Good as Gold (TV story)

Good as Gold
Doctor:	Eleventh Doctor
Companion(s):	Amy
Main enemy:	Weeping Angel
Main setting:	The Doctor's TARDIS, 2012
Key crew
Writer:	The Children of Ashdene School
Director:	Saul Metzstein
Release details
Premiere broadcast:	24 May 2012
Premiere network:	CBBC
Format:	1x3 minute minisode

Good as Gold was a mini-episode of Doctor Who written by the winners of a Blue Peter script-to-screen competition.

Synopsis

Bored of not having any adventures lately, the Doctor and Amy get a bit more than they asked for when they set out on one. Landing in London 2012, there's only one piece of advice that can help them now: Whatever you do—don't blink!

Plot

The Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond are inside the TARDIS. Amy tells the Doctor that the guide book for travelling through the universe says they need to have at least one adventure per week. Complying, the Doctor activates the TARDIS's "Adventure Setting" and they are off. However, the TARDIS starts to malfunction and the Doctor gets blasted by steam. The Cloister Bell sounds and the TARDIS console fires out sparks. The Doctor says the TARDIS is going to crash and he and Amy hang on for dear life.

After the crash, an athlete runs through the door holding the Olympic Torch. He asks where he is, then realises he was running from something. They all look at the door and see a Weeping Angel.

The Doctor and Amy say, "don't blink", but then the TARDIS fires sparks out of the console again, distracting them. The Weeping Angel takes the Olympic Torch from the athlete. The Doctor says the Angel wants to destroy the Pride of the Olympics and ruin London 2012. He points his sonic screwdriver at the torch, using it as medium for cracking and blowing up the Angel.

The athlete jumps up and grabs the Torch so it doesn't hit the floor and go out. He thanks the Doctor for his assistance, giving him his own gold medal before heading out to the Olympic Beacon as the final runner in the Olympic Torch Relay. The Doctor heads to the console, where he announces that they are now going on an adventure.

The Weeping Angel appears in the doorway, still cracked and missing the arm that held the torch. It stares into the TARDIS...

Cast

• The Doctor - Matt Smith
• Amy Pond - Karen Gillan

Uncredited cast

• Athlete - Elliot Barnes-Worrell (DWM 449)

Crew

• Writer - The Children of Ashdene School
• Director - Saul Metzstein

Worldbuilding

• When the Doctor's hair stands on end from an explosion, Amy jokes that he looks like Einstein.

Story notes

• A shortened version of the Doctor Who opening titles was used.
• In announcing the competition, the BBC webcast showcased a specially shot scene in January 2012 featuring the Doctor in the Land of Fiction breaking the fourth wall and describing the competition. The winning story was chosen despite the fact that the Doctor requests in the rules that the story not be set at the 2012 London Olympics, owing to the fact that he's "already been there", and also mentions that he "has been running into [him]self" and that "it's really embarrassing".
• Although obviously these events did not occur during the real-life opening ceremony, the sound of the TARDIS materialising was heard at one point during the event, though the original plan to show images of each of the Doctors was cut for time.
• What appears to be an athletics stadium (where the opening ceremony traditionally takes place) is visible outside, though upon closer inspection, it does not resemble the actual Olympic Stadium in East London. However, the Athlete wears Team Great Britain's official London 2012 kit by Adidas.
• Traditionally, the final torchbearer in the relay (in this case, the Athlete) has the honour of lighting the Olympic Beacon/Cauldron, but in the real-life London 2012 opening ceremony that August, a number of British sporting legends each gave their torches to an aspiring British athlete to light the cauldron, which was made of many kettles with one from each nation represented at the Games. When the Olympic Torch arrived in Cardiff, Matt Smith himself had the honour to carry it and take it to its next destination.

Ratings

to be added

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.

to be added

Continuity

• The Cloister Bell is heard. (TV: Logopolis, et al.)
• The Athlete mentions lighting the Olympic Flame. The Tenth Doctor did this himself in TV: Fear Her.
• The Fifth Doctor previously attempted to take Nyssa and Tegan Jovanka to the 2012 Olympics but the TARDIS instead materialised in London in 1982. (AUDIO: The King of the Dead)

Home video release

Complete Seventh Series DVD Cover

• Good as Gold was included as a bonus feature on the UK edition of the Complete Doctor Who Series 7 DVD and Blu-ray box set, released 28 October 2013. It is not included in the North American version.

External links

to be added