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I figured his heart would stop and then the Doctor would pull out some of his typical scifi voodoo to get it going again. Or possibly even that he would die, and then it would turn out he was actually, somehow, a ganger.
- Overview
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- Cast
- Worldbuilding
- Story notes
- Continuity
- Home video releases
was the fifth episode of series 6 of Doctor Who.
Like many previous stories, it saw the Doctor duplicated. It was the second time that the Eleventh Doctor was copied following The Eleventh Hour. It introduced the Flesh concept to the Whoniverse and showed the Doctor had an ulterior motive for wanting to get rid of Amy and Rory for a while.
It marks yet another time the Doctor has tried to make peaceful negotiations with humans and another species but failed due to one side taking a life. This previously happened in Cold Blood of Series 5.
It was notable for the first use of motion control cameras since The Mysterious Planet. It contained the first instance of motion control use on actors rather than inanimate models in Doctor Who history.
The Eleventh Doctor, Amy Pond and Rory Williams visit an acid-mining factory. A solar storm hits the factory, turning the workers' gangers into self-aware individuals. The Doctor must mediate between the original workers and their rebellious gangers.
On an island, factory workers Jennifer, Buzzer, and Jimmy move through a monastery. In a small chamber containing one large, circular vat filled with acid, they wear acid suits to protect themselves. Jennifer is perplexed by the acid readings. Buzzer teases her. In response, she hits his leg, and he falls into the vat. "Way to go twinkle toes" Jimmy sneers. Buzzer asks to be pulled out but Jimmy says that there's no point bringing him back legless; Buzzer notes his nerve endings gave out, meaning he can't feel anything. Annoyed, Jimmy says they'll have to write this up for their boss.
Jimmy and Jennifer leave the chamber, as Buzzer calmly waves them off. Oddly, Buzzer is next seen walking down the corridor towards them; he says that he could claim workman's compensation as he did just have an accident in the workplace. Sternly, Jimmy points out just one acid suit costs a bomb. As they walk off, Jimmy tells Buzzer that if this causes him to stay another day due to the schedule being pushed back, he'll kill him again as it will make him miss his son's birthday. Back in the acid room, the first Buzzer's face dissolves in the pool of acid with a look of agony.
In the TARDIS, the Eleventh Doctor scans Amy for pregnancy and continues to get uncertain readings. At the same time, Amy and Rory are playing darts while listening to Supermassive Black Hole. According to the scoreboard, Amy is winning and Rory is bad at the game. The Doctor turns off the music, asking Amy and Rory if they'd like to go for fish and chips; they're for it. He says he'll drop them off and come back when they're done. Amy wonders what he'll be up to in the meantime. The Doctor states "other stuff." Amy says that they'll join him as there's no way he's ditching them.
Suddenly, the TARDIS shakes violently. A quick scan reveals a solar tsunami is hitting the TARDIS, causing it to fly out of control. The Doctor attempts to steer the TARDIS to safety, but gives up, yelling for Amy and Rory to take crashing positions. Everyone ducks and covers, as the sound of an object flying at high speed rings through the console room.
However, instead of crashing, the TARDIS lands with a soft thud. The Doctor heads outside to see where they have landed. It's the very same island as earlier, but the Doctor assumes they've arrived at a 13th century monastery; Amy thinks this means they're in the Medieval Era. However, Rory tells her that it's not likely, prompting her to ask if he's an expert on the Medieval Era. Rory meekly points out that he can hear Dusty Springfield playing nearby; OK, not the 1200s. Rory notes his mother is a fan of Dusty's music, to which the Doctor says he is too.
They investigate the interior, not knowing someone is watching them. Seeing piping, the Doctor scans it with his sonic screwdriver, noting that it has a ceramic interior, meaning something corrosive is being pumped off the island. Rory touches a wet spot with his finger and pulls his hand back in pain. The Doctor tells him it's old acid; Rory's lucky it wasn't fresh, or his hand would have been dissolved. The monastery has been modified into a 22nd century factory for mining acid. An alarm goes off and the Doctor notices a reading on the sonic, telling Amy and Rory that "almost people" are coming.
•The Doctor - Matt Smith
•Amy Pond - Karen Gillan
•Rory - Arthur Darvill
•Jimmy - Mark Bonnar
•Buzzer - Marshall Lancaster
•Jennifer - Sarah Smart
•Nerve endings are mentioned.
•The Doctor says he wears size ten shoes and that his feet are quite wide.
•Jimmy and Buzzer refer to an incident on the Isle of Sheppey, in which an electrical surge resulted in a Ganger animating and killing its former controller.
•The Doctor suggests dropping Amy and Rory off on Earth for fish and chips.
•Matthew Graham, who wrote this episode, is the co-creator of the series Life on Mars and its sequel series, Ashes to Ashes. Marshall Lancaster, who appears in this episode, plays the character of Chris Skelton on both of these shows.
•By the conclusion of this episode, the entire active TARDIS crew has either had or been a duplicate of themselves, although this is not fully revealed until later. (TV: The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang, The Almost People)
•The scene involving the Doctor's investigation of an acid pipe outside the factory is reminiscent of the Doctor's investigation of tyre treads on Androzani Minor in TV: The Caves of Androzani.
•As is routine for post-2005 Doctor Who, a "NEXT TIME" trailer for the next episode is shown at the end of the episode.
•The third edition of AHistory dates this story to circa 2111, as there's no mention of the Dalek invasion, interstellar travel or space colonies.
•Steven Moffat suggested that the avatars work in a factory. Attempting to make it different from other factories featured in the series, Matthew Graham proposed to set the story in a monastery, an idea of which Moffat greatly approved.
•Holo-ads are an example of media in the 22nd century. (PROSE: Seeing I)
•The Doctor previously visited a monastery in his second incarnation. (TV: The Abominable Snowmen)
•The Eye Patch Lady reappears. (TV: Day of the Moon, The Curse of the Black Spot)
•The Doctor states, when informed that it has only been an hour, that "a lot of things can happen in an hour. An entire planet can be turned inside out in an hour..." (TV: Doctor Who)
•The use of the original humans going into harnesses, eyes-closed, to help create a Ganger clone, is very similar to what Martha Jones does with her clone in TV: The Sontaran Stratagem.
•The material from which the Gangers are created is referred to as "the Flesh". The new humans were previously referred to as that in TV: New Earth.
DVD & Blu-ray releases
•The Rebel Flesh was released in Series 6 Part One on DVD and Blu-Ray in region 1/A on 19 July 2011, in region 2/B on 11 July 2011 and in region 4/B on 4 August 2011. It is a collection of the first seven episodes. •The episode was later released in the Complete Sixth Series boxset on both DVD and Blu-ray, in region 1/A on 22 November 2011, in region 2/B on 21 November 2011 and in region 4/B on 1 December 2011.
Digital releases
•In the United Kingdom, this story is available on BBC iPlayer.
The Doctor Who Transcripts - The Rebel Flesh. The Rebel Flesh Original Airdate: 21 May, 2011. [Corridor] (A monastery cum castle on an island. Think St Michael's Mount, but a bit flatter and further from any shoreline.) JIMMY: Lights. (The lights come on and the two men and a woman walk forward. They are wearing protective clothing.)
In the beginning of "The Rebel Flesh" shortly after they've landed and begin to enter the compound someone is watching them. I believe it to be none other than the true doctor himself, or yet another ganger The doctor seemed to know quite a lot about them.
May 23, 2011 · DOCTOR: You told me that we were out cold for a few minutes, Cleaves, when, in fact, it was an hour. CLEAVES: Sorry, I just assumed — DOCTOR: Well, it's not your fault.
May 21, 2011 · Jennifer: I couldn’t get out of my harness. I thought I was going to die. Rory: Welcome to my world. Amy: Doctor, but these are all real people. So where are their ‘gangers? Cleaves: Don’t worry. When the link shuts down the ‘gangers return to puerile Flesh.
People also ask
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Sep 8, 2017 · Directed by Julian Simpson (Spooks; New Tricks), The Rebel Flesh remains a gorgeous-looking instalment in the Matt Smith era. We start with a stunning shot of the monastery, on its own island to give a sense of isolation. Simpson quickly cuts from this wide landscape into the heart of the factory.
