Midnight (TV story)

"Taking a big space truck with a bunch of complete strangers on a 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 xtonic 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 sarcastically remarks on how anyone can really know anything about the planet, to the scolding of his parents, but 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, vapourising 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.

Cast

 * The Doctor - David Tennant
 * 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.
 * The villain in this episode is actually never 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 had a girlfriend.

Ratings

 * Official BARB ratings - 8.05 million viewers

Myths
to be added

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-Tronic 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 the Doctor's authority is challenged, he finds himself at a loss for words, at one point desperately citing his John Smith alias in hopes of placating the panicking passengers. Why wouldn't he use the same "I'm a Time Lord from the Planet Gallifrey, I'm 903 years old and I'm going to save your lives - got a problem with that"-type speech that he used in a similar situation in Voyage of the Damned? (All the passengers were paranoid, and appeared to be xenophobic, therefore knowing he was not human would not have helped. Also, it was apparent that while the Doctor wanted to know what the entity possessing Sky was, he also mentioned that it would be very dangerous if it 'became' him. So he might have been trying to be careful; if he revealed much of his true identity, the alien entity would possibly have become even more interested in him.)


 * When Rose appears on screen, didn't the others notice? It seems everyone was looking away from the screen at the time the Doctor was talking, and when your ship is flipped around by some unknown entity, a blonde on the TV is not going to be noticed by anyone (bar the Doctor).


 * 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.


 * Just before the titles there the Doctor said "What could possibly go wrong?" - at that moment when the camera was moving at the right side of the screen a piece of green screen was left un-edited - as before it was replaced by the shuttle. (RCV-TLFH)

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.

DVD and other releases

 * It will be released on the Series 4 boxed set DVD in November 2008.
 * It will be released as Series 4 Volume 3 alongside Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead on 4th August 2008.