Father's Day (Doctor Who)

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Father's Day is an episode in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast on May 14, 2005.

[edit] Synopsis

The Ninth Doctor brings Rose to 1987 so she can see her father Pete, whom she was too young to know when he died that year. However, when Rose interferes with the pattern of history, the terrifying Reapers descend upon the Earth.

[edit] Plot

"Time's been damaged, and they've come to sterilise the wound... by consuming everything in sight."

Rose reminisces about her father, Peter Alan Tyler, whom she describes as "the most wonderful man in the world". When Rose is a little girl, her mother Jackie tells her about how Pete died on November 7, 1987, the day of Stuart Hoskins and Sarah Clarke's wedding and how she wishes Rose could have known her father. Jackie tells the young Rose that nobody was there for Pete when he died and the hit-and-run driver was never found.

In the TARDIS, Rose hesitantly asks the Doctor if they can go back to the day her father died so that she can be there for him when he does. The Doctor says that he can do this, but he is more concerned if Rose can handle it emotionally. He tells her to be careful what she wishes for. In another flashback, we see that the Doctor and Rose have already witnessed Jackie and Pete's wedding.

The TARDIS materialises in 1987 on the street where Pete died. They stand on the pavement, Rose describing what happened as they watch it. Pete was late getting the wedding gift, and when he stepped out of his car to cross the road, an oncoming car ran into him, killing him almost instantly. When this happens, the Doctor tells Rose to go to Pete, but she is unable to go to her father's fallen body. By the time she recovers, the ambulance has arrived and he is already dead. She asks the Doctor if she can try again, and while the Doctor looks doubtful, he agrees.

Travelling back to the same moment, they wait around the corner from their earlier selves. The Doctor warns Rose to wait until her earlier self has left before going to see her father, or else it will create a paradox. However, as Pete steps out of his car and the other car comes hurtling around the corner, Rose pulls away from the Doctor, passing their startled earlier selves and knocking Pete out of the way. The earlier Doctor and Rose vanish, and while Rose is overjoyed at having actually succeeded in saving her father, the Doctor looks on aghast. Rose introduces herself to Pete, who remarks on the coincidence of her name with his daughter's. When Rose says she is attending the Hoskins-Clarke wedding, Pete offers her and the Doctor a lift, while, above the city, alien eyes scan the area hungrily.

At Pete's flat, Rose looks around and remarks on all the various bits and pieces of entrepreneurship that her father was involved in, including health drinks and solar power panels, which he will now have the opportunity to do. The Doctor is angry with Rose, implying that she had planned this from the moment she heard that the TARDIS was a time machine. Rose says there was no plan, that she just saw a chance to stop it and did so, and questions why it is all right for the Doctor to save people but not for her to save her father. The Doctor calls her a selfish, "stupid ape" and says that he knows what he is doing while she does not; the presence of two sets of them made that location a vulnerable point. His whole world was destroyed — did she not think it had occurred to him to try to change history if he had been able to do so? Rose protests that she did not change history, because Pete was nothing special. The Doctor counters that there is a man alive now who is supposed to be dead: the world is different because of that. The argument grows more heated, and the Doctor demands the TARDIS key back, leaving in a huff. Pete looks out of the kitchen at this point, thinking it was a lover's quarrel. Rose denies that she and the Doctor are a couple, and — following a moment of panic on Rose's part when Pete appears to gently flirt with her — the two go to the wedding.

As the Doctor walks back to the TARDIS, he is unaware that around the neighbourhood, things are swooping down from the skies and consuming people. He does, however, sense that something is wrong. When he gets back to the TARDIS and unlocks it with his key, he is startled to find out that it is just an empty box. He runs back to try and find Rose. In the meantime, Rose and Pete are driving to the church, and Rose is puzzled when anachronistic hip-hop music from The Streets starts playing over the car radio, and her mobile phone voice mail is filled with copies of the same message, "Watson, come here, I need you," the very first thing said over a telephone by Alexander Graham Bell. They are almost at the church when a car nearly collides with their vehicle and then abruptly vanishes, a car Pete recognises as the same car that almost ran him down earlier. As their car runs off the road, Rose reflexively calls Pete "Dad", but brushes it off when Pete asks her what she meant by that.

At the church they meet Jackie, who is carrying an infant Rose. Jackie eyes the adult Rose suspiciously, thinking that she is another one of Pete's affairs. Jackie and Pete get into a shouting match, Jackie accusing Pete of being a failure with all of his business schemes that never succeed, and threatens to divorce him. Rose is upset when she realises that her parents' marriage was not the idyllic one she believed it to be. As Jackie and Pete make up slightly, her anxiety fades. However, it is at this moment that a young Mickey — who has witnessed all the children in a local play park disappear — runs around the corner, yelling about monsters. The Doctor runs towards Rose from the opposite end of the street, shouting for her to get in the church. Rose looks up and screams as she sees gigantic winged reptiles with multiple arms materialise in the sky above.

The creatures swoop downwards, killing the vicar and the groom's father before the Doctor manages to usher the rest of them into the church. He says that the walls of the church are old and will stop the creatures for a while. When Jackie demands to know what is going on, the Doctor explains that there has been a wound in time and the creatures are like bacteria taking advantage of it, to sterilise the wound by consuming everything in sight. With great satisfaction, the Doctor orders Jackie to do as he says and make sure all the doors and windows are secure. Rose asks if this is her fault, and the Doctor does not answer. Pete overhears this and looks concerned.

The Doctor looks out the back window of the church, and sees the car that was supposed to run Pete down appearing and disappearing as it circles the church, the driver repeating the actions he never got to complete. Pete notices the car, and the Doctor tells him quickly not to worry about it. Pete goes to talk to Rose, and wonders aloud why he instinctively seems to trust her. He remembers she called him "Dad" and when he looks at her, he observes that she has his eyes and Jackie's attitude. Pete deduces that Rose is really his daughter, all grown up. They tearfully embrace as the creatures continue to batter against the church doors, trying to get in.

The Doctor, meanwhile, is ensuring that the doors and windows are sealed when he is cornered by Stuart Hoskins and Sarah Clarke. They recognise that he is the only person in the church who appears to know what is going on and nervously enquire whether he can save them. Sarah (who is obviously pregnant) insists that they are nothing important, but the Doctor begs to differ once he hears the story of how they met. He has never had the lives these two people have; they are two ordinary people with a potentially happy future, and that makes them special. He promises he will do everything he can to save them.

Pete is delighted at how Rose has turned out. The two have a conversation in the vestry about the future and time travel, but Pete is worried when Rose is strangely vague about what he is like in the future. Jackie comes in with the young Mickey, and is jealous again when she thinks Pete is flirting with Rose. Pete tries to explain who Rose is, but Rose tells him not to let Jackie know. In the main hall of the church, the Doctor is looking after the infant Rose. The adult Rose shows up and is about to touch her infant self when the Doctor pushes her away, telling her that any new paradox would allow the creatures access. When Rose tells him she is not stupid, the Doctor apologises for snapping. He was not really going to abandon her, but confesses that he has no idea what to do. When the Time Lords were still around, paradoxes like this could be repaired but now this church and places like it are probably the only places in the world where people are still alive, the creatures having eaten everyone else. Rose sincerely tells the Doctor she is sorry and the Doctor smiles, hugging her. In the midst of the hug, Rose feels the TARDIS key glowing hot in the Doctor's pocket. The Doctor realises that this means that although the TARDIS's interior dimensions were thrown out of the wound in time, the ship is still linked to the key and he can summon it back.

The Doctor uses a mobile telephone battery in conjunction with the sonic screwdriver to charge up the key, and the shadowy shape of the TARDIS begins to materialise slowly around it. While this is still going on, he tells everyone not to touch or disturb the process — once the TARDIS has fully materialised, he can try to repair the damage.

Pete has another talk with Rose, asking her whether he was a good father. Rose lies, saying that Pete was always there for them, told her bedtime stories every night and took them on picnics in the country on weekends. Pete knows that he is not that kind of man, and begins to understand why Rose travelled back in time. The Doctor tells Rose that when time is sorted out again, everyone will forget what has happened, but what Rose changed will remain changed. Pete, by now, has realised that he is supposed to be dead and his survival is jeopardising everything. Rose tells Pete that the fault is hers, but Pete replies that he is her father — it's his job for it to be his fault.

Jackie overhears Pete, and demands to know how Pete can be the adult Rose's father. Pete tells her who Rose is, but Jackie does not believe him. Pete takes the infant Rose from Jackie to get her to compare the features. Before the Doctor can stop Pete, the infant Rose is thrust into the adult Rose's arms, causing a paradox, which allows one of the creatures to materialise within the church. The Doctor rushes forward, pushing the others behind him, saying that he is the oldest thing in the room. The creature swoops down and devours him instead. It then flies towards the still-materialising TARDIS, and when they meet, the two blink out of existence. Rose picks up the now cold TARDIS key and concludes that the Doctor is dead.

Pete watches the car repeating its movement around the church through the window and knows what he must do. The Doctor had tried to spare him this, but with the Doctor gone, there is no longer any option. He tells Rose that he had these extra hours with her, and now he's going to do what a father is supposed to do to let his child live. He shows Rose to Jackie properly and Jackie finally recognises Rose as the grown up version of her daughter. Pete tells Jackie that she has to live to raise Rose, and the three embrace each other good-bye.

Pete grabs the wedding gift and runs out of the church, watching for the car as it materialises in its never-ending loop and when it does, steps in front of it. As Pete crumples to the street, the creatures screech and vanish...

By the church, the congregation, including Stuart's father, rushes out to see the aftermath of the accident. The Doctor, restored to life, tells Rose to go to Pete, and she does so. Rose cradles Pete's head and holds his hand as the driver of the car watches on, and Pete smiles up at her as he expires. The Doctor and Rose then walk, hand in hand, back to the TARDIS. Time has returned to normal, with only a few minor adjustments.

Jackie tells the young Rose that the driver, a young man, stopped and waited for the police. It was not his fault — for some reason Pete just ran out in front of the car. There was also a young girl there with him who stayed with him when he died, and then left. Nobody found out who she had been, leaving Rose to eulogise about Pete Tyler, her father... the most wonderful man in the world.

[edit] Cast

• Doctor Who — Christopher Eccleston
• Rose Tyler — Billie Piper
• Jackie Tyler — Camille Coduri
• Pete Tyler — Shaun Dingwall
• Registrar — Robert Barton
• Young Rose — Julia Joyce
• Stuart — Christopher Llewellyn
• Sonny — Frank Rozelaar-Green
• Sarah — Natalie Jones
• Bev — Eirlys Bellin
• Suzie — Rhian James
• Young Mickey — Casey Dyer

[edit] Trivia

• Working titles for this story included Wounded Time and Wound In Time (as stated in the Telos Publishing Ltd. book Back to the Vortex).
• Continuing the "Bad Wolf" theme of the season, a poster advertising a rave on a wall near where Pete was supposed to die in the beginning has the words "BAD WOLF" defacing it. See Bad Wolf references in Doctor Who.
• The treatment of changing history in this episode appears to contradict some elements from the classic series. Although changing history was always shown as a possibility in serials like Genesis of the Daleks, Day of the Daleks and Pyramids of Mars, it was always assumed that the Blinovitch Limitation Effect prevented anyone from "redoing" their own actions like Rose does here. The episode suggests that such a "redo" is possible, but extremely dangerous; it is possible, however, that a "redo" has only now become possible as a result of the deaths of the Time Lords and the loss of their stabilising influence on time (hinted at in The Unquiet Dead). Speaking at the Gallifrey convention in February 2006, Paul Cornell said that although his script does not mention the Blinovitch Limitation Effect by name, it was in the forefront of his mind while writing the episode.
• Although not named on screen, the driver of the car that kills Pete is named Matt in the shooting script.
• Rose says that Pete will never start "World War Three". The Doctor tells the infant Rose that she is not going to bring about "the end of the world". These were both titles of episodes earlier in the season.
• The Doctor's line, "I've picked another stupid ape," may be a reference to Adam Mitchell, who attempted to use knowledge of the future to advance Earth technology in The Long Game. It also may be a reference to the attempt by his former companion Barbara to alter the course of Aztec history during The Aztecs.
• As a Reaper is about to consume Sarah Clarke, she screams shrilly, and it turns away to attack the vicar instead. The reasons for the Reaper's actions are not readily apparent. The fact that the Reapers appear to prefer older targets, as they did the Doctor later in the episode, may offer a possible explanation. In the shooting script for the episode, it is the vicar who leaps into the way of the Reaper and allows Sarah and Stuart to get inside the church, but this is not what is seen on screen.
• In his argument with Rose, the Doctor says, "My entire planet died. My whole family..." The Doctor's granddaughter, Susan Foreman, was one of the first companions in the original series. The Doctor later mentioned having a family in The Tomb of the Cybermen, when the Second Doctor told Victoria that he was able to keep them in his mind and remember them. In The Curse of Fenric, when the Seventh Doctor was asked if he had a family, he replied, "I don't know." Other brief mentions of relatives occurred in Kinda (where he confirmed he had "just the one" father), Time and the Rani (an uncle) and The Time Monster (a house on a mountain). The Doctor's family — and the House — was central to the story in the Virgin New Adventures novel Lungbarrow, by Marc Platt. It is unclear, when the Doctor says that his "whole family" died, if that includes Susan, who was last seen in The Five Doctors but presumably was returned to Earth in the 22nd century (The Dalek Invasion of Earth) — although in the Eighth Doctor Adventures novel Legacy of the Daleks by John Peel, Susan did eventually resume travelling in time and space. In the 1996 Doctor Who television movie, the Eighth Doctor mentions both his father and his mother, and says that his mother was human. (This revelation was controversial among Doctor Who fans.)
• When time is damaged, one of the effects is that mobile telephones all start to receive the message, "Watson, come here, I need you," the first words ever spoken over a telephone by Alexander Graham Bell, calling his assistant Thomas A. Watson. However, according to a recording by Watson reminiscing about the event, the words were "Watson, come here, I want you."^[1] The error was not present in Paul Cornell's original script, but crept in at some point during production.
• Although never named in the programme, the creatures were called the Reapers in publicity material. They bear a strong resemblance to the Chronovores (first featured in The Time Monster) as portrayed in Paul Cornell's Doctor Who New Adventures novel No Future, the Vortisaurs in the Eighth Doctor's first series of audio adventures for Big Finish Productions, and the Hunters in the New Adventures novel The Pit by Neil Penswick.
• The young Mickey runs to Rose and hugs her around her waist, in the same way that the adult Mickey hugged her legs in Rose when he did not want her to leave.
• The Doctor mentions to Rose that all of his people are dead and that now he is going to go "the same way", perhaps implying that the Time Lords suffered a similar fate at the hands of the Reapers. However, in Dalek, he said that the Time Lords "burned" along with the Daleks.
• The Doctor makes an oblique reference to the Blinovitch Limitation Effect (and the events of Mawdryn Undead) when he tells Rose not to touch her younger self, and when he tells the congregation that to touch the TARDIS while it is trying to materialise will produce a "Zap!" However, while the two Brigadiers produced a violent energy discharge when they touched, Rose does not suffer any effects from touching her infant self, although it is unclear if, as compared to the two Brigadiers, any skin to skin contact was made.
• A possible continuity error is that the baby Rose has blue eyes, the younger Rose has green eyes, but the adult Rose has brown eyes. However, it is not uncommon for a baby's eyes to change colour from blue (to green) to brown as the eyes develop melanin over time.^[2]
• Considering that time is repaired and reformed in the end by Pete's sacrifice, it is possible that neither the Doctor nor Rose remember any of the events of the episode, or that none of it ever happened (whether they do or not is not confirmed in the episode). However, Mickey's website this week features photographs from "1987" which clearly show the presence of the Reapers, although nobody seems to actually remember them being there.^[3] This argues for the proposition that the websites produced for the series are non-canon.
• This is also the first time that Doctor Who has explicitly used the reset button technique. In Pyramids of Mars and Day of the Daleks possible futures were erased, but unlike this episode, the actual events of the serials were left intact. However, in this story, despite the reset, history still changed in some small ways. Pete now died in front of the church (a few hours later than previously); an unidentified woman (Rose) was with Pete when he died; Pete stepped in front of the car instead of it accidentally running him down; and the driver stayed behind rather than it being a hit-and-run. In Carnival of Monsters the S.S. Bernice had originally vanished in 1926 and at the end of the story was seemingly restored to its proper place, but there was no acknowledgement of any alteration of history.
• Rose references the ending of this episode in The Parting of the Ways, telling Jackie that she "met Dad" and was the girl who held Pete's hand as he died, but it is unclear as to whether Rose remembers the Reaper attack.
• On the DVD commentary for this episode, writer Paul Cornell and producer Phil Collinson mention that in the original script, in the scene where the Doctor opens the TARDIS doors and discovers only a police box interior, the police box fell apart. This was changed for reasons of cost, and Cornell said on the commentary that he thinks the change is an improvement.
• Cornell also states on the DVD commentary that the character of Pete Tyler is based on his own father, who attempted many different jobs and schemes (including, like Pete, selling health drinks) before eventually finding success running a betting shop. Pete's line, "I'm your dad, it's my job for it to be my fault" is taken from something Cornell's father once said to him.
• Also on the DVD commentary, Billie Piper says that this was her favourite episode of the first season, and the most emotionally taxing for her to perform.
• The episode was nominated for the 2006 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form; the episodes The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances won. Father's Day topped the third place category in terms of votes.^[4]

[edit] References

1. ^ http://www.npr.org/programs/lnfsound/stories/990319.stories.html
2. ^ http://vision.about.com/od/childrenvision/f/eyecolorchange.htm
3. ^ http://www.whoisdoctorwho.co.uk
4. ^ Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form. 2006 Hugo Award & Campbell Award Winners (2006-08-26). Retrieved on 2006-08-28.

[edit] External links

• Father's Day episode guide on the BBC website
• Father's Day at Doctor Who: A Brief History Of Time (Travel)
• Father's Day at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
• Father's Day at Outpost Gallifrey
• "Father's Day" at TV.com
• Doctor Who Confidential — Episode 8: Time Trouble
• "Be careful what you wish for." — Episode trailer for Father's Day
• Five-Minute Father's Day — Parody version

[edit] Reviews

• Father's Day reviews at Outpost Gallifrey
• Father's Day reviews at The Doctor Who Ratings Guide