TDP 62: Doctor Who 4.10 Midnight

"Midnight" is the tenth episode of the fourth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 14 June 2008.






Synopsis
The Doctor and Donna
take a holiday on the crystalline planet Midnight, which orbits close
enough to its sun that the Xtonic radiation exposure would vaporise any
living thing walking unprotected on its surface. Donna opts to relax at
a spa while the Doctor takes a four-hour shuttle bus ride to the
Sapphire Waterfall. Other passengers include the Cane family — Val
(Coulson), Biff (Ryan), and their teenage son Jethro (Morgan) —
Professor Hobbes (Troughton) and his assistant Dee Dee Blasco
(Antoine), and businesswoman Sky Silvestry (Sharp). The staff are the
driver Joe (Bluto), trainee mechanic Claude (Henry), and a steward who
is only referred to as 'the Hostess' (Ayola).



The trip initially goes smoothly despite the shuttle being rerouted
to a new course, but suddenly the shuttle stops. The Doctor checks with
the shuttle's driver and mechanic, confirming that there's nothing
wrong with the vehicle. He convinces them to open the shutter to look
outside, and the mechanic believes he sees a shadow moving towards the
bus. The crew calls for a rescue vehicle while the Doctor returns to
the main cabin.



A few moments later, something begins knocking on the shuttle's
hull, copying the passengers when they knock back. The knocking moves
around the shuttle, making its way towards Sky Silvestry, apparently
the most frightened of the lot, and dents the door she is standing by.
The lights then temporarily fail and the shuttle is violently rocked.
When the lights are restored, the seats near Sky have been ripped off
the floor and she is cowering in the corner. An attempt to speak to the
cabin crew reveals that their cabin has also been ripped away, exposing
Joe and Claude to the deadly sunlight.



Sky initially remains motionless, but is coaxed into turning around
by the Doctor. Attempts to get her to speak only cause her to repeat
what she is told, making it clear that Sky is no longer in control. The
delay between Sky's repetitions becomes shorter, until eventually she
begins speaking in exact unison with the passengers. Cabin fever
sets in, and the passengers contemplate throwing her outside. The
Doctor's attempts to calm the situation fail when the passengers become
suspicious of him, especially when he is unwilling to reveal his name.
This is only amplified when Sky focuses solely on repeating the
Doctor's words.



As the Doctor tries to reason with Sky, she begins speaking his
words first, and the Doctor quickly becomes the one doing the
repeating. Most of the passengers reason that whatever was in Sky has
now passed into the Doctor, while the hostess and Dee Dee reason that
this is just the next step: stealing the voice of another. The other
passengers refuse to listen and begin to drag the Doctor towards the
nearest door after being goaded by Sky. However, the hostess realises
that Sky is not talking in her own voice when she uses two phrases the
Doctor had used earlier. Before the other passengers can throw the
Doctor out, she sacrifices herself by dragging Sky out of another door.
The Doctor slowly recovers, and as the passengers wait for the rescue
shuttle, he realises that no one knew the hostess' name. At the spa, a
mournful Doctor reunites with Donna.







Continuity
Rose Tyler appears on one of the shuttle's television screens
shortly after the lifeform attacks the transport, echoing a similar
appearance in "The Poison Sky".
In both instances, she silently shouts for the Doctor, who is not there
to see the image in the first instance and is looking the opposite way
in this episode. Rose is also mentioned by the Doctor by name along
with Martha and Donna.



This is the first story since Genesis of the Daleks where the TARDIS does not appear.



This is the second full story featuring the Doctor without a companion in the main narrative, the first being The Deadly Assassin (Mission to the Unknown
in 1965 featured neither the Doctor nor his companions). It is also the
only time where the adversary is neither seen nor given a name.[2]



When the Doctor is asked for his real name, he lies and replies with
the name "John Smith", a common alias of his, which is not believed.
The mystery behind the Doctor's name and the use of a simple alias is a
recurring theme in the series' revival.



Two of the Tenth Doctor's common phrases are used to identify his voice: "allons-y" and "molto bene", first used in "Army of Ghosts" and "The Runaway Bride" respectively.[2]







Production
This episode is the fiftieth episode filmed for the revived series, and was filmed at the same time as "Turn Left".
Donna has a minor role in the episode...