History Recap / DoctorWhoS31E02TheBeastBelow

--> [-''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E02TheBeastBelow Record]]''-]

--> [[hottip:Forget:''A horse and a man: above, below/One has a plan, but both must go/Mile after mile, above, beneath/One has a smile, and one has teeth/Though the man above might say hello/Expect no love from the beast below.''-- Creepy Little Girl]]

--> [[hottip:Protest:''In bed above we're deep asleep/While greater love lies further deep/This dream must end, this world must know/We all depend on the beast below.''-- Amy]]

--> [-[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E02TheBeastBelow Record]]-]

--> [-[[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/DoctorWhoS31E02TheBeastBelow?action=edit Record]]-]

Immediately after the events of the previous episode, the Doctor takes Amy to the distant future, where she finds Britain [[AC:in space!]] After solar flares roasted the Earth, every nation took to the skies. Starship UK houses the future of the British people, as they search the stars for a new home. They land in what seems to be a normal, nice and British marketplace, but the Doctor tells Amy to "notice everything" - they're actually in the midst of a police state. Then he places a glass of water on the floor, for seemingly no reason. "[[{{BlatantLies}} There's an escaped fish]]"? Oh really? Well, Doctor, you're being watched, and it seems that you just did "the thing"...

The pair are rescued from the Smilers by Liz10, who takes them up to her quarters whilst making remarks about the Doc's history with her kingdom. And why is it ''her'' kingdom? Well, that would be because she's been Queen Elizabeth X of England for 10 years! They slowed her body clock to keep her looking like the stamps. In her room, there are a lot of water glasses. And her mask... it's rather old. Very, very old, an antique. Porcelain, too. Stays on because it's perfectly sculpted to her face. So what? So ''everything'', Liz... Just then, some of those hooded blokes show up and ask to take Liz to the Tower of London. She refuses, but it seems that ''these'' particular politicians are half-Smiler.

* ActionGirl: Liz 10 is very much made of BadAss.

* [[BigDamnHeroes Big Damn Heroine]] Liz 10 blasting those smilers.

[[spoiler: Amy: ...we all depend on [[TitleDrop the beast below.]]]]

** There's also a large [[{{Recap/DoctorWhoNSS2E7TheIdiotsLantern}} Magpie Electricals]] sign above the hole in the road.

* FiveFingerDiscount:
-->'''Doctor''': This fell out of her pocket when I accidently bumped into her. Took me four goes.

* PoorCommunicationKills: Man, wouldn't everything have been easier if the Star Whale could have just told them it was volunteering its services?

* SchmuckBait:

** Did anyone think the closing scene of the Star Whale was reminiscent of [[{{Discworld}} Great A'Tuin]]?

* TitleDrop: Three times:

* TheUnreveal: "Amy Pond. Age: 1,306. Marital Status: [Amy waits in suspense] …Unknown."

As they leave, though, we see that there's [[ArcWords a crack]] in the starship...

** The superfast propulsion powered by a tortured alien is similar to the ''StarTrekVoyager'' episode "Equinox". It could just be that they're running off of the [[PoweredByAForsakenChild same trope]], though.

--> [[hottip:Forget:''A horse and a man: above, below/One has a plan, but both must go/Mile after mile, above, beneath/One has a smile, and one has teeth/Though the man above might say hello/Expect no love from [[TitleDrop the beast below.]]''-- Creepy Little Girl]]

--> [[hottip:Protest:''In bed above we're deep asleep/While greater love lies further deep/This dream must end, this world must know/We all depend on [[TitleDrop the beast below.]]''-- Amy]]

* TruthInTelevision: Almost certainly unintentional, but Scotland wanted their own ship, which presumably means they're entirely separate to the rest of the UK. This is exactly what Scotland are trying to do right now.

Meanwhile, the Doctor is off staying out of trouble (badly), and has headed to the engine room with another glass of water. Something's very wrong here - "an impossible truth", as the mysterious lady in front of him calls it. Wait, what mysterious lady?! She wears a spooky mask and a red cloak, and demands to know the Doctor's business with that water. Turns out there isn't an escaped fish, but rather an escaped engine - were there an engine on a ship this big, there would be vibrations. The water would move! The woman needs the Doctor's help in unearthing the truth, and tells him that her name is...Liz 10. She is played by SophieOkonedo.

Amy wakes up in a "voting booth", and there are three buttons before her - [[AC:protest]], [[AC:forget]] and [[AC:record]]. She is identified [[hottip:* :Age 1,306?! Shut up!]], and a film starts to play on the TV screen before her, apparently detailing the history of Starship UK. Suddenly, a whirlwind of images flash by! Children screaming, violence, terror, pain, and most prominently...the Sun. But no sooner is it all over, than Amy finds her hand on the [[AC:forget]] button. What just happened in those last 20 minutes? A clue to this is offered as Amy's recorded message to herself starts to play. On screen, a distressed Amy pleads "This isn't a trick, this is for real, you've gotta find the Doctor, and get him off this ship!"

Just then, the Doctor arrives. He examines the lightbulb at the top of the room - standard memory wipe, must have erased about 20 minutes. But why? And why would Amy choose to forget? Well, according to the crying girl from earlier, Mandy, everyone chooses to forget. But the Doctor isn't scared, and smacks the [[AC:protest]] button. Unfortunately, this catapults both him and Amy down an air-pressure cannon. They land in what appears to be a rubbish dump [[hottip:* :And it's MINGIN'!]]. But the Doctor soon figures out that it's a tongue. So they're in a giant mouth. Great. The Doctor triggers a vomit wave to escape, but the switch to exit this dark chamber...is a [[AC:forget]] button. And those Smiler androids in the back are getting pretty irritable.

The pair are rescued from the Smilers by Liz10, who takes them up to her quarters whilst making remarks about the Doc's history with her kingdom. And why is it ''her'' kingdom? Well, that would be because she's been Queen Elizabeth X of England for 10 years! (But they slowed her body clock to keep her looking like the stamps.) In her room, there are a helluva lot of water glasses. And her mask...it's rather old. Very, very old, an antique. Porcelain, too. Stays on because it's perfectly sculpted to her face. So what? So ''everything'', Liz...Just then, some of those hooded blokes show up and ask to take Liz to the Tower of London. She refuses, but...uh oh, it seems that THESE particular politicians are half-Smiler. Better do what they say.

Down in the Tower's torture chamber they find a rather odd installation - a laser in the ceiling perpetually fires shots into a very large pain center. Piecing together the puzzle, the Doctor figures out that this pain center, the mouth, and the tentacle from earlier are all part of one creature, and...it's what they have instead of an engine. And they're torturing it to keep it going - that's one high-pitched scream it has, Doctor, quit sonicking the vibrations! And then we find out what's wrong with Liz's mask. It's at least 200 years old...and perfectly sculpted to her face. Wait, that can't be right, she's only been Queen for 10 years! Oh...dear. The same 10 years...over and over again, always leading her to this same place - a voting booth. It's her choice - [[AC:forget]] or [[AC:abdicate]]. Her own recorded message to herself starts to play.

When the solar flares originally roasted the Earth, the UK weren't quite quick enough to make a ship. Their children were screaming as the skies grew hotter. But then it came...like a miracle...a Star Whale. A massive, old, gentle creature, and the last of its kind. They trapped it, built the starship around it, and now they torture it to keep it moving. Heartbreaking. But hey, at least they feed it...with trash...and people. Protesters and citizens of limited value, to be precise (but it won't eat the children). If Liz chooses to [[AC:abdicate]], the ship will disintegrate and everyone will die. But if she chooses to [[AC:forget]], poor old SpaceWhale will be in agony for another decade.

The Doctor realises that Amy recorded that message to herself [[hottip:* :"Get the Doctor off this ship!"]] because she didn't want the Doctor to have to make an impossible choice. Bad move, Amy - you don't decide what he needs to know. And another thing, how could you -- [[HumansAreBastards all of you]] -- repeatedly choose to ignore this? It looks like you're going home after this, Pond. The Doc TakesAThirdOption, preparing to lobotomise the whale so at least it won't be in pain. Seeing the tentacles playing with some cute children, Amy takes the Doctor's advice from earlier and notices everything - ''"it won't eat the children", "our children screamed!" "It came like a miracle," "Never interfere in the affairs of other planets, unless there's children crying?" "Just me now." "The last of its kind."'' And then she realises the truth!

She grabs Liz's hand to press the [[AC:abdicate]] button and release the whale, at which point Starship UK starts moving ''faster''. But why? Surely the Whale would take its opportunity to escape? Not so, it seems - the kindly old SpaceWhale simply ''wanted'' to help in the first place! They didn't need to torture or trap it! It came because it couldn't bear to see the children cry.

Afterwards, the Doctor tells Amy she couldn't have known that. She responds that maybe ''he'' couldn't have known, but that an alien, the last of his kind, who has been through pain and anguish, and just become kinder and unable to see children cry, was something ''she'd'' already seen. The Doctor stares at her for a minute, then yanks her into his arms and buries his face in her shoulder.[[hottip:*:So, not going home, then?]] They return to the TARDIS when the console's phone starts ringing. It's WinstonChurchill and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E03VictoryOfTheDaleks he wants the Doctor's help, while a Dalek is standing in his office]].

** Apparently the British government still believes that [[Series/{{Torchwood}} sending underperforming children to a]] FateWorseThanDeath [[Recap/TorchwoodS3MSChildrenOfEarth for the benefit of society]] is still acceptable.

** Apparently the British government still believes that [[{{Torchwood}} sending underperforming children to a]] FateWorseThanDeath [[Recap/TorchwoodS3MSChildrenOfEarth for the benefit of society]] is still acceptable.
* CreepyChild: With matching creepy nursery rhyme, natch! Although YourMileageMayVary on that one; some viewers found her to be more annoying than creepy.

** As ''{{Torchwood}}'''s "[[Recap/TorchwoodS2E4Meat Meat]]", our heroes have to come to the decision on whether or not to kill a SpaceWhale for the greater good. %%Yes, it's a dead link, it's still the relevant link for when someone --does-- add an entry

* [[strike:{{Space Whale}}]] [[SpaceWhale Star Whale]]. No relation to the ''{{Torchwood}}'' [[Recap/TorchwoodS2E4Meat space whale]]. %%Yes, it's another red link, it's still the relevant link for when someone --does-- add an entry

* ActionGirl: Liz X is very much made of BadAss.

* [[BigDamnHeroes Big Damn Heroine]] Liz X blasting those smilers.

** Liz Ten knows about [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS3E2TheShakespeareCode the Doctor's affair with]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS4E17E18TheEndOfTime the "Virgin Queen".]]

* OlderThanTheyLook: Liz Ten.

* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: Liz Ten, who has been trying to solve the Starship UK's problems for [[strike:ten]] three hundred years.

* WhiteMaskOfDoom: Initially played straight when Liz X is introduced, but then becomes subverted when it turns out she's one of the good guys. Then it becomes a ChekhovsGun, allowing the Doctor to deduce Liz's true age.

--->'''Eleventh Doctor:''' Once every five years everyone chooses to forget what they have learned. That's democracy in action.

--->'''Eleventh Doctor:''' Once every five years everyone chooses to forget what they have learned. That's democracy.
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%% Please no natter.
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* [=~What Do You Mean, It's Not Political?~=]: Considering it aired during the approach to an election, could be a commentary on increasing voter apathy. To forget could be anything from not voting to sticking with the same old party owing to familiarity. Protesting, on the other hand, could be voting for a different party to electing a new party into power or even spoiling one's ballot. If you think about it, the mechanical Smilers are symbolic of Britain as a Nanny State, with the Winders being the politicians claiming to work for the Queen/for the better of Britain.

** As ''{{Torchwood}}'''s "[[Recap/TorchwoodS2E4Meat Meat]]", our heroes have to come to the decision on whether or not to kill a SpaceWhale for the greater good.

* [[strike:{{Space Whale}}]] [[SpaceWhale Star Whale]]. No relation to the ''{{Torchwood}}'' [[Recap/TorchwoodS2E4Meat space whale]]. %%Yes, it's a red link, it's still the relevant link for when someone --does-- add an entry

* TheWorldIsJustAwesome: Amy's expression as she's drifting in space (with the Doctor hanging onto her foot), protected only by the TARDIS forcefield.

%% This isn't a trick, this is for real. You have to find the back button on your browser, and get back to the TV Tropes recap
%% page for The Beast Below. Please, don't add any natter.

Meanwhile, the Doctor is off staying out of trouble (badly), and has headed to the engine room with another glass of water. Something's very wrong here - "an impossible truth", as the mysterious lady in front of him calls it. Wait, what mysterious lady?! She wears a spooky mask and a red cloak, and demands to know the Doctor's business with that water. Turns out there isn't an escaped fish, but rather an escaped engine - were there an engine on a ship this big, there would be vibrations. The water would move! The woman needs the Doctor's help in unearthing the truth, and tells him that her name is...Liz10.

-->'''Amy''' (about when she will/was get/got married): "Well, it's kinda weird. A long time ago, tomorrow morning."