The Trip of a Lifetime was a narrative trailer advertising the first series of revived Doctor Who. It featured Christopher Eccleston in character as the Ninth Doctor, with Billie Piper also briefly appearing in a new shot as Rose Tyler, though she had no lines. Prior to the trailers release three 10 second teasers, each focusing on a different character, began airing from 8 March 2005. The characters featured were the Doctor, Rose Tyler and the TARDIS. Also on 15 March 2005, a second 25 second trailer featuring Rose began airing on CBBC.
In the trailer, the Ninth Doctor is depicted as running from a great explosion. Though Series One episodes like Dalek and The Parting of the Ways described the end of the Last Great Time War as a great inferno, no source drew a link between this explosion and the one that supposedly ended the conflict. Eventually, stories like The Day of the Doctor and Doctor Who and the Time War gave accounts of the final day, cementing that The Trip of a Lifetime was not depicting the end of the War.
Do you wanna come with me? Because if you do, then I should warn you. You're gonna see all sorts of things. Ghosts from the past. Aliens from the future. The day the Earth died in a ball of flame. It won't be quiet, it won't be safe and it won't be calm. But I'll tell you what it will be. The trip of a lifetime.
I've got a choice. Stay at home with my mum, my boyfriend, my job. Or chuck it all in for danger and monsters and life or death. What do you think?
Summary
The Doctor asks you if you want to come with him in the TARDIS, warning you that it won't be safe, or easy, or restful — but stressing that if there's one thing that it will be, it is "the trip of a lifetime".
Trailer gallery
Other series 1 trailers
There were also other non-narrative clip based trailers advertising the first series.
A 30 second teaser from BBC One's winter highlights presentation was released online on the Doctor Who website on 2 December 2004,[1] before airing on television from 1 January 2005. It featured clips from Rose with the tagline It's almost time... ...but not yet.
Five 10 second teasers were released, one per day, between Monday 13 June-Friday 17 June 2005, followed by a 35 second one on Saturday 18 June, counting down to the broadcast of The Parting of the Ways. The first trailer featured the tagline Time is up in 5 days..., the second 4 days... etc., and the last Time is up...
Immediately after the series finale, a 50 second "best bits" trailer aired celebrating the first series, finishing with the tagline Countdown to The Christmas Invasion starts now...
Notes
End of the normal BBC One episode trailers.
- There were two versions of the trailer, a 50 second full length one and a 30 second "cut-down" one.
- This trailer featured a narrative and new material of Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper in character; including the Doctor offering the viewer to become a companion (an act equated with watching Series 1 itself, due to the story's nature as an advertisement). Hence, it broke the fourth wall.
- The music used in the main trailer was a trial arrangement of the "Doctor Who theme" by Murray Gold.
- Elements from these trailers were used for the normal BBC One episode trailers throughout Series 1.
- The trailers were shot on 35mm film.[2]
- The trailers were recorded between Saturday 26 February-Sunday 27 February 2005 on the TARDIS standing set at Unit Q2, Newport and the Mill Street-Queensway underpass beneath Newport railway station.[2]
- This trailer also featured clips from Rose, The Unquiet Dead, Aliens of London, World War Three, and Dalek to illustrate the Doctor's warnings about what a companion of his might encounter on their travels.
- This trailer was later referenced in 2017 in AUDIO: The Other Side, in which the Ninth Doctor tells Adam Mitchell their trip into the future will be a "trip of a lifetime".
Home video releases
Doctor Who: The Complete First Series DVD cover.
- A partial set of teasers and trailers were included on the Doctor Who: The Complete First Series DVD box set released on 21 November 2005.
Title card.
Also included were:
- A 47 second documentary, Storyboard of Opening Trailer, featuring storyboard artist Jonathan Maris' storyboards of the trailer.
- Easter egg: a 53 second alternate edit of the trailer.
Footnotes
- ↑ New Series Teaser. bbc.co.uk (2 December 2004). Retrieved on 16 January 2019.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 DWMSE 11
