About
- Broadcast: 26 April/3 May 2008
- Viewers: 7.06m/6.53m
- Availability: DVD: Series 4 Volume 2
Synopsis
PART ONE
Martha Jones summons the Doctor back to modern-day Earth, but an old enemy lies in wait. With the mysterious ATMOS devices spreading across the world, Donna discovers that even her own family is not safe from the alien threat – but is it too late to save them?
PART TWO
The Sontarans activate their masterplan and begin to choke the whole of planet Earth. UNIT is left defenceless, with a traitor in their ranks. And as interplanetary war edges closer, the Doctor has to fight to keep both Martha and Donna alive – but will he have to make the ultimate sacrifice?
Credits
Written by Helen Raynor
Directed by Douglas Mackinnon
The Doctor – David Tennant
Donna Noble – Catherine Tate
Martha Jones – Freema Agyeman
Wilfred Mott – Bernard Cribbins
Sylvia Noble – Jacqueline King
Luke Rattigan – Ryan Sampson
Colonel Mace – Rupert Holliday Evans
General Staal – Christopher Ryan
Commander Skorr – Dan Starkey
Jo Nakashima – Eleanor Matsuura
Private Harris – Clive Standen
Private Gray – Wesley Theobald
Ross Jenkins – Christian Cooke
Worker – Rad Kaim
Atmos Voice – Elizabeth Ryder
Male Student – Leeshon Alexander
Captain Price – Bridget Hodson
Herself – Kirsty Wark
US Newsreader – Lachele Carl
Rose Tyler – Billie Piper
Quotes
Private Harris: "Yeah? Well, we’re not the ones who got out of school early, sonny. Now stop playing Humpty Dumpty and tell us who you are."
General Staal: "Is that a reference to my height?"
Private Harris: "Short answer: yes."
General Staal: "A pity. Words are the weapons of womenfolk. I must judge you unfit."
Private Harris: "What you gonna do? Bite our ankles?"
Colonel Mace: "But it’s an honour, sir. I’ve read all the files on you. Technically speaking, you’re still on staff. You never resigned."
Donna: "What, you used to work for them?"
The Doctor: "Yeah. A long time ago. Back in the Seventies. Or was it the Eighties? It was all a bit more homespun back then."
Donna: "I’ve got to go."
The Doctor: "Well, if that’s what you want. I mean, it’s a bit soon. I had so many places I wanted to take you. The Fifteenth Broken Moon of the Medusa Cascade, the Lightning Skies of Cotter Palluni’s World, the Diamond Coral Reefs of Kataa Flo Ko…Thank you. Thank you, Donna Noble. It’s been brilliant. You saved my life, in so many ways. You are… You’re just popping home for a visit, that’s what you mean."
Donna: "You dumbo."
Luke Rattigan: "That Doctor… he was in a UNIT jeep. Should have ATMOS installed."
General Staal: "You said you didn’t know his name…"
Luke Rattigan: "I don’t, he just said ‘Doctor’. What, does that mean something?"
General Staal: "There is an enemy of the Sontarans known as the Doctor. A face-changer. "
Luke Rattigan: "Do you mean he’s an alien too?"
General Staal: "Legend says he led the battle in the Last Great Time War. The finest war in history and we weren’t allowed to be part of it. Oh, but this is excellent! The last of the Time Lords will die at the hands of the Sontaran Empire in the ruins of his precious Earth!"
The Doctor: "Terraforming, biospheres, nanotech steel construction. This is brilliant. Do you know, with equipment like this, you could… ooh, I don’t know… move to another planet or something."
Luke Rattigan: "If only that was possible."
The Doctor: "If only that were possible. Conditional clause."
The Doctor: "The Sontarans are the finest soldiers in the galaxy, dedicated to a life of warfare. A clone race, grown in batches of millions, with only one weakness…"
General Staal: "Sontarans have no weakness!"
The Doctor: "No, no, it’s a good weakness. "
Luke Rattigan: "I thought you were meant to be clever. Only an idiot would provoke him."
The Doctor: "No, but the Sontarans are fed by a probic vent in the back of their neck. That’s their weak spot, which means they always have to face their enemies in battles. Isn’t that brilliant? They can never turn their backs. "
General Staal: "We stare into the face of death!"
The Doctor: "And your name?"
General Staal: "General Staal, of the tenth Sontaran fleet. Staal: the Undefeated!"
The Doctor: "Oh, that’s not a very good nickname. What if you do get defeated, "Staal: the not so undefeated anymore but nevermind"?"
Ross: "Its like a potato, baked potato, talking baked potato."
The Doctor: "Now Ross, don’t be rude, you look like a pink weasel to him."
Wilfred: "Is it him? Is it the Doctor? Ah, it’s you!"
The Doctor: "Who? Oh, it’s you!"
Donna: "What, have you two met before?"
Wilfred: "Yeah, Christmas Eve. He disappeared right in front of me."
Donna: "And you never said?"
Wilfred: "Well, you never said! Wilf, sir. Wilfred Mott. You must be one of them aliens."
Donna: "God, the airs disgusting."
Doctor: "Its not so bad for me – go on, get inside the TARDIS- Oh. Never given you a key. Keep that, go on. Thats yours. Quite a big moment really."
Donna: "Yeah, maybe we can get sentimental after the worlds finished chocking to death."
The Doctor: "Are you my mummy?"
The Doctor: "It’s times like this I could do with the Brigadier. No offence."
Colonel Mace: "None taken. Sir Alistair is a fine man, if not the best, unfortunately he’s stranded in Peru."
Martha: "Just send that thing up on it’s own, I don’t know, put it on a delay."
The Doctor: "I can’t."
Donna: "Why not?"
The Doctor: "I’ve got to give them a choice."
Notes
The Sontarans last appeared in Classic Doctor Who serial, "The Two Doctors" in 1985.
In the scene where Donna moves towards the TARDIS screen while the Doctor contacts the Sontarans, Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) can be seen on the screen, silently calling out. This is her second brief appearence in the fourth series.
Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman) returns. Last seen in Last of the Timelords. Prior to this, Martha appeared in three episodes of second series of Torchwood, beginning with the episode Reset.
Martha’s reveals she is engaged. Her fiancé Tom Milligan is the doctor from Last of the Time Lords.
UNIT’s name was changed from United Nations Intelligence Taskforce to Unified Intelligence Taskforce at the request of the United Nations.
The Valiant airborne aircraft carrier is used in this episode. The carrier was used by The Master as his base of operations in Last of The Timelords.
The Doctor makes reference to The Empty Child with the line "Are you my mummy" when putting on a gas mask.
The Doctor mentions the Brigadier, the former head of UNIT’s UK operation. The character was played by Nicholas Courtney and had a large role in the classic series. Courtney would later appear in the Sarah Jane Adventures episode Enemy of the Bane.