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Meeps, marines, and fish custard! Here’s our breakdown of Doctor Who Season 1's third episode - Boom!
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00:00Hello everybody, Ellie here for Who Culture and welcome to another video full of Easter eggs.
00:07Today we're going to go through the Easter eggs that we found in episode 3 of season 1,
00:11Boom. Now this was obviously the grand return of Stephen Moffat and he certainly gave a lot of
00:17callbacks to his own work and previous episodes in this specific episode. So just for a little
00:23bit of fun, we're going to have a moth counter happening during this video. Let's see how many
00:28times he managed to reference his own work. Number 21. Right from the cold open, we are
00:34introduced to John Francis Vetter, which is a great name. Now Vetter's dad status is a really
00:40important element to this episode. So rather fittingly, Vetter is actually the German word
00:46for father. So he's actually John Francis' father. And actually now I think about it,
00:51father also has the connotations of the Anglican Marines, you know, their religious beings. So
00:57that father element actually works with regards to that as well. That just came to my head just
01:01then. Yeah, smart thinking Ellie. And also if anyone else thought that this guy was going to turn out
01:05to be a young father Octavian from the time of Angels and Flesh and Stone, then don't worry because
01:11we also kind of thought that was going to be the case and that would have been really cool.
01:15Number 20. Let's get this one out of the way. Obviously we've kind of come to expect it at this
01:19point, but we have yet another appearance from Susan Twist. Right in the cold open this time,
01:25although she is present throughout the majority of the episode. And she is the ambulance interface.
01:31So Susan Twist, again, let's just reiterate, is the name of the actress, not the character. But
01:36she has appeared in five different roles so far in the last seven episodes. So we had Isaac Newton's
01:42maid, Mrs. Meridue in Wild Blue Yonder. We had a woman in a pub in the church on Ruby Road.
01:48We had
01:48a comms officer in Space Babies. A tea lady in The Devil's Chord. And now we have the ambulance
01:53interface here in Boone. Who she is, what exactly is going on with her, we don't really know at this
01:59point. But we do know from some of the trailers that we will meet her properly and the doctor will
02:04meet her. So she is relevant overall. Although at this point, we're not entirely sure how.
02:10Number 19. So on the ambulance screen, we see that John Francis Vader's profession is listed as an
02:17Anglican Marine. So there's our first one for the moth counter, because these play a major part in
02:24Moffat law. So the idea of the church being an army was actually introduced in the 11th doctor story,
02:29The Time of Angels and Flesh and Stone. And that's where we met Bishop Father Octavian, who I just
02:34mentioned a little while ago, alongside his group of clerics, which included good old sacred Bob.
02:40He's their bishop, there is cleric. Since the 55th century, the church has moved on.
02:44And then there was an entire army of Anglican Marines in another 11th doctor story, which was
02:50A Good Man Goes to War, where they were actually pitted against the doctor when a branch of the
02:54church led by Madame Kovarian went rogue. And then we later visited the church headquarters in 11th's
03:00final story, The Time of the Doctor. So this was basically a through line throughout the entirety of
03:05the 11th doctor's run. And it was really nice to see it revisited here. Number 18. So sticking with
03:11that ambulance interface, it mentions that it's part of the Villengard Corporation. So as the
03:17doctor then later explains, Villengard is one of the biggest weapons manufacturers in the universe.
03:23Also, part of Moffat law. Villengard first popped up in Stephen Moffat's other first story in a
03:30Russell T. Davis era of the show, in The Empty Child and the Doctor Dances, where the ninth doctor
03:35comments that Captain Jack Harkness' sonic blaster is a weapon from the factories of Villengard in the
03:4151st century. And then 12 years later, Moffat actually visited Villengard in Twice Upon a Time,
03:48which was his final episode as showrunner. So it was this nice little full circle moment to
03:52incorporate this same place. And in that episode, the twelfth doctor visits the weapon forges of
03:58Villengard, which is now in ruin, where he goes to seek help from good old Rusty the Dalek.
04:03Number 17. So after Vader's death, we cut to this sweeping cinematic shot where the camera
04:10pushes right in on the TARDIS and then the doctor opens the doors. So as many of you might already
04:15know, we did mention this previously in some of our other videos, but Boom was filmed using these
04:20giant LED screens, which had the surrounding planet displayed on in real time, as opposed to a giant
04:27green screen with that background being put in in post-production. But a really cool detail with
04:32regards to this shot in particular, is that the TARDIS interior is actually being displayed on
04:37that LED screen. So if you took the TARDIS doors away, you'd still be able to see the inside of
04:43the
04:43TARDIS, which was actually projected on the screen behind Shuti Gatwa. Honestly, this has been achieved
04:48so well that you wouldn't even really notice. Number 16. So right before the title sequence,
04:54the doctor stands on a landmine. Now if this rings a bell, this scenario rings a bell to you,
05:00that's because this isn't actually the first time that this has happened to the doctor.
05:04As confirmed by Stephen Moffat, one of his inspirations for Boom was the 1975 serial
05:10Genesis of the Daleks, where the fourth doctor also stands on a landmine. Although not for anywhere
05:16near as long as 15 has to here, and not on one leg. And I guess spoiler alert, because four
05:21doesn't
05:21blow up because his companion, Harry Sullivan, wedges some rocks under the mine and allows the doctor
05:27to move his foot. Now in reference to this, the BBC One continuity announcer for Boom on Saturday
05:33night actually said, where's Harry Sullivan when you need him?
05:36Now on BBC One Wales, where's Harry Sullivan when you need him?
05:41Which was actually a really nice little reference to all those years ago and to those people in the
05:46know to this connection to Genesis of the Daleks. So hats off to the continuity guy, even though he
05:52probably was given a script. But I like to think that he just ad-libbed that line because he was
05:56a big Doctor Who fan.
05:58Number 15. So after the doctor has stepped on the landmine after the title sequence,
06:03Ruby then steps out of the TARDIS and goes looking for the doctor and she can hear him singing. And
06:07the doctor then explains that he's singing the Skyboat song to get his zen on. Now the Skyboat
06:13song is an old Scottish song and it's been one of the doctor's go-to tunes almost since the very
06:18beginning. So the second doctor actually plays this on his recorder in the 1968 serial The Web
06:24of Fear, after he and Jamie and Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart, he's not actually a brigadier at this
06:31point, are captured by the Yeti. And then decades later, the spymaster would then also play the
06:37Skyboat song on the recorder once again in the power of the doctor after he hijacks the 13th
06:43doctor's regeneration.
06:44Number 14. So the doctor tells Ruby that he heard someone screaming and that she should go
06:49and see if anyone needs help. But he warns Ruby to be careful where she treads as she makes her
06:54way up there and that she should take the long way round. Now here's another one for the Moffat
06:59counter because this is actually a recurring theme or a recurring phrase throughout the tenure of
07:05Steven Moffat as showrunner. In the 50th anniversary, the day of the doctor, Eleven says that he's going
07:10home to Gallifrey the long way round. Then, when the 12th doctor made it back to Gallifrey in
07:16Heaven's Sent, he said that he arrived the long way round.
07:20Tell him I came the long way round.
07:23Now also, there's twice upon a time where the 12th doctor is wrestling with whether or not he
07:28should regenerate and carry on. And the first doctor asks him what he's going to do and 12th replies,
07:33you'll find out the long way round. You get where I'm going with this, right? He uses that phrase
07:39quite often in his scripts. Number 13. After Ruby does leave the crater, she spots an ambulance in
07:46the distance and she says to the doctor that the only thing she can see is a flashy light thing.
07:51Now this is a very specific description and we would put money on Steven Moffat having pulled this
07:57directly from his 2010 episode, A Christmas Carol, where the 11th doctor describes Kazran Sardik's
08:04machine as a big flashy lighty thing multiple times throughout the episode. It's just another
08:09phrase that seems to be quite common in Steven Moffat's scripts. Number 12. So Ruby then picks up
08:15John Francis Vader's vacuum-packed corpse, which is still gross. It shows that he died in the year
08:225087, which means that Boom takes place in the 51st century. So let's bring up that counter again
08:29because this is yet another Moffat easter egg. So the 51st century has actually featured quite a lot
08:35in Moffat's stories over the years. So as I previously mentioned, the 9th doctor says that
08:41Captain Jack's blaster comes from 51st century Villengarde and Captain Jack himself is a time agent
08:47from the 51st century. Then you have the scenes that are set on the SS Madame de Pompadour in
08:52The Girl in the Fireplace, that also takes place in the 51st century. Silence in the Library and
08:57Forest of the Dead also takes place in the 51st century, and so does Time of Angels and Flesh and
09:02Stone. Then you have Deep Breath, which featured the SS Marie Antoinette, which was the sister ship
09:08of the SS Madame de Pompadour, which was also from the 51st century. Setting Boom in the 51st century
09:15actually made it a lot easier for Moffat to incorporate things such as the Villengarde and
09:19the Anglican Marines into the story. And we know from previous stories set in the 51st century that
09:24all of these things were active during that time, so it actually helped him bring back these familiar
09:31characters and settings and plot threads. Number 11. So throughout the episode we see a burnt out
09:37spaceship in the background. It's probably most prominent in the scene where the doctor tells Ruby
09:41what the casket is. Now if this spaceship looks familiar, that's because, as revealed in the
09:47accompanying episode of Unleashed, it was used in the Starbeast as the Meep's escape pod, and
09:53basically it was just repurposed here for this episode. They stripped it down, set it on fire,
09:59hey presto, reduce, reuse, recycle. Number 10. So after Ruby does hand the doctor Vader's casket,
10:05and then he manages to get his foot on the ground, the lights on the landmine actually start to tick
10:10up.
10:11He starts to run out of time, and so he tells himself this little rhyme, poem, thing to try
10:16and calm his adrenaline. Now one of the lines in that rhyme is the moon and the president's wife,
10:22which is yet another Moffat reference. So in the series 9 opener, Clara asks Missy why she seems
10:29to care about the doctor all of a sudden, and this is what Missy replies. Since always, since the
10:34cloister wars, since the night he stole the moon and the president's wife, since he was a little girl,
10:38one of those was a lie. Can you guess which one? Then in the finale, the doctor revisits this,
10:43he mentions it again, but he clarifies that it was the president's daughter, not the president's wife,
10:48and that he didn't steal the moon, he lost it. Number 9. So the doctor asks Mundy to tell him
10:54about the Kastarians, and she says that they might be in the mud, or they might be in the fog.
10:58But the
10:59doctor mocks her by saying that sentient mud is ridiculous, and that he's actually met sentient mud
11:04before, and that they were lovely girls. And sure enough, the doctor did meet sentient mud in the
11:09Witchfinders, where the 13th doctor fights a species called the Morax, which are sentient mud creatures
11:15that can also possess humans. So that wasn't some throwaway line, this actually did happen.
11:21Sentient mud. Do you know how ridiculous you sound?
11:24Number 8. So when the doctor is taking Mundy's gunshots to the arm like an absolute trooper,
11:30he tells her that he's a complex space-time event, and that it would be very, very, very,
11:35very bad for this planet if his landmine was to blow up. Now another one for the counter here,
11:40because the doctor previously referred to himself as a complex space-time event in the Moffat episode
11:46Flesh and Stone, where he tells River Song that a big complicated space-time event such as himself
11:52would be able to seal the nearby crack in time. Now Moffat also referred to the doctor in this way
11:57in
11:58his first official bit of Doctor Who writing, which was actually a short story in the 1996 novel
12:03Decalogue 3, Consequences. Number 7. So when everything kicks off and the ambulance heads
12:10towards the crater, there's a moment where it scans the environment with this green laser. Now
12:15fittingly for Doctor Who, this might actually be a reference to something that hasn't even happened
12:20yet, because if you remember, in the trailers for season one, we see a shot of the TARDIS in Unit
12:27HQ
12:28being scanned by the exact same type of green laser that the ambulance has here in Boom. We would
12:35suggest that there's a connection here to Susan Twist in some way, because obviously she is inside the
12:39ambulance, we know that she may or may not be playing someone to do with triad technologies later
12:45on, or it could just be a reused effect. We've got a green laser in the computer database. Ah,
12:52we'll use that. Number 6. So after Ruby gets shot and is literally laying there on her deathbed asking
12:58for her next of kin, it starts snowing and the Doctor says while there's snow, there's hope. Well,
13:04actually he gets cut off because the snow kind of freezes in midair, but the point is he was supposed
13:09to end that sentence with the word hope. This is yet another direct callback to a Moffat line.
13:14This time it's from the 12th Doctor episode, The Doctor Falls. So this story sees companion Bill
13:20Potts turned into a Cyberman, but when the Doctor sees that she can still cry, he tells her where
13:25there's tears, there's hope. And then Bill later repeats the line back to him when he's on the brink
13:30of regeneration. Where there's tears, there's hope. Actually, while we're talking about 12th
13:37regeneration, just a bonus little reference here, but the snow freezing midair in Boom, the exact same
13:42effects that we saw in 12th regeneration story twice upon a time, just after he meets the first
13:48Doctor. Number 5. So after Canto gets blown up out of literally nowhere, anyone else still cannot get
13:55over how abrupt that was? There's a moment of silence before we then hear his AI hologram in
14:01this kind of robotic voice repeating the phrase, I'm fine, how are you?
14:06I'm fine, how are you? I'm fine, how are you?
14:09And then later on, we hear John Vader, his hologram, repeating, Antelope, we saw Antelope,
14:16we, Antelope, we, and he kind of glitches. Now this repeating of an innocuous phrase to imply that
14:22something sinister has happened is a trick that Moffat famously used in Silence in the Library and
14:27Forest of the Dead, where the people inside the spacesuits kept repeating the same phrase over
14:32and over again, such as, hey, who turned out the lights? Or Miss Evangelista with, I, I, ice cream,
14:39ice cream, ice cream. This suggests that their consciousness is fading away, but those phrases
14:45are still repeated, and I definitely got those vibes from these repeated things here.
14:50Hey, who turned out the lights? Hey, who turned out the lights?
14:53Number four, so after saving the day, or rather after actually John Vader saves the day,
14:59the Doctor gets his little mic drop moment, and he tells Villengard, basically, just wait till
15:04Daddy gets home. Now this is another one for the Moffat counter, because this absolutely has shades
15:09of the 11th Doctor's iconic line, basically, run, which he said in his very first episode,
15:16and in both cases, this is basically the Doctor rubbing it into the villain that he defeated them.
15:21Number three, Fish Fingers and Custard is my favourite. Well, that's the best one, isn't it?
15:26That's the best Easter egg. So obviously, if you're not familiar, in the 11th hour, when the 11th Doctor
15:31is newly regenerated, he has new taste buds, and he's trying to figure out what it is he wants to
15:35eat, and he throws many things literally out the window, out the door, down the sink, until he settles
15:41on Fish Fingers and Custard, which is his new favourite thing to eat. Then, later on, in The Power of
15:46Three,
15:46he sits there and enjoys a little catch-up with Amy and Rory, while they enjoy some Fish Fingers
15:51and Custard, and then just before 11th regenerates, he again treats himself to his favourite meal.
15:56Now, a lot of people actually commented on our ups and downs, that they were disappointed that we
16:01didn't give this an up in the ups and downs, so in my mind, I was thinking, well, let's save
16:05it for
16:05the Easter eggs, but actually, you know what? Let's give it a retroactive up. There's another up
16:11for Boom. Number two, so the Doctor delivers this really great line, which is, snow isn't snow until
16:17it falls. Now, according to Stephen Moffat in the commentary for this episode, this line was
16:21actually originally supposed to be in his 2010 Christmas special, A Christmas Carol, but it
16:26ended up being cut. So, when he saw the chance to include it now in Boom, he just grabbed that
16:32opportunity and added it into the script here, which is kind of crazy when you think about it. I mean,
16:36he wrote a ridiculous number of episodes between A Christmas Carol and Now, and the fact that he
16:41managed to remember a specific line just goes to show how much he cares about what he writes, I guess.
16:47And number one, we have another great line from the Doctor, which closes out the episode, actually,
16:53and he says, a sad old man once told me what survives of us is love. And Stephen Moffat actually
16:58confirmed that this was lifted from the Philip Larkin poem, An Arundel Tomb, which concludes,
17:04Their final blazen, and to prove, are almost instinct, almost true. What will survive of us
17:10is love. Now, love saving the day is a big sentiment for Stephen Moffat's Doctor Who. I mean,
17:17in his very first story, you have Nancy's love for Jamie saving the day. And then a little bit later,
17:22you have love beating the villain in both of James Corden's stories with Craig. So, I think this is one
17:27of those things that he believes is really important in Doctor Who, and that's why he wanted to reinforce
17:33it yet again, both with this line, but also just with the whole concept of John Vader saving the
17:39day through his love for his daughter Splice. And that is all the easter eggs that we managed to find
17:44in this episode, Boom. If we missed one that you spotted, let us know in the comments down below,
17:49and make sure if you haven't already, you've checked out the ups and downs review and the
17:53discussion video for this episode. In the meantime, though, I've been Ellie for Who Culture,
17:57and in the words of Riversong herself, goodbye, sweeties.
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