Dreamland (TV story)


 * For other uses, see Dreamland

Dreamland is an animated special consisting of a planned run of one 12 minute episode and five 6 minute episodes on the BBC's Red Button service, as well as the BBC's Doctor Who website, between 21 and 27 November 2009. It will then be broadcast, complete, on BBC Two on 5 December 2009, followed by a yet-to-be-scheduled showing on BBC HD.

Synopsis
During a visit to a local diner, the Doctor stumbles upon a mysterious alien artefact that leads him on a mission to rescue Rivesh Mantilax from the threat of the Viperox and the clutches of the American military.

Part 1
A ship is being chased by two white ships it is fired at and crash lands in New Mexico, 3rd of June 1947, at the site of Roswell.

Dry Springs, 11 years later, the TARDIS lands at a diner. He meets two people Cassie Rice and a man called Jimmy. The Doctor notices a piece of alien equipment on the Table he picks it up and it activates. Two men in black park outside the diner. One walks in after a small confrontation. They end up having a brawl. He chases the trio out they get in Jimmy's truck.

Jimmy and Cassie tell the Doctor of the Roswell crash and how near they are to Area 51. Jimmy is convinced that aliens have been killing his cattle as he works at a ranch. Cassie says it is a couger that did that. The Doctor makes Jimmy stop the truck where he sees a large footprint. The three of them are attacked by a large Robot the Doctor says it is a Viperox. They run and the Viperox chases it, it is hit by a missile aimed at it by a Helicopter. The Helicopter lands and a man walks out he introduces himself as Colonel Stark. He arrests the Doctor, Cassie and Jimmy and takes them to Area 51.

At Area 51 the Doctor, Cassie and Jimmy are in a room together. Stark comes in and says there minds are to be whiped completly. He ties them down to tables and turns the gas on. As he walks out the Doctor makes himself free and turns the gas off. He, Cassie and Jimmy escape through a ventilation shaft.

As they get through they come out and go to a corridor. The Alarm rings solders come out they hide in a lab where they see a blue female alien sealed of behind glass. Solders burst in the lab the Doctor, Cassie and Jimmy go up a lift. Once the lift gets to the top they are faced with armed gunmen. The Doctor tells his new friends to put there hand up and smile.

In General Starks office, A Viperox says to General Stark he had better not mess up.

Part 2
The Doctor Cassie and Jimmy are being lead to the gas room they come across an alien ship. The Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver and lowers it. All three enter it and the Doctor launches it. The Controls are a bit wonky.

General Stark is in the room with the Viperox Leader. He notes that this Doctor is not human.

The space ship crash lands, Stark detects this he orders a landing team to search for the Doctor.

The trio are ok they make it out unhurt. They find a ghost town which was abondoned during the gold rush. They enter a room and light a gas lantern. Jimmy goes to look around he finds the floor being completly destroyed. All of a sudden a Viperox arm grabs him and pulls him down into a tunnel.

The Doctor and Cassie hear his pleas they run after his voice. They find Jimmy being tied up in some sort of hardened insect goo. The Doctor comfronts the leader Lord Azlok, he detects the doctors two hearts. While he is distracting them Cassie lets Jimmy free. In a bid for protection Cassie chucks the gas light at the Viperox leader and his guards.

The Doctor, Cassie and Jimmy run down a tunnel and find eggs of hatched Viperox. The Doctor discovers the Viperox have laid eggs and not brought an army being very clever. A few tens of young Viperox surround the Doctor, Cassie and Jimmy.

Part 3
The Viperox Queen is annoyed at the Doctor, so she orders her troops to attack him and his friends. The Doctor, Cassie and Jimmy run and find a mine cart. The Doctor sets it to go and sets a trap for the baby Viperox. The Viperox get hit in this trap and fall down. The cart speeds along but it crashes into a rock.

They climb out the cart and find four members of the Alliance of Shades. These people were sent to find alien invasions on level five planets and cover them up. Mister Dread, leader of the alliance, and the man who attacked Jimmy is there. The Doctor says they will destroy anything that knows about alien invasions. All of a sudden their hands turn into guns and they attempt to vaporize the Doctor, Cassie and Jimmy. They, who turned out to be robots, are immobilised by arrows and defeated by Jimmy's grandfather Night Eagle.

Night Eagle takes them to an alien he found called Rivesh Mantilax. Rivesh tells the doctor that his wife Seruba Velak is the alien the Doctor, Cassie and Jimmy found earlier, who crash landed in 1947. After the Viperox hit their ship, Rivesh tried to find her but he was gunned down. The reason why he came to Earth was the Viperox were at war with his species and almost killed them all.

After Rivesh has told his story General Stark walks in and attemps to arrest Rivesh. He announces that the plan is to save Earth, but the Doctor doesn't like what he hears.

Part 4
Lord Azlok and Colonel Stark reveal to the Doctor the secret of their deal...

Part 5
Deep beneath the Dreamland base, the Doctor faces the malevolent Skorpius Flies...

Part 6
The Doctor tries to stop Lord Azlok from wiping out humanity...

Cast

 * The Doctor - David Tennant
 * Cassie Rice - Georgia Moffett
 * Jimmy Stalkingwolf - Tim Howar
 * Lord Azlok - David Warner
 * Rivesh Mantilax - Nicholas Rowe
 * Seruba Velak - Lisa Bowerman
 * Colonel Stark - Stuart Milligan
 * Mister Dread - Peter Guinness
 * Night Eagle - Clarke Peters
 * Soldier - Ryan Macclusky

Production crew
to be added

Story notes

 * The total length of the serial will be 45 minutes, with BBC Two and BBC HD scheduled to broadcast the "omnibus" version.
 * Dreamland is an alternate name for the secretive Area 51 U.S. Air Force base in Groom Lake, Nevada. It is the subject of many conspiracy theories, some of which involve the alleged Roswell crash debris and bodies being studied there. Area 51 and Roswell do feature in the story.
 * This story is next animated episode after DW: The Infinite Quest, which was aired during 2007 as part of Totally Doctor Who.
 * Voice actor Lisa Bowerman is best known for playing Bernice Summerfield in the Big Finish Productions audio dramas (for which she currently directs productions); she was also a guest star in the 1989 serial DW: Survival as Karra.
 * David Warner has also been involved in the Big Finish audio dramas, most notably playing an alternate version of the Doctor in the Doctor Who Unbound series.

Ratings
to be added

Rumours

 * Cassie Rice is thought to be the Doctor's daughter in disguise, but this is mere speculation based on the fact that Georgia Moffett plays both characters.

Myths

 * Shortly after this serial was announced, there were persistent rumours that this animated adventure would involve the Tenth Doctor being trapped in a dream-like place, hence the title, wherein he encounters each of his past incarnations, taking advantage of the animated format of the adventure to bring back Doctors played by actors who are now deceased. The rumour stated that the deceased Doctors' voices will be performed using voice actors or, where possible, using archived audio clips. This was also to be how actors who do not wish to return to the show (stating an example as being Christopher Eccleston) would have been included in the special, as the aforementioned 'hold-outs' had supposedly agreed that their likenesses can be used in the adventure. The broadcast of the serial, however, confirmed that this was not the case. It should be noted that such a scenario (the Tenth Doctor meeting visions of his former selves) already played out in the comic series IDW: The Forgotten.

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors
to be added

Continuity
to be added

International broadcast
At present, there has been no indication whether Dreamland will be broadcast, or made available online (officially) outside the UK. Most original video content on the BBC website is "geolocked" and restricted to UK users only. It is assumed Dreamland will be likewise restricted. The previous animated serial, DW: The Infinite Quest, was never broadcast in North America or Australia, and remained unavailable there until its DVD release (more than a year later for North America). It remains to be seen if Dreamland will experience the same release.

DVD and Other releases
Many online retailers and are reporting that Doctor Who: Dreamland will be released on DVD on 2nd February 2010 at an RRP of £12.99.