Season 51 would have been broadcast from 18 March to 3 June 2017, with a Christmas Special airing on Christmas Day 2016, proceeding the season. The season episode count was also reduced from 16 episodes to just 13, including the Christmas Special, so 12 in the main season. Also, unlike Season 49 and 50, 51 would not be split into two broadcast halves and would all be broadcast in one run, but for the sake of this video not being over an hour long, I will be splitting this season into two videos, but the broadcast would not be in two separate runs like 49 and 50.
A few creative changes occurred behind the scenes, with only Matthew B. Roberts staying on as a Co-Executive Producer, although former Co-Exec Toni Graphia (who left to mainly work on the Elysium) would have still contributed one script. New Co-Execs were Jacqueline Rayner, Kevin Murphy and Sarah Dollard (who wrote Episode 5 of Season 50). All four of these Co-Exec would have been in the writers room and helped block out all 13 episodes, before they were all given off to each individual writer to write. Also, Gaynor Holmes took over as the Executive Producer for BBC Scotland, replacing Ken MacQuarrie, from this season.
Obviously, a new title sequence and theme was commissioned for this season, which I’ll let you watch in full, as we now dive into the Christmas Special: The Last Winter.
THE LAST WINTER
2016 Christmas Special
Written by RONALD D. MOORE
Directed by TERRY McDONOUGH
TX Date – 25 December 2016
This episode would have been the Christmas Special for 2016 and the first proper story for the Fifteenth Doctor, after her introduction over 9 months earlier. The episode would have been heavily promoted by the BBC, as it was the first Christmas Special since 2010, it was the first story for the new Doctor and it would have included guest star William Boyde playing the main villain of the episode: Lord Edwin Wedgeward Hanson.
The episode would begin with the Fifteenth Doctor, Raleigh and Pete landing on the River Thames in February 1814, during the last great Frost Fair. A lot of the first part of the episode, sets the scene as the three explore the area, and we get more use to the new Doctor, all the while, it’s implied that the three have had a couple of adventures since we last saw them, but not too many. The episode takes a turning point, when Raleigh spots a man, standing on London bridge, overlooking them, Lord Edwin Wedgeward Hanson – she seems stricken entirely cold by seeing him, almost as if she knows him. The Doctor spots Raleigh’s reaction and asks if everything alright, and Raleigh says that everything is absolutely fine, but the Doctor noticing Lord Hanson walking away and makes the connection.
The episode kind of splits into two plots, with the A plot focusing on Raleigh, and the B plot focusing, unusually, on the Doctor and Pete as they solve a mystery about lights under the river and some sort of creature living in the Thames. All the while, Raleigh spends most of the episode split up from them with Lord Hanson, who as it actually turns out was the leader of ‘the Government’ in her time, in the far future. Raleigh and Hanson have several scenes together, where they discuss the past, which is told through flashbacks as we learn the rest of Raleigh’s backstory. It turns out that after the Government developed time travel, Hanson ordered five task forces of time ships to be sent back in time to discover the history of their race… the Scallatti (please note: if you do not know you the Scallatti are, please watched the videos on The Elysium – thank you). They travelled from the year 1749 DE (which is 4962 in Earth years) to explore and record the Scallatti’s true origins. Raleigh’s time ship was sent back to the Battle of Earth in 2013, whereby they assumed that the Scallatti originated in some form from Earth. After initial recording of Earth’s history, and transmission back to Lord Hanson, he began to give out stranger orders, asking Raleigh’s task force to begin altering and changing the history, in several different but subtle ways – one person dies here, another person lives there, someone meets someone here, another person doesn’t meet someone there…
After we see all these flashbacks, which take us to about the 2/3rds point of the episode, of course all of this would have been intercut with the Doctor and Pete’s plot about the creature under the thames, Hanson asks to Raleigh to fulfil her duty and continue with what she was ordered to do. He says that it’s been a long time since they picked up any timeline alterations from Earth. Raleigh refuses and says she wants nothing to do with him. Raleigh ends up joining the Doctor and Pete, as they find out that Hanson is involved in the creature and he has been harvesting it for fuel, and trapping it under the Thames, unable to move. Against Raleigh’s wishes, the Doctor ends up confronting Lord Hanson, which becomes a chess match, as Raleigh is trying to keep control of the conversation so Hanson doesn’t reveal anything, all the while the Doctor is unnerved because Raleigh is acting stranger, while she’s also trying to get to the bottom of the sea creature business. Eventually, Hanson reveals the truth and says that part of Raleigh’s mission all along was to infiltrate the TARDIS and find herself close to the Doctor, as they know that the Doctor was integral to the creation of the Scallatti. Raleigh says that being with the Doctor changed her, but the Doctor feels betrayed. Nevertheless, Raleigh sticks with the Doctor and does everything she can to stop Hanson, proving herself.
The plot reaches a climax as Hanson reveals that he’s placed a bomb under the ice, which will feed the creature, but also kill hundreds, who are on the ice. The Doctor, Pete and Raleigh race off to stop this, but things change when the only way to prevent this from happening and diffuse the bomb, while also realising the creature is for Raleigh to make the decision to side with Lord Hanson as he leaves an ultimatum for her. Raleigh, makes the difficult decision to side with Hanson, turning against the Doctor. There’s a big confrontation between the two pairs of Hanson and Raleigh against the Doctor and Pete, mainly playing out on the emotions of the Doctor’s betrayal. The Doctor has little mercy and managed to teleport the two of them away, in a complex dues ex machina, into the vacuum of space, essentially executing the two of them, which leaves even Pete shocked.
The episode ends with the Doctor and Pete returning to the TARDIS as they have a conversation about this and Pete confronts her. The Doctor adits that she had a lot of love for Raleigh, she really took a shine to her, but she was a traitor and she feels horribly betrayed. She then admits that she is somewhat regretful of what she’s just done, and that if she’d been her old self she probably wouldn’t have done it, but she’s not her old self, and she has not time for regret. Before, the Doctor sets the TARDIS for their next destination, as it enters flight.
And then, we see Lord Hanson and Raleigh teleport in the vacuum of space, but within a second, a sound of the TARDIS sounds as it materialises around them, but inside it’s completely different, dark and dingy. We don’t see who is piloting this TARDIS or who has rescued them, but Raleigh simply says ‘You?’, recognising the person standing there before Lord Hanson says ‘Lord Rogue, how nice to see you again’, as we cut to end credits.
THE DEMONS OF MADISON ROAD
Season 51, Episode 1
Written by RONALD D. MOORE
Directed by TERRY McDONOUGH
TX Date – 18 March 2017
This episode is our season opener and introduces new companion, Sally Brennen. It is set in the fictional northern village of Beasemere and mainly focuses around Madison Road Primary, where Sally works at as a teacher. Like a lot of companion introduction stories, this episode is told from Sally’s perspective as she is introduced to the Doctor and Pete’s world. The episode is a fun action packed ride, as there’s strange things going on the in the school, with children regularly going missing. We find the Doctor posing one of Madison Road’s new teachers, while Pete takes the cover of an inspector, sent by the department of education. The Doctor, posing as Mrs Joan Smith, initially meets Sally in the staff room, at the start of the episode, but Sally becomes more and more wrapped up in the plot, due to the fact that her granddaughter, Jade, is in the Doctor’s class, and obviously she’s constantly looking out for her. It turns out that some sort of alien creature is taking and possessing children, for their own ends, and the Doctor discovers it started from when each pupil’s fingerprints were taken, two months ago, for the school’s new biometric security system, introduced by the new education secretary, Oliver Griffiths. The Doctor and Pete are shocked as they were sure that Griffiths was locked away in a UNIT cell. The Doctor phones UNIT and asks them what happened, but they tell him that the Prime Minister got him out, on his authority, and pardoned him for his crimes. The Doctor tells UNIT that he maybe back in soon, before he explains what’s been happening with the kids. With the help of Sergeant Wilson, from UNIT, and his squadron, the Doctor, Pete and now Sally, after the Doctor reveal who she is to her, after an intense scene with Sally upset over the safety of her granddaughter, they manage to sever the biometric connection to the aliens. However, as Act Three starts, a massive spaceship lands up ahead, and troops teleport down: Rutan troops. It turns out that they’ve been working with Oliver Griffiths to take a supply of children to use on the battlefield, against the sontarans. The Doctor manages to save the day, with the help of Sally, Pete, UNIT and the sheer force of lots and lots of angry parents, and blow up the Rutan spaceship, which in turn, also blows up the school. We finish the episode with Sally taking Jade back home, to her and her wife, Annie. The Doctor asks about their family situation, but Sally says there’s not much to say, Jade is her son, Ricky’s daughter, but his wife died a few years ago, and he hasn’t been able to cope, so she and Annie have taken her in. The Doctor complements Sally’s resource, in the attack, and says that they could do with someone like her, travelling with herself and Pete. Sally rejects the offer, saying she’d love to, but she has a responsibility to not just Jade, but loads of kids, but then Jade tells her to go, and that she and Nanny Annie will be fine together, and she should take this opportunity. Sally still says no, but then the Doctor opens the door of the TARDIS, and Sally’s eyes widen as she sees the inside. Sally checks with Annie and Jade that it’s definitely okay, before she kisses them goodbye, and the Doctor, Sally and Pete leave in the TARDIS. Finally, the episode ends with Wilson & UNIT raiding Oliver Griffiths’ office, whereby they find it empty, and he is nowhere to be seen.
THE ASSASSINS
Season 51, Episode 2
Written by SARAH DOLLARD
Directed by DANIEL O’HARA
TX Date – 25 March 2017
This episode continues on from the first one, where we see Sally’s first adventure in the TARDIS. The Doctor takes her and Pete to 28th Century Earth, to prove, to Sally, the immense power of the TARDIS. However, they end up getting involved in a major historical event, but in our relative future… the assassination of the System Security Council – 15 leaders from 15 different planets, affiliated with Earth. The Doctor tells Sally & Pete that only one of the assassins was ever caught, and he was later proved to be nothing but their tea boy, the actual killers of the Council, were never found out. And thus, the episode diverges into the Doctor, Sally & Pete tracking down and finding the assassins. Obviously, the usual “You Can’t Change History” message is battered into Sally in this story, as she expresses her desire to try and stop the assassination, but Pete talks her out of it, and explains why doing so would be so dangerous. Eventually, the trio find the Assassins and they are a group of extremist Earth nationalists, who don’t believe in the expansion into space, nor the sharing of resources with other planets. The climax of the episode, usually, sees the Doctor, and the leader of the nationalist group, Krasko, having somewhat of a philosophical and ethical debate, which is intercut, with Sally & Pete doing other things, dealing with the aftermath of the assassination, but everything builds up to Krasko revealing that the Doctor isn’t the only time traveller that has come back in time to try and stop the assassination, and one that he just dealt with before her left something behind, before he holds a Vortex Manipulator. He then tells the Doctor that to stop the opening up and welcoming of all these other alien races, you have to cut off the head where the problem started, when humans first opened the doors, to the other, before he activates the Vortex Manipulator and vanishes. The Doctor is left appalled and shocked, before finding Sally & Pete and quickly hounding them into the TARDIS. She says that they have to travel back into the past, to save the future. She tracks the TARDIS onto Krasko’s Artron signature and realises that he’s travelled back to the 30th November 1955, Montgomery, Alabama.
ROSA
Season 51, Episode 3
Written by MALORIE BLACKMAN
Directed by SALLIE APRAHAMIAN
TX Date – 1 April 2017
This episode opens with a previously recap, before jumping straight into the plot and continuing from straight where we left off, with the Doctor piloting the TARDIS to Montgomery, 1955. This episode follows the events leading up to and including the arrest of Rosa Parks, and the advent of the Civil Rights movements. It sees the Doctor, Sally & Pete track Krasko back and try to stop him from preventing Rosa Parks from refusing to move on a segregated bus. It’s made especially harder by the fact that both the Doctor and Pete are black, and Sally is a second generation Indian (which America’s mistake as Mexican). The three of them eventually manage to stop Krasko, by recoding his Vortex Manipulator to send him back to the jurassic age, before they further make sure that Rosa’s arrest goes ahead, in spite of the changes Krasko has already made. The episode then ends, after all that, with the TARDIS arriving in 1996, where the three of them attend the audience of President Clinton, awarding a much older Rosa Parks, with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The last shot sees old Rosa looking down into the audience, seeing the Doctor, Sally & Pete, as a tear rolls down her cheek.
THE HAUNTING
Season 51, Episode 4
Written by KEVIN MURPHY
Directed by JOHN DAHL
TX Date – 8 April 2017
This episode sees the TARDIS arrive back in Beasemere, whereby Sally reunites with Annie and Jade, having only been gone for 6 days, by their time. However, while Sally spends time with the two of them, back at her home, the Doctor and Pete get involved in a strange set of occurrences that have been happening in the village and the two of them begin to investigate. The episode evolves into a mix of a standard haunted house story, crossed with a spooky village where everyone seems to be involved in some sort of conspiracy. It turns out that an entity, which has taken the form of a Victorian Bride, calling itself Miss Mercy, has been capturing and cloning members of the village and replacing them, so she can use the originals to feed on the mental energy. Events get even worse when it’s revealed that this exact thing has happened to Sally’s wife, Annie, and the episode becomes, from Sally’s point of view, a rescue mission for her wife. Eventually, the Doctor, Sally & Pete do save the day and put everything back to rights, which loosens Miss Mercy’s power and essentially kills her. But Miss Mercy makes a request, as she slips away into death, she tells the Doctor to save her people, to go to the planet Kaelia, and stop her people from dying, as she only did what she did to stay alive, and that can be stopped by banishing the invaders from her planet. The Doctor agrees to the promise. The episode then ends with Sally saying goodbye to Annie and Jade again, before the TARDIS takes off for Kaelia.
OPEN MINDS
Season 51, Episode 5
Written by DAVID HARE
Directed by DANIEL O’HARA
TX Date – 15 April 2017
This episode sees the TARDIS land on Kaelia, following Miss Mercy’s message, and it’s a desolated, ravaged planet, where the Doctor, Sally & Pete are soon captured by the savage-like people, who call themselves the Dervishe. The story devolves into the Doctor helps the rebels story, as we find out that the Dervishe are being oppressed by the invading Teruians. The standard things happen in the story, including the Doctor being taken away by the Teruians, leading to Sally & Pete being left with the Dervishe. But about a third of the way through the episode, it’s revealed that the Dervishe are actually a sub sect of the Teruians, and betray Sally & Pete to them. Meanwhile, the Doctor manages to escape the Teruians by persuading the Doctor looking over her, to betray their people, and swap sides, through a crisis of conscious. The two of them, the Doctor and Dr Gaerair, flee the Teruian capital city, to the set piece of a massive run in with the army, involving a tank. It’s here that both the Doctor, Gaerair, Sally & Pete come together, as they all converge on the actual indigenous species of the planet, the Kaelians, who are nothing like the imposters, the Dervishe. They are weak and frail, oppressed to the point of negligence, and just left to die and starve by the Teruians and the Dervishe. However, it’s revealed that they have telepathic powers and their weak and frail nature comes from the fact that their mental abilities are being harnessed for power by a machine, created by the Teruians, who are using it to prolong their lives, for hundreds of years. The story ends with everyone mounting a mission to the building where that machine is located, and the Doctor blows it up, freeing the Kaelians, and giving them the strength to kick the Teruians and the Dervishe of the planet.
COMERCECILLA
Season 51, Episode 6
Written by MATTHEW B. ROBERTS
Directed by DANIEL O’HARA
TX Date – 22 April 2017
This episode begins with the Doctor, Sally & Pete landing on a planet called ‘Comercecilla’, which is like a giant shopping centre which spans a whole planet. The three of them go out shopping, for the first few minutes, buying all sorts of exotic goods, and soon the Doctor splits off from the other two, getting distracted, by herself. The Doctor discovers murmurs, amongst the people, of a high amount of missing persons, which seems impossible on a planet like Comercecilla as it’s all one building, completely covered by security – there’s nowhere to go missing. The Doctor ends up investigating, discovering that it’s the Daleks, hiding out in a disused shop – the last remnants of the original Dalek race (apparently more escaped ascension than the Doctor first thought). Their casings as battered and burnt, and they are damaged but moving and working. Around them, the Doctor discovers water tanks filled with Dalek-like creatures, but not exactly the same – it turns out that these are people, the Daleks have kidnapped and are trying to turn into new Dalek mutants.
The plot develops as Sally and Pete get involved, including being captured by a collaborator, at Comercecilla, who is working for the Daleks, before the Doctor, inevitably, defeats them, by cracking open the incubator tanks, of the half-converted Daleks, which as they are in many ways still half human, they are filled with rage for what the Daleks have done to them, and they all kill the other Daleks, and then because of the strength, they all die themselves.
THE PETERLOO MASSACRE
Season 51, Episode 7
Written by TONI GRAPHIA
Directed by SALLIE APRAHAMIAN
TX Date – 29 April 2017
This episode sees the Doctor, Sally and Pete travelling back to 1819, Manchester, during the Industrial Revolution and covers the events of the Peterloo Massacre, and is a pure historical. It revolves around the trio getting involved with the a group of over 60,000 people who are protesting about their rights, especially due to many of the awful working conditions some of them have had to deal with, which a lot of the first part of the episode sees the Doctor, Sally and Pete seeing. However, the protest becomes a riot, which forces the cavalry to come in and deal with the situation. Just over a dozen people die, including one of the characters we’ve come to know, but many, many more are injured, heavily. The rest of the episode revolves around not just the historical implications of the event, but also the moral one and the idea of social justice that many of the people deserved. This episode sparked some controversy at the time, from extreme right-wing groups among the Doctor Who fan community, who saw this adaptation of a historical event as apparent communist propaganda.
THE CONSPIRACY OF PRICEMART
Season 51, Episode 8
Written by PETE McTIGHE
Directed by JOHN DAHL
TX Date – 6 May 2017
This episode is almost entirely told in flashbacks and revolves around Pete. It uses the framing device of the Doctor, Sally & Pete in the middle of an adventure, where they discover that a race called the Memorphians are behind, whatever they are investigating. However, Pete recognises them and says that he’s encountered them before, years ago, before he even met the Doctor, and this episode sees him recounting that tale (through flashbacks) to the Doctor and Sally, before with the information they have, they defeat the Memorphians at the end of the episode.
Over the episode, Pete recounts the story of how, when he was at work, about 10 years earlier, his colleagues, at his supermarket, all started acting very strangely, like they weren’t focussed at all. He begun investigating and over the episode, he uncovers more and more, and somewhat of a conspiracy, all around his supermarket, the management and competition with a rival supermarket. Pete starts becoming obsessed with finding out what’s going on, and he becomes convinced that it’s aliens, while everyone else, including his wife, Val, thinks he’s mad, and just being patterns in things that aren’t there. Pete ends up discovering the Memorphians are replacing the brains of their Supermarket workers, with their own, to firstly take over their bodies, and secondly become the best Supermarket in England. Pete runs away, initially, before contacting the police and telling them everything, before they chuck him in a cell, for breaking and entering. However, when he’s in the cell, he gets a visit from Caitrin Ryan who tells him that everything he’s found out is real, but he needs to keep it quiet, and UNIT will deal with it from now on. She then gives Pete a pill, which erases the last week of his memory, selectively, so he can’t remember what happened, before Caitrin leaves and we see UNIT sort out the Memorphians. Pete explains to Sally and the Doctor, that seeing them again must’ve triggered his brain, because he couldn’t remember the incident initially, at all.
The episode is mainly played as a comedy, but it also explores Pete’s personality, and his life before the Doctor, a lot more, and is the first episode to have him properly front and centre, with the Doctor & Sally only really appearing in less than 15 minutes of the episode.
ANGELS OF TIME
Season 51, Episode 9
Written by RONALD D. MOORE
Directed by CHRIS GRIMSER
TX Date – 13 May 2017
This episode sees the Doctor, Sally and Pete landing on a planet, not too dissimilar from Modern Day Earth, with only a slight advancement in technological level, from what the eye can see. The Doctor says that this planet is light years away and far into to future, as the three go to explore. The Doctor tells them that she’s been picking up some strange readings from this planet, readings that shouldn’t exist anymore. The three explore and get involved in a pretty generic murder mystery plot, with one of the locals, who’s husband has been killed. However, during the course of the investigation, the plot is hijacked as the Doctor runs into Raleigh, now the C.E.O. of the company that the victim was working for. It then turns out that the planet they’re on is Taoter III, Raleigh’s home planet, but in the far future of the planet we know from ‘The Elysium’. It then turns out that Raleigh’s company is a front for a government controlled institute which is trying to avert the Vex invasion of this universe. The Doctor tells her that it’s impossible, it was tried before, but only a new timeline was created. Raleigh laughs telling the Doctor that’s why it’s taking them so long, they are trying to find a solution to that problem, and they’ve nearly cracked it. Throughout the rest of the episode, the murder is solved, as it turns out that the victim was involved in some dodgy business with the company and Raleigh ordered his execution. Raleigh tries to have the Doctor, Sally & Pete killed, but they manage to escape from the planet, and back in the TARDIS, home. However, the episode spends its final 6 or 7 minutes, with Raleigh and Lord Hanson as they perfect the new time travel process, and they mention that they wouldn’t have been able to do this without their most generous sponsor. We then hear a familiar voice say “I’m glad I’m finally able to rectify the sins of my past…. at last”, before we cut to end credits.
THE SINISTER MINISTER
Season 51, Episode 10
Written by JACQUELINE RAYNER
Directed by TERRY McDONOUGH
TX Date – 20 May 2017
This episode takes us back to Beasemere, for the final story before the two-part finale, and of course Sally reunites with her family, Annie and Jade. The main villain of the episode, is Oliver Griffiths, once again, as he’s back in the village, on his election campaign, as he’s Beasemere & Asundale’s MP. Of course, he couldn’t have picked a worse day to show his face, as the Doctor, Sally and Pete have just arrived. The first half of the episode, sees the Doctor, Sally, Pete and Annie investigating Griffiths, as he seems like he’s up to something again, including a couple of confrontations with him at his speeches, before the episode is turned on its head, half way through, when it’s revealed that Griffiths is doing something, but something completely different to what they thought. He tells the Doctor that he’s on a journey of self-discovery, and he has to find out who he is. Griffiths explains that he thinks aliens have tampered and manipulated with his life, and he says he needs the Doctors help. So, for the rest of the episode, the Doctor and co. join forces with Griffiths and they investigate his past, as well as anything going on at the minute, alien wise, which could be involved. Eventually, they find a lead at Griffiths old cottage, in the village, where in the cellar they find a chest, with the Seal of Rassilon inscribed. The Doctor becomes deathly cold, as she begins to work out what’s happened. She tells Griffiths not to open it under any circumstances, and it turns into into a large argument between them. The Doctor picks apart Griffiths and all the terrible things he has done, while she also ends up admitting in the argument that he’s probably one of her people and inside is his consciousness. The Doctor also says that she has a terrible feeling she knows which one: the Master. Against the Doctor’s wishes, Griffiths goes ahead and opens the chest anyway, time lord energy spits out and smothers Griffiths as he absorbs it, and then he comes to life. The Doctor cautiously says the Master’s name, asking whether it worked. To which he just laughs and says that he loves it when the Doctor’s wrong. The Doctor asks who he is then, before he says, with wondrous joy, that she should’ve worked it out by now, it was obvious, he says that he was even a rather corrupt politician, with less than zealous morals. The Doctor gasps, as the penny drops, and she whispers “The Rogue”, to which he smiles and says, “Hello, Doctor, you’ve sure changed a bit”. Still flabbergasted, the Doctor is frozen, as the Rogue moves around the cellar, to open a secret compartment in the wall, and inside a TARDIS, he tells the Doctor that he really must be going now, as he was in a spot of bother before, and he really has to deal with it. The Rogue’s TARDIS dematerialises, before we cut to the TARDIS back in Sally’s living room, explaining to everyone (and the Chapter 4 audience) who exactly the Rogue is. She then says that she needs to find him, see what he’s up to, and what business he’s attending to. She tells Sally and Pete that it might be dangerous, but without hesitation, they both say yes, as they then leave in the TARDIS, and we cut to end credits.
FALSE PROPHETS, PART ONE
Season 51, Episode 11
Written by RONALD D. MOORE
Directed by CHRIS GRISMER
TX Date – 27 May 2017
This episode begins with us seeing the Rogue’s point of view of the final scene from the Last Winter whereby we see him pick up Lord Hanson and Raleigh, we get the impression its been some time between this scene and the last episode. We then cut to the titles, before we pick back up with the Doctor, Sally and Pete in the TARDIS, as the Doctor tries to get a trace on the Rogue’s TARDIS, but fails. She says she’s going to have to consult with an expert, to which Sally and Pete say that anyone who knows anything about TARDISes are dead, to which the Doctor solemnly says “All of them but one”, as she sets the TARDIS into flight. This episode follows three different storylines throughout, firstly the Rogue, Raleigh and Lord Hanson, secondly the Doctor, Sally and Pete searching for the Rogue and thirdly, a story following Utnaphistim and the Three on Taoter III (from the spin-off show, the Elysium) for the majority of Part I, these three plots are separate, but they all come together for the cliffhanger. To make this more understandable, I’ll be going through each one, one by one, beginning with the Doctor, then Utnaphistim and then the Rogue.
So the Doctor, Sally and Pete land on a mirky, rainy planet, before the Doctor takes them to the tower in the middle, where she says an old friend is waiting for her. Inside, the building looks abandoned and mouldy, they explore, digging deeper into the lower levels, all seem to be very old science labs. They come to one, with a noise coming from inside, the sound of a saw, and sparks coming from within. The Doctor enters and says “Hello, again, Rani”, to which the figure turns around and we see the Rani (now played by Michael Hogan). The first few scenes between the two are dubious, as the Rani doesn’t want anything to do with the Doctor, especially as he thought she was dead (not knowing about her resurrection after Endgame), and we find out that he decided to retire to Miasimia Goria and just focus on science. The Doctor manages to win him around to helping track the Rogue’s TARDIS, which he does, before the Doctor, Sally and Pete leave him in peace, and head to intercept the Rogue’s TARDIS.
On Taoter III, we follow Utnaphistim (a mysterious character from the Elysium), in the Three’s secret base. He has a conversation with a new recruit to the organisation, Keo, and during it, a word triggers him, and affects him in an unexpected way, causing past memories to flood around him. This leads him to entering the restricted section of the Three’s private library, where he finds multiple historical documents about the past, most inscribed with the Seal of Rassilon. As he starts reading one of the books, Shamash, another elder, comes up behind him and tells him that he should stay away and the past has to be buried. But Utnaphistim breaks down, in front of Shamash, and tells her that it was all his fault, if it wasn’t for him, their people would not have been destroyed. Utnaphistim and Shamash decide that they need to talk to the third founder of their organisation, Ersiah, who is locked in a cell, at the deepest part of the structure, hidden away. She’s completely mad, but the two have a conversation with her and she says that all three of them may have changed their faces and may have changed their names, but that doesn’t mean they can run away from their crimes, any longer.
Finally, the Rogue’s plot with Hanson and Raleigh sees them on the far future version of Taoter III, we last saw in Episode 9, picking up from the final scene of that episode, where the Rogue says that it’s time for them to reverse the sins of his past. However, the Rogue says that he needs to find someone, someone who knows what happened when the Vex invaded Gallifrey the first time, someone who was there. He explains that they need to find the Seretti Rogue. They visit the Scallatti archives, whereby Hanson finds, in the deepest and darkest section, not allowed to be seen by another but himself, the same Time Lord books that Utnaphistim was looking at (this scene, by the way, would be intercut with that one, in the actual episode). The Rogue studies them and finds a recount of the events of the Panopticon episode “Doctor”. The Rogue looks at the author’s name (which is in Gallifreyan writing) but he translates it as “Utnaphistim”. The three of them then go to the TARDIS where the Rogue sets the controls to Taoter III around 1200 years in the past. They soon arrive in the middle of the capitol village, bustling with life, sparkling in the sun. The Rogue’s TARDIS has disguised itself as a van. Hanson says that they’re in the Capitol City of the Scallatti, just after it was built, and remarks how much its changed. He takes them into the government building, which still stands 1200 years later, whereby they request an audience which Utnaphistim. The receptionist says that he doesn’t see anyone often, and she doesn’t know where he is. They then go onto meet with the President, Ajacos, as any mention of Utnaphistim’s name is flagged up and he speaks to the Rogue, Hanson and Raleigh. They end up telling Ajacos about the future and that they’re here to try and save the Scallatti’s past, Ajacos eventually concedes taking the three of them to Utnaphistim.
The storylines begin to converge here, as the Doctor, Sally and Pete land in the village on Taoter III, having followed the Rogue’s TARDIS and then they follow the Rogue, Raleigh, Hanson and Ajacos as they leave the Government Building for the Three’s base. The main scene we get here is of the Rogue, Hanson, Raleigh and Ajacos meeting Utnaphistim, Shamash and, the crazed, Ersiah whereby the Rogue confronts Utnaphistim and says that he needs him, as he’s worked out that he is the Seretti Rogue. The Doctor, Sally and Pete just watched form afar. However, Utnaphistim just laughs in the Rogue’s face and tells him that he’s entirely wrong, and he was in fact known once as Cordale. The Rogue says that’s impossible as she become Connie and then the Doctor, to which we see the Doctor nod to, just as confused, but Utnaphistim clarifies saying that he was Phaedra’s replacement, the second Cordale and when the Scallatti started their voyage, he took a senior position, and become Utnaphistim. The Rogue looks confused and asks whatever happened to the real Seretti Rogue, but Utnaphistim just smiles and gestures to Ersiah in her cell, completely maddened and out-of-her mind. Utnaphistim explains that she went crazy, and has been a shell of her self every since. But Ersiah says out loud that the Doctor can come out now, to which the Doctor reveals herself, and then Ersiah says that now they are all reunited, they can get to business and stop this dreadful business from ever happening in the first place. We crash zoom on the Doctor’s face before cutting to end credits.
FALSE PROPHETS, PART TWO
Season 51, Episode 12
Written by RONALD D. MOORE
Directed by CHRIS GRISMER
TX Date – 3 June 2017
This episode is the final episode of the season, and picks up off the last one left off, with Ersiah (or the Seretti Rogue), galvanising everyone together to avert the creation of the Vex for once and for all. The episode builds up and builds up as Ersiah orders the others to take the Doctor back to her TARDIS, so she can take over and lead (along with Hanson) the mission, but then standing in front of the TARDIS, looking dastardly smug, and turning the entire episode on its head, stands the Rani. He says that he’s disabled both TARDISes and they will only be enable once all this business is put to rest. Both the Rogue and Ersiah erupt with anger at the Rani, but he says that he doesn’t care and he says that he thinks the Doctor will agree with him on this, but perhaps they just need to talk. From here onwards, this episode becomes very peculiar for a Doctor Who season finale, and spends the rest of its run time, intercutting between several duologues between all the characters, as they understand what the other wants and what they even themselves want. The two handers are: The Doctor and the Rogue, the Rogue and Ersiah, Utnaphistim and Ersiah, Utnaphistim and Shamash, Hanson and Raleigh, Raleigh and the Doctor, the Rani and the Rogue, Raleigh and Hanson, Raleigh and the Doctor. Also, in addition, once all of these are over, we have a further scene with the Doctor, the Rogue and the Rani, while there’s intercut, Utnaphistim, Shamash and Ersiah, both discussing where to go from here. In these scenes (which take up a good 40 minutes of the episode), everyone is persuading, through several narrative and character devices, that the best way to move forward is to make the future better. Hanson agrees to leave the past alone, while Utnaphistim and Shamash agree to let Ersiah out, and reform the Three, opening up the Scallatti, gradually, Utnaphistim stresses, to their past. The Rogue agrees to begin again, with the Rani, as he wants to help rebuild Miasimia Goria, with him. Everything seems fine and okay, but then as the Doctor, Sally and Pete turn to leave in the TARDIS, Raleigh runs after the Doctor in tears, pleading for the Doctor to help her, to take her back. But before the Doctor can say anything, Pete shoves her to the floor, pushing her over, and saying that she’s not coming anywhere near him again. The three of them go back into the TARDIS as it dematerialises and leaves Raleigh there on Taoter III, stranded. Inside the TARDIS, confronts Pete angrily telling him that he had no right to do that, and they should’ve at least given Raleigh a chance, the whole thing turns into a massive argument, resulting in the Doctor throwing Pete out of the TARDIS, taking him back home, as she has lost faith in him. Sally kicks off saying that was unnecessary and cruel. The Doctor won’t have any of it, working herself up, finding a lot of unrepent anger, and lashing out at Sally. Sally just looks at the Doctor in disgust and says that maybe they just did the wrong thing and maybe if the Doctor hadn’t have interfered things would’ve been better. Sally then storms off, leaving the TARDIS and the Doctor in anger, disgusted at her behaviour.
The Doctor sits down in the TARDIS, alone an isolated, as a tear rolls down her eye. She speaks to the TARDIS saying that she had to do it, and maybe she was selfish, maybe the universe would’ve been better without the Vex ever existing. The TARDIS beeps and then the Doctor admits that she one stopped their plan because if the Vex hadn’t ever existed, then she would’ve died during the events of Doctor Who: Endgame, and for good. We take time with this scene, lasting a full five minutes, before, as the pace slows down, the Doctor is at her lowest, crouched on the floor, a teleport signal erupts into the TARDIS as a strange man stands there, shocked. The Doctor stands up, quickly, confronting him, and he says that his name is Daniel Bevin, and he needs her help, before we cut to end credits and a caption reads “The Doctor and Daniel will return at Christmas in The Martian Equinox’.
So there we have it, Season 51, and it was something, I’ll give you that. So with the Doctor now on her own, and broken character-wise, with only the company of a strange man, played by Pierce Bronson, what will happen in the Christmas Special. Well, you’ll have to wait a little while longer, as the Elysium Season 3 is up next, and there seems to be a new cast member now, in the form of Raleigh Baker-Mitchell. Until the next time, goodbye.
WIDWWA 