Trivia / Doctor Who S32 E1 "The Impossible Astronaut"

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• California Doubling: Averted. This was the first time the series had actually been filmed on location in the United States.^note Though there was a bit of location shooting in "Daleks in Manhattan", just not involving the cast There was some local "California" doubling, however — some "Utah" scenes were actually filmed across the state lines in Idaho.
  • Played straight with the scenes set in the diner, which were actually filmed in an American-themed diner in Cardiff.
• Completely Different Title: The Japanese title of this episode is "An Invitation from the Doctor".
• Enforced Method Acting:
  • Karen Gillan was genuinely upset while filming the Doctor's "death" scene.
  • Alex Kingston had to actually slap Matt Smith several times in a scene because it was difficult to fake. Kingston recalled that after a few takes, Smith got red cheeked and grew frustrated at having to do the sequence over and over again.
• In Memoriam: Dedicated to Elisabeth Sladen. Unlike past dedications in Doctor Who, this dedication card opens the episode rather than ending it. Meanwhile, BBC America placed it at the end of the episode. BBC America also made one other change to their version: rather than just the black slate, they added a shot from "School Reunion" of Elisabeth Sladen walking away from the camera, only to turn around and wave at the audience before the card faded to black.
• Missing Trailer Scene:
  • A scene that was cut because it was deemed too naughty, which River Song is naked, can be glimpsed in the Series 6 trailer, but it didn't make the deleted scenes on the Series 6 DVD box set.
  • The same trailer also included a shot of some Nazis walking into a room indicating there was supposed to be more to the scene of the Doctor tunnelling out of a P.O.W. camp.
• Playing Against Type: Mark Sheppard, who usually plays villainous or at best darker and sometimes not completely trustworthy anti-heroes, plays a much more heroic ally to the Doctor and company here.
• Real-Life Relative: Mark Sheppard plays Canton Everett Delaware in 1969. His father, William Morgan Sheppard, plays old Canton for the scene at Lake Powell in 2011. Originally the former was also planned to be Mark in old age makeup, but he suggested using his father, who was also a professional actor.
• Throw It In!: The original idea was to have Mark Sheppard play both versions of Canton, with makeup being used to age him up. It was his idea to hire his dad for the role.
• What Could Have Been:
  • As the story was written during the time David Tennant thought about staying as the Doctor, Moffat had to plan in case he did decide to say. What he came up with was that the regeneration was real, and the rest of the season explaining How We Got Here. Tennant’s final decision to leave made Moffat go back to his original plan.
  • Originally, Amy and Rory were dropped off in a truck, which was changed to a yellow school bus to be more American.
• Working Title: Year of the Moon.

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