Cold Blood (Doctor Who)

209b – "Cold Blood"
Doctor Who episode
Cast
Doctor Matt Smith (Eleventh Doctor)
Companions Karen Gillan (Amy Pond) Arthur Darvill (Rory Williams)[1][2]
Others Neve McIntosh – Alaya/Restac Meera Syal – Nasreen Chaudhry Robert Pugh – Tony Mack Nia Roberts – Ambrose Richard Hope – Malohkeh Stephen Moore – Eldane Alun Raglan – Mo Samuel Davies – Elliot
Production
Writer	Chris Chibnall
Director	Ashley Way
Script editor	Lindsey Alford
Producer	Peter Bennett
Executive producer(s)	Steven Moffat Piers Wenger Beth Willis
Production code	1.9
Series	Series 5
Length	2nd of 2-part story, 45 minutes
Originally broadcast	29 May 2010 (2010-05-29)[3]
Chronology
← Preceded by Followed by → "The Hungry Earth" "Vincent and the Doctor"

"Cold Blood" is the ninth episode in the fifth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was broadcast on Saturday 29 May 2010. It was written by Chris Chibnall, best known for his work on the Doctor Who spin-off series Torchwood.

It is the second episode of a two-part story, the first episode being "The Hungry Earth", which features the return of the Silurians.

Plot

As the Doctor and Nasreen arrive by TARDIS in the massive Silurian underground civilisation, they are captured and taken to the Silurian doctor, Malohkeh. Meanwhile, Amy and Mo, already strapped to tables, manage to escape; Mo discovers his son, Elliot, sedated in a chamber and under observation. The Doctor is subjected to excruciating pain by Malohkeh until he realizes the Doctor is not human. The leader of the Silurian warrior caste, Restac, arrives and insists the two be destroyed, and escorts them to a Silurian court; though Amy and Mo interrupt the trial with stolen weapons, they too are captured.

Eldane, Restac's superior, is called in by Malohkeh and demands a halt to the hostilities. The Doctor makes contact with Rory, Ambrose (Mo's wife) and Tony (her father), reminding them to keep their captive Silurian, Alaya, alive, unaware that Ambrose has already killed Alaya because she wouldn't help Tony (he was infected with Silurian venom in the previous episode). The Doctor arranges a "conference" between the Silurians (represented by Eldane) and the humans (represented by Amy and Nasreen); the three discuss how both species can co-exist on the surface of the Earth. Ambrose and Tony, worried about the Silurian reaction when they discover Alaya's death, set the drill to burrow further and self-destruct fifteen minutes after they depart, which would destroy the Silurian oxygen supply and kill them all.

Meanwhile, Restac has killed Malohkeh for his betrayal and awakened other members of the warrior caste, intending to stage a coup against Eldane. When Rory and the others arrive with Alaya's corpse, Restac becomes furious and orders the humans' death; the Doctor disables their weapons to give him, Eldane, and the humans time to escape; they bar themselves into Malohkeh's lab. The Doctor and Eldane realize they can use Silurian technology to destroy the drill before it detonates, but it will cause their exit route to collapse if they cannot reach the TARDIS in time. Eldane returns the warriors to hibernation by initiating a "toxic fumigation"; the humans escape, and Eldane hopes that in a thousand years, peace between humans and Silurians can occur. Tony, still affected by Silurian venom, opts to stay behind to be cured, and Nasreen also remains behind to study the earth from below and help improve human-Silurian relations.

The Doctor, Amy, Rory, and Ambrose's family escape to the TARDIS. There, they find a crack in the cavern wall similar to those they have seen before. The Doctor surmises that the crack was caused by an explosion in time, which might have left "shrapnel" behind. He reaches in and pulls out an object which he wraps in a handkerchief. Before he can explain, Restac, dying from the toxic exposure, crawls around the corner. She fires at the Doctor, but Rory pushes him out of the way and takes the shot. Rory dies in Amy's arms, unable to understand how this could happen, because he saw a future version of himself and Amy when they first arrived. As the crack begins to absorb Rory's body, the Doctor realises that Rory will be written out of history. The Doctor forces Amy to board the TARDIS before the drill explodes and tries to help her concentrate on remembering Rory; a jolt from the TARDIS causes her to lose concentration, and her memories of Rory are lost. The Doctor finds Amy's engagement ring, which Rory had stowed before the events, on the floor of the TARDIS.

On the surface, Ambrose thanks the Doctor for not letting the Silurians execute her for killing Alaya; the Doctor asks her to help prepare humanity for their next encounter with the Silurians. The Doctor and Amy return to the TARDIS, this time seeing only a vision of future Amy on the nearby hillside. Before leaving, the Doctor takes out the object he pulled from the crack: a burnt piece of the TARDIS sign. He worriedly compares it to the real thing. Aside from the damage, they appear identical.

Continuity

The events of "Cold Blood" continue the running series arc about the Cracks in Time.

After his "decontamination", the Doctor asks the Silurians whether they have any celery. The Eleventh Doctor expressed similar food cravings early in his regeneration in "The Eleventh Hour", whilst the Fifth Doctor wore celery on his jacket and in The Caves of Androzani claimed it had restorative powers.

Filming location

One of the locations used for the episode was Plantasia botanical garden in Swansea, that was previously used for "The Doctor's Daughter."^[4]

Broadcast

"Cold Blood" earned a final rating of 7.49 million viewers (7.04 million on BBC1 and 0.45 million on BBC HD), ranking the show 4th for the week ending 30 May 2010, on the channel. For the first time since episode 3 of the season, the show outrated an episode of EastEnders. The episode was ranked 11th for the week across all UK channels. For Saturday 29 May, "Cold Blood" was the top rated show on BBC1 and 2nd for the day behind Britain's Got Talent on ITV, which rated 10.39 million. All chart placings exclude the BBC & ITV HD channels.^[5]

Home video releases

A Region 2 DVD^[6] and Blu-ray^[7] containing this episode together with "Amy's Choice" and "The Hungry Earth" was released on 2 August 2010.

Reception

Dan Martin, writing for The Guardian, said that the episode was similar to previous Silurian stories in Doctor Who, though he said he loved the "tense, mad and thoughtful story". He expressed "delight" at Amy and Nasreen negotiating for the humans, though he thought the diplomacy scenes were "broadly drawn". Overall, he considered the strength of the episode was "giving you something big and moral to chew over, in a way that nothing else this series has yet".^[8] Gavin Fuller of The Daily Telegraph also compared "Cold Blood"'s concept and ideas to the original 1970 Silurians story but considered this story made "less of an impact" due to a "black and white depiction" and the one-dimentional Restac. He was also critical of Matt Smith's Doctor, whose portrayal "lacked gravitas and conviction and was altogether too light-hearted". However, he praised both Smith and Gillan's "strong" performances in the final scene where Rory is killed.^[9]

IGN's Matt Wales rated the episode 8 out of 10, and thought that "even less actually happened" than the previous episode, though he enjoyed the "atmospheric build-up and more thoughtful tone". While he considered it predictable, he said that it "still offered plenty in the way of entertainment with its brisk pace, beautifully-realised underground world and a convincing cast of rounded characters". He praised Smith and Gillan's performances in the ending, but thought it was "a surprisingly downbeat denouement".^[10] Ian Berriman of SFX magazine gave "Cold Blood" four and a half our of five stars, positively comparing the emotional ending to episodes from the Russell T Davies era. He also had some "nitpicks" about the episode, such as the abrupt character change of Malohkeh.^[11]

References

1. ^ Harrison, Mark (31 May 2010). "For Doctor Who: Cold Blood Viewers Only". Den of Geek. http://www.denofgeek.com/television/496221/for_doctor_who_cold_blood_viewers_only.html. Retrieved 1 June 2010. 
2. ^ Tribe, Steve (2010). Doctor Who: The TARDIS Handbook. London: BBC Books. p. 124. ISBN 978-1-846-07986-3. 
3. ^ "Network TV BBC Week 22: Saturday 29 May 2010" (Press release). BBC Press Office. 13 May 2010. http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/proginfo/tv/2010/wk22/sat.shtml#sat_drwho. Retrieved 13 May 2010. 
4. ^ "Doctor Who in Wales - Plantasia, Swansea". BBC Online. http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/arts/sites/doctor-who-wales/alllocations/swansea-plantasia. Retrieved 6 June 2010. 
5. ^ http://www.barb.co.uk/report/weeklyTopProgrammesOverview?_s=4
6. ^ "Doctor Who: Series 5 Volume 3 (DVD)". BBCshop. http://www.bbcshop.com/Matt-Smith/Doctor-Who-Series-5-Volume-3-DVD/invt/bbcdvd3215. Retrieved 18 June 2010. 
7. ^ "Doctor Who: Series 5 Volume 3 (Blu-Ray)". BBCshop. http://www.bbcshop.com/Blu-Ray/Doctor-Who-Series-5-Volume-3-Blu-Ray/invt/bbcbd0084. Retrieved 18 June 2010. 
8. ^ Martin, Dan (29 May 2010). "Doctor Who: Cold Blood - series 31, episode nine". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2010/may/29/doctor-who-cold-blood. Retrieved 23 August 2011. 
9. ^ Fuller, Gavin (28 May 2010). "Doctor Who review: Cold Blood". The Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/doctor-who/7779697/Doctor-Who-review-Cold-Blood.html. Retrieved 23 August 2011. 
10. ^ Wales, Matt (1 June 2010). "Doctor Who 'Cold Blood' Review". IGN. http://tv.ign.com/articles/109/1093805p1.html. Retrieved 23 August 2011. 
11. ^ Berriman, Ian (29 May 2010). "TV REVIEW Doctor Who 5.09 Cold Blood". SFX. http://www.sfx.co.uk/2010/05/29/doctor-who-review/. Retrieved 23 August 2011. 

External links

• Cold Blood on TARDIS Index File, an external wiki
• "Cold Blood" at the BBC Doctor Who homepage
• "Cold Blood" at the Internet Movie Database
• "The Hungry Earth" / "Cold Blood" at Doctor Who: A Brief History Of Time (Travel)
• "The Hungry Earth" / "Cold Blood" at the Doctor Who Reference Guide

Reviews

• "The Hungry Earth" / "Cold Blood" reviews at The Doctor Who Ratings Guide