Conceived as ammunition in the CBS and Paramount rivalry, by disgruntled CEO, Les Moonves, Doctor Who: The New Renegade made it to the screen in a vastly different context to the one it was conceived in. A CBS All Access Original Series, the show was created to be everything Paramount would hate – they had, just as The New Renegade was commissioned, released Doctor Who: Until the World Ends featuring former Doctor, Paterson Joseph, and CBS wanted something which would top that and make people subscribe to their, arguably failed, streaming service. However, by the time The New Renegade hit the screens in January 2020, Les Moonves had been fired (sexual assault allegations) and therefore a major hurdle in peace between the two companies had been removed, and after over a year of negotiation, CBS and Viacom (Paramount’s parent company) merged together in December 2019 to form ViacomCBS. The New Renegade was entirely produced (apart from the final edits and dubs) before the merger took place, yet it was one of the first CBS shows to premiere after it – this meant the content of the show was unrulily aggressive towards Paramount despite it being released, now, by Paramount themselves. Still, there was nothing that could be done to the first season of The New Renegade at this late stage, but it was clear to all involved that (the already commissioned) Season 2, would have some big changes taking place.
Putting studio politics aside, The New Renegade was helmed by Chris Carter, as showrunner, who was most famous for his work running The X-Files but was best known to Doctor Who fans as the showrunner and director of Cold Front, eight-years earlier. Jane Espenson wanted to showrun the show herself, however she felt doing so would have put her in too much of a dangerous place when it came to working with CBS, Paramount, and the BBC, as she had to be able to get along with all three of them, so she suggested Carter to CBS, who offered him the position.
The main concept of the series was very simply: “Anthony Head getting some adventures in the TARDIS”. When this was pitched to Carter, alongside CBS All Access Original, so the limits of Network TV don’t apply, Carter immediately requested that he be allowed to take some gambles with the series, firstly asking for a TV-MA rating (15 in the UK), mainly for some of the show’s darker themes and for its common use of the words ‘shit’, ‘bastard’ and three appearances of ‘fuck’, and also asking to do a completely serialised season. This worried Espenson as firstly adult Doctor Who had not really worked when attempted before (notably with Panopticon Series 4) and also all three of Anthony Head’s seasons were serialised, so the selling point of “Anthony Head getting some adventures in the TARDIS” might feel a little redundant. After considering all of these issues, Espenson expressed her wish that the show doesn’t go down that route – however CBS overruled her as they liked the sound of those ideas, and they wanted a dark and edgy show for CBS All Access to bring subscribers in.
The show was given the same budget as Doctor Who, that of $40 million for the season. However, while Doctor Who had to stretch $40 million over 13 episodes, The New Renegade only needed to deal with 10, managing around $4 million per episode, as opposed to just over $3 million. However, comparatively The New Renegade was still only a medium-budgeted show for CBS, with shows like Star Trek: Discovery budgeted $110 million and NCIS budgeted $60 million.
Shooting in Toronto, all the sets for the show were entirely new, as none of it could be shot on the existing Doctor Who sets at BBC Scotland. Both the TARDIS interior and exterior were redesigned, finally giving the Eleventh Doctor his own version, while several Gallifreyan sets were redesigned, based upon the original sets, but improved for HD and made more realistic, using actual metals instead of plastics. These sets didn’t match the originals perfectly, but they were close enough, even a hardcore fan would only notice many of the changes when put side-by-side.
The title sequence for the show was designed by Prologue and was probably the most different title sequence Doctor Who had ever had. The sequence began with an artist’s interpretation of the Citadel on Gallifrey before it catches into flames and the camera follows the ashes into the night sky of San Francisco, where the TARDIS flies overhead. The camera then follows the TARDIS into the Vortex and past many strange new worlds, until it finally comes to a moon in the middle of a huge colourful nebula, which the Eleventh Doctor is standing on, in an action pose, as the camera flies past his face, into the nebula and the ashes of the Citadel float past as the camera zooms into them and the logo appears on a clean white background.
Jeff Russo, after just one season on Doctor Who, left the show and moved onto The New Renegade upon CBS’ request. He composed the theme tune, which was mostly an adaptation of the Eleventh Doctor’s theme by Murray Gold but a slower more melodic version, complete with Jeff Russo’s own original elements and finally echoes of the Ron Grainer Doctor Who theme towards the end as the logo appears. It distinctively shows that the show is Doctor Who but it’s also its own show which is about one particular character – not the Doctor – but the Eleventh Doctor.
The Reckoning, Part I
Season 1, Episode 1
Written and Directed by CHRIS CARTER
TX Date – 19 January 2020
The pilot of the show begins with the Eleventh Doctor in some sort of study, sat in an armchair reading the Time Machine. He looks up and sees the Keeper (Don Warrington). The Keeper tells the Doctor that he’s wasting time and Gallifrey deserves to move on. The Doctor angrily shuts the book and tells the Keeper that he has no authority anymore and he won’t listen to a word he says any longer – not after his betrayal. The Keeper scowls at the Doctor and tells him to be careful, in a threating manner. Then – the Doctor wakes up, his fingers on his temple, before he puts on his Presidential robes and leaves, as we cut to the opening titles.
On Gallifrey, we find the Doctor after the events of The Confrontation of the Wicked and he is heavily torn about leaving Gallifrey or not. He still doesn’t trust the Rogue and doesn’t know whether there’s anyone Gallifrey could be in safe hands with. He keeps communicating with the Keeper, through the Matrix, asking for advice, but the Keeper and the Doctor’s relationship remains complicated, as the Keeper was the one who forced the Doctor on Gallifrey.
As the first act of the episode draws to an end, the Doctor finally enters the TARDIS, in his office, as we see the beautiful new interior, and the Doctor steps up to the console. At that moment, a projection of the Keeper appears as he tells the Doctor that ‘his sentence has ended’ and he can go back to being the Doctor. The Doctor says he has responsibilities now and is still in the process of forging a new Gallifrey. The Keeper programmes some coordinates into the TARDIS and tells him to have a ‘trial run’, before vanishing, as the TARDIS begins to take off.
During these scenes, which take up around the first 15 minutes of the episode, we intercut with a B-plot on a jungle planet called ‘Syslinlum’, as a refugee shuttle crashes onto it. One of these refugees is a young woman called Emma, who’s there with her elderly mother, who is very sick. They spend most of this time climbing out of the wreck of their space shuttle, which has crashed, as five of them make it out alive, with several others dying.
The TARDIS arrives at the beginning of act two and the Doctor soon meets the group, in the jungle, claiming that he’s ‘there to help’ and ‘find them a home’. He soon earns there trust, and decides to take them back to the TARDIS, but the jungle seems to be moving and reforming all around them as they quickly get lost, as they begin to notice something more sinister is going on. They soon discover some sort of parasitic creature has infested the jungle, controlling its environment and takes over each of the survivors one by one. The episode’s plot is mostly there to get the Doctor used to saving and helping people again, while also bonding him with Emma, who as the audience know will become a companion. One of the four survivors dies during the journey back to the TARDIS, but Emma, her mother, Judith, and a man called Kreu make it back.
However, while inside, and the TARDIS is in flight, we see that the creatures have infected Judith and she begins speaking with their voice saying that they ‘want the Doctor’, and that they’ve ‘been ordered to get the Doctor for him’. The TARDIS lands as the Doctor says that if Judith makes it out of it’s walls, all hell will break loose, as we cut to the end credits.
The Reckoning, Part II
Season 1, Episode 2
Written and Directed by CHRIS CARTER
TX Date – 26 January 2020
The episode begins with the TARDIS arriving on Earth, in San Francisco, as we see UNIT, led by Major Barnett (Chain Reaction), surround the TARDIS with guns after they received instruction from the Doctor to do so. The Doctor exists telling Barnett that there’s a dangerous parasitic lifeform inhabiting the body of an older female inside and it needs to be isolated and extracted in a secure manner. Barnett nods as, he and a UNIT team gear up in full has-mat suits, and specialist equipment as they enter the TARDIS. We then get a five-minute sequence of the team playing cat and mouse with Judith through the TARDIS before they are able to capture her and arrest her putting her into quarantine.
The episode’s primary purpose is to acquaint the Doctor and Emma with the US UNIT team and Major Barnett as they fight a foe, in this case the parasitic lifeform, which breaks out and begins to invade the Earth, with the Doctor, Emma and Major Barnett, who soon becomes just referred to as Dustin, saving the planet and defeating the threat. However, during the final showdown in the final act of the episode, another reverberation of what Judith said in part one is spoken to the Doctor, about someone on a higher plane wanting the Doctor, and they were ordered to get the Doctor. Judith ends up dying, before she can give any more information. Dustin takes the position that the aliens who want the Doctor are a threat to humanity and imposes himself on coming in the TARDIS with the Doctor and Emma to find the aliens. The Doctor is less sure, as he is still considering going back to Gallifrey.
The final scene of the episode sees the Doctor tapping back into the Matrix as he speaks to the Keeper. The Doctor discusses everything with him, and the Keeper says that the Doctor has a duty as Lord President to protect Time Lord power and interests, and if there’s some sort of being out there with more power, intent on destroying the Doctor and perhaps the rest of the Time Lords, then it is the Doctor’s duty to defeat them. Thinking it over, the episode ends with the Doctor, Emma and Dustin setting off in the TARDIS, readying to investigate who or what this power is…
REFUGE
Season 1, Episode 3
Written by JOHN SHIBAN
Directed by DAVID BARRETT
TX Date – 2 February 2020
This episode begins with the Doctor, Emma, and Dustin in the TARDIS as they set about plotting a course and destination. They decide on entering all the information they already know, after a recap brainstorming session, into the TARDIS databanks and seeing what it brings up – which ends up being thousands upon thousands of locations. The Doctor says they better pick one and then just work through them until something useful turns up, as he sets the TARDIS into flight.
They arrive in Iowa in 1972, where it seems to be simply a normal day. However, they soon discover that a lot of the locals seem to be captivated by a televangelist, called Duncan Burne, visiting the area, who seems to be taking over everything. The Doctor explains to Emma that televangelists were common in this period of earth’s history and it’s not too out of the ordinary, however, given the circumstance of their arrival, the Doctor states that he wouldn’t be too surprised if it’s connected.
They investigate and find out that Burne became famous very quickly and was unheard of beforehand but has managed to state most of the United States under his spell in search of God. The Doctor soon comes to the conclusion that Burne is an alien, up to some sort of evil plan. However, as the three of them investigate and meet Burne this seems to be more and more unlikely as he just seems to be a generally charismatic man, who has a deep religious and spiritual belief. Emma, coming from an almost completely atheist society, fails to understand it, but Dustin, who was brought up a catholic, begins to fall for it.
The disbelieving nature of the Doctor and Emma, as well as their confrontational front, turns the residents of the town they landed in against them as they try and lynch the two of them, with Dustin’s intervention being the only thing saving them. The trio decide to change approach as the episode moves into it’s third act, and they ask Burne for help, telling him that as he is so in touch with god and his religious beliefs, he could help them journey and find God. After a tense scene of the Doctor talking down to Burne, before Burne begins to speak to the Doctor in another sense and he speaks to him about all the possible ways a God could exist, even if it weren’t what the Doctor would call a God, the Doctor begins to come around, and Burne tells the Doctor that they need to visit the first Monastery, journeying to South Asia thousands and thousands of years in Earth’s history. Burne declares that answers will lie there… The episode ends with the four of them departing in the TARDIS, heading for their next destination.
The episode also has small snippets of a subplot, dotted throughout the runtime, whereby we see a taskforce on the planet of Illia, featuring a woman called Gali leading it, journey into a wormhole which appeared in their cave system. When they get through it, they find themselves in an area of seemingly perfect tranquillity.
THE MONASTERY
Season 1, Episode 4
Written by JANE ESPENSON
Directed by Douglas Aarniokoski
TX Date – 9 February 2020
This episode much more heavily features the B-plot featuring Gali and her taskforce on Illia (but I’ll get onto that later), however the other half of the episode, the A-plot, sees the Doctor, Emma, Dustin and Burne travelling to the oldest monastery in human history.
The episode features the Doctor find himself explore his spiritual side, with the monks at the monastery taking in the quartet and welcoming them. This episode becomes a deep exploration of faith as the head monk challenges the Doctor on what he believes in, and the Doctor ends up giving a beautiful poignant monologue about how he believes in the universe, and how he knows that it was always be constantly evolving and growing and creating life, and he takes solace in it.
Meanwhile, Burne gets involved in a subplot, whereby he discovers an opening in the ground, leading to some sort of volcano, which Dustin says is impossible as there aren’t any volcanos in most of the whole Asia area, but Burne says that it’s obviously a sign of God.
The B-plot re-joins Gali as they arrive in the area of seemingly perfect tranquillity, everyone finds themselves in their own individual paradise, seeing reality differently to one another. They are all cautious at first, but throughout they begin to take it in. We see one member of the group try to mutiny against Gali, as they believe they should stay forever, but Gali remains headstrong and says that they have to find out what’s going on and then leave.
The Doctor and Emma spend a lot of the backend of the episode, finding out the origins of faith amongst the monks and how it began, the Doctor says that he believes it’s human nature to hold onto a constant hope, but that he thinks there’s something deeper and more sinister at work. The two of them reunite with Burne and Dustin as the episode ends, and they find Burne stepping into the volcanic system, in the hopes it’ll take him to God – he burns up and die, the Doctor makes a joke about his name being apt. However, just then, the monks surround them and begin chanting, as a glowing white opening appears and they step through a portal, arriving in the area of seemingly perfect tranquillity as we cut to end credits.
TIME SYNDICATE
Season 1, Episode 5
Written by JAMES DUFF
Directed by MARTA CUMMINGHAM
TX Date – 16 February 2020
This episode picks up right from where the last one left off with the Doctor, Emma and Dustin joining the taskforce, led by Gali. They both briefly discuss the events that led each other here, but Emma remains strangely silent. Gali and Emma exchange looks, for a lot of the start of the episode, seeming unsure of each other. Gali says they were just investigating an anomaly and they have ended up here, the Doctor theorises that they are in another realm, controlled by another sort of lifeforce.
After the first ten minutes, the group come across a waterfall, which everyone can see, despite everything else being different. The Doctor and Gali walk into the waterfall whereby they enter a 1920s ballroom, with several couples waltzing, as others dine, across the hall. The Doctor, unsure what to do, tells Gali to blend in and they begin dancing, and as they begin, their clothes begin to transform into clothes matching the setting. The Doctor and Gali discuss Gali’s taskforce, and she tells him that they work for the Time Syndicate, on the planet Neshvarani. The Doctor tells her that he’s been to Neshvarani once, and it was not a pleasant place. Gali coldly states that it’s her home. The Doctor apologises as the two move towards the dining area and sit down at a table. She asks where they are, and the Doctor says they appear to be on Earth in a period known as the ‘roaring 20s’. Gali rolls her eyes. The Doctor asks exactly what they do in the Time Syndicate, and Gali says that they investigate anomalies and see how they can be used to Neshvarani’s advantage. However, just then a very fat man called Duggan walks up to the two of them and says that ‘he’ doesn’t want to see them. The Doctor silences Gali when she begins to enquire, as he tells Duggan that he wants to see ‘him’. Duggan tells the Doctor to go back to his ‘TARDIS’ and leave ‘him’ alone. And with that the two of them are transported into the TARDIS, and the Doctor exits finding it right outside the monastery again.
Meanwhile, while all this happens, the others begin to find errors in the area of perfect tranquillity, as they all begin seeing bits of each other’s, and noticing glitches. Emma and Dustin become very wary of the rest of the taskforce, being abrasive against each other.
The Doctor and Gali renter the TARDIS as the Doctor says that maybe, just maybe, he’ll be able to track, his friend, Dustin’s signal and find their way back to wherever they were. He says that UNIT transponders are unearthly powerful. As the TARDIS enters flight into the vortex, it comes up against a barrier, the TARDIS does not want to enter. The Doctor preservers and the TARDIS lands, and the two step out, onto a wasteland, a destroyed, wrecked planet, but seemingly full of life. The Doctor breathes in the air and says that all of this is wrong. However, after a few seconds, reality glitches, and the two of them appear where everyone else is, and then it glitches again and the entire group appear on the wasteland, whereby the Doctor gets them all in the TARDIS. Emma asks what’s going on and the Doctor says he wish he knew.
However, when they are all inside, Gali pulls a gun on the Doctor, Emma and Dustin and says that the TARDIS will be a valuable asset to the Time Syndicate, and they’d be more than happy to take it off the Doctor’s hands. The Doctor says they don’t understand how to use it, how to work it. And then Emma steps forward, crosses over to where Gali is, pulls a gun and tells the Doctor he will take them where they need to go, and then looks to Gali, before she adds: “won’t he, sister?”. Gali smiles evilly, with Emma as we cut to the end credits.
THE SILENT YEARS
Season 1, Episode 6
Written by Vaun Wilmott
Directed by Rachel Talalay
TX Date – 23 February 2020
This episode begins with Emma telling the Doctor to take the TARDIS to Neshvarani, whereby they can give it directly to the Syndicate. Dustin tells Emma to ‘fuck off’, and the Doctor says that he does concur. Emma smugly rolls her eyes and draws her gun closer to the Doctor’s head – but just then, Dustin grabs hold of Emma and begins fighting her. The other Time Syndicate members begin trying to get Dustin away from Emma before they all surround him with weapons. But in the chaos, the Doctor manages to pilot the TARDIS, selecting a destination, unbeknownst to the others. When Dustin is covered by everyone’s guns, the Doctor steps in and tells them that they will be arriving shortly – but it won’t be on Neshvarani.
The TARDIS arrives in a sandy settlement, as the Doctor, followed by the others step out of it. Gali asks where they are, and the Doctor says he doesn’t know, he selected another one of the destinations the TARDIS had come up with for the crew to journey to. Emma explains the Doctor’s mission ‘to find God’ and Gali just laughs, telling everyone that there is no God. The Doctor says that he agrees, and that they should consider Clarke’s third law: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” – which the Doctor adds, “or indistinguishable from God”. The Doctor says that his mission is to find out what is pulling the strings and whether they are a threat, and he says that it’s of much higher importance than the Time Syndicate hijacking his time machine.
Gali pulls a gun on the Doctor again and tells him to step back into the TARDIS, but the Doctor says that as the only one who knows how to use the TARDIS, she’d be very silly to do that. He tells her that she and her people can wait in the TARDIS, and try and fail to get it working, or they can come with him – either way, he adds, he is going to explore and investigate. Gali tells the rest of her team to stay in the TARDIS, and “rip it open” (the Doctor laughs), while she and Emma, accompany the Doctor and Dustin.
The team split into two groups, The Doctor and Gali & Emma and Dustin, as Gali wants eyes on both of them. After asking around the Doctor and Gali soon find out they are in Galilee in 26AD it soon hits the Doctor why the TARDIS brought them there – they are in the Silent Years, where they are most likely to meet Jesus Christ – if he did exist. Gali says that this is a waste of time and that mythical figures never do exist, but the Doctor says that all stories have an element of truth at their core.
Meanwhile, Emma and Dustin come across a carpenter, who they get talking to and eventually find out that he is called Joseph. Dustin, as a catholic, gets a little starstruck, believing this man to be the Joseph. He laughs at Dustin’s reaction and says that he must be in search of his son, Emmanuel, a preacher. Dustin chuckles nervously, as he asks for directions to find him.
All the groups continue asking around, until the four of them converge at a street preach, led by a 26-Year-Old, middle eastern man called Emmanuel. The Doctor reiterates that all stories have an element of truth as the four of them manage to speak to Emmanuel, afterwards. The Doctor asks him how and why he began his faith – Emmanuel seems a little confused, but tells the Doctor that God touched him, spoke to him, as he felt the presence of someone greater guide him. He says that he feels it is his duty to help others feel God in the same way. Gali says that she’s had enough of this, and they need to leave – but then Emmanuel stares blankly and coldly at the group, as his eyes turn black and then another voice comes out of his mouth, the voice of Duggan, who states: “I told you Doctor, go back to your TARDIS – he doesn’t want to see you.”
Meanwhile, throughout all this, we do get a small subplot of the others working in the TARDIS, trying to get it to fly, but they all fail.
The group return to the TARDIS and Emma tells the Doctor he must take them to Neshvarani and stop this stupid quest. The Doctor says he will take the TARDIS where he wants to go. Gali then says that if they can’t kill him, then they will kill Dustin, as he raises a gun to Dustin’s head and says that he needs to take them to Neshvarani.
THE KEEPER’S KNIFE
Season 1, Episode 7
Written by Bo Yeon Kim & Erika Lippoldt
Directed by Douglas Aarniokoski
TX Date – 1 March 2020
The TARDIS arrives on Neshvarani and it’s a cyberpunk style world, full of crime and villainy. With Dustin at gunpoint, Gali leads the group to the Time Syndicate officers, whereby they come face to face with the Syndicate’s boss – the Keeper, dressed in a business suit and looking cross, as we cut to the opening titles.
After Gali and Emma explain the situation to the Keeper, who is going by the name Shaun Eteuria, the Doctor shoots a look at him and meets with him in his office. The Keeper plays innocent and seemingly pretends not to know who the Doctor is, behind what Gali and Emma have told him. The Doctor ignores what he says and tells the Keeper that he’s trying to conduct the mission that he himself sent him on, and this diversion is not helping. The Keeper once again seemingly pretends that he doesn’t know anything.
The episode splits into three plots, one following the Doctor, one following Emma and the other following Dustin. I’ll go through each separately.
The Doctor goes to the central archives on Neshvarani, and looks up Shaun Eteuria, whereby he finds out that he completely checks out, has all the records of always existing from childhood to now. The Doctor assumes that the Keeper must’ve forged them. He continues to search around, but comes up blind, apart from one mention in his file – Shaun Eteuria is a member of a little-known religious movement on Neshvarani. The Doctor goes along to the nearest place of worship and investigates, whereby he runs into Eteuria. The Doctor tells him of his mission, and how his ‘Time Syndicate’ all experienced, what could only be described as God’s realm, heaven, or whatever name you want to give to it. Eteuria says that Gali has kept that information from him, and the Doctor says that she isn’t to be trusted. The Doctor also tells him that he must be allowed to investigate, and as a religious man, Eteuria must allow the Doctor to continue, in order to find answers. Eteuria ponders this, telling the Doctor a story about how he found faith, and then says that he can, as long as the TARDIS is returned to him afterwards, and that he takes Emma with him. The Doctor agrees, mainly because he wants to work out what’s going on with Eteuria, and why he seems identical (down to the voice and accent) to the Keeper.
Dustin spends the episode drowning his sorrows in a dirty cyberpunk bar, as he believes he’s stuck on Neshvarani in the far future and has no way of getting home. He manages to pick up a Neshvarani girl called Sirra, and the two sleep together. Afterwards, Dustin notices that Sirra has a copy of a Holy Book and is confused due to the fact Emma said the Neshvarani were atheists. He asks Sirra about this and she explains that she is in the minority, and they are the enlightened few on Neshvarani. Dustin tells her that it’s all true, he’s seen it, he’s been in the promised land. Sirra doesn’t take him seriously, saying that he’s taking the piss out of her beliefs and he’s like all the other rotten men on Neshvarani and kicks him out.
Emma spends the episode with the Time Syndicate trying to get the TARDIS to work. They try to literally rip it’s guts out, but it seizes up and traps them all inside. It goes into defence mode, essentially treating them all as intruders and trying to kill them. During these scenes, as Emma and Gali try and escape, and fight back, Emma tells Gali that their mother is dead and that she was overtaken by some sort of divine lifeforce. Gali is sad but can’t believe what she’s hearing, thinking that it’s all religious nonsense. Emma says she thought that at first, but she believes the Doctor is onto something and it should be investigated. Gali says that’s beyond the Syndicate’s mission statement and is a pointless endeavour. Eventually, they manage to get out, but only when the Doctor renters and sets the TARDIS back to normal. Eteuria explains to everyone The Doctor and Emma’s new mission, and the three are soon joined by Dustin, as they set off. Gali voices her criticism, but Eteuria says that it might be of vital importance to Neshvarani and wishes The Doctor, Emma, and Dustin their best luck. He also makes Emma promise to return with the TARDIS.
After the TARDIS takes off, we get one final scene whereby the Doctor goes to his study onboard the TARDIS. He hooks himself into the matrix and goes to see the Keeper. The Doctor says that he wants answers. The Keeper tells the Doctor that he doesn’t know who or what Shaun Eteuria is, but it certainly isn’t him. The Doctor confused says that the Keeper better not be lying, and the Keeper just says that all he wants is for Gallifrey to survive.
widow’s feast
Season 1, Episode 8
Written by James Duff
Directed by Rachel Talalay
TX Date – 8 March 2020
The Doctor selects another destination from the TARDIS’ list, and the TARDIS lands in a dark spooky looking field. In the middle of the field is a small farmhouse. The trio go to investigate, speculating what divine goings-on could be happening. It soon turns out that they have arrived at an Orphanage, which seems abandoned. No sound, no life.
The first ten minutes of the episode, play out almost like a horror film, with the three exploring the orphanage, and finding lots of things, such as an abandoned holy book, and a shrine to several dead children. The Doctor theories that it’s been abandoned for at least 25 years.
Eventually however, Emma notices the sobbing of a children from upstairs. She (split up from the others) follows the noise into one of the bedrooms, but finds it empty, with rain pouring in. She continues following this noise, to the other rooms, again and again, almost in circles, before she finds a little, frightened girl standing in a doorway. Emma speaks to the girl and tries to calm her down, trying to find out why she’s so frightened and what’s happened, but the little girl doesn’t say anything, and just begins sobbing.
The Doctor and Dustin continue to search, whereby in the cellar they come across something very intresting. A very anachronous, very high-tech matter transporter. The two of them step onto it, and the Doctor activates it, but it powers down and fails to work. The Doctor begins trying to mend it, while he and Dustin have a character-based heart-to-heart.
The girl tells Emma that she’s scared of ‘him’, which makes Emma take specific interest, asking who ‘he’ is. The girl says he’s the man who takes them away, the man who hurts them. Emma asks who else is being hurt, and what is happening. But the little girl, curls up in a frightened ball again and starts crying.
The Doctor manages to get the matter transporter up and running and activates it. He and Dustin vanish, in an electronic puff. At the same time, the little girl screams out in pain. Emma doesn’t know what to do and panics. The girl eventually stops, and Emma tells her that she needs to tell her everything or she won’t be able to help. The girl lets out a whimper and says, “He needs us, to spread the gospel”.
The Doctor and Dustin arrive on a spaceship, and all they can hear are screams, and the sounds of saws and drills. Dustin pulls his gun out, to which the Doctor rolls his eyes. Dustin says he’s got a bad feeling… the Doctor simply replies: “No shit”. They continue on through the corridors, chasing after the screaming, but its from everywhere… until they enter a lab, and see a figure sawing into a child… it’s the Keeper.
Emma finds out that the little girl lived in the orphanage with lots of other children, until a man kidnapped them all. The girl managed to escape back into the orphanage and block off the exit.
The Keeper, calling himself Dr. Praestes, seems pleased to see the Doctor. The Doctor asks the Keeper what he’s doing, but he proclaims that his name is not the Keeper, he is Dr. Praestes, simply gospeller for the great one. The Doctor looks confused and asks him to explain what is happening. Praestes says he is spreading the gospel, augmenting physically and mentally, thousands of children and redispersing them amongst the universes, to maintain absolute power, absolute control, absolute faith.
The little girl leads Emma to the matter transporter. Emma asks if the girl wants to come with her, but she shakes her head and runs off. Emma looks down at the transporter, presses the button and breathes. She arrives on the spaceship and is horrified by the sounds of screaming she can hear… knowing this is what the little girl experienced.
Praestes tells the Doctor that he wanted to see him anyway and maintains while the two of them have never met, he has always wanted to meet “the Lord President of Gallifrey”. The Doctor tells Praestes that whatever he wants, the price is too high, if as much as a single hair on any children’s heads are harmed. Praestes laughs and says, “more than a single hair in my estimation”.
Emma enters the room and is shocked at seeing Praestes, thinking it’s her boss, Eteuria. Praestes says that Eteuria is a bit of a dick, but that he’s much nicer. The Doctor stops Praestes there and tells him to explain everything. Praestes evilly laughs and says that the Doctor is no fun. Praestes says that he has some work to attend to, but in the meantime, the three of them can make an appointment with the great one. Emma jumps in and says that what he is doing is wrong and it is evil. Praestes assumes that Emma has been in contact with ‘little Judith’, and says that he needs to find the time to complete his work on her. Emma stops still and repeats ‘little Judith’… she then asks Praestes what planet the orphanage was on, and he replies with “Neshvarani, of course”. Emma states that the little girl was her mother… and that’s what he did to her – what led to her death. Emma rages at Praestes, ramming into him and trying to strangle him, but Praestes grabs a circular saw and puts it to Emma’s throat.
Then everything stops still – the three of them vanish, and they reappear in a white void. The booming voice of the Keeper sounds: “Lord President, so nice to see you again. It’s been such a long time” – as we cut to the end credits.
FAITH OF THE DOCTOR, PART I
Season 1, Episode 9
Written and Directed by Chris Carter
TX Date – 15 March 2020
This episode begins with a more expensive looking recreation of the closing scenes of ‘Return to Earth’ whereby the remnants of the Keeper’s consciousness fight the Doctor. After the Doctor vanishes, we see the Keeper reform, sucking all energy from the Matrix and then exiting the matrix, arriving in a complete vacuum. With a burst of energy, the Keeper comes back into himself, and ripples of energy continue to burst from him, and then his eyes glow orange, as the ripples begin to move, and then shape and then form. We cut to black – we see the Keeper, sometime later, surrounded by about 100 copies of himself, telling them the work must be done. And then we see several other copies of the Keeper, dotted around time – including Eteuria. And then we see the Keeper in the Matrix – he’s a different Keeper, one of the copies – never the true Keeper. As we cut back to the true Keeper, hovering in the vacuum, as space begins to form around him. He brings into life 7 beings, who begin to form as humanoid – the 2nd generation.
Then we cut to a long time later, the Keeper standing tall in a white void – wearing only a white gown – we see the Doctor, Emma and Dustin appear before him. The Keeper smiles as he booms out: “Lord President, so nice to see you again. It’s been such a long time” – as we cut to opening titles.
The episode sees a lot of explaining as the Doctor and the Keeper sort of interrogate each other, trying to find out just everything which is going on. The Keeper explains that after the Doctor ‘killed him’, his consciousness was sent back to the very beginning by the Matrix, and his presence caused the Big Bang. He says that he became a God – and soon being a Time Lord seemed so inferior. He explains that in the process his consciousness was split into about one hundred copies, who retained his essence – who work directly for him, such as Eteuria, and some he has sent across time and space to work for him in different worlds and different realities, keeping the faith. Another hundred, were also born as children again, without his memories, across space and time. The Keeper explains that these agents were more like sleeper agents, such as Eteuria, whereas the other ones spread the gospel, like Dr. Praestes.
Emma says if he caused the creation of the universe, that shouldn’t make him god, because he doesn’t have any control, he just caused its creation. The Keeper laughs and says that problem soon became apparent, so he set Dr. Praestes and many others on the mission to spread the gospel, spread the word of the almighty, spread religious devotion to him – the Keeper explains that’s how he gets his lifeforce – faith. Dustin works out that Emmanuel was also one of those children whom Dr. Praestes experimented on, and the Keeper nods, saying that Emmanuel was one of their best results, forming such devotion on the planet Earth.
After this conversation, the Keeper vanishes and the three of them are left to discuss their options. Dustin says that while the experiments on children are pure evil, the Keeper isn’t actually doing anything evil – he’s just encouraging faith to keep himself alive. The Doctor says that he wishes it were just that, but knowing the Keeper, he’ll be up to something else.
They spend more time discussing everything, and eventually the conversation gets onto the subject of Emma betraying the Doctor – as they haven’t really had a chance to talk about it yet. Emma says that her job above everything is to protect her home and do what she’s paid for. The Doctor asks why she didn’t mention it, and how come she and her mother were refugees. Emma tells the Doctor that Neshvarani is made up of two different planets, Neshvarani Major and Neshvarani Minor – both at the opposite ends of their binary star system. While they are a unified people, there are different governments in charge, and the one of Neshvarani Minor is one of hate and xenophobia, and that’s what her and her mother were trying to escape. Emma thanks the Doctor, if for nothing else, helping her return to Neshvarani Major.
The Keeper reappears and says that now the Doctor can help him repair time. The Doctor is confused, but the Keeper says that he went to great pains to get the Doctor to come to him, even with ‘the one below’ trying to stop him in his tracks. The Doctor is confused but the Keeper explains that Duggan, is essentially a manifestation of Satan – trying to throw the Doctor off the sent. The Doctor asks the Keeper what he wants. The Keeper says time is broken, time doesn’t work, and that time is a failed experiment – he needs the Doctor to help him change all that.
The Doctor cautiously sets to work with the Keeper, not knowing whether or not to trust him. Meanwhile, Emma and Dustin have a heart to heart, but it goes sour when Emma still maintains the TARDIS should be handed over to the Time Syndicate.
Eventually, the Doctor works out the Keeper’s plan – but it’s too late, he’s already helped the Keeper enough, by this point. The Doctor deduces that the Keeper has not experienced linear time for so long, not since he first entered the Matrix, back during the events of ‘Evolution of the Matrix’… and now the Keeper has so little concept of linear existent, he sees it as wrong, an abomination and see his seeking to destroy it and put everyone into a state of non-linear existent. But the Keeper has nearly completed the process. Nearly completed his master plan. The three of them fight against the Keeper, trying to stop him. In the process they manage to transport themselves back into the TARDIS, whereby the Doctor puts up it’s shielding to protect them – but then it happens, the whole universe is changed – the Doctor, Emma and Dustin, the only linear beings left. We crash zoom on the Doctor’s worried face as the episode cliff-hangers.
FAITH OF THE DOCTOR, PART II
Season 1, Episode 10
Written by Chris Carter & JANE ESPENSON
Directed by Chris Carter
TX Date – 22 March 2020
The episode begins with the universe in smooth motion, as beautiful as ever, with the Doctor’s voice monologing over it, talking about the beauty of the universe and how events happen: cause and effect, actions have consequences etc… and then he states, as the camera cuts to him: until they didn’t. And we see the beautiful universe, implode, and the re-explode, and then implode, before getting caught still in a spot in between. We cut to the Doctor, Emma and Dustin in the TARDIS and the Doctor says, as Lord President of Gallifrey, he is going to use the power invested in him to attempt to create a paradox – but he says that it’s very dangerous, and might very well fail, costing them their lives. Emma says she’d rather die as she is now, than be changed into the monstrosity the Keeper has turned every living being into. Dustin agrees, and says “It’s time to fuck the Keeper up” as we cut to the opening credits.
The Doctor tells his two companions that the TARDIS will only be able to return him back into linear time, before it completely falls away from the time continuum. Any non-Time Lord will not survive the trip, and therefore he will need to teach the two of them the basic knowledge of the TARDIS, in order to coordinate him from there. We get a montage of the Doctor teaching them what to do, as the three come up with a plan. It ends with the Doctor saying: “It won’t be easy, it’s not likely to work, but the universe depends upon their actions… today.”
The TARDIS lands on Gallifrey, and the Doctor steps out. Inside the TARDIS, Emma and Dustin can see on the scanner through the Doctor’s eyes, and hear what he hears, as well as being able to talk to him. The Doctor walks towards the citadel, but he is taken aback, by the sound of the TARDIS, as he looks up and sees the Tenth Doctor’s TARDIS being pulled into the Citadel by a blue beam of light. The Doctor remarks that it’s the right time, and the right place.
A lot of the first 20 minutes of the episode sees Eleven observing events around the Citadel, often bumping into scenes from the Movie (due to rights issues, with Paramount, these scenes were entirely reshot, with us only seeing the Doctors from wide shots, with stand ins, as actual movie footage couldn’t be used – however it’s the Keeper stuff, which could be reshot properly, which was important).
After the Keeper has sent all the Doctors off on their missions, the Eleventh Doctor confronts him. The Keeper recognises Eleven straight away and says that he isn’t supposed to exist yet, but the Doctor says that he’s come back in time… “to kill you”.
During all of this, intercut, we see Emma and Dustin, not only monitoring the Doctor’s activity, but also having to fight off the ravages of the Keeper’s altered universe, trying to break through the TARDIS’ defence barrier.
The Keeper is almost amused, telling the Doctor that only wishes for him to fulfil the role of Lord President, and that he should “chill out”. The Doctor tells the Keeper about what he did in the future and the Keeper says that he would’ve had his reasons, and the Doctor wouldn’t understand. The Doctor says that was the Keeper’s only chance to stay alive, and since he’s rejected that, the Doctor says he has no choice. The Keeper tells the Doctor that it’s very out of character to kill someone, but the Doctor says that maybe the Keeper doesn’t know him well enough: the Doctor raises a staser to the Keeper’s head and asks him once more, to step aside, retire to a pleasure planet, and “to not become a fucking god”. We hold on this, for longer than is comfortable, as the music builds up and up and up… and then: The Keeper backs down and says he’ll help fix this. The Doctor drops the staser and says thank you.
The Keeper and the Doctor return to the TARDIS, whereby the Doctor says it’s safer for them to be, as too much exposure to this ‘erased’ part of time, will destroy them. The Keeper says their plan of getting him to simply ‘retire’ is not going to fix anything, and they should get to the root of what turned him into a bad person. The Doctor and the Keeper make contact, and we get a supercut of events from Season 41 and early Season 42 (in their recreated cinematic glory) – the Keeper stops the supercut and moves it back to the Doctor’s declaration about the Gallifreyan Union and the first Resistance bombing – the Keeper says the Resistance is what would’ve done it. The Keeper ponders for a moment and says that the Doctor cannot be Lord President of Gallifrey – it’s the Doctor’s ignorant optimism which caused everything. The Keeper says that he instead will become Lord President, and therefore everything will be rewritten… for the better.
The Doctor is unsure about this, knowing that the events of his incarnation’s entire life will cease to exist. Emma says her mother would have never died. Dustin says, “Angela Jensen might still be a bitch”. The Doctor, Emma and the Keeper say “who?” but Dustin just laughs. The Doctor also says that time itself will be broken, with the lack of the central guiding figure for whom the Keeper became – it will try and repair itself in ways, maybe it’ll keep a few of the Keeper copies alive, maybe it’ll sustain the 2nd generation, but all will lack much power, all will have their purpose centrally reversed and changed. The Doctor adds while time is a healer, it can sometimes make mistakes. The Keeper says that if he is certain about doing this, then the Doctor has to account for the fact that things will need fixing and repairing afterwards.
The Doctor asks about Sandra and asks if she still has to die. The Keeper says no but he would not advise him to travel with her again, as she has a destructive personality and that’s why he was planning to separate them. The Doctor looks disappointed but says “as long as she lives, that’s all that matters”.
We cut to the Keeper in the Throne Room on Gallifrey. The Doctor, Emma and Dustin observe from the TARDIS. The Tenth Doctor (body double from behind) uses the Sulphric device and regenerates into the Eleventh Doctor. He clicks his fingers and all the Doctors, plus Sandra (who is transported back to Bellons itself) disappear. The Keeper then returns the newly regenerated Eleventh Doctor to his TARDIS and tells him to explore the universe. And everything bursts into light as time resets. We see the Keeper (God version) scream out in pain as he dies…
When Eleven is returned to the TARDIS, he sees that it’s The New Renegade TARDIS interior, and is confused about why he can’t travel with Sandra again. Then the Doctor is hit by a shockwave coming from the console – we get a supercut of all of 11’s memories and experiences as they are downloaded into his brain from the console. Eleven steps back and just say “Sandra’s alive”, with a smile on his face. The Doctor starts the TARDIS up, flying into the vortex onto another adventure.
However, we get one final scene, of Duggan walking through the streets of Neshvarani Minor, as he comes across Emma (as she would’ve been without meeting the Doctor) and he smiles, saying that he’s about to change her life, as we cut to the end credits, for the final time.
So, I’ll leave it to the next season to quite explain what on earth was going on with that ending, as the audience, would’ve also been none-the-wiser. How does this fit in with Doctor Who: Revelation, the Twelfth Doctor era, the entirety of Panopticon, you ask? Well, in universe you’d have no idea until Season 2 either… so just accept it, for now.
The reason the finale used events from the Movie, despite their being some rights issues, was that while they couldn’t use actual footage from the Movie, Chris Carter pushed his luck with recreating scenes from it and using parts of the script, as by the time of the finale being written and shot, he was aware Viacom and CBS were likely to merge and essentially hedged his bets that they would be merged by broadcast. If this hadn’t had happened, CBS would’ve been sued by Paramount.
WIDWWA 