Dinosaurs on a Spaceship (TV story)

Dinosaurs on a Spaceship was the second episode of the seventh series of Doctor Who produced by BBC Wales.

Synopsis
The Doctor is employed by the ISA in order to stop an approaching space craft. He seeks the help of Queen Nefertiti, John Riddell, Amy,  Rory and unexpected accomplice, Rory's father, Brian Williams. Inside the Silurian Ark they discover dinosaurs, two conversational robots, and an injured trader known as Solomon. It is up to the Doctor to protect the rare dinosaur specimens and stop the spaceship from crashing into Earth.

Plot
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Cast

 * The Doctor - Matt Smith
 * Amy Pond - Karen Gillan
 * Rory Williams - Arthur Darvill
 * Riddell - Rupert Graves
 * Brian Williams - Mark Williams
 * Solomon - David Bradley
 * Queen Nefertiti - Riann Steele
 * Indira - Sunetra Sarker
 * Robot 1 - Noel Byrne
 * Robot 2 - Richard Garaghty
 * Bleytal - Richard Hope
 * ISA Worker - Rudi Dharmalingam
 * Robot 1 voice - David Mitchell
 * Robot 2 voice - Robert Webb

Crew
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Culture

 * Brian also calls the Doctor Arthur C. Clarke when the Doctor, Rory and he are in the engine room
 * When the Doctor disables Solomon's robots, the robots sing Daisy a reference to Hal's disabling in Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey.
 * Amy says that John needs a lesson in gender politics.

Sports

 * Brian enjoys golf and carries golf balls around with him.

Story notes

 * The Doctor claims to be a Sagittarius, but qualifies this statement by adding, "Probably." Interestingly enough, November 23 (the first airdate of Doctor Who in 1963) falls during the time that Sagittarius is occupied by the sun.
 * The Doctor kisses Rory affectionately on the mouth after Rory suggests checking if the Silurian Ark has defence systems. This is the second same-sex kiss featured in the series and the first initiated by the Doctor. The first kiss was between Captain Jack Harkness and the Ninth Doctor in The Parting of the Ways.
 * Rory gives his father a shot and promises it won't hurt. Afterwards, when Brian yelps at the pain of the shot, Rory says, "I lied." This scene paralleled the one done in DW: The Time of Angels when, like her father, River Song gave Amy a shot and promised it wouldn't hurt, only to later explain that she lied.

Ratings
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Filming locations
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Production errors

 * The Doctor's socks constantly change from stripey blue socks to his normal black socks.
 * On the final postcard sent by Rory's dad, we see the previous TARDIS used by the Tenth Doctor and not the one used by the Eleventh Doctor.
 * The flying reptiles identified by the Doctor as pterodactyls are actually pteranodons, a relation, though different species of pterosaur, as noted by the distinctive spike-like crest on the back of its head.

Continuity

 * Rory states that he is 31 years old. If Rory was born in 1989 (considering that Amy and Rory are the same age in DW: Let's Kill Hitler and Amy's birth year according to DW: The Big Bang was 1989), then this story is set in 2020. Therefore, this seems to be the same year that Amy and Rory went back to the hill and waved to themselves in DW: The Hungry Earth.
 * Rory's mobile phone rings on the spaceship and Brian is shocked by how it can work in space. However, this is a running gag where The Doctor has sonicked phones to give them a signal boost for Rose Tyler, Martha Jones, and River Song.

DVD releases
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Blu-ray releases
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