Doctor Who/Recap/S32 E5 The Rebel Flesh



A solar tsunami sends the TARDIS hurtling towards a futuristic factory on Earth, where human Doppelgängers ("Gangers") are used to mine dangerous acid. They use the white clone goo to create avatars, which can safely mine while the actual people are controlling them with their thoughts.

The Doctor would much rather have this adventure alone, but Amy and Rory insist on coming along. The factory is dangerous. Dangerous enough, in fact, to dissolve the Doctor's shoes with acid, so he has to borrow a pair of sneakers.

The solar tsunami, however, causes the Gangers to separate from the people they're being controlled by. The clones are now separate, independent people, retaining all of their original memories and horrified by the fact that they're not "real". They can remember every second of their "original's" life and feel every emotion they've ever experienced. The white Flesh rebels against the change, and causes their faces to distort.

The Gangers quickly feel threatened enough to start a rebel faction against the real humans. This escalates into an all-out battle, cut off only when it turns out that the Flesh has also made a copy of the Doctor.

Tropes
"Doctor: It is too dangerous in here with acid leaks!"
 * Actor Allusion: The Doctor and Cleaves have shared the screen before.
 * Acting for Two: Most of the characters in this episode have a corresponding Ganger, and share scenes with them..
 * Agony of the Feet: The Doctor loses his shoes to acid.
 * Alien Sky: The sky turns bright orange during the solar storm.
 * Arc Person: Eye-Patch lady is seen again.
 * Bio Punk
 * Blade on a Stick: The workers are armed with what look like poleaxes.
 * Body Horror
 * Buffy-Speak: "Yes, it's insane, and it's about to get more insanerer. Is that a word?"
 * Call Back: "The Doctor's always saying don't wander off."
 * Captain Obvious: The Doctor determines that "something corrosive" is flowing through the pipe marked "DANGER: CORROSIVE."
 * And again after the storm causes leaks. To be fair, he did just almost get a facefull of Hollywood Acid.

"Doctor: It's interesting you refer to [the Gangers] as "it", but you call a glorified cattle prod a "she"."
 * Ceiling Cling:
 * Chekhov's Gun: A possible example-to-be for the next episode: Dicken's sneezing may be being set up as a means to differentiate him from his Ganger.
 * still wearing the right shoes after the Original stepped into the acid and had to replace them might turn into one, as well.
 * Holy shit. Look at the shoes the Doctor is wearing right before . He's wearing those shoes  . He's even wearing the same bowtie. After the acid, his replacements look nothing like the originals.
 * Which is rapidly building up to  being a Chekhov's Gunman.
 * Cloning Blues: While creating the Gangers isn't quite cloning science-wise, this trope is otherwise in full effect.
 * Continuity Nod: The trailer indicates the Gangers may be the same as, or similar to, the state Lady Cassandra was in. They also seem to be "forced-growth clones" like Chip. The Doctor seems somewhat familiar with the flesh used to create them, suggesting it is in a "primitive state".
 * As in "The Sontaran Stratagem" and "The Poison Sky," the Doctor encounters a large tank made to clone someone, and the clone has all the memories of the original person.
 * There's also considerable resemblance to the Autons, which is clearly the cause of Rory's extreme sympathy to the Gangers, and their identity crisis.
 * Once again, the Doctor is seen climbing a large tower and subsequently getting electrified. He also falls off said tower.
 * The Doctor has encountered programmable matter which can duplicate living beings before.
 * The Doctor attempts to negotiate peace between humans and another race,
 * Once again, The Doctor is dealing with a slave race rebelling against their human masters.
 * Rory mentions to Jennifer that the Doctor's number one rule is "Don't wander off".
 * Creator Thumbprint: Matthew Graham likes the image of a weathervane foreshadowing something important, characters playing darts, using 70's music in his shows, and casting Marshall Lancaster as a bumbling type of character.
 * Crowning Moment of Funny: The Doctor's Northern accent, possibly a minor Take That to his Ninth incarnation.
 * It's revealed that in between adventures, Amy and Rory play darts while the Doctor listens to Muse.
 * Crowning Moment of Heartwarming: One of the Gangers tells his Original about the birth of.. his? their? son which convinces the originals that the Gangers are more human than they thought.
 * Crowning Music of Awesome: The workers listen to "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" by Dusty Springfield, which clues the Doctor into the fact they are not in the past, and later on lets the characters know the Gangers are more human than initially thought.
 * Excessive Steam Syndrome: The lower levels of the factory suffer from this. For bonus points, it's Hollywood acidic steam to boot.
 * Fan Nickname:
 * Fantastic Racism: Against the Gangers.
 * Foreshadowing: Why does the Doctor tell Amy to breathe?
 * Fridge Brilliance: Why are the factory worker only armed with pole-arm like weapons? Because using guns in crumbling factory with pipes filled with Hollywood Acid is a really stupid idea.
 * Why use a 13th century monastery for a 22nd century acid factory? Because its harder for acid to eat through stone than metal or wood in case of an accident.
 * Rory understands the situation of the gangers better than anyone, since he has memories of being an Auton duplicate version of himself.
 * The humans and the gangers simultaneously declaring "us and them" looks a bit Anvilicious and narmily remininiscent of a song from Pocahontas...but then you remember that they're the same people. Of course they act identically.
 * Why are the Gangers and Humans afraid of each other? Because of what happened at the Isle of Sheppey.
 * Funny Background Event: During the scene where the humans meet up with their Gangers, behind the Doctor you can see Rory react strongly to Jennifer squeezing his hand too tight.
 * Genre Savvy: Rory. "I am telling you, when something runs toward you it is never for a nice reason!"
 * George Lucas Throwback: Basically, Matthew Graham set out to write a Second Doctor story: small cast, minimum amount of effects (mostly practical and makeup) and a very dark, tense tone.
 * Glamour Failure
 * Hey, It's That Guy!: Chris Skelton survived the 70's and 80's and is now in the 22nd century.
 * Avid Matt Smith fans might recognise Cleaves as Matt's character's boss in Party Animals.
 * Hollywood Acid
 * Insistent Terminology: Cleaves objects to the statement that the Flesh can "grow".
 * Ironic Echo:
 * "It's us and them."
 * It Is Dehumanizing:
 * "It's us and them."
 * It Is Dehumanizing:

"Doctor: I have to get to that cockerel before all hell breaks loose. I never thought I'd get to say that again!"
 * Leaning on the Fourth Wall: "A lot can go wrong in an hour."
 * Let's Get Dangerous: Usually timid Rory pounces on Cleaves
 * Lightning Can Do Anything: Although causing a power surge is hardly the silliest thing its ever accomplished in fiction.
 * Meaningful Name: "Ganger" comes from both "doppelganger" (a duplicate of a person) and "ganger" (a menial labourer assigned to a large work gang, i.e. on old-fashioned railroads).
 * Narm: Ganger!Cleaves reaction to finding out she's one of the Gangers is to say "We...are LIVING!" in a Narmy way and run off. The way everyone else reacts looks like they thought of it that way too.
 * Never Say "Die": Gangers, being considered implements, are not killed but "decommissioned." Justified, ish in that the originals don't consider them alive to begin with.
 * Nice Guy: Rory is seen this way by the Jennifer-Ganger, who says he has "kind eyes."
 * Nightmare Face: An incomplete Ganger.
 * Noodle Implements: The Doctor somehow uses a snowglobe to track the progress of the solar storm.
 * Noodle Incident:

"The Doctor: I have to get to that cockerel before all hell breaks loose!"
 * Fridge Brilliance: Well, he did say he owed Casanova a chicken...
 * No OSHA Compliance: Partially justified in that military facilities and their contractors are usually exempt from many environmental laws.
 * Not to mention, using the Gangers is a safety procedure. They are considered mere tools by the humans, so if one is destroyed it's no different to them than a pair of rubber gloves getting damaged.
 * Oop North: The monastery seems to be on an island off the Yorkshire coast.
 * Were there any islands to be found there, at least.
 * There are islands off the coast a bit further north, though. Holy Island (Lindisfarne) even has a monastery on it.
 * Paranoia Fuel: So how are you going to tell the original and the copy apart? Well, you can't, unless the Ganger is incomplete and has that smooth, transparent face. Just hope you won't be seeing it in the mirror.
 * Percussive Maintenance: A weird example. Ganger!Jennifer at one point emphatically beats her fist against her chest; with each hit she instantly shifts between looking normal and look semi-Ganger.
 * Planar Shockwave: The solar tsunami.
 * A Rare Sentence


 * He does then add, "I never thought I'd get to say that again."
 * Remote Body: What the Gangers are supposed to be. Until they wake up.
 * Rubber Man: The Gangers.
 * Security Cling: Jennifer latches onto Rory pretty tight.
 * Schizo-Tech
 * Shapeshifting Squick
 * Shout-Out
 * To Blade Runner: Humanoids, created for work, that become more human, and one of the workers "decommissions" a Ganger just as Deckard "retires" replicants.
 * To The Thing: The flesh can mimic anyone or anything, and can stretch body parts.
 * Buzzer even refers to a ganger as "you thing".
 * To Avatar: The workers control clones of themselves from harnesses, and the clones (supposedly) become inactive when not being controlled.
 * To Full Metal Jacket: One of the workers calls Jennifer "Twinkletoes" for making a mistake.
 * To Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956): the early shots of Ganger!Jennifer slowly taking on definition are rather...familiar. There's also the general idea of
 * The Ganger's Voldemort-esque appearance seems to be lampshaded when
 * Along with Voldemort, the design (and abilities) of the Gangers is likely a shout out to Odo and the other Changelings.
 * Sleep Cute: Rory and Amy wake up on the floor next to each other after the tsunami hits.
 * Space Is an Ocean: "Solar tsunami."
 * Title Drop: For next episode: Both the Doctor and Rory refer to the Gangers as "almost people".
 * Tomato in the Mirror
 * Ugly Cute: Ganger-Jennifer. Her degeneration makes her look like Voldemort's younger sister.
 * Uncanny Valley: Incomplete Gangers have pale skin, visible veins, and oddly smooth features.
 * Used Future: It is the 22nd century, and the acid mine in the monastery is very dark and battered.
 * What Measure Is a Non-Human?: The Gangers are designed to be expendable -- their purpose is to mine the acid, a horribly dangerous job, without putting humans at risk. Naturally, they aren't happy about this.
 * "We're not talking about an accident that needs to be mopped up. We're talking about sacred life. Is everyone clear on that? Everyone clear? Good."
 * What The Hell Minor Character?:
 * The Woobie: All of the gangers, but Jennifer in particular gets this treatment.
 * As per the end of the episode and the previews, she is shaping up to be a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds.
 * X Meets Y: The producers described this episode as "Avatar meets The Thing."