Doomsday (Doctor Who)

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181b - "Doomsday"
Doctor Who episode

The Daleks, the Cybermen and Torchwood battle in Canary Wharf.
Doctor David Tennant (Tenth Doctor)
Companion Billie Piper (Rose Tyler)
Writer Russell T. Davies
Director Graeme Harper
Script editor Helen Raynor
Producer Phil Collinson
Executive producer(s) Russell T. Davies
Julie Gardner
Production code 2.13
Series Series 2
Length 2nd of 2 episodes, 45 minutes
Originally broadcast 8 July 2006
Chronology
← Preceded by Followed by →
"Army of Ghosts" "The Runaway Bride"
IMDb profile

"Doomsday" is an episode of 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 until Series 4 in 2008, Noel Clarke as Rose's ex-boyfriend and previous companion Mickey Smith, and Camille Coduri and Shaun Dingwall as parents Jackie and Pete Tyler. It features the return of the Daleks, presumed extinct after the events of the 2005 series' finale, and the Cybermen, who appeared several episodes previously.

The episode primarily focuses upon the Daleks and Cybermen waging a global war with humanity caught in the crossfire, with the Doctor, the Tyler family, and Mickey Smith fighting for their lives trying to revert the situation. They are successful in this goal, but at an emotional cost to the Doctor and Rose as they are split apart.

Contents

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 Dalek shaped artifact. Meanwhile, the Cybermen have taken control of Torchwood and broadcast a worldwide message to encourage mankind to upgrade.

In the Sphere Chamber, a Dalek Supreme, Dalek Sec extracts information about contemporary Earth from Singh's. He discovers that a "second species" has invaded Earth and sends out "Dalek Thay" out to investigate. At the same time, the Cybermen detect the Dalek technology and sends two Cyber-Units to investigate. The two species meet in a corridor, and the Cybermen propose an alliance. Thay scoffs at the idea and both species declare war on each other.

Requiring more troops, the Cyberleader orders the Torchwood employees to be taken away and "upgraded". As Hartman and Jackie are led away to the conversion chamber, Jackie blames Torchwood for what has transpired, while Hartman can only say she did her duty. In the lever room, the Cyber Leader discusses the self-destructive nature of emotions with the Doctor before a strike team led by Jake Simmonds teleports in and destroys the Cyber Leader. The ensuing chaos enables Jackie's escape.

Surprised by Jake's sudden appearance, the Doctor warns him that he cannot just jump between universes. Jake explains that in the parallel universe, the People's Republic found out about Torchwood, took control, and shut it down. Pete Tyler steps out of the shadows and tells the Doctor that for once, he is going to listen. He explains that after Lumic (from "The Age of Steel") was killed, they attempted to seal the Cybermen away, but debate raged over their sentience so much that the Cybermen were able to infiltrate Torchwood and transport over. He shows the world in the middle of a "golden age", and surmises that the climate change in his universe is due to the breach. Pete pleads the Doctor to close the breach. The Doctor, Jake and Pete teleport back, and surrender to the Cybermen to help defeat the Daleks.

In the Sphere Chamber, Mickey wonders why he and Rose were kept alive by the Daleks, and Rose replies that a time-traveller's touch would be able to activate the Genesis Ark. When Mickey asks why the Daleks would build a device they cannot open, Sec explains that the Ark is stolen Time Lord technology, containing the future, and demands Rose opens it. She seemingly accepts, but goads the Daleks about annihilating their Emperor, until the Doctor appears in the doorway. He realises the Daleks are the secretive Cult of Skaro, and uses his sonic screwdriver to open the doors, allowing the Cybermen to rush in and combat the Daleks. While escaping, Mickey brushes past the Ark and activates it.

The Daleks, having defeated the Cybermen in the chamber, move the Ark into the Torchwood storage area and begin a three-way battle with Torchwood and the Cybermen. The Daleks levitate outside and begin releasing the contents of the Ark - millions of Daleks. The Daleks fight globally with the Cybermen with humanity caught in the crossfire.

The Doctor arrives in the lever room and explains his plan - in crossing the breach, both Daleks and Cybermen became saturated in background radiation. By reversing the void's effect, anything that crossed the breach would be sucked back in - including Rose and Mickey, which is why they must stay in the parallel universe. Rose refuses to leave the Doctor even after being teleported, and thus helps him open the breach. Once the breach is open, the Doctor and Rose hold onto a pair of magnetic clamps as the Cybermen and Daleks all become drawn into the void. Rose's lever becomes damaged, forcing her to release her hold of the clamp to fix it, until she loses her grip and eventually lets go. Before the breach closes upon her, Pete catches her and teleports her to his world. Defeated, the Doctor returns to the TARDIS.

Some time later, Rose has a dream where she hears the Doctor's voice calling her. The Tyler family 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. With only two minutes left before the final breach closes permanently, the pair share their final farewell. Rose tells the Doctor that she is considering joining the parallel Torchwood. She breaks down and tells him that she loves him, but before the Doctor can reciprocate, the breach closes. In the TARDIS, the Doctor wipes tears from his eyes, and sets a new course. 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.

"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.

The Cult of Skaro's purpose, thinking as the enemy thinks, is to combat the limits of the Daleks' logic, and is a concept that was visited several times previously; in The Evil of the Daleks (1967), the Daleks attempted to use "the Human Factor" to increase their strategic effectiveness[1], while in Remembrance of the Daleks (1988), the Renegade Dalek faction used a human schoolgirl as a battle computer.[2]

The episode's events created a minor story arc for the following series and spin-off series Torchwood. The effects of the "cyber-conversion" of humans to Cybermen were later explored in the Torchwood episode "Cyberwoman" and spin-off novella Made of Steel, whereas the loss of Rose was used several times in the third series, from an attempt to use the memory weaken the Doctor in "The Shakespeare Code",[3] to being an annoyance to companions Donna Noble in "The Runaway Bride"[4] and Martha Jones in "Gridlock"[5]. To the Doctor himself, the memory upset him greatly during "The Runaway Bride"[4], but it also allowed him to "keep on fighting" several times.[3]

Southerndown beach in Wales was used as the backdrop to the Doctor's farewell to Rose on Dårlig Ulv Stranden.
Southerndown beach in Wales was used as the backdrop to the Doctor's farewell to Rose on Dårlig Ulv Stranden.

The concept of the Daleks and Cybermen appearing on screen is not new; in December 1967, the BBC approached Terry Nation to have both races in a serial, but this idea was vetoed by Nation. The concept came to Davies while mapping out the 2006 series - the story would both serve to resurrect the popular Daleks and provide a suitable exit for Piper, who had decided to leave Doctor Who after two series.[6]

The two-part finale was originally going to take place in Cardiff on the time rift which had being the focus of the episodes "The Unquiet Dead" and "Boom Town". With the commission of the Torchwood series in 2005, Davies decided to base the spin-off in Cardiff and relocate "Army of Ghosts" and "Doomsday" to Canary Wharf in London.[6]

To ensure that Clarke and Dingwall were available for filming, the story was filmed in the season's third production block along with "Rise of the Cybermen" and "The Age of Steel". Filming for the story started on 2 November 2005, starting with filming on location in Kennington, but was not the primary focus of the production crew until 29 November, which filmed the scenes in the sphere chamber. The scene of the Tylers driving through Norway was filmed at Bridgend on December 6, while the scenes in the lever room, the main setting for the story, were filmed between 12 December and 15 December, and 3 January and 5 January 2006. Greenscreen work for Rose being sucked into the void took place on 13 January and the skirmish between the military and Cybermen was filmed on 15 January.[6]

The penultimate scene of the episode, the Doctor's farewell to Rose, was filmed on 16 January 2006, and was the last day of filming for Clarke and Dingwall. While Piper's last scene was Rose's reunion with the Doctor in "The Satan Pit" on 31 March[7], the shoot was rather emotional[8], to the point there were several tears on set.[9] The last scene, Catherine Tate's appearance in the TARDIS as Donna Noble, was filmed on 31 March during the wrap party, and was the last usage of the TARDIS set that had been used since 2005. To ensure the secrecy of Rose's departure and Tate's appearance, only Piper and Tennant were given scripts of the departure scene, and director Graeme Harper was not informed of the final scene until the last possible second.[6]

An item of discussion between the production staff was over who would rescue Rose; Davies and Julie Gardner felt that Pete should have rescued her to emphasise that Pete had accepted Rose as a surrogate daughter, while Noel Clarke and Phil Collinson felt the position should've been given to Mickey.[6]

"Doomsday"

The beginning of the song "Doomsday".

Problems listening to the file? See media help.

"I wanted to get that kind of throbbing, sort of hurt, sound of quite emotional rock, because I thought that's Rose would do if she was hurting and ran up to her bedroom and locked herself in her room and had a good old cry, really."
Murray Gold on the subject of "Doomsday"[10]

As well as using existing music such as the themes for the Daleks, Cybermen and Rose, Murray Gold specially composed a piece of music for Rose's farewell, entitled "Doomsday", which featured vocal work from Melanie Pappenheim. Instead of using swelling violins, which Davies and the rest of the production team had expected, Gold took a minimalist approach. The track as a whole represents Rose's unbridled energy and her heart beating as she searches for the Doctor.[10] The piece uses the same vocal work from "Rose" when Rose first enters the TARDIS.[10] The piece is a favourite among fans[10], especially Julie Gardner[8], and is among the reasons, along with Pappeneheim's overall contribution and the song "Song for Ten" from "The Christmas Invasion", that the a soundtrack of both series was released several months later.[11][12]

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".[13]

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,[14] and access to copies was restricted. Despite this, the Dalek Sec prop, which had been previously unused, had invaded the stage at the 2006 BAFTA Television Awards. A similar moratorium would be placed on the the following series' finale "Last of the Time Lords".[15]

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.[16] "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.[16]

"Doomsday" is one of the most popular episodes of the revived Doctor Who. It gained an Audience Appreciation index of 89, the highest for all new series episodes,[17] and is the only episode of Doctor Who to receive a perfect "10" rating on IGN,[18] who congratulated Davies on making an action-packed episode so emotional.[19]. Television Without Pity gave the episode an "A+" rating.[20]. The average rating for "Doomsday" on Outpost Gallifrey among members is 4.62, fifth of all new series episodes.[17]

After its initial airing, the episode was released on DVD with "Fear Her" and "Army of Ghosts" on 25 September 2006. It was first aired on CBC Television on 19 February 2007. The story ("Army of Ghosts"/"Doomsday") was nominated for the 2007 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form.[21] The award was won by "The Girl in the Fireplace", an episode from the second series that had aired several weeks previously.[22]

  1. ^ The Evil of the Daleks. Writer David Whitaker, Director Derek Martinus, Producer Innes Lloyd. Doctor Who. BBC. BBC1, London. 1967-05-20-1967-07-01.
  2. ^ Remembrance of the Daleks. Writer Ben Aaronovitch, Directors Andrew Morgan, John Nathan-Turner (uncredited), Producer John Nathan-Turner. Doctor Who. BBC. BBC1, London. 1988-10-05-1988-10-26.
  3. ^ a b "The Shakespeare Code". Writer Gareth Roberts, Director Charles Palmer, Producer Phil Collinson. Doctor Who. BBC. BBC One, Cardiff. 2007-04-07.
  4. ^ a b "The Runaway Bride". Writer Russell T. Davies, Director Graeme Harper, Producer Phil Collinson. Doctor Who. BBC. BBC One, Cardiff. 2006-12-25.
  5. ^ "Gridlock". Writer Russell T. Davies, Director Richard Clark, Producer Phil Collinson. Doctor Who. BBC. BBC One, Cardiff. 2007-04-14.
  6. ^ a b c d e "Army Of Ghosts" / "Doomsday" at Doctor Who: A Brief History Of Time (Travel)
  7. ^ "The Impossible Planet " / "The Satan Pit" at Doctor Who: A Brief History Of Time (Travel)
  8. ^ a b Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner, Phil Collinson. Commentary for "Doomsday" (mp3). BBC. Retrieved on 2007-10-30.
  9. ^ Episode 13: Finale (Embedded Flash object). Doctor Who Confidential. BBC. Retrieved on 2007-10-29.
  10. ^ a b c d "Music and Monsters". Doctor Who Confidential. BBC. BBC One, Cardiff. 2006-12-25.
  11. ^ Who soundtrack soon (2006-07-17). Retrieved on 2007-10-30.
  12. ^ Soundtrack details (2006-11-06). Retrieved on 2007-10-30.
  13. ^ Mzimba, Lizo (2006-09-13). Newsround interview with RTD online (free registration required). Outpost Gallifrey Forum. Retrieved on 2006-09-13.
  14. ^ Fear Forecast: "Army of Ghosts". BBC Doctor Who website. BBC. Retrieved on 2007-02-25.
  15. ^ "What did Lizo think of Doctor Who?", CBBC, 2007-06-18. 
  16. ^ a b Lyon, Shaun (2006-07-20). Doomsday Final Ratings, and Series Two Recap. Outpost Gallifrey News Page.
  17. ^ a b "Last of the Time Lords" ranked 33rd by average vote of OG posters (2007-07-02). Retrieved on 2007-11-02.
  18. ^ Television reviews; Score: 10. Retrieved on 2007-11-02.
  19. ^ Doomsday review. IGN (2006-12-11). Retrieved on 2007-11-02.
  20. ^ Hold the Line With Me: Doomsday recap. Doctor Who reviews. Television Without Pity (2006-12-23). Retrieved on 2007-11-02.
  21. ^ Nippon 2007 Hugo Nominees. World Science Fiction Society. Retrieved on 2007-03-29.
  22. ^ Nippon 2007 Hugo Winners. World Science Fiction Society. Retrieved on 2007-10-28.

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Doomsday

v • d • e
Cybermen television stories
First Doctor The Tenth Planet
Second Doctor The Moonbase • The Tomb of the Cybermen • The Wheel in Space • The Invasion
Fourth Doctor Revenge of the Cybermen
Fifth Doctor Earthshock • The Five Doctors
Sixth Doctor Attack of the Cybermen
Seventh Doctor Silver Nemesis
Tenth Doctor "Rise of the Cybermen" / "The Age of Steel" • "Army of Ghosts" / "Doomsday"
Torchwood "Cyberwoman"
Minor appearances The War Games • The Mind of Evil • Carnival of Monsters • Logopolis • "Dalek" • "Human Nature" • "The Sound of Drums"
v • d • e
Dalek television stories
First Doctor The Daleks • The Dalek Invasion of Earth • The Chase • "Mission to the Unknown" • The Daleks' Master Plan
Second Doctor The Power of the Daleks • The Evil of the Daleks
Third Doctor Day of the Daleks • Planet of the Daleks • Death to the Daleks
Fourth Doctor Genesis of the Daleks • Destiny of the Daleks
Fifth Doctor Resurrection of the Daleks
Sixth Doctor Revelation of the Daleks
Seventh Doctor Remembrance of the Daleks
Ninth Doctor "Dalek" • "Bad Wolf" / "The Parting of the Ways"
Tenth Doctor "Army of Ghosts" / "Doomsday" • "Daleks in Manhattan" / "Evolution of the Daleks"
Minor appearances The Space Museum • The Wheel in Space • The War Games • The Mind of Evil • Frontier in Space • Logopolis • Mawdryn Undead • The Five Doctors • Doctor Who • "Human Nature"
See also Dr. Who and the Daleks • Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD • Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_%28Doctor_Who%29"
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