Doctor Who (2005): The Doctor's Daughter

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Location: Messaline
Date: 60120724 (New Byzantine Calendar)
Enemies: The Hath

The Doctor lands on the remote planet Messaline as a generations-old war rages and the threat of genocide looms. When Martha is kidnapped by the Hath, the Doctor, Donna and a new friend must race to save her and stop a bloody conflict. Read full recap »

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Writers:: Stephen Greenhorn

Director:: Alice Troughton

Stars:: Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones); David Tennant (The Tenth Doctor); Catherine Tate (Donna Noble)

Guest Star:: Paul Kasey (Hath Peck); Akin Gazi (Carter); Ruari Mears (Hath Gable); Georgia Moffett (Jenny); Joseph Dempsie (Cline); Nigel Terry (General Cobb); Olalekan Lawal (Soldier)

Jenny's impressive acrobatics in the laser beam corridor was inspired by Britney Spears' Toxic video. edit »
Despite only being heard as bubbles and not translated on-screen, all the Hath dialogue was scripted. edit »
Georgia Moffett who stars as "Jenny" in this episode originally auditioned for the part of the Ninth Doctor's companion, Rose Tyler. edit »
At the end of the episode, when The Doctor is holding Jenny, and stroking her hair, you can see the position of his hand change with the camera angles. edit »
Georgia Moffett who stars as "Jenny" in this episode is the real-life daughter of Peter Davison, the actor that played the fifth Doctor. David Tennant said of this "We get to see the Doctor's daughter, played by the Doctor's daughter." edit »

Overnight UK viewing figures for this episode were 6.6 million, with the final viewing figure at 7.33 million. edit »
International Air Dates:
United States: 6 June 2008
Australia: 10 August 2008 edit »

The Doctor: There could still be something real in that temple, something that's become a myth, a piece of technology, a weapon.
Donna: So the source could be a weapon and we've just given directions to Captain Nut-job! edit »
The Doctor: I'm the Doctor, and I declare this war is over! edit »
(The Doctor and Donna drop Martha back home)
Donna: Are you sure about this?
Martha: Yeah. Positive. I can't do this anymore. You'll be the same one day.
Donna: Not me, never! How could I ever go back to normal life after seeing all this? I'm gonna travel with that man forever.
(Donna and Martha hug)
Martha: Good luck.
Donna: And you.
The Doctor: We're making a habit of this.
Martha: Yeah, and you'd think it'd get easier. All those things you've been ready to die for, I thought for a moment there you'd finally found something worth living for.
The Doctor: Oh, there's always something worth living for, Martha. edit »
The Doctor: (after Jenny has been shot) Two hearts. Two hearts, she's like me. If we wait... if we just wait...
Martha: There's no sign, Doctor. There's no regeneration. She's like you but maybe not enough.
The Doctor: No, too much. That's the truth of it. She was too much like me. edit »
The Doctor: You said you wanted this war over.
General Cobb: I said I wanted this war won!
The Doctor: You can't win, no-one can. You don't even know why you're here. Your whole history, it's just Chinese whispers, getting more distorted the more it's passed on. This is the Source. This is what you're fighting over. A device to rejuvenate a planet's ecosystem. It's nothing mystical; it's from a laboratory, not some creator. It's a bubble of gases, a cocktail of stuff for accelerated evolution. Methane, hydrogen, ammonia, amino acids, proteins, nucleic acids. It's used to make barren planets habitable. Look around you. It's not for killing. It's for bringing life. If you allow it, it can lift you out of these dark tunnels and into the bright, bright sunlight. No more fighting; no more killing. edit »

Donna: So why are we suddenly in Kew Gardens?

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, are extensive gardens and botanical glasshouses between Richmond and Kew in southwest London, England, which are open as a tourist attraction as well as being an internationally important botanical research and education institution. Whilst it originated in the exotic garden at Kew Park formed by Lord Capel of Tewkesbury, the gardens were adopted as a national botanical garden in 1840. edit »
The Doctor: Maybe they're doing Miss Saigon.

Miss Saigon is a musical by Claude-Michel Sch�nberg and Alain Boublil which premiered in the West End of London in 1989. A reimagining of Puccini's Madame Butterfly, the story tells of a doomed love affair between an American GI and a Vietnamese bar girl set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War. edit »
Donna: Cool the beans, Rambo.

Rambo was a series of movies about an elite military commando called John Rambo, played by Sylvester Stallone. edit »
Donna: You got that, G.I. Jane?

This a reference to the 1997 action movie G.I. Jane, which starred Demi Moore. edit »

6.6
02
ben-the-hen
member since: Aug 11, 2008
The Doctor's Daughter
The Bottom Line: "Unoriginal"
Nothing special at all. ...Continue »
This episode is probably the worst of the season apart from Voyage of the Damned. It was pointless and was basically a filler episode.

It didn't contribute to anything in the rest of the season and left a lot of unanswered questions.

The storyline was thin and the acting was bad. The end where Jenny was shot was so predictable and wasn't emotionally moving at all.

The very end was weak with the cheesy lines and the flying off into the distance. It wasn't a realistic episode. It was dark and confined which didn't make it enjoyable viewing.

Not at all good. Very Sorry.
08/12/08 08:37am | report abuse
6.6
02
dalekmonster
member since: Jun 22, 2008
The Doctor's Daughter
The Bottom Line: "Filler episode"
This was just to promote a spin off. ...Continue »
I have never thought about doctor who and spin off shows cause you don't see it coming. Until now. How obvious is it a spin off with the Doctors daughter is going to be aired. Doctor who is getting axed after this season till 2012. Guess whats going to take that space. Torchwood a very good spin off although aethiest coments are made way to much. But honestly if you didn't see the ending coming you had to be dumb. Well thats a little harsh cause it was a complicated ending but we all knew she was going to die. She died came back to life and now is going to have her own show. I can't really think of a bit I enjoyed. Maybe when Donna and the alien were on the surface but not much action here even though its a war episode! I fail to see how this could be a good episode. Oh yes and of course its a little shot at mankind here because of that fool who shot her. If we all didn't see that coming. This is a real low point for the series. It can't get any worse than this.
06/22/08 08:59am | report abuse
2
14
jschufm
member since: Mar 21, 2008
The Doctor's Daughter
The Bottom Line: "Bottom of the barrel"
Spoilers! Instant clones, endless chase scenes, time paradoxes, and inconsistent regenerations! ...Continue »
"The Doctor's Daughter" is the worst Doctor Who episode to date! As a series, Doctor Who has never relied on any time paradox phenomena. To be sure, The Master recently built a paradox machine using a TARDIS and a million spare parts, but it is a "cope out" to use a paradox! "Oh, it's just a paradox", chirps The Doctor! This is some of the poorest writing to date! And, what's with the regeneration without changing the actress? I guess Ms. Davison-Moffett gets a sequel with her original face! This episode is a dog! Maybe Steven Moffat will pick better writers next season!
06/07/08 03:27pm | report abuse
7.7
11
AvatarBlue
member since: Jun 21, 2007
The Doctor's Daughter
The Bottom Line: "Exciting"
Filler except for the Dr's tasty daughter... ;) ...Continue »
***Spoilers***

Firstly Tennant is going out with his on-screen daughter! Did see that coming! Doh!!

As for this episode. Its more or less a filler episode to flush out more of the Dr. character and allow Martha to leave after her golden handshake tour! Will she be back? Hope so.

Just like the previous 2parter, this episode uses a stable plot arc/device - the trapped on a ship. This time with two warring factions. Again the Dr. goes through the motions to sort out a war of misunderstanding. The locations are based around a crashlanded colony ship and do the job of providing a claustrophobic atmosphere to the conflict, a conflict that is not all that it seems. This provides a good little twist to the ending which was unforseen, but pointed to by Tates endless preoccupation with the numbered rooms!

The fish aliens (Hath) are different if wierd!

Overall however, its just doesnt offer anything new except introduces us to the Dr.s genetically cloned daughter who is the only bright spark of the whole 45 mins. Thankfully, just like Arnie - she'll be back!
06/05/08 11:47am | report abuse
8.6
11
exterminator25
member since: Aug 8, 2007
The Doctor's Daughter
The Bottom Line: "Well written"
The doctor meets his daughter ...Continue »
The doctor, Martha and donna are trapped in the tardis that is going somewhere random. The doctor is taken to a cloning machine and from him, comes his daughter, Jenny. The nteam that cloned Jenny are at war with the hath, a fish like race that bubble. The hath capture martha and martha helps the hath (they're really the good guys) and they keep coming across numbers to realise that the war has been going on for only a week. OMG! The two tribes are brought together and stop the war, but one guy shoots Jenny, killing her. Jenny revives later when the doctor leaves and leaves herself.
05/21/08 10:17am | report abuse