Coming Soon

Original Transmission

The Stolen Earth
Date 28th Jun 2008
Time 7.10pm
Duration 45'40"
Viewers 7.4m
Audience App. 91%

Journey's End
Date 5th Jul 2008
Time 6.40pm
Duration 63'03"
Viewers 9.4m
Audience App. 91%

Cast
The Doctor David Tennant
Donna Noble Catherine Tate
Martha Jones Freema Agyeman
Captain Jack Harkness John Barrowman
Sarah Jane Smith Elisabeth Sladen
Rose Tyler Billie Piper
Harriet Jones Penelope Wilton
Francine Jones Adjoa Andoh
Gwen Cooper Eve Myles
Ianto Jones Gareth David-Lloyd
Luke Smith Thomas Knight
Wilfred Mott Bernard Cribbins
Sylvia Noble Jacqueline King
Davros Julian Bleach
General Sanchez Michael Brandon
Suzanne Andrea Harris
Trinity Wells Lachele Carl
As himself Richard Dawkins
As himself Paul O'Grady
Drunk Man Marcus Cunningham
Newsreader Jason Mohammad
Judoon Paul Kasey
Shadow Architect Kelly Hunter
Albino Servant Amy Beth Hayes
Scared Man Gary Milner
Dalek Operators Barney Edwards Nick Pegg David Hankinson Anthony Spargo
Dalek Voice Nicholas Briggs
Voice of Mr Smith Alexander Armstrong
Mickey Smith Noel Clarke
Jackie Tyler Camille Coduri
German Woman Valda Aviks
Scared Woman Shobu Kapoor
Chinese Woman Elizabeth Tan
Liberian Man Michael Price
Voice of K-9 John Leeson

Crew
Written by Russell T Davies
Directed by Graeme Harper
Produced by Phil Collinson
Daleks created by Terry Nation
K-9 created by Bob Baker & Dave Martin
1st Assistant Director Simon Morris
2nd Assistant Director Jennie Fava
3rd Assistant Director Sarah Davies
Location Manager Gareth Skelding
Production Co-ordinator Jess van Niekerk
Asst Production Co-ordinator Debi Griffiths
Continuity Non Eleri Hughes
Script Editor Lindsey Alford
Camera Operators Roger Pearce
Rory Taylor Focus Puller
Steve Rees Grip
John Robinson Boom Operator
Jeff Welch Gaffer
Mark Hutchings Best Boy
Peter Chester Stunt Co-ordinator
Abbi Collins Choreographer
Ailsa Berk Chief Supervising Art Director
Stephen Nicholas Art Dept Production Manager
Jonathan Allison Supervising Art Director
Arwel Wyn Jones Associate Designer
James North Art Dept Co-ordinator
Amy Pope Set Decorator
Julian Luxton Props Buyer

Adrian Anscombe Standby Art Director
Nick Murray Design Assistants Peter McKinstry Al Roberts
Graphic Artist Christina Tom
Storyboard Artist Shaun Williams
Standby Props Phill Shellard
Jackson Pope Standby Carpenter
Will Pope Standby Painter
Julia Challis Standby Rigger
Keith Freeman Property Masters
Paul Aitken Phil Lyons
Senior Props Maker Penny Howarth
Construction Manager Matthew Hywel-Davies
Graphics BBC Wales Graphics
Costume Supervisor Lindsay Bonaccorsi
Assistant Costume Designer Rose Goodhart
Costume Assistants Barbara Harrington Louise Martin
Make-up Artists Pam Mullins Steve Smith John Munro
Casting Associate Andy Brierley
VFX Editor Ceres Doyle
Post Production Supervisors Samantha Hall Chris Blatchford
Post Prod Co-ordinator Marie Brown
SFX Co-ordinator Ben Ashmore
SFX Supervisor Danny Hargreaves
Prosthetics Designer Neill Gorton
Prosthetics Supervisor Rob Mayor
On Line Editors Mark Bright Matthew Clarke
Colourist Mick Vincent
3D Artists Jean-Claude Deguara Nicolas Hernandez Serena Cacciato Nick Webber Andy Guest Matt McKinney Jean-Yves Audouard Jeff North Dave Levy Will Pryor
2D Artists Sara Bennett Bryan Bartlett Greg Spencer Arianna Lago Russell Horth Adrian Cirulli

Matte Painters Simon Wicker David Early
VFX Co-ordinators Rebecca Johnson Jenna Powell
On Set VFX Supervisor Tim Barter
Dubbing Mixer Tim Ricketts
Supervising Sound Editor Paul McFadden
Sound Editor Doug Sinclair
Sound FX Editor Paul Jefferies
Original Theme Music Ron Grainer
Casting Director Andy Pryor CDG
Production Executive Julie Scott
Production Accountant Oliver Ager
Sound Recordist Julian Howarth
Costume Designer Louise Page
Make-Up Designer Barbara Southcott
Music Murray Gold
Visual Effects The Mill
Visual FX Producers Will Cohen Marie Jones
Visual FX Supervisor Dave Houghton
Special Effects Any Effects
Prosthetics Millennium FX
Editor Will Oswald
Production Designer Edward Thomas
Director of Photography Ernie Vincze BSC
Production Manager Peter Bennett
Executive Producers Russell T Davies Julie Gardner

Plot outline from Wikipedia

Having seen the signs, the Doctor and Donna returned to Earth to find everything in order. Donna pressed the Doctor for an explanation of Rose's unexpected reappearance; the Doctor says that, if Rose can cross from her parallel world to Donna's parallel world, then the walls of reality are breaking down. But, with Earth apparently safe for now, they return to the TARDIS and prepare to stop the walls breaking. The TARDIS rumbles with an apparent earthquake. The Doctor and Donna rush to the doors and fling them open--to find that they are hanging in space. The Doctor checks the readings and realizes they have not moved, but the Earth has gone missing. It has been stolen.

At UNIT's New York base, Dr Martha Jones, regains consciousness after an earthquake to find UNIT in chaos and its personnel panicking. One hysterical colleague screams at Martha to look at at the sky. In Torchwood Three, Captain Jack Harkness blames the Rift for the brief but violent earthquake that has just devastated the Hub. After making sure that the other members of Torchwood Three -Gwen Cooper and Ianto Jones - are all right, Jack heads outside to survey the damage. Ianto and Gwen look at the computers and Ianto realizes that, whatever the problem is, "it's a bit bigger than South Wales".

At 13 Bannerman Road, Ealing, London, Sarah Jane Smith and her son Luke comment on the earthquake - and wonder why, if it was only 8 a.m., when the quake struck, it is now dark outside. They approach the nearest window and look outside. In Chiswick, London, Donna's mother Sylvia and grandfather Wilfred aren't sure what has caused the earthquake. As they step outside their home, Sylvia looks at the sky. On the street in London where the TARDIS was parked, Rose Tyler materializes. She is carrying a large gun. She looks up and, alone of the Doctor's friends, does not seem surprised. She declares that "it's only just beginning..."

The familiar Earth sky is gone. The sun is gone. The constellations have been replaced with strange new ones. And twenty-six new planets have appeared in the sky.

Aboard the TARDIS, Donna demands to know if her family are dead. The Doctor does not know, and decides they have to get help. They set a course for the Shadow Proclamation.

At Sarah Jane's house, alien supercomputer Mr Smith picks up readings of a fleet of 200 spaceships apparently headed towards Earth. At UNIT, American UNIT leader General Sanchez enters tells all soldiers and staff that UNIT commander Geneva has declared a Code Red Emergency. Martha tells him that she has tried to phone the Doctor, but the signal is dead. The number calls anywhere in the Universe, but the signal is being blocked by some unknown force. Sanchez notes that they will likely find out soon because the fleet is coming into orbit.

Martha manages to call Jack, who says that he has not heard anything from the Doctor either. Gwen calls her husband, Rhys, and tells him to stay indoors and call her mother. Meanwhile, Rose is walking along the streets of London. She threatens a pair of looters with her gun and looks at the computer screen in the bank they were robbing. She then looks at the readings.

At Torchwood Three, the team see the spaceships. Mr Smith tells Sarah Jane that the ships have a message for the human race. He puts it through. It consists of a single repeated word: 'EXTERMINATE!' The message is heard on all frequencies, including in UNIT and the speakers at Torchwood Three. The enemy are the Daleks. Upon hearing the message, both Jack and Sarah become very emotional and Jack says "I'm sorry. We're dead."

Rose hears the message and heads outside to see a massive Dalek spaceship flying over London, destroying everything in its path. Martha looks outside to see Dalek spaceships flying everywhere, destroying New York. Aboard a massive spaceship at the heart of the cluster of planets, the Daleks finalize their plans. The Supreme Dalek, a red Dalek with extra paneling, declares that the Crucible will soon be complete, and that the Daleks are the masters of Earth.

Far back across the Universe, on board the TARDIS and unaware of the unfolding destruction on Earth, the Doctor and Donna arrive at the Shadow Proclamation and are greeted at gunpoint by its rhino-headed guards, the Judoon. The Doctor manages to convince them they mean no harm and need help. A female member of the Proclamation tells the Doctor that the situation is worse than he suspects--not one but 24 planets have been stolen. Donna asks about Pyrovillia, but the Judoon captain tells her that Pyrovillia is a cold case, and it disappeared over 2000 years ago. Donna asks about the Adipose Breeding Planet and the Doctor realizes that planets are being snatched out of time as well as space. The Doctor heads over to the computer and shifts the display of the missing planets into 3D. He adds Adipose 3, Pyrovillia, and the Lost Moon of Poosh. The model rearranges itself into a perfect balance. They fit together 'like pieces of an engine'.

Back on Earth, the Daleks attack and bring down the Valiant. Jack, Gwen and Ianto try to find a way to stop them. But their efforts are futile. Daleks land in Japan and Africa as well as other countries across the world. On board the station, the Supreme Dalek orders the Daleks to prepare landings and bring the humans to the Crucible. Then he recieves a call from the control room, asking about news. The Supreme Dalek declares Earth has been subjugated. The speaker is a sinister figure in the control, with the bottom half of a Dalek but his top half hidden in shadow. He is really asking for news of the Doctor, and the Supreme Dalek replies that there are no reports of the Doctor, and that they are beyond his reach. The figure is fascinated by the Dalek's tone of what seems to be triumph, and warns him about his pride. The Supreme Dalek believes the Doctor cannot stop them. The figure replies "And yet, Dalek Caan is anxious." A light switches on to show a Dalek with its mid-section opened to reveal the creature inside, and its top half destroyed, evidently Caan. The Supreme Dalek protests "The abomination is insane!" The figure demands that the Dalek shows respect, as without Dalek Caan Earth could never be conquered. Also, everything Caan says comes true. Caan says "He is coming, the three-fold man, he dances in the universe...oh, creator of us all...THE DOCTOR IS COMING!" Then he makes a noise that sounds like laughter.

Back at the Shadow Proclamation's space station, Donna is sitting on the stairs waiting for the Doctor to work out what has happened. A Shadow Architect comes over and gives Donna some water. She then tells her that there was something on her back. The Doctor asks Donna if anything strange was happening on Earth. Donna reminds him about the bees disappearing. The Doctor realizes that this is a clue. Donna tells him some people thought it was pollution, or global warming. The Doctor tells her that in fact the bees were returning home, to the planet Melissa Majoria: The Tandoka Trail. They realize that if they follow the trail they can find the Earth. The Shadow Architect stops them, however, telling them "The planets were taken with hostile intent. We are declaring war, Doctor, right across the Universe and You will lead us into battle!" The Doctor tells her to 'Go get your key.' The TARDIS then vanishes, despite the Architect's demand that they stop.

Back on Earth, the Daleks have enslaved London are ordering that all humans leave their homes. Wilf and Sylvia are watching this happening. When a man and his children defy them and stay at home, the Daleks brutally incinerate the house, leaving no survivors. Wilf and Sylvia run out onto the street and are confronted by a Dalek. Wilf grabs a paint gun a shoots the Dalek in the eye. The paint melts away. The Dalek then prepares to exterminate them, but then, suddenly, it explodes. Behind stands Rose, who has shot it with her gun. She asks if they are Donna's family, and when they reply yes, she tells them she needs them. Wilf reveals he has tried calling her, but there is no reply. The last time Donna had phoned was from the planet Midnight, made of diamonds. Sylvia believes this is ridiculous, but Wilf tells her she cannot start denying things now. Rose tells them that they are her last hope of finding the Doctor.

Meanwhile, the TARDIS stops in the Medusa Cascade. The Doctor tells Donna he came here when he was just 30 years old, and that it was the centre of a rift in time and space. Donna asks about the 27 planets, and the Doctor tells her that they are nowhere. Donna asks what they do, but the Doctor does not reply. It becomes apparent that he has given up.

On Earth, Sarah Jane and Captain Jack have given up. At the Nobles' house, the laptop suddenly switches itself on, with a voice coming through. Sarah and Torchwood hear it too. Jack tells Gwen to leave it, but suddenly the woman who is speaking shames him, and demands that he stands to attention. She then identifies herself as Harriet Jones, former prime minister. Rose tries to talk to Harriet, but she can't hear her. Also, Wilf and Sylvia do not have a webcam. Harriet makes contact with Sarah, and then decides they should be able to talk to each other. There are four contacts: Harriet, Sarah and Torchwood. The fourth contact is having trouble getting in contact. Rose thinks this is her, but is surprised when Martha appears on screen. Martha reveals that Project Indigo brought her home, to her mother. Harriet then introduces Torchwood to Sarah. Jack has been following Sarah's work, and tells her "Nice job with the Slitheen." Sarah has been staying away from Torchwood- too many guns. Jack tells her "Looking good, ma'am." Harriet tells them that this is the Subwave Network- it contacts anyone and everyone who can contact the Doctor. Harriet wants them to form The Doctor's Secret Army. Sarah reminds Harriet that the Doctor deposed her. Harriet tells her that she has wondered ever since then if she was wrong. She has, however, stood by what she said: There would be one day when Earth would be threatened, and the Doctor would not appear. She told him so and he did not listen. Now it has happened. Torchwood realize that they can transmit using all the power of the Rift, and Luke and Sarah have Mr Smith: phones, all calling out the same number at the same time. Ianto appears beside Jack and theorizes that if transmitting slows or stops, the Subwave Network will become visible to the Daleks. Harriet understands this, but declares her life does not matter- not if it saves the world. she then tells Jack to tell the Doctor from her "He chose his companions well." Martha sends them all the number. Rose decides to call the Doctor herself. The transmitting starts. Rose, Sylvia and Wilf start to call the Doctor. Suddenly, transmitting slows, and the Daleks detect the Subwave Network. The Supreme Dalek orders that the culprit be exterminated. The figure in the control room contacts him again, telling him "I warned you, Supreme One. Just as Dalek Caan foretold, the Children of Time are moving against us. But everything is falling into place..." Gwen tells Harriet they have found her, but Harriet keeps working. She sends control to Torchwood, just as the Daleks arrive in her home. The Daleks tell her they know her. Harriet says "Oh, you know nothing of any human. And that will be your downfall." Then they exterminate her.

On board the TARDIS, the Doctor and Donna suddenly pick up signals from the Doctor's companions. The Doctor introduces Donna to all of them.

On board the Crucible, Caan says "He is here...the Dark Lord is coming..." Then, the figure says "Supreme One, I will make contact on the Subwave Network. Give me access."

Suddenly, all the contacts vanish off-screen. Donna thinks they are losing contact, but the Doctor realizes there is another contact coming through. He thinks it is Rose, but when he speaks a familiar voice says "Your voice is different, but its arrogance is unmistakable..." Suddenly, the figure glides onto the screen, and is revealed as Davros. He says "Welcome to my new empire, Doctor. It is only fitting that you should witness the resurrection and the triumph of Davros, lord and creator the Dalek race." The Doctor protests that Davros was destroyed in the very fist year of the Time War. His command ship flew into the jaws of the Nightmare Child at the Gates of Elysium. He even attempted to save Davros. Davros says "But it took one stronger than you- Dalek Caan himself." Caan says "I flew into the wild, and the fire. I danced and I died a thousand times" Davros tells the Doctor that his Emergency Temporal Shift from 1930 had taken him back into the Time War itself. The Doctor protests that the War is timelocked. But Caan had broken down the barriers and rescued Davros, albeit at the cost of his own mind. The Doctor realizes that now Davros has created a new race of Daleks. Davros says "I gave myself to them- quite literally: each one grown from a cell of my own body." He reveals that parts of his torso have been replaced by metal. His hand is also metal, but this is to replace the one blown off on Necros. As Davros says: "New Daleks...TRUE Daleks. I have my children, Doctor. What do you have, now?" Then, the Doctor says one thing: "BYE!" He then cuts transmission with Davros, and sets the TARDIS for Earth. The Supreme Dalek orders that the Daleks locate the TARDIS and find the Doctor. Davros orders the other Daleks to go to the Earth and exterminate or capture the Doctor's companions. Caan says "Death is coming. I can see it! Everlasting death for the most faithful companion..." Suddenly, the Daleks detect that the Subwave Network has been rebooted, and the new location is Torchwood. The Supreme Dalek orders that Torchwood be exterminated.

On Earth, Jack contacts Martha via phone and asks for the digits on the Project Indigo transporter. They are wavering between a 4 and a 9. These are the two digits Jack needs to reactivate his Vortex Manipulator. He grabs the re-powered defabricator, and tells Gwen and Ianto that he will come back. Then he vanishes. Sarah then heads off to find the Doctor in her car. Mr Smith protects Luke. Rose contacts the paralel Torchwood and asks them to lock her onto the TARDIS, after she sais goodbye to Sylvia and Wilf she teleports away. The TARDIS lands in a street that is deserted and trashed. The Doctor asks Donna what Rose said in the parallel earth and Donna replies by saying "Why don't you ask her yourself". The Doctor turns around and see's Rose standing down the street then they both run towards each other. As they get closer a stray Dalek apears from behind a van and spots The Doctor. The Doctor sees the Dalek but is too slow and the Dalek shoots the Doctor in the arm, sending him to the ground. However the beam only partialy hits The Doctor and doesn't kill him straight away. Captain Jack teleports into the street and shoots the Dalek to bits with his gun. Rose kneels over The Doctor as he lies on the floor diying and Jack and Donna gather around and prepare to move him into the TARDIS. Back in Torchwood Gwen and Ianto pick up guns and get ready for battle. A Dalek enters Torchwood and Gwen and Ianto open fire. Back in the Tardis The Doctor is in terrible pain. Donna asks if theres anything they can do to help him but Jack tells them to just stay away. Rose and Jack knows what will happen next but Donna is oblivious. The Doctorr lifts up his hand and it begins to glow. Sarah jane is still in her car and is driving down a street untill she nearly hits two Daleks that are on the road. The Daleks turn around and Sarah jane tries to apoligise but the Daleks do not accept it and prepares to exterminate her. Back in the TARDIS The Doctor is still in pain and Jack makes the others back away. Donna asks whats going on and Rose explains that when The Doctor is diying he can heal himself but he changes in the process. Rose doesn't want The Doctor to change as she has come a long way to find him however the process has already started so he can't stop it. As The Doctor stumbles to his feet he stands up right and bursts with a huge yellow and white energy. His hands and head explode with energy and starts to regenerate in front of Rose, Jack and Donna.

The Doctor is regenerating inside the TARDIS while Donna Noble, Captain Jack Harkness and Rose Tyler watch in horror. However, the Doctor transfers his regenerative energy into the container which carries his severed hand. He has healed himself, but chosen not to change his appearance. The TARDIS is transported by the Daleks to the Crucible and rendered powerless. The Doctor, Jack, and Rose leave it, but Donna is distracted because she is hearing the sound of a heartbeat and while looking back, the TARDIS door slams closed. Before the Doctor can free her, the Daleks dump the TARDIS into a waste chute where it will be destroyed in the centre-core of the Crucible. As the TARDIS interior explodes around her, Donna collapses near the severed hand, she hears the heartbeat again and while touching the container energy flows between it and her. The hand bursts out of the container, and forms as a new Doctor, although this Doctor has only one heart and has picked up some of Donna's mannerisms. With his help, the TARDIS escapes destruction and gives the new Doctor and Donna time to come with a plan.

In Torchwood Three, Gwen Cooper and Ianto Jones find themselves safely in a time lock created by Toshiko Sato, preventing the Dalek from entering but also preventing them leaving. Sarah Jane Smith is saved from two Daleks by Mickey Smith and Jackie Tyler, but in order to follow the Doctor, lay down their guns and allow themselves to be captured, taken to the Crucible. Martha Jones says her goodbyes to her mother and makes for an abandoned castle in Germany where one of five Osterhagen stations is hidden, and waits for contact from the other bases.

Aboard the Crucible, Jack creates a distraction by shooting the Supreme Dalek (Red Dalek) with his revolver, but is shot by the Daleks; as the Doctor and Rose are taken to the Vault where Davros is held, Jack's immortality allows him to escape. With the Doctor and Rose contained, Davros explains that the 27 planets form an energy pattern that is then amplified into a "reality bomb", able to break apart the forces holding everything together. Mickey, Jackie, and Sarah Jane escape a test chamber where this effect is shown to the Doctor just in time. Jack finds his way to the three, and with a locket from Sarah Jane, creates a device that will implode the Crucible. Meanwhile, Martha makes contact with two other bases in China and Liberia. The Chinese counterpart wants to get it over and done with, but Martha, knowing the Doctor, first broadcasts a signal to the Crucible to give them (probably both Earth and the Daleks) a second chance, promising to use the Ostenhagen key to detonate 25 nuclear warheads under the Earth's crust to destroy it and disable the reality bomb. However, the Daleks manage to lock onto their positions and beam Martha, Jack, Mickey, Jackie, and Sarah Jane, with the Transmat to the Vault where the Doctor and Rose are too being held captive.


The Daleks prepare to activate the reality bomb that will wipe out all matter in this and every parallel universe through the rifts in the Medusa Cascade, but the new Doctor and Donna arrive in the TARDIS. Both, however, are stunned by shots from Davros. The reality bomb countdown reaches zero, but nothing happens; Donna has manipulated the controls to disable it. The Doctor recognises that the creation of the new Doctor has had an unintended side effect: Donna is now half Time Lord herself, sharing the Doctor's intellect. Donna and the new Doctor free the others, and with the help of the original Doctor, disable the Daleks and start to send the planets back to their proper time and space. Before Earth can be sent, the machinery is destroyed by the Supreme Dalek, who is then destroyed by Captain Jack. The original Doctor races into the TARDIS to replace the functionality of the broken machine. Realising that Dalek Caan has seen the end of the Dalek race and has been manipulating time to achieve this, the new Doctor (probably not kept back by guilt due to the influence of Donna's personality) uses the remaining machinery to destroy all of the Daleks and their fleet. The rest of the companions flee to the TARDIS, and while the Doctor offers to save Davros, but he refuses, calling the Doctor the "Destroyer of Worlds". The Crucible is destroyed.

The Doctor enlists the help of the other companions, making contact with the base Torchwood and with Luke Smith, Mr. Smith and K-9, to help use the TARDIS return the Earth to its proper place. Sarah Jane says her goodbyes, as well as Jack, Martha, and Mickey, who has decided to stay in this universe. Using a retroactively closing rift, the Doctor returns Rose and Jackie to the alternate dimension and leaves the new Doctor with her, as he will now grow old with Rose, no longer able to regenerate due to the human influence, the human doctor, having the same memories and feeling as the proper Doctor, tells Rose he loves her and they kiss.

Returning to their universe, Donna finds she begins to have trouble thinking; the Doctor explains that the human mind cannot take in the Time Lord mental abilities. To save her, he wipes her mind of all her encounters with the Doctor, returning her home and explaining to her family, Sylvia Noble and Wilfred Mott, that she must never be reminded of her time with the Doctor or else she will die. As Donna recovers consciousness, she shows no interest in the Doctor; he leaves, though Wilfred promises he will look out for the Doctor every night while he looks at the sky. The Doctor then returns to the TARDIS, alone once again.

Analysis by Cuisle

Stolen Earth was mainly a set up story for the second half of the finale. It jumped right in with the Earth being stolen, leaving the TARDIS in empty space before going to each of the locations where the guest stars of the week were. New York for Martha, Cardiff for Jack and his Torchwood team, Ianto and Gwen, making their Doctor Who debut, and London for Sarah Jane Smith, her adopted son, Luke and her noisy computer, Mr Smith – as well as Sylvia and Wilf, Donna’s mum and granddad. Plus a very confused milkman who witnesses the materialisation of Rose Tyler and a big gun.

All that before the credits even rolled. And the big question was, could a three way crossover between Doctor Who and it’s two spin offs work? Would it make sense to viewers who hadn’t seen either Torchwood or Sarah Jane Adventures? After all, one was at 5pm in the kids tv slot, the other at 10pm for grown ups. And in any case, Sarah Jane Adventures has not been taken up by all of the overseas networks that have shown Doctor Who and Torchwood.

I think it didn’t matter. Everyone knows who Captain Jack is. Obviously Gwen and Ianto are his Torchwood colleagues. Everyone knows who Sarah Jane is. The fact that she has a son and a very odd computer is easily taken on board by the casual viewer. And if they’re so casual that they don’t know who Rose Tyler is, then where were they in the past few years.

Mostly, this was a fans story. It was aimed at those who were fully on board and understand why Jack calls Martha the voice of a nightingale and why Ianto looked so jealous about the soldier in the bar. It was our treat for sticking with the series over the past four series – or in many cases – for the best part of forty-five years. And that's what the critics couldn't get. There is nothing wrong with celebrating fandom!

That was why Davros needed very little introduction. That ongoing joke about Harriet ‘Yes, we know who you are!” could be applied to him just as easily. The make up job was fantastic, incidentally. And Julian Bleach was an excellent successor to the earlier actors who took on that role.

Loopy Dalek Caan doesn’t go back quite as far as Davros, but he, too, was there for the fan, not the casual viewer. Remember him from the Cult of Skaro in Doomsday and Daleks in Manhattan? This was one of the old loose ends being tied up. Caan went mad in the Time War. He also got about as wounded as we’ve always thought The Doctor was in that same war, and turned into a prophet, proclaiming that The Doctor was coming and all sorts of doom and disaster for the Human race.

Speaking of Harriet, she was another loose end. This was Harriet’s finest hour, one last sacrifice so that The Doctor could find his way to the lost Earth and save the Human race. A fitting and brave end for her.

The Shadow Proclamation and the purpose of Judoon was also explained, sort of. Though I think there are some the questions to be answered about that lot. They were a bit of a side-show to the real action. That whole section could have been omitted and the story would still have worked. But never mind.

The story pulled some new loose ends, though. What was the Osterhagen Key was one of them. WHO was the faithful companion that Caan predicted would die? How exactly was The Doctor a ‘threefold man’ and WAS he about to become a new man? That last sequence, with The Doctor going into regeneration had the internet in meltdown. All the obvious websites were jammed up for an hour after. Even my site was racking up hits. My fiction pages were bombarded. As if I had any idea what was going on! What a long week it was. The theories got wilder. Yes, even I succumbed. It was impossible not to think about it.

But the press and the internet, the whole frenzy, was largely self-perpetuating. The BBC said nothing. Russell T. Davies said nothing. David Tennant said nothing. The various actors expected to take over as The Doctor said nothing. The secret was kept.

What everyone forgot was how Doctor Who used to be in the old days. The Doctor was always about to die in gruesome ways, hanging off a cliff, in a firing squad, strangled by Dalek mutant embryos. And he ALWAYS got out of it in the first few minutes of the next episode.

The fact that The Doctor stopped his regeneration and fed it into his disembodied spare hand was NOT a cheat. It was exactly what should have happened according to all the traditions of science fiction serials right back to Dan Dare and Flash Gordon on Saturday morning cinema shows. Of course he was going to get out of it. The only question was how.

Once done, they got on with the story. And yes, ultimately it was a fairly simple story. Davros wants to end the whole universe except for the Dalek empire. The Doctor has to stop him. What was so fantastic about this episode was that he didn’t do it alone. He did it with his friends, with Sarah and Luke, Jack, Gwen and Ianto, Martha, Rose, Donna, and YES, with a second version of himself created with Donna’s lifeforce and the genetic material in the hand. Why not? Lifetime fans will remember Eldrad reconstituted from his hand. Why not The Doctor? A flawed, Human-Time Lord mix with only one heart and a lot of emotional issues, but still The Doctor.

By total coincidence, the gospel in church on Sunday morning while my head was still spinning from this episode, was all about how the burden can be eased if many people share the weight of the yoke. And this episode was all about just that. From last week when it was a joint effort to contact The Doctor, to this week when the same co-operation first defeated Davros and the Daleks and then towed the Earth back home, it was all about working together and sharing the burden. Nowhere was it more obvious than in that fantastic sequence when six people finally, after all these years, stood around the hexagonal console and piloted the TARDIS. It was the most perfect example of that gospel reading I have ever seen.

The critics complained that it all seemed a bit easy. Super temp Donna with The Doctor’s mind in her head sorted out the Daleks by typing 100 words a minute. Well, yes. Because that’s how it’s always been in Doctor Who. The Doctor has always been there to show ordinary people the way, from giving the right cavemen the secret of fire, to Cathica and Lynda with a Y, right through to Donna, the most ordinary of them all.

And then the critics went into meltdown. Because from here, even more than ever, it was about the fans. The biggest loose end of all was tied up when Rose got her Doctor at last. Well, The Doctor copy, anyway. The reason he was never able to say he loved her was because he didn’t dare give his hearts to a Human – quite possibly because he had done it before and had his hearts broken. But the Human Doctor would live a Human life, alongside Rose. She had to think about, yes. But in the end, she chose her happy ending.

Happy endings seem to annoy some critics. There seems to be some unwritten rule that they’re not sci fi. Well, Doctor Who has always begged to differ.

Besides, we were also promised somebody would die. There had to be a tragedy. Sorry, bloggers and critics, but it wasn’t what you expected. Donna didn’t ‘die’. Not in the usual sense. The smart thinking, happy, bright Donna that The Doctor had nurtured, died. The Donna who cried in empathy with the Ood, who stood up to The Doctor and demanded that he helped at least some of Pompeii’s doomed, went back to being the scatterbrain for whom sophistication was a new flavour Pringle. And that IS a tragedy, but not the sort that Battlestar Galactica fans expect. Sorry, but this is Doctor Who.

I should have mentioned the Osterhagen Key. I think that was some kind of red herring. It was, of course, a doomsday weapon. Giving it to a doctor, Martha, was cruel. It goes against her Hippocratic oath in huge ways. That and all she learnt in her time with The Doctor made her hesitate, and that was the only point to the whole scene, apart from teaching us to say Exterminate in German.

The only thing I think needed tidying up was some of Sarah Jane’s dialogue. Did she have to mention TWICE that Luke was 14? That jarred badly. But it was only one small niggle in what was a roller coaster ride of science fiction at its most unlikely and fantastic. It isn’t possible to tow a planet without causing all sorts of earthquakes, tidal waves and possibly even splitting it apart. But who cares? It looked good. It felt fantastic. The episode was a group hug for all the fans. And anyone who doesn’t feel included in that hug, well sorry guys, but buy the DVDs and get on board for next time.


 

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