DOOMSDAY (DOCTOR WHO)

'"Doomsday"' is an episode in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. It was first broadcast on 8 July 2006 and is the second part of a two-part story. The first part, "Army of Ghosts", was broadcast on 1 July. The finale of the 2006 series, it is the final appearance of Billie Piper as companion Rose Tyler. The characters Pete Tyler, Jackie Tyler, Mickey Smith and Jake Simmonds also depart the series in this episode. It features the return of the Daleks, who had not been seen since the 2005 series' finale, and the Cybermen, who appeared earlier in the series.

Contents

Synopsis

Plot

Cast

Continuity

Daleks

The Void

References to other episodes

Production

Outside references

Broadcast and DVD release

References

External links

Reviews

Synopsis

Humanity is caught in the crossfire as the Cybermen and the Daleks wage war against each other. When the mysterious Genesis Ark opens, the Tenth Doctor is faced with an impossible decision: saving the world could mean the death of Rose Tyler.

Plot

:''On a coastline looking at the ocean, Rose continues relating the last story she will ever tell: the story of how she died…''
Dr Singh, Mickey and Rose are trapped in a sealed room within Torchwood Tower as the four Daleks who have emerged from the void ship approach them, with a vaguely Dalek-shaped artefact following. As they cry out their intent to exterminate, Rose surprises them by shouting out their name. She approaches the Black Dalek (Dalek Sec) and offers to tell them how she knows about the Daleks and the Time War but only if they keep them alive. Dalek Sec decides that they are necessary and asks about the status of the artefact — which it calls the Genesis Ark. It orders the awakening to begin and declares that the Ark must be protected above all else.
Surrounded by Cybermen, an upset Jackie asks the Doctor what has happened to Rose. The Doctor gives Jackie his word that he will find Rose and get the two of them out. The Cyberleader declares the Cybermen as the Earth's new global authority and begins to broadcast on all wavelengths, telling all humankind not to fear them, as the Cybermen will remove fear, sex, creed, class and colour. All of humanity is to be upgraded and become like them.
The Cyberman invasion is met, however by military resistance. The Cybermen can deflect bullets, but not high-yield explosives, tools which are slowing their invasion down drastically. Back at Torchwood, the Cyberleader observes that mankind has not submitted to his instructions. The Doctor angrily says that humanity is not taking instructions from him: the Cybermen are on every street, have broken into their homes and taken their children hostage; they will fight back.
In the Sphere Chamber, Dalek Sec demands that the three humans designate which of them is "the least important". Although Rose tells them that humans do not class each other like that, Singh steps forward to represent the Torchwood Institute. The Daleks want information about Earth in this time period, and command Singh to kneel. Dalek Sec says they will extract Singh's brainwaves. As three Dalek manipulator arms press against his skull, compressing it, Singh screams.
The Cyberleader has detected alien technology in the Sphere Chamber and sends two Cybermen (Cyber Units 10-65 and 10-66) down to investigate. At the same time, as Singh's burned-out corpse collapses to the floor, Dalek Sec has obtained the information about a second species invading Earth. He sends one of the Daleks, which he calls "Dalek Thay", to investigate. Both groups are feeding video information back to their respective leaders, and so the Doctor sees Dalek Thay as he encounters the two Cybermen. The Daleks and the Cybermen for the first time see each other. Each side demands that the other identify itself, and Dalek Thay lets slip his identity when he proclaims that Daleks do not take orders. Dalek Sec also notes that the steel cyborgs bear some resemblance to the "inferior species" known as Cybermen, which is later confirmed by Cyber Unit 10-65.
The Doctor surreptitiously calls Rose using Jackie's mobile phone, confirming that she is still alive when she answers the call. Rose does not speak but keeps the line open, allowing the Doctor to listen in as the Daleks within the Sphere Chamber mention the Genesis Ark. The Cybermen propose an alliance with the Daleks, but Dalek Thay refuses. The Cybermen open fire on Thay, but their energy beams simply get absorbed by his superior force field. Thay returns fire almost instantly, exterminating the two before him.
The Cyberleader then speaks directly to Dalek Sec, accusing him of declaring war. Both sides taunt each other, boasting of their military might, with Dalek Sec declaring that the four Daleks will "destroy the Cybermen" (of which there are five million). Dalek Sec cuts off the transmission. However, one of the Daleks, Dalek Jast, orders the image to reverse by "nine rels" and to focus on the image of the Doctor in the background, identifying him as an enemy. The Daleks turn to Rose, demanding that she identify him. Rose does so, noting with satisfaction that while the Daleks are confident of taking on five million Cybermen, the thought of one Doctor frightens them more.
Requiring more troops, the Cyberleader orders the Torchwood employees to be taken away and upgraded. Yvonne Hartman and Jackie are forcibly escorted away, but the Cyberleader keeps the Doctor to learn what he knows about the Daleks. As Hartman is led away to the conversion chamber, Jackie blames her and Torchwood for killing them all. Hartman tearfully repeats that she did her duty to her Queen and country, then begins to scream as she is upgraded.
The Cyberleader tells the Doctor that he is living proof that emotions are self-destructive. The Doctor agrees, but as he hears a rising sound, states that hope is also a good emotion. A squad of humans pops into existence in the room and quickly wipe out the Cybermen in the control room with energy weapons. The apparent leader of the squad destroys the Cyberleader with a single shot before revealing himself to be Jake Simmonds. The Doctor is shocked to see Jake here.
The Cybermen sense that the Cyberleader has been terminated and begin to download his files into another Cyberman unit to replace him. This gives Jackie the chance to escape down the stairwell before she can be upgraded. Meanwhile, the Doctor tells Jake that they cannot just hop from one universe to another. Jake shows the Doctor the disc-shaped devices they developed with their world's version of Torchwood which enable them to move between universes, and before the Doctor can stop him, Jake transports the two of them. Jake explains that they found out what the parallel Torchwood was doing and the People's Republic took control of the organisation, shutting it down and ransacking the parallel Torchwood Tower. As the Doctor orders Jake to take him back, Pete Tyler steps out of the shadows, telling the Doctor that this is their world and for once, he is going to listen.
Mickey shows Rose an identical disc-shaped device, but tells her it lets only one person transport, and he will not leave her. Mickey wonders outloud what the Daleks want with him. Rose tells him about the time she revived a Dalek with her touch. A person travelling in time soaks up harmless background radiation; however, in the Time War, the Daleks evolved to use it as a power supply. If something inside the Ark needs revival, the Daleks would need either one of them to use their radiation to power it. Mickey wonders why the Daleks would build something they cannot open, but Dalek Sec breaks in on the conversation, replying that the technology is not theirs, but that of the Time Lords — the last remnant of their homeworld. When Rose asks what is inside, Dalek Sec answers her with "The future."
On the parallel Earth, Pete explains that they tried sealing up the Cybermen in the factories, but other people argued that the Cybermen were still people and needed help. As the debate went on, the Cybermen infiltrated the parallel Torchwood, found the Doctor's universe and vanished. The sheer mass of five million Cybermen is why it took them three years to cross while individuals could pop across in a second.
Pete shows off his world, where Great Britain is apparently enjoying a Golden Age (as evidenced by the many additional skyscrapers and zeppelins) and where Harriet Jones is President of the United Kingdom. However, ambient temperatures are rising and the ice caps are melting. Pete correctly surmises that, rather than global warming, it has to do with the breach; the Doctor confirms that every time someone crosses over damage is done, and if it keeps up both worlds will fall into the Void. Pete believes the Doctor can close the breach, but when the Doctor says that doing so will leave the Cybermen on his world, Pete replies that he is only interested in protecting his Earth. The Doctor points out there is a parallel Jackie who is still alive (Pete's Jackie having been upgraded and then destroyed in "The Age of Steel"), but Pete says that there are more important things at stake and asks the Doctor to help them. Seeing Pete's faith in him, the Doctor agrees to help.
The Doctor, Pete and Jake cross back. The Doctor calls up Jackie on her mobile phone, telling her to keep a low profile in the stairwell. The Doctor takes Jake's rifle and modifies it so it can affect polycarbide: the skin of a Dalek. He then goes down to surrender to the Cybermen with a makeshift white flag made from a sheet of A4 paper; in particular, surrendering unto them a very good idea…
Dalek Sec demands that Rose activate the Ark, threatening Mickey's life. Rose steps forward to do so, but gleefully tells the Daleks how she met the Dalek Emperor and used the Time Vortex to turn him to dust. Enraged, Dalek Sec is about to exterminate her for this when the Doctor appears in the doorway, wearing what are apparently 3-D glasses.
Dalek Sec asks how the Doctor survived the Time War. The Doctor says that he did that by fighting on the front lines (mentioning he was at the fall of Arcadia), whereas these Daleks fled. Rose tells the Doctor that these Daleks have names, a fact which the Daleks confirm by declaring each of their names respectively: Dalek Thay, Dalek Sec, Dalek Jast and Dalek Caan. The Doctor realises that these four Daleks are members of the Cult of Skaro, a secret order above even the Dalek Emperor. The Cult's purpose was to think as the enemy thinks, to find new ways of killing, including daring to take on individual identities. When Mickey asks the Doctor about the Genesis Ark, the Doctor replies that he does not know what it does; both sides had secrets.
Dalek Sec gloats that Time Lord science will ensure the supremacy of the Daleks, and orders the Doctor to open the Ark. The Doctor laughs off the suggestion and produces his sonic screwdriver. He explains that, while it cannot kill, wound, or maim, it is very good for opening doors — a fact he demonstrates by activating it, followed by the doors to the Sphere Chamber explosively opening. Jake's men, side by side with the Cybermen, enter and open fire on the Daleks using the modified energy rifles, temporarily disrupting the Daleks' shields and weapons, giving the Doctor and the humans time to escape. However, the Daleks quickly regain control of their weapons. The Cybermen are still no match for the Daleks and are all swiftly exterminated. As the Doctor and the humans rush out of the chamber, Mickey is knocked into the Ark by a damaged Cyberman and his hand presses against its surface. The Ark is primed, steam gushing from the bottom vents, and Dalek Sec announces that it needs an area of 30 square miles. The Daleks begin to escort it out of the chamber.
The Doctor and the humans retreat towards the stairwell. Mickey apologises for his slip-up, but the Doctor tells him that he did them a favour because the Daleks would have eventually destroyed the Sun in an attempt to open the Ark by force. He gives Mickey an affectionate kiss on the head.
Meanwhile, Jackie is found by two Cybermen who lurch forward to capture her for upgrading. However, the Cybermen are shot from behind by Pete, with the Doctor, Rose and Mickey following him. Jackie and Pete see each other for the first time and have an awkward exchange as their parallel counterparts are dead. Although Pete tries to rationalise that Jackie is not really his wife, the two end up running into each other's arms and embracing.
The Daleks and the Ark move into the Torchwood storage area, and begin battling a very large force of Cybermen. Some human soldiers break in and add to the chaos. The Doctor stumbles into the area as well, grabbing two weight cancellers before leaving. As the Daleks blast their way through all opposition with relative ease, the new Cyberleader calls for emergency reinforcements before himself being struck dead. All Cybermen gathered throughout London begin to march, converging on the Torchwood Tower. Inside, Dalek Sec forcibly opens the roof, and he elevates upward with the Ark. As the Doctor and the others watch from the now deserted control centre, the Ark opens above London and starts spinning, disgorging Dalek after Dalek after Dalek. The Doctor realises that the "Time Lord science" Dalek Sec referred to was the fact that the Ark is bigger inside than outside: the Ark is a prison ship, containing millions of Daleks. As hundreds of Daleks line up in aerial formation, Dalek Sec orders them to exterminate all life forms below. At the same time, the Cybermen march in formation on the ground priming their weapons, and they fire as one into the air. The Daleks and Cybermen begin fighting all over the planet, with humans caught in the crossfire.
Pete believes the situation to be hopeless, and prepares to escape back to his world while offering to take Jackie along with him. The Doctor, however, is more optimistic. Wearing his 3-D glasses, he explains that it allows him to see that everything that has crossed the Void between universes has picked up background radiation from it: "void stuff". Since the Daleks and Cybermen have been hiding in the void, they will be saturated in it and will be pulled back into the Void if he re-opens the breach, reverses it and then seals it again.
Rose, however, points out that they are covered in "void stuff" too. The Doctor explains that he will open the breach here, but if Rose and the others go back to Pete's world, they will be safe. The Doctor will hang on to the magnetic clamps so he will not be pulled in. Rose realises that if the breach seals she will never be able to return, and refuses to leave the Doctor despite the prospect of never seeing her mother again. While Rose and Jackie argue about who is leaving, the Doctor and Pete slip the devices around their necks and Pete transports them all across, leaving a regretful Doctor behind. However, Rose quickly reactivates her device and returns, telling the Doctor she will never leave him.
Rose sets all the coordinates on the Void controls to six on the Doctor's instructions. As the Cybermen who survived the massacre of the Torchwood storage area ascend the stairs to the control centre, intending to escape back to the parallel Earth and retake that, by deleting the Doctor on the way. Just as they are about to reach the top, they are met by a Cyberman with, incredibly, a female-sounding voice, similar sounding to Yvonne Hartman's. She declares that they shall not pass and destroys them all with an energy rifle. As she repeats that she did her duty for Queen and country, a tear of oil leaks from the duct below her left eye.
The Doctor and Rose fix the magnetic clamps on the walls. They pull the levers, activating the breach then hold on tightly to the clamps. Outside, millions of Daleks, including the Ark, are drawn towards Torchwood Tower and are rapidly sucked into the breach as the Cybermen are also pulled upward into the sky and into the Void. However, Dalek Sec initiates an emergency temporal shift and he vanishes; a later episode reveals that the rest of the Cult did the same.
The power lever on Rose's side begins to shift to the offline position, threatening to abort the process. The Doctor watches helplessly as the Void begins to close, and the flow of Daleks and Cybermen being sucked into it begins to slow. Unable to reach her lever while still holding on, Rose lets go of her clamp to do so. She pushes the lever back up and power is restored, but Rose is left clinging on as the Void tries to consume her. The Doctor screams at her to hold on.
As the last of the Daleks fall into the Void, Rose can no longer hold on to the handle and lets go, flying towards oblivion. The Doctor and Rose scream in anguish, but at the last moment, Pete materialises in front of the breach, immediately grabbing Rose and vanishing again. As the Doctor is left in shock, the breach ripples and seals itself permanently. On the parallel world, Rose beats the wall, sobbing hysterically as Pete notes that his device no longer works as the breach has now been closed. On both sides of the breach, the Doctor and Rose lean against the wall, resting their cheeks against it for a moment as if sensing the other's presence. The Doctor then walks away sadly, alone, to find the TARDIS.
Some time later, Rose has a dream where she hears the Doctor's voice calling her. Rose, Jackie, Pete and Mickey follow the voice to fifty miles outside Bergen, Norway, on the coastline of Dårlig Ulv Stranden — Bad Wolf Bay. There, an image of the Doctor appears; he tells her that he found the last of the breaches, and mapped an image of himself onto the parallel Earth by using the TARDIS to harness the power of a supernova, commenting that he is burning up a sun to say goodbye. Rose tells him that he looks like a ghost, and the Doctor increases the image of himself to maximum projection — making it look as if he is really standing there, but he tells Rose that he is still just an image, and that she cannot touch him. With only two minutes left before the final breach closes for good, the two share their final farewell. Rose tells the Doctor that her mother is three months pregnant. At first, Rose jokes that she is now back working as a shop girl, but then reveals that she is with the parallel Torchwood, which has re-opened, as they could use her expertise with aliens. The Doctor smiles proudly and says, "Rose Tyler: Defender of the Earth."
The Doctor tells Rose that she is officially dead on her original Earth. Rose tearfully asks the Doctor if she will ever see him again, and the Doctor replies, "You can't." Breaking down, Rose asks what the Doctor will do, and he says he will go on, alone. Weeping, Rose tells the Doctor she loves him. As it is his last chance to do so, he begins to reply, "Rose Tyler..." but his image fades. Rose, still in tears, turns and runs back into Jackie's arms.
In the TARDIS, the Doctor stands for a minute, lips still parted as if in the middle of a sentence. Wiping his own tears from his eyes, he starts to work the console. Suddenly, he looks up to see a woman in a wedding dress standing in the console room. Dumbfounded, all the Doctor can stammer is, "What!?", as the bride demands sharply that he tell her where she is.

Cast

★ The Doctor — David Tennant

★ Rose Tyler — Billie Piper

★ Jackie Tyler — Camille Coduri

★ Mickey Smith — Noel Clarke

★ Pete Tyler — Shaun Dingwall

★ Jake Simmonds — Andrew Hayden-Smith

★ Yvonne Hartman — Tracy-Ann Oberman

★ Dr Rajesh Singh — Raji James

★ Cyber Leader — Paul Kasey

★ Dalek/Cybermen voices — Nicholas Briggs

★ Dalek Operators — Barnaby Edwards, Nicholas Pegg, Stuart Crossman, Anthony Spargo, Dan Barratt, David Hankinson

★ The Bride — Catherine Tate

Continuity

★ Dalek Sec is seen activating "Emergency Temporal Shift", disappearing to an unknown location, presumably 1930s New York. Russell T. Davies stated the rest of the Cult of Skaro went with him, obviously returning in "Daleks in Manhattan".

★ In-universe, the events of this episode are known as "The Battle of Canary Wharf".

★ The Doctor mentions being on the front lines of the Time War when Arcadia fell. The planet Arcadia was mentioned in the novel ''Deceit'' by Peter Darvill-Evans. Both "Doomsday" and ''Deceit'' are, however, predated by an earlier reference to an Arcadia which the Sixth Doctor helped to populate and name in the ''Doctor Who Magazine'' comic strip story, "Profits of Doom". In the strip, the Doctor says of Arcadia: "in a few centuries, it will be a galaxy haven, a place worth visiting."^[1] Like all spin-off media, its canonicity in relation to the television series is unclear. However, the author of "Profits of Doom", Mike Collins, is notable for being the most prolific ''Doctor Who Magazine'' artist during the first two seasons of the Russell T. Davies era, and is the only artist to contribute to both the Sixth and Tenth Doctor's runs^[2].

★ The final scene in the TARDIS was refilmed for the pre-title sequence of "The Runaway Bride".

★ Catherine Tate's character is not named on-screen, and is listed in the credits only as "The Bride". In "The Runaway Bride" it is revealed that her name is Donna Noble.

★ The character of Rose is written out of the series in this story, although she is referenced numerous times the following season, and appears briefly in flashback in "Utopia" in a scene originally from "The Parting of the Ways". Several of the Doctor's other companions, both in the classic series and in the new one, also departed in Dalek stories, including Susan (in ''The Dalek Invasion of Earth'' [1964]), Ian and Barbara (in ''The Chase'' [1965]), the first incarnation of Romana (in ''Destiny of the Daleks'' [1979]), Tegan (in ''Resurrection of the Daleks'' [1984]) and Jack Harkness (in "The Parting of the Ways" [2005]).

★ The musical theme heard in the final moments of this episode is similar to the one heard in "The Sound of Drums" (2007) when the Doctor and Martha are separated, and again at the opening of the subsequent "Last of the Time Lords".

Daleks

★ This episode marks the first time in the new series that the planet Skaro is mentioned. The Dalek homeworld was alluded to, but not named, in "The Parting of the Ways".

★ "Doomsday" is the first episode in the history of ''Doctor Who'' in which the Cybermen and the Daleks appear together on screen. Both Cybermen and Daleks were featured in ''The Five Doctors'' and "Army of Ghosts", but in separate scenes. Daleks and Cybermen also appeared together in the 1989 stage show ''Doctor Who - The Ultimate Adventure''. A Cyberman's head appeared in the episode "Dalek". A Dalek is seen in flashback at the end of the Cyberman-involved Second Doctor serial ''The Wheel in Space''. In ''The War Games'', the Second Doctor shows the Time Lords images of the Cybermen and the Daleks on the screen near the end of Episode 10.

★ The Daleks recognise the similarities between the parallel Cybermen and the Cybermen of their own universe, suggesting an earlier, unseen encounter between the two races. Alternately, it could simply be that the Daleks know of the Cybermen without having encountered them.

★ When viewing the Doctor on the communications screen, Dalek Jast orders that the picture be rewound "nine rels". A "rel" is a Dalek unit of time, first used in the 1960s Dalek movies (''Dr. Who and the Daleks'' and ''Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD'') and subsequently used in the Dalek comic strips and in the Big Finish Productions audio plays. This is its first use in the television series. (In the non-canon ''Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death'', the lead Dalek instructs the Master to prepare a machine in "five Dalek-minutes".)

★ The Daleks' method of "suckering" people to death is used again, having been originally referred to and seen in "Dalek" (2005). Footage of Rose with the Dalek from "Dalek" is also used in this episode.

★ A Dalek's armour being composed of polycarbide was first mentioned in 1988 in ''Remembrance of the Daleks''. The material was dubbed "dalekenium" by a human rebel in ''The Dalek Invasion of Earth'' (1964).

★ The purpose of the Cult of Skaro, to think as the enemy thinks, is part of the Daleks' recognition of the limits of their logic dating back to ''The Evil of the Daleks'' (1967), where the Daleks wanted to insert the "Human Factor" into Daleks to make them more effective conquerors. In ''Destiny of the Daleks'' (1979) they revived their creator Davros to make use of his creativity, and in ''Remembrance of the Daleks'' (1988) they used a young girl as their battle computer.

★ The concept of Daleks with personal names was also featured in ''The Evil of the Daleks''. There, the Second Doctor implanted his own version of the "Human Factor" in three Daleks (whom he christened Alpha, Beta and Omega), who developed more human-like and benign personalities as a result.

★ Dalek Sec is the only Dalek in the history of film and television whose hemispheres were the same colour as the rest of the casing, although the difference between the two is only slight in modern drone Daleks.

The Void

★ The Doctor states that travel between universes was impossible until the Daleks broke down the walls between worlds with the void ship. This may explain the crack in time that the TARDIS fell through in "Rise of the Cybermen" to reach the parallel Earth in the first place.

★ "Rise of the Cybermen" was established as taking place in 2007, but it took the Cybermen three years to pass through the breach, so from the parallel Pete's perspective it is around 2010. However, Jackie says twice that it has been twenty years since her Pete died, so in her world the year is 2007. Whether this means the breach also traverses time or that time passes at different rates in different universes is unclear. A file on the Torchwood Institute website incorrectly dates this story to 2006.^[3]

★ When the Doctor puts the transport disk on Rose, Pete hits the button on his and they all travel back to the parallel world. However, when Rose hits the button on hers, she alone is transported back to the Doctor, even though the others are still wearing their disks. Although it is possible Pete, as the leader, has some sort of master switch.

★ All the Daleks and Cybermen, apart from the Cult of Skaro, that had traveled through the Void were sucked back into it. However, no Cybermen are seen being pulled through the breach in Torchwood Tower despite shots of them rising into the air. The commentary explains that the Daleks were sucked through the main breach while the Cybermen were pulled through the smaller fault lines. The TARDIS is not pulled through either, despite having traveled through the Void as well, but this has not been explained.

★ ''Torchwood'' episode four, "Cyberwoman", confirmed that Cybermen made from the raw materials of Rose's world were not pulled into the void, whereas those made of material derived from Pete's world were.^[4] The later Quick Reads novel ''Made of Steel'' by Terrance Dicks also featured Cybermen who had not been pulled into the Void because they were created entirely on Earth.

References to other episodes

★ The incidental music that plays at the end of the episode on the beach was first heard, without the percussive bass line, when Rose first entered the TARDIS in "Rose". After "Doomsday" aired, similar music was used on the home page of the BBC ''Doctor Who'' website.

★ Rose tells Mickey that the Daleks evolved to use radiation picked up by time travellers as a power source and refers back to the events of "Dalek". However, in "Dalek", the Dalek said that it used the "DNA" of a time traveller, not radiation, to regenerate itself.

★ When the Doctor sends Rose to Pete's world, she says he is "not doing that to her again", a reference to when the Doctor sent Rose home in the TARDIS in "The Parting Of The Ways".

★ In both the 2005 and 2006 series finales, Rose cries "Take me back! Take me back!" as she is separated from the Doctor, seemingly forever.

★ The Doctor tells Rose to set all the void control coordinates to 6 (666). The number 666 featured prominently in the "The Impossible Planet" and "The Satan Pit" as allusions to the Number of the Beast.

Production

★ The first cut of this episode was six minutes too long. Most of the removed scenes came from the Cybermen's attack on the bridge.

★ The fires across London, caused by battles with the Cybermen, seen earlier in a view out of a window in Canary Wharf are all missing when the Daleks fly out of the Genesis Ark.

★ The "3-D" effect shown when Rose wears the Doctor's 3-D glasses is to some extent legitimate: viewers with red/blue tinted lenses can sense depth. The "void stuff" is all on a layer, hovering much closer to the viewer than the underlying footage, and some dramatic details (such as David Tennant's nose or the piping on the set) clearly stick out in comparison to the background.

★ The involvement of the Daleks in the series finale was revealed by a prank in which the prop used for Dalek Sec appeared in a BAFTA awards ceremony.

★ There was some discussion among the production team about whether Rose would be saved by Mickey or Pete. According to the episode commentary, Pete was chosen to show that he finally embraced her as his daughter.

★ Russell T. Davies also states in the commentary that, in his opinion, killing off Rose was never an option, because of the overall optimism of the show.

★ In the commentary and behind-the-scenes featurettes on the Series 2 DVD, it is revealed that the Doctor and Rose's farewell scene on the beach was actually filmed midway through production of the season. In his video diary (also on the DVD), Tennant states that only he and Billie Piper were given copies of the actual script for their farewell scene. Although it was very cold on location on the day the beach scenes were filmed, the scene was so emotional that there were "loads of tears on set".^[5] According to the DVD release, however, the final scene Tennant and Piper actually filmed together was the closing scene of "The Satan Pit".

★ In his DVD commentary for the episode, Tennant says the bride scene was shot following his and Piper's last scene for "The Satan Pit", while most of the cast and crew were at the wrap party marking the end of Series 2 production, making it the final scene to be shot for the second season. It was also the last scene shot in the TARDIS set that had been in use since 2005, as a new set would be introduced with production of "The Runaway Bride".

★ The two-part story (both "Army of Ghosts" and "Doomsday") has been nominated for the 2007 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form. ^[6]

Outside references

★ There are a number of similarities between this plot and the plot of Philip Pullman's ''His Dark Materials'' trilogy. These include an alternative universe where airships are commonplace, the existence of rips between the universes having a negative effect and having to be closed, and the climate on Earth being affected by the rips between the universes. ''Newsround'' reporter Lizo Mzimba stated on the Outpost Gallifrey fan forum that at a discussion at BBC Television Centre, Davies confirmed that elements of the Series 2 conclusion were inspired by ''His Dark Materials''; however, Davies also pointed out that in ''His Dark Materials'' Lyra and Will must remain separate in order to protect the different universes, whereas in ''Doctor Who'' Rose and the Doctor are separated "by accident".^[7]

Broadcast and DVD release

★ As with "The Parting of the Ways", the concluding episode to the 2005 series, teaser trailers for this episode were aired every day until the evening of the episode's premiere.

★ To protect as much information concerning the episode as possible, the BBC website's Fear Forecasters were not allowed to see the episode before its airing.^[8]

★ Overnight ratings showed that 7.72 million people watched "Doomsday" with a 43% share. The episode peaked at 8.58 million viewers in the last five minutes of the episode. Overall, "Doomsday" was the fourth most watched television programme of the week.^[9] "Doomsday"'s final viewing figures were 8.22 million, making it the eighth most watched programme of the week on UK television. ''Doctor Who Confidential'' got its best ratings yet, with just over one million viewers, making it the second most watched programme on a non-terrestrial channel that week.⁹

★ The Canadian broadcast of the episode on the CBC aired on February 19, 2007. The broadcast omits the on-screen announcement "Doctor Who will return in The Runaway Bride".

★ This episode and "Army of Ghosts" were released in the UK, together with "Fear Her", as a "vanilla" DVD with no special features on 4 September 2006.

References

1. Collins, Mike, ''et al''. "The Profits of Doom". ''Doctor Who Magazine'' #122 (March 1987). Marvel Comics UK.
2. comicbookdb.com's chronological listing of Mike Collins' work
3. Torchwood External Hub Interface - Ianto - Transcript - Online Counseling Session
4. Torchwood External Hub Interface - Report: Closure of Torchwood One
5. Doctor Who — Confidential — Doomsday
6. Nippon 2007 Hugo Nominees
7. Newsround interview with RTD online
8. Fear Forecast: "Army of Ghosts"
9. Doomsday Final Ratings, and Series Two Recap

External links

★ TARDISODE 13

★ "together we could upgrade the universe" - episode trailer

★ Episode commentary by Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner and Phil Collinson

★ "Doomsday" episode guide on the BBC website

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★ [1] Google Maps site of Bad Wolf Bay (Dårlig Ulv Stranden) outside of Bergen, Norway

Reviews

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