History Recap / DoctorWhoS30E14TheNextDoctor

* LaserGuidedAmnesia: The reason Ten doesn't press the "next" Doctor too hard on his past is that messing with a Time Lord after regeneration amnesia is generally a bad idea.

* MrSmith: The Doctor, upon discovering that the "Next Doctor" is having memory issues, decides it would be better to use his favourite alias of John Smith.

* WhatYearIsThis: Combined with a ShoutOut to the end of ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'', when the Doctor starts by asking what ''day'' it is.

* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: Once the Doctor puts all the pieces together and reveals to Jackson that he's not really the Doctor, Jackson (understandably) starts believing himself to be something of a fool playing at being a hero, and quite obviously comes to the immediate conclusion that a) he's been living a lie (which he has, to some extent), and b) that all this bravery and whatnot that he's accomplished while being "The Doctor" is just a farce. Ten is quite quick and eager to disprove the latter, and even to an extent the former: the memory capsules just contain facts and figures, like a biography. But it was Jackson who, when imprinted with those during his BSOD, decided to act upon them accordingly to the best and utmost of his ability within the capabilities of the technology of his time period. Or, in short, Ten effectively says, "You aren't really the Doctor, but you sure come damn well close all on your own."

* CompositeCharacter: Of a sort; Rosita shows devotion to her Doctor reminiscent of Rose, displays the ingenuity and resourcefulness of Martha, and even the OnlySaneMan attitude and best friend role of Donna. The Tenth Doctor's three primary companions of the new series, all rolled into one.

The Tenth Doctor begins to put things together rather quickly, especially when he notices Jackson Lake's initials engraved into the Next Doctor's fob watch. As it turns out, the Next Doctor isn't a Time Lord at all, but Jackson Lake himself. The original Doctor tells him and Rosita about the Battle of Canary Wharf and how the Cybermen were cast into the Void. However, they managed to escape from the Void when the walls of the universe were weakened by the Daleks' abduction of the planets, and found themselves in London in 1851. They soon came upon Jackson Lake, at the time an ordinary mathematics teacher. The Cybermen attacked his home and killed his wife. In desperation, Lake grabbed an infostamp to defend himself, one containing information on the Doctor gleaned from the Daleks; though the infostamp destroyed the Cybermen, it backfired and overwhelmed Lake's mind. In his fear and despair, he came to believe he was the Doctor.

* ArtisticLicenseSpace: There was not actually a Full Moon on December 24, 1851.

* ArtisticLicenceSpace: There was not actually a Full Moon on December 24, 1851.

* ArtisticLicenceAstronomy: There was not actually a Full Moon on December 24, 1851.

* TravelCool: Jackson Lake's TARDIS [[InvokedTrope invokes this]]. See FunWithAcronyms above.

* WorldOfCardboardSpeech: A subtle variety.
-->'''Miss Hartigan:''' What do you make of me, Sir? An idiot?\\
'''The Doctor:''' No. The question is, what do you make of me?\\
'''Miss Hartigan:''' Destroy him!\\
'''The Doctor:''' You make me into [[LetsGetDangerous this]].

* FireForgedFriends: Lampshaded in the Confidential; the quickest way to get the Doctor and "the Next Doctor" cooperating in-story was to have them both recklessly tackle a monster and almost die, together, then laugh about it afterwards.

* AccidentalInnuendo: [[Invoked]].

... Jackson Lake standing in a high position, [[BigDamnHeroes wearing a bandolier of infostamps around his chest]] and grinning at the Doctor.

Jackson comments that he still feels like something else is missing, but he just can't sit on the sidelines while the Doctor's in danger. Finally, the Doctor, Rosita and Jackson break into the main base of the Cybermen and find out what's going on. But not before Miss Hartigan is turned into the [[MonsterOfTheWeek Cyber Leader of the Week]]. The children are being used to put the finishing touches upon what is only known as a "Cyberking", and it's just been finished. Since the Cybermen are done with the children, the facility begins to self destruct. Wasting no time, our trio begins to rush everyone out... and then Jackson Lake recovers another memory, and realises what was still missing: when the Cybermen attacked his house, they kidnapped his son Frederic, right after they killed his wife. Luckily, the Doctor saves the poor young Lake, and everyone escapes and has a Merry Christma–

...

... why is there a giant {{Steampunk}} robot rising up from the Thames River? Wait, ''that's'' a [[HumongousMecha Cyberking]]?

While Jackson and Rosita help everyone slowly evacuate London by running with them, the Doctor leaps into Jackson's TARDIS and flies up into the skies. He takes along a piece of Dalek technology salvaged from the Cybermen base, and the rest of those infostamps. To his surprise (and a bit of delight), Miss Hartigan is driving the Cyberking with her ''mind''. She's one of the cleverest humans that ever lived, and she's completely taken over the Cybermen with the sheer force of her own will. And now she wants to take over the world. As is the tradition for the Tenth Doctor, Ten offers Hartigan a chance to live in peace (albeit on another planet with no life to take over) and marvels at what an extraordinary human she is. Of course like clockwork, Hartigan refuses, so the Doctor blasts her with the collective group of infostamps, boosted by a handy sonic screwdriver. Rather than ''[[TechnicalPacifist directly]]'' killing Miss Hartigan, though, it [[AppliedPhlebotinum simply frees her mind from the Cyber-conditioning she's undergone]]. Needless to say, she freaks out, the Cybermen turn against her, and the Cyberking begins to topple as she and the Cybermen slowly explode... and fall on top of London.

* AccidentalInnuendo: [[invoked]]
-->'''Hartigan:''' [[LampshadeHanging "The Cyberking will rise"? How like a man.]]

* BlackEyesOfEvil: Hartigan's eyes become completely pitch black when she becomes the Cyberking.

** Miss Hartigan's [[Recap/DoctorWhoTVMTheTVMovie black eyes]] as the Cyberking.

* CyberneticsEatYourSoul: Averted strongly in the conversion of Miss Hartigan into the Cyberking, as the Cyber-Leader found out ''the hard way''.

* HorrorDoesntSettleForSimpleTuesday: Raising the Cyberking on Christmas Day was Miss Hartigan's idea.
* HumongousMecha: The Cyberking is far taller than any building.

* InstantAwesomeJustAddMecha: The Cyberking. It's supposed to be a ship to launch an invasion, but it's in the form of a mecha because of this trope.

* SheIsTheKing: Cyberking Mercy Hartigan.

* {{Steampunk}}: The Cyberking is a giant mechanical monster in 1850s England.

* TooSpicyForYogSothoth: Hartigan's conversion into the Cyberking was supposed to remove her emotions altogether, but her anger and hatred proved too strong for [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul the soul-eating cybernetics]], and she promptly rewired all Cybermen in the period to serve her.

* WouldHurtAChild: The Cybermen, at Miss Hartigan's suggestion, have been kidnapping children to work on the Cyberking's starter engine. When the engine's power is at 100%, the Cybermen attempt to dispose of them before the Doctor, Jackson and Rosita intervene.

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Miss Hartigan says this to the workhouse masters after she has the children, and then to the children after they raise the Cyberking.

* LargeHam: David Morrissey is clearly having a lot of fun as the "Next Doctor". David Tennant looks positively tranquil next to him.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: The reason Ten doesn't press the "next" Doctor too hard on his past is that messing with a Time Lord after regeneration amnesia is generally a bad idea.

* TomatoInTheMirror: Jackson Lake spends most of the special thinking he's the Doctor, and Ten seems to think he is a future Doctor. Then it turns out he's just a human whose mind has accidentally been tampered with.
* TooSpicyForYogSothoth: Hartigan's conversion into the Cyberking was supposed to remove her emotions altogether, but her anger and hatred proved too strong for [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul the soul-eating cybernetics]], and she promptly rewired all Cybermen in the period to serve her.
* TraumaInducedAmnesia: "An infostamp's just facts and figures, it's not enough to make a man lose his mind." After losing his wife, Jackson mentally replaced his own life story with the Doctor's.
* TravelCool: Jackson Lake's TARDIS [[InvokedTrope invokes this]]. See FunWithAcronyms above.

* SteamPunk: The Cyberking is a giant mechanical monster in 1850s England.

* ImprovisedWeapon: ZigzaggedTrope — the Doctor grabs and rejects a cane and an umbrella before seizing a cutlass. It's only of limited use however, but then Jackson weaponizes an infostamp.

** The men at the funeral are shocked to see Miss Hartigan show up to a funeral. The priest interrupts his speech to tell her how inappropriate it is. ''And'' she showed up in a red dress, with a red umbrella, on purpose.

* ArtisticLicenseAstronomy: There was not actually a Full Moon on December 24, 1851.

Visiting 1851 London on Christmas Eve for the sheer hell of it, the Tenth Doctor hears someone screaming his name. Grinning madly, the Doctor speeds to the scene of trouble and finds a young woman in distress -- only to be scoffed aside by her. Instead, a guy played by Creator/DavidMorrissey shows up, claiming to be ''the Doctor.'' Ten looks at what he assumes is a future incarnation... but both are immediately interrupted by the trouble that united the two Doctors in the first place: a Cyberman... cat...hybrid called a "Cybershade". One awesomely silly chase sequence later, the pair of Doctors are fast friends and the young woman is introduced as [[MeaningfulName Rosita]], this Doctor's companion. But Ten is worried: the Next Doctor hasn't recognised him one bit. Not wanting to accidentally mess with the 1851 Doctor's fragile memory, Ten introduces himself as "[[MrSmith John Smith]]".

Chasing after the Cybershade, "John" and Next Doctor end up in a house filled with futuristic technology. Ten describes some tube-looking devices as "infostamps", and realises that [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E5RiseOfTheCybermen the Cybus Industries-produced Cybermen]] must be here in force after falling through the Void, together with some stolen Dalek technology. He also notices that Next is [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E8HumanNature wearing a fob watch]], and quickly puts two and two together, realizing this could be him in human form... but no, it turns out to actually be a perfectly ordinary fob watch. Next explains that he lost his memory while "regenerating".

The infostamps seem to mean that the Cybermen are a little lost and need help -- absorbing information of the era and their enemies to replenish their collective memory banks. Of course, the pair of Doctors end up running into the Cybermen, and "John" blows his cover, announcing himself to the Cybermen as the real Doctor, while Next suddenly remembers how he dealt with Cybermen last time and kills them with an overloaded infostamp. Ten comments that Next had a great idea, but claims he was just lying a bit about being the Doctor to protect Next. He also decides to simply check Next's chest for his number of hearts, but we don't find out just yet what the answer is.

Understandably, [[HeroicBSOD Jackson doesn't take this well]] -- believing he was completely a fake. The Doctor says otherwise, pointing out what Jackson's done isn't the result of the Doctor being imprinted on him, but the result of Jackson himself being awesome.

... Jackson Lake standing in a high position, [[BigDamnHeroes wearing a bandoleer of infostamps around his chest]] and grinning at the Doctor.

Jackson comments that he still feels like something else is missing, but he just can't sit on the sidelines while the Doctor's in danger. Finally, the Doctor, Rosita and Jackson break into the main base of the Cybermen and find out what's going on. But not before Miss Hartigan is turned into the [[MonsterOfTheWeek Cyber Leader of the Week]]. The children are being used to put the finishing touches upon what is only known as a "Cyberking", and it's just been finished. Since the Cybermen are done with the children, the facility begins to self destruct. Wasting no time, our trio begins to rush everyone out... and then Jackson Lake recovers another memory, and realises what was still missing: when the Cybermen attacked his house, they kidnapped his son Frederic, right after they killed his wife. Luckily, the Doctor saves the poor young Lake, and everyone escapes and has a Merry Christma--

While Jackson and Rosita help everyone slowly evacuate London by running with them, the Doctor leaps into Jackson's TARDIS and flies up into the skies. He takes along a piece of Dalek technology salvaged from the Cybermen base, and the rest of those infostamps. To his surprise (and a bit of delight), Miss Hartigan is driving the Cyberking with her ''mind''. She's one of the cleverest humans that ever lived, and she's completely taken over the Cybermen with the sheer force of her own will. And now she wants to take over the world. As is the tradition for the Tenth Doctor, Ten offers Hartigan a chance to live in peace (albeit on another planet with no life to take over) and marvels at what an extraordinary human she is. Of course like clockwork, Hartigan refuses, so the Doctor blasts her with the collective group of infostamps, boosted by a handy sonic screwdriver. Rather than ''[[TechnicalPacifist directly]]'' killing Miss Hartigan, though, it [[AppliedPhlebotinum simply frees her mind from the Cyber-Conditioning she's undergone]]. Needless to say, she freaks out, the Cybermen turn against her, and the Cyberking begins to topple as she and the Cybermen slowly explode... and fall on top of London.

This episode is significant to the show's history as it is the first revival-era episode to actually show moving images of the first eight Doctors, confirming a direct line of continuity to the original series (which up to this point had still been a matter of debate), and most significantly including footage of the Eighth Doctor from the 1996 TV movie; although an image of Eight had been seen previously, this was the first to confirm that the movie actually occurred within canon.

* BadassBookworm: The Next Doctor built his own TARDIS -- a hot air balloon or [[FunWithAcronyms Tethered Aerial Release Developed In Style]] -- out of household items.

* ChristmasEpisode: The first Christmas Special not set in the 21[[superscript:st]] Century.

* CosmicRetcon: According to "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E5FleshAndStone Flesh and Stone]]", the events of this episode never existed... until it was most likely restored when the universe was rebooted in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E13TheBigBang The Big Bang]]". [[TimeyWimeyBall Time travel is confusing.]]
* CoveringForTheNoise: The Doctor was using his sonic screwdriver but kept trying to hide this fact from Jackson Lake. Whenever Jackson asks about the strange sound, the Doctor covers by saying it was his whistling and proceeds to imitate the sound.

** In a line cut from the broadcast episode, Jackson notes that the late Reverend was famously good to children -- "he'd discipline them, birch them, send them to the workhouse."

** Jackson Lake's "Sonic Screwdriver".

* ForgotTheCall: Inverted -- Jackson Lake believes he's the Doctor, but is actually human.

* HeroicBSOD: The Next Doctor is prone to them. In fact, it's the reason the Doctor's memories took over so well -- he was mid-BSOD due to the death of his wife and kidnapping of his son at the hands of the Cybermen.

* ImprovisedWeapon: ZigzaggedTrope -- the Doctor grabs and rejects a cane and an umbrella before seizing a cutlass. It's only of limited use however, but then Jackson weaponizes an infostamp.

* LadyInRed: When a cleric expresses dislike of Miss Hartigan's red dress she responds, "Is it too exciting?"

* TheNthDoctor: Jackson Lake seems to be number 11 -- but just got blasted with the Doctor's personality and thought he'd regenerated.

-->'''The Doctor:''' ''[opens the door to find a Cyberman standing there]'' Okay! ''[slams door]''... I think we should run.

* TitleDrop: The show's title, again.
-->'''Rosita:''' Who are you, anyway?\\

* VillainsNeverLie: Subverted. When facing convertion, Miss Hartigan protests that the Cybermen promised her that she'd be celebrated if she helped them. In response, [[ExactWords the Cybermen hail her as the Cyber King.]] Miss Hartigan then says that she was also specifically promised that she wouldn't be converted. The Cybermen admit that that part, [[ILied they just plain lied about.]]
* WhatHaveIBecome: When Miss Hartigan's mind is freed from the cyber-conditioning she's horrified at what's happened.

* WouldHurtAChild: The Cybermen, at Miss Hartigan's suggestion, have been kidnapping children to work on the Cyberking's starter engine. When the engine's power is at 100%, the Cybermen attempt to dispose of them, before the Doctor, Jackson and Rosita intervene.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: In a line cut from the broadcast episode, Jackson notes that the late Reverend was famously good to children -- "he'd discipline them, birch them, send them to the workhouse."
-->'''The Doctor:''' [[SarcasmMode Oh, lovely. Nice man.]]

While Jackson and Rosita help everyone slowly evacuate London by running with them, the Doctor leaps into Jackson's TARDIS and flies up into the skies. He takes along a piece of Dalek technology salvaged from the Cybermen base, and the rest of those infostamps. To his surprise (and a bit of delight), Miss Hartigan is driving the Cyberking with her ''mind''. She's one of the cleverest humans that ever lived, and she's completely taken over the Cybermen with the sheer force of her own will. And now she wants to take over the world. As is the tradition for the Tenth Doctor, Ten offers Hartigan a chance to live in peace (albeit on another planet with no life to take over) and marvels at what an extraordinary human she is. Of course, Hartigan refuses, so the Doctor blasts her with the collective group of infostamps, boosted by a handy sonic screwdriver. Rather than ''[[TechnicalPacifist directly]]'' killing Miss Hartigan, though, it [[AppliedPhlebotinum simply frees her mind from the Cyber-Conditioning she's undergone]]. Needless to say, she freaks out, the Cybermen turn against her, and the Cyberking begins to topple as she and the Cybermen slowly explode... and fall on top of London.

* BlatantLies: While searching Reverend Fairchild's house, the Doctor pulls out the sonic screwdriver and starts scanning with it behind Jackson's back. When Jackson asks the Doctor what the noise was, the Doctor claims he was ''whistling'', and then actually does a very good impression of the screwdriver as "proof".

Visiting 1851 London on Christmas Eve for the sheer hell of it, the Tenth Doctor hears someone screaming his name. Grinning madly, the Doctor speeds to the scene of trouble and finds a young woman in distress -- only to be scoffed aside by her. Instead, a guy played by Creator/DavidMorrissey shows up, claiming to be ''the Doctor!'' Ten looks at what he assumes is a future incarnation... but both are immediately interrupted by the trouble that united the two Doctors in the first place: a Cyberman... cat... thing called a "Cybershade". One awesomely silly chase sequence later, the pair of Doctors are fast friends and the young woman is introduced as [[MeaningfulName Rosita]], this Doctor's companion. But Ten is worried: the Next Doctor hasn't recognised him one bit. Not wanting to accidentally mess with the 1851 Doctor's fragile memory, Ten introduces himself as "[[MrSmith John Smith]]".

Chasing after the Cybershade, "John" and Next Doctor end up in a house filled with futuristic technology. Ten describes some tube-looking devices as "infostamps", and realises that [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E5RiseOfTheCybermen the alternate-universe Cybermen]] must be here in force after falling through the Void, together with some stolen Dalek technology. He also notices that Next is [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E8HumanNature wearing a fob watch]], and quickly puts two and two together, realizing this could be him in human form... but no, it turns out to actually be a perfectly ordinary fob watch. Next explains that he lost his memory while "regenerating".

The infostamps seem to mean that the Cybermen are a little lost and need help -- absorbing information of the era and their enemies to replenish their collective memory banks. Of course, the pair of Doctors end up running into the Cybermen, and "John" blows his cover, announcing himself to the Cybermen as the real Doctor, while Next suddenly remembers how he dealt with Cybermen last time and kills them with an overloaded infostamp. Ten comments that Next had a great idea, but claims he was just lying a bit about being the Doctor to protect Next. He also decides to simply check Next's chest for his number of hearts, but we don't find out just yet what the answer is. With that out of the way, it's off to the Next Doctor's TARDIS!

No, not the ''Time And Relative Dimension[s] In Space''. We're talking a '''[[FunWithAcronyms T]]'''[[FunWithAcronyms ethered]] '''[[FunWithAcronyms A]]'''[[FunWithAcronyms erial]] '''[[FunWithAcronyms R]]'''[[FunWithAcronyms elease]] '''[[FunWithAcronyms D]]'''[[FunWithAcronyms eveloped]] '''[[FunWithAcronyms I]]'''[[FunWithAcronyms n]] '''[[FunWithAcronyms S]]'''[[FunWithAcronyms tyle]]. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the Next Doctor has made a hot air balloon out of household ingredients. Ten ''loves'' it. Nearby, the Next Doctor and Rosita are staying in a large stable, alongside the luggage and belongings of Jackson Lake, a victim of the Cybermen. As it turns out, the Cybermen have been kidnapping people in the night, with [[LadyInRed Miss Mercy Hartigan]], the matron of the St. Joseph's Workhouse, [[IronLady making damned sure]] that the Cybermen get their guy. And, coincidentally, Jackson Lake was their first victim.

The Tenth Doctor begins to put things together rather quickly -- especially upon noticing the initials "JL" engraved into the Next Doctor's fob watch. As it turns out, the Next Doctor isn't a Time Lord at all, but Jackson Lake himself. The Cybermen assaulted Lake one night, and Lake's panicked fumblings ended up turning an infostamp into a deadly weapon... but also burned quite a lot of information on the Doctor into Lake's mind. But, Ten reasons, this wasn't enough to make Jackson believe he was the Doctor... and he's right: in the attack, Jackson's wife was killed. Certainly more than enough to make Jackson flee reality. Understandably, [[HeroicBSOD he doesn't take this well]] -- believing he was completely a fake. The Doctor says otherwise, pointing out what Jackson's done isn't the result of the Doctor being imprinted on him, but the result of Jackson himself being awesome.

Jackson comments that he still feels like something else is missing, but he just can't sit on the sidelines while the Doctor's in danger. Finally, the Doctor, Rosita and Jackson break into the main base of the Cybermen and find out what's going on. But not before Miss Hartigan is turned into the [[MonsterOfTheWeek Cyber Leader of the Week]]. The children are being used to put the finishing touches upon what is only known as a "Cyberking", and it's just been finished. Since the Cybermen are done with the children, the facility begins to self destruct. Wasting no time, our trio begins to rush everyone out... and then Jackson Lake recovers another memory, and realises what was still missing: ''his son'', who was also captured by the Cybermen. Luckily, the Doctor saves the poor young Lake, and everyone escapes and has a Merry Christma--

While Jackson and Rosita help everyone slowly evacuate London by running with them, the Doctor leaps into Jackson's TARDIS and flies up into the skies. He takes along a piece of Dalek technology salvaged from the Cybermen base, and the rest of those infostamps. To his surprise (and a bit of delight), Miss Hartigan is driving the Cyberking with her ''mind''. She's one of the cleverest humans that ever lived, and she's completely taken over the Cybermen with the sheer force of her own will. And now she wants to take over the world. As is the tradition for the Tenth Doctor, Ten offers the Hartigan a chance to live in peace (albeit on another planet with no life to take over) and marvels at what an extraordinary human she is. Of course, Hartigan refuses, so the Doctor blasts her with the collective group of infostamps, boosted by a handy sonic screwdriver. Rather than ''[[TechnicalPacifist directly]]'' killing Miss Hartigan, though, it [[AppliedPhlebotinum simply frees her mind from the Cyber-Conditioning she's undergone]]. Needless to say, she freaks out, the Cybermen turn against her, and the Cyberking begins to topple as she and the Cybermen slowly explode... and fall on top of London.

Luckily that chunk of Dalek tech is a handy key to send it into the Time Vortex, where it seemingly blows up harmlessly. Jackson Lake gets up on a lamppost and begins to preach to the crowd about how the Doctor has just saved them all, and how he deserves applause just this once. Of course, the crowd obliges.

** The men at the funeral are shocked to see a woman show up to a funeral. The priest interrupts his speech to tell her how inappropriate it is. ''And'' she showed up in a red dress, with a red umbrella, on purpose.

** Russell Davies confirmed in interviews that Miss Hartigan was a [[DarkAndTroubledPast victim of sexual abuse]] and that is why she sexualises every conversation and scenario she is in. It's worked in very subtly, since a lot of children watch the show.

* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: Hartigan assumes Rosita is a prostitute when she tells her, "I doubt he paid you to talk." WordOfGod confirms it, although the outfit gives an indication. As does her statement that she was out alone, late at the night, ''at the docks'' when the man she knows as the Doctor rescued her from a Cyberman attack.

-->'''The Doctor:''' Oh, good. ''[gets a weird look]'' I mean, bad.

* WouldHurtAChild: The Cybermen, at Miss Hartigan's suggestion, have been kidnapping children to work on the Cyberking's starter engine. When the engine's power is at 100%, the Cybermen attempt to [[CatchPhrase "DELETE!"]] them, before the Doctor, Jackson and Rosita intervene.

* RhetoricalQuestionBlunder:
-->'''Hartigan:''' Oh, for the love of God! Have you no pity?\\
'''Cyberman:''' [[AC: Correct.]]

'''Cyberman:''' Correct.