A Good Man Goes to War (TV story)

A Good Man Goes to War was the seventh episode in the sixth series of Doctor Who and the last episode of the spring half of the series. Narratively, it was significant for revealing the identity of River Song, naming her as Melody Pond, the daughter of Amy and Rory. Additionally, it saw the reappearances of several of the Doctor's allies and enemies.

Synopsis
Amy Pond has been kidnapped and the Doctor is raising an army to rescue her. Yet as Rory and he race across galaxies, calling in long-held debts and solemnly given promises, his enemies are laying a carefully concealed trap. In her cell in Stormcage, River Song sadly acknowledges that the time has come at last – today will mark the Battle of Demon's Run and the Doctor’s darkest hour. Both sides will make their sacrifices and River Song must finally reveal her most closely guarded secret to the Doctor.

Plot
Beginning with a recap of the previous episodes, this one opens with an overlook of the Demons Run base, where Amy is calming her six-month-old daughter, Melody Pond, as Cleric guards -- including kind-hearted Lorna Bucket -- and the woman with the eyepatch, Madame Kovarian, look on. To comfort her baby, Amy tells Melody a story of her father; though he looks young, he has lived for hundreds of years and he is coming for them, so their captors had better beware -- because he is the Last Centurion. Kovarian takes Melody from Amy as Lorna looks on, distraught; Amy cries for Kovarian to give Melody back to her as she is put in a portable cot.

Meanwhile, on the flagship of the Twelfth Cyber Legion several lightyears away, the (Mondasian) Cybermen detect an intruder working his way up the ship to their command center, destroying parts of the ship and locking their reinforcements out of the upper levels; the intruder is using a sonic screwdriver. Despite their attempts to block his journey, he breaks in and confronts them -- it is Rory, dressed in Roman garb. He tells the Cybermen and the Cyber-leader that he has a message the Doctor, as well as a question from himself; he demands to know where Amy is, mentioning that the Cyber Legion monitors the entire quadrant and hear everything. When the Cybermen demand the Doctor's message, the ships around them explode in a flurry of gunfire. Unfazed by the explosion, Rory asks if he needs to repeat the question.

On Demon's Run, two Clerics called the Fat Man and the Thin Man pass Lorna, who is sewing on her break. The three discuss the Headless Monks, a devout religious order allied with the military; Lorna explains that they believe "the domain of faith is the heart, and the domain of doubt is the head" -- hence the term "headless." The Fat Man leaves with the monks to complete a conversion tutorial; the Thin Man stays behind with Lorna, deducing that she has met the Doctor before. She confirms she met him when she was a young girl in the Gamma Forest, and he told her to run. Meanwhile, the Fat Man is brought to the Headless Monks' headquarters on the base; he is told that he has been selected for conversion to their faith, and is asked to make a donation. The Monks gathered advance on him with an empty box while he looks on in horror.

In Victorian London, a hooded figure returns home and is greeted by the maid, Jenny; the figure says she has just defeated Jack the Ripper -- by eating him, no less -- before revealing herself as a Silurian woman called Madame Vastra. Jenny leads Vastra to the drawing room, where the TARDIS has been parked; Vastra smiles, commenting that a very old debt is about to be repaid. She orders Jenny to pack the swords.

In the midst of the Battle of Zaruthstra in 4037, Commander Harcourt seeks a nurse for the son of the President. A Sontaran called Commander Strax enters and heals the boy; leaving the medic tent, he informs Harcourt that being a nurse is his penance. He hears the TARDIS materialise in the distance, commenting that his penance may be finished, and wishes Harcourt well before going to it.

River Song happily returns to Stormcage Containment Facility after a birthday outing with the Doctor, accidentally tripping an alarm which she orders turned off -- she is breaking in, not out. Rory steps out of the shadows in his centurion garb, and River appears stunned at the sight of him; they exchange friendly banter before Rory informs River the Doctor needs her and that she must come with him. Checking her diary, River realizes that it is the Battle of Demon's Run; she can't be with the Doctor until the very end. She warns Rory that this is the day when the Doctor will rise higher than ever before, and then fall so much further. It is also the day when he finds out who she is.

Dorium Maldovar prepares to abandon his bar, the Maldovarium, when Madame Kovarian and the military commander, Colonel Manton, interrupt him. They express a lack of concern for the Doctor and what he may be planning; they've already waited a month and he's made no attack; Dorium insists he's raising an army of people who owe him a debt. He also mentions that the Headless Monks are his customers, and that he knows the site of their base as well as the old saying behind its name: "Demons run when a good man goes to war." After Kovarian and Manton leave, Dorium is terrified to see the TARDIS waiting for him in the back room.

At Demon's Run, Colonel Manton speaks to the assembled Clerics and Monks about the Doctor, insisting that he is just a man and they must not believe the stories they've heard about him. Amy watches from above, but is interrupted by Lorna, who offers a prayer leaf with Melody's name sewn on it in the language of her people. At first, Amy ignores the kind offer, but softens when she realizes that Lorna has met the Doctor; she accepts the gift and warns Lorna to be on the right side when the Doctor comes, for her own sake. Lorna hurries to the speech, arriving as Manton says he has received divine permission to lower the hoods of the Headless Monks; lowering the hoods of two of the Monks, he reveals knots of skin in place of a neck and head. The third monk lowers his own hood. He is the Doctor. The Monks raise their swords, and all of the Clerics -- save Lorna, who merely smiles -- raise their guns at him. In the control room above the hangar, Vastra and Jenny hold two technicians at swordpoint; they turn the lights off as the Doctor puts his hood up again, calling for Amy to get her coat.

When the lights come back on, the Doctor is nowhere to be seen; his voice, however, is heard echoing throughout the hangar. The Clerics, unable to pinpoint his location, accuse the Monks; one Cleric shoots a Monk who turns out to actually be headless; a fight ensues as the Monks protect themselves. Colonel Manton quickly regains control, ordering the Clerics not to fire; he removes his weapon pack and drops his gun as a show of good faith, urging the Clerics to do the same. Lorna spots a Monk using a sonic screwdriver to unlock a door across the hangar, and goes after him as the rest of the Clerics disarm themselves. An army of Silurians and Judoon suddenly materialise, surrounding the Clerics; Commander Strax appears and holds Manton at gunpoint, claiming the base. Manton confidently responds that his entire fleet will come to help if Demon's Run goes down; however, the Doctor orders a group of Dalek-upgraded Spitfires to attack the base and disable their communications.

Kovarian escapes to her ship, with two Clerics bringing Melody to her in a portable cot; before ordering the Clerics back to the hangar, Kovarian reminds them the Doctor must think he is winning "right until the trap closes." Unbeknownst to any of them, Lorna is listening, and runs off. After the Clerics leaves, Rory appears and confronts Kovarian; she taunts him, asking how he plans to take her ship -- until Henry Avery and his son, Toby, appear, exiting the ship with a captured crewmember. Kovarian and Manton are brought to the Doctor, who has joined Vastra and Jenny in the control room. The Doctor tells Manton to order his men to run away; he wants Manton to be famous for those words for the rest of his life -- a warning to those who might use the Doctor's friends to get to him in the future.

In her cell, Amy hears someone trying to get inside and prepares to defend herself with whatever she can find; Rory calls to her, asking her to wait as he tries to unlock the door with the sonic. Amy sadly informs him that they took Melody, but he enters with the baby in his arms. Amy and Rory tearfully reunite as the Doctor enters. Amy explains that the baby is called Melody; the Doctor gleefully refers to her as "Melody Pond," to Rory's annoyance and Amy's pleasure. The Doctor talks to Melody, claiming that he can speak baby. Madame Vastra enters, telling the Doctor that the Clerics are leaving without any bloodshed; when she gloats that the Doctor has never risen higher, Rory remembers River's warning and looks worried.

Some time later, the group -- minus Dorium and Vastra -- gathers in the hangar, preparing to leave the base. Amy saysthat Melody dislikes the TARDIS noise, causing some debate among the others as to why she is really crying; the Doctor emerges from the TARDIS with a cot, saying the baby is tired. Rory and Amy try to come to terms with what has happened -- why Amy was kidnapped and why the Clerics and Madame Kovarian want Melody. Vastra calls the Doctor to the control room; before departing, Amy implores him to tell them what is happening, but the Doctor merely informs her that the cot belonged to him.

In the control room, Dorium hacks into Kovarian's files and locates several scans of Melody's DNA, which contain traces of Time Lord DNA; when Vastra wonders where Melody was conceived, knowing that Time Lords only became what they were through exposure to the time vortex and the Untempered Schism, the Doctor remembers that the first time Amy and Rory were together on the TARDIS in this version of reality was on their wedding night. Vastra deduces that Kovarian wants Melody -- a part-Time Lord -- to turn her a weapon. When the Doctor wonders why a Time Lord would be a weapon, Vastra points out what he is capable of. Dorium shares his concerns that the Clerics' defeat came too easily and that something is wrong; Vastra agrees, and the two hurry back to the hangar. The Doctor, scowling, stays behind, remembering the little girl from 1969 America and the super-human strength she possessed, which enabled her to escape from the astronaut suit. Kovarian appears on a view screen in the control room, knowing the Doctor accessed their files on Melody; when he questions what the baby is for, Kovarian states that Melody is hope in their war against the Doctor.

In the hangar, Lorna is brought to the group at gunpoint by Strax, who found her eavesdropping on them. Loran warns the group of Kovarian's trap, but they are all reluctant to believe her given her Clerics' uniform; Lorna says she only joined the Clerics to meet the Doctor, whom she refers to as a "great warrior." When Amy corrects her, telling her the Doctor is not a warrior, Lorna confusedly asks why he is called "the Doctor." Abruptly, the lights in the hangar switch off. Strax scans the area, confirming there are no life forms registering on the base apart from them and the Silurians -- prompting Lorna to remind him that the Headless Monks aren't alive and won't register. Elsewhere in the base, the Monks attack the Silurians. As Vastra and Dorium join the others, a force field surrounds the TARDIS and the doors in the hangar begin to lock. No one is leaving. Dorium identifies the Monks' chanting as their attack prayer and steps forward, hoping to negotiate with them. Despite Rory and Vastra's warnings, he is beheaded, his body joining the Monks as they advance on the group. Rory ushers Amy and Melody to safety before joining the others as the true battle begins.

In the control room, the Doctor angrily tells Kovarian that the child is not a weapon and she has already lost, as he will never let her near Melody again. Kovarian gleefully informs him that fooling him once was a joy, but that fooling him twice in the same way is a privilege. Realizing what Kovarian has done, he rushes off to warn Amy.

Rory, Vastra, Jenny, Strax, and Lorna battle the Headless Monks while Amy waits nearby, holding a crying baby. Melody, looking over Amy's shoulder, sees a slot open in mid-air, with Kovarian watching her and whispering that it's time for her to wake up; Melody dissolves into Flesh,and Amy screams for Rory. The Doctor arrives at the battle too late. A sullen Rory informs him that they know Melody is Flesh and Jenny comforts a distraught Amy. Although the Headless Monks have been defeated, Lorna and Strax have been fatally wounded. Rory goes to help Strax, but to no avail. The Doctor, likewise, tries to comfort Amy, but she backs away from him, unable to cope with what has happened. Vastra brings the Doctor to Lorna, who confesses in her dying moments that they met once and she fears he does not remember her; the Doctor quells these fears, telling her he remembers everyone and that he knows they ran together. When he asks Vastra who she was, Vastra replies that she does not know, but that she was very brave.

As the Doctor considers giving up, River Song appears. He angrily confronts her, demanding to know why she did not come when he asked her, but River replies that she could not have prevented the battle. She questions the Doctor wondering if this is how he pictured things turning out when he first took off to see the universe -- whether he could've imagined that he would be a man who could make people so afraid, prompting them to turn an army around at the mention of his name. The Doctor, tired of her riddles, demands to know who she is. She runs to his cot, wondering if he can read what is carved on it; as he does, his expression changes from anger to joy. He bids Vastra and Jenny goodbye, orders River to get them all home safely, and takes off in the TARDIS despite Amy's protests.

Amy demands to know what River told the Doctor, eventually holding her at gunpoint; River is calm, however, merely handing Amy the prayer leaf the Lorna sewed for her, which lies in the cot. She reminds Amy that it is Melody's name in the language of the people of the Gamma Forest; however, they don't have a word for "Pond," since the only water in the forest is the river. Amy and Rory watch in shock as the TARDIS translator changes the stitching on the prayer leaf to words they can read: River Song. River confirms that she is their daughter as her parents stare at her, mouths agape.

Cast

 * The Doctor – Matt Smith
 * Amy Pond – Karen Gillan
 * Rory Williams – Arthur Darvill
 * River Song/Melody Pond – Alex Kingston
 * Baby Melody Pond – Harrison/Madison Mortimer
 * Madame Kovarian – Frances Barber
 * Dorium – Simon Fisher Becker
 * Henry Avery – Hugh Bonneville
 * Toby Avery – Oscar Lloyd
 * Colonel Manton – Danny Sapani
 * Madame Vastra – Neve McIntosh
 * Jenny – Catrin Stewart
 * Strax – Dan Starkey
 * Lorna Bucket – Christina Chong
 * Thin Man – Dan Johnston
 * Fat Man – Charlie Baker
 * Lucas – Joshua Hayes
 * Dominicus – Damian Kell
 * Captain Harcourt – Richard Trinder
 * Eleanor – Annabel Cleare
 * Arthur – Henry Wood
 * Voice of the Cybermen – Nicholas Briggs

Species

 * Strax is seen tending to human soldiers, rather than Sontaran troops as part of his punishment. He is also able to produce his own breast milk and demands to wetnurse Melody Pond.
 * The Cybermen resemble the parallel Cybermen from Pete's World but without the Cybus logos. It was suggested on the BBC website and later confirmed in (REF: The Brilliant Book 2012) that these are the original Mondasian Cybermen. There is no in-universe explanation for the similar designs.

The Doctor

 * The Doctor pulls out his own cot from when he was a baby, complete with Gallifreyan symbols.
 * When asked if he has any children, the Doctor replies "No". When further asked if he ever did have children, the Doctor is silent.

Story notes

 * This episode was originally entitled Demons Run. It was changed to A Good Man Goes to War, although His Darkest Hour had also been considered as a potential title.
 * A Good Man Goes to War, as noted by Steven Moffat, aside from being episode 7 of this series, is also the 777th episode of Doctor Who. Moffat stated there were no 'seven puns' in the episode as the coincidence was only observed after it was shot.
 * The end credits list Russell T Davies as creating the Ood and Judoon. However, no Ood appear in the episode.
 * Malcolm Hulke is credited as the creator of the Silurians in the end credits. Strangely, this did not occur in The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood nor The Pandorica Opens.
 * The idea that the word "doctor" derives from the Doctor was first advanced by Steven Moffat in a Usenet post in 1995.
 * Dan Starkey appears as the Sontaran Commander Strax. He previously played Commander Skorr in The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky and Commander Jask in The End of Time. Neve McIntosh also played Silurian sisters Alaya and Restac in The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood.
 * According to Steven Moffat, he was unable to include Jack Harkness in the Doctor's army because John Barrowman was busy with the filming of Torchwood: Miracle Day.
 * The TARDIS console room does not appear in this episode. This is the first time this has occurred since Planet of the Dead, over two years prior. This also makes it the first episode of the Eleventh Doctor era to not have a scene set in the TARDIS.
 * The Series 1 & 2 variation of Doctors theme (The Doctor's Theme) plays for six seconds when the Doctor and Vastra are talking about the possibility of a Time Lord being used as a weapon.
 * A variation of All The Strange, Strange Creatures play right before the scene mentioned above.
 * This is the first story to include River where the phrase "Hello Sweetie" isn't heard at all.
 * Vastra's first exchange of dialogue - "Thank you, Parker, I won't be needing you again tonight", to which an unseen carriage driver replies "Yes, m'lady" is a reference to the character of Lady Penelope in the Gerry Anderson TV series Thunderbirds, who often exchanged similar words with her manservant, also named Parker.
 * This episode features a unique sound mix on the opening theme music, which features the sound of the TARDIS. No Series 6 episode before or after featured this version of the theme.

Ratings

 * 7.57million (31.0% market share)

Myths

 * Karen Gillan is leaving the series and Amy Pond will be killed off at the climax to the spring half of the series. This was proven false.
 * River Song will die. This was proven false.
 * We will learn of the identity of River Song. This was proven true; she was revealed as the daughter of Amy Pond and Rory Williams.
 * River Song has been recently rumoured to be Amy's daughter as well as the Doctor's wife. This was proven true; she was revealed to be Amy's daughter, and later revealed to marry the Doctor.
 * We will find out whom River Song killed. Steven Moffat has said "a good man will die – a good man, and a hero to many." This was later proven false and the answer was not confirmed until later in the season.
 * The Cybermen will be newly designed Cybermen.  The design was largely the same, with the most significant change being the removal of the Cybus Industries logo.
 * The Cybermen will be planning to trap and capture the Doctor, before freezing him. This was proven false.
 * The character named Jenny would be the Doctor's Daughter in her second incarnation. This was proven false.

Filming locations
to be added

Production errors

 * The credits mention that Russell T Davies created the Judoon and the Ood. The only Series 6 episode that features an Ood is The Doctor's Wife.
 * The word "Override" is incorrectly spelt "Overide" on the label for the button which controls the door lock, which two tied up soldiers attempt to press before one is stung by Vastra. (the same error occurs on a graphic in World War Three) Spellings can change over time.
 * The Cyber-Leader's mouth glows blue when it isn't speaking when Rory was on the Twelfth Legion's Cybership. (This also happened in The Pandorica Opens)
 * When the Doctor is revealed to be wearing a cape of the Headless Monks, the two guards beside Madame Kovarian point their guns at him. However, in the next shot where the army points their guns at the Doctor, the two guards repeat their actions in the previous shot.

Continuity

 * The Doctor defends his belief that "Bow-ties are cool". (DW: The Eleventh Hour, etc)
 * The Doctor has said he speaks every language before. (DW: Planet of the Dead)
 * The Doctor has several flashbacks to the events in 1969 America. (DW: The Impossible Astronaut / Day of the Moon)
 * Rory's Centurion armour and warrior skills, as well as his age, were first shown in The Pandorica Opens / The Big Bang.
 * This episode ends the mystery of River Song's identity, a storyline that began in 2008 with DW: Silence in the Library
 * While in The Library, River Song commented that the Doctor would make whole armies turn and run, which may be a reference to this episode. (DW: Forest of the Dead)
 * The Doctor gives a brief history of Rory's time in the TARDIS to Vastra. He references Rory facing "sexy, fish vampires", (DW: The Vampires of Venice) dying and being erased from time, (DW: Cold Blood) then becoming "plastic" and coming back (DW: The Pandorica Opens). The Doctor also mentions rebooting the universe. (DW: The Big Bang)
 * The Doctor mentions that since rebooting the Universe, reality has been altered (DW: The Big Bang), so that Rory and Amy were in the TARDIS together for the first time "in this reality" on their wedding night. This creates some uncertainty as to whether the events of the pre-Pandorica Opens stories actually occurred, though it's clear the Doctor remembers them.
 * Cybermen, Sontarans, Silurians and Judoon also all appeared in DW: The Pandorica Opens.
 * Returning characters that the Doctor calls upon are: Dorium (DW: The Pandorica Opens), "Danny Boy" (DW: Victory of the Daleks), and Henry Avery and his son Toby. (DW: The Curse of the Black Spot)
 * The Church make their second appearance after DW: The Time of Angels / Flesh and Stone. Although some soldiers have the rank of Cleric printed on their uniforms, Manton is referred to as Colonel instead of a religious rank such as Bishop. The dates given on-screen mean this is the Church a century after Time of Angels.
 * A fake version of Amy and Rory's child turns out to be Flesh. (DW: The Rebel Flesh / The Almost People)
 * The Headless monks were first mentioned in DW: The Time of Angels.
 * The Fat Man tells the Thin Man a rumour that the Doctor once "chased the Atraxi off a planet" and "called them back for a scolding". (DW: The Eleventh Hour)
 * Dorium says that the Headless Monks are customers of his. (WC: Prequel (A Good Man Goes to War))
 * This is not the first time that the Doctor had created an army composed of some of his old enemies (PDA: Warmonger)
 * The Doctor is once again referred to as (not being) a Goblin and a Trickster. (DW: The Pandorica Opens)
 * "The only water in the forest is the river," the phrase River uses to explain why the people of the Gamma Forest translate Pond to River, was spoken to Rory by Idris. The Doctor said it would mean something someday. (DW: The Doctor's Wife)
 * The Untempered Schism is mentioned, referring to how Time Lords became what they were through billions of years of continued exposure to the Time Vortex. (DW: The Sound of Drums / Last of the Time Lords, The End of Time)
 * When River appears at Demon's Run, she wears the same outfit she wore in DW: Day of the Moon.
 * The TARDIS hum is heard as it is revealed in the Victorian drawing room. (DW:An Unearthly Child, et. al.)

Timeline
For the Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond For Rory Williams For baby Melody For adult River Song
 * This story occurs after: DW: The Almost People
 * This story occurs before: DW: Prequel: LKH
 * This story occurs after: DW: The Almost People
 * This story occurs before: DW: Let's Kill Hitler
 * This story occurs before: DW: The Impossible Astronaut
 * This story occurs after: DW: The Wedding of River Song
 * This story occurs before: DW: The Impossible Astronaut

Home video releases
Released as Series 6 Part 1 with The Impossible Astronaut, Day of the Moon, The Curse of the Black Spot, The Doctor's Wife, The Rebel Flesh and The Almost People on 11th July 2011. It will also be released in a full Series 6 box set in November (UK) shortly after the airing of episode 13.