Death Is the Only Answer (TV story)
Death Is the Only Answer was an mini-episode broadcast as part of Doctor Who Confidential.
Plot
In the control room of his TARDIS, the Eleventh Doctor is celebrating his acquisition of a new fez formerly owned by his old friend Albert Einstein. The Doctor trips near the console, knocking the fez out of his hands and onto a lever on the console. The fez vanishes, a time portal appears, and Albert Einstein himself stumbles through it with the Fez on his head, bewildered.
Einstein had been working on his own attempt at a time machine, and thought he'd discovered the vital part of it - a mysterious liquid which Einstein believed to be bionic fusion liquid. The Doctor informs Einstein that he was wrong about the liquid. When he walks away from the console to run some tests on the liquid, the flask suddenly bubbles over and the liquid splashes onto Einstein's face, turning Einstein into an Ood.
The Doctor manages to use the TARDIS to generate an energy field which turns Albert back into his normal self. The Doctor drops Albert off on 18 September 1945, and leaves for another adventure; unnoticed by the Doctor, a bit of Einstein's liquid remains on the console room floor, bubbling and moving on its own.
Cast
References
- The Doctor mentions that Einstein's toothbrush was destroyed by the Daleks during a recent encounter.
Story notes
- This special was broadcast on BBC Three as part of the Doctor Who Confidential episode When Time Froze.
- Doctor Who Confidential and BBC Learning had teamed up in a competition for UK students aged 9-11 to write a script for a Doctor Who short. The winning script was chosen by Doctor Who producers Steven Moffat, Piers Wenger and Beth Willis and Controller of BBC Learning Saul Nassé. The writers of the winning script were Adam, Daniel, Katie, and Ben, Year Six students at Oakley C.E. Junior School in Basingstoke.
- For their on-screen credit, the only credit in the episode, the authors were collectively known as the Children of Oakley Junior School. This form of on-screen credit is unique in the history of the franchise.
- Aspects of this episode's production were covered in a regular "Script to Screen" feature, which appeared in every Confidential episode from River Runs Wild through its premiere within When Time Froze.
- A shortened version of the Doctor Who opening titles was used.
- After being cast as the Eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith famously wrote several (unpublished) Doctor Who short stories, in order to help him prepare for the role. According to several interviews, one of these stories featured the Doctor meeting Einstein.[1]
Ratings
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Myths
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Filming locations
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Production errors
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Continuity
- Albert Einstein gets temporarily turned into an Ood. Their last appearance was in DW: The Doctor's Wife.
- The Doctor states that "This old Trash will be around until the end of time. In fact, it was."
- This is the second time Einstein has been in the TARDIS, the first time was with The Seventh Doctor in DW: Time and the Rani explaining that the TARDIS was all relative. He once had his picture taken with the Eleventh Doctor and Father Christmas at Frank Sinatra's hunting lodge.
- The Doctor has obtained a new fez (apparently originally owned by Einstein) and he mentioned River Song blowing up the last one. (DW: The Big Bang)
- The Doctor later wears his fez while sharing adventures with Kazran Sardick and Abigail Pettigrew, and when appearing in a Laurel & Hardy film on his "fairwell tour". (DW: A Christmas Carol, The Impossible Astronaut)
- The Ood Einstein repeats the phrase "death is the only answer", foreshadowing that the Doctor's (apparent) death will be necessary, both to maintain the universe and to fool the Silence. (DW: The Wedding of River Song)
Timeline
The time-placement of this story is not certain, but the fact that the Doctor seems to be travelling alone implies that it takes place sometime after The God Complex. If taken in strict order of broadcast, this would take place following The Wedding of River Song. However, the fact that the Doctor has apparently just acquired his new fez suggests that this story takes place before Closing Time, because he wore the fez during one of his "farewell tour" adventures between The God Complex and Closing Time, as seen in The Impossible Astronaut. An alternate possibility is sometime during Amy and Rory's honeymoon, during which the Doctor is established to have travelled his own for an indeterminate length of time (SJA: Death of the Doctor takes place during this period), and subsequent to the honeymoon he is seen wearing a fez in DW: A Christmas Carol.
External links
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