The Tsuranga Conundrum (TV story)

The Tsuranga Conundrum was the fifth episode of series 11 of Doctor Who.

The episode followed the Thirteenth Doctor and her companions caught up on a hospital ship and facing a new threat, the Pting, a creature that only consumes non-organic matter. The story also expanded on Ryan's family backstory regarding losing his mother.

Synopsis
As the Thirteenth Doctor and her friends end up stranded without the TARDIS on a hospital ship in space, with a strange and potentially deadly intruder on board, it is up to them, the crew, and the patients to figure out what it is, what it wants, and how to stop it before the creature tears the ship apart.

Plot
The Thirteenth Doctor has taken Ryan, Yasmin, and Graham to the junk galaxy to hunt for spare parts for the TARDIS. While she searches with her sonic screwdriver, the others use modified metal detectors. The Doctor recalls that she found seven of the same part last time. Graham wonders how long it took her, to which the Doctor says at least a month. However, she stops for a moment to think; she may have found the part on Seffilun 59, Seffilun 27. Graham is annoyed that they may have just been wasting time, but the Doctor reminds them of a pleasant trip they took recently. He apologizes, simplifying his annoyance to the fact its basically looking for a needle in a haystack. Graham's detector finds something. Everyone rushes over to see what he found.

The Doctor removes some junk, which reveals a sonic mine; "is this somebody's idea of a REALLY bad joke?" the Doctor asks nervously. She instructs her companions to remain perfectly still. She attempts to lock the sonic mine in stasis, but it begins counting down. When asked how much time is left, the Doctor counts down from three. The sonic mine releases a pulse and everything goes white.

With blurry vision and ringing in her ears, the Doctor starts to come to. She overhears a woman worrying about not being able to do her job right as she can't find Medtags, while catching sight of a man who sees something wrong on a monitor; both are in white clothing and the room is sterile, implicating a hospital. When they realize she's awake, the man tells the Doctor to take it easy as she's still recovering. Yaz tells the woman they don't have medtags, calming her; however, she confusedly says they must have medtags, it contains all the information on the person who has them, which prevents medics from killing them by accident. The Doctor asks where they are; Graham explains a hospital, and the Doctor is the last of them to wake up.

The male medic, Astos, explains that the junk bots found them after the detonation of the sonic mine and brought them to Tsuranga for proper care; the Doctor notes that she's heard of the name before. They're very lucky; he and Mabli, the second medic, having only managed to stabilize their internal organs. He explains to Graham that a sonic mine is meant to destroy people by scrambling them apart from the inside. The Doctor picks herself up, but falls to the ground. Astos goes to help her back to her seat, but the Doctor stands up; despite the pain, she insists that they need to leave and get back to their ship. Though the Doctor is clearly in need of more recovery time, the rest of Team TARDIS follows after her without any reservations. The Doctor, clutching her side, asks where the exit is to the ship; she wants to get back to the TARDIS as soon as possible as she doesn't want a junker to take their home, since she only just got it back.

Annoyed by the lack of an exit sign, the Doctor enters the next door she can find. However, it turns out to be a patient room. Inside is Eve Cicero, her brother Durkas Cicero, and her android consort Ronan; Eve is suffering from cordon fever. The Doctor immediately recognizes Eve as the woman who fought the Army of the Aeons in the Battle of the Underkind, flattering her. When asked for her name, the Doctor gives it and is also recognized as someone who's name is also in the Book of Celebrants, having an entire chapter. The Doctor claims her name is common, and its more like an entire VOLUME was dedicated to her, rather than a chapter. In the hall, Team TARDIS continues looking for a way off. This time they enter a door, it contains a man named Yoss Inkl, a Gifftan. Much to the shock of the humans, Yoss reveals that he's pregnant after a weekend mistake. The Doctor explains that the Gifftans reproduce differently; their males give birth to males, and their females give birth to females. Though as a plus, the pregnancies only last a week. Ryan tells Yoss that he couldn't do what he does, which Yaz backs up; its not how reproduction works where they're wrong. Yoss is shocked, wondering how that works. Astos enters the room, telling the Doctor that she needs to stop disturbing the patients. The Doctor wonders why the floor is vibrating, to which Astos explains he planned on breaking it to her slowly. Calling herself stupid for not remember, the Doctor NOW remembers that Tsuranga is spaceship.

Back in the hall, Graham asks how long they were unconscious; Astos explains its been four days since the sonic mine went off. The Doctor demands Astos turn the ship around. However, he tells her that's impossible because the ship is on an automated course. Due to her disturbing all the other patients, Astos threatens to sedate her. Remembering that Astos reacted negatively to something he saw on the monitor when she woke up, the Doctor asks him to tell her; he attempts to deflect, but the Doctor notes that he's a very bad liar. The Doctor asks if there is an on-board teleport; Astos explains that there is a post-recovery teleport on Resus One, which is where they're heading. Scanning a nearby control panel with the sonic, the Doctor gains a map of the ship and says she'll just have to talk to the pilot. As she walks off, the Doctor clutches her side again, noting her ectospleen is acting up. Astos follows after her, while the rest of the group decides to return to the Assessment Area to wait for the Doctor. Outside Eve's room, Ronan asks Mabli to supply more adrenaline blockers for Eve's illness. Mabli explains that they've only a limited supply of them and that she believes that giving her more will only worsen her cordon fever. However, Ronan subtly threatens her career by stating he would not want to ruin it by reporting that she refused to provide proper care.

The Doctor reaches the control room, finding no one inside. Astos explains the ship is fully automated, aside for having two medics on board for emergency treatment. They are currently on a preset course to Resus One. The Doctor attempts to alter the program with the sonic, but Astos explains the ship is programmed to interrupt any alternations to their course as a hostile. The Doctor is offended as she isn't hostile, just wanting to get back to her ship. Astos tells her that she is, even putting the lives of the other patients at risk. The Doctor finally calms down and realizes Astos is right; she was being really selfish.

An alarm goes off, warning that something in the asteroid field the ship is passing through has breached the hull. The Doctor is shown a map of the ship; there's two escape pods, which each can hold five passengers. They're JUST at the right amount of people. The ship detects movement where the impact happened. The Doctor plans to investigate, with Astos reluctantly giving her a communication patch to talk with him; they stay on a separate channel than Mabli as this is only her second tour and don't want to worry her. As they split up to search, Astos wonders why he's trusting the Doctor; she explains that though he's a terrible liar, he has good instincts.

Graham finds Durkas attempting to hack into his sister's medical records, but fails as he's not the staff. Durkas explains that he knows its not corden fever Eve has, and that she's keeping the truth from him. However, Graham tells Durkas that its most likely that Eve simply doesn't want to worry him The Doctor and Astos each head for one of the lifepods to confront whatever got on the ship. However, to the Doctor's own shock, the lifepod on her side of the ship is gone. Astos sees his pod is still there and hears something moving around. The Doctor tells him not to do anything stupid and stay put, However, Astos enters the pod to investigate. Whatever is in the walls of the ship causes the pod to prepare for jettison, locking Astos inside. However, because of the damage the creature has done to the pod, it will explode after jettison. Hoping to free Astos with the sonic, the Doctor rushes over to the other side of the ship, passing Ronan and Mabli. Knowing the Doctor won't make it in time to help, Astos calls Mabli, giving her encouraging word as the pod is jettisoned and explodes moments later.

The Doctor arrives, finding a strange small creature eating parts of the ship. Mabli and the Doctor's companions arrive afterwards. Despite its cute, seemingly harmless appearance, it gives off a roar as a sign to leave it alone. All wondering what the creature is, with the Doctor authoritatively telling it to get off the ship. However, it simply resumes eating; Graham points out the obvious that it ignored the Doctor. The Doctor sneaks closer to scan it, but it simply eats the sonic out of her hand. Ryan notes it's got nerve as the creature spits the sonic back out; the Doctor laments that its now useless as the power is drained.

Retreating to the control room, Mabli reveals all medics have lenses that allow them to record information for medical training and possible lawsuits. Scanning through a list of hostile beings, she stops at the image of the creature. It is identified as a Pting; it has a voracious appetite for non-organic things, and is poisonous to touch. Many attempts to kill and contain the Pting have failed. An alarm goes off, with Mabli revealing the ship detects anything wrong and sends a message back to Resus One; the Pting has been detected. The Doctor denies it, but is warned it only works three times in a row; after that no-one believes the ship. And they blow up the ship to keep Resus One safe; since the Pting caused the destruction of the lifepods, they get blown up as well. The Doctor gives an exasperated sigh; either killed by the Pting or the blockheads in charge. She tells her companions to get everyone into the Assessment Area in seven minutes, as she needs time to think.

In the Assessment Area, the Doctor reveals to everyone the threat of the Pting. Eve fought one, and it destroyed her entire fleet. They need to protect the engine from the Pting, or the ship gets blown up by it instead of Resus One. Yoss reveals that his pregnancy has reached its end term; his internal fluids have broken. He asks Ryan and Graham to be his doulas - the Gifftan equivalent to midwives - as he doesn't trust Mabli alone. They agree and head back to Yoss's room.

In the engine room, the Doctor asks Eve what century it is. She reveals its the 67th century. The Doctor marvels at the engine, which uses anti-matter. Yaz remembers having taken some classes on the subject, which the Doctor elaborates on. However, Yaz is more confused about how the engine can be so small, as back in her era, it would take up an entire building. The Doctor explains that science shrinks things down over the years, calling the engine the IPhone version of CERN. Ronan (due to his artificial nature making him immune to the Pting's poisonous touch) and Yaz are left to defend the engine with powerful tasers, which can only affect the Pting briefly; the Doctor leaves Yaz a medical blanket just in case physical means are needed to deal with the Pting.

The Doctor stops Eve in the hall to examine her, realizing that she has Pilot's Heart from all her years of piloting via holographic interfaces. The adrenaline blockers were to keep the surges of adrenaline low, so as to not risk heart failure. Regardless, they still need Eve to pilot the ship. In the control room, Durkas has rigged up a primitive interface for Eve, allowing her to steer the ship away from the asteroids and back to the original course to Resus One. The Doctor denies the Pting's presence again, but then has to do it second time in a row; regardless of her attempts, the alarm keeps going off. They're out of bluffs. While rambling off everything related to the situation, the Doctor realizes that the Pting was never after them or the ship; it simply eats energy and the ship was giving off a lot of it.

In the engine room, the Pting arrives, but is shocked by Ronan and Yaz's tasers. Yaz grabs the blanket and wraps the Pting in it. She kicks the blanket far into the hall with the Pting landing with a thud. The Doctor enters moments later, scanning the engine with her sonic; she's realized that Resus One would detonate a bomb they've hidden in the engine. This way the crew did not know how to get rid of it. The plan is to detonate the bomb, to save the ship; Ronan wonders if Yaz also suffers from comprehension deficiency, which Yaz says is quite common when spending time with the Doctor. The Doctor carefully pulls out the bomb and tells Yaz to follow her out of the room; Ronan remains to guard the engine.

Heading to one of the lifepod doors, the Doctor leaves the bomb in the passage and uses the sonic to speed up the time. She and Yaz hide, with Yaz wondering why the Doctor wants the bomb to speed up. The Doctor explains that the energy in the bomb is building up, so it should be attracting the Pting like a piece of cheese to a mouse. The Pting arrives, notices the bomb and eats it. The Doctor locks the Pting in the airlock and the bomb detonates in its belly. The Pting's belly briefly glows and expands. It floats around with a content smile. The Doctor opens the airlock, sending it into space.

In the control room, feeling her heart about to finally give out, Eve makes peace with Durkas over their rocky relationship. The Doctor returns to find Durkas at the controls; he explains Eve gave him control and he's making contact with Resus One for help with an emergency landing. In the meantime, Yoss has become hyserical due to hormones despite Ryan and Graham's attempts to calm him. As Yoss fears the idea of being in change of a new life, Ryan reassures Yoss that he can be a good father by simply being there for his son. The delivery goes through without any problems and the baby boy is healthy. Landing at Resus one, Mabli tells the Doctor that after the ship is given a three hour decontamination, they will be allowed to leave and use the teleport to get back to their ship. In Yoss's room, he tells Graham and Ryan that he is grateful for their help, and has decided to name his son in honour of them. The name he's chosen is Avocado Inkl, after the great earth hero Avocado Pear. Both Ryan and Graham subtly laugh at him; those are the names of fruits, not a person. Yoss is surprised to find out that his people's records on Earth are wrong, though jokingly adds that he wouldn't name his son after them, as their names would make his son a laughingstock.

In the Assessment Area, Ronan and Durkas mourn for Eve. Ronan explains that since Eve is no longer alive, he has no purpose and will shut down. Durkas apologizes for not always being kind to Ronan, but he did provide his sister with excellent service. Ronan returns the compliment by telling Durkas he was able to do the same. Durkas asks Ronan to incant for Eve, which Ronan says will be an honor. The Doctor enters, asking if everyone else can join in. Moments later, everyone is in the Assessment Area, saying a prayer of farewell to Eve. The episode ends with a shot of the ship at Resus One as the prayer ends.

Cast

 * The Doctor - Jodie Whittaker
 * Graham O'Brien - Bradley Walsh
 * Ryan Sinclair - Tosin Cole
 * Yasmin Khan - Mandip Gill
 * Astos - Brett Goldstein
 * Mabli - Lois Chimimba
 * Eve Cicero - Suzanne Packer
 * Durkas Cicero - Ben Bailey-Smith
 * Ronan - David Shields
 * Yoss - Jack Shalloo

The Doctor

 * The Doctor has a stethoscope.
 * The Doctor claims she is a doctor of medicine, science, engineering, candy floss, LEGO, philosophy, music, problems, people and hope, but mostly hope.
 * The Doctor awards points to and claims to keep score of everything her companions accomplish.

Culture

 * Yaz compares the Tsuranga to the Red Cross.
 * Astos says he made a rookie mistake.
 * Danger levels mentioned are chalice and beetroot.
 * Graham mentions how he has watched every episode of Call the Midwife, although he looks away at the squeamish parts.
 * Yoss needed doulas for his birthing. Graham and Ryan agreed to do it.

Species

 * Gifftan males and females can both become pregnant, with males only birthing male children and vice-versa. Gifftan young are gestated for a week in a pregnancy sac before the sac is painlessly cut open during birth.
 * Gifftan babies are born with two umbilical cords.
 * Images of Davros, a Cyberman, an Ood, a Weeping Angel, a Raxacoricofallapatorian, a Sontaran, a Silent, a Silurian, and a Zygon appear on a console screen in rapid succession before Mabli selects a briefing on the Pting.
 * These are given as the Perils of the Constant Division with Pting labelled Item Seven Alpha Cubed.
 * Time Lords possess an organ called an ectospleen. When damaged they can cause pain.
 * Eve Cicero went up against the Aeons and the Underkind.
 * The Doctor compares the Pting to a mouse.

Food and beverages

 * The Doctor compares the bomb to a piece of large cheese.
 * Yoss thinks Avocado Pear is a person. Ryan and Graham discuss whether they're fruits or vegetables.

People

 * Eve Cicero is a Neuro pilot with Pilot's Heart, although she plays it off as Corden Fever.
 * She is mentioned in the Book of Celebrants for her part in defeating the Army of the Aeons in the Battle of the Underkind.
 * The Doctor is also in the Book of Celebrants, though Eve thinks her inclusion was a chapter and the Doctor describes it as 'more a volume'.
 * Ryan mentions Grace's funeral, his dad and his mum's death.
 * The Doctor calls to meeting, Poirot-style.
 * Astos was Chief Medic.
 * Eve graduated to Neuro Fleet Commander with record speed.
 * Due to the Doctor's babbling, Ronan and Yaz says they experience comprehension deficiency.
 * When Yaz says the number 51, the Doctor says that it's a pentagonal number, atomic number of antimony and that it's the number of federalist papers written by Alexander Hamilton. She also says that she loves that show and has seen all 900 casts.
 * Yoss gives birth to Avocado Inkl naming him such, thinking there's an Earth hero called Avocado Pear.

Biology

 * Yoss' internal fluids breaks due to his son coming.

Locations

 * The junk planets Seffilun 27 and Seffilun 59 are located in a Junk galaxy.
 * The TARDIS team had just been rainbathing in the upward tropics of Kinstarno.
 * Keebans are from the Keeba galaxy.
 * Yoss is stationed in Pod Two.
 * The Tsuranga is heading for Resus One, specifically the Tsuranga Hub.
 * The Tsuranga has entered the edges of the Constant Division.
 * Ronan says complaints are filed to Keeba Central.
 * The Tsuranga is being routed through an asteroid field.
 * Yaz mentions England as she kicks the Pting.
 * Graham and Yoss mentions Earth.

Medicine

 * Eve uses adrenaline blockers to get through her condition.
 * Mabli gives Yoss pain management for his birth.

Technology

 * The TARDIS team is searching the junk planet with modified metal detectors.
 * Graham found a sonic mine. The Doctor failed at putting it in temporal lock.
 * The Tsuranga patients all have to wear medtags, indicating their full bio-history, allergies, fluid levels, lifespan data. (Mabli implicates that everyone in that century has them at all times.)
 * The TARDIS team were rescued by robo-dredgers.
 * All assessment zones on the Tsuranga have privacy indicators built in.
 * Ronan is a Clone Drone Android.
 * The Tsuranga is a QuadZone Rescue Craft.
 * Resus One has post-recuperation onward teleports.
 * The Tsuranga has a NavChamber for navigation.
 * The Tsuranga has self-repairing shielding.
 * The Tsuranga has two life pods. One in portside and one in starboard.
 * The staff uses comm dots to communicate on great distances.
 * Everyone onboard the Tsuranga has ocular recorders. Yaz says it's like a posh version of her uniform camera.
 * Resus One can perform remote structural termination (RST) to the Tsuranga.
 * Without the central systems, the Tsuranga loses heat and oxygen.
 * The Tsuranga has stazers onboard.
 * if the ship's auto-routing were broken, Resus One would go straight to Hostility Protocols.
 * The Tsuranga has BirthBuds installed in the pods.
 * Anti-matter drives were used in the 67th century to power their ships.
 * The Doctor compares the particle accelerator to the iPhone version of CERN.
 * The Doctor says that the particle accelerator smashes the atoms together, like a little anti-matter factory, to produce positrons, which are then stored very carefully inside electric and magnetic fields. The positrons interact with the fuel materials to produce heat, which produces thrust.
 * Yaz uses a MedBlanket to pick up the Pting.
 * Eve attaches herself to a VR control system to control the ship.
 * The Doctor's sonic screwdriver is self-rebooting.
 * Every Tsurangan Rescue Craft has a bomb built in.
 * Graham mentions how Ryan spends time on YouTube.

Sport

 * Yaz mentions footballer Siobhan Chamberlain when kicking the Pting down a corridor on the Tsuranga.

Story notes

 * Pretty much every scientific fact about anti-matter given by the Doctor in this episode is true to real science. However, in reality, because antimatter is produced via pair production, energy gained by antimatter-matter reactions would not exceed the energy required to create it; therefore energy generation would have to be performed by captured antimatter that has not been manufactured.
 * Tim Price receives a creator credit for the Pting, the first time such a credit is given on a creature or character's first appearance.

Ratings

 * 6.12 million (UK overnight)
 * 7.76 million (UK final)

Filming locations
to be added

Production errors
to be added

Continuity

 * The Doctor notes that she has "only just" recovered her TARDIS. (TV: The Ghost Monument)
 * The Doctor says "snap" when her and the general say the same thing. She has said this in her second, sixth, (TV: The Two Doctors) tenth (TV: Time Crash) and twelfth (TV: Twice Upon a Time) incarnations.
 * The Doctor uses her stethoscope. It was commonly used by her tenth incarnation (TV: Evolution of the Daleks, Midnight, The Next Doctor) and occasionally her eleventh incarnation. (TV: The Lodger)
 * The Doctor and her friends have been rescued from a perilous situation before by a passing ship. (TV: The Ghost Monument)
 * Ryan mentions how his dad did not come to Grace O'Brien's funeral. (TV: The Woman Who Fell to Earth)
 * Graham still calls the Doctor "Doc". (TV: Rosa, Arachnids in the UK)
 * Graham once more tries to fist bump Ryan only for the man to refuse as it's "uncool" of him. (TV: Rosa)
 * Ryan elaborates on his mother's death. (TV: The Woman Who Fell to Earth)
 * Graham mentions the fact that Ryan spends time on YouTube. (TV: The Woman Who Fell to Earth)
 * The Doctor's sonic screwdriver is once again eaten. (TV: The Eleventh Hour, A Christmas Carol)
 * Once again, the Thirteenth Doctor loses possession of her TARDIS. (TV: Twice Upon a Time) She also lost it during her first, (TV: Marco Polo) second, (TV: The Faceless Ones, The Evil of the Daleks, COMIC: Egyptian Escapade) third, (COMIC: Backtime) fourth, (TV: The Ark in Space, AUDIO: The Beast of Kravenos) eighth, (AUDIO: A Life in the Day, The Sontaran Ordeal) tenth, (TV: The Impossible Planet, Blink, Utopia, Voyage of the Damned, The Poison Sky) eleventh (TV: Amy's Choice, The Lodger, The Doctor's Wife) and twelfth incarnations. (TV: Face the Raven)
 * The Doctor loves the musical Hamilton, and has seen it many times throughout her lives. (COMIC: The Long Con)
 * Graham mentions that Ryan is descended from an Earth nurse. (TV: The Woman Who Fell to Earth)
 * A humanoid species has muddled records about Earth. (TV: Voyage of the Damned)

DVD releases
to be added

Blu-ray releases
to be added

Digital releases
to be added