The Stolen Earth: Difference between revisions

| companions =

| guests =

* [[Penelope Wilton]] – [[Harriet Jones]]

* [[Gareth David-Lloyd]] – [[Ianto Jones]]

* [[Eve Myles]] – [[Gwen Cooper]]

* [[Tommy Knight|Thomas Knight]] – [[Luke Smith (The Sarah Jane Adventures)|Luke Smith]]

* [[Bernard Cribbins]] – [[Wilfred Mott]]

* [[Jacqueline King]] – [[Sylvia Noble]]

* [[Adjoa Andoh]] – [[Francine Jones]]

* [[Julian Bleach]] – [[Davros]]

* [[Michael Brandon]] – General Sanchez

* Andrea Harris – Suzanne

* [[Lachele Carl]] – Trinity Wells

* [[Richard Dawkins]] – Himself

* [[Paul O'Grady]] – Himself

* Marcus Cunningham – Drunk Man

* [[Jason Mohammad]] – BBC newsreaderNewsreader

* [[Paul Kasey]] – [[Judoon]]

* [[Kelly Hunter]] – Shadow Architect

* [[Amy Beth Hayes]] – Albino Servant

* Gary Milner – Scared Man

* [[Nicholas Briggs]] – Dalek Voice
* [[Alexander Armstrong]] – Voice of [[Mr Smith (The Sarah Jane Adventures)|Mr Smith]]

The finale's narrative brings closure to several prominent story arcs created during Davies' tenure as show runner. In the episode, contemporary Earth and 26 other planets are stolen by the [[Dalek]]s, aided by their megalomaniacal creator [[Davros]] and a shattered but precognitive [[Cult of Skaro|Dalek Caan]]. As the [[The Doctor (Doctor Who)|Doctor]] ([[David Tennant]]) and his [[Companion (Doctor Who)|companion]] [[Donna Noble]] ([[Catherine Tate]]) try to find Earth, his previous companions [[Jack Harkness]] ([[John Barrowman]]), [[Martha Jones]] ([[Freema Agyeman]]), [[Sarah Jane Smith]] ([[Elisabeth Sladen]]), and [[Rose Tyler]] ([[Billie Piper]]) convene to contact him and mount a defence against the Daleks. In the episode's [[Climax (narrative)|climax]], the Doctor is shotgunned down by a Dalek and begins to [[Regeneration (Doctor Who)|regenerate]].

The episode marks the first appearance of Davros in 19 years since the 1988 serial ''[[Remembrance of the Daleks]]''; he is portrayed by [[Julian Bleach]]. It is also the first ''Doctor Who'' appearance of [[Gwen Cooper]] ([[Eve Myles]]); [[Ianto Jones]] ([[Gareth David-Lloyd]]); [[Luke Smith (The Sarah Jane Adventures)|Luke Smith]] ([[Tommy Knight|Thomas Knight]]); and [[Mr Smith (The Sarah Jane Adventures)|Mr Smith]] (voiced by [[Alexander Armstrong (comedian)|Alexander Armstrong]]), though Myles and Armstrongpreviously appeared in other[[The episodesUnquiet playingDead]] differentas rolesGwyneth. [[Adjoa Andoh]] and [[Penelope Wilton]] reprise supporting roles as Martha's mother [[Francine Jones]] and former [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] [[Harriet Jones]] respectively. [[Paul O'Grady]] and [[Richard Dawkins]] make [[cameo appearance]]s as themselves as television personalities who attempt to assuage public fear.

A [[Dalek]] force, led by their creator [[Davros]] and the Supreme Dalek, quickly subjugates Earth. Davros, who was thought to have been killed in the [[Time War (Doctor Who)|Time War]], was saved by [[Dalek Caan]], who entered the conflict after performing an emergency temporal shift.{{refn|group=note|As depicted in the 2007 episode "[[Evolution of the Daleks]]".}} The power needed to enter the Time War caused Caan to become precognitive at the cost of his sanity.

Donna andwas also planned to make a cameo appearance before Tate agreed to reprise the role for the entire fourth series.<ref>{{harvnb|Davies|Cook|2008|loc=p 22, chapter 1: "Definitely Maybe"}}</ref> Midshipman AlonzoAlonso Frame ([[Russell Tovey]])—from, "[[Thewho Runawayappeared Bride (Doctor Who)|The Runaway Bride]]" andin "[[Voyage of the Damned (Doctor Who)|Voyage of the Damned]]" respectively—were also planned to make cameos in "The Stolen Earth": Donna was planned to appear before Catherine Tate agreed to reprise the lead role for the entire fourth series; and Frame, was present as part of the Shadow Proclamation in several drafts of the episode.<ref>{{harvnb|Davies|Cook|2008|loc=p 350, chapter 12: "Holding the Line"}}</ref> Piper's appearance was almost cancelled when filming was originally scheduled during her honeymoon in January 2008.<ref>{{harvnb|Davies|Cook|2008|loc=p 209, chapter 9: "Structure and Cosmetics"}}</ref> [[Freema Agyeman]] was similarly contracted to appear in the finale when she accepted the role of Martha Jones in 2006.<ref name="DVDcomm" />

The number of monsters and the Proclamation's bureaucratic nature would anger the Doctor and cause AlonzoAlonso Frame—now employed as a "Shadow Soldier"—to aid him in filling out paperwork.<ref name="wtp344">{{harvnb|Davies|Cook|2008|loc=p 344, chapter 12: "Holding the Line"}}</ref> Frame would be killed by the Daleks later in the story.<ref name="woeirt">{{cite magazine|last=Cook|first=Benjamin|author2=Tovey, Russell |author-link2=Russell Tovey |date=11 December 2008|title=Who on Earth is... Russell Tovey|magazine=Doctor Who Magazine|publisher=Panini Comics|location=Royal Tunbridge Wells|issue=403|page=66}}</ref>

Davies discussed the episode's climax in detail in the show's companion series ''[[Doctor Who Confidential]]''. The climax—a Dalek ray shooting the Doctor and his consequent regeneration—was written by Davies as a pastiche of romance fiction. He compared the reunion between Rose and the Doctor to "the biggest romance [the viewer] has ever seen" and joked that seminal films such as ''[[Gone with the Wind (film)|Gone with the Wind]]'' should have ended with a Dalek shooting the male lead,<ref name="DWC" /> and intensified the scene's emotional impact through Piper's cameos throughout the fourth series.<ref name="DWC" /> Tennant described the Doctor's wounding as a "moment of high emotion" and lamented that "[the Doctor] can't have a happy moment, especially with a cliffhanger needing to be written".<ref name="DWC" /> The episode ended during the regeneration because Davies wanted to create the "biggest, most exciting cliffhanger in ''Doctor Who''", and to differentiate the scene from previous regenerations, which were always completed at the end of serials.<ref name="DWC" /> He considered its resolution—the regeneration process being halted by the Doctor, who siphoned the excess energy into his [[List of Doctor Who items#Severed hand|severed hand]] after his injuries were healed—legitimate because the hand was an important plot device in "Journey's End"'s climax.<ref name="JEDWC">{{cite episode |title=End of an Era |series= [[Doctor Who Confidential]] |network=BBC |station=[[BBC Three]] |airdate=5 July 2008 |series-no=4 |number=13}}</ref> The production team realised the halted regeneration and creation of a new Doctor would create a debate amongst fans about whether one of the Doctor's twelve regenerations were used up. The production team originally declined to comment to avoid the debate;<ref name="JEDWC" /> Davies later said that he believed that because the process wasn't completed, the Doctor did not use one of his regenerations.<ref name="DVDcomm">{{cite episode | credits = Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner, [[David Tennant]] | airdate = 17 November 2008 | title = The Stolen Earth | medium = DVD commentary |series = Doctor Who: The Complete Fourth Series: Disc Five |publisher = BBC Video | series-no = 4 | number = 12}}</ref> However, the 2013 Christmas special "[[The Time of the Doctor]]", whichwritten wasby theDavies' last regular story for thesuccessor [[EleventhSteven DoctorMoffat]], confirmed that this regeneration did indeed count, as the Tenth Doctor was described as having "vanity issues at the time".

The finale containsexpands nineteenthe usual principal cast members, sixteensize of whom appear in "The Stolen Earth".<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Tom|last=Spilsbury|title=Pull to Open: Contents|magazine=''Doctor Who'' Magazine|date=25significantly Julythrough 2008|publisher=Paniniits Comics|location=Royalnumerous Tunbridgereturning Wells|issue=398|page=3}}</ref>characters. As a consequence of the episode's crossover nature, the episode ismarks the first appearanceappearances of [[Gareth David-Lloyd]] as [[Ianto Jones]] and [[Tommy Knight]] as [[Luke Smith (The Sarah Jane Adventures)|Luke Smith]] in ''Doctor Who''. [[Eve Myles]], who previously played Gwyneth in "[[The Unquiet Dead]]",<ref>{{cite episode | title = [[The Unquiet Dead]] | series = Doctor Who | credits = Mark Gatiss (writer), Euros Lyn, (director), Phil Collinson (producer) | network = BBC | station = BBC One | airdate = 9 April 2005}}</ref> makes her first appearance as the ''Torchwood'' female lead [[Gwen Cooper]].<ref name="factfile" /> The episode features many returning characters: [[Billie Piper]], [[Freema Agyeman]], [[Adjoa Andoh]], [[John Barrowman]], [[Nicholas Briggs]], [[Elisabeth Sladen]], and [[Penelope Wilton]] reprise roles for "The Stolen Earth".<ref name="endgame" /> In addition to Tennant and Tate, Agyeman, Barrowman, Sladen and Piper are credited in the episode's opening titles, while Wilton, Andoh, Myles and David-Lloyd receive in-episode starring credits.

Evolutionary biologist [[Richard Dawkins]] and comedian [[Paul O'Grady]] make cameo appearances on Torchwood's television screen;<ref name="factfile">{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/s4/episodes/?episode=s4_12&action=factfile|title=The Stolen Earth: Fact File|date=28 June 2008|work=Doctor Who microsite|publisher=BBC|access-date=16 April 2009}}</ref> cameos by celebrities such as [[Davina McCall]], [[Derek Acorah]], and [[Ann Widdecombe]] had been a part of each penultimate episode since the show's revival.<ref name="companion"/> O'Grady was given a cameo after Davies heard that he was a fan of the show;<ref name="factfile" /> and Dawkins was added to the script by Davies when Cook suggested him to portray the "elderly professor" on a ''[[Newsnight]]''-style television programme discussing the new planets in the sky.<ref>{{harvnb|Davies|Cook|2008|loc=p 335, chapter 12: "Holding the Line"}}</ref> Dawkins accepted because of his pre-existing association with ''[[Doctor Who]]''; his then wife [[Lalla Ward]] portrayed the second incarnation of the Time Lady [[Romana (Doctor Who)|Romana]] between 1979 and 1981.<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Cook|last=Benjamin|author2=Dawkins, Richard |author-link2=Richard Dawkins |title=Who on Earth is... Richard Dawkins|magazine=Doctor Who Magazine|date=25 July 2008|publisher=Panini Comics|location=Royal Tunbridge Wells|issue=398|page=66}}</ref> Gary Milner was cast as the [[extra (actor)|extra]] "Scared Man" after misreading the callsheet as "Sacred Man" and creating a "priest-like" portrayal of the character.<ref name="pod" /> Andrew Bullivant—who portrayed the Milkman in the episode's [[cold open]]—was given a role in ''[[The Sarah Jane Adventures]]'' serial ''[[The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith]]'' as a policeman because of his performance in "The Stolen Earth".<ref name="DVDcomm" /> [[Michael Brandon]] later appeared in the audio play ''[[Lurkers at Sunlight's Edge]]''. [[Kelly Hunter]] made a further appearance as the Shadow Architect in the opening episode of [[Doctor Who (series 9)|Series 9]], "[[The Magician's Apprentice (Doctor Who)|The Magician's Apprentice]]".<ref name="radiotimes">{{cite web|url=http://www.radiotimes.com/episode/dr86vx/doctor-who--series-9---1-the-magicians-apprentice|title=Doctor Who: The Magician's Apprentice|work=Radio Times|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306223558/http://www.radiotimes.com/episode/dr86vx/doctor-who--series-9---1-the-magicians-apprentice|archive-date=6 March 2016}}</ref>

:*"'''The Doctor's Theme Season {{sic}} Four'''" is an orchestral and choral arrangement of the Doctor's leitmotif from the first series performed by the [[BBC National Orchestra of Wales|BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales]]. The original theme was a minimalist solo performed by [[Melanie Pappenheim]]. Davies and Collinson described the music as "President Flavia [from ''"[[The Five Doctors]]''"] singing out of the Time Vortex" and was intended to be used when "things get too Time Lord-y".<ref>{{cite episode |credits = Phil Collinson, Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner |airdate = 21 November 2005 |title = Rose |medium = DVD commentary |series = Doctor Who: The Complete First Series: Disc One |publisher = BBC Video |series-no = 1 |number = 1 |time = ''c'' 16:30 (DVD scene 5: "Who are You?")}}</ref> An instrumental of the new arrangement was used at the end of "[[Forest of the Dead]]", when the Doctor tries to save [[River Song (Doctor Who)|River Song]] ([[Alex Kingston]]) from death. The rearrangement—and first full prolific use of the cue since "[[The Parting of the Ways]]"—specifically represents Rose's return and the four-series story arc's cyclic nature.<ref name="booklet">{{cite book|title=Doctor Who Original Television Soundtrack Series 4 CD booklet|last=Gold|first=Murray|author-link=Murray Gold|date=17 November 2008|publisher=Silva Screen Music}}</ref>

{{Torchwood|selected=Programme}}

[[Category:Television showsepisodes written by Russell T Davies]]