Death Is the Only Answer

"Death Is the Only Answer"
Doctor Who episode
Cast
Doctor Matt Smith (Eleventh Doctor)
Others Nickolas Grace - Albert Einstein[1] Paul Kasey – Ood
Production
Writer	Children of Oakley Junior School
Director	Jeremy Webb
Executive producer(s)	Steven Moffat Piers Wenger Beth Willis
Series	Specials (2011)
Length	4 minutes
Originally broadcast	1 October 2011 (2011-10-01)
Chronology
← Preceded by Followed by → "The Wedding of River Song" "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe"

"Death Is the Only Answer" is a special episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who that was first broadcast on BBC Three (as part of Doctor Who Confidential), on 1 October 2011. It was written via a competition (Script to Screen), in which junior schools were asked to write a script including the Eleventh Doctor and an enemy of his. The competition was won by the children of Oakley Junior School.^[2]

Plot

The episode opens with the Doctor in the TARDIS reunited with his fez from "The Big Bang". While reminiscing happily about it he trips over, knocking the fez off his head and hitting a lever on the console. The fez vanishes and then Albert Einstein appears with the fez on his head. Einstein greets the Doctor, and explains that he had been working on a time machine, and thought he'd found the vital part of it — a mysterious liquid, which Einstein believes to be "bionic fusion liquid".

The Doctor offers to run some tests on it, but Einstein insists upon testing it himself, and turns to walk away from the console. However, the liquid spits up at his face and changes Einstein into an Ood. For several seconds the "Albert-Ood" repeats "death is the only answer", confusing the Doctor. The Doctor, using his sonic screwdriver, manages to turn Einstein back into his normal self. Einstein asks to go home, and the Doctor drops Einstein off in 1945. The Doctor leaves for another adventure, while a bit of the liquid is left on the floor, moving slowly.

Continuity

The Doctor tells his fez that he can't believe River Song blew it up, alluding to the events of "The Big Bang"

The Doctor previously met Albert Einstein briefly in his Seventh incarnation in Time and the Rani.^[3]

Ood Operations CEO Klineman Halpen was previously turned into an Ood in the episode "Planet of the Ood", when Ood Sigma placed an Ood-graft in a biological compound into his hair tonic, rewriting his DNA.

Production

Cast notes

Nickolas Grace previously appeared in the Seventh Doctor audio drama Bang-Bang-a-Boom! where he played Loozly^[4], and as the Time Lord Straxus in the Eighth Doctor audio dramas Human Resources^[5], Sisters of the Flame^[6] and Vengeance of Morbius^[7].

References

1. ^ as shown in the interview of Nickolas Grace for Doctor Who Confidential on the set of the shooting
2. ^ "BBC announces one-off mini-episode of Doctor Who" (Press release). BBC Press Office. 24 August 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2011/08_august/24/who.shtml. Retrieved 24 August 2011. 
3. ^ Bahn, Christopher (2011-07-17). ""Time and the Rani"". The A.V. Club. http://www.avclub.com/articles/time-and-the-rani,58895/. 
4. ^ "Doctor Who - Bang-Bang-A-Boom!". Big Finish. http://bigfinish.com/39-Doctor-Who-Bang-Bang-A-Boom!. Retrieved 2011-10-02. 
5. ^ "Doctor Who - Human Resources Part 1". Big Finish. http://bigfinish.com/17-Doctor-Who-Human-Resources-Part-1. Retrieved 2011-10-02. 
6. ^ "Doctor Who - Sisters of the Flame". Big Finish. http://bigfinish.com/27-Doctor-Who-Sisters-of-the-Flame. Retrieved 2011-10-02. 
7. ^ "Doctor Who - Vengeance of Morbius". Big Finish. http://bigfinish.com/28-Doctor-Who-Vengeance-of-Morbius. Retrieved 2011-10-02. 

External links

• Death Is the Only Answer on TARDIS Index File, an external wiki