Dinosaurs on a Spaceship (TV story)

Dinosaurs on a Spaceship was the second episode of the seventh series of Doctor Who produced by BBC Wales.

Synopsis
An unmanned spaceship hurtles towards certain destruction -- unless the Doctor can save it, and its impossible cargo… of dinosaurs!

Plot
to be added

Cast

 * The Doctor - Matt Smith
 * Amy Pond - Karen Gillan
 * Rory Williams - Arthur Darvill
 * Riddell - Rupert Graves
 * Brian Williams - Mark Williams
 * Solomon - David Bradley
 * Queen Nefertiti - Riann Steele
 * Indira - Sunetra Sarker
 * Robot 1 - Noel Byrne
 * Robot 1 voice - David Mitchell
 * Robot 2 - Richard Garaghty
 * Robot 2 voice - Robert Webb
 * Bleytal - Richard Hope
 * ISA Worker - Rudi Dharmalingam

Culture

 * Brian calls the Doctor Arthur C. Clarke when he, the Doctor and Rory are in the engine room.
 * When the Doctor disables Solomon's robots, they sing "Daisy Bell" - a reference to HAL's disabling in Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey.
 * Amy says that John needs a lesson in gender politics.

Sports

 * Brian enjoys golf and carries golf balls around with him.

Story notes

 * This episode received an Appreciation Index of 87.
 * The Doctor claims to be a Sagittarius, but qualifies this statement by adding, "Probably." Interestingly enough, November 23 (the first airdate of Doctor Who in 1963) falls during the time that Sagittarius is occupied by the sun.
 * In a moment of excitement, the Doctor kisses Rory on the mouth after Rory suggests checking if the Silurian Ark has defence systems. This is the second same-sex kiss featured in the series and the first initiated by the Doctor. The first kiss was between Captain Jack Harkness and the Ninth Doctor in The Parting of the Ways.
 * For this episode, the Doctor Who logo's texture resembled scales, like those of a dinosaur. It was also given a green hue.
 * Mark Williams (Brian Williams) previously played Maxwell Edison in BFA: The Eternal Summer.

Ratings

 * The episode received overnight ratings of 5.5 million viewers in the UK.

Filming locations
to be added

Production errors

 * The Doctor's socks constantly change from stripey blue socks to his normal black socks.
 * On the final postcard sent by Rory's dad, the TARDIS exterior resembles how it looked before the redesign in The Eleventh Hour.
 * The flying reptiles identified as pterodactyls are actually pteranodons, a relation, though different species of pterosaur, as noted by the distinctive spike-like crest on the back of its head.

Continuity

 * Rory states that he is 31 years old. If Rory was born in 1989 (considering that Amy and Rory are the same age in DW: Let's Kill Hitler and Amy's birth year according to DW: The Big Bang was 1989), then The Doctor picks up Rory, Amy and Brian in 2020, which seems to be the same year that Amy and Rory went back to the hill and waved to themselves in DW: The Hungry Earth, an episode also featuring Silurians.
 * Rory's mobile phone rings on the spaceship and Brian is shocked by how it can work in space. On previous occasions the Doctor has been shown to convert a mobile phone into a "superphone". He has done this for Rose Tyler, (DW: The End of the World), and Martha Jones. (DW: 42)
 * The Doctor has previously taken a companion's parent on a TARDIS trip by accident before in DW: Army of Ghosts.
 * The Doctor has travelled with Egyptian royalty before, as he shared many adventures with the princess Erimem in the Big Finish audio adventures (from BFA: The Eye of the Scorpion). As is implied with Nefertiti, Erimem also ultimately ended up staying behind in another time and place (BFA: The Bride of Peladon). While he did not necessarily travel with her, he was also implied to have a relationship with Cleopatra. (DW: The Girl in the Fireplace, The Wedding of River Song)
 * A photo of Amy and Rory at their wedding appears on their fridge alongside Brian's postcards (DW: The Big Bang)
 * The Silurians were previously seen to use a dinosaur to guard their base. (DW: Doctor Who and the Silurians)

DVD releases
to be added

Blu-ray releases
to be added