Day of the Moon (TV story)

Day of the Moon was the second episode in the sixth series of Doctor Who. To some degree it concluded the "Silence arc" that began with Series 5. It heavily featured location filming across Utah. Some scenes, such as River's plunge from a skyscraper, were filmed back in Cardiff.

Synopsis
The Doctor is locked in the perfect prison. Amy, Rory and River Song are being hunted across America by the FBI. With the help of new friend and FBI-insider, Canton Everett Delaware the Third, our heroes are reunited to share their discoveries, if not their memories. For the world is occupied by an alien force who control humanity through post-hypnotic suggestion and no one can be trusted. Aided by President Nixon and Neil Armstrong's foot, the Doctor must mount a revolution to drive out the enemy and rescue the missing little girl. No one knows why they took her. Or why they have kidnapped Amy Pond...

Plot
Three months after Amy shot at the little girl, she is chased down in the middle of the Valley of the Gods in Utah. She has strange pen markings all over her skin. Eventually, she is cornered between two SUVs and a cliff face. Canton Delaware advises her to surrender, but eventually shoots her. Her body is brought before the Doctor, who is being kept prisoner at Area 51 in chains and a straitjacket.

River Song, also covered in markings, is caught in New York, between the unfinished edge of a skyscraper and Canton's FBI unit after seeing more aliens. She decides to jump instead of being arrested. Finally, Rory -- also covered in markings -- is shot on a dam. He is also taken to the Doctor, who is now having a wall built around him -- blocks of Dwarf star alloy that seal together perfectly to make one solid box. It is soundproof and impregnable -- the perfect prison. As it is finished, Canton steps inside and seals the door from the inside.

Once the door is closed, the pretence is dropped and the Doctor easily frees himself. Amy and Rory free themselves from the body bags, and Canton takes on a much friendlier tone with the three. After saving River from the fall by landing the TARDIS on the side of the building and opening the doors into the swimming pool, the three begin to clean themselves of markings, which are actually tally charts of how many aliens they had seen in the three months. The aliens have been found to be everywhere, all across the world. It is not an invasion --- they've been here all along. In private, Amy tells the Doctor she is not actually pregnant - she made a mistake.

The Doctor implants each occupant of the TARDIS with a nanorecorder. It flashes red when a message has been left, and after Canton casually adjusts the Doctor's bow tie, the Doctor points out to him that his is already flashing. The message begins "How the hell did it get in here?!", and when Canton turns around, sure enough, there is an alien standing in the TARDIS behind him. But it is not a real alien; the Doctor has extrapolated the image of the alien from Amy's phone and turned it into a hologram, which is now being projected behind Canton. Even though it is only an image, it is still impossible to remember it once you are no longer looking directly at it. The message also contains the Doctor's voice, telling Canton to turn around and straighten the Doctor's bow tie after he stops looking at the hologram. Like a post-hypnotic suggestion, it was the last thing in Canton's head when he looked away, so he did that. Even the information would eventually disappear.

Canton and Amy are sent by the Doctor to investigate a children's home, where the girl in the astronaut suit may have been taken from. The only person in the building believes that it is 1967 or earlier, not 1969, and he is a bit jumpy. Amy is exploring when a room door locks itself. She notices her hand is flashing - the message she left herself advises her to leave, as do scrawled messages on the wall. She realises that she has begun to tally on her arms again, and she is covered in marks. She looks up - the ceiling is filled with a group of sleeping aliens.

She runs out of the room, quickly forgetting her encounter. Down the hallway, she sees a mysterious woman with an eye patch looking out from a slot in a metal door. She goes to investigate, but finds the room empty and the slot on the door gone. Inside she finds a child's bed along with a photo of herself with the girl as a baby. As Amy tries to make sense of all this, the girl in the astronaut suit walks into the room and begs Amy to help her. Before she can do anything, however, a pair of aliens enter the room and trap her.

Canton hears Amy's screams while talking to the delirious man in his office and an alien suddenly appears in front of him. Canton activates his nanorecorder and interrogates the alien. After it haughtily states that as the rulers of the planet, its people do not need to carry weapons, Canton pulls out his gun and shoots the alien, badly wounding it.

The Doctor, meanwhile, has been busy -- is apprehended at NASA after breaking into the Command Module, Columbia, atop the Saturn V rocket, and rearranging some of the electronics to add one of his own devices to the electronic equipment. After President Richard Nixon arrives with Rory and River Song disguised as office workers and orders the Doctor's release, the Doctor receives a call from Canton, asking for help.

Amy has gone missing, and her nanorecorder left on the floor of the girl's room. It has been switched from recording to live broadcast -- Amy's current words can be heard. They also find the girl's astronaut suit which now lies empty on the floor, with a hole ripped in it from the girl escaping. The Doctor confronts the wounded alien and asks who and what it is. The alien reveals its species name to be "the Silence", and warns the Doctor that "silence will fall" - echoing the warnings of Prisoner Zero as the Doctor remembers every time he heard of the silence.

While Rory, River and the Doctor set about finding Amy, Canton returns to the cell at Area 51 with the Silent in tow, and talks with it. The alien gloats that the Silence have ruled the world since the Stone Age. It tells him that it was a mistake to bandage him and, when asked what the Silence would do in the Humans' place, responds "you should kill us on sight". Canton reveals that he recorded this on Amy's video phone - despite not understanding what a "video phone" is - and leaves. As Canton has been gone several days, the soldiers are naturally curious -- they calm down after President Nixon puts in another surprise appearance; he came with the Doctor after he landed the TARDIS back in the prison box..

Elsewhere, in the Florida warehouse they found the girl in, River and the Doctor begin to dissect the astronaut suit. They find it is, in fact, a perfect life support machine -- this is how the girl could survive Amy shooting her. It is comprised of at least 20 different types of alien tech, and the occupant would not even have to eat while wearing it as it converts sunlight into nutrients. River wonders if the suit could move without an occupant, remembering that the girl said an astronaut was coming to eat her, coming to the conclusion that is exactly what happened; the suit "swallowed" her.

Meanwhile, Amy wakes up and finds herself tied to some framework and surrounded by several members of the Silence in their console room. The Silence inform her that she has been with them for several days and that she will help "bring the silence."

The launch of Apollo 11 goes off without a hitch, and the Doctor tracks the signal from Amy's nanorecorder to the room where she is being held. He brings an old television with him, and River brings her gun - she claims she could take down at least seven Silence should they choose to attack. The Doctor doesn't mind River's death threats to the Silence because they are a greater threat than his other foes. He asks the Silence why the little girl is so important to them. They don't answer him, prompting the Doctor to joke that they take their name seriously. The Doctor sets up the television in time for the live broadcast of the famous "One small step" speech, but hacks into the signal just as Neil Armstrong's foot touches the lunar surface. As it does, the image turns to Canton's video of the Silent saying "You should kill us all on sight" -- in short, sealing the fate of all the Silence on the planet, since every human will see it at some point in their lives, the most famous TV broadcast in history. The post-hypnotic suggestion of the Silent's appearance will command every human who ever sees the footage to kill the Silence on sight, meaning that they are doomed. Enraged by the Doctor's victory, the Silence try to attack the Doctor, prompting River to shoot all the aliens present, while the Doctor and Rory free Amy.

They withdraw to the TARDIS, and Canton is delivered to the Oval Office, where Nixon asks the Doctor if he will be remembered since Canton told him the Doctor was from the future. The Doctor replies by telling him "They'll never forget you," without going into detail. As the TARDIS disappears, Canton asks the President if he can rejoin the FBI, who had fired him because he wishes to be married. Nixon realises that, since he is asking the President for help, Canton's girlfriend must be "black", and he states he is quite liberal, and that he's sure he can help Canton. Canton corrects the President -- "she" is actually a "he". Nixon stops talking, but is visibly disturbed. He then tells Canton that the moon landing is "far enough for now".

River Song is delivered back to prison, where the Doctor offers River the chance to stay out of prison and travel with him, but River declines, telling him that she made a promise to stay locked up, and that he'll understand soon enough. The Doctor prepares to leave, but River stops him, saying he's forgotten something. As the Doctor asks her what he forgot, River pulls him into a lingering kiss, which the Doctor seems to both enjoy and be entirely shocked by. After the kiss, the Doctor is shaken, not knowing how to react and bolts to the TARDIS. River realizes that from her perspective, she may never kiss him again while he will from his perspective.

While the Doctor and Amy talk, Rory spies on their conversation using Amy's nanorecorder. Amy had not told Rory she thought she was pregnant since she is worried that the TARDIS may have had an effect on the child, giving it abnormalities such as multiple heads or something worse. Amy knows Rory is spying on them and tells him to come over to the console, chiding Rory for eavesdropping and reassuring him that he is safe. The Doctor prepares to set the TARDIS on a course for a new adventure as he has the TARDIS scan Amy for pregnancy -- it flickers between a positive and a negative reading. The Doctor is disturbed by this, but sets a course to take his mind off it.

Six months later, in 1970 New York, the little girl, coughing, comes across a homeless man in an alley. He wonders if the girl is okay, she tells him that she is dying. However, she adds on saying, "but I can fix that. It's easy really... See". To his astonishment -- and terror, resulting in him fleeing from the girl -- she initiates a regeneration.

Cast

 * The Doctor - Matt Smith
 * Amy Pond - Karen Gillan
 * Rory Williams - Arthur Darvill
 * River Song - Alex Kingston
 * Little Girl - Sydney Wade
 * Canton Delaware - Mark Sheppard
 * President Richard Nixon - Stuart Milligan
 * Carl - Chukwudi Iwuji
 * Phil - Mark Griffin
 * The Silent - Marnix Van Den Broeke
 * Doctor Renfrew - Kerry Shale
 * Gardner - Glenn Wrage
 * Doctor Shepherd - Peter Banks
 * Tramp - Ricky Fearon
 * Eye Patch Lady - Frances Barber
 * Grant - Jeff Mash
 * Sergeant - Tommy Campbell

Crew

 * Writer - Steven Moffat
 * Director - Toby Haynes

Individuals

 * The Doctor asks Nixon to say "Hi" to David Frost for him, referencing the famous series of interviews between Frost and Nixon and the film Frost/Nixon.

Objects

 * When the Doctor, Amy, and Rory enter the TARDIS, the Doctor asks Rory to grab some thermocouplings. (DW: Space)

Films

 * This story shares numerous similarities with the 1988 John Carpenter film They Live, in which the primary protagonist discovers a hidden alien race living amongst humans and using subliminal messages to influence their development.
 * The title of the episode may be a reference to Transformers: Dark of the Moon, a Sci-Fi film that was also released in 2011.

Story notes

 * This episode had the working title: Look Behind You.
 * This is the first two part opening episode of the revived series, and the first since Attack of the Cybermen.
 * Rory's cover as an aide to Nixon is blown not only by his obvious English accent but also by his use of the British Army salute, which is distinctly different from the American version.
 * At a little over three months, this is one of the longest single adventures in terms of total time elapsed from the Doctor's perspective.
 * Canton is able to receive a call from the Doctor on Amy's cell phone. Since there were no cell networks in 1969, Amy's phone must have been upgraded to a superphone by the Doctor, allowing it to be used anywhere in time and space.
 * The Doctor calls for help after he is captured breaking into Apollo 11. Rory, River and President Nixon arrive in the TARDIS to help him. This is one of the very rare moments in the series where someone other than the Doctor (in this case River) pilots the TARDIS without the Doctor on board.
 * This episode marks the first time a female has regenerated onscreen. Romana's regeneration in Destiny of the Daleks isn't generally considered "onscreen" as all physical aspects of her regeneration happened in another room and was not shown.
 * The doctor tells Nixon that he has to tape everything that he says in his office, or else he won't know if the Silence has affected him. This is a reference to the Nixon tapes, with the famous 18 and a half minute gap occuring in one of the tapes.

Ratings

 * 5.4 million (overnight figures only. Full consolidated figures are only published a week after the initial air-date)

Myths

 * We will see River Song as a child. This has neither been proven true or false.
 * This episode will air the day after The Impossible Astronaut  This has been proven false
 * During the fight with the Silence, the Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to shoot spiral green lasers. This is false, it's just shining light around and, as River notes, is worthless in a fire fight.

Filming locations

 * The Prequel to The Impossible Astronaut was shot on 11 November, 2010. Other scenes shot that day included the scene in the 'perfect prison'. These sequences were shot metres from each other as the Oval Office stood about half a dozen paces from the Doctor's cell.

Production errors

 * When River backs toward the edge of the building, she's still a few inches from the edge before she falls back.
 * When President Nixon arrives to bail out the Doctor, he and River follow the Doctor back into the TARDIS. When the camera focuses on Rory, you hear the TARDIS doors close, but when it shows Rory again, they're still partially open.
 * Close examination of the television sets shows they only have one tuning dial, clearly marked "UHF". American television receivers of that era would have had two mechanical tuning dials, one for VHF and one for UHF. Sets from the UK would presumably only have the UHF dial if it was a 625-line PAL set, as VHF had only been used for the 405-line System A transmission that was the original BBC signal standard.
 * Dwarf star alloy would be far too heavy for two men to lift.
 * The audio of the moon landing playing in the final confrontation between the Doctor and the Silence is incorrect. You can clearly hear Armstrong say "engines stopped", identifying the audio clip as from the landing of the Eagle Lunar Module, which occurred several hours before Armstrong stepped on the moon. When the Doctor finally points to the screen, the audio and video are of Armstrong's historic first step.
 * In the orphanage, Doctor Renfrew is holding a cloth in his right hand, then there is a shot of Amy and Canton, and then when the camera cuts back to Doctor Renfrew, the cloth is then in his left hand. After another shot of Amy and Canton, the cloth is back in his right hand again. This is either a production error or he passed it to each hand between shots.

Continuity

 * River Song mocks the Doctor for brandishing his sonic screwdriver in a gunfight and tells him to go "build a cabinet", similar to a conversation Captain Jack had with the Ninth Doctor. (DW: The Doctor Dances)
 * The Doctor tastes the "TARDIS blue"-coloured envelope in an attempt to gather information. (DW: The Hungry Earth, The Idiot's Lantern, The Eleventh Hour, Tooth and Claw)
 * River's scanner is branded Magpie Electricals. (DW: The Idiot's Lantern)
 * The Doctor recalls Prisoner Zero, a silent Venice, and the voice claiming "silence will fall". (DW: The Eleventh Hour, The Vampires of Venice, The Pandorica Opens)
 * Rory reveals that he remembers the two thousand years he spent as an Auton guarding the Pandorica with Amy inside, but that he doesn't always have those memories. (DW: The Big Bang)
 * The Doctor has previously been held prisoner in Area 51.(DW: Dreamland).
 * The Doctor opens the TARDIS with a snap of his fingers (DW: Forest of the Dead, The Eleventh Hour).
 * The Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones watched the Apollo 11 moon landing four times. Given the dangers of crossing time streams, it's possible they watched the television transmission from Earth on at least one of those occasions.
 * Dwarf star alloy previously featured in DW: Warriors' Gate and briefly in DW: The Family of Blood.
 * When the Doctor discovers the Silence's underground lair, which is nearly identical to the interior of the 79B Aickman Road timeship, he makes the comparison, describing it as being "very Aickman Road." (DW: The Lodger)
 * When Canton tells the Doctor that River jumped off a skyscraper, he replies "It's okay, she does that.", referencing her leap out of an airlock in The Time of Angels. The Doctor once again positions the TARDIS to catch her after she makes the seemingly fatal leap.
 * The Doctor appears to re-arrange the TARDIS rooms so the swimming pool is directly beneath the TARDIS entrance (it's unlikely that River could have safely fallen through the console room and into the pool).
 * While this is the first time we see the Doctor kiss River Song, this may be the last time River kisses the Doctor from her perspective. It is implied that the Doctor who gives her his Sonic Screwdriver before she goes to the library may have kissed her. (DW : Forest of the Dead )

Timeline
For the Doctor For River Song
 * This story occurs after: DW: The Impossible Astronaut
 * This story occurs before: DWA: Extinction Event
 * This story occurs after: DW: The Impossible Astronaut
 * This story occurs before: DW: The Pandorica Opens

Home video releases
Released as Series 6 Part 1 with The Impossible Astronaut, The Curse of the Black Spot, The Doctor's Wife, The Rebel Flesh, The Almost People and A Good Man Goes to War on 11th July 2011.