04x98 - Special Is There Life On Mars

[bunniefuu]

NARRATOR: The Doctor's on Mars.

Something's going wrong.

NARRATOR: And he's
drowning in a sea of trouble,

Don't go into the water.

Don't touch it, don't drink it.

There's a lot going on in this one.

It's a disaster movie.
It's a survival story.

Fires start.

Bits fall off.

We fall over.

Good, clean fun.

This is the beginning of the end
for the Tenth Doctor.

The brilliant thing is that

it's a journey that we've never
seen him take before.

I think it's really significant
and special.

We kind of know that
his days are numbered.

NARRATOR: And for this Time Lord,
things will never be the same again.

NARRATOR: The Doctor's journey
from script to screen

That's what makes you remarkable.

hosted by executive producers
Julie Gardener and Russell T. Davis.

So, tone meeting two
on this marvellous script.

No, get it right now.
Get it right now, Julie.

Hello, everyone.

(ALL LAUGHING)

Welcome to the tone meeting.

-Yes.
- . .

We do have a camera in the middle
that I feel is Looking up my skirt,

which is why I have my legs crossed
in this elegant way.

My skirt, too.

NARRATOR: It's here that
the heads of each department meet

to discuss how to turn
an idea in the script intoTV reality.

And this idea begins
on the mysterious planet of Mars.

The red planet, there's something
dramatic and magical about it.

DOCTOR: The red planet.

Oh, beautiful.

Mars has always fascinated us
due to its proximity, really.

It's the next frontier.

It's such an exciting red planet.

There's something
very mythical about that.

This is a proper Martian adventure.

A sense that, you know, Mars
may indicate that we're not alone.

It's possible to imagine life on Mars.

The Doctor just arrives
on a whim, really.

He's just travelling now.
He has no companions,

so this is like pure Doctor Who.

"We hear the TARDIS
and we cut to the surface of Mars

"with a effects sh*t,
and the Doctor steps out."

RUSSELL: 'Cause this is
the Doctor's life.

He just wanders and he travels,
and he does it for the sheer joy of it.

So, at the beginning of the story,
you see him arriving,

"Oh, the red planet."
He's just excited to be there.

As soon as you hear Mars,
you instantly think,

"Well, for the big wides,
it's going to be over to the mill,

"and for the close-ups,
we're going to be in a quarry."

(LAUGHING)

There 's one literally five minutes
from the studio up about..

Taffs Well Quarry, which gave us
what we wanted,

'cause it has these
phenomenal banks of red stone

which gave us a great backdrop
for the journeys that we needed.

It's Mars because I wanted to do
something quite real and approachable.

You, sort of, think there will be
a Mars base one day.

It's talked about,

maybe within living memory,
we might manage to get there.

It's just outside what we're capable of
at the moment.

Right from the very start
of working on the show,

I've always wanted to do something
a bit NASA-like, a bit real,

like technology really will be,
maybe not in years' time,

but in years' time.

Well, Russell was keen
right from the word go

that this was going to be the first time
that we did near-future on Who..

The NASA feel was quite key
to what we wanted.

PHIL FORD: It seems
like years ago that Russell and I

had the first conversation
about this special.

And it was just after NASA
had released evidence of water on Mars.

It sounds incredible, but NASA
scientists believe they could have

the evidence to show there has been
running water on the surface of Mars

within the last years.

If true, it's an astonishing discovery
and could mean it's much more likely

there really is life on the red planet.

To be honest,
it was pretty straightforward.

They've discovered water on Mars,

let's do something
about some water creatures.

Mars has got
a bit of a history in Doctor Who..

Originally, the Ice Warriors
come from Mars.

Ready to fire.

We keep it intentionally vague

as to quite how their timeline
fits in with this one.

They tell legends of Mars from long ago

of a fine and noble race
who built an empire out of snow.

And indeed whether the flood
and the Ice Warriors

ever encountered each other.

Perhaps they found something down there.

Used their might and their wisdom
to freeze it.

There's a slight suggestion
that maybe the flood is what made

the Ice Warriors leave Mars
in the first place.

Or perhaps the flood
is frozen in a glacier

because the Ice Warriors did that to it.
who knows?

Water can be very terrifying.

And, you know, it...it...

It provides a great resource
for horror storytelling.

The whole notion of drowning

and being consumed by water
is a very powerful one

and a terrifying one.

Water is patient, Adelaide.
Water just waits.

And it's such a frightening idea,

the idea of unstoppable water.

It's a slightly mysterious thing.

It's something in the water
that has a way of possessing

human bodies.

Roman!

We never really find out
what its goals are.

Though it would seem to want the Earth,

partly because there's a lot of water,

which is clearly something
that it thrives on and in.

MAGGIE: It has so much beauty.

We should like that world.

The water monsters,
in the prep for that, it was

our most difficult challenge, I think.

Getting the tone of the monsters right
for a family audience is, I mean,

I imagine for every Doctor Who.
it's the same sort of questions,

"How far do you push it?"

The first images, which came from Neill,
Neill Gorton, Millennium FX,

were terrifying.
I thought they were too frightening.

Wow! Come on.

I think we're on the edge
of what's acceptable there.

One of the joys of Who, historically,
has always been that it scares people.

And you want that kind of thrill factor

without sending kids to bed
with nightmares.

People are thinking that is too scary.

See, I'd be quite interested to see him,
that sh*t with black,

because it's not the same
as any of that.

Because without the hair or anything,
that looks so freaky.

Whereas seeing that guy with hair,
it's calmer already.

WILSON: Well, when we do the test,
we should do it with the black then.

And then if, once we've seen it
on the real person. it's too scary,

-we can always...
-GARDNER: That's a really good answer.

WOMAN: So we're aiming
for a camera test, then?

-We have to, I think.
-I think we should, yeah.

We had more meetings about
the flood creatures and more tests

and more worries
than anything else, I think,

in all these years of making Doctor Who..

The effect in the script was described
as water oozing from the pores

and running down the face.

And the guys at Any Effects had an idea
about rigging a tubing on the head.

The first water show-and-tell
was really terrifying.

And it got worse and worse, actually.

We were all stood there
on the Torchwood hub.

We were all quite tense, actually,
and quite skittish that day,

because we've never done water people,
and there were so many elements,

and it was very complicated.

And we knew it was gonna be a struggle

and a really big departure for us.

And it just wasn't working.

And so the idea was that the actor
would wear this funny, strange helmet,

which would then
have a wig on 'cause it...

And then it would start.

So, he demonstrated it.
I mean, we all collapsed. It was funny.

Things are so obvious
when you see it in front of you

that we hadn't talked about,

even in one of our detailed
tone meetings.

So, what happens when the water's
running down actors' faces?

None of us had talked about,
"Well, it goes into an actor's eyes."

And of course, the actor's
standing there, blinking madly.

I was like, "We're not going to be able
to get a single take

'because it looks ridiculous."

And I know that Russell
was standing there thinking,

"This whole thing is
gonna have to be rewritten."

And then, happily,
Neill Gorton and his team

saved the day by designing
a prosthetic that made it possible

to not have water in eyes.

Russell was able
to stand there and simplify

so the water predominantly
was coming out of the mouth,

rather than running across a whole head.

So what you got in here
is a couple of tubes

that go in the back, and inside
this rubber sleeve is a channel.

So he'll have that glued
to his face first,

and then have the prosthetics put over
so he looks...

You can't see any of this tubing here.

Eventually, and quite quickly,

through three or four demonstrations,
they hit it. They got it.

They got the thing
that made us go, "Yes!"

NARRATOR: So, with the flood design
flowing nicely,

the production crew test the water

to see if they can drown
your sitting room in screams,

Looks pretty good.

-MAN: Oh, that's good.
-GARDNER: That's brilliant.

That gel is amazing.

So the idea is it's going to run
out of your mouth,

and it should just run
around your mouth and off.

-Without the teeth? Okay.
-Yeah, without the...

So, the idea is to see you
without the teeth.

So, if you're ready, we'll just try
and take it slowly first.

'Cause I just want to make sure
those tubes are...

Could you open your mouth slightly?

There you go.
So, I'm just getting the pressure right.

GARDNER: Oh, my God.

MAN : I'll do yours as well.

-GORTON: Yep.
-MAN : There you go.

-That is absolutely brilliant.
-That's just...

GORTON: That one.

-That is so, so mad.
-That is grim. Oh, my God.

GARDNER: It really does,
that really looks like

it is coming out of your mouth.

MAN: That actually works best
if you're smiling. There.

GARDNER: That's the way, 'cause
then it's just a really drippy mask.

-So, we have to do that.
-And the mouthier, that's the one.

-Nikki's gasping.
-I'm getting a bit excited.

We've got the gasping here.

When they walked
out of the makeup trailer

and I saw the effect of the water
coming out of their mouth,

I was just like, "That's it!
It's absolutely brilliant."

And, actually, in the end,
it still is creepy, Still frightening.

I hope the audience... Well, I hope
they get frightened but enjoy the fear.

The programme is about shadows
and monsters and darkness.

It's not about v*olence and blood.
It never has been.

So, there are very clear,
instinctive guidelines to follow.

Within that, I think you want to
set out to be as scary as possible.

It's like when there are monsters
chasing people down corridors

and things like that,
"Oh, yeah, we want to scare people."

You want to scare adults.
You want to scare children.

'Cause there's nothing better
than a good, healthy scare.

I think we got the balance right.
Although I do think it probably is

one of the scariest Doctor Who.
monsters yet.

When I first saw Andy,
I was absolutely...

Am I allowed to say bricking it?

MAN: Turn!

(SCREAMING)

What the hell?

I just kept wondering
where they cast all these people

that looked like that from.

The transformation was
just unbelievable.

Unbelievably scary.

You must be Andy. Hello.

(SCREAMING)

There's something wrong about that
water pouring constantly, constantly.

(SCREAMING)

You can see the person in the flood.

See you later.

I like those creatures.
They touch a lot of buttons.

Great performances, as well,
that make them really scary.

The problems that you face when
you introduce water into a set is that,

straightaway, you've got electricity
and water not wanting to mix.

(SCREAMING)

So, everything has to be volt.
All the lights, all the monitors,

all the buttons, etcetera,
all have to be earthed,

so that no one dies.

Water and electricity, bad mix.

It's also quite difficult to film with.
There's a practical difficulty.

I know that we've had a couple of
water-based ideas

that we've never
quite seen through before.

WOMAN: Anything else
about the first water effect there?

Well, it's worth saying
with all this water that, obviously,

equipment and electrical stuff
has all got to be treated

as though we were
out on location, outside.

Same precautions, really.

The two trucks behind us are gonna
be pumping the water onto the set.

One of them holds , litres,
the other one about , .

That's going to be pumped
via fire hose into the set.

And we've also chlorinated it,
just for bacterial and viral hazards.

MAN: And action!

Water! We've got water!

Don't touch it, Roman!
Don't let it touch you!

Get back!

Everyone, we're abandoning this section.

Get back, all of you!

Don't touch it, Roman! Get back!

I'm quite amazed with the level of
control that we see...

Well, that the technical department
seems to have over the water, so far.

'Cause, literally,
it comes down the flaps,

so you have sort of waterfalls...

Okay, here we go. And action!

And that.

Close it!

STEFFI: Yuri, did that water touch you?

-I'm safe.
-Did it touch you?

-I'm safe. Look!
-Yuri, did the water touch you?

Everyone, Section B is out.
Listen to me.

Take every pack you can. We'll go round.

We'll make our way out
through Section F.

It's great casting on this episode.

All of the supporting cast are
so vivid and strong, 'cause it's hard.

You've got a bunch of people,
you've got to introduce them all,

and the audience has got to get
to know them.

And then they all start dying.

Water now pouring in through the tiles.

YURI: Steffi! Stop!

-Get back! Hurry!
-You'll be safer there!

ROMAN: just shut the door!
Close the door!

Steffi!

Water pouring down the glass.

Steffi, we'll open the access panel.
We'll get you out through the back.

Get her out! Move it!

(STEFFI SCREAMS)

Captain, it's inside!

They're all very vivid,
very strong people

who, in a couple of lines,
paint who that person is.

(SPEAKING GERMAN)

So that, by the end, when Steffi's
soaked and turned into one of the flood,

what happens to Roman,
you really feel for them.

Water pouring over Steffi.
She starts to shudder and convulse.

Steffi!

Steffi!

It's that disaster movie sort of feel.
It's also a very Doctor Who. format feel

of, like, "Here's the cast,
now watch them die!"

If we are setting up an episode
that is "don't touch the water",

within all of this,
all of those considerations,

it has to be believable
that those actors don't get wet

other than at the times they need to.

And so it was always going to be
a challenge, just how you stage it.

If they're there,
she's got to run over here,

sheet of water's gonna come there.
Are they gonna get soaked?

They're standing
next to a sheet of water there.

They're dead. See, you've got to allow
for the distance of water splashing.

So, "Hold on, we're gonna get
the oxygen membrane."

(IMITATING WATER SPLASHING)

"Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Help!
No, I'm trapped!"

Backing into wherever
the video alcove is there.

Okay? Can't put water
too close to people like that.

-Yeah, no, okay.
-You gotta lens it up

and give it distance, otherwise
I simply will be sitting at home going,

"Well, they're wet. They're dead.
That splashed."

And it will splash on the day.

Right, just keep everyone
out a little, please.

What we've got to do, obviously,

is follow the guys around
with a water pump.

So, we've got these kind of pumps
that you can strap over your shoulder

and it's just pressurised.

MAN: Keep your hands up, please.

That's it.

HARPER: We couldn't use warm water.

There was no way we could mix warm water

and have that continuously warm,

going through the mouth and body
and keeping them warm, as it were.

In order for it to be safe
to be touching my mouth and swallowed,

it has to be a certain temperature,
so it's really cold.

So it's fine
when it's coming out of here,

but as it goes up your back,
it's pretty cold.

It was in winter. We were sh**ting this
in January, February.

It was very cold in the locations
we were working in.

Obviously, we needed to keep the
actors, you know, sort of warm

and as dry as possible
underneath their costumes.

Have a butcher's. Hot water bottle,
fleece blanket.

I've got gel on here to make it look
like I'm drenched.

It's quite cold, so I am cold.

I've got three pairs of socks,
one of them waterproof.

I'm soaked through
to the bottom of my Dr. Martens.

But, still, I'm comfortable,
believe it or not.

Just a little bit cold at the moment.
My hair is soaking, as well.

We were in this unheated warehouse
and we walked into the corridor.

And they were like, "Okay The water's
really cold and there's a lot of it,

"so we' re sorry. "

It's not like that wonderful feeling
of warm water streaming down your face

when you're in the shower
and you're singing along.

It's quite different from that.

NARRATOR: Though soaking wet,
these monsters are hardly drips

when it comes
to chasing down the Doctor,

To create this fluid movement,
they call upon choreographer

and emergency sprint coach Ailsa Berk.

Ailsa Berk does all the choreography
on Doctor Who.

Whenever it's required,
which is most episodes, most stories.

And, in this story, it was necessary
for her to absolutely choreograph

the coordination
of the two or three people

that ever have to run as zombies.

AILSA BERK: That's it.

That's it, heads up, arms up. That's it.

Perfect.

With the running, we wanted it
to look like the...

You know, a -metre sprinter, really,

with the arms driving, pumping,
the energy, the dynamic.

And we wanted them to be in sync.

So the only way that we could really
get round that

was to give them nice, easy counting,
and then to keep on all the way through.

One, two. One, two. So it was always
right, left, right, left.

And action!

Supposedly, we were moving
at a very, very fast speed

and running in an almost mechanical way,
I would say.

What I wanted was kind of Terminator
style of running.

MAN : Is it Bowie or Bowie?
'Cause people are saying both.

-MAN : David Bowie is David Bowie.
-So it's Bowie.

MAN : It's Bowie Base.
RUSSELL: Bowie.

Bowie Base, I wanted to be
not too fantastic.

The whole point of this
is that it's .

It's credibly within...
Actually, that is within

a lot of viewers' lifetimes,
especially our younger viewers.

I hope it's within my lifetime,
but I doubt it.

And, you know, it's reachable.
It's conceivable.

It's perhaps slightly more
of a traditional space station set

than we've done before.

Normally, if we do a base
or a spaceship,

it tends to be dirty and manky and dank.

Oh, it's a sanctuary base!

But with the Bowie Base,
it ended up being...

It needed to be very clean and clinical.

We looked towards NASA
and the technology of NASA

from the , ,

Rather than it being stylish
and designed, over-designed,

it was much more, sort of,
technical and necessary.

There's something
almost slightly retro about it.

It's almost a kind of old-fashioned
idea of what space travel might be.

Don't you worry, Captain,
we are gonna fly.

You feel very high tech. You feel
you're actually somewhere in the future.

You, kind of, imagine
that in about years' time,

that would be what we come up with.

'Cause I presume
it would have to be flat-packed

and thrown across the universe.

THOMAS: Russell wrote the script
with the botanical gardens in mind.

So we knew straightaway that
that was where we were gonna do it,

so that would also then give us
some of our look for the episode.

The amazing roof structure down there,

So, it was great for us to have that
as a sort of kicking-off point, really.

They do so much work,
the people who design these things.

Designing what the screws
would look like, would really look like.

What NASA would put together to really,
really construct a base like that.

So it was literally
months of research going into that,

both into the CGI version of it

and the actual set built for the inside,
to make it very conceivably

what it would be like,
with a good layer of imagination added.

So, we're always very keen
to brand things.

-Lovely.
-Yeah.

So, this... Obviously the red's
in there already.

THOMAS: So, branding,
that sort of thing, as NASA does.

You know, when you see the Shuttle,
there's always the NASA branding on it.

-No, that's nice. Love the red one.
-That's a nice one.

-Brilliant.
-That's it.

We're on the right lines, then?

-I'll buy that for a dollar.
-Thank you.

-Marvellous.
-They're lovely.

And that does help us, as well,
in selling certain set elements.

When we go from location to a set,

if there's a subliminal branding
in the background,

then that always helps the lie.

Okay, so then we meet Gadget
for the first time.

Gadget was interesting.

And I thought all the drawings of Gadget

and the conception of Gadget
were brilliant.

-Oh, marvellous.
-Oh, wow.

-WILSON: How much are we loving Gadget?
-We're loving Gadget.

Thank you, that's brilliant.
It's a really brilliant piece of work.

Fantastic.

-Yes?
-HARPER: Yeah, I love it.

-Don't say no. Don't say no now.
-No.

It's fantastic. I love him.

Gadget from different angles.
No makeup required.

(WOMAN LAUGHING)

No costume, Louise.

No CG, Dave!

Gadget, God bless him.

ELECTRONIC VOICES: Rotate.

Gadget-gadget

He's been very courteous.

Good fun to be around.

And he's like the pet.

He's got his own Winnebago, obviously.

He sort of upstages me a lot.

Keep Gadget covering him.

He's lovely.

Everyone loves a funny robot.

-DOCTOR: Come on! Come on!
-Gadget-gadget

-I thought you hated robots.
-I do!

To the right.

We need a lift.

-Get on behind me.
-That thing goes at two miles an hour.

Not any more.

I think it was quite liberating
for him and us

to have him pulled along at high speed.

It's the best fun I've had
in a very long time.

And I know that
there was a queue for that.

We haven't got time
for everyone to have a go.

I mean, the whole crew
wanted to do that.

Now, you might be allowed.

We just held on
and had quite a good time.

I mean, what do you think? It was great.

I thought the design was stunning,
kind of quaint and odd,

and absolutely lovable to look at.

But, in reality, it did that.
So it always jogged about like that.

It's a bit flimsy.

It was meant to be a piece of old tin

that rumbles and cranks
and sparks and fuses.

Gadget did his best.
But, you know, he's he's...

He had a habit of his hands falling off.

Action.

I don't quite know why that was.

But two or three times, his hand
fell off in the middle of takes.

One time, his hand fell off
in the middle of a take

and then he ran over it and smashed it,

which is painful, I imagine,
if you're Gadget.

Gadget-gadget

-Does it have to keep saying that?
-I think it's funny.

I hate funny robots.

He's meant to be sweet.
He's meant to be funny.

He's meant to be annoying.

He's meant to be all those daft
Disney things that you hate.

I hate robots, ' I say?

Yeah and he's not too fond of you.

And yet he comes good at the end.

The robot became the most endearing,
wonderful kind of hero.

Well, saves my skin, that's for sure.

Which is very kind of him.
Well done, Gadget.

Gadget-gadget

There are a few people that
the Doctor comes across in his travels

that mean a great deal to him
because of who they are,

what they represent
and what they have achieved.

And we've seen that with Shakespeare.

To be or not to be... Oh!

-That's quite good.
-You should write that down.

We've seen it with Agatha Christie.

-Agatha Christie.
-What about her?

-That's me.
-No!

Madame de Pompadour.

Oh, Doctor.
So lonely, so very, very alone.

What do you mean, alone?
You've never been alone in your life.

When did you start calling me Doctor?

And Adelaide Brooke is very much
in that line for him.

She just happens to be
from a history that we,

at the early part of the st century,
aren't aware of yet,

but the Doctor,
who has a broader experience of time,

to him, Adelaide Brooke is
a hugely important historical figure.

My head is so stupid.
You're Captain Adelaide Brooke!

Adelaide is extraordinary.

She's certainly one of the strongest
people the Doctor's ever met.

I mean, there's her place in history,

which turns out to be
enormously important.

But even that aside,
you put aside the laws of time and that,

as a -year-old commander
of an international expedition to Mars

that is the first of its kind,
the first pioneers,

the first people to live,

the first human beings
to live on an alien world.

That's extraordinary.

She's a natural leader.

Don't consume anything.
Don't even touch it. Not one drop.

She's quite uncompromising.

-Having fun?
-I was just telling him...

I expect better of you, Ed.
Now get back to work, all of you.

When you think there are a handful
of people, and they are on Mars,

and they're going to be alone together
for a very, very long time.

Keep the Bio-dome closed. And when using
open comms, you call me captain.

She's got to employ, I suppose, quite
m*llitary-type leader characteristics.

State your name, rank and intention.

If discipline was lost, you know,
if morale went down,

the whole thing could collapse
and people could go crazy very easily.

What's interesting about Adelaide,
she's not automatically nice.

You've deserted your post.
Consider that an official warning.

Now, get back to work. Doctor!

All advances are put down
by our captain,

professionally and personally.

You can't be someone's mate.
You can't show favouritism.

She's got to be tough with them.

And I think that's not
just on this mission.

I think she's been like that,
she's made herself like that,

for the past years.

They say you sacrificed everything,

devoted your whole life to get here.

One thing they never said,
was it worth it?

To stand on a world with no smoke,

where the only straight line
is the sunlight...

-Yes, it's worth it.
-Ah.

That's the Adelaide Brooke
I always wanted to meet.

And, of course, underneath it all
you discover that...

What I like is...
What I think that Lindsay Duncan

brings out so beautifully,

that's why you just hope
to work with actors like that,

who'll bring out
so many levels of a part,

is that, underneath it all,
there's a massive romanticism

I saw the Daleks.

We looked up,

the sky had changed.

She doesn't see that Dalek in the sky
as a terrible thing,

she sees it as the potential
of the human race,

the unlimited horizon that we have
ahead of her.

BROOKE: It stared at me.

It looked right into me.

She saw the Daleks that k*lled
her mother and father,

but didn't come out of that with hatred,

didn't come out of that a warrior,
didn't come out of that to fight.

She came out of that with an ambition.

And that is the thing that inspires her
to go out into the stars,

to lead this mission,

to go on this whole life journey
that takes her out to the base.

That night,

I knew I would follow it.

-But not for revenge.
-What would be the point of that?

And it's that that the Doctor realises
makes her this fixed point in time.

That's what makes you remarkable.

And that's how you create history.

There's something about him

that Adelaide, um...invests in.

I've never told anyone that.

After a while, she accepts him
without any explanation.

I don't know how much
you're registering it,

'cause does it look as though I'm going
to the same place for everything?

'Cause I sort of am.
But you don't really register that.

HARPER: I'm going to cut to a button.
I'll just...

Of course, you'll have the button...

HARPER: I'll probably cut to buttons.

I want to enjoy the milking of it,
then a button gets pressed.

Unlock. "Oh, right, she's let him go."

They do have a bond,
they do form a wonderful bond

in which he's able, eventually,
through huge hardship and emotion,

to tell her why he can't actually
help them, in the end.

And we'll just shut the door
and we'll just check those positions.

(PEOPLE TALKING)

HARPER: Here we go. And action!

You die today

I won't die.

I will not.

But your death creates the future.

Help me.

Why won't you help, Doctor,
if you know all of this?

-Why can't you change it?
-I can't.

-Why can't you find a way? Tell me.
-Adelaide, I swear, I can't.

I'm sorry but I can't.

Sometimes I can, sometimes I do.
Most times I can save someone.

Or anyone. But not you.

David and Lindsay really, really
locked into each other very quickly.

What's going to save you?

Captain Adelaide Brooke.

Damn you.

And cut. Very, very good.

That's what I love about her.
No matter how ruthless and efficient

and technical she is,
she listens to her heart in the end.

And that, really,
is the winning combination.

You're Captain Adelaide Brooke!

I'm going over.

Doctor, with me.

Maggie, can you hear me?

Listen to me.

I won't die.

-Why should I trust you?
-DOCTOR: Because I give you my word.

Don't be ridiculous.

It can't be stopped. Don't die with us.

Close it!

Get her out! Move it!

Captain!

(SCREAMING)

What's going to save you?

Captain Adelaide Brooke.

The woman with starlight in her soul.

This base on Mars
with you, Adelaide Brooke,

this is one vital moment.

What happens here must always happen.

What's exciting about a story like this

is that with a series which is ongoing

and a character who must be
essentially unchanging,

is that there's a limit
to what you can do with that character.

He pretty much always has to win the day

and pretty much always has to be
reset to zero at the end of every story.

What you get in this story,
it's a very rare chance

to see the Doctor's character change.

This is all brilliant for David Tennant,

'cause all you want to do is give him
new and better stuff to act with.

And we're in the unique position now,

because we know that the Tenth Doctor's
story is coming to an end,

where we can start being
a little bolder with that.

We can start telling stories about this
character that you can only tell once.

The problem the Doctor faces
in this story

is that he arrives at what is
a fixed point in history.

What's the date today?

What is it? Tell me the exact date.

November st, .

This base is going to be destroyed
on the st of November, ,

and that has to happen
because that creates the future,

it creates a whole family chain
from Adelaide Brooke

that results in Susie Fontana Brooke,
her granddaughter,

who will one day lead the human race
out into the stars.

He knows, as soon as he hears the date,

that it's the day that
the nuclear expl*si*n happens

that kills them all.

But he has this sixth sense

that he knows it's one of those
fixed points in time

that he cannot alter.

It's sort of a parallel journey
to the one that he takes in Pompeii.

Twenty thousand people.

But the great thing there is that
everybody knows what Pompeii is.

You say Pompeii and it's
a volcanic eruption, everyone knows.

Whereas, with this,
he arrives and it's the same thing,

he knows what the event is.

But it's a fictional event,
so the audience don't know what it is.

You don't, you know,
'cause it's in the future.

I wanted to take stuff that we think
is fixed by being in the past

and say that applies
to the future as well,

because it's not the future
to the Doctor,

it's just another time period.

So there are these events
in which he cannot interfere.

I really should go. I'm sorry.

It's a side of the Doctor
that we rarely see,

because normally he arrives
and what he wants to do

is get involved and help people
and save people.

It's a remarkable moment for the Doctor,
and for David as well, I think,

when he walks away from events
without saving someone

because he has a bigger responsibility
as a Time Lord

to leave the pattern
of events in time intact.

So he has to walk away from them dying.
He can hear them dying in his ears.

He can hear them over the radio.
He can hear them one by one.

And therefore the idea that they are
struggling and that they are dying

and that this is the end of their life
is heartbreaking for him.

It's very hard to walk away from.

You don't look like a coward.

I should leave.

Most times I can save someone.

Or anyone. But not you.

Because I've got to go.

It's just...brutal for him.

Damn you.

It's a wrestle between what power
does he have as a Time Lord

and should he intervene
and is there a cost to that?

Everyone back
behind the vehicles, please.

NARRATOR: The Doctor's dilemma
leads the crew

back to Taffs Well Quarry,

where a big bang
will detonate the Doctor

in a new and dangerous direction,

Scene , FX.

-The shuttle explodes.
-Come on!

We love a good expl*si*n on Doctor Who..

We're gonna sh**t the expl*si*n,
aren't we, in that quarry?

Massive expl*si*n in the quarry.

-Like a big one.
-Yes.

Ball of fun.

There was a massive,
huge amount of expl*sives

set on a tower feet above the ground.

Behind me you can just see
the scaffold tower.

It's got an arrangement of scaffold.

We've got barrels that are basically
positioned to create a big expl*si*n.

Ten, nine, eight, seven, six,

five, four, three, two, one.

(IMITATING expl*si*n)

-MAN: A lot of petrol. A big fireball.
-A big fireball, yeah.

Very successful.
Big bang, it made an awful noise.

MAN: So are we talking about
a double for David?

WOMAN: I think so, just to get...
If it's that big an expl*si*n

that he needs to hit the deck,
and I'm not going to do that to David.

I've got a stuntman here to double him,
to do the landing on the ground.

Because we want him
to really hit the deck hard.

Good?

HARPER:
That was a really good one. Good.

MAN: Right, then. Okay.

And then we're moving on
to the falling girder,

where we're setting it on fire
and dropping it into sh*t around David.

Some of the viewers might remember
that particular girder.

That was the girder
that fell onto Davros.

So it's come back to life again.

Three, two, one, action!

And cut.

You then look back,
and just as you look back,

there's another expl*si*n.

TENNANT: Will you just...
Because this keeps cutting out,

will you just scream
the "three, two, one,"

just in case it cuts out at that...

HARPER: I can scream.

What we've got is we've got it suspended
above the sh*t

by one of the tele-handlers here,
which is like a big forklift.

And I've got a release mechanism,
so when I press the button, it falls.

TENNANT: Okay, let's go.
HARPER: Here we go.

And three, two, one, go!

When he's on the floor
after the expl*si*n of the rocket,

he looks at the expl*si*n,
he sees the whole of the base on fire

being slowly destroyed.

DOCTOR: I'm not just a Time Lord,
I'm the last of the Time Lords.

What that's about is about
the Doctor hearing all of this

and whether it's going
to push him so far,

which, of course, it obviously does.
It pushes him to the point

where he makes that decision
that he's going to go, turn round,

and he's going to go back
and he's going to save them.

For the first time ever, he simply says,
"No more. I'm not putting up with this."

And he's going to break
the laws of time.

DOCTOR: And they took it all with them.

The walls of reality closed,
the worlds were sealed, gone forever.

And the time Lords kept their eye
on everything. And it's gone now.

But they d*ed the Time Lords.
All of them, they d*ed

He's fed up. He's fed up of watching
good people die.

He's fed up of doing
what he's supposed to.

He's fed up of playing by the rules.

And why should he? These are
great people. Why should they die?

Can't they live and the timeline snap
back into place slightly differently?

Why not?

He's always seen himself
as a victim of the Time w*r.

It's for the first time ever, he thinks,

"Actually, if I'm the only Time Lord
left, then I'm in charge.

"That puts me in...
I say what the laws of time are.

"They are mine. They can do what I say."

So this really becomes a story
about a Time Lord on his own

and overreaching his power.

MAN: You'll never come back, Doctor.

So he starts trying to break
the laws of time.

I just think you get the most
colossal performance off David.

That's better.
The dome's still got integrity.

He develops a dangerous arrogance.

No, because someone told me
just recently,

they said I was going to die.

They said he will knock four times
and I think I know what that means.

And it doesn't mean
right here, right now.

'Cause I don't hear anyone knocking,
do you?

MAN: Knock!

Which is very exciting
to play as an actor.

But you said we die

for the future of the human race.

Yes, because there are laws.
There are laws of time.

Once upon a time, there were people
in charge of those laws, but they d*ed.

There's something wild in his eyes.

They all d*ed.
Do you know who that leaves? Me!

He's burning with rage
and he's frightened and he's desperate.

It's taken me all these years to realise
the laws of time are mine,

and they will obey me!

You can only explode the character
at a moment like this.

So that it becomes this colossal,
fireworkey Doctor.

We're not just fighting the flood,
we're fighting time itself,

and I'm going to win!

I'm sure it's influenced
by what he's been told recently,

that his death is coming,
his song is ending.

There's certainly the last,

the last jerk of a dying man, I think,
in there.

Why not? He's not gonna go down
without a fight.

He's not gonna go gently
into that good night.

He's gonna rage
against the dying of the light.

This journey the Doctor's on
is something we've been building up to

ever since the start
of the new show, actually,

which is that we've seen him
as the survivor of a Time w*r

and a man very much rebuilding himself
after a holocaust and slaughter

and being the only one of his kind.

We lost. Everyone lost.

They're all gone now.

We've seen him, the whole story of
the Doctor meeting Rose.

Travelling with you, I love it.

Meeting Martha, and then meeting Donna.

He's meeting... You know, he's met
people he's fallen in love with.

How long are you going to stay with me?

Forever.

People have fallen in love with him.

He's their best friends,
he's been through this experience

of travelling with all sorts
of different humans.

All of which humanises him
and keeps him down to earth

and keeps him grounded and he learns
from the humans he travels with.

You were right.

Sometimes I need someone.

Now, because his life
always pays a price,

because there are terrible enemies
who cause terrible things to happen,

he's lost those companions one by one.

He saw them all leave
or find different lives or forget him.

So he's alone and, actually,
the point of the story

That actually he does, literally, need,

as we've always said
right from the beginning of the show,

he does something to temper him,
something to ground him,

something to bring him
back down to earth.

Promise me one thing.

Find someone.

-I don't need anyone.
-Yes, you do.

'Cause sometimes I think
you need someone to stop you.

Yeah.

And this episode is proving that,
actually.

At the very end, we then get the Doctor
returning the crew to Earth,

And then we're in London
and the TARDIS materialises.

And we have lots and lots of snow
throughout the rest of the script.

MAN: Where's this London street
gonna be? Somewhere...

WILSON: Newport.
MAN: Newport.

-It's the only way you'll say yes.
-I wrote it for that street.

I know it says the house is sinister.
It's not sinister.

It seems sinister because it's dark.
It's not a sinister house.

She doesn't live in a sinister house.

There are lights in the other windows
but none in that house.

RUSSELL: I think that's when you really
see a changed Doctor.

You've seen him fighting evil
and vanquishing time back on Mars.

When he arrives on Earth,
it's a different man.

He has an arrogance about him.
There's a superiority about him.

He is superior in many ways. He's not...

In many ways, he's just becoming
what he could be.

Isn't anyone going to thank me?

So you see him almost looking
at the humans with contempt.

Almost enjoying the fact
that he's more learned than them,

he's got more knowledge.

Loving the fact
that he's rewritten history.

Don't you get it?

This is the st of November, .

Same day on Earth.

So he's on a very, very dangerous path
there, as he steps out of that TARDIS,

because he's becoming omnipotent.

And that's not good.

-No one should have that much power.
-Tough.

That's how I imagine someone
like the Master became the Master,

it was by taking all the power
a Time Lord has and using it

and exaggerating it
till there's no going back.

The Time Lord Victorious.

And there's no one to stop you?

And where that might lead
is almost impossible to quantify.

If he's willing to do this,

then what's to stop him
going back into the Time w*r?

What's to stop him going back
and filling Donna's mind again?

What's to stop him going back

and making sure Rose never goes
into the alternative universe?

There's so many things open to him now.

He's literally ripped...ripping
time apart.

Suddenly this Time Lord Victorious
becomes this terrifying figure.

Adelaide can see it, because she's
watched the Doctor throughout the story.

You should have left us there.

She's a very, very honourable person

and she doesn't, in the end,
think that that's right.

Within this moment
of the Doctor deciding

that he's the ultimate authority
in the universe,

you've got this extraordinary
human being, Adelaide Brooke,

who he's been building up
for the whole episode.

He keeps telling us how wonderful
she is, how important she is,

how her life will influence the future.

And, in the end,
it's her that outwits the Doctor.

Adelaide, I've done this
sort of thing before,

in small ways, saved some little people.

The turning point for Adelaide, I think,
in that scene at the end is

when he refers to Mia and Yuri
as the "little people"

And for her, they are her team,
they are the people

that she would
lay her life on the line for.

And when he refers to them
as "little people",

that's when she realises
that he has crossed a line.

Is there nothing you can't do?

Not any more.

Blast off!

Faster!

She becomes humanity itself
in that story

and has to end her own life.

She takes control of her destiny
for herself.

As soon as he realises
what Adelaide's done,

it's like the significance of that

absolutely hits him
right between the eyes.

And we do seen, we see the
Time Lord broken,

I've gone too far.

He feels more responsible
for Adelaide's death

than if Adelaide had just d*ed
in the course of the tragedy.

He's made her go through
this terrible act.

You get someone that he respects
and that he almost idolises

that takes the rug from under him.

And indeed time does snap into place,

and indeed the Doctor does realise
that he's overstepped his mark

and that his pride may well be coming
before rather a large fall.

With that, he hears a song
and he turns round

and there's an Ood, who a long time ago
foresaw the end of his song,

that his death was coming.

I think your song must end soon.

Meaning?

Every song must end.

And now they're coming,
calling him towards the end.

I can't give away exactly
what they're calling him towards,

but the Ood are summoning him.

We will have to wait and see
what Ood Sigma means.

David Tennant's Doctor realising,
you know, he's got things wrong

and has lead to a tragedy.

It only means one thing,
the man is heading to his regeneration.

IS this it?

My death?

It really would seem to imply
that the strands of his time

are coming to their end.

He will knock four times.

It is coming, and when he does knock,
it's not going to be disappointing.

Is it time?

All I think I can say is be prepared
for the ultimate showdown.

Things can never really
be the same again.

We'll have to see what happens next.

No.