The Ghost Monument

278 – "The Ghost Monument"
Doctor Who episode
Promotional image for the episode, showing Ryan, Yasmin, Graham and the Doctor approaching the TARDIS
Cast
Companions
Others
Production
Directed by Mark Tonderai
Written by Chris Chibnall
Script editor Fiona McAllister
Produced by Nikki Wilson
Executive producer(s)
  • Chris Chibnall
  • Matt Strevens
  • Sam Hoyle
Incidental music composer Segun Akinola
Series Series 11
Length 50 minutes
Originally broadcast 14 October 2018 (2018-10-14)
Chronology
← Preceded by Followed by →
"The Woman Who Fell to Earth" —

"The Ghost Monument" is the second episode of the eleventh series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who. It is written by showrunner and executive producer Chris Chibnall, directed by Mark Tonderai, and was first broadcast on BBC One on 14 October 2018.

Following on from "The Woman Who Fell to Earth", the new Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) and her unwitting new companions - Graham O'Brien (Bradley Walsh), Ryan Sinclair (Tosin Cole), and Yasmin Khan (Mandip Gill) - find themselves rescued by two pilots competing in a large-scale race that has culminated with one final event on a planet that is dangerously hazardous to the group, with the finishing line found to be the Doctor's missing TARDIS. It is the first to air the programme's title sequence for Whittaker's tenure, omitted from the season's premiere, and introduces the Thirteenth Doctor's TARDIS.

Plot

Ending up bringing Ryan, Yaz, and Graham with her my accident with a miscalculation teleporting them into deep space, the Doctor and her friends are rescued by Angstrom and Epzo, two humanoids who are last participants in a large intergalactic race with a massive cash prize for the winner. The group reunites after the racers reached the planet the Doctor's TARDIS is located, the world slightly removed from its gravity field while rendered a mostly dead yet hostile world. The Doctor and her companions join the pilots in meeting with the race's organizer, Ilin - a former winner of the race, now in charge of running it via a hologramatic computer system. Both pilots learn that they have one more event in the race to complete, requiring them to reach an object referred to as the Ghost Monument, while adhering to rules that prevent them killing each other, not traveling at night or drinking the planet's water which contain flesh-eating microbes, and reaching the finish line before a planet completes its rotation.

Seeking answers about the race, the Doctor asks Ilin to tell her about the monument, and learns from his databanks that it is in reality the TARDIS, which has been in mid-phasing due to damage it suffered. Joining the pilots in their race, the Doctor promises to get her new friends home if they help her reach the finish line. With their help, the group locate a solar-powered boat, repair it, and use it to reach the ruins of a former civilisation, now inhabited by robot snipers. Forced to lose them, the Doctor uses the remains of one to trigger an EMP to temporarily disable them, while locating a series of tunnels that can cut down their travel time. During this time, the Doctor learns that Angstrom seeks victory to save her family from ethnic cleansing by the Stenza while Epzo seeks the prize to prove himself, having a lack of trust instilled into him by his mother.

Uncovering the planet's history, the group learn that Stenza forced the residents into turning the world into a testing site for numerous weapons of mass destruction before they were all killed off by the cloth-based creations known as Remnants which cleared up the wounded and kill targets with fear. Overcoming them, the group proceed towards the finish line, whereupon the Doctor convinces Angstrom and Epzo to venture into Ilen's tent together and claim joint victory. Although Ilen is reluctant to agree to this, he relents after Epzo threatens to hunt him down and takes only the pilots off the planet. Shocked they were left behind, the Doctor apologizes for failing to uphold her promise, but is suddenly surprised to hear the TARDIS emerging, and uses her sonic screwdriver to fully materialize it. With her ship returned, the Doctor finds it changed, both externally and internally, and offers her new friends a trip home as she promised.


Production

Development


Casting

Shaun Dooley was announced to be appearing in the series in July 2018,[1] while after the premiere episode, "The Woman Who Fell to Earth", was broadcast, it was confirmed that Susan Lynch and Art Malik would be among a number of guest actors that would appear in the series.[2][3]

Filming


Broadcast and reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating

Television

The new opening title sequence was not included in the premiere episode, "The Woman Who Fell to Earth", but instead appeared in the second episode.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Fullerton, Huw (19 July 2018). "Has Doctor Who just revealed a surprise new guest star?". Retrieved 20 July 2018.
  2. ↑ Fullerton, Huw (7 October 2018). "Doctor Who casts Mark Addy, Chris Noth and Julie Hesmondhalgh in mysterious new roles". Retrieved 7 October 2018.
  3. ↑ Graham, Alison. "Doctor Who – Series 11 – Episode 2 The Ghost Monument". Radio Times. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
  4. ↑ Kelly, Stephen (8 October 2018). "13 questions (and some answers) we have about Jodie Whittaker's Doctor Who debut". Radio Times. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.