The Impossible Astronaut (TV story)

The Impossible Astronaut was the first episode of the sixth series of Doctor Who. This story is perhaps most notable as the first opening two-parter of the BBC Wales series. Behind the scenes, it was notable for the significant amount of location filming with cast and crew travelling to Utah in the United States of America.

Narratively, it saw the reappearance of River Song with some insight into her back story. Yet again, questions of her trustworthiness were posed. Additionally, it introduced the Silence as a species, building on the references of the previous series.

Synopsis
Four envelopes, numbered 2, 3 and 4, each containing a date, time and map reference, unsigned, but TARDIS blue: who sent them? And who received the missing envelope numbered 1? This strange summons reunites the Doctor, Amy, Rory and River Song in the middle of the Utah desert and unveils a terrible secret the Doctor's friends must never reveal to him. Placing his life entirely in their hands, the Doctor agrees to search for the recipient of the fourth envelope and figure out just who Canton Everett Delaware the Third is. Also what is the relevance of their only other clue: 'Space 1969'? Their quest lands them—quite literally—in the Oval Office, where they are enlisted by President Nixon to assist enigmatic former-FBI agent Canton in saving a terrified little girl from a mysterious spaceman.

Plot
In the 17th century, Charles II bursts into a room, questioning Matilda, who is present, as to the Doctor’s whereabouts. By her stands "My Mysterious Doctor", a painting of the Time Lord. She asks “Doctor Who?”. An audible sneeze comes from beneath her skirt and the man lifts its hem with his sword to find the Doctor hiding naked underneath, explaining that it is not as bad as it seems.

In 2011, Amy Pond and Rory Williams are in their kitchen. Amy reads an account of how the Doctor was imprisoned in the Tower of London without trial on the personal request of the king. Rory is not certain that it is the Doctor until Amy reads that he was seen flying from the tower two days later on a sphere. Rory now believes it is the Doctor. She reads of how the Doctor took part in a World War II breakout from a POW camp, (which didn't end up so good for him in the flashback.)

Amy ponders whether he is being deliberately ridiculous in non-important historical settings in order to gain their attention. Rory is distracted and so doesn’t see the Doctor waving at the camera in a scene from a Laurel and Hardy film. Amy answers the door and is handed her post. She finds a letter in a TARDIS blue envelope. There is no name in the letter but it gives her a map reference, a time and a date. In Stormcage Containment Facility, River Song receives an identical letter. The prison goes on alert after a guard warns that she is packing and planning to go to a "planet" called America.

Rory and Amy arrive in Utah where they are greeted by the Doctor. River arrives shortly after, once again shooting off the Doctor's hat. In a café, the Doctor and River compare diaries. They have both “done” Easter Island and met Jim the Fish. The Doctor says that they're going somewhere new and different; space in 1969.

They move to sit by a lake, where they have a picnic. The Doctor tries wine again, immediately disliking it, then mentions in passing that he's 1,103 years old; this means he's about 200 years older than the last time Amy and Rory saw him. Amy sees a mysterious figure watching them from a distance but as she turns away to mention him, she forgets all about him.

Behind them an elderly man pulls up in his car and waits, and from the water an astronaut rises wearing an Apollo 11-style space suit.

The Doctor tells Amy, Rory, and River not to interfere, no matter what, and moves to meet the astronaut. Out of earshot of the others, the Doctor announces that he knows who is within the suit. The astronaut suddenly shoots him twice, initiating the Doctor's eleventh regeneration, but fires again before the transformation can begin, causing the Doctor to truly die. The astronaut then retreats into the water, unfazed by the bullets River Song fires.

The elderly man then approaches and hands the grieving trio a canister of gasoline; he, too, was invited to this meeting. They orchestrate a Viking-style funeral by burning the Doctor’s body aboard a boat to prevent his body from being studied. The man shows them that he too has an envelope: number four. Rory and Amy have three and River has two. He then tells them that his name is Canton Everett Delaware III, and that they will be seeing him again soon though he won't see them again.

River, Rory, and Amy return to the café and find letter number one on a table. They ask the owner who was seated there but he only replies “some guy”. They turn and the Doctor emerges from a side door - fully alive and unharmed. The Doctor greets his companions happily, acting completely oblivious to their stunned expressions until a furious River slaps him. His companions eventually come to realise that this is a younger version of the Doctor, by some two hundred years. He was invited here by his older self, just the same as the others, and seems completely unaware of what they have just witnessed. They tell him that they have been "hired" by someone he trusts the most and it involves the year 1969 and a man named Canton Everett Delaware III.

They return to the TARDIS and River tells Rory and Amy that they cannot tell the Doctor of his upcoming death, while the Doctor is reluctant to go to a location a mysterious person summons him to. Amy manages to get the Doctor to trust her and not to ask why he is doing the mission, by swearing on the meal they shared the first time they met (Fish fingers and custard).

They use the TARDIS to travel back to 1969, and land in the Oval Office after switching the TARDIS to a setting in which it is invisible and silent. The Doctor emerges alone and listens to President Richard Nixon and a young Canton Delaware as they discuss the president being called by a unknown person every day. The Doctor makes notes as a recording of one call is played, in which Nixon speaks with a young child of indeterminate gender. When the President asks the child for their name, the response is “Jefferson Adams Hamilton”.

Canton and Nixon become aware of the Doctor's presence, and the Secret Service is called in. They quickly overwhelm the Doctor and the TARDIS becomes visible per the Doctor's request. The Doctor proposes to sort out the mysterious calls and pretends to be an undercover agent sent from Scotland Yard. Canton agrees, telling the Doctor he has five minutes to solve the mystery.

Amy sees the mysterious creature again, more clearly now as it stands out in the hallway, just a few feet from her. Rory blocks her vision and she again forgets what she has seen. She feels ill and asks to go the toilet. Canton allows her to do so. She enters to find the alien waiting for her. As she looks at it, she remembers the previous sightings that she forgot. A woman emerges from one of the cubicles and sees the alien, thinking its one of her co-workers wearing a Star Trek mask. She looks towards Amy and forgets that the alien is even there, then looks again and repeats the same words, before looking back to Amy and forgetting again. She looks to the alien for a third time, and this time, she stops herself from repeating the same phrase, remembering like Amy the previous sightings she had forgotten. The alien then kills her with electricity. The alien tells Amy that the woman's name was Joy, and cryptically instructs Amy to “tell the Doctor what he must know, and what he must never know”. Amy then exits and immediately forgets - but not before taking a photo of the alien on her cell phone. She returns to the Oval Office.

The Doctor finds the only place the calls can be coming from. Another call from the mysterious caller is answered by Nixon. while the Doctor and his companions, plus Canton, leave in the TARDIS. The Doctor tells the others that Jefferson, Adams, and Hamilton are three of America’s founding fathers, and that "Jefferson Adams Hamilton" isn't the name of the little boy calling (for indeed, it is a little girl), but the name of three streets that intersect near where the child is calling from; the girl had been trying to tell the President where she was, not who she was. He further reveals that the only place in the United States with those three street names on one junction is an area five miles from Cape Kennedy Space Center.

Rory explains to a stunned Canton that the TARDIS is bigger on the inside as he is the newest companion beforehand. They search a building at the junction, unaware of the astronaut’s presence. Amy suggests to River the idea of neutralising the astronaut now to prevent it from killing the Doctor in the future. However, River tells Amy that it doesn’t work that way due to the nature of time travel being very complicated.

River discovers a tube leading down through a drain. She heads down once and finds a secret tunnel filed with the mysterious aliens, and quickly runs up to warn the Doctor. However, she forgets they are there and says she will take another look, perhaps out of subconcious memory. The Doctor sends Rory with River this time, out of concern. This time, the tunnel is empty and River opens a locked room, entering a large cavern. In the center sits a structure akin to a TARDIS console.

They set off an alarm and Rory checks if anything is coming. He sees many of the aliens but forgets as soon as he turns to warn River, telling her the hallway is clear. River, using one of her devices, discovers that the tunnels cover the Earth and have been around for hundreds of years. Electricity crackles behind Rory and something approaches him.

Meanwhile Canton and Amy discuss the former agent's FBI career; he was kicked out for “attitude problems” as he wanted to get married. Amy hears the little girl calling and runs to the Doctor; Canton runs on ahead of them and they quickly follow...

However, they find him unconscious after he yelled from something hitting him. As they examine Canton to make sure he's okay, Amy tells the Doctor that she is pregnant after having trouble trying to get him to listen. They then turn to see the astronaut, who begins to lift its faceplate. Despite River's warnings, Amy picks up Canton's gun as the the faceplate is fully lifted to reveal - the little girl who was calling the President for help. Before Amy can see the little girl, she fires off a shot much to the Doctor's and her horror.

Cast

 * The Doctor - Matt Smith
 * Amy Pond - Karen Gillan
 * Rory Williams - Arthur Darvill
 * River Song - Alex Kingston
 * Canton Delaware - Mark Sheppard
 * Old Canton Delaware - William Morgan Sheppard
 * President Richard Nixon - Stuart Milligan
 * Carl - Chukwudi Iwuji
 * Phil - Mark Griffin
 * The Silent - Marnix Van Den Broeke
 * Little Girl - Sydney Wade
 * Joy - Nancy Baldwin
 * Prison Guard - Kieran O'Connor
 * Captain Simmons - Adam Napier
 * Matilda - Henrietta Clemett
 * Charles II - Paul Critoph
 * Busboy - Emilio Aquino

Crew

 * Writer - Steven Moffat
 * Director - Toby Haynes

The Doctor

 * An older Eleventh Doctor who is 1,103 years old, begins to regenerate, but is killed before the process completes.
 * The younger Doctor states his current age as 909 years old.
 * The Doctor says that he is late for a biplane lesson in 1911 but gets confused and wonders if it is actually knitting.
 * The Eleventh Doctor still dislikes wine.
 * The Doctor claims that two of the founding fathers mentioned in the girl's message fancied him, although he doesn't identify which two.

Films

 * Amy Pond and Rory Williams watch a Laurel & Hardy film, The Flying Deuces, on television.
 * 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 Doctor refers to River Song as Mrs. Robinson - a character from the 1967 film The Graduate.

Fashion and clothing

 * The Doctor is shown wearing a fez in a Laurel & Hardy film, The Flying Deuces.
 * The 1,103 year old Doctor is wearing a Stetson hat, and proclaims that "Stetsons are cool". As with the last time he tried to adopt headgear, it is promptly dealt with by River Song's gun.

Foods and beverages

 * The Doctor thought wine would taste more like 'the gums', referring to wine gums.
 * The Doctor asks for twelve Jammy Dodgers.

Years

 * The Doctor states that the year 1482 is full of glitches, but also says 1969 is 'easy'. This suggests that some years are harder to travel to than others.

TARDIS

 * The Doctor makes the TARDIS invisible when he materializes in the Oval Office. The Doctor states that this causes a huge drain on the TARDIS energy. When he tries to re-enter the TARDIS, he smashes into it.
 * The Doctor also manages to land the TARDIS silently.
 * The Doctor claims that the TARDIS scanner cannot be activated when the TARDIS is invisible. This is later shown to be an exaggeration, as River makes adjustments inside the TARDIS and operates the scanner, as the Doctor's later dialogue indicates he had expected her to do.

Story notes

 * This episode had the working title The Year of the Moon
 * This is the first two part opening episode of the revived series, and the first since Attack of the Cybermen.
 * A prequel for this story was released on the official BBC website.
 * The monsters in this episode were said to be "the scariest monsters yet".
 * The episode was dedicated to Elisabeth Sladen, who had passed away four days before the episode's initial broadcast. The dedication was shown before the episode on BBC1 and Space, and after the episode on BBC America.
 * The version supplied for broadcast in the United States and Australia is the first episode of Doctor Who to have a voiceover introductory sequence before the main titles, with the voice of Amy explaining her relationship with the Doctor.
 * While the local date and time when the Doctor is killed is the evening of April 22, 2011, the local date and time in Britain (a 7-hour difference from Utah) would be just after midnight the morning of April 23. Thus, this is the third story in the revived series whose airdate coincides with in-story events (the first being DW: The End of Time on December 25, 2009, and the second being DW: The Big Bang on June 26, 2010).
 * The attempted regeneration in this episode occurs in front of six witnesses, the greatest number in the revived series (Amy Pond, Rory Williams, River Song, Canton Delaware, the Astronaut, and a Silent).
 * This is the first episode of the revived series to feature a regeneration (albeit an unsuccessful one) outside the TARDIS.
 * The sequence with the Doctor inserted into the Laurel and Hardy clip is a reference to the 1992 American Academy Awards. Host Billy Crystal was digitally added into the same clip and was depicted dancing alongside Laurel and Hardy. In this version, the Doctor begins to dance with Laurel and Hardy at the end of the clip, standing in the same spot that was occupied by Crystal.
 * The repeated phrase "Space: 1969" is a reference to the British science fiction series "Space: 1999", which is set on the Moon.
 * The Doctor asks the Secret Service agents for a SWAT team. The first SWAT (Special Weapons And Tactics) team had only been established the year before in 1968 (by Darryl Gates in Los Angeles) and it's possible the agents might not have even known what the Doctor was talking about.
 * The idea of tunneling out of a German POW camp is based on an actual incident that occurred during World War II, immortalized in the film The Great Escape and parodied in the television series Hogan's Heroes.
 * Joy asks if the Silence is wearing a Star Trek mask. Star Trek was cancelled the same year as this story takes place, with the last episode airing on June 3, 1969.
 * The Doctor calls River Song "Mrs. Robinson", referencing the character from the film The Graduate. Mrs. Robinson is notorious for having an affair with a younger man, so the nickname may be the Doctor's way of teasing Song about their relationship and the fact that physically she appears to be older than he is.

Ratings

 * 8.86 million. (43.3% market share)
 * Viewership for the episode on BBC America was 1.3 million, breaking the station's previous viewership record which had been set by the premiere of The Eleventh Hour.
 * The episode was the most recorded show in UK history with 4.1 Million viewers

Myths

 * We will see River Song as a child. This may have been proven true in A Good Man Goes to War, however it has yet to be offically confirmed that River was in fact the child in the Astronaut suit.
 * The second episode will air the day after the first.  This has been proven false.
 * Overnight figures for BBC was 6.4 million making this the least watched series opener since the 2005 relaunch. The Daily Mail and other places were comparing the overnight-only ratings of this episode to the full consolidated BARB ratings for the previous season openers, which include people watching time-shifted playback and recordings (such as with Sky+). The consolidated figures were 8.86 million, which compares favourably to other series openers.

Filming locations

 * Valley of the Gods, Utah, United States of America.
 * Eddie's Diner, Cardiff Bay

Production errors

 * While the Doctor appears in the Laurel & Hardy film, Rory's shifts through the pages of the history book which appear underneath the screen imply the film footage was overlaid on the actual shot.
 * When The Doctor approaches the Astronaut he leaves the picnic with a wine bottle in his hand. In the next shot the bottle is gone.
 * During the Doctor's death scene, someone is visible by Canton's car.Shadow-impossible-astronaut.jpg
 * When Amy is talking to the agent outside of the toilet, a boom mic can be seen over his shoulder.
 * When the Doctor exits the TARDIS control room he opens the right door but when he walks out to the Oval office he goes out the left.
 * One of the Mission Patches on the Astronaut's space suit is an anachronism; the "Vitruvian Emblem" was first used during the Space Shuttle missions of the early Eighties.
 * The Secret Service agents all carry revolvers, which were more commonly in use during the period, however by 1969 the Secret Service had transitioned to the semi-automatic Colt M1911.
 * There are two African-Americans on the president's detail. The first African American Secret Service agent assigned was Abraham Bolden in 1961, but such appointments were comparatively rare until some years later.
 * Most active duty astronauts live near the Johnson Space Center in Texas, not Florida. Also, a reference is made to "Cape Kennedy", which is a combination of Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center.

Continuity

 * River Song shoots the Doctor's headwear. (DW: The Big Bang)
 * Amy mentions fish fingers and custard (DW: The Eleventh Hour)
 * The Doctor requests Jammie Dodgers and a Fez. (DW: Victory of the Daleks, The Big Bang)
 * The Doctor says that time isn't a straight line. (DW: Blink)
 * The Doctor once again asks River whom she murdered. (DW: Flesh and Stone)
 * The Doctor again expresses his dislike of wine, despite drinking it. (DW: The Lodger).
 * River Song suspects that she will one day meet a Doctor who hasn't met her yet, and it will be the death of her. (DW: Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead)
 * As of this episode, River and the Doctor are each aware of how the other (apparently) dies, though neither will say so to the other. (DW: Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead)
 * River Song says "I hate you" to the Doctor and he replies "No, you don't". (DW : Forest of the Dead, Flesh and Stone )
 * The attempted TARDIS is seen again. (DW: The Lodger)
 * The Doctor looks at the front and then back of his hands before he is about to regenerate. (DW: The Parting of the Ways, The End of Time)
 * The TARDIS has previously been made invisible, and the Doctor has previously operated the scanner while it was such. (DW: The Invasion)
 * The Doctor has several times landed the TARDIS silently before. (DW: The Dalek Invasion of Earth)
 * The danger of the Doctor's body being used as a commodity was seen in EDA: Alien Bodies.
 * Rory pokes the Doctor and asks him "How can you be here?", much in the same way the Doctor did to him. (DW: The Pandorica Opens)
 * The Doctor says "Brave heart, Canton", referencing the catch phrase "Brave heart, Tegan", used by the Fifth Doctor.
 * River says no one must be allowed to take a single cell of the Doctor. However, every story since then has featured alien creatures stealing some piece of Gallifreyan biology (from the Doctor himself in DW: The Curse of the Black Spot, The Rebel Flesh and from the TARDIS in DW: The Doctor's Wife).

Timeline

 * The Impossible Astronaut takes place after NSA: Hunter's Moon for the present Doctor and his companions.
 * The Impossible Astronaut takes place before DW: Day of the Moon for the present Doctor, his companions and River Song.
 * The Impossible Astronaut takes place after DW: A Good Man Goes to War for River Song.
 * The Impossible Astronaut takes place sometime after DW: A Good Man Goes to War for the future Doctor.

Home video releases
Released as Series 6 Part 1 with Day of the Moon, The Curse of the Black Spot, The Rebel Flesh, The Almost People and A Good Man Goes to War on July 11, 2011.