Midnight (TV story)

"Taking a big space truck with a bunch of strangers across a diamond planet called Midnight... What could possibly go wrong?"

- The Doctor

Synopsis
The Doctor is trapped, alone, powerless and terrified, on the planet Midnight. Soon, the knocking on the wall begins. Only a woman called Sky seems to know the truth – but as paranoia turns into a witch-hunt, Sky turns the Doctor's greatest strengths against him, and a sacrifice must be made...

Plot
The Doctor and Donna spend some leisure time on the crystalline planet Midnight, which orbits close enough to its sun that the Xtonic radiation exposure would vaporise any living thing to walk unprotected on its surface. Donna opts to relax at a spa while the Doctor takes a four-hour shuttle bus ride to the Sapphire Waterfall. Other passengers include the Cane family (Val, Biff, and their teenage son Jethro); Professor Hobbes, who is investigating the waterfall; his assistant Dee Dee Blasco; and recently-divorced businesswoman Sky Silvestry.

There is a long wait until they reach their destination, and the entertainment provided for passengers consists of several annoying television programs, so the Doctor discretely disables them with his sonic screwdriver, forcing all of the passengers to interact and get get to know each other better. Prof. Hobbes has been studying the planet and considers himself an expert on it, so he presents a slide-show he has with him about Midnight. Hobbes explains that while he considers himself more of an expert on Midnight and extonic radiation than anyone else, that's really because no one has ever researched Midnight before, and he emphasizes that essentially nothing is known about the planet. Xtonic radiation would vaporize any known form of life in seconds, so Midnight has been totally undisturbed for millions of years: there are entire landscapes which living eyes have never seen since the universe began. Hobbes notes that even the leisure palace was pre-fabricated and dropped in from orbit. Jethro points out, to the disapproval of his parents, that no one can really know anything about the planet, or whether or not life resided there, but even with his parents' scolding, Hobbes agrees that that is his entire point: no one has ever really set foot on Midnight, and no one has any real idea what is on or underneath the surface.

The trip initially goes smoothly despite the shuttle being rerouted to a new course, but suddenly the shuttle stops. The Doctor checks with the shuttle's driver and mechanic, confirming that there's nothing wrong with the vehicle. He convinces them to open the shutter to look outside, and the mechanic believes he sees a shadow moving towards the bus. The crew--driver Joe, mechanic Claude, and a hostess--calls for a rescue vehicle while the Doctor returns to the main cabin.

A few moments later, something begins knocking on the shuttle's hull, copying the passengers when they knock back. The knocking moves around the shuttle, making its way towards Sky Silvestry, apparently the most frightened of the lot, and dents the door she is standing by. The lights then temporarily fail and the shuttle is violently rocked. When the lights are restored, the seats near Sky have been ripped off the floor and she is cowering in the corner. An attempt to speak to the crew reveals that their cabin has also been ripped away, vaporising driver Joe and mechanic Claude.

Sky initially remains motionless, but is coaxed into turning around by the Doctor. Attempts to get her to speak only cause her to repeat what she is told, making it clear that Sky is no longer in control. The delay between Sky's repetitions becomes shorter, until eventually she is repeating everyone instantly. Cabin fever sets in, and the passengers contemplate throwing her outside. The Doctor's attempts to calm the situation fail when the passengers become suspicious of him, especially when he proves unwilling to reveal his name. This is only amplified when Sky focuses solely on repeating the Doctor's words.

As the Doctor tries to reason with Sky, he suddenly starts repeating her. Most of the passengers reason that the Doctor must be possessed, while the hostess and Dee Dee reason that this is just the next step: stealing the voice of another. The other passengers refuse to listen and begin to drag the Doctor towards the nearest door, all the while being goaded on by Sky. However, the hostess realises that Sky is not talking in her own voice when she uses two phrases the Doctor had used earlier. Before the other passengers can throw the Doctor out, she sacrifices herself by dragging Sky out of another door. The Doctor slowly recovers, and as the passengers wait for the rescue shuttle, he realises that no one knew the hostess' name. At the spa, the Doctor mournfully reunites with Donna. When Donna attempts to copy one of the Doctors phrases, he tells her not to do that.

Cast

 * The Doctor - David Tennant
 * Donna Noble - Catherine Tate (Brief)
 * Rose Tyler - Billie Piper (Cameo)
 * Hostess - Rakie Ayola
 * Sky Silvestry - Lesley Sharp
 * Val Cane - Lindsey Coulson
 * Biff Cane - Daniel Ryan
 * Jethro Cane - Colin Morgan
 * Professor Hobbes - David Troughton
 * Dee Dee Blasco - Ayesha Antoine
 * Mechanic Claude - Duane Henry
 * Driver Joe - Tony Bluto

Production crew
to be added

Story notes

 * This is the first episode in Series 4 in which The Doctor was present when Rose Tyler appeared on screen, although he did not see her.
 * The last time a shuttle bus was featured was in the Seventh Doctor serial The Greatest Show in the Galaxy.
 * This episode has marked Doctor Who's 200th story.
 * Donna was largely absent from this episode, as Catherine Tate was filming Turn Left. While the previous two series included one episode each referred to as "Doctor-lite" for including only brief appearances by the Doctor and, by extension, his companion, this was the first time a "companion-lite" episode focusing on the Doctor by himself has been attempted in the revived series.
 * Dee Dee mentions the lost moon of Poosh, continuing the theme of disappearing planetary bodies featured throughout series 4.
 * This episode was originally intended to be episode 8, before Steven Moffat's two-parter, but was pushed back to episode 10. The name of the shuttle bus, Crusader 50, was a reference to it originally being in the 50th episode of the new series to be screened. It was however the 50th episode of the 'New Series' to be filmed.
 * This is the first televised story since Genesis of the Daleks not to feature the TARDIS.
 * This is the second episode in which the Doctor has not had a companion to assist him. The first episode without a companion was The Deadly Assassin, although the earlier story remains the only one in which no companion appears at all (as opposed to Donna's appearances at the beginning and end of this episode).
 * The passengers on the shuttle planned to murder first Sky, then the Doctor. They were about to carry it out when the Hostess forced the Sky-creature out the airlock.
 * For the first time ever in Doctor Who history, the villain in this episode is never actually revealed.
 * David Troughton, who plays the professor, is the son of Patrick Troughton, who played the Second Doctor. Episode director Alice Troughton is not directly related.
 * Sky Silvestry mentions to the Doctor that 'I found myself single recently, not by choice... she needed her own space', implying that she was in a lesbian relationship.
 * Although rumoured to have originated from an earlier episode, the brief cameo of Rose was scripted for this episode and was filmed especially for this episode by director Alice Troughton during production of Turn Left. According to the DVD commentary for this episode, Russell T. Davies decided to also include the clip in The Poison Sky, too, a fact Troughton -- and David Tennant -- were not made aware of until during the commentary recording for Midnight.
 * Months after the episode aired, the story element of having two characters speaking the same words at the same time, and one character trying to throw the other off by spouting random references, would be duplicated in "The Arrival", an episode of the American series Fringe.
 * This story was written, at short notice, to replace a script called Century House by Tom MacRae which Russell T Davies felt was too similar, in terms of plot, to The Unicorn and the Wasp.

Ratings

 * Official BARB ratings - 8.05 million viewers

Myths and rumours

 * Billie Piper's brief cameo was taken from an earlier episode, most likely The Idiot's Lantern in which she was also shown shouting silently from a TV screen, and was a last-minute addition. In fact, the scene was filmed especially for Midnight'', and was scripted according to director Alice Troughton's DVD commentary for the episode.

Filming Locations
To be added

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

 * The hostess twice opens the doors in the shuttle to the outside and lives, despite the Professor saying that the X-Tonic light would vaporise them in a split-second. There is an air buffer that lasts for six seconds, the glass between the Crusader and the outside world lasts for a few minutes.


 * When Rose appears on screen, didn't the others notice? (No-one would realise the significance of it except the Doctor - they may have assumed that the screen was faulty. Also, they may have been just focusing on the Doctor, not noticing Rose on the screen.


 * Why, after the Doctor shut down all the entertainment systems, was the screen working on which Rose appeared? Her image is not constructed by the electronics in the screen, rather it is a projection from the alternate universe. Or, this was a freak effect of the damaged electronics. Also, later on a monitor screen is clearly active - but showing a blank blue screen - on the wall behind Skye while the Doctor argues with the passengers over who he is.


 * This episode doesn't say what year it was set. It must be far future, because they are on an alien planet. But then how come the passengers on the Crusader 50 are in dis-belief and surprised when the Doctor gives a hint that he is not human? Surely that far in the future they must have come in contact with aliens? The episode is a commentary on xenophobia and mob culture - the Doctor being different was an excuse to victimize him. The makers presumably want to show this type of action is irrational, which they largely succeed in doing.


 * As noted, the episode takes place in the future, however the EXIT signs are standard 20th century style signs, and Donna's cordless phone clearly shows a modern-day plug-in jack for a cord. Perhaps "retro" was in vogue at the time? Perhaps also it is similar to the Ninth Doctors comment about him having a northern accent, lots of planets have a 20th century. Another theory is that the TARDIS translates every language so anybody from the TARDIS understands, therefore all of the signs and languages are the same and we can see the signs from a translated point of view.


 * While the revelation in Turn Left that Rose has obtained the TARDIS in Donna's World could be used to explain her ability to send an image of herself to the TARDIS in The Poison Sky, it is never explained how she is able to link into a monitor in a passenger shuttle on a planet in the far future, although Rose's experience at the end of The Parting Of The Ways where she was able to see all time and space at the same time and send the Bad Wolf messages to the Doctor could provide the answer. Since the TARDIS is presumably parked somewhere on Midnight, perhaps it was somehow relaying the image to the Doctor.


 * When the Doctor is speaking to Donna on the phone, part of the green screen is seen on the right.


 * When the lights come back on, Sky stops repeating for a few seconds. The moment the lights come back on was also the moment at which Sky started speaking in perfect time with everyone else, so she is speaking but it's difficult to hear her over the person she is copying.

Continuity

 * The entity seems almost identical to the species in (DWU: A Storm of Angels), which taking place in an alternate universe with a different Doctor showed what "might have happened".
 * Rose Tyler is seen again this time in one of the shuttle bus's screens. This is the same clip that appeared for a second in (DW: The Poison Sky) except this time it was slightly longer, and Rose seemed to mouth "Doctor!" twice rather than the once in The Poison Sky.
 * 'Molto Bene' is Italian for 'Very Well.' The Doctor first uttered this in a deleted scene from (DW: The Christmas Invasion), when the Doctor is thinking of a word to say instead of "Fantastic." In broadcast continuity, he first said it in (DW: The Runaway Bride). The Doctor's other favourite catchphrase "Allons-y" is also present and significant.  He used it for the first time in (DW: Army of Ghosts). For the benefit of those who do not speak French, this is the first episode in which the phrase is actually translated as "Let's go!"
 * The Lost Moon of Poosh is first introduced in this episode as another lost planet alongside Adipose 3 and Pyrovillia continuing this series trend of their having lost planets like the first series had Bad Wolf, the second had Torchwood and the third had Mr. Saxon. These planets are ultimately revealed to have been stolen by the Daleks and are found by the Doctor and Donna.  The Lost Moon of Poosh is returned home by Donna in Journey's End is thus later no longer lost.
 * This story takes place in the 27th century according to REF: The Time Traveller's Almanac, although the book does not explain how this date was arrived at.

DVD and other releases

 * Released in the Series 4 DVD boxset in November 2008 along with the rest of the Series.
 * Released as Series 4 Volume 3 in a vanilla edition alongside Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead.