Donna, we're on!
— The Doctor
The year is 2011, and everyone's looking forward to the release of tech genius Jill Meadow's new M-pad. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Donna are having a look around the London Technology Museum (well, the Doctor is. Donna's having a sneaky little shopping trip). But something's going wrong. Jill's new invention isn't working properly, and almost no-one's visiting the museum. Almost like they're afraid of machines all of a sudden...
Tropes:
- Bland-Name Product: M-pad. Absolutely no resemblance to the I-Pad whatsoever, nope.
- Brains and Brawn: The Koggnossenti fall on the side of brain, regarding their plan as being much better than all those plans involving shooting and killing folk.
- Buffy Speak: Donna calls the Koggnossenti device the "Stupid Machine", which is possibly an effect of the technology itself.
- Continuity Nod:
- Donna bonds with Bex over being temps, once more calling on her own past as the Fastest Temp in Chiswick.
- Later on in the story, Donna mentions her mom and grandpa.
- Determinator: The Doctor manages to power through the Stupid Machine's signal, though it's clearly causing him a massive amount of pain.
- Hoist by Their Own Petard:
- A signal that makes folks stupid, working better depending on how smart they are is not a good thing to be around when you're smarter than everyone else, like a certain Time Lord.
- How the Doctor does the Koggnossenti in, turning their Stupid Machine back at them, until they forget how to fly their own spaceship, at which point... "boom".
- I Will Show You X!: Donna, at the Koggnossenti when they capture her.
- Inherently Funny Words: The Doctor and dongle, until Donna tells him to stop.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: The drama ends with the Doctor telling S.I.L.V.I to turn off. Cut to credits.
- Mauve Shirt: Brian and Lukas, who interact with the main cast, then die.
- Next Sunday A.D.: Played with, in that it's this for Donna, who's from 2009, but the audio drama was released in 2016. Donna's excited the thought of another royal wedding (Will & Kate), and baffled by movies being all 3-D
- Running Gag: Bex mistakes the Doctor and Donna for a couple.
- Take That!: When the Doctor wonders about anything weird that might've happened lately, Donna asks about the Justin Beiber movie. The Doctor clarifies that he means weirder than that.
- Technophobia: It's in the title.
- Too Dumb to Live: Played for horror, when Lukas becomes so affected by the signal he freaks out over a hoover, gets caught in the wires and manages to fall over a railing.
- Took a Level in Dumbass: Weaponized, it's the Koggnossenti plan - make mankind too stupid to operate any machinery at all, then walk in and take over.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: As part of the signal's effects, people start becoming afraid of everyday mechanical items.
