World Enough and Time (Doctor Who)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Brian Minchin
| 275a – "World Enough and Time" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Doctor Who episode | |||
| Cast | |||
Others
| |||
| Production | |||
| Directed by | Rachel Talalay | ||
| Written by | Steven Moffat | ||
| Produced by | Peter Bennett | ||
| Executive producers | Steven Moffat Brian Minchin | ||
| Music by | Murray Gold | ||
| Series | Series 10 | ||
| Running time | 1st of 2-part story, 46 minutes | ||
| First broadcast | 24 June 2017 | ||
| Chronology | |||
| |||
"World Enough and Time" is the eleventh and penultimate episode of the tenth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was written by Steven Moffat, directed by Rachel Talalay, and was broadcast on 24 June 2017 on BBC One. The episode was the first part of a two-part story, concluding with "The Doctor Falls".
In the episode, the Doctor, Bill, Nardole, and Missy answer a distress call from a gigantic ship trying to escape a black hole. "World Enough and Time" is the first multi-Master episode in the show's televised history, as it features both Missy and an earlier incarnation last seen in the 2009–2010 serial "The End of Time". It also features the return of the original Mondasian Cybermen, first seen on-screen in the 1966 serial The Tenth Planet, which was the Cybermen's debut.
The episode was watched by 5.00 million viewers and received much critical praise, with many claiming it as the best of the tenth series. Aspects that were met with praise were the performances and the characterisation of Missy. However, many criticised the BBC for revealing the cliffhanger early on.
Continuity
The Doctor proposed to test Missy's atonement by having her, alongside Bill and Nardole, answer a distress call. They arrive via the TARDIS on a giant colony ship reversing away from a black hole. They are held at gunpoint by the solitary crew member, Jorj, who demands to know which of them is human, fearing creatures that are arriving by the lift. Bill admits to being human and Jorj shoots her out of fear. Humanoid figures, wearing cloth masks and hospital gowns, take Bill's body away claiming they can restore her.
The Doctor, Missy, and Nardole learn from Jorj that, two days previously, some of the human bridge crew had gone down to the lower level of the ship to start the engine reversal, but they never returned. Jorj claims the ship only had 50 people two days ago, but Nardole shows there are actually thousands of life forms below. They are the descendants of the crew: due to time dilation from the black hole, time moves faster at the ship's lower levels than the bridge 400 miles away, and years have already passed for Bill. The Doctor incapacitates Jorj and, along with Missy and Nardole, departs below in a lift.
.jpg)
Bill awakens in a hospital, where she finds that she has been fitted with a mechanical device that serves as her replacement heart. Razor, one of the hospital's employees, shows her around and explains that some of the patients are waiting to be "upgraded" for "Operation Exodus", to escape the polluted air of the ship's lower levels due to contamination from the fuel. Years later, they see footage from the bridge of the Doctor coming down the lift. However, Razor then tricks Bill into becoming the next "upgrade" subject.
Upon arriving, the Doctor and Nardole explore the hospital while Missy tries to determine the origin of the colony ship. She finds the vessel is from a "twin" of Earth, Mondas. Razor approaches her and insists she has been here before, and that the Doctor will never forgive her for what has happened to Bill. When she denies it, Razor removes his disguise revealing himself to be the Saxon Master, Missy's earlier incarnation. The Doctor and Nardole find an operating theatre where a "Mondasian" Cyberman, from when the Doctor first encountered them, emerges from a closet. The Cyberman identifies itself as formerly being Bill Potts.
.jpg)
The Master says that he loves disguises, a fondness which dates back to his debut appearance in Terror of the Autons when he posed as a telephone engineer.[1][2] He also mentions being "someone's former Prime Minister"; the Master was elected Prime Minister during "The Sound of Drums" / "Last of the Time Lords", under the alias Harold Saxon.[1]
Production
The read-through for this episode took place on 21 February 2017, and the main shooting was from 24 February through 28 March.[3]
On 6 March 2017, it was announced the original Mondasian Cybermen from The Tenth Planet would be returning for the finale of the tenth series.[4] Bill is converted into a Cyberman matching the Mondasian design.[5]
The episode's title comes from the Andrew Marvell poem "To His Coy Mistress": "Had we but world enough and time, / This coyness, lady, were no crime."[3]
Casting
On 6 April 2017, the BBC confirmed that John Simm would be returning as the Master in the tenth series, appearing alongside his successor in the role, Michelle Gomez, for the first story in the programme's history with more than one incarnation of the Master at the same time.[6]
