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 as the drama continues. But as he and Rory 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 Demons 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
Amy picks up her newborn daughter, Melody, as a group of guards - including Lorna Bucket - watches. She tells Melody that she shouldn't be afraid. What she should be, is brave; though not as brave as "them" (Kovarian, Manton, and the others, because there is a man - her father! - who is coming for them, and he has lived for hundreds of years - but looks so very young - and has a name, but is commonly known as...The Last Centurion. During Amy's consoling speech, the scene cuts between Demon's Run and to some place - later shown to be [like a Command] ship of the 12th CyberLeague - twenty-thousand light-years away.

A hand is shown using the Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver to lock one door as the ship suddenly begins to shake. A group of Cybermen raise their weapons at a door which is about to open. As Amy - in the voice over - says "...the Last Centurion.", Rory walks up to the Cybermen. He says he has a message and a question. A message from the Doctor, and a question from himself. "Where is my wife?!" As the Cybermen remain silent, he reacts - "Oh, don't give me those blank looks." - and reveals knowing that the CyberLeague monitors everything in that galactic quadrant. The Cybermen ask what the message is. Rory is silent, as the rest of the CyberLeague's vessels explode one by one. "Would you like me to repeat the question?"

A ship lands in a hangar bay on Demon's Run, marines are seen moving around doing their work. Two marines - Thin Man and Fat Man - can be clearly heard conversing. Fat Man incredulously states his disbelief that the Doctor "blew up an entire CyberLeague simply to make a point"; Fat Man tells him they get paid to fight him not praise him - praising costs more. They enter an elevator as two Headless Monks exit it; they arrive on their floor, still continuing their conversation of the Doctor - they talk about the "legend" of his chasing the Atraxi off "some planet", and then calling them back for "a scolding"! - and walk by Lorna Bucket sewing what is later revealed to be a prayer-leaf. The scene, then, cuts to a monitoring room where two marines are watching her on a monitor, via a camera. One of them asks whether she's allowed to sew; his partner tells him that she's on a break and allowed to do anything. He then tests whether his partner can distinguish between normal paper and psychic paper; he fails, and is told to look for the fractal lines.


 * to be added

Cast

 * The Doctor - Matt Smith
 * Amy Pond - Karen Gillan
 * Rory Williams - Arthur Darvill
 * River Song/Melody Pond - Alex Kingston
 * Baby River Song/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
 * Domincus - Damian Kell
 * Captain Harcourt - Richard Trinder
 * Eleanor - Annabel Cleare
 * Voice of the Cybermen - Nicholas Briggs

Crew
to be added

Races and species

 * Strax is seen tending to soldiers of a near-human species, rather than Sontaran troops. Presumably, Strax was forced to work as a mercenary, just as Commander Kaagh did for the Bane.

Story notes

 * This episode was originally entitled Demon's Run was changed to A Good Man Goes to War, although His Darkest Hour had also been considered as a potential title.
 * The end credits list Russell T Davies as creating the Ood and Judoon. However, no Ood appear in the episode.
 * The battle of Demon's run takes place after 5145, as evidenced by the death of Dorium, who first appeared in 5145 selling River a vortex manipulator.

Ratings
to be added

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 long before the episode aired; many photos have shown Gillan on set.
 * River Song will die. This was proven false.
 * We will learn of the identity of River Song. True, she was revealed to be the daughter of Amy Pond and Rory Williams.
 * River Song has been recently rumored to be Amy's daughter as well as the Doctor's wife.  True she was revealed to be her daughter, but it is still unknown about her marital status.
 * We will find out who River Song killed. Steven Moffat has said "a good man will die – a good man, and a hero to many." Have yet t have firm confirmation, but could imply the doctor considering the revalations of River's identity and the events of episode one.
 * The Cybermen will be newly designed Cybermen. The only difference was the lack of a 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 will be the Doctor's Daughter in her second incarnation. The Jenny who appeared in this episode did not appear to recognise the Doctor, and so this appears to have been proven false.

Filming locations
to be added

Production errors

 * The credits mention that Russell T Davies created the Judoon and the Ood. However, no Ood appear in the episode.

Continuity

 * Rory's Centurion armour and warrior skills, as well as his age, were first shown in The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang.
 * The Doctor gives a brief history of Rory's time in the TARDIS to Vastra. Referencing facing "sexy, fishy, vampires", (DW: The Vampires of Venice) Rory dying (Ironically, at the hands of Restac, who like Vastra, is a Silurian played by Neve McIntosh.), and being erased from time, (DW: Cold Blood) then coming back. (DW: The Pandorica Opens). The Doctor also mentions rebooting the universe. (DW: The Big Bang)
 * The Cybermen return in this story. They resemble the parallel Cybermen from Pete's World and have warships identical to one of the unamed ones above stonehenge as seen in DW: The Pandorica Opens, . However, unlike those Cybermen, these Cybermen lack a Cybus logo on their chest, but have a bump in place of it, unlike the markings as seen on the Cybermen from VG: Blood of the Cybermen. It is possible that these Cybermen could be Mondasian Cybermen from our universe. These Cybermen are also said to control a large area of that section of the Galaxy, something that both this universes Cybermen and the parallel universe Cybermen are seemingly capable of.
 * Returning characters that the Doctor calls upon are: Dorium (DW: The Pandorica Opens), Spitfire pilot "Danny Boy" (DW: Victory of the Daleks), and Henry Avery and his son Toby. (DW: The Curse of the Black Spot)
 * Silurians, Judoon and Sontarans also returned in this story.
 * The Church make their second appearance after The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone. Although some soldiers had the rank of Cleric printed on their uniforms, Manton was referred to as Colonel instead of a religious rank such as Bishop.
 * 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. (DW: Prequel (A Good Man Goes to War))
 * River Song says that she and an unspecified Doctor ice skated on the frozen Thames in 1814 during "the last of the great frost fairs". This is a positive reference to CC: Frostfire, and means that both River, Steven Taylor and Vicki were on the same ice at roughly the same time.
 * It is not the first time that the doctor creates an army composed of some of his old enemies (PDA: Warmonger)

Home video releases
Part One, which will contain episodes one to seven will be released in Summer, shortly after the airing of episode seven.