Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death

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Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death

Rowan Atkinson as the Doctor and Julia Sawalha as Emma
Cast
Doctor Rowan Atkinson (unofficial Ninth Doctor)
Richard E. Grant (unofficial Tenth Doctor)
Jim Broadbent (unofficial Eleventh Doctor)
Hugh Grant (unofficial Twelfth Doctor)
Joanna Lumley (unofficial Thirteenth Doctor)
Companion Julia Sawalha (Emma)
Guest stars
Production
Writer Steven Moffat
Director John Henderson
Script editor None
Producer Sue Vertue
Executive producer(s) None
Production code N/A
Series N/A
Length 23 mins total (4 parts)
Originally broadcast 12 March 1999
Chronology
← Preceded by Followed by →
N/A N/A

Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death is a four-episode special of Doctor Who made for the Red Nose Day charity telethon in the United Kingdom, and broadcast on BBC One on 12 March 1999. It follows in a long tradition of popular British television programmes producing short, light-hearted specials for such telethon events.

It has a special status amongst Doctor Who-themed charity productions. It has twice been featured on the cover of Doctor Who Magazine[1] — an unusual feat even for a regular episode of the programme. It is the only parodic story to be covered by "DWM Archives", a section of DWM normally reserved for discussion of past episodes of the regular series. Similarly, it is the only parody to be given an extensive behind-the-scenes article on the BBC official website.[2] Furthermore, it has been rebroadcast multiple times outside of its precipitating charity event, and received its own video release. It is the only BBC-commissioned live-action Doctor Who production between Doctor Who (1996) and "Rose".

Finally, it serves as a production, if not narrative, bridge between the 1963 and 2005 versions of the program. Most notable amongst the many connections between "old" and "new" programmes is the fact that it showcases the first televised Doctor Who script by Steven Moffat, the first post-production work of The Mill on the programme, the only time a woman produced an episode of the programme between Verity Lambert and Susie Liggat, and the final performance by the longest-serving Dalek vocal artist, Roy Skelton.

Contents

[edit] Synopsis

A parody of the original series, Curse begins with the the Master gloating over his latest scheme to destroy his arch-nemesis. However, instead of only spying on the Doctor and his assistant Emma, he is actually in communication with them, so they hear his plans. The Doctor invites his old foe to meet him on the planet Tersurus. The planet is ruins, the home of a now-vanished race of supremely enlightened beings shunned by all because they used flatulence as their means of communication. They all died when someone discovered fire.

The Master appears, again gloating that he travelled a century back in time and persuaded the architect of the building to put in a secret death trap. The Doctor had anticipated this and travelled further back, persuading the same architect to sabotage the trap. The Master had also anticipated this, and arranged for an additional trap, with identical results, because the Doctor had likewise anticipated his move. The Doctor informs the Master, having calculated that he 'has saved every planet in the known universe a minimum of 27 times', and having grown tired of battles with aliens and 'the endless gravel quarries', that he is retiring, having found a Companion--Emma--with whom he has fallen in love. The Master springs yet another trap; a trapdoor under the Doctor's feet leading to the vast sewers of Tersurus. However, when the Master pulls the trap's lever, he falls into the sewers instead, because the Doctor anticipated it, and bribed the architect to re-locate the trap under the Master.

As the Doctor and Emma leave, the Master bursts in. Having taken him three centuries to crawl out, he emerges as an old man covered in sewage. Using his TARDIS to return to the present, he has brought allies - the Daleks (who, lacking noses, are the only race that will have anything to do with him). The Master and Daleks proceed to pursue the Doctor: in the confusion, the Master is knocked into the sewers two more times. Each time, it takes him 312 years to crawl out, making a total of 936 years in the sewers with only snails for food and company. Eventually, he is seen as a decrepit old man, dragging himself along with the aid of a walker, wheezing, "Wait for me!", being easily outpaced by the Daleks.

Emma and the Doctor, trying to escape, are captured when they run into a room full of Daleks. Rather than being exterminated immediately, they are tied to chairs aboard the Dalek ship. (Why the legless Daleks would have chairs is something they "will explain later".) The Master, rejuvenated, exclaims that he has been equipped with Dalek technology - two 'Dalek bumps' attached to his chest. To the Master's disdain, the Doctor makes several comments, alluding to the 'Dalek bumps' as breasts. In return for his enhancement, the Master intends to give the Daleks a weapon of vast power - the Zektronic energy beam - a weapon that would 'allow the Daleks to conquer the universe in a matter of minutes', by means that will be explained later.

When the Doctor tells the Daleks they'll have to share the universe "with the beard and the bosoms over there," they inform the Doctor that they plan to kill the Master after he has assisted them. The Doctor uses the Tersuran language (farting) to warn his fellow Time Lord, undetected by the Daleks, who don't have noses. The Master helps the Doctor and Emma to escape, but not before the Doctor is fatally injured. He tells Emma he loves her, then dies. He regenerates into a handsome and sexually eager new Doctor (Richard E. Grant). Forced to fix the Dalek weapon, he is electrocuted and becomes a shy, middle-aged and overweight Doctor (Jim Broadbent). Another accident results in a handsome, smooth-mannered Doctor (Hugh Grant), but this Doctor is also accidentally killed while fixing the weapon.

Time Lords can regenerate twelve times, but the weapon's energy prevents his twelfth regeneration, so it seems the Doctor is permanently dead. The Master vows to live a life of heroism in honour of his fallen foe's memory, as do the Daleks.

The Doctor regenerates yet again, only this time as a woman (Joanna Lumley). Emma is deeply disappointed, pointing out quite literally that, "You're just not the man I fell in love with." The Master, however, is quite smitten with this new Doctor, who notices the sonic screwdriver has "three settings!" The show ends with them walking off together.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Continuity

This story is connected to a number of others by virtue of its narrative and its production elements. Many of the story's actors also have other connections to the programme, although most of these connections take the form of various actors almost getting a role in the main production.

[edit] Narrative

  • The planet Tersurus was first mentioned in The Deadly Assassin, where a severely deteriorated Master, at the end of his last regeneration, was found. The spin-off novel Legacy of the Daleks by John Peel relates the events leading up to the Master's arrival there.
  • The final Eighth Doctor Adventures novel, The Gallifrey Chronicles, suggests that the Doctor has three different ninth incarnations, a possible reference to the canonical television Ninth Doctor (played by Christopher Eccleston), the Shalka Doctor (Richard E. Grant) and the Ninth Doctor portrayed by Rowan Atkinson in this story. However, it should be noted that no positive identification is given for any of the ninth Doctors in Chronicles. Other possibilities exist, such as the comic ninth Doctor based on Nicholas Briggs which was featured for the last six months of 1999 in the pages of Doctor Who Magazine, or the "unspecified future Doctor" that Briggs voiced in a line of 1980s audios released by Audio Visuals.

[edit] Production

  • The opening image of the TARDIS flying through space as the Master watches was taken from the beginning of the Doctor Who TV movie.
  • Steven Moffat, best known for the sitcom Coupling, was well known as a fan of Doctor Who and included many small continuity references in his script. He has subsequently written several episodes for the series proper, including The Empty Child two-parter (2005), The Girl in the Fireplace (2006), Blink (2007), and Silence in the Library two-parter (2008). In May 2008 it was announced that he will be Doctor Who's showrunner from the 2010 series.
  • The title "Curse of Fatal Death" is a tautology (it being impossible to have a death that is not fatal), which parodies the sometimes melodramatic and tautological titles of the original series (an example being the 1976 serial The Deadly Assassin).
  • The TARDIS set and three of the Daleks used in the production were sourced from the people who made the Doctor Who fan production Devious. The console motor performed perfectly during rehearsal but gave a few problems during the final takes. A copy of the Doctor's 500-Year Diary was placed on the console and red or green lights were used to illuminate the walls when the set was used for, respectively, the Doctor or the Master.[citation needed]
  • This is the lone example of a BBC-only production prior to 2005 in which the TARDIS interior appears to be lit when viewed from the exterior. This continues a tradition begun in the 1996 television movie, and is common practice in the 2005 series. The visual effect was first seen in the film Dr. Who and the Daleks.
  • Other specially made episodes of Doctor Who include Dimensions in Time (1993), the officially untitled 2005 special mini-episode, and Time Crash (2007) – all produced not for Comic Relief but for Children in Need, and the latter also written by Moffat.

[edit] Music

Because the production was deliberately based on the Fourth Doctor's era, a conscious effort was made to use cues taken directly from episodes of that era. However, the practical unavailability of these soundtracks forced the show's musical director, Mark Ayres, to utilize material mostly from the Fifth Doctor's era. Except for the reuse of the theme music, the majority of musical cues come from episodes between Meglos and The Caves of Androzani. The music during the episode's final scene, for example, is the same as that which played at the conclusion of the Fourth Doctor's regeneration into the Fifth in Logopolis. Also, after each regeneration portrayed in the episode, music from Meglos is employed.[3]

[edit] Actors

  • All the actors playing the Doctor in the special had been previously rumoured to have been up for the regular role at some point or another, including Lumley.[2] Atkinson was one of many actors considered for the role of the Eighth Doctor in the 1996 Doctor Who television movie.[citation needed]
  • As the Twelfth (Handsome) Doctor dies, he is described post-mortem by Emma as being "too nice", "too brave", "too kind" and "far, far too silly." She then compares him to "Father Christmas", "The Wizard of Oz" and "Scooby Doo" (the former two being characters to whom First Doctor actor William Hartnell famously compared the role).[citation needed]
  • Richard E. Grant was later cast as the Doctor in the animated 40th anniversary adventure Scream of the Shalka, though his Ninth Doctor was relegated to unofficial status following the announcement of a new series in September 2003.
  • Jim Broadbent had previously played a spoof Doctor in a sketch on Victoria Wood, mocking the series' perceived sexism, cheapness and use of technobabble.
  • Julia Sawalha is best known as the long-suffering "Saffy" in Absolutely Fabulous. Her first major role was Lynda Day, editor of youth newspaper The Junior Gazette in the series Press Gang, created by Steven Moffat. According to several crew members who worked on the twenty-sixth and final season of the original series, she was being considered for the role of a new companion, a "cat burglar" who would have been introduced in the twenty-seventh season. Building on this, a "what if" article in Doctor Who Magazine #255 featured her in this role along with a hypothetical Eighth Doctor, played by Richard Griffiths, who was at one time considered for the role of the Fifth Doctor.[4]
  • Hugh Grant was offered the role of the Doctor again ahead of Christopher Eccleston, and later said publicly that he regretted dismissing it without much thought when he saw how good the series was – and that he was hoping to play a villain in the ongoing programme instead.[5]


[edit] Broadcast and releases

  • When originally broadcast, the title of the story was Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death. The four episodes were later re-edited into a two-part story that was released to home video a few months following broadcast, with the proceeds again donated to Comic Relief. In the VHS release, the title was simply reduced to The Curse of Fatal Death.
  • It was rebroadcast twice on UK Gold during their 40th anniversary marathon in 2003. Used as a five-minute "pause" between fan-chosen episodes of the classic era, it returned to its original title and four-episode format. [6]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Issues #278 and #328
  2. ^ a b "Comic Relief Who". BBC official site. 01 January 2004
  3. ^ Mark Ayres essay about the musical cues heard in The Curse of Fatal Death.
  4. ^ BBC - Drama Faces - Richard Griffiths. Retrieved on 2007-04-05.
  5. ^ Hugh Grant to appear in 'Doctor Who'?. Retrieved on 2007-05-10.
  6. ^ BBC Gold schedule for 22 and 23 November 2003.

[edit] External links

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Doctor Who: Regeneration television stories
First Doctor
Second Doctor
Third Doctor
Fourth Doctor
Fifth Doctor
Sixth Doctor
Seventh Doctor
Eighth Doctor
Ninth Doctor
Tenth Doctor
Other characters
Planet of the Spiders • Destiny of the Daleks • "Utopia"
See also
The Curse of Fatal Death • Valeyard