Amy tells the Doctor that she is pregnant. They turn to see the astronaut, who lifts its faceplate and reveals itself as the little girl. Unknowing of her identity, and in order to prevent the Doctor's death, Amy picks up Canton's gun and fires at the girl.

Cast

Crew

References

The Doctor

  • An older Eleventh Doctor who is 1,103 years old, begins to regenerate, but is killed before the process completes.
  • The Doctor states his current age as being 909 years old.
  • The Doctor says that he is late for a biplane lesson in 1911 but gets confused and wonders if it is actually knitting.

Films

  • Amy Pond and Rory Williams watch a Laurel & Hardy film on television.

Fashion and clothing

  • The Doctor is shown wearing a fez in a Laurel & Hardy film.

Years

  • The Doctor states that the year 1482 is full of glitches, but also says 1969 is 'easy'. This suggests that some years are harder to travel to than others.

TARDIS

  • The Doctor makes the TARDIS invisible when he materializes in the Oval Office. The Doctor walks into it afterwards when he tries to enter it again.

Story notes

  • This episode had the working title Year of the Moon[2]
  • This is the first two part opening episode of the revived series.
  • A prequel for this story was released on the official BBC website.[3]
  • The monsters in this episode were said to be "the scariest monsters yet".[4]
  • The episode was dedicated to Elisabeth Sladen, who had passed away four days before the episode's initial broadcast.

Ratings

  • Overnight figures for BBC was 6.4 million making this the least watched series opener since the 2005 relaunch.

Myths

  • We will see River Song as a child.[5] This was proven false
  • The second episode will air the day after the first.[6][7][8]This has been proven false

Filming locations

Production errors

  • While the Doctor appears in the Laurel & Hardy film, Rory's shifts through the pages of the history book which appear underneath the screen implying the film footage was overlaid on the actual shot.
  • When Amy is talking to the agent outside of the toilet, a boom mic can be seen over his shoulder.

Continuity

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.

Home video releases

The DVD will be released in two halves. Part One, which will contain episodes one to seven, will be released in Summer, shortly after the airing of episode seven.[9]

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ http://doctorwho.bbcamerica.com/seasons/6/episodes/1
  2. ↑ http://doctorwhotv.co.uk/series-6-titles-and-date-16375.htm
  3. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/dw/news/bulletin_110325_01/The_Prequel_Has_Landed
  4. ↑ http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/cult/s7/doctor-who/news/a289472/smith-teases-scary-who-monsters-for-us-eps.html
  5. ↑ http://tardisspoilers.blogspot.com/2010/10/will-we-see-river-as-child.html
  6. ↑ http://doctorwhotv.co.uk/new-series-6-trailer-air-date-rumours-15879.htm
  7. ↑ http://tardisspoilers.blogspot.com/2011/03/talk-of-air-dates.html
  8. ↑ http://tardisspoilers.blogspot.com/2011/03/double-who.html
  9. ↑ http://doctorwhotv.co.uk/series-6-dvd-releases-15635.htm

Template:Series 6

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