Time Crash (TV story)

Synopsis
The Tenth Doctor accidentally pilots his TARDIS into the path of the Fifth Doctor's TARDIS which threatens to annhilate an area of space the size of Belgium.

Plot
This story follows on from Last of the Time Lords when the Tenth Doctor has just said goodbye to  Martha. The Doctor tries to take off but the TARDIS goes haywire and spins around. Suddenly the Fifth Doctor has appeared inside the TARDIS. The Tenth Doctor realises straight away this is his past incarnation but the Fifth does not; he believes he is just a fan. The Fifth Doctor also reveals that he has had many fans, some from the group LINDA. After some-while the Fifth Doctor realises this is his future incarnation. The Tenth Doctor reveals he forgot to put up his TARDIS's shield and in the time stream the Fifth Doctor's TARDIS has collided with it. This will cause a paradox if the Doctors don't stop it. Without a passing thought the Tenth Doctor manipulates the TARDIS to cause a supernova that counters out the effects of the black hole caused by the paradox. The Fifth Doctor says he wouldn't have known what to do, but then realises he has remembered seeing the Tenth Doctor doing it so is able to do it himself in the future. The Tenth tells the Fifth Doctor of all the traits he has got from him before he puts him back in his own timeline. Just before he goes he reminds the Tenth Doctor to put his shields up but it is too late and the Titanic ploughs through the wall of the TARDIS.

Cast

 * Tenth Doctor - David Tennant
 * Fifth Doctor - Peter Davison
 * Martha Jones - Freema Agyeman (uncredited)

Production crew

 * Written by - Steven Moffat
 * Produced by - Phil Collinson
 * Directed by - Graeme Harper
 * 1st Assistant Director - Dan Mumford
 * 3rd Assistant Director - Andy Newbery
 * Additional Assistant Director - Kevin Myers
 * Driver - Kevin Kearns
 * Continuity - Non Eleri Hughes
 * Script Editor - Brian Minchin
 * Focus Puller - Ant Hugill
 * Grip - John Robinson
 * Camera Assistant - Tom Hartley
 * Jimmy Jib - Arun Taylor
 * Boom Operator - Ramon Pyndiah
 * Electricians - Ben Griffiths, Clive Johnson
 * Supervising Art Director - Arwel Wyn Jones
 * Associate Designer - James North
 * Senior Props Maker - Penny Howarth
 * Assistant Costume Designer - Rose Goodhart
 * Costume Supervisor - Lindsay Bonaccorsi
 * Costume Assistant - Barbara Harrington
 * Make-Up Artist - Morag Smith
 * Assistant Editor - Carmen Roberts
 * Post Production Supervisors - Samantha Hall, Chris Blatchford
 * Post Production Co-ordinator - Marie Brown
 * 3D Artist - Mark Wallman
 * 2D Artist - Simon C Holden
 * On Line Editors - Matthew Clarke, Mark Bright
 * Colourist - Mick Vincent
 * Dubbing Mixer - Tim Ricketts
 * Sound Editor - Paul McFadden
 * Sound FX Editor - Paul Jefferies
 * Original Theme Music - Ron Grainer
 * Casting Director - Andy Pryor Cdg
 * Production Executive - Julie Scott
 * Production Accountant - Oliver Ager
 * Sound Recordist - Ray Parker
 * Costume Designer - Louise Page
 * Make Up Designer - Barbara Southcott
 * Music - Murray Gold
 * Visual Effects - The Mill
 * Visual Fx Producers - Will Cohen, Marie Jones
 * Visual Fx Supervisor - Dave Houghton
 * Editor - Ceres Doyle
 * Production Designer - Edward Thomas
 * Director of Photography - Rory Taylor
 * Production Manager - Jennie Fava
 * Executive Producers - Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner

Story notes
This is the first official episode of Doctor Who written by Steven Moffat that doesn't use his theme of highlighting childhood fears.
 * This is the third filmed contribution by the new series production team to Children in Need. In 2005, they had offered the Children in Need Special (aka 'Pudsey Cutaway'). In 2006 they provided a live concert of music during the traditional Children in Need charity time period, and subsequently offered it to home viewers following the original broadcast of The Runaway Bride.
 * After it was cancelled, the original series was briefly revived by the inaugural Doctor Who filmed entertainment made especially for Children in Need, entitled Dimensions in Time. In 1983, The Five Doctors was also broadcast as a part of, though not made especially for, the Children in Need charity drive.
 * This story marks the first appearance of a Doctor from the original series appearing in the new series, although recognizable drawings of original series Doctors can be seen in Human Nature.
 * This story is directed by Graeme Harper who also directed Peter Davison's last story (DW: The Caves of Androzani).
 * Steven Moffat (writer) also wrote the Comic Relief story, The Curse of Fatal Death.
 * The special was introduced by Terry Wogan and John Barrowman.
 * Peter Davison's name appears in the credits, so far only Christopher Eccleston, Billie Piper, David Tennant, Catherine Tate, Freema Agyeman, John Barrowman and Kylie Minogue's names have appeared in the title sequence. This is the last time Murray Gold's original theme music is used.
 * The Fifth Doctor remembers how to save the TARDIS when he is the Tenth Doctor because, as the Fifth, he saw what the Tenth did. This is a reference to time going in a straight line, which makes sense, but was not discussed in The Three Doctors or The Five Doctors.

Ratings
to be added

Myths
to be added

Filming Locations

 * Upper Boat Studios, Cardiff

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

 * If the Tenth Doctor recalls this meeting from when he was the Fifth Doctor, then why was the Fifth Doctor so worried about his regeneration in The Caves of Androzani? (Perhaps in the heat of his impending "death" the Fifth Doctor simply forgot about his future encounter or perhaps time was in flux.)


 * If the Tenth Doctor tells the Fifth Doctor about meeting the Master in that incarnation then he would have known that he wasn't the last of the Time Lords (although this may partially explain the Doctor's extreme reaction to the news that Professor Yana has a Chameleon Arch fobwatch). Possibly, because The Doctor met the Master several times after his Fifth incarnation, he assumed that the Tenth meant one of those other encounters (such as the TV Movie).


 * The Tenth Doctor was at least as much confused meeting himself as the Fifth Doctor and he did not expect the Fifth Doctor thinking he is a fan (Although he should have remembered it).

It might be that the Fifth Doctor, being aware of the problems that paradox may cause, locked these memories in the back of his mind, and remembered at the moment he heard the Cloister Bell.


 * How did the fifth doctor know about LINDA when they where from 2007? The Doctor could easily have visited 2007 at anypoint in his lives.


 * Throughout the story the Doctor's hand-in-a-jar is located to the right of the console (as seen by viewers), but with the glass turned away from the camera (the illuminated interior can barely be glimpsed. It is in this position as Ten says goodbye to Five. Immediately after, the crash into Titanic occurs, and the hand-in-a-jar is suddenly positioned at the same spot on the floor, but with the glass facing the camera.

Continuity

 * This is the first on screen TV appearance of the Fifth Doctor since Dimensions in Time (and the first 'official' on screen appearance since DW: The Caves of Androzani).
 * The Fifth Doctor previously met the first three Doctors (First Doctor, Second Doctor, Third Doctor) in The Five Doctors.
 * The Fifth Doctor has also met the Sixth and Seventh Doctors in BFA: The Sirens of Time.
 * The Fifth Doctor has also encountered the Seventh Doctor in MA: Cold Fusion which (implicitly) involves the later Doctor remembering having experienced the events as his earlier self, as in this story.
 * The Fifth Doctor also encountered the Eighth Doctor in EDA: The Eight Doctors.
 * The Titanic was seen crashing into the TARDIS at the end of Last of the Time Lords. This story occurs inbetween those final scenes.
 * LINDA last appeared in Love & Monsters.
 * The reference to "Time Lords in funny hats" is to DW: Arc of Infinity.
 * Fifth Doctor identified new series' TARDIS console room's as a desktop theme named "Coral". Also says it to be worse than "leopard skin".
 * This is the first multi Doctor story to account for the aging of the actor returning to play a previous Doctor, by explaining it as a byproduct of meeting himself; this covers off the aging of the Doctors in The Five Doctors but not The Two Doctors as the Second Doctor (not to mention Jamie McCrimmon) appear considerably older long before they encounter the Doctor.
 * According to writer (later executive producer-designate) Steven Moffat, in an interview with Doctor Who Magazine #389, the events of Time Crash are considered canonical.

DVD and other releases

 * It was released alongside Voyage of the Damned.
 * It will be released on the Series 4 boxset DVD in November 2008.