Season 52 of Doctor Who was originally intended to air from the 4th March to the 2nd June 2018, in one solid broadcast run. However, as I announced in the Elysium Season 3 video, on the 19th December 2017, just 6 days before the Christmas Special aired, the BBC would’ve made this announcement. Ronald D. Moore had been fired, not even halfway through the production of Season 52. Production was immediately halted, with only the Christmas and New Year’s episodes, as well as a further 4 episodes, shot. The episodes which had been completed were Episodes 1, 3, 9 and 10, however, Episode 5 was part way through production. The first thing the BBC did was order a mid-season break, so Doctor Who could still go out in March, starting on the 18th, instead of the 4th, but after Episode 6, they’d be a break until later in the year. They also made the decision to move Doctor Who to Sunday Nights following the ratings of Season 51, and the success the Elysium had there. The problem they did face, though, was that they only had 4 completed episodes, and they needed, at least 6, to make broadcast, as well as the fact that 2 of the episodes they had shot, were form the second half of the season. So, firstly Episode 9 was moved to now be Episode 4, with editing to remove references which fit it into the second half of the season. Episode 10 was also moved to now be Episode 2, with simillar references removed. So, the slots for Episodes 1, 2, 3 and 4 will now filled, leaving only 5 and 6 to be shot, and since they’re scheduled air dates were 15 and 22 April, if they were shot first, when production started again in late February, then they could make their air date. While, some reediting took place for Episodes 1-4, the specials weren’t changed as it was too close to the transmission date, to properly work out what needed to be changed. As such Ronald D. Moore is only credited as an Executive Producer on the two specials, and episodes 1-4, and not on the remainder of the season. Block Three originally had Terry McDonough in to direct, and about ¼ of Episode 5 had been shot, however McDonough was fired alongside Moore, so when Episode 5 started filming again, as part of the new Block 4, in February, Mick Jackson (who had not been lined up to direct Doctor Who) was brought in, by the BBC, (with considerable persuading) to shoot this block. Similarly, Gaynor Holmes, ended up producing Block 4, herself, meaning that she isn’t credited as an Executive Producer on Episodes 5, 6 and 7, and just a producer. Also, due to the fact that most of the guest actors originally cast in Episode 5 were now no longer available, and different actors had to be cast, no material from the original un-finished version of Episode 5 was used, however, all the scenes were later released on DVD as extras. Because the moving around of the episodes, it meant that for the first time since the block system was introduced, every episode was broadcast in the order they were shot.
Espenson also sacked all the original Season 52 staff writers, apart from Sarah Dollard and Pete McTighe, and then brought in Adrian Hodges and Toby Whithouse to come onboard for the final 8 episodes of the season.
Another problem they had was the Elysium, as not only was Jane Espenson running both shows simultaneously now, but also the Elysium Season 4 was due to start filming in January, and the Elysium was scheduled to air in September, which is the same time the BBC were looking to air Season 52, Part Two, which would’ve meant the two would be airing on the same night. So, Toni Graphia was promoted to co-showrunner on the Elysium, and it was decided that the Elysium Season 4 would be split into two parts, with the first airing in June, after Season 52, Part One, and the second airing in late October, after Season 52, Part Two. This meant, the Elysium had to rush the production and post-production of their first 6 episodes, now to make the broadcast date.
Originally, in Season 52, Pete Fletcher would return as a companion in Episode 1 and remain in the position for the rest of the season, but Sally would not have. However, Jane Espenson’ s first action as acting showrunner, was to bring Sally back, as a companion, in the second half of the season, from episode 5, which was an entirely new episode she wrote from scratch. It’d also bring Sally’s wife, Annie, on board the TARDIS for the rest of the season, bringing the TARDIS team up to 4.
In addition, from Episode 5, Espenson’s first episode, 15 gets a costume change, to better suit the new 15 character, Espenson transitions the writing into for 15, which happens over the course of the next few episodes. It’s explained in the story that 15 wanted to dress more smarter for the occasion (which you’ll be able to gather from the episode) and then it just stuck.
Also, Espenson ordered a new title sequence to be made, which while not even commissioned by the Christmas Special’s airing, which use the 51 ones, it was ready for the beginning of the season, and is very much a reaction to some fan’s feelings on the 51 ones and sets to try and put things back to rights.
So, with that all being said, and the Not-My-Doctor’s delighted, and then immediately angry again, let’s dive into firstly the Christmas and New Year’s episodes, and then the following 6 episodes of Season 52.
THE MARTIAN EQUINOX, PART ONE
2017 Christmas Special
Written by RONALD D. MOORE
Directed by DANIEL O’HARA
TX Date – 25 December 2017
We begin with a shot of Mars, as it zooms into a city on the surface, and a caption reads “Mars, 4127”. We see inside, and it’s flooded a human, a colony, vibrant bursting with life. Around the city, there’s many bright green posters, with the words ‘EXIT’ on them. Then we see the glass of the city ceiling smash in, as a spaceship descends, exposing the city to the Martian atmosphere, immediately killing everyone there, and the ship further crushes all the bodies. We then see a taskforce of Ice Warriors step out of the spaceship, as they parade through the city, as we cut to the titles.
We then see Daniel Bevin arriving in the TARDIS again, from the finale, as he asks for the Doctor’s help, and then teleports her into his office, on Mars. He tells her that he’s an agent of the Space Security Service, and tells her of the recent attack, saying that for hundreds of years, humans and Ice Warriors have lived in peace, on Mars, since Earth joined the Galactic Federation, but now, Earth has voted to exit the Federation, and tensions have ramped up. He says that the Earth Government has ordered the colonists to move back to Earth, but they are refusing to, as it’s been their home for hundreds of years, and the Ice Warriors want them to move as well, as they see it as their territory now. The next 45 minutes of this episode sees the Doctor and Bevin dealing and mediating with this situation, meeting colonists and trying to find a peaceful solution. The Doctor negotiates with the Ice Warriors, and they seem to come to a settlement, at the eleventh hour, as the Ice Warriors allow the humans to stay on the colony, but leave over a longer space of time, with a set 50-year transition period, which everyone seems happy with. As the episode’s end draws near, and it seems the story is coming to its conclusion, a spanner is thrown in the works, as when the Chief Ice Warrior, and the leader of the Martian Colonies are about to shake hands, a laser shoots across the screen and kills the Ice Warrior chief. Everyone starts screams as chaos erupts. The Doctor and Daniel look around, throw the crowd, and standing in front of them, laughing, stands the Master, as we cut to the end credits.
THE MARTIAN EQUINOX, PART TWO
2018 New Years Day Special
Written by RONALD D. MOORE
Directed by DANIEL O’HARA
TX Date – 1 January 2018
We begin with a recap of not just the previous episode, but also parts of the Master’s story, so far in S49 and S50, to bring any newer viewers up to speed, as he wasn’t in Season 51. The second half of this story becomes a standard Doctor vs the Master story, and the Ice Warrior/Colonist story, falls for Daniel to leave, in the B plot, which has about a 60/40 split, with the A plot. Obviously, it turns out that the Master, had been stoking up tensions between the two races, and he was playing both sides, working with both the Ice Warriors and the humans, in an attempt to break up the Galactic Federation, entirely. However, when the Doctor asks if he was involved in the leave vote, the Master chuckles and says that it was the humans themselves, thinking they’ll be stronger alone in the universe. The Ice Warrior plot is resolved, when Daniel sacrifices his life, to kill the new Chief Ice Warrior, who as it turns out, is an anti-Earth bigot, and he was the one, who without authority from the Ice Warriors, launched the attack, at the start of the last episode. The new Ice Warrior Chief now has so much respect for the humans, due to Daniel’s honourable death and sacrifice, that he says he will allow the humans to stay, and says that since they are neighbouring planets, a travel corridor will be opened between the two planets. The Doctor, obviously, is dealing with the Master throughout, as he tries to ensure that the Galactic Federation breaks up, so he can rule over some of the planets, and just be evil. The Doctor manages to defeat the Master, by tricking him into ‘escaping’, when he really escaped to a ship full of angry Ice Warriors, after he, murdered their old, old, Chief, at the end of Part One. The episode ends with Daniel’s funeral, and the Doctor is heartbroken, as she was planning to ask him to join the TARDIS, and the two had a lot of chemistry throughout the two episodes. Because of this, the Doctor takes the TARDIS, at the end of the episode, to Pete’s house, where she lands in his living room. She stands there, with complete silence from Pete, and fully apologies to him, to which Pete stays silent for a moment, before breaking into tears and hugs the Doctor, and the two of them board the TARDIS, once more, before we cut to the end credits.
This episode would’ve received over 2,000 OFCOM complaints due to the heavy political messages in this episode, strongly criticising Brexit, which didn’t play well for the BBC at all, and they were forced to issue a full apology, but they were able to blame it easily on Ronald D. Moore, as he was no longer under their employment. Oh, and the Not-My-Doctors were mad too. So, with that all done, let’s get into Episode 1.
CHAIN REACTION
Season 52, Episode 1
Written by RONALD D. MOORE
Directed by DANIEL O’HARA
TX Date – 18 March 2018
The opening episode of this season sees the Doctor and Pete land in San Francisco, in the modern day. They look around the city and see the sites, as the Doctor babbles on about what happens to San Francisco in the 51st Century, to which Pete isn’t really listening to. As they approach the Golden Gate Bridge, however, an alien spaceship crashes into the atmosphere, with a tremendous drone. Suddenly, everyone is running and screaming. Car crash, the city is brought to a standstill. The Doctor and Pete run onto the bridge, for a better view, and then, as the Doctor and Pete get to the other side a beam grabs the bridge, from the ship, and begins dragging the bridge, up, through the sky. People and cars are falling off as this happens, including the Doctor and Pete, who are at the side. Both of them manage to grab onto the road, as they hang off it, as it is pulled upwards. Pete manages to get up onto the bridge, and tries to pull the Doctor up, but then the bridge jolts, and the Doctor falls off it, down to the river, hundreds of feet below. The plot then splits into two, with the Doctor on Earth, in the aftermath of the disaster (after a scene of her managing to survive drowning and falling through being a Time Lord), and Pete is on the bridge as it’s dragged through hyperspace. It turns out that the Raston Warriors are behind this, as there was a target on the bridge, who they’d been contracted to ‘take out’. It turns out that this target, is in fact a rogue Raston warrior, who broke their programming and disguised themselves as human to escape. Obviously, Pete befriends him, right at the start, and his half of the episode plays out as a generic disaster movie, as Pete saves everyone, protects the target, and manages to get on board the Raston ship to get the bridge transport back to Earth. On Earth, the Doctor works with the American branch of UNIT (with only a quick cameo from Caitrin on a conference call), as they firstly deal with the aftermath of the disaster, and secondly try and find the spaceship and get the bridge back. Eventually, with the help of what the Doctor and UNIT do, alongside Pete’s actions, the bridge is returned, and the target is let to go back to his normal life.
KERBLAM!
Season 52, Episode 2
Written by PETE McTIGHE
Directed by RICHARD CLARK
TX Date – 25 March 2018
This episode sees the Doctor and Pete arriving on the moon of the planet Kandoka, where they find themselves at the Kerblam warehouse, which the Doctor explains is an interstellar retailer. The two get involved in a conspiracy, which turns into a terror incident, with the bubble wrap in the packaging becoming weaponised. The episode caused some controversy, however, due to its mixed messaging and criticism of companies like Amazon, which was too prevalent to be ignored, but not prevalent enough to say anything of importance. This episode was also originally episode 10, and tonally felt off to viewers in Episode 2.
COATS OF BLOOD
Season 52, Episode 3
Written by SARAH DOLLARD
Directed by RICHARD CLARK
TX Date – 1 April 2018
This episode sees the Doctor and Pete land in 1623, Colonial America, specifically in Virginia, and this episode is everything you can expect. Like the American Civil War arc in Season 50, this acts as a pure historical too, and is there very much to teach children about the British Empire, focusing a lot on the horrors they committed, as well, and also on early relations with the Native Americans. This story also continues to deal with the racism of the era, head on, with several references, made by the Doctor and Pete, to their experiences last season in Rosa. This episode was originally intended to be shot as part of Block 1, on location in America, but due to budgetary reasons (and growing hostilities between Moore and basically everyone else), Scotland ended up doubling for Colonial America.
TERROR ON TOLIA
Season 52, Episode 4
Written by KEVIN MURPHY
Directed by RICHARD CLARK
TX Date – 8 April 2018
This episode brings back the Tolians, for their third appearance in Doctor Who, but also after a few appearances in the latest season of the Elysium. We see the Doctor and Pete land on Tolia, in 3781, just over 500 years since the events of the Food of Love, and lots has changed. The planet is in civil war, between the North and the South, but with both of them not recognising that the other exists and considering their territory as part of their own, as just Tolia. The Doctor and Pete just get mixed up in this setting and these events, as they go from one side to the other in classic doctor who fashion, and both cause a bit of trouble. The story becomes a ‘let’s get back to the TARDIS’ story, and by the end of the episode, that’s what they do. However, at the end of the episode, we see the leader of the Northern Tolians speaking to, none other than, the Rogue, as we cut to end credits. And there we have it, the last episode under the direction of Ronald D. Moore, from the next episode, it’ll have been 2 and a half months later, filming wise, and with a set of (almost) entirely new scripts and storylines.
FRIENDS ON A TRAIN
Season 52, Episode 5
Written by JANE ESPENSON
Directed by MICK JACKSON
TX Date – 15 April 2018
This episode was the first under the leadership of Jane Espenson, and was the first to be written, replacing an episode by David Weddle & Bradley Thompson, which the BBC and CBS were unhappy with. The sole purpose of this episode was to reintroduce Sally, as a companion, as well as bring Annie on board as a companion too. The idea for this episode was to do something along the lines of Delayed Indefinitely, but this time on a train and with a more physical monster. So, it developed into a base under siege story, on a train, and all in one hour of real time. Oh, and it isn’t just any train, it’s the Eurostar, at night, going through the Eurotunnel. The Doctor and Pete land on there, during the journey, because they detect alien life signs, and it just so happens that Sally and Annie are going for a couple of nights away in Paris, on the same train, with Jade at her dad’s. It’s a pretty simple episode, a lone Sontaran is on board the train, after being captured by a group of alien hunters, and is being transported to Paris, however, it wakes up from sedation and basically wants to conquer the Earth. The episode is mainly here, however, for charatcer building, and healing, as the Doctor and Sally reconcile, especially as Sally she’s the Doctor, just being the Doctor and saving the day. However, at the end of the episode, it’s only by accident that Sally, and Annie come along, as Sally still wants to stay with Annie and Jade, at home. It’s just in the final scene when the four are in the TARDIS, saying goodbye, the TARDIS takes off, leaving the Doctor with no control, as we cut to end credits.
GOD FAMILIARS, PART ONE
Season 52, Episode 6
Written by TOBY WHITHOUSE
Directed by MICK JACKSON
TX Date – 22 April 2018
The mid-season finale is another replacement episode, throwing out the original episode 6 by Kevin Murphy and episode 7 by Ronald D. Moore. The story brings back the fan-favourite Weeping Angels, last scene in the 2010 Christmas Special, as the TARDIS is brought to another realm. The Doctor isn’t sure where they are, as it seems like there nowhere, but suddenly the world starts changing around them, and they find themselves, in, for about 2/3rds of the episode, a Victorian ship, on voyage to America, and ravaged by the weeping angels. This part of the episode is an intense 40 minutes-ish of horror, especially with the gothic setting, as the crew is getting picked off one by one, and the Doctor is letting it happen, as she knows they aren’t real people, but Sally strongly disagrees, saying that they can’t know that for sure. As time runs out, and the angels begin to close in on them, they find a prisoner on the boat, it’s… the Rogue. The walls then all fall down, and they all appear in nowhere again, but with the angels still surrounding them. It turns out there in some sort of prison, guarded by the angels, and the cliffhanger closes in as the Doctor works out that it’s a Dalek prison.
So before moving onto Part 2 in the next video, let’s briefly have a look at what Part One would’ve looked like under the Moore regime. First up we would’ve had Chain Reaction as normal before moving into a Kevin Murphy penned episode where the Doctor and Pete would’ve met Richard III, this episode was later rewritten by Adrian Hodges and included in Part Two. After that, Episode 3 would’ve been Coats of Blood, as it is here, but Episode 4 would be an episode penned by David Weddle and Bradley Thompson which would’ve been a sequel to the Conspiracy of PriceMart, like Episode 2, this one wasn’t shot before the firing, however it was rewritten by Adrian Hodges again, for use later in the season, but with so many severe changes that it ended up being something vastly different to the original Weddle & Thompson version. Episode 5 would have been another Weddle & Thompson episode, which the cliffhanger of Episode 4 would’ve led into and would’ve seen the Doctor and Pete arrive on Ascended Gallifrey, whereby she discovers that all the Vex there, have been massacred, by an unknown villain… who would’ve turned out to be the Daleks. This is the episode which was in production, when it was halted, and Moore was fired, and although nearly half of this episode was shot, the BBC asked for an entirely new episode to take its place, with only some of the original material making it onto the Deleted Scenes extras. Finally, Episode 6 would have been written by Kevin Murphy and would’ve seen the Doctor making a pact with the Rogue and the Rani to defeat the Daleks and take back Gallifrey, for the Time Lords, or what’s left of them. It would’ve ended with the TARDIS arriving back on the Elysium, whereby the Doctor makes a deal with Utnapishtim and Raleigh to get the plan into action. And that’s only the start of it, the second half of the season, which already had its scripts finished, were much, much worse… and that’s why the BBC pulled the plug.
Stayed tuned as next time, on Doctor Who, we’ll look into Episodes 6-12 of the broadcast season, before, I again, reveal the gossip on the episodes which never happened… But first, due to scheduling because of this whole thing, the Elysium Season 4 Part One airs first, so until then, goodbye.
WIDWWA 