Doctor Who Season 1 Episode 1o The Doctor Dances

Doctor Who The Doctor Dances 10/13

Continuing from the cliffhanger of "The Empty Child", the Doctor, Rose Tyler, and Jack Harkness are trapped in a London hospital during the London Blitz of World War II, being cornered by several bodies of humans that have been transformed somehow into "empty" beings that appear to wear a gas mask (though these seem to be physically part of their bodies), and asking for their mummy. Simultaneously, Nancy is trapped in the house abandoned by a family seeking shelter from the bombings, also being cornered by the body of her young brother Jamie, the first patient to be observed in the transformed state. The Doctor tells the beings to go back to their room, which they all do, including Jamie. The Doctor accuses Jack of causing this situation by trying to swindle the Time Agency, and not being fully aware of what he was dealing with.

The trio go to the room where Jamie was treated at the hospital and discover audio recordings that Dr. Constantine made when treating Jamie, with Jamie only responding by asking for his mummy. Listening to the tapes, the Doctor realizes that the being that was Jamie is learning what it can do and control, and if they cannot stop him soon, he will be much too powerful to do so. The Doctor realizes that the room they are in is Jamie's room, and that if the other beings followed his order, Jamie would too; immediately after this realization, they discover Jamie waiting in the doorway.

The group quickly escapes from Jamie using Jack's "sonic blaster", but end up trapped in a room with no other means of escape besides one door, which the Doctor has sealed shut. Jack teleports himself to his ship and works on overriding the teleportation controls to rescue the Doctor and Rose, as well as piping Glenn Miller's "Moonlight Serenade" through the radio system in order to drown out the pleading of Jamie asking for his mummy.

The Doctor uses the time to ask Rose why she trusts Jack, and Rose explains their flirtations and the dancing they did on the top of his ship previously. The Doctor, challenged by Rose, shows her that he can dance as well, but in the middle of his demonstration, they are transported to Jack's Chula ship, and quickly pretend as if nothing has happened. Jack heals a previous wound suffered by The Doctor using the ship's nanogenes, and explains to the Doctor that he went renegade on the Time Agency when he found out that they had wiped two years of memories from him.

Meanwhile, as the all-clear is sounded, Nancy is momentary held up by the family returning to their house, but when she accuses the father of bribing the local butcher into acquiring more than allowable by rations, she is let go, and heads back to the railyard. She finds all the other children there, and tells them they should have searched elsewhere for shelter, but one child points out that the Child keeps coming after her. After a typewriter in the shelter starts acting on its own, typing out the same request for "mummy", Nancy leaves the children and heads to the bomb site. She is quickly captured and questioned, then left handcuffed to a table; the guard that is left to watch over her shows signs of sickness, and shortly before Nancy's eyes, transforms to a gas mask-wearing zombie.

The Doctor, Rose, and Jack arrive at the bomb site, and discover that the soldiers remaining have all been transformed as well, but the Doctor has discovered that Nancy still in her own form, kept alive by singing a lullaby to her transformed captor.

The group investigates the "bomb", the empty shell of a Chula medical transport, and the Doctor realizes that it shouldn't be empty: it should also contain the same nanogenes that were present on Jack's ship. He deduces that the transformations have all been caused by the nanogenes, using the first reference of a human body they had come across after crashing: Jamie's dead body wearing a gas mask. As the Chula was a warrior race, the nanogenes also gave the transformed beings increased strength, making them nearly unstoppable; furthermore, should they not be able to correct the problem before the area is bombed again, the nanogenes will spread from the explosion, transforming everyone into similar gas mask-wearing zombies.

As the Doctor realizes the truth, the group is surrounded by numerous gas mask-wearing zombies, lead by Jamie. The Doctor tells Nancy that she knows what she has to do to end this, and Nancy knowingly agrees, stepping up to Jamie and admitted to him that she is not his sister but really his mummy, and embraces him in a hug. The others watch as the nanogenes envelop both Nancy and Jamie, scanning her DNA and recognizing her as a true human. The nanogenes then heal Jamie; not only reversing the transformation, but also bringing him back to life; they then continue to revert the change on all the other zombies. However, the bomb that is set to strike the area has almost landed, but Jack has managed to use his ship to temporarily halt the bomb but must still dispose of it. He returns himself and the bomb to his ship and sets off far away from civilization.

With the area safe, the Doctor realizes that "everyone lives!", and starts an evacuation of the area while he sets the Chula medical ship to self-destruct, not only destroying the future technology but also keeping history consistent with an explosion in the area still occurring.

Jack, aboard his ship, realizes he cannot jettison the bomb, or bail on the ship himself, and thus must travel with it until it explodes. However, moments before the bomb explodes, the TARDIS appears on Jack's ship, Glenn Miller playing from the control room as the Doctor and Rose dance, and invite him on board. Jack quickly flees his ship and joins the other TARDIS members in dancing in celebration to their success.