Attack of the Graske (video game)

Attack of the Graske was a Doctor Who video game of the genre that premiered on BBC Red Button alongside the broadcast of DW: The Christmas Invasion. It was later placed on the series 2 DVD box set where it could be played by home viewers around the world. It also has been converted for play in a web browser, and is,, available on the official BBC Doctor Who website.

Like the popular arcade game of its kind,, it was in many respects a "proper" motion-picture production. It therefore required a full television crew to produce. Judged as a piece of television, it has a number of unusual aspects — most notably the fact that it is the only BBC Wales Doctor Who production filmed in a 4:3 aspect ratio. It was also the first DWU production, for which director Ashley Way and writer Gareth Roberts were credited. It was also the first time Rory Taylor received onscreen credit as a director of photography.

Seen as a game, Graske was not actually the first of its kind. Destiny of the Doctors has essentially the same game mechanics. However, this game's independence of platform has given it far more longevity and universality than the earlier Destiny.

Synopsis
A Graske is loose and causing havoc. Can you help to stop him? Become the Doctor's companion and save the world!

Plot
After the Doctor drops Rose Tyler off in 1979, to see ABBA, he picks up the Viewer in the TARDIS and takes the viewer with him to stop the Graske. The Viewer helps locate a Changeling, locate a Graske, pilot the TARDIS and get through doors on Griffoth, but their ultimate decision was when a Slitheen escaped and they need to choose whether to freeze the station; killing everything inside or teleporting the kidnapped people back to their homes and destroy the Changelings. When the choice was made Doctor thanked the Viewer and dropped them back off at their home.

Cast

 * Mum - Lisa Palfrey
 * Dad - Nicholas Beveney
 * Girl - Mollie Kabia
 * Boy - James Harris
 * Granddad - Robin Meredith
 * Grandma - Gwenyth Petty
 * Graske - Jimmy Vee
 * Urchin - Ben Oliver
 * Older Man - Roger Nott
 * Young Woman - Catherine Olding


 * Technically, David Tennant is not credited in this episode as "the Doctor". He receives only pre-title billing.  This makes this the only bit of Doctor Who to ever appear on television which does not credit the role of "the Doctor" or "Doctor Who".  Remarkably, this bit of trivia includes'' "Mission to the Unknown" in which the Doctor doesn't even appear at all.

Individuals

 * The Viewer
 * A human living in the 21st century, who has watched the Tenth Doctor's adventures closely.


 * Unidentified Slitheen

Species

 * Time Lord
 * Human
 * Graske
 * Changeling
 * Raxacoricofallapatorian
 * Zygon

Technology

 * Sonic screwdriver
 * Graske Changeling-converter machine
 * The viewer's remote (loaded with energy from the sonic screwdriver)

Story notes

 * This story immediately followed The Christmas Invasion and was initially only available to subscribers to the BBC Red Button interactive service. Viewers were able to pilot the TARDIS and fight the Graske both on its native world of Griffoth and in Victorian London. From Wednesday 18 January 2006, the story was available to access via the BBC website, but only for UK residents. It was subsequently made available to international users of the website as well.
 * The question of whether this episode "counts" as a television story is somewhat muddied by its interactive nature. Some regard it primarily as a game, rather than an episode. However, a possible reference to the events of the story can be heard in The Sarah Jane Adventures story Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?, which featured the first undisputed canonical appearance of the Graske, in which Sarah Jane Smith makes reference to there being some Graske activity on Earth a couple of years earlier. Gareth Roberts wrote both stories. Changelings and Graske activity at Christmas are also mentioned by Jack Harkness in his Monster Files, using footage from this adventure.
 * Doctor Who: The Encyclopedia states that it is set after DW: Tooth and Claw.
 * The Doctor mentions that if the viewer switches their television to ITV tonight the galaxy may implode. This is presumably because the BBC and ITV are rival companies. In his eleventh form, he said that ITV had gone off the air in the second Doctor Who Proms, as a result of saving the Royal Albert Hall and the BBC Proms.

Ratings
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Myths
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Filming locations
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Production errors

 * If the viewer is watching it-how come the doors simply open with nobody pushing them?
 * When Urchin was turned into a Changeling Double, the bottom of his cup has disappeared and you can see the snow instead of the base of the cup.

Continuity

 * The Graske has also appeared in DW: Music of the Spheres, SJA: Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? and SJA: The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith.

Timeline

 * This story occurs after DW: The Christmas Invasion
 * This story occurs before DWS: Once Upon a Time

DVD release
Although the interactive nature of the story would be compatible with DVD/Blu-Ray controllers,, no home video release of Attack of the Graske has occurred or been announced. This renders it one of only two David Tennant-era Doctor Who-related productions (the other being the non-canonical Tonight's the Night skit) that has not, and likely will not, see official home video release.