Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S4 E12 The Stolen Earth



"The Doctor: Saturday? Good. Good, I like Saturdays."

After the end of "Turn Left", the Doctor races back to Earth to find that… everything's fine? Not exactly. The BAD WOLF from the last episode was, like all the others, a message from Rose. Since Rose has been trapped in a parallel universe since Doomsday, the Doctor realizes that the walls between universes are breaking down, but he's not sure why, so they go back to the TARDIS to check. They are suddenly jolted, and the Doctor and Donna run to check outside. Instead of the street and the milkman, they find that the TARDIS is…

Floating in empty space.

The Doctor races to the controls to see where the TARDIS has moved but then realizes that, in fact, they haven't moved at all. Their location is fixed.

The Earth is gone.

Far across the universe, we join everybody we've known since the show's revival in 2005: Martha Jones with UNIT in New York, Jack, Ianto and Gwen in the Cardiff Hub, Sarah Jane, Luke and Mr. Smith in Ealing, and Donna's family in London, and they've all felt what they think is a massive earthquake. That is, until each race outside to look outside at the sky. Martha calls Jack, but no one knows what's happening and no one can reach the Doctor. Just then, Action Hero Rose, complete with a BFG on a shoulder strap, zaps onto the street, steeled and ready to go. The cheery morning sky has been replaced by night and disturbingly low hanging planets.

Wait, what?

No, really. Richard Dawkins is on TV talking about it and everything. There are giant planets in the Earth sky, and not a single familiar star.

Back at where the Earth isn't, the Doctor decides that now is the time to call in reinforcements. So he heads out to the Shadow Proclamation.

Teams Torchwood, Bannerman Road and UNIT detect 26 other planets and a fleet of mysterious spaceships heading directly for the Earth. Who could they possibly be? Everyone tries to call the Doctor, but no-one can get through. Then, a eerily familiar transmission comes in from the incoming ships…

'''EX-TER-MI-NATE. EX-TER-MI-NATE.'''

Jack, Martha and Sarah recognize the sound immediately. Jack pulls Ianto and Gwen close and kisses their foreheads. He says, "There's nothing I can do. I'm sorry, we're dead." Sarah hugs Luke, sobbing. Action Hero Rose, however, picks up her BFG and heads out into the street, her hair blowing from the explosions behind her.

The Daleks commence "ultimate extermination" on the Earth.

Back at the Shadow Proclamation, after a nifty bit of Judoon from the Doctor, our heroes try to piece the situation together. Once he puts his Purely Aesthetic Glasses on, the Doctor realizes that if you steal 27 specific planets out of space and time, they sync with one another to make a giant galactic-strength engine! That's what's been happening to all those missing planets (and one missing moon) we've been hearing about. Now only if he can figure out where they went. The Doctor asks Donna if she can remember anything out of the ordinary back on Earth. She can't except the bees had been disappearing. The bees? Yes! The bees! The Doctor explodes into some lovely techno-babble about the bees, some of which have been aliens all along, sensing danger and fleeing to their home planet and now the Doctor can trace their journey and find Earth! Allons-y!

Oh, and the creepy Shadow Proclamation lady says sorry to Donna about her loss that has yet to come. Thanks, lady. Poor Donna.

Things look bad. Earth surrenders to the Daleks, Wilf's awesome plan to beat the Daleks with a paintball gun fails, the Doctor gets lost in the Medusa Cascade, Cap Jack waxes melancholy, and no one's phones work. But guess who hasn't shown up given up yet? That's right, Harriet Jones (former Prime Minister)! She patches together a Doctor Who co-star conference call, using a bio-detection system she helped develop specifically to contact the Doctor... despite the Doctor ruining her life last time they met. Everyone Meets Everyone. Jack hits on Sarah Jane (and a little bit on Luke), Rose feels bad about not being included (because the bio-system wasn't linked to her, being in an alternate dimension and all), and they make a super mega cell phone call to the Doctor! The Doctor latches on and even though the TARDIS catches fire a little (it gets better), he finds his way to Earth!

Unfortunately, Harriet Jones (former Prime Minister) is found by the Daleks and sacrifices herself in a noble and dignified fashion. Good show, Harriet. Good show.

The Doctor latches on to the conference call and everyone is happy to see each other. Ianto checks out the Doctor, Donna picks the worst possible moment in history to start fancying Jack, but all of this "outer space Facebook" action is wrecked by a very familiar voice. The Doctor and Sarah Jane recognize... Davros! Back from the dead! ... Again!

The Doctor takes off, and everyone goes after him. The Daleks go on alert, Jack gets his wrist strap working again with a little help from Martha's UNIT knowledge and teleports away, Sarah Jane drives off leaving Luke with Mr. Smith, Martha is ordered by UNIT to blip out and activate something called the Osterhagen key, and Rose zaps after the TARDIS.

And Rose is the one that finds him first.

Rose and the Doctor see each other across a destroyed street. Overjoyed, they run toward each other. Before they reach each other, a Dalek appears and zaps the Doctor. Jack appears and blows up the Dalek. Rose, Donna and Jack gather around the Doctor, but it is clear he is dying. They take him back to the TARDIS.

The Daleks are closing in on team Torchwood and Sarah Jane.

To. Be. Continued.

Tropes
"Harriet(calmly): Harriet Jones, former Prime Minister.
 * And Starring: Elisabeth Sladen fittingly gets this treatment out of the extra-large cast.
 * Alien Sky: The first on-world clue as to something very wrong happening to the earth. To wit.
 * Arc Words: "There was something on your back."
 * Attack Pattern Alpha: Apparently "Dalek Attack Formation Seven" is a straight line.
 * Back From the Dead: Davros, who at this point has to be considered a professional resurrector.
 * Badass Nickname: Dalek Caan refers to the Doctor as "The Dark Lord."
 * BFG: Wielded by Rose and Captain Jack, and Lampshaded by Rose when driving off a pair of looters. "Do you like my gun?"
 * Big Damn Heroes: "HOSTILITY WILL NOT BE TOLERATED! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!! EXTERMI--" *BLAM*
 * The Brigadier: General Sanchez.
 * Chekhov's Gun: The Shadow Proclamation is finally revealed after having first been mentioned in, literally, the first episode of the New Series!
 * Call Back / Shout-Out: a great many of the planets.
 * "Clom, Clom's gone, who'd want Clom?" (Clom, twin world to Raxacoricafallapatorius, is the home of the Absorbaloff.)
 * "Woman Wept," a planet Rose said she visited in "Boom Town"
 * Callufrax Minor is likely related to Calufrax, from "The Pirate Planet".
 * "The Lost Moon of Poosh" was the subject of Dee Dee Blasco's research paper in "Midnight".
 * Pyrovillia was the planet of the Pyroviles, as stated in "The Fires of Pompeii".
 * And Adipose 3, which was said to have gone missing prior to "Partners in Crime".
 * The Cameo: Named on screen. Richard Dawkins, famous British scientist (although best known for a book called The God Delusion) appears on screen as himself. Dawkins is married to Lalla Ward, who played the second Romana.
 * Paul O'Grady also appears on his chat show making light of the stolen planets.
 * Combined Energy Attack: The entire world, calling the same phone number at once.
 * Continuity Nod: The Doctor connecting the Earth being stolen with the Daleks is a reference to "The Dalek Invasion Of Earth", in which they planned to replace the planet's core with an engine. Also all the stolen planets have been mentioned previously, and Harriet's subwave communicator was built with the help of the Mr. Copper Foundation (Mr. Copper being the passanger from "Voyage of the Damned" who became a millionaire).
 * There's a direct quotation from The Dalek Invasion Of Earth, when the Daleks demand that every human leave their homes: "the males, the females, the descendants".
 * Also the Anti-Dalek gun that Jack is using is the modified Defabricator from "Bad Wolf" and "The Parting of the Ways", apparently he's modified it beyond one shot.
 * Sarah Jane is the only person besides the Doctor to recognise Davros, having met him back in his very first appearance -- well, if by "met" you mean "he tortured her to get information from the Doctor".
 * The Medusa Cascade is hidden beyond a Time Barrier, first introduced in the Fourth Doctor serial "The Face of Evil".
 * The Cascade is also one second out of sync with the rest of the universe.
 * Wilfred taking on a Dalek, and not for the first time (actor Bernard Cribbins played the cop who stumbled into the TARDIS in Daleks – Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D, the second Dr Who movie starring Peter Cushing.)
 * Crisis Crossover: Ianto, Jack and Gwen from Torchwood, and Sarah Jane, Luke and Mr Smith from The Sarah Jane Adventures, and Rose and Martha and Harriet Jones and basically everyone connected to the show since Rusty got hold of it (well, except Mickey and K9... for now) all turn up.
 * Facing the Bullets One-Liner: Harriet.

Dalek: YES WE KNOW WHO YOU ARE.

Harriet: Oh you know nothing of any human. And that will be your undoing."


 * Dark Is Not Evil: The Shadow Proclamation, even with a name like that, appear to be good guys
 * 555: The Doctor's cell phone number uses an 07700-900xxx number, which is Ofcom's reserved range for mobile drama numbers.
 * Gondor Calls for Aid, with a side order of Epic Hail
 * Heroic Blue Screen of Death: Sarah Jane and Jack react to the Daleks this way, pulling their loved ones close and giving in to despair. Particularly notable in Jack's case, since his first death was at the hands of Daleks. It takes Harriet Jones, Former Prime Minister, to break them out of it.
 * Heroic Sacrifice: Harriet.
 * Hollywood Science: The super mega cell phone call. This physically hurts if you know anything about how mobile phones work.
 * It can almost (but not entirely) be justified with A Wizard Did It, since we really don't know just how powerful Mr. Smith really is (he is a sentient alien supercomputer, after all.)
 * Hope Spot: A really obvious one, too; the Doctor and Rose finally see and run towards each other. Their reunion, however, is interrupted at the last second by a Dalek shooting the Doctor.
 * I Have Just One Thing to Say: "After all this time...everything we saw, everything we lost...I have only one thing to say to you: BYE!"
 * Internal Homage: "Ladies and gentleman, we are at war" was used with slightly different inflection, by Captain Jack in "The Parting of the Ways".
 * The Internet Is for Porn: Wilfred isn't allowed to have a webcam because they're naughty.
 * It Has Been an Honor: Harriet, to the companions.
 * Laughing Mad / Evil Laugh: Sweet Gallifrey, Dalek Caan, the first Dalek to ever laugh.
 * Left the Background Music On: when Sarah Jane says "Mr. Smith, I need you!" the Mr. Smith music plays as her Magical Computer reveals itself, as it does every time on The Sarah Jane Adventures - however, now Sarah Jane says, "I wish you would stop giving me that fanfare."
 * Mad Oracle: Dalek Caan.
 * Mars Needs Women: Wilfred's first guess as to the purpose of the invasion.
 * Mass "Oh Crap": The entire supporting cast when they first hear the Daleks.
 * Meadow Run: Horrible subversion, though.
 * Monumental Theft: Taken to its extremes, with the Daleks' titular theft of the Earth (and numerous other planets).
 * Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Averted with the Shadow Proclamation, who seem to be good guys.
 * Negative Continuity: Davros' reduction to being just a head encased in the Dalek Emperor casing back in "Remembrance of the Daleks" (and, if you follow the audio plays, ) is undone here, and he appears pretty much as the Davros we know and love. In a neat aversion though, the loss of his hand in "Revelation of the Daleks" is followed up on, and he is shown to have a mechanical replacement here.
 * Perhaps forgivable considering it was called a Time War for a reason. "The End of Time" confirms that the Time Lords and Daleks both rewrote their own internal history numerous times to gain an advantage over the other. These people weaponised Retcons, any negative continuity was effectively rendered a necessary casualty of war!
 * The Other Darrin: Julian Bleach becomes the fourth actor to play Davros.
 * Promotion to Opening Titles: Billie Piper, Freema Agyeman, John Barrowman and Elizabeth Sladen are all added to the title credits, with Penelope Wilton, Adjoa Andoh, Tommy Knight, Eve Myles, and Gareth David-Lloyd in a post-title caption (a series first).
 * Red Alert: UNIT starts the episode at this level - once they realize the Daleks are attacking, they switch to Ultimate Red Alert.
 * Red Eyes, Take Warning: The Shadow Architect.
 * Redshirt Army: UNIT's American branch, who wear the same uniforms as their British counterparts.
 * Resistance Is Futile: Or rather, useless.
 * Running Gag:Yes, we know who you are!.


 * Significant Anagram "Osterhagen", as in the Osterhagen Key, is an anagram of "Earth's Gone".
 * Possible Meaningful Name too: Osterhagen is the name of a Nazi concentration camp 1944-1945 near the German city of the same name.


 * There Is Another: There are always more Daleks.
 * Time Is Dangerous: Dalek Caan is driven Laughing Mad by his accidental breach of the time-lock on the Time War.
 * Took a Level In Badass: Gwen and Ianto taking on the Daleks with G36s.
 * This entire episode goes out of its way to establish the position of ex-companion as a badass prestige class, even giving them a cool collective name as "The Children of Time."
 * Understatement: "Well, now we're in trouble."
 * Unflinching Walk: When a Dalek ship shoots out a building right behind her, Rose doesn't even blink.
 * The War Room: UNIT's New York office.
 * Weaksauce Weakness: Subverted. (MY VISION IS NOT IMPAIRED!) That's both of the Dalek's age-old weaknesses removed. No longer will they be stymied by a third-floor walk-up and a can of spray paint!
 * There's actually more. Being pushed over was shown to be a Dalek-killer in the original series. The former is implied to have been solved in the episode "Dalek" (Rose touching the Dalek and surviving was a freak coincidence because it wanted her to, dialogue suggest the first guy to do that got turned into a human torch).
 * Wham! Episode: Hoo boy. That was a Wham and a half.
 * What Could Have Been: Originally when the Doctor first arrives at the Shadow Proclamation, the foyer was to be packed with aliens he'd encountered over the past few seasons, all trying to make a complaint about their missing homeworlds. The Doctor is annoyed when he has to stand in line with everyone else to fill out a form, only for Alonso from "Voyage of the Damned" to appear as a cop (having been inspired by the Doctor to help others and fight evil) and help smooth the process. The idea had to be dropped because it was too expensive, but it was likely the inspiration for the scene involving Alonso in a bar full of aliens in "The End of Time".