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Original Transmission
Cast
The TARDIS lands in Cardiff to refuel from the Rift. Due to the Rift's recent activity, refuelling should only take 20 seconds. Unknown to the Doctor and Martha, Captain Jack Harkness is running towards the TARDIS. As they are about to set off The Doctor sees Jack on the screen but still sets the TARDIS to go. Jack leaps and grabs hold of the TARDIS; there is a small explosion inside and it starts going out of control. The Doctor is stunned to see that they are landing in the year 100 trillion. On the outside Jack is holding on for dear life to the outside of the TARDIS screaming for the Doctor.
Meanwhile, in a small Silo located near the TARDIS' landing point, one Professor Yana watches a Human being hunted down. An altruistic individual, he has devoted his life to helping the last of the humans survive and reach The Utopia Project, a legendary place believed to be a colony of humans. The Doctor and Martha lose control of the TARDIS as it takes them over trillions of years to the end of the universe. When they leave the TARDIS they find Captain Jack lying on the floor, supposedly dead. But when he shoots back to life, he meets Martha and finds out that Rose is safe. When they walk a little way, they find a human running from a pack of Futurekind - vicious humanoid creatures with sharp, fang-like teeth and who enjoy feeding on humans. After a chase, the Doctor, Jack, Martha and the man find a refugee camp where humans are kept safe from the claws of the Future Kind.
The crew are introduced to Professor Yana and his assistant, Chantho, who are working on a rocket that fly the refugee humans to Utopia. The only problem is that the rocket is not working. Upon finding the Doctor, Yana is overjoyed that he has finally found another scientist to help, and the Doctor obliges, fixing the problems preventing the rocket's take-off. However, a Future Kind has managed to stow away in the camp, and disrupts the process of fixing the rocket up for lift-off, just before being shot by guards. The room where the power cells are engaged is flooded with radiation and kills the worker inside, so the Doctor sends Jack to fix the problem, as he can't die. While the two are talking, the Doctor reveals how Rose brought Jack back to life, and how the Doctor left him behind because he was a "fact" and was fixed in time by being brought back to life forever. The Doctor thought that this was wrong, and so abandoned him. Martha, meanwhile, notices that Professor Yana carries a fob watch in the exact same design as the one the Doctor used to hide from the Family of Blood by disguising himself as human, although the Professor is convinced that the watch is jammed and does not know what it does, only that he was found with it as a child. Upon realising this, Martha runs back to the Doctor to inform him of this, and he responds with disbelief and denial, as it would imply the existence of another Time Lord... the only one who he knows was capable of surviving the Time War, save for him.
As they manage to get the rocket working, the confounded Professor manages to open the watch after prompting from an increased sound of drums and a malicious voice that seems to be goading him on inside it, and an ominous presence fills him. The Doctor makes a connection between the name of "Yana" and an acronym of the words the Face of Boe spoke, "You Are Not Alone". Yana then starts hijacking the systems and opens the gates of the camp so that the "future kind" can storm the area. Chantho holds a gun to him, but he manages to fatally shock her with a loose electrical cable. Before doing this, he reveals that he almost forgot who he was in becoming human, and is, in fact, the Master. With her dying breath, Chantho shoots the Master as he enters the TARDIS and locks it as the Doctor rushes back to the area. Inside the TARDIS, the Master regenerates, revealing his new form, who turns out to be the man using the name "Mr Saxon" in the 21st century where Martha lives. The Master then announces via an intercom that he is leaving, and Martha recognises his voice, while the dumbfounded Doctor realises his worst fears, that if any Time Lord is to survive other than him, it is the Master. The Master departs for the 21st century in the Doctor's TARDIS, while the "future kind" are beating on the doors of the room. On this cliff-hanger, the episode ends.
Analysis by Cuisle Well, that’s a few problems solved that have been a source of speculation all year. Jack and The Doctor are not enemies. They DO still like each other, though they have a couple of issues to sort out. And yes, finally, THE MASTER. All year in the papers, on the blogs, the forums, Derek Jacobi is THE MASTER. No, John Simm is THE MASTER. BOTH of them are THE MASTER! Ok, now that’s out of the way, lets get down to the story.
And after that brief interlude in Cardiff, the story proper begins with a seriously scary bit that definitely isn’t for the kids. So let them hide behind the sofa or under the sofa or who cares and let the grown ups have their show back. The insistent drum beat and the feral humanoids with their animal teeth were SCARY. The more so when it is revealed that they are what humans will evolve into! Then to the silo, where the remnants of humanity are hoping to go to Utopia in a big space ship. And the cynical voice in the back of the head wonders about that. Is thre REALLY such a place? Even in Doctor Who there ae few perfect worlds. The Doctor has seen enough of them that turned out to be duff. Way back in the First Doctor era, The Savages featured a world that was Utopia – for some. In the Third Doctor era, there was Operation Golden Age promising to take the chosen few to a new world, but that turned out to be a big con. The Doctor doesn’t believe in Utopia. But all the same he was prepared to assist The Professor to help them on their way, just in case this is it.
EXCEPT, The Professor WASN’T The Professor. He, like The Doctor, had used the gismo that plants his real self inside a watch and makes him into a human. Which explains EVERYTHING; why The Face of Boe said “You Are Not Alone”; why The Doctor couldn’t sense any other Time Lord. What it didn’t explain was how The Master can come back when we last saw him eaten by the TARDIS. It doesn’t explain why The Doctor said ‘Sorry’ to The Master. But The Master is finally back and up to mischief. AS USUAL.
The most amazing character, apart from The Doctor, Jack, and The Master, has to be Chantho. I got fed up of her weird way of speaking about five minutes before The Master did, but even so she was a GREAT character. She reminded me for some odd reason of Kes, the alien character in Star Trek Voyager. Not so much in the appearance as her mannerisms, her loyalty to The Professor, her sweetness.
And the most amazing SCENE in the episode was the one in which Jack was inside the radiation chamber and The Doctor on the outside and they talked over their issues and came to a very definite understanding between each other. It was an absolutely fantastic scene. It wasn’t high action but it WAS high drama.
I thought this was a two parter. It looked like one. In fact it wasn’t. The fate of the Humans going to Utopia seems to be a red herring. We don’t need to worry about them any more. The story continues next week in a whole new setting, back on earth. How The Doctor gets there, I have a couple of theories. It will be interesting to see if I’m right.
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