 This story is called "The Rings of Akhaten". The name comes from Akh-en-aten who was an Egyptian pharaoh (and husband of Nefertiti) whose name means ‘incarnation of the sun god’.
This story has been written by Neil Cross – who has contributed to Spooks and is the award-winning creator of the BBC drama Luther. Despite being a fan of the show up until now he has never had the time to write a story for the show. Executive Producer Caroline Skinner, who was new with the seventh series, knew him and offered to work his schedule around writing a story. This is Neil Cross’ first televised Doctor Who story. However, he had actually first written "Hide" but was asked to write "The Rings of Akhaten" because both Steven Moffat and Caroline Skinner liked "Hide" so much.
The concept behind having this story based around an alien planet occurred to Executive Producers Steven Moffat and Caroline Skinner, and Producer Marcus Wilson when realising they had done big location pieces in the first half of the series with "A Town Called Mercy" and "The Angels Take Manhattan", but none for the second half.
They decided to do a story set in ‘a world created in our studios to make you really feel you're out there’, rather than having The Doctor ‘promise unearthly wonders to his companions, and then get them trapped in an underground tunnel’. This story was also designed to allow The Doctor to actually show his new companion the wonders he had promised.
This story was directed by Farren Blackburn who previously directed the 2011 Christmas special "The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe".
The read through for this story took place at BBC Wales’ Roath Lock studios on Wednesday the 17th October, 2012 and filming started the following week, on Monday 22nd October. Matt Smith celebrated his 30th birthday during the shoot - and even received a surprise cake from the cast and crew!
This story received generally positive reviews with many noting and comparing similarities to the Russell T. Davies era of the show, particularly to the 2005 Ninth Doctor story "The End of the World", where The Doctor takes Rose Tyler on her first adventure.
According to Matt Smith, there were ‘between 50 and 60 prosthetic aliens’ in a scene set in an alien market. Millennium FX's Neil Gorton remarked that he had ‘always wanted to do a scene like the Star Wars cantina’ and had worked on different moulds in his spare time in case they could be used in the future, as making thirty different aliens would be out of the budget.
This story is Clara Oswald’s first trip in the TARDIS to an alien planet.
Jenna-Louise Coleman named "The Rings of Akhaten" as one of her favourites of the second half of Season Thirty Three (New Series 7), as it was the first real adventure for Clara.
The Doctor is heard saying to Clara ‘I came here a long time ago… with my grand-daughter…’ – A reference to Susan Foreman. Though she is not mentioned by name, this marks the first explicit mention of Susan Foreman in the revived series.
The Doctor very seldom talks about his family and on the odd occasion he does mention his relatives - in adventures such as "The Tomb of the Cybermen" and "The Doctor’s Daughter" – though he never gives much away. However, this line appears to reference his grand-daughter, Susan, who travelled with the First Doctor.
The Old God is also referred to as ‘Grandfather’.
At the market, The Doctor recognises a number of alien species. These include: Pan-babylonians. a Lugal-Irra-Kush, Lucanians, a Hooloovoo, Qom VoTivig, a Terraberserker of the Kodion Belt and an Ultramancer. The Hooloovoo is also a species in The HitchHikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.
A native of the City State of Binding Light is seen among the crowd at The Festival of Offerings (see the 2005 Ninth Doctor story "The End of the World").
One of the alien species at the market appears to be related to the Hoix (seen briefly in the 2006 Tenth Doctor story "Love & Monsters" and in the Torchwood story "Exit Wounds"). It also has a bubbling breathing contraption like a Hath (first seen in the 2008 Tenth Doctor story "The Doctor's Daughter") and fronds like an Ood ("The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit", "Planet of the Ood", "The End of Time" and "The Doctor's Wife").
The Doctor references The Walrus and The Carpenter by Lewis Carroll.
The Doctor is seen wearing Amy Pond's reading glasses again (see also "The Angels Take Manhattan", "The Snowmen" and "The Bells of Saint John").
The Doctor indicates that his sonic screwdriver is the only thing he has on him that has sentimental value. He doesn't want to give it up as currency as it ‘comes in handy’.
The Doctor tells Clara that the one thing she needs to know about him, ‘aside from the blue box and the two hearts’, is that he doesn't walk away. He later clarifies that, if he's holding onto something precious he will run away until out of the shadow of danger.
Clara mentions that The Doctor is a thousand years old. The Doctor is heard stating this in "The Bells of Saint John" despite, in "A Town Called Mercy", where he claimed to be 1,200.
Clara's leaf, that The Doctor discovered in Clara’s book in "The Bells of Saint John", is featured and the story behind it is explained. It is also revealed that this book used to belong to her mother.
The music we hear at the beginning of the story, when the fateful leaf falls, is Ghost Town. This song was originally a hit for The Specials in 1981 when it stayed at the top of the UK charts for three weeks.
The Doctor is seen sliding under a closing door, and then reaching for his sonic screwdriver, which he'd dropped on the other side, very much like the trademark move of Indiana Jones.
The comic The Doctor is seen reading is The Beano Summer Special 1981. The cover depicts the character of Dennis the Menace and his dog, Gnasher, causing havoc at a ‘dolphinarium’. The comic’s cover price was 32p.
The Doctor talks about seeing the beginning of time, ("Castrovalva") living to see time run out, ("Utopia" and "The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang") and being in a dimension where the laws of physics were devised by a madman ("The Celestial Toymaker", "The Mind Robber" and "The Three Doctors"). He also mentions the Last Great Time War and the destruction of the Time Lords (see the 2009/10 Tenth Doctor story "The End of Time") and also mentions knowing knowledge that must never be told ("The Wedding of River Song").
Clara’s dad is heard to say, ‘She wants to be Bryan Robson!’ This is a reference to English midfielder (and later football manager) Bryan Robson, OBE. Throughout the 1980s he achieved fame playing for Manchester United and for England’s national side which he often captained.
This is not the first time The Doctor has faced a living star, although he implied that it was the first time he'd faced one so massive (see the 2007 Tenth Doctor story "42").
Clara tries to open the TARDIS without a key. When it won't open, she says that the TARDIS doesn't seem to like her, an issue that former companions Jack Harkness and Charlotte Pollard had (see the 2007 Tenth Doctor story "Utopia" and the Big Finish Productions’ Sixth Doctor audio story "The Condemned").
Clara tries out a blue ‘exotic fruit of some description’ but does not like it. The Doctor also eats one.
It’s generally accepted that the word ‘psychometry’, used by The Doctor in the marketplace, was first coined in 1842 by the American Joseph Rodes Buchanan. It literally means soul or spirit measurement and tied in with Buchanan’s belief that living things have emanations that if understood, can help reveal facts about that particular thing’s past.
Clara is heard telling Merry that she hated history.
Jenna-Louise Coleman likened her sequence on the moped to a ‘James Bond moment’.
The Doctor is heard saying: ‘Home again, home again, jiggedy jig’ when they return home, which is part of a famous nursery rhyme known asTo market, to market. It's also spoken repeatedly by two of J.F. Sebastian's toys in the acclaimed sci-fi film Blade Runner.
This is the first story since "The End of Time" where there’s no overt reference to Amy Pond. Although the character departed in "The Angels take Manhattan" she’s brought to mind in "The Snowmen" (with talk of the ‘pond’ and the way in which that word hooks The Doctor) and in "The Bells of Saint John" we glimpsed a book written by Amelia Williams.
Unlike the previous stories, of the second half of this season, this story does not introduce a new variation of the Doctor Who logo.
This story contains a number of errors. Namely: The crack on the glass case containing the mummy disappears and reappears between shots; The leaf that Clara has in this story appears to be shaped differently, possibly even having come from a different type of tree than the leaf shown in the previous story.
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The Firsts:
The first televised Doctor Who story to be written by Neil Cross.
The first story since "The End of Time" where there’s no overt reference to Amy Pond.
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(Position = 9 out of 9)
(Position = 233 out of 241)
