Shadow Over Earth

Doctor Who: Shadow Over Earth
Cast
	Doctor; Pete Messum, Joe Sheehan
	Companion; James Mason
Production
Writer	Pete Messum
Director	Pete Messum
Studio	FBC Productions
Broadcast	30th April - 7th May 2016
Production code	6.11-12
Running time	50 mins approx.
Number of; parts	2
Chronology
← Preceded by	Followed by →
"Calothorn"	"Forgotten Past"

Story[]

With Calabrax's forces surrounding Earth, The Doctor and James must stop the Shadow Architect before his plans cause a disasterous future...

Synopsis[]

Having killed Omega and destroyed his Anti-Matter Universe, The Arcane Doctor re-unites with Calabrax and the Lieutenant, who prepare to add Earth to their Universal Alliance. However, they fear the past Doctor and James will interfere with their plans. The Doctor and James arrive on Earth in the TARDIS to find the Shadow Proclamation fleet surrounding the planet, and are visited by the Arcane Doctor, who tries to reason with them. The Arcane Doctor insists that what he's doing is right, but The Doctor tries to explain how bad the situation has gotten.

Even with The Doctor ready to stop him, Calabrax sends out a message to Earth, explaining his intentions to add it to his Alliance. The Doctor sends out a message on the internet, stating the threat Calabrax poses, delaying Earth's decision on whether or not to join. Calabrax orders The Arcane Doctor to kill his previous self, preventing him from inteferring for the time being, but the Lieutenant has his doubts. The Arcane Doctor tries to reason with his past self, but James persuades him of the problems he's caused. Calabrax arrives, shoots The Doctor and escapes with the future incarnation - who begins to lose his trust in the Shadow Architect. With James' help, The Doctor patches up his bullet wound - almost regenerating in the process.

The Doctor decides to try and reason with Calabrax one last time, while James remains on Earth to protect the planet from imminent attack. The Arcane Doctor tries to kill Calabrax for his actions, but the now-aborted timeline he has come from no longer happened. Time catches up with him, and The Arcane Doctor fades from existence. Calabrax orders an attack on the planet, causing James to fight back against three Shadow Officers who attack his house. The Lieutenant brings the soldiers back, and tries to take command away from Calabrax, but the Shadow Architect murders him. The Doctor finds the Lietenant's body, and decides to show Calabrax the future Earth he creates under his Shadow Empire. Horrified by what he has seen, Calabrax tries to find a way of altering his plans, but The Doctor tells him that whatever he needs to stop the Alliance once and for all. Calabrax fights back, and The Doctor renders him unconscious.

With Calabrax locked-up in prison, The Doctor announces to the Universe that the Shadow Alliance has ended. Travelling to a distant planet, The Doctor seeks solace from his future incarnation - who, despite the original timeline being aborted, still looks like James. The future Doctor informs him that the future is unexpected, but worthwhile. Now with a new perspective, The Doctor travels back to Earth. Reunited with James, they discuss their futures. James decides to leave the TARDIS and re-build U.N.I.T, but promises he'll see The Doctor again. As he goes to leave, The Doctor sees the Gates he saw in the distant past, and steps inside...

Continuity[]

The Arcane Doctor killed Omega in 'The Master's Puppets' (6.2). U.N.I.T was disbanded after The Master's infiltration in 'Dominion' (5.12), and James had worked for them since 'A New Beginning' (2.1). The Gates first appeared in 'Arcane: Into Oblivion', and since in 'Sorcerer of Time' (6.8). The Darksmith warned The Doctor about Calabrax's dystopian future in 'Sorcerer of Time' (6.8).

Production[]

The full script for both parts was completed on 5th February 2016, with Part I having begun writing on 28th November 2015 and Part II on 1st January 2016. Originally the story was planned to be three episodes, including 'Calothorn' as a sub-plot in the story - but it was decided that it would clutter the story, and 'Calothorn' was better left as its own standalone episode preceeding the finale. Filming began on 23rd December 2015, although full principal photography didn't begin until 16th February 2016, and was completed on 9th April 2016. Edited on both episodes was completed on 1st May 2016.

Cast[]

Georgia Jennings was originally cast to appear in a cameo role earlier in the series as Ohila, but the scene was cut. Her scenes were filmed on the same day as Fraser Band and Adam Mayhew's scenes for the story, meaning that both Band and Mayhew appeared as the Sisters in the background of the Karn scenes. Adam Mayhew reprises his role from 'The Master's Puppets' (6.2) as the unnamed newsreader, although no mention of his likeness to Commander Raine in 'Calothorn' (6.10) is noted; it was however noted in one draft of the script. Originally Fraser Band had been set to play the Lieutenant, and later Commander Raine, but withdrew. His role as the Shadow Commander was not scripted, but the director felt it added an extra level of scope and tension to the story. Harry P Green and Daniel Moynan reprise their roles as Calabrax and the Lieutenant respectively, with Green spending more time filming on this episode than previous ones. As well as this, Joe Sheehan and Pete Messum reprise their roles as James Mason / The Arcane Doctor and The Doctor, respectively. Messum also cameos as one of the Shadow soldiers, along with Adam Mayhew.

Crew[]

Pete Messum directed the episode, and also blocked all of the filming dates. While difficult, the extensive planning allowed the story to be completed sooner than expected, although the amount of Visual FX made editing more challenging. Because of this, Messum saught the help of Jack RH O'Sullivan to provide the Visual FX shot of the shot combatting spaceships in the future.

Production Notes[]

Most of the music used in the story was composed by Murray Gold, as part of the Doctor Who: Series 8 original soundtrack.

Links[]

Part I: https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=a_ktfZQkr3U

Part II: https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=iDY-oGw3HoA