Bad Wolf
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about the Doctor Who episode. For the folk tale character, see Big Bad Wolf. For a listing of various mentions of the phrase in the 2005 series of Doctor Who, see Bad Wolf references in Doctor Who.
| 170a - Bad Wolf | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Doctor | Christopher Eccleston (Ninth Doctor) | |||
| Writer | Russell T Davies | |||
| Director | Joe Ahearne | |||
| Script editor | Helen Raynor | |||
| Producer | Phil Collinson | |||
| Executive producer(s) | Russell T. Davies Julie Gardner Mal Young |
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| Production code | 1.12 | |||
| Length | 1 of 2 episodes, 45 mins | |||
| Transmission date | June 11, 2005 | |||
| Preceded by | Boom Town | |||
| Followed by | The Parting of the Ways | |||
| IMDb profile | ||||
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Bad Wolf is an episode in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast on June 11, 2005. It is the first of a two-part story. The concluding episode, The Parting of the Ways, was first broadcast on June 18.
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[edit] Synopsis
The TARDIS crew are trapped separately in a series of deadly versions of reality television programmes when they return to Satellite 5, last seen in The Long Game. But who is behind the mysterious Badwolf Corporation?
[edit] Plot
The Ninth Doctor wakes up, curled into a fœtal position on the floor of a cupboard. He stumbles out in a daze, and is informed by a young woman, Lynda Moss, that his disorientation is due to the effects of the transmat. Lynda states that he has been chosen as the newest housemate. The Doctor looks around, noticing the cameras, and then a computerised voice requests that he report to the Diary Room. To his disbelief, he is in the Big Brother House, live on Channel 44,000. The voice reminds him not to swear.
Rose awakens on the floor of a darkened studio, also disorientated by the transmat that brought her there. A man, Rodrick, tells her to remember to do exactly what the android says. Rose asks what android, but a floor manager calls for people to take their positions behind very familiar looking podiums, one of which has her name on it. As the round-headed android is activated, Rose realises that it is the "Anne Droid" — she is playing The Weakest Link.
Jack wakes up and finds himself faced with two gynoids, Trine-e and Zu-Zana, who offer to give him a brand new image, à la What Not to Wear. The two gynoids criticise Jack's clothing and comment that his style is very 20th century. A "defabricator" strips him naked in preparation for a fashion makeover, but Jack seems to rather enjoy the idea of being nude in front of millions of viewers and comments that the viewing figures just went up as a result of him being naked on the show.
Meanwhile, the Doctor tries, unsuccessfully, to find a way out of the House with the sonic screwdriver. Lynda asks, nervously, if people on the outside watching like her and the Doctor lies, reassuring her that people think she is sweet, which seems to please her. The amnesia caused by the transmat starts to clear, and the Doctor remembers. The TARDIS had left Raxacoricofallapatorius and then visited Kyoto, Japan in 1336. They had just escaped from that, and were laughing in the console room when a bright light — the transmat beam — came through the walls and enveloped them. The Doctor tells Lynda that no ordinary transmat beam could have penetrated the TARDIS, which means this is not just a game; there is something else going on. He tells the camera that he is going to get out, find his friends, then find whoever is responsible. Two programmers, a man and a woman, who are watching the games from a control room elsewhere, are puzzled at the appearance of the three new contestants, as if the games were running themselves.
When eviction time comes around in Big Brother, housemate Crosbie is voted out, and she exits the House into a white corridor. At first, the Doctor is puzzled at everyone's emotional reaction, but is horrified when he sees Crosbie disintegrated once she leaves the house. The Doctor asks the others if getting on television is worth the risk of dying, but Lynda and Strood tell him they have no choice. The contestants in this era are chosen at random from the Earth's population and transmatted up to any of 60 Big Brother Houses playing simultaneously: winning simply means they get to live. The Doctor realises that Rose was also caught in the transmat and is probably a contestant. To get out he uses his sonic screwdriver to deliberately destroy the House camera, and sure enough the programmed response selects him for eviction.
In the makeover room, a naked Jack is quite enjoying his experience of having a makeover, but is now faced with the two androids who decide that, quite apart from the fashion makeover, that he should have a face-off — literally. With various cutting instruments, including a chainsaw, the two androids are about to perform some gruesome surgery, where they suggest that Jack would look good with a dog's head. But to the astonishment of Trine-e and Zu-Zana, Jack pulls out a Compact Laser Deluxe pistol from an intimate hiding place behind him and promptly blows their heads off.
Soon the first round of The Weakest Link has been and gone and Rose, not being a native of the 2001st century, knows none of the answers to the questions pertaining to that time. She is more amused than upset at the situation, until she discovers that being declared the weakest link at the end of each round does not just result in expulsion, but disintegration by the Anne Droid. The contestants continue to be whittled down (one contestant quits and attempts to flee but is disintegrated anyway), with Rodrick voting out everyone except Rose so that when it comes to the final round, he will win by answering questions that Rose cannot answer, because of her lack of knowledge of the era. He will then collect his prize, in the form of credits, courtesy of the Badwolf Corporation who run the Game Station. At the mention of the name, Rose recalls how the phrase "Bad Wolf" has been following them — from Gwyneth seeing it in her mind in 1869 Cardiff; the callsign of Henry van Statten's helicopter; the Blaidd Drwg nuclear power plant; as graffiti on the side of the TARDIS in 2006; and a news channel on Satellite 5 in the 2001st century. She realises that if the Bad Wolf is in charge, then her presence has been planned.
In the House, the Doctor cheerfully walks into the white corridor and waits as the countdown towards eviction ticks towards zero. However, nothing happens — the Doctor has guessed, correctly, that whoever brought him wants him alive. He uses the sonic screwdriver to open the exit to the House, and offers to take the surviving housemates with him. Strood refuses, but Lynda, after some hesitation, follows. The House is just one room of several opening on to a larger chamber, which the Doctor recognises as that of Satellite 5, but a century later than when he was last there. The Doctor begins scanning the other doors, looking for an exit and asking where his friends could be. Lynda says they could have been transported into any of a hundred different games, all deadly. When the Doctor tells Lynda that he is a traveller, she asks if she could go with him. He smiles and agrees it would not be a bad idea, but right now, they have to concentrate on getting out and finding out who controls the satellite. When Lynda turns the lights on to reveal the logo of the Badwolf Corporation, the sight of it gives the Doctor pause.
In the control room, the two programmers decide to look at the transmat logs to see how the travellers got on board. However, the female programmer is refused entry to Archive 6, where the logs are kept. The Controller, a pale woman hooked up by dozens of cables to the station, tells her it is out of bounds. The Controller is constantly monitoring the transmissions that flow through her and muttering almost agitatedly to herself. The male programmer tells her about the new contestants wandering around outside the games and asks for security measures, but she denies them, insisting that the travellers are "no one" and telling them to return to work and alerting them to an impending solar flare.
Jack has converted the defabricator beam into a ray gun, and he goes in search of the Doctor, finding him by scanning for the Time Lord's bicardial circulatory system. On an observation deck, Lynda fills the Doctor in on what has happened to Earth since his last visit. To the Doctor's horror, instead of human development having got back on track, things have in fact become worse. When the Doctor shut down Satellite 5, all information broadcasts ceased, the whole planet froze, and society collapsed. Humans are still a race of mindless sheep, endlessly watching the programming that the Game Station transmits. Jack finds them as the Doctor frantically tries to access the computer system to find Rose. The Doctor explains that the station is transmitting more than just games, and that whatever the Bad Wolf is, it is manipulating him, creating a trap that Rose is still inside.
On Floor 407, the final round in The Weakest Link does not go well for Rose. She loses the round to Rodrick just as the Doctor, Jack and Lynda burst into the studio. When Rose runs towards the Doctor to warn him about the Anne Droid, it shoots Rose, turning her into a pile of dust. Numb with shock, the Doctor does not put up resistance when the guards arrive and take all of them away. The Doctor remains silent when the guards process and interrogate the three of them, but when they are about to be transported to a lunar penal colony, the Doctor gives the word. He and Jack spring into action, knocking out the guards, grabbing weapons and heading up to Floor 500.
In the control room, Jack and the Doctor wave the weapons at the programmers, ushering them to one side. The Doctor demands to know from the Controller who is in charge and was responsible for killing Rose, but the Controller does not answer. The male programmer is nervous because of the large gun the Doctor is carrying, but the Doctor casually tosses him the weapon, saying he was never really going to use it. The male programmer explains that as the Doctor is not one of the staff, the Controller's systems do not recognise him. The Controller was installed when she was five years old; she has been plugged in so long that her eyes have atrophied from disuse — all she sees is the programming. The male programmer also says that there is more going on at the station, with unauthorised transmats and encrypted signals that have been going on for years. Jack opens Archive 6, and finds the TARDIS inside. He goes into it and activates the console, discovering something that shocks him.
The predicted solar flare happens, and static floods the screens, blocking transmissions. The Controller unexpectedly calls for the Doctor, explaining that while the solar flare is happening, her "masters" cannot read her thoughts. They have been controlling her mind all her life, but she saw the Doctor in the transmissions and brought him here, hiding him inside the games so he could find her. However, she cannot tell the Doctor who her masters are, because she has been genetically altered to be unable to say their name. Her masters have been hiding and shaping the Earth for centuries, growing stronger in numbers, but they fear the Doctor. As the flare passes, Jack returns and tells the Doctor that the TARDIS worked out that the disintegrators were actually part of a secondary transmat system — people have not died, they have just been transported elsewhere, which means Rose is still alive.
Rose regains consciousness aboard an alien spacecraft, where a strange humming sound fills the background. She sees one of the inhabitants of the spacecraft approaching her, and she backs up against a wall in shock as she recognises it, and cannot believe her eyes — she claims to have seen the creature die. Back on the station, the Controller gives the Doctor the co-ordinates to where Rose had been transported, despite knowing that she will be revealing her subterfuge to her masters. As she shouts out the co-ordinates, the Controller is teleported away. Materialising on the same ship that Rose has been transported to, the Controller gloatingly tells her masters that they can kill her now, as she has brought about their destruction. She is promptly killed by an energy weapon.
On the station, the transmat beam is traced to a point at the edge of the solar system. Although the screen appears to show empty space, there is another signal, transmitted by the satellite, that is shielding what is actually there from detection. These are the same people who installed the Jagrafess nearly two centuries before and have been manipulating mankind for generations, playing a long game. The Doctor cancels the shielding signal and is greeted with an impossible sight — a fleet of 200 Dalek flying saucers each containing more than 2,000 Daleks, a force almost half a million strong. Both the Doctor and Jack thought the Daleks had all been destroyed, but obviously they somehow survived.
The Daleks open communications, with a lead Dalek ordering the Doctor not to intervene with the Dalek stratagem or they will exterminate Rose. To the Daleks' surprise, the Doctor simply says no. When the lead Dalek demands an explanation, the Doctor defiantly tells them that he is going to rescue Rose from the middle of the Dalek fleet, save the Earth and then wipe every last Dalek out of the sky. The lead Dalek retorts that the Doctor has no weapons, defences or plan. The Doctor agrees — and knows that is exactly what is scaring the Daleks to death.
The Doctor tells Rose he is on his way, and cuts the transmission. Thousands of Daleks start to gather as they initiate the invasion of Earth. The Doctor will be exterminated…
[edit] Cast
- Doctor Who — Christopher Eccleston
- Rose Tyler — Billie Piper
- Captain Jack — John Barrowman
- Lynda — Jo Joyner
- Strood — Jamie Bradley
- Crosbie — Abi Eniola
- Voice of Davinadroid — Davina McCall
- Rodrick — Paterson Joseph
- Floor Manager — Jenna Russell
- Voice of Anne Droid — Anne Robinson
- Voice of Trine-e — Trinny Woodall
- Voice of Zu-Zana — Susannah Constantine
- Male Programmer — Jo Stone-Fewings
- Female Programmer — Nisha Nayar
- Agorax — Dominic Burgess
- Fitch — Karren Winchester
- Colleen — Kate Loustau
- Broff — Sebastian Armesto
- Controller — Martha Cope
- Security Guard — Sam Callis
- Androids — Alan Ruscoe, Paul Kasey
- Dalek Operators — Barnaby Edwards, Nicholas Pegg, David Hankinson
- Dalek Voice — Nicholas Briggs
[edit] Cast notes
- Nisha Nayar, the actress cast as the Female Programmer in this episode, previously appeared as one of the uncredited 'Red Kang' extras in the 1987 classic series story Paradise Towers. This made her the second actor to appear in both the classic and new series of Doctor Who, following William Thomas's appearance in the previous episode, Boom Town.
- Features guest appearances (voices only) by Davina McCall, Anne Robinson, Susannah Constantine and Trinny Woodall. See also Celebrity appearances in Doctor Who.
- Billie Piper had previously appeared in a spoof of The Weakest Link with Ant and Dec on the morning show SM:TV Live. Sixth Doctor Colin Baker was also a contestant in a special "doctors" episode of the programme (co-incidentally broadcast shortly before The Parting of the Ways), as well as for a segment of the 2004 Children In Need charity appeal. The latter segment involved the game also being played by the cast of Dead Ringers and involved past monsters, previous Doctors and K-9 vying for parts in the new series.
[edit] Continuity
- The Doctor believes that he is the cause of the current state of Earth due to his actions in The Long Game. The Doctor had to deal with the consequences of his "interference" once before, in the serial The Face of Evil, although in that story we did not see his first visit.
- After capturing the Doctor, the satellite's security forces talk about taking him to the lunar penal colony where he would have been detained without trial. A penal colony on the Moon that was used to house political prisoners with a similar lack of due process was seen in the 1973 serial, Frontier in Space, taking place in 2540.
- Another similarity between Bad Wolf and Frontier in Space is that Frontier in Space also features a late-in-the-story revelation that the Daleks are behind events, leading into the following story (Planet of the Daleks) which revolves around the Doctor defeating the Daleks' plan.
- When the Doctor first tries to escape from the Big Brother house, Lynda reveals that a "deadlock seal" prevents contestants from escaping. Deadlock seals are first mentioned as a barrier that even the sonic screwdriver cannot breach in the 1969 story The War Games; they are referenced again later in School Reunion (2006). Exo-glass, mentioned in The End of the World, is said here to require a nuclear bomb to penetrate.
- The first on-screen use of matter transmission as a means of travel in the series was in the 1965 serial The Daleks' Master Plan, where the method used in the year 4000 was termed "molecular dissemination". In The Seeds of Death (1969), taking place in the mid-21st century, the process was known as "T-Mat", with the T standing for Travel. The word "transmat" was first used as shorthand for matter transmission in The Ark in Space (1975) and has been the standard term used in the programme ever since.
- Since the "disintegration beam" is a transmat, the dust it leaves behind cannot be the remains of its targets. No explanation for the residue is given in the episode. In the 1984 serial The Twin Dilemma a substance known as zanium is used as evidence of an extraterrestrial kidnapping. In the novelisation of The Twin Dilemma, zanium is explained as a powdery residue that crystalises out of the empty space left by an object that has been teleported away. however, the explanation is not necessarily a matter of pseudoscience; the beams could also be deliberately designed to create dust, or teleport it to the site of a successful transmat, to further the illusion that they are lethal weapons.
- While playing The Weakest Link, Rose successfully answers a question about the Face of Boe (he is the oldest being in the Isop galaxy, which also contains the planet Vortis from the First Doctor serial The Web Planet), the alien who sponsored the viewing party for Earth's destruction in The End of the World,, 4.8 billion years after Bad Wolf. The Face of Boe was also mentioned in The Long Game, and appears in a larger role in New Earth. Another reference to The Web Planet appeared in the preceding episode, Boom Town, wherein the Venom Grubs were mentioned.
- The planet Lucifer is mentioned as the origin of the foodstuff "gappavek". A planet of that name was previously featured in the Virgin New Adventures novel Lucifer Rising by Andy Lane and Jim Mortimore, but it is unclear if this was intended to be the same planet.
- The concept of the television of the future involving live executions for entertainment was also shown in Vengeance on Varos (1985).
- An unchronicled adventure in Japan is said in dialogue to have taken place immediately prior to this episode.
[edit] Bad Wolf
- The term "Bad Wolf" appears in every episode (except for the two-part stories which only have one explicit reference between the two episodes) between The End of the World and The Parting of the Ways, in which the mystery is cleared up. See Bad Wolf references in Doctor Who.
- A possible continuity error appears when Rose thinks about the phrase "Bad Wolf" — she did not hear its use as a helicopter call sign; neither was she seen witnessing its use as the name of a television channel although the possibility exists that she may have seen them off-screen.
- References to "Bad Wolf" outside the series include its use as a password for the UNIT website,[1] several appearances on the BBC's own web site,[2] and its use in the first three of the New Series Adventures spin-off novels. The BBC Bad Wolf website lists the various clues and possible theories as to its identity.[3]
[edit] Daleks
- When Rose wakes up in the Dalek spaceship, the background sound effects are similar to the sounds of the Dalek City in The Daleks as well as to those in the Dalek control room in the basement of the school in Remembrance of the Daleks and many other Dalek bases throughout the series. The point-of-view angle backing her up against a wall is also similar to how the Daleks were first shown menacing Barbara in that serial's first episode cliffhanger, already echoed once before in Dalek.
- The Dalek saucer design is similar to the one seen in the new CGI effects sequences produced for the 2003 DVD release of The Dalek Invasion of Earth, itself based upon the design seen in the 1960s TV Century 21 comic strip The Daleks.
- According to the DVD commentary for this episode, the music that is heard as the Dalek fleet is revealed includes a chorus singing "What is happening?" in Hebrew.
- The revelation of the hidden Dalek fleet poised to invade Earth is reminiscent of a scene in Silver Nemesis, where the Seventh Doctor reveals a hidden Cyberman fleet about to do the same thing.
- The Doctor's promise to "wipe every last stinking Dalek out of the sky" echoes a vow made by Abslom Daak, the protagonist of the spin-off Doctor Who-related comic strip Abslom Daak, Dalek Killer.
[edit] Production
- A working title for this episode was Gameshow World.[4]
- This was the last of the 2005 Doctor Who episode titles to be revealed. Prior to this, the episode was referred to in promotional literature as The Parting of the Ways (Part 1), with "Part 2" eventually becoming simply The Parting of the Ways.[5]
- According to episode 12 of Doctor Who Confidential, the production team originally intended to show Jack's naked bottom on screen. The scene was shot, but the BBC's editorial policy department stepped in and vetoed it, the only time they overruled the production team during the 2005 series.
- John Barrowman celebrated his birthday during the filming of the What Not to Wear segment; the crew presented him with a toy Dalek that Barrowman later said (in the DVD commentary for Parting of the Ways) he placed by his fireplace. Footage of Barrowman unwrapping the Dalek is included on the DVD.
- Russell T. Davies mentioned that the "arc word" for Series 2 was mentioned in the first series, as well as being an anagram. One of the answers during The Weakest Link scenes was that the Great Cobalt Pyramid was built on the ruins of the famous Old Earth Torchwood Institute; "Torchwood" being an anagram of "Doctor Who". In 2006, a 13-part spin-off series titled Torchwood began, set in modern-day Cardiff and involving a team investigating paranormal and alien incidents, and featuring John Barrowman reprising his role of Jack Harkness.
[edit] Outside references
- The Davinadroid voice tells the Doctor that he is on Channel 44000 and asks him not to swear, echoing Davina McCall's requests during live broadcasts to the house in the actual Big Brother programme. The music at this time is the Big Brother UK theme.
- Apart from the fictional Bear With Me, all the other shows Lynda mentions as coming from the Game Station are based on popular British game and makeover shows: Call My Bluff, Countdown, Ground Force, Wipeout and Stars in Their Eyes.
- The Doctor's final line of the episode is "I'm coming to get you." This is Davina McCall's traditional announcement to contestants about to be evicted from the Big Brother house in the UK.
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.unit.org.uk
- ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho
- ^ http://www.badwolf.org.uk
- ^ http://www.shannonsullivan.com/drwho/serials/2005lm.html
- ^ The Doctor Who Complete New Series Boxset at the BBC Shop
[edit] External links
- Bad Wolf episode guide on the BBC website
- Bad Wolf / The Parting Of The Ways at Doctor Who: A Brief History Of Time (Travel)
- Bad Wolf / The Parting of the Ways at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
- Bad Wolf at Outpost Gallifrey
- "Bad Wolf" at TV.com
- Doctor Who Confidential — Episode 12: The World of Who
- "Rose, you leave this life with nothing." — Episode trailer for Bad Wolf
- Bad Wolf site
[edit] Reviews
- Bad Wolf reviews at Outpost Gallifrey
- Bad Wolf & The Parting of the Ways reviews at Outpost Gallifrey
- Bad Wolf reviews at The Doctor Who Ratings Guide
- Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways reviews at The Doctor Who Ratings Guide
