Utopia (Doctor Who)

191a - Utopia
Cast
Doctor David Tennant (Tenth Doctor)
Companion Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones)
Production
Directed by	Graeme Harper
Written by	Russell T. Davies
Executive producer(s)	Russell T. Davies Julie Gardner
Production code	3.11
Series	Series 3
First broadcast	16 June 2007
Chronology
← Preceded by "Blink" Followed by → "The Sound of Drums"

"Utopia" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 16 June 2007 and is the eleventh episode of series three of the revived Doctor Who series. This episode, the first of a three-part story, sees the return of Jack Harkness and the Master, the latter portrayed by both Derek Jacobi and John Simm.

Synopsis

Captain Jack Harkness reunites with the Doctor and the TARDIS is thrown out of control to the end of the universe. They meet Professor Yana, who is working on a means to save the remnants of humanity while a race known as the "Futurekind" attempt to thwart his plans.

Plot

File:Master Regenerates.jpg

The Doctor's greatest enemy regenerates.

The TARDIS lands in Cardiff to refuel from the Rift. The Doctor states that this will only take twenty seconds (in contrast to his previous visit), and notices that the the Rift has been active recently. Captain Jack Harkness races towards the TARDIS, grabbing onto it during dematerialisation and causing the TARDIS to hurtle out of control to the end of the Universe.

After landing in the year 100 trillion, on the planet Malcassairo, the Doctor and Martha find Jack, apparently dead from travelling through the vortex — he quickly revives. They are also surprised to find other life: the Futurekind, mutated cannibalistic humanoids, who are hunting a human attempting to reach a transport to "Utopia" — the last home of the human race.

At the transport site the TARDIS crew meet the elderly Professor Yana and his insectoid assistant Chantho, who are desperate for help. The spacecraft to Utopia is unable to take off due to problems with its experimental drive system, and Yana's research has been stalled for some time. These problems are worsened by a Futurekind infiltrator who vandalises the power systems. Despite the unfamiliar technology, the Doctor solves the scientific problems, and Jack makes final preparations in a heavily irradiated room. As Jack does this, he and the Doctor discuss Jack's immortality, and why the Doctor abandoned him on Satellite Five. The rocket finally takes off for Utopia, leaving the Doctor, Yana, Chantho, Martha, and Jack on the planet's surface.

A subplot includes Yana has been hearing a constant drumbeat inside his head — a condition he reports having had all his life, with the drums getting louder recently. Words such as "regeneration" and "TARDIS" — elements of Time Lord lore — exacerbate the problem, confusing and distracting him. When Martha expresses concern over the Professor's uneasiness, he reveals a long-standing problem with time, and shows Martha what appears to be a broken fob watch he has had ever since he was found as an orphaned child. Martha recognizes that this watch is identical in design to John Smith's watch in "Human Nature" and "The Family of Blood". Concerned about the implications, Martha rushes to inform the Doctor, leaving Yana alone and now aware of the watch.

When the Doctor hears about this, a flashback sequence intercut with the letters of the Professor's name make clear that "Yana" is an acronym of "You are not alone", the Face of Boe's final words, illustrating the Doctor's realisation of what that means. At the same time, Yana opens the watch, releasing his Time Lord configuration. Frantic and horrified, the Doctor races towards Yana's office but is hindered as the Professor closes the doors and allows the Futurekind into the base. Yana reveals his true identity to Chantho: he is the Master. He fatally wounds her, but Chantho manages to shoot him before dying.

The Doctor arrives in Yana's office just as the Master enters the Doctor's TARDIS, taking the Doctor's severed hand (which Jack recovered after the events of "The Christmas Invasion") with him. He then deadlock seals the TARDIS, preventing the Doctor from opening it. Dying from Chantho's shot, the Master regenerates into a younger body — whose voice Martha recognises. After taunting the Doctor, he leaves in the TARDIS (despite the Doctor's attempts to prevent him doing so), stranding the Doctor, Martha and Jack in the distant future, under attack by the Futurekind.

Cast

• The Doctor — David Tennant
• Martha Jones — Freema Agyeman
• Captain Jack Harkness — John Barrowman
• Professor Yana — Derek Jacobi
• Chantho — Chipo Chung
• Padra — René Zagger
• Lieutenant Atillo — Neil Reidman
• Chieftain — Paul Marc Davies
• Guard — Robert Forknall
• Creet — John Bell
• Kistane — Deborah Maclaren
• Wiry Woman — Abigail Canton
• The Master — John Simm

Cast notes

• This is Derek Jacobi's third involvement in Doctor Who and second time playing the Doctor's nemesis. The first was in the September 2003 audio drama Deadline, where he played a screenwriter who believes himself to be the Doctor. The second was several months later, in the webcast Scream of the Shalka, where he played an android version of the Master. David Tennant also had a minor, uncredited role in Scream of the Shalka.
• John Bell is a nine-year-old who won a Blue Peter competition to appear in this episode.

Continuity

Jack Harkness and Torchwood

• Captain Jack was last seen at the end of the Torchwood episode "End of Days" looking off-screen while the familiar sound of the TARDIS is heard in the background. The Torchwood team find Jack gone, and the place in a mess. The Doctor notes that the Rift has been active recently; this was due to Abaddon escaping through the Rift in the same episode.
• Jack says that he used a Vortex Manipulator to travel back from the year 200,100. Vortex Manipulator technology was also used by the Family of Blood in "Human Nature" to track the Doctor through time.
• One of the items in Jack's backpack is the severed hand of the Doctor. This was first seen in "The Christmas Invasion", when the hand was cut off by the Sycorax leader, and was a recurring background item on the Torchwood Three Hub set. This episode confirms that the hand is indeed the Doctor's.

The Master

• The last time that the Master appeared on screen he had possessed a human body. How he survived being sucked into the TARDIS's Eye of Harmony at the end of the 1996 Doctor Who television movie or how he reacquired Time Lord physiology is not explained in this episode.
• Derek Jacobi plays the fifth incarnation of the Master whom the Doctor has come across on screen, and John Simm is the sixth. At least one television pundit has speculated whether "Mister Saxon" is an intentional anagram of "Master No. Six" or is perhaps "a big red herring". The Master often showed a penchant for synonymous and anagrammical pseudonyms in the classic series, such as the name "Mr Magister" in The Dæmons.
• Immediately after regenerating, the Master notes his voice has changed significantly from his previous incarnation. At the end of "The Parting of the Ways", the newly regenerated Tenth Doctor begins talking to Rose Tyler before noting "New teeth. That's weird."

References to other stories

• Martha inquires about the earthquake in Cardiff "a couple of years ago", and the Doctor claims "a bit of trouble with the Slitheen". This refers to the events of the 2005 episode "Boom Town". He also states that he was "a different man back then"; the episode took place during the Ninth Doctor's tenure.
• This episode contains clips from "The Parting of the Ways", "The Christmas Invasion", "Human Nature" and "Gridlock". It also features dialogue from The Daemons spoken by Roger Delgado, the first actor to play the Master, and the trademark chuckle of Anthony Ainley, who portrayed the character during the 1980s.
• The Doctor previously claimed to be a "Doctor of Everything" in Spearhead from Space and described the human race as "indomitable" in The Ark in Space.
• Yana recalls that he was found as a child "on the coast of the Silver Devastation." The Silver Devastation was previously mentioned in the 2005 episode "The End of the World", in which the steward of Platform One introduces the Face of Boe as "our friend from the Silver Devastation."

Production and pre-broadcast publicity

• This is the first episode in the revived series to credit a third name within the title sequence: that of John Barrowman.
• Music cues originally composed for Torchwood are heard in the background of this episode: a variation of the Torchwood theme played when Jack runs towards the TARDIS, and a motif played when Jack lies dead, having ridden on the TARDIS through the Vortex.
• This episode was announced to be the first of a three-part story in Totally Doctor Who, broadcast the day before.