 This story is notably for The Doctor saving Bill Potts from the vacuum of space, but in doing so it robs him of his sight, rendering this incarnation, potentially, permanently blind. This shows the risks he often places himself in, in order to save his friends, but also the danger in which he might be leaving Earth, should he not return, alive and in good health. This story represents a tipping point in the St Luke's vault story arc, as The Doctor finally faces the consequences of not having taken his vow seriously.
This story has been written by Jamie Mathieson, whose 2014 debut script "Mummy on the Orient Express" won the Doctor Who Magazine Season Survey. He also wrote the 2014 story "Flatline" and the 2015 story "The Girl Who Died".
This story has been directed by Charles Palmer who previously helmed the 2007 Tenth Doctor stories "Smith and Jones", "The Shakespeare Code" and "Human Nature/The Family of Blood". He is the son of Geoffrey Palmer who appeared in the 1970 Third Doctor story "Doctor Who and the Silurians", the 1972 Third Doctor story "The Mutants" and in the 2007 Tenth Doctor story "Voyage of the Damned".
On The Fan Show writer Jamie Mathieson revealed that he was worried that this story would turn out to be ‘too political’, due to its blatant anti-capitalist themes. He also revealed that there was an ongoing joke on the set calling Peter Caulfield ‘Blue Peter’, due to his character being blue. This was a reference to the children’s show Blue Peter.
The student who questions The Doctor at the end of his lecture was played by Lauren Pate - one of the Assistant Directors. Lauren Pate revealed ‘I've been so incredibly lucky to work behind the scenes on Doctor Who these 10 months, and to be able to be in front of the camera was ridiculously exciting... and totally nerve wracking! I'm not sure if I was in that lecture hall that I would be questioning The Doctor on anything! ’.
Three out of the five guest actors in this story have previously voiced roles in the Big Finish Productions Doctor Who or Bernice Summerfield audio stories. Namely, Kieran Bew was in "The Lady of Mercia" and "The Helm of Awe", Peter Caulfield was in "Cold Fusion" and Mimi Ndiweni was in "Big Dig".
The read-through for this story took place on the 12th October 2016 (immediately after Peter Capaldi and Pearl Mackie returned from promoting this season at the 2016 New York Comic Con and in Toronto, Canada). Recoding took place between the 17th October and the 18th November 2016. It was recorded at the same time as "The Eaters of Light" as Block Four.
As a result of saving Bill from dying, through exposure to the vacuum of space, The Doctor becomes blind. An attempt to return his vision was made at the end of this story, but only the colour in his eyes returned.
Time Lords can survive in a vacuum of space for limited periods of time and far longer than humans can (see the 1982 Fifth Doctor story "Four to Doomsday" and the 2011 Christmas Special "The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe").
This story starts with The Doctor making a speech that begins with the lines ‘Space... the final frontier... ’. The Doctor is quoting the start of the voice-over used to begin the vast majority of the original series of Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation stories. It was also heard in the final episode of Star Trek: Enterprise. This is not the first time that Star Trek has been referenced in Doctor Who. In the 2005 Ninth Doctor story "The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances", Rose memorably urged The Doctor ‘Give me some ‘Spock’, for once! Would it kill you?’.
Another Star Trek reference in this story is when Nardole mentions the ‘Swish Swish’ sound the doors always make. The Doctor states that he hates that noise.
At the start of this story The Doctor is seen giving a lecture about space, despite his audience expecting a lecture about crop rotation. He describes how one dies when exposed to the vacuum of space.
When she is in the TARDIS, we see Bill reading a book called Leonardo, on Leonardo da Vinci. This book has the image of the Mona Lisa on its back cover. In the 1979 Fourth Doctor story "City of Death" we discovered that The Doctor and Leonardo were friends and the Eighth Doctor told Grace Holloway ‘He had a cold when he drew that’ after glimpsing a sketch by Leonardo in her home. The celebrated artist’s most famous work, the Mona Lisa, is a central plot point in both "City of Death" and "Mona Lisa’s Revenge" - the fifth story in the third series of The Sarah Jane Adventures.
This story includes brief flashbacks from the previous story, "Knock Knock", where in her mind’s eye, Bill glimpses the photograph of her mum.
Nardole mentions that he has not seen his true face for years and that he swapped it for his current one while on the run.
Nardole removes the TARDIS's fluid link in an attempt to keep The Doctor grounded on Earth. This is because The Doctor once told Nardole that the TARDIS can not go anywhere without fluid link K57. However, he reveals this to be untrue (or, at least, no longer true).
Fluid Links were first mentioned in the 1963 First Doctor story "The Daleks". In that story, The Doctor implied that the TARDIS couldn’t go anywhere without fully operational fluid links which needed mercury to function. Mercury, which could not be found in the TARDIS necessitated an exploration of the world they had landed on. It later transpired this was a ruse, allowing The Doctor to investigate - against the wishes of his fellow-travellers - an alien city that they had discovered. The planet turned out to be Skaro and so became The Doctor’s first encounter with the Daleks.
In "The Daleks" the fault locator gives the fluid links a designation of ‘K7’. In this story the link is called ‘fluid link K57’.
The Doctor claims he has things in the TARDIS ‘that'll cure anything’.
It is revealed that the air shell room in the TARDIS can provide oxygen to enough of the space station for them to stroll around.
Chasm Forge is a space station for mining copper ore in outer space. It has a crew of 40.
The Doctor is happy that the space station’s doors are of a classic design. They have pressure seals and hinges. The Doctor and Nardole however, disagree on whether they should go ‘shk shk’ or ‘nnnnn’.
Branding throughout the space station suggests that Chasm Forge, its suits and systems were created by Ganymede Systems. It is possible that the organisation is connected to ‘Ganymede Beacon’ - a human-owned space station mentioned in the 1975 Fourth Doctor story "Revenge of the Cybermen". Ganymede is also one of Jupiter’s moons and in the 1976 Fourth Doctor story "The Hand of Fear" The Doctor uses a ‘Ganymede Driver’ when attempting to repair the TARDIS thermo-couplings.
The spacesuits employed on Chasm Forge uses gyros stabilisers, magnetic boots and gloves, and has on-board computech. According to The Doctor, they can run, jump and update one's Facebook. They also have force fields to keep the air in, and oxygen tanks for air supply.
Oxygen is provided on the space station for personal use only, charging credits for air, and making breathing into a capitalist endeavour. Unauthorised oxygen is automatically expelled, to protect its market value.
Nardole relates the spacesuits' navigation system to ‘when your satnav doesn't know a new road’.
Nardole recognises Bill's smartsuit's interface voice as his ex Velma, and remembers her as a ‘nice girl, actress. Bit orange, left me for an AI at a call centre’.
A magnetic glove on one of the active suits is seen destroying The Doctor's sonic screwdriver - though the sonic screwdriver also fries the space suit.
On the space station distance is measured in average breaths, rather than in metres.
The Twelfth Doctor is seen with a yo-yo. The Doctor previously played with a yo-yo in "Robot", "The Ark in Space", "Genesis of the Daleks", "Revenge of the Cybermen", "The Brain of Morbius", "The Seeds of Doom", "The Masque of Mandragora", "The Robots of Death", "The Talons of Weng-Chiang", "Kill the Moon" and "The Girl Who Died". The Fourth Doctor regularly showed off his skills with a yo-yo and even lent one to Leela, who misunderstood the purpose of the toy, believing it was ‘part of the magic’ that allowed the TARDIS to function.
When experiencing wearing a space suit for the first time Bill wonders what would happen if she were to throw up in the space helmet.
After been exposed to the vacuum of space, Bill is seen suffering from oxygen deprivation.
The Doctor is heard to say that he has spare eyes in the TARDIS, though they are from lizard.
The Doctor calls distress calls his ‘theme tune’ and he emphasises that ‘You only see the true face of the universe when it's asking for your help’.
The Doctor compares going to outer space to camping, and refers to tents and campsites.
Bill asks if there are reviews for space locations, like there are online for restaurants.
It is revealed that The Doctor sent Nardole to Birmingham for a packet of crisps.
The Doctor is heard to say that ‘Death, where is thy sting?’. He is quoting the First Epistle to the Corinthians in the New Testament.
Dahh-Ren cannot understand why Bill would experience racism herself. He suspects her to be racist because of her reactions to his blue skin.
In the scene with Dahh-Ren, Nardole is heard to comment that ‘some of my best friends are bluish’. This joke, of calling a blue person ‘bluish’ as if it is their race, was first seen in the 1969 Beatles animated film The Yellow Submarine, where it was used by a Blue Meanie in an attempt to identify if the Beatles were a member of their ranks.
The Doctor has previously encountered blue humanoids in the 2005 Ninth Doctor story "The End of the World" and the 2011 Eleventh Doctor story "A Good Man Goes to War".
The Doctor insinuates that the purpose of jokes, in general, is to distract people from whatever is about to kill them.
The Doctor quips that he thought he was just tweeting, rather than locking the crew out of the subroutine.
The Doctor purposely ‘maxes out’ his companions' adrenaline ‘Fear keeps you fast. Fast is good’. Fear though causes an acceleration in breathing which would constitute a waste of oxygen credits while on Chasm Forge.
When the suits kill the crew, they deactivate the organic component and disable the central nervous system.
The managers of Chasm Forge are seeking a bottom line for oxygen usage, and are seemingly prepared to kill off and replace workers if they are using too much of it.
The Doctor sees the endpoint of capitalism as ‘a bottom line where human life has no value at all’.
The Doctor remarks that ‘like every worker everywhere, we're fighting the suits’.
The Doctor is seen wearing his sonic sunglasses again (see "The Magician's Apprentice/The Witch's Familiar" - "The Husbands of River Song" and "The Pilot"). In this story though their sonic function is not utilised.
Nardole once more stresses The Doctor's oath to stay on Earth to guard the vault.
Bill wonders if people have ever hit The Doctor (see "Aliens of London/World War Three", "The Runaway Bride", "The Lazarus Experiment", "The End of Time", "The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang", "The Angels Take Manhattan", "Into the Dalek" and "Last Christmas").
The Doctor and his companions are almost sucked into the vacuum of space (see "The Daleks' Master Plan", "The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit" and "Voyage of the Damned").
The Doctor again is seen using his psychic paper.
The Doctor refuses to believe he can't save his companion (see "Voyage of the Damned", "The Snowmen" and "Heaven Sent/Hell Bent").
The Doctor previously faced an enemy that hijacked spacesuits to control them in the 2008 Tenth Doctor story "Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead".
The Doctor is heard to say that ‘fear is good’. He previously described it as a superpower in the 2014 story "Listen" and as a generator of savagery in the 2010 Eleventh Doctor story "Amy's Choice".
The Doctor is familiar enough with the layout of the console room that despite supposedly being blind he is able to hide this, from Nardole and Bill, and control the TARDIS as though he still had his sight, including, it is implied, accurately piloting her both to Ganymede's head office and back to the university. It is though unknown if he regained his eye-sight temporarily after Nardole's surgery but then lost it again.
The 'Next' trailer is in the middle of the end credits. Unlike the previous stories of this season where they were shown before the end credits started.
Two scenes of the blind Doctor were featured in an early teaser shown at the end of the 2016 Christmas Special "The Return of Doctor Mysterio", except The Doctor’s eyes weren't cloudy so as to not to spoil this plot point.
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(Position = 2 out of 12)
