Those Who Lead (serial)

Those Who Lead was a serial which consisted of the eighth and ninth episodes of Season 49 of Doctor Who. It was written by Jane Espenson & Jamie Mathieson, directed by Rachel Talalay and featured Samantha Bond as the Fourteenth Doctor, Montserrat Lombard as Erin Stevenson and Bernard Cribbins as Hogan Cox.

This story is notable for introducing companion, Hogan Cox, and reintroducing the Gaians.

Synopsis
The Doctor and Erin find themselves on a spaceship in the future... It's full of walking spacesuits, seemingly autonomous. However, as they journey further into the ship, they discover something much more sinister is going on.

Part I
The Starship Forge travels through space. On the outer hull, we see two workers, Hogan Cox and Ellie Hollinder. They are having a conversation, but the comms system is faulty. Ellie examines her air tank to discover that she is running low on oxygen and is required to purchase more. From behind two figures start walking toward her, also wearing suits but without their helmets -- the humans wearing the suits are obviously dead. Ellie turns to see them advancing on her and she screams, but Hogan can't hear anything. Just as he finishes his repairs, Hogan turns to look behind him and sees the two figures along with a now dead, helmet-less Ellie advancing on him and he screams.

The TARDIS materialises in a corridor on the spaceship and the Doctor and Erin step out. The Doctor expands the TARDIS air-shell so they can explore as there isn’t any oxygen on the ship. The Doctor welcomes Erin to her first space ship, and that they are sometime in the 32nd Century. As the two of them continue down the corridor, they discover a man in a suit standing in the middle of the repair bay. Upon examining him, they discover the man to be dead – just standing there. Erin finds it rather distressing that the mechanical suit is keeping the dead man propped upright. The Doctor examines the computer logs and discovers that the station was declared non-profitable after a majority of its workers were killed. The Doctor and Erin continue further through the ship and discover a suit, without a body inside moving about. Suddenly a computer voice, states there has never been oxygen in the station and the unauthorised oxygen from the TARDIS has been detected and will be expelled. The Doctor and Erin, with haste, rush back to the TARDIS as the section begins decompressing the expanded air shell from it, but before they can get to it, the blast door in front of the corridor it's in snaps shut. The Doctor and Erin are stuck, and with the oxygen draining, and fast. A comms unit engages on a nearby console, and the voice on the other end introduces herself as Captain Amanda Theodore of the Starship Forge. However, the empty suit starts advancing towards the two of them, and the Doctor works out that the oxygen is contained in the suits and she and Erin quickly scamper into two held in the repair bay. While escaping from the smartsuit chasing them, the Doctor and Erin stumble upon Captain Theodore, Hogan and several other members of the surviving crew. The crew tells the Doctor that the suits are the property of the company which has turned access to oxygen into profit and that the suits have received instructions to 'deactivate their organic components'. All other crew members were killed by an electric shock to their nerve systems, rendering them zombies. The crew makes plans, now with the Doctor and Erin, to retreat across the Outer Hull of the Starship to a section of the ship that had been taken offline for repairs and as such wasn’t present in the stations mapping, at present. However, suddenly the suits break into the section where the crew are hiding and kill Tasker, one of the crew. Theodore, now down to only 2 of her crew left, Hogan and Dahh-Ren, guides them along with the Doctor and Erin to the airlock at the end of the section, telling them to all put their helmets on as they prepare themselves for the short journey in the vacuum. During the process of decompression, the suit Erin took from the repair bay begins to malfunction, deactivating her helmet of its own accord. The Doctor attempts to release Erin’s helmet from the suit's grip, but to no avail; she warns Erin that she is about to be exposed to the vacuum and to breathe normally. Erin becomes exposed to the vacuum as they make their way across the hull, Erin’s eyes begin to boil over, her skin starts to freeze and then – they make it inside. Erin has lost consciousness… The Doctor is worried and starts getting quite tetchy as she lays Erin down to rest. Captain Theodore tells Hogan and Dahh-Ren to have a look around the section, make sure it's secure. Erin awakens, with the Doctor crouched over her. The Doctor explains that her exposure to the vacuum has caused some nasty side effects… And then Erin begins to scream almost with terror, she says… Doctor, I can’t see anything… Doctor, I’m blind. The Doctor looks down solemnly, the Doctor apologises heartfeltly, she feels especially bad that this has happened. Erin says it’s okay, she’s a little shaken but right now they have to stay on task and keep all 5 of them alive. The Doctor walks off and begins speaking to Captain Theodore. Hogan, meanwhile, starts speaking to Erin and they have an in-depth discussion afterlife in the 32nd century, and Erin speaks of her home as well in 1977. Hogan makes mention of ‘the empire’ and Earth not being too nice a place at the moment. The Doctor, speaking to Captain Theodore, makes plans to get the 5 of them out alive, but she isn’t satisfied that they Doctor will be able to achieve it, especially due to what she let happen to Erin. But at that point, the smartsuits find the section, logging it in their mapping system and storm it, killing Dahh-Ren in the process. The Doctor shouts for everyone to come together now, Hogan helps Erin up, holding her hand as they scamper. Just before they make it to the next section, Hogan’s suit malfunctions, he gasps out, stuck to the floor. Erin is dazed, as she is no longer being guided by Hogan due to his immobility – the Doctor grabs onto Erin, helping her navigate. Knowing that the 3 others won’t be able to get to the next section with him, Hogan tells them to go ahead, and leave him behind. The Doctor, Erin and Theodore make it to Main Engineering, where the Doctor highlights on the suits' operation being heavily established by a capitalist attitude. The Doctor claims that she is attempting to redirect the flow of water cooling the generators to convert it into oxygen, but instead connects the generators to their suit's life signs, meaning that if they die, the generators will overheat and explode. The Doctor insists that the suits be let in, seemingly as a grand statement about the inevitable downfall of capitalism, and Theodore reluctantly agrees with the plan. As the suits advance and are about to kill them, the Doctor declares that their deaths would be expensive, and the suits stop. The suits analyse the generators and conclude that it would be a greater loss for the company if the crew were to die and the station were to explode, so the suits remove their oxygen tanks and give them to the Doctor, Erin and Captain Theodore. The Doctor also re-engages Hogan’s oxygen tank and he is revived, as his suit's battery was too weak an electric charge to prove fatal.

Captain Theodore then orders everyone up to the bridge, and Hogan pilots the ship back to Earth. She says that she plans to go back to the Headquarters of the Mining Company their ship is a part of and make a public complaint about what had transpired. She also asks the Doctor to stay on board, as she believes that with a bit of string-pulling on Earth they may be able to get Erin’s eyesight fixed. We cut to a shot of the ship travelling through space, and then we cut to a few hours later as it arrives on Earth. The ship descends down to the planet surface, and we see London but a futuristic version, all-metal and full of skyscrapers – and then we begin to see flags, massive flags and banners all over the buildings and then on the comms we here “GAIAN Border Service, please give your clearance code for landing”. On the Doctor – oh no… They’re on Gaian Earth!

Part II
At a political rally, on Earth, a young Hogan Cox stands alongside many other townsfolk, as a middle-aged man, sharply shouts at them words of hope, but also of hate. The crowd is so excited, so enthused - but Hogan is standing their flabbergasted. Smash cut to Hogan, onboard the Starship Forge. A comms voice calls out “Gaian Border Service, please give your clearance code for landing” - after a moment, Captain Theodore speaks into a microphone, reading the clearance code and the ship soon lands, however, when they leave the ship, they are greeted by a platoon of guards, with guns aimed at them. The Doctor just stands there, looking tired and annoyed among other things.

Somewhere inside one of the larger skyscrapers, now all across the entirety of London, the Doctor, Erin, Hogan and Amanda Theodore are sat in front of a desk, to which Enrico Amid, the head of human resources at, IRC Mining, is sat behind. He listens to their concerns calmly, as Amanda shouts about the fact that the company wanted them dead.

After a while, Amid gulps and tells them that if they kept this matter ‘under the rug’, nothing more would be said about it. The four of them are furious, and Theodore tells him that the system is fundamentally flawed, and they don’t want this just ‘swept under the rug’ and they instead want to keep this from affecting others deemed ‘non-profitable’. However, Theodore is interrupted when Amid gets a call, and he exits the room to take it. We hear someone at the other side saying “We’ve found something on board the Forge, something major” - and a weary smile appears on Amid's face.

Sometime later, the Doctor and Hogan have been put into one cell, with Captain Theodore and Erin in the other. Hogan is slouched against the wall of the cell, moaning and complaining, but to the Doctor's annoyance, as she's busy trying to find a way out. In the other cell, Theodore is trying to get the guards attention, as Erin is feeling more and more unwell, and especially dazed by her newfound lack of vision, however, the guard is just ignoring her.

Not before long, heavy footsteps are heard coming towards the cells. Inside Erin and Amanda's cell, a tall figure walks past their cell, and continue's onto the Doctor and Hogan's. He opens the door and steps inside, much to Hogan's shock - it's the Governor, the leader of the Gaians. The Governor speaks, loudly and clearly, identifying the two of them as "Hogan Cox, Chief Engineer of the Starship Forge and.... Former democratic activist", before looking to the Doctor: "The Doctor... And that's pretty much all we have; would you care to enlighten me?". The Doctor steps forward and tells the Governor that she isn't interested in anything he has to say. The Governor turns on his heel towards the door, and then in a moment, snaps back and says "1950s Police Metropolitan Call Box... We found it inside the Forge, but... I rather think it's a Tardis..." - now he has the Doctor's attention. The Gain offers the Doctor a deal: help them operate the Tardis, and they will let Erin and Amanda go, and they will also fix Erin's eyesight. Hogan is horrified by the deal, and is very much against it, but the Doctor agrees, knowing its best for Erin, as she blames herself.

Erin and Amanda are released, but they are just thrown into the outside world, without any fulfilment of the promise to have Erin's eyesight cured. However, before they are even a mile from the complex, they are captured - by the Democratic Resistance, an anti-Gaian organisation. They transport them, hundreds of miles north of London, to their headquarters. When there, Amanda explains what's happened, and the leader of the resistance, Gouildeir, is pleased with the information as he wants to use it in their struggle to bring down the Gaians. Gouildeir also tells Amanda that their doctor can fix Erin's eyes, but it's going to be a very risky operation.

Back inside the complex, the Doctor and Hogan are in a very clean and futuristic lab, with the Tardis standing in the centre, wires and machines attached to it. The Governor takes the attention of all the scientists, giving them a speech that he wants results by the end of the day, before leaving. The chief scientist, Professor Kilarger, takes charge, ordering the Doctor to open the Tardis - the Doctor stalls and rallies off a bogus explanation about the Tardis lock having 21 different holes.

In the rebel base, the operation on Erin's eyes is taking place. Amanda is at Erin's side, holding her hand, as it takes place. A single tear runs down Erin's face.

In Trafalgar Square, which looks very different now, for example, Nelson's Column has been replaced by a large statue of the Governor, people flock in. On a large stage, the Governor stands and he begins to make a speech about the Gaians inventing a form of time travel, and he goes on to lengths about how beneficial this is to the Gaian people and how this makes them the greatest race in the galaxy.

The Doctor opens the door of the Tardis, and she, Hogan and Kilarger step inside. The Doctor shouts "NOW!" and Hogan slams the door shut; the Doctor locking it on the console. Kilarger shouts in defiance, but the Doctor sets the Tardis into flight. A stunned Governor, walks into the lab, to see the Tardis dematerialising. The Doctor lands the Tardis inside the Ministry of Information. Hogan says that if the Gaians have any dirty little secrets it will be here and that he would appreciate it if Kilarger enlightened them to some facts. Kilarger justs laughs, but Hogan (much to the Doctor's alarm) pulls out a gun and points it at Kilarger's head, telling him to take them to some 'dirt'.

In the rebel base, Amanda takes the bandages off Erin's eyes, and Erin begins to see again. She bursts into tears, absolutely amazed by something which she took for granted, not long ago. Erin then, after a few minutes, speaks to Gouildier, telling him that it is vital they find a woman called the Doctor, as she can help the cause extremely.

Hogan, still with a gun to Kilarger's head, marches him down the corridors of the vaults of the Ministry of Information, with the Doctor following, cautiously behind. Kilarger takes them to a particular vault and opens it up with his handprint. The Doctor sees inside: it's all the evidence of the Gaian internment camps, and bases all across Earth and even a few in orbit, such as the Doctor points out the Nerva Beacon. Hogan is very pleased with this information, knowing it could very well bring down the Gaian Empire - but then the Doctor realises.... they can't bring it down. The Doctor explains to Hogan, in a long passionate speech, that they can't change history, and the downfall of the Gaian Empire is a fixed point in history... it fell down 35 years in the future, not now. Hogan is appalled by what the Doctor is saying, as he breaks down crying; he has fought for this cause most of his adult life, since the first day he saw the Governor giving a speech.

The Resistance reenters London, but they are stopped by a barrage of Gaian troops. Gouildeir stands in front of them and declares they are only here in pursuit of peace, but a Gaian soldier effortlessly shoots him down. His second in command, Froil, shouts "Fire" and a large shoot-out begins, with Erin and Amanda joining the fight.

The Doctor hugs Hogan, and she takes his gun, shooting the evidence (as much as it hurts her, she knows its the right thing). However, Kilarger breaks free and sounds the alarm. The Doctor and Hogan are startled to their feet and see the fleeing Kilarger run into the corridor. The Doctor and Hogan begin running towards the Tardis down the corridor, with armed guards chasing after them. The Doctor and Hogan manage to get into the Tardis. However, the Governor steps in front of it, calling the Doctor. The Doctor turns on the scanner, and the two of them have a confrontation. The Governor says its not the end, and the Doctor replies with "No, that's in about 30 years... but you were long gone by then, my guess is to watch out, as your position of power isn't very stable, even within your own regime" - and the Tardis dematerialises.

The Resistance's shoot-out carries on, and Erin and Amanda continue to fight - however, in the middle of both sides, the Tardis appears, much to everyone's shock. Bullets fire at it, from both sides (but Erin orders them to halt), but they simply bounce off the Tardis. Erin runs towards the Tardis and makes her way in. They see everyone else on the scanner and Amanda stays firmly put, they see her mouth "goodbye" and the Doctor sets the Tardis for dematerialisation.

In-flight, the Doctor asks Hogan where he would like to be dropped off, and Hogan replies with "wherever you're going". The Doctor smiles and asks if he's sticking around, and Hogan says that he'd very much like to do so.

In the Governor's office, we see the shoulder of a man in a suit, sitting in front of the Governor. The Governor asks if he can give them any more information about this ' Tardis', and the man in the suit begins to maniacally laugh.

Cast

 * The Doctor - Samantha Bond
 * Erin Stevenson - Montserrat Lombard
 * Hogan Cox - Bernard Cribbins
 * The Governor - David Warner
 * Captain Amanda Theodore - T'Nia Miller
 * Tasker - Justin Sallinger
 * Dahh-Ren - Peter Caulfield
 * Abby - Mimi Ndiweni
 * Enrico Amid - Ameet Chana
 * Cell Guard - Scott Reid
 * Froil - Martin Fox
 * Gouildeir - Shane Gately
 * Kilarger - Chris Wilson
 * Ellie - Katie Brayben
 * White-Haired Zombie - Clem So
 * Comms Voice - Jane Espenson

Crew

 * Created by Sydney Newman, Donald Wilson and C.E. Webber


 * Executive Producers - Ronald D. Moore, Jane Espenson, Ira Steven Behr and Ken MacQuarrie
 * Co-Executive Producers - Toni Graphia, Bradley Thompson, David Weddle, Nicholas Briggs, Matthew B. Roberts and Toby Whithouse


 * Writer - Jane Espenson and Jamie Mathieson
 * Producer - Nikki Wilson
 * Director - Rachel Talalay


 * Director of Photography - Stuart Biddlecombe
 * Production Designer - Richard Hudolin
 * Visual Effects - DNEG
 * Make-Up - Suzanne Jansen
 * Casting Director - Andy Pryor
 * Music - Bear McCreary
 * Costume Designer - Suzanne Cave
 * Edited by - Will Oswald


 * Historical Advisor - Tony Pollard
 * Scientific Advisor - André Bormanis


 * Original Theme Music - Ron Grainer
 * Title Music - Bear McCreary
 * Title Sequence - Goodbye Kansas Studios


 * Gaians created by Robert Shearman and Ronald D. Moore

Memorable Quotes
"If we want to keep breathing, we have exactly one option: buy the merchandise."
 * - The Doctor to Erin, when she works out why they need the smartsuits.

"You said those things were gonna kill us."

"Well on the bright side, we're dying already."

"How does this help?"

"We know that they killed their occupants on specific orders. I think these ones are off-network, for repairs. So they can't receive commands."

"What if you're wrong?"

"Well we'll be horribly murdered, so let's say I am right"


 * - The Doctor and Erin, when they get into their suits.

Production History

 * First Draft Script - 11 February 2014
 * Final Draft Script - 1 April 2014
 * Filming begins - 7 April 2014
 * Filming ends - 9 May 2014
 * Part I Broadcast - 8 November 2014
 * Part II Broadcast - 24 January 2015

Development

 * The initial concept for the story came from showrunner, Ronald D. Moore, who expressed an interest in revisiting the Gaians, whom he co-created, to create a strong link between the tail end of Chapter Three and Chapter Four.
 * Along with co-showrunner, Jane Espenson, Moore developed an arc for the Gaians to be spread throughout the season and culminate the finale. They decided Moore would pen the two-part finale, while Espenson would pen the two-part mid-season finale/opener, to reintroduce the Gaians.
 * Impressed by Jamie Mathieson's script, Flatline, which was one of the first in the season commissioned, Espenson decided to co-write Part I with him, creating a slower and more deceitful world, which only teases the appearance of the Gaians as the cliffhanger.
 * Espenson and Mathieson wanted to make Part I and 'out-and-out' base-under-siege space adventure, along with adding a more realistic and scientific fear of space, as Moore had expressed that space had become a bit too comfortable in the show. Moore used the example of the 1995 movie, Apollo 13, claiming it needed to show just how easy it was to die in space, if not adequately prepared.
 * Mathieson was especially interested in the scientific accuracy in the script, wanting to correct the myth of people 'dying by freezing' in space, making it a much more technical explanation of exposure to the vacuum.
 * To set up the Gaians, with a more complex history, Espenson included the concept of licenced oxygen, to show that the Gaians weren't just Nazi substitutes, but were also a more complex reflection upon our own capitalist society.
 * In an interview with DWM, Mathieson said: "There's a political, capitalism side to the story where the bottom line is human life is not worth much. I am glad it's in there as the episode manages to be a little cerebral, a little political, but hopefully also a thrill ride!"
 * During the writing for this story, Moore and Espenson decided to include the addition of a new companion to join the Tardis Team for the second half of the season, citing that they had 16 episodes and didn't want the dynamic of the Doctor and Erin to become quickly stale,
 * Together, Moore and Espenson came up with the character of Hogan Cox, who was conceived to be a grumpy and downhearted engineer aboard the Starship Forge. As the development of the second half began, Hogan's character was expanded to be a former and defeated, rebel, who had come to now live out the rest of his days, exploited by the very system he fought against.
 * Part II was conceived as very much a direct-prequel to Evil of the Gaians, set 35 years earlier, even using the same structure as the aforementioned story, with the first episode being many set in a spaceship/space station and the second then going down to Earth and dealing with rebellion against the Gaians.
 * Moore had developed the character of the Governor, already as the main villain to be used in the finale, and he tasked Espenson with introducing him here.
 * Originally the part was written for Terrence Hardiman, to play Governor Hetisha, but he was unavailable at the time and so the part was rewritten for the prestigious actor, David Warner.
 * Espenson admitted that the story was heavily inspired by both The Dalek Invasion of Earth and The Aztecs, weaving elements of both stories into the episode.

Production

 * The serial formed Block 4, along with the finale of the series, Destiny of the Gaians. All four episodes were helmed by Rachel Talalay, who had previously helmed episodes Brave New Town and, of course, Evil of the Gaians, as well as, the movie, Leftover: End of Days, was tasked with the job of realising these four episodes.
 * The prosthetics for the smartsuit-zombies, was created by Millennium FX, with make-up supervisor, James Spinks, wanting to create the effect of the uncanny valley, giving them a similar feel to the Autons in creepiness.
 * Most of the exterior scenes in this story, were shot in and around Edinburgh, doubling for London, however the production filmed in London for 3 days for a few scenes, which needed some of the iconography, as well as plenty of drone footage to be inserted into others and augmented with CGI to make it futuristic.

Post-Production

 * During the post-production process, Rachel Talalay and Ira Steven Behr, decided to cut down on the number of graphic shots of the smartsuit-zombies, as they deemed the make-up too terrifying for children watching, and a step too far.

Reaction

 * Part I received a BARB rating of 7.51m and Part II received a BARB rating of 8.92m.
 * The story came 5th place in the DWM Season Survey 2015.

Story Notes
To be added.

Continuity

 * Time Lords can survive in a vacuum, for limited periods of time, far longer than humans can. (DW: Four to Doomsday)
 * The Doctor and their companions are almost sucked into the vacuum of space. (DW: The Daleks' Master Plan, The Impossible Planet)
 * Hogan mentions the 'Sandie Shaw Incident' at the 3256 Intergalactic Song Contest. (DW: The Food of Love)

Home Video Releases
To be added.