History Recap / DoctorWhoS34E7KillTheMoon

Written by Peter Harness.

** The episode begins with Clara announcing that they have a problem and 45 minutes in which to find a solution.

* GetOut: Clara does a TearJerker version during her WhatTheHellHero rant.
-->'''The Doctor:''' "I was helping."\\
'''Clara:''' "What, by clearing off?"\\
'''The Doctor:''' "Yes."\\
'''Clara:''' "Well clear off! Go on! You can clear off, get back in your lonely...your lonely bloody TARDIS and you don't come back!" ''[storms toward door]''\\
'''The Doctor:''' "Clara... Clara!"\\
'''Clara:''' "You go away. OK? You go a long way away."

-->'''The Doctor:''' "Messages? Mayday? SOS?"\\
'''Duke:''' "Pretty much all the satellites had been whacked out of orbit. They managed to send back some... screams."

-->'''Lundvik:''' "How do we kill it?"\\
'''The Doctor:''' "Kill the Moon?"

What time is it? [[WesternAnimation/AdventureTime Adventure time!]] With Clara, the Doctor... and Courtney! See, as it turns out, after the Doctor [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E6TheCaretaker showed Clara's wayward pupil the stars in the last episode]], he informed her [[GoodIsNotNice that she wasn't special, before unceremoniously booting her out.]] Courtney handled that as well as you could expect, and now she's off sulking and buying booze with the Doctor's psychic paper. Clara's none too pleased about that, and promptly brings Courtney back to the TARDIS so the Doctor can fix his mistake, and admit she's special after all.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[BugWar War]]? [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33CiNTheGreatDetective On the moon]]? [[MemeticMutation It's more likely than you think.]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Click here to see the RadioTimes magazine poster for this episode:]] https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kill_the_moon_poster_4469.jpg [[ContinuityNod Mission to the unknown]], you say? You may wanna reconsider that suggestion... [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E2MissionToTheUnknown the last one]] [[TheBadGuyWins didn't go so well]]. [[/labelnote]]]]

* OurPresidentsAreDifferent: Mentioned in passing, the President of the United States in 2049 is a woman. If the Doctor is to be believes, she's actually a grown up Courtney. They must have changed the "born in the U.S. only" rule, unless she was born in the U.S. and moved to Britain as a child. (In real life there has been talk of changing this rule given the rise of potential presidential candidates over the years who are American but not born on US soil, so maybe it's been done by 2049.)

* ArcWords: Series 9's arc phrase "duty of care" makes an early bird appearance, however in this episode it's Clara who utters it with regards to taking care of her student, Courtney.

** The Moon seen from Clara's flat is far, far too big.

*** This part, at least, can be handwaved, by saying that the "roar" was telepathy rather than an actual sound. It stands to reason that a spaceborne entity would have to have some method of communication other than sound. There are *plenty* of telepathic lifeforms in the Who universe already so this wouldn't be out of the ordinary.

* BorrowedCatchphrase: The Doctor employs [[Creator/PatrickTroughton the Second Doctor's]]: "When I say run, run."

* BrickJoke: Clara suggests leaving the decision to someone like the President of the United States, which the Doctor derides as the POTUS has never even been into space. Turns out Courtney will be President, maybe even the same President.

* CharacterDevelopment: The last time [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E2TheBeastBelow humans were asked to choose between themselves and an innocent alien life]], the Doctor was quite ready to jump in and try to fix the problem. This time, he's stepping back and letting humans make their own decisions. Harriet Jones's [[Recap/DoctorWho2005CSTheChristmasInvasion attempt at self-defence]] is also relevant, as he's letting humanity make their own choice with their own means instead of deciding that he knows best.

** The Doctor at one point rants:
--->'''The Doctor:''' You still wouldn't expect me to kill Hitler! I've [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E8LetsKillHitler never killed Hitler]]!

** The Doctor recalls Series 7 where Clara and the TARDIS didn't get along.
** The Doctor confuses Courtney's motion-sickness bracelet for a [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E12TheSoundOfDrums Vortex]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E13TheBigBang manipulator]].

* CrapsaccharineWorld: The last 100 nuclear weapons have been sent on the mission, implying that Earth is a lot safer (unless [[LensmanArmsRace more effective ways of killing have replaced them]]) but has given up its dream of exploring the stars.

* {{Deconstruction}}: Of the Doctor's roguish personality, and his tendency to patronise the human race and treat them like they're too stupid to know their arse from their elbow, something normally PlayedForLaughs. The episode ends with Clara delivering the biggest companion-Doctor ReasonYouSuckSpeech in the show's entire history and storming out of the TARDIS.

* DarknessEqualsDeath: When the lights go out, the Doctor demands someone hand him a torch.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: The notion of a moral decision to kill an unborn creature draws pretty clear parallels with the abortion debate. Most notably when the (male) Doctor tells (female) Clara, "Kill it, or don't kill it. I can't possibly make this decision for you. It's your choice."

-->'''The Doctor:''' I was helping.\\
'''Clara:''' What, by clearing off?\\
'''The Doctor:''' Yes.\\
'''Clara:''' Well clear off! Go on! You can clear off, get back in your lonely...your lonely bloody TARDIS and you don't come back! ''[storms toward door]''\\
'''The Doctor:''' Clara... Clara!\\
'''Clara:''' You go away. OK? You go a long way away.
* GoneHorriblyRight: The Doctor was right in leaving Clara and Courtney to decide the fate of humanity... [[BreakingTheFellowship but he didn't foresee the consequences]].

* TheHecateSisters: The three women in whose hands the fate of the Moon rests: Courtney (maiden) is the youngest who came along on the trip looking for adventure, Clara (mother) feels a duty of care towards both Courtney and the moon-creature and is determined not to kill anyone, and Lundvik (crone) is the most pragmatic and the one most determined to kill the creature to preserve Earth but also has a jaded sense of wonder about space travel.

* HollywoodDensity: Clara protests that if the Moon were to shatter the fragments wouldn't do any harm because it's made of eggshell, not rock. The density of eggshell isn't that different from limestone, so a sufficiently big chunk of it would be just as devastating. Lundvik points this out.
* HowWeGotHere: The episode opens with Clara and Courtney trapped on the Moon, making their message to Earth. After the titles we go back to earlier that day.

* {{Immortality}}: The Doctor says WhyDontYouJustShootHim is a waste of time because he'll just regenerate, in fact he's not sure he won't regenerate for ever.

* {{Jerkass}}: The Doctor is summed up the moment he leaves with a curt, "Prat."
* LampshadeHanging: When the Doctor starts waxing poetic about how humanity made their choice, Lundvik points out that they had ignored humanity's choice.

* MenAreTheExpendableGender: The two male shuttle crewmembers are killed by the spider germs, leaving three women to decide Earth's future.

* NoConservationOfMass: They explicitly point out that the Moon's increased gravity is due to its mass increasing, and then attribute that to the creature inside growing without. Then the creature somehow lays an egg (the act itself not that unusual; even chickens can lay eggs without males) that is bigger than itself, and apparently equal in mass to the Moon originally, seconds after it hatches. ''The explanation for this is complicated''. The spider microbes and, by extension, the Moon creature itself, has something called [[TechnoBabble "unstable mass".]] The huge increase is something the creature needed for the next step of its reproduction cycle, exactly to pop out a very massive egg -- there's weirder things in this particular 'verse.
* NoEndorHolocaust: While it's averted in that the Moon's mass increase has catastrophic effects on the tides, the impact of ''two'' Moon-sized masses in orbit would not be pleasant for the Earth to say the least.
** A moon-sized satellite falling apart over an inhabited planet likewise does not cause any problems.
* NothingIsTheSameAnymore: This episode marks a turning point in the relationship between the Doctor and Clara, although this is not made explicit until later episodes. His attitude towards her changes, she actually becomes more understanding of his methods as the movement of Clara towards becoming his DistaffCounterpart accelerates, and if anything the two grow closer to the detriment of her relationship with Danny.

* OurPresidentsAreDifferent: Mentioned in passing, the President of the United States in 2049 is a woman. She's apparently a grown up Courtney. They must have changed the "born in the U.S. only" rule, unless she was born in the U.S. and moved to Britain as a child. (In real life there has been talk of changing this rule given the rise of potential presidential candidates over the years who are American but not born on US soil, so maybe it's been done by 2049.)

* SadisticChoice: Kill an innocent creature, that may be the only one of its kind, while it's still an egg, or let it hatch and risk chaos on Earth and mankind's extinction. It turns out that letting the creature hatch doesn't have the destructive consequences everyone is expecting. On another level, the Doctor forces this choice on Clara specifically, refusing to give her the benefit of his help on the logic that it's too important a choice to leave to a stranger such as himself. [[WhatTheHellHero She doesn't buy it at all.]]

* SeriesContinuityError: Courtney is definitely not the first woman on the Moon, given that [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E1SmithAndJones an entire London hospital]], with plenty of women in it, was once very publicly transported there. The Doctor was there when it happened, so you'd think he would remember. However, none of the people involved in that incident ever left the hospital, and Courtney seems to claim the title in the same way Neil Armstrong did, by being the first of the three women in the shuttle to step out onto the surface.

* SignatureLine: Lundvik is not impressed by Courtney's take on the "One small step" speech. "So much for history..."

* SomebodyElsesProblem: For once, it's ''the Doctor'' who invokes this and sticks to it: it's not his Moon, not his Earth, and not his problem. The humans need to [[WhatYouAreInTheDark figure out the sort of species they are]] and decide what to do for themselves, either killing the baby or sparing it. Clara calls him out on this back in the TARDIS, and even leaves over it.

-->'''The Doctor:''' Messages? Mayday? SOS?\\
'''Duke:''' Pretty much all the satellites had been whacked out of orbit. They managed to send back some... screams.

* SpiritualAntithesis: Way back in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E16TheWatersOfMars The Waters of Mars]]", the Doctor stumbled onto an early space exploration program, where he found himself involved with a critical point in human history; he decides to interfere, with tragic results. In this episode, the exact opposite happens. Plus, in that episode humans were ready to reach out to the stars, but found themselves in a CosmicHorrorStory, while here they're terrified about space travel but eventually their adventurous side is roused.

-->'''Lundvik:''' How do we kill it?\\
'''The Doctor:''' ... Kill the Moon?

* WhamEpisode: Clara walks out of the TARDIS and angrily tells the Doctor to go off without her. She doesn't appear in the preview or any promotions for the next episode. As it turns out, however, she's shown to be back travelling with the Doctor in the first five minutes (albeit supposedly for one last time) and by the end of it they've resolved their differences.

%% * TheHecateSisters: The three women in whose hands the fate of the Moon rests: Courtney (maiden), Clara (mother) and Lundvik (crone).

%%* JawsFirstPersonPerspective: The first death.

* SeriesContinuityError: Courtney is definitely not the first woman on the Moon, given that [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E1SmithAndJones an entire London hospital]], with plenty of women in it, was once very publicly transported there. The Doctor was there when it happened, so you'd think he would remember.

* WhamEpisode: Clara walks out of the TARDIS and angrily tells the Doctor to go off without her. She doesn't appear in the preview or any promotions for the next episode.

The one where the Doctor [[WhatTheHellHero almost gets five across the face]], and a TagalongKid tosses her cookies.

* ArmourPiercingSlap: Clara demands the Doctor tell her how much he knew in advance about the situation or she'll smack him so hard, he'll regenerate. We know [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E2IntoTheDalek she's quite capable of hauling off on him, too]].

* CharacterDevelopment: The last time [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E2TheBeastBelow humans were asked to choose between themselves and an innocent alien life]], the Doctor was quite ready to jump in and try to fix the problem. This time, he's stepping back and letting humans make their own decisions. Harriet Jones's [[Recap/DoctorWho2005CSTheChristmasInvasion attempt at self-defence]] is also relevant, as he's letting humanity make own their own choice with their own means instead of deciding that he knows best.

[[LampshadeHanging Hungry yet?]] Don't be, 'cause this story's also got BigCreepyCrawlies [[UpToEleven up the wazoo.]] [[{{Squick}} Not the time to be]] [[PassThePopcorn chomping down popcorn...]] [[NightmareFetishist that is, unless you're into that sorta thing.]]

* RealityEnsues: Clara gives an inspired and heartfelt speech to humanity (the ones who are awake and watching TV at least), challenging them to turn their lights on in order to give the creature a chance. Every light on Earth goes ''off''. The fact that literally everyone but her and Courtney think they're all going to die if it hatches has something to do with it.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology:

* ArtisticLicenseGeography: They specifically said coastal cities were being destroyed by super-high tides, yet the outlines of places like Florida are still exactly the same as we see the lights from space.
* ArtisticLicensePhysics:

* ArtisticLicenseSpace:

* OmniscientMoralityLicense: Clara angrily calls out the Doctor for this at the end of the episode before leaving him. All of his talk about how he trusted her to make the right decision and respected her to make her own choices fall on deaf ears.

* ArtisticLicenceBiology:

* ArtisticLicenceSpace:

* OmniscientMoralityLicence: Clara angrily calls out the Doctor for this at the end of the episode before leaving him. All of his talk about how he trusted her to make the right decision and respected her to make her own choices fall on deaf ears.

* ArtisticLicenceAstronomy:
** The stars are visible from the Moon's surface. In reality, they would be too dim to see with the naked eye while the Moon was facing the Sun. Also, the Earth is rotating much too fast when the three ladies view the populace's decision.
** Clara and Courtney somehow see the entirety of Earth from the Moon in less than an hour with future-binoculars. Earth takes just under 24 hours to rotate, and the Moon takes about 28 days to circle the Earth.
** The Moon seen from Clara's flat is far, far too big.
** The Doctor refers to the Moon's age as 100 million years, implicating the theory that the moon was a stellar object that was snagged by the Earth's gravity. Though this is not the first ''Doctor Who'' story to make a plot point of the "captured stellar object" theory (see also "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS7E2DoctorWhoAndTheSilurians The Silurians]]", back in the 1970s), in reality the leading theory at present for the origin of Earth's Moon is that it formed from the debris of a collision between the Earth and a Mars-sized object about 4 billion years ago.
** Sound doesn't travel in space, so in the end, the Doctor shouldn't be able to hear the roar of the creature. If sound did travel, it should take the Doctor about 13 days to hear it because of the speed of sound and the distance of the Moon.
*** This part, at least, can be handwaved, by saying that the "roar" was telepathy rather than an actual sound. It stands to reason that a spaceborne entity would have to have some method of communication other than sound. There are *plenty* of telepathic lifeforms in the Who universe already so this wouldn't be out of the ordinary.
** The Doctor says that for the Moon to have gravity on a level with Earth's, it would need to have gained 1.3 billion tons of mass, but this is not even close. The actual mass of the Moon is 7.3x10^19 tons, which is to say, 73 billion ''billion'' tons. Adding another billion tons would be utterly inconsequential. If you take it as a long (European) billion, then 10^12 would be a little better.