183 – 'The Lazarus Experiment' | |||
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Doctor Who episode | |||
Cast | |||
Others
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Production | |||
Directed by | Richard Clark | ||
Written by | Stephen Greenhorn | ||
Script editor | Simon Winstone | ||
Produced by | Phil Collinson | ||
Executive producer(s) | Russell T Davies Julie Gardner | ||
Incidental music composer | Murray Gold | ||
Production code | 3.6 | ||
Series | Series 3 | ||
Length | 45 minutes | ||
First broadcast | 5 May 2007 | ||
Chronology | |||
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Doctor Who episodes (2005–present) |
'The Lazarus Experiment' is the sixth episode of the third series of the revived British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 5 May 2007 and stars David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor and Freema Agyeman as Martha Jones.
The Doctor brings Martha home but decides to stay on when he hears that that very evening, a scientist will reveal a discovery that will forever change mankind. The 72-year old Dr. Lazarus host a lavish party, organized by Matha's sister Tish, to unveil his new machine. He enters it and a few moments later - with only. May 05, 2007 As with Gridlock, this week's Doctor Who - The Lazarus Experiment - is a 'coronation chicken episode', that is a 'tasty filler', whose main purpose is to provide a context for moving forward major sub-plot elements, namely building up the Doctor/Martha friendship and establishing the animosity between Martha's mother and the Doctor - egged on by the machinations of this season's, as yet.
In the episode, Professor Richard Lazarus (Mark Gatiss) demonstrates an experiment at his laboratory near Southwark Cathedral in Southwark where he renews himself into a younger-looking man. The effects on Lazarus' DNA causes him to change into a giant creature that sucks the life force from other victims.
According to the BARB figures this episode was seen by 7.19 million viewers and was the twelfth most popular broadcast on British television in that week.[1] Executive producer Russell T Davies has stated that he directed writer Stephen Greenhorn to base this episode on the typical Marvel Comics plotline: 'a good old mad scientist, with an experiment gone wrong, and an outrageous supervillain on the loose.'[2]
- 1Plot
- 1.1Cultural references
Plot[edit]
The machine at Lazarus Labs as shown at the Doctor Who Experience.
In present-day London, an elderly man named Professor Richard Lazarus announces on television that he will demonstrate a device that will change what it means to be human. Intrigued by this statement, the Doctor joins Martha to go to the launch party at Lazarus Laboratories, where they meet up with Martha's sister Tish, who works there. Lazarus steps inside a capsule, and emerges as a much younger man. Using a sample of Lazarus' DNA, the Doctor and Martha find that Lazarus had successfully managed to instruct his genes to rejuvenate with sound waves, but activated something in his DNA, which is trying to change him into something.
Meanwhile, Lazarus returns to his office with his partner, the elderly Lady Thaw. She insists that she be the next to use the machine so they can be young together, but he refuses. She threatens to have Mr. Saxon pull their funding, but Lazarus transforms into something and kills Lady Thaw. The Doctor and Martha discover Lady Thaw's body and deduce that Lazarus must drain life energy to keep his DNA stable. Lazarus attacks the Doctor and Martha, revealed to be a giant skeletal scorpion-like being. The Doctor and Martha get trapped in the machine. The Doctor explains that Lazarus' transformation is the result of an evolutionary throwback locked away in dormant genes that the machine unlocked. Lazarus activates his machine, but the Doctor sets the capsule to reflect energy rather than receive it. Lazarus is blasted away.
Lazarus' body is taken in an ambulance. Martha’s mother Francine becomes doubtful about Martha's connection with the Doctor after being informed by Harold Saxon that the Doctor is dangerous. The Doctor hears the ambulance crash and finds that the drivers have been drained of life. The Doctor, Martha, and Tish chase Lazarus to the nearby Southwark Cathedral, where Lazarus sought sanctuary during the Blitz. Martha and Tish lure Lazarus to the top of the Cathedral's bell tower, and the Doctor manipulates the church's pipe organ to produce the maximum volume it can. The vibrations caused by the organ interfere with Lazarus' manipulated DNA and he falls to his death.
The Doctor invites Martha to come along for one more trip. She refuses, saying she doesn't want to travel with him as just a passenger. The Doctor agrees that she is more than that to him, and they leave together in the TARDIS.
Cultural references[edit]
Film and television[edit]
- The preview of the story in the Radio Times magazine claimed that the episode's conclusion, wherein a monster, mutated from a man, dies in a large London church, is a reference to that of the 1953 science fiction serial The Quatermass Experiment.[3] David Tennant and Mark Gatiss appeared in the 2005 live remake of The Quatermass Experiment. These similarities were also noted by Alan Barnes in a 2017 feature on the story in Doctor Who Magazine. Barnes' also suggested that the title of the story was influenced by that of The Quatermass Experiment.[4]
- Martha likens the Doctor's appearance when wearing a dinner jacket to James Bond; the Doctor appears skeptical but flattered. The commentary track mentions the Doctor's loosening of his bow-tie as a 'Daniel Craig moment'.
- Tish refers to Catherine Zeta-Jones' marriage to Michael Douglas, comparing that situation of a big age gap to her own near-dalliance with Lazarus.
- Whilst playing the Church Organ, the Doctor decides to 'turn it up to 11' – a phrase popularised by the cult film This Is Spinal Tap (1984).
Literature[edit]
- Lazarus is a biblical character, mentioned in John 11:41–44, whom Jesus raised from the dead. When Lazarus escapes from the ambulance, the Doctor notes he should have realised Lazarus would return from the dead.
- Both the Doctor and Lazarus quote T. S. Eliot's poem The Hollow Men. The Doctor completes Lazarus' quotation with the line, 'Falls the Shadow' — which has been used as the title of a Doctor Who novel. There is also a Doctor Who novel called The Hollow Men featuring animated scarecrows. The Doctor later tells Martha that Eliot got it right in saying that it all ends 'not with a bang, but a whimper'. The Doctor also alludes to Eliot's reference to Lazarus in The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock: 'I am Lazarus, come from the dead.'
Production[edit]
Gatiss' appearance has made him one of a select few to have both written for and acted in the show. Gatiss began his writing career on the New AdventuresDoctor Who novels, and acted in material for a BBC Doctor Who evening before the new series was commissioned. Others with similar credits include Victor Pemberton and Glyn Jones.
Whilst the exterior shots of Southwark Cathedral are the cathedral itself (or a matte image edited onto the Cardiff exterior sets), the interiors were filmed in Wells Cathedral (apart from the tower as seen from the crossing and the interior of the tower, which is a set). A model of Southwark Cathedral also appears in Lazarus's office, along with one of Michelangelo's David. The interiors of Professor Lazarus's institute were shot in Cardiff Museum,[5] the Welsh Assembly's Senedd building, and St William House, Cardiff. The latter also served as a location for the pilot episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures, and the Torchwood episode 'Random Shoes'.
A scene cut from the episode, but included as an extra with the DVD release, reveals that the Doctor participated in the writing of the United States Declaration of Independence and in fact carries a copy of the first draft folded up in the pocket of his dinner jacket. An outtake of this scene is featured on the DVD as well, in which the Doctor has completely unfolded the document, only for Tennant to realise that he and Agyeman have run out of track.
Broadcast[edit]
The following episode, '42', was delayed by one week to make way for the BBC's broadcasting of the Eurovision Song Contest. The BBC Doctor Who web page announced in advance that 'something special' would be appended to the end of the original broadcast of this episode.[6] This proved to be an extended teaser for the remaining episodes of the series, taking the place of the usual 'Next time...' teaser trail and headed instead 'Coming up...'. This was also made available immediately after transmission on the BBC's Doctor Who website. The extended trailer featured many short clips from upcoming stories: eyeless animated scarecrows and the titular Family of Blood, the return of Captain Jack Harkness, Sir Derek Jacobi in character, Michelle Collinslikewise and, briefly, John Simm as the mysterious Mr. Saxon seen smiling for press cameras before the Houses of Parliament and in the Cabinet Room at No. 10wearing an oxygen mask, sinisterly tapping out the heavy rhythm of the incidental music and surrounded by inert bodies. At the very end, a further caption ahead of the credits of 'The Lazarus Experiment' revealed that 'Doctor Who will return in two weeks'. The 'normal' trailer for '42' was then made available on the BBC Doctor Who website and was used on the DVDs instead of the special trailer, and is used in most repeats of the episode
References[edit]
- ^'Lazarus Experiment — Final Ratings'. Outpost Gallifrey News Page. Source: BARB. 17 May 2007. Retrieved 3 June 2007.
- ^'Russell T Davies's episode guide'. Radio Times. Retrieved 29 July 2007.
- ^Braxton, Mark (5 May 2007). 'Saturday 5 May — Today's Choices — Doctor Who'. Radio Times. 333 (4334): 68.
- ^Barnes, Alan (Winter 2017–2018). 'The Fact of Fiction. The Lazarus Experiment'. Doctor Who Magazine. Panini Magazines (519): 65.
- ^'Walesarts, National Museum of Wales, Cardiff'. BBC Wales. Retrieved 30 May 2010.
- ^'Doctor Who News: Something Special'. BBC. 3 May 2007. Archived from the original on 26 August 2007. Retrieved 3 May 2007.
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Tenth Doctor |
- The Lazarus Experiment on Tardis Data Core, an external wiki
- 'The Lazarus Experiment' at the BBC Doctor Who homepage
- 'Tonight, I'm going to perform a miracle' – episode trailer
- 'The Lazarus Experiment' on IMDb
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Lazarus_Experiment&oldid=906043132'
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/DoctorWhoS29E6TheLazarusExperiment
Go To
Martha: What'd he do?
The Doctor: Changed what it means to be human.
The Doctor: Changed what it means to be human.
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The one where the Doctor gets called a geek. And James Bond.
Written by Stephen Greenhorn.
The Doctor, wary of getting too attached to another human, or perhaps of getting another human killed, drops Martha off back home. Her time in the TARDIS is over. However, from the news on her TV he realises that Martha's time period is in danger, and returns only seconds after he left for — ostensibly — one more adventure with Martha.
The activity in question is that of Dr. Richard Lazarus (Mark Gatiss), a brilliant elderly scientist who has devised a way to reverse the aging process. The scientist tests his equipment on himself at a black tie affair, which Martha and the Doctor attend as her sister is Lazarus's Public Relations director. When Things Spin, Science Happens, and Lazarus successfully turns himself into a young, healthy, 41-year-old. Martha's sister is happy to see her boss now looking very young and handsome and snoggable indeed.
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Meanwhile, Martha's mother is approached by a suit-wearing guy, who hints that the Doctor is dangerous. He's 100% right about that (heck, he could even have added that the Doctor has a history of absconding with young women, sometimes kidnapping them(!), and that they don't always come home, oh and the Doctor killed Martha's cousin Adeola). This involves the Doctor getting slapped by his companion's mother (again).
Then Lazarus surprises everyone by turning into a massive scorpion/lizard monster?! Martha's sister laments that she was about to snog him and then runs for her life with the rest...
The Doctor kills the scientist with the polarity-reversed age-reversal machine. However, the scary scorpion beast turns out not to be dead after all and flees to a cathedral, where the Doctor kills it again with a church organ.
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With the day saved, the Doctor offers Martha yet another 'one more trip'. Martha says no to the 'one trip' thing and the Doctor says 'OK!' while jerking his head towards the blue box.
But as the TARDIS takes off, Martha's mum leaves a message on the answering machine not to be with the Doctor, saying the notice came from Harold Saxon...
Tropes:
- Actor Allusion: Lazarus says he once lived above a butcher's shop as a child. In The League of Gentlemen, Gatiss played butcher Hilary Briss.
- Arbitrary Skepticism: During their final confrontation, Lazarus tells the Doctor about the Blitz. The Doctor mentions in reply that he'd seen it firsthand. Lazarus dismisses this, pointing out that the Doctor looks far too young to have been there, and the Doctor parries by pointing out that Lazarus looks too young himself. At this, Lazarus chuckles.
- Arc Words: Lazarus' experiment has some involvement with Mr. Saxon, and the man who warns Martha's mother about the Doctor is revealed to be working for him as well.
- Big Red Button: The one on the aging reverser is pressed with an unusual lack of ceremony.
- Body Horror: Lazarus' transformation into an 'evolutionary reject'.
- Call-Back: The Doctor's reference to the Lazarus monster as an 'evolutionary reject' is notably similar to the way the Fourth Doctor described the life-eating Fendahl in 'Image of the Fendahl', creating very dark implications for old-school fans about the way things might have developed if it hadn't been killed quickly.
- Chekhov's Gun: During the conversation on the roof, Lazarus talks about how, during the Blitz, he and his family took refuge in Southwark Cathedral. The final confrontation is right there.
- Compliment Backfire:
- Martha, when she sees the Doctor in his tuxedo, says he looks like James Bond. The Doctor disgustedly replies, 'James Bond?!', then thinks for a moment and says, somewhat less disgustedly, 'Really?'
- Tish calls the Doctor a 'science geek'. Once he understands what this means, the Doctor's quite pleased.
- Continuity Nod:
- The Doctor complaining that something bad always happens when he wears a tux.
- The Doctor saying 'Really shouldn't take that long just to reverse the polarity. I must be a bit out of practice.' Reversing the polarity was something the Third Doctor did quite often.
- The Doctor muttering to himself over being slapped by his companion's mother.
- The Doctor saw the Blitzfirsthand.
- Death by Irony: The Doctor weaponizes the device Lazarus built to achieve eternal youth. It doesn't take, and Lazarus is instead killed by the organ in the church where he sought shelter from the Blitz.
- Death by Mocking: The woman who rebuffs the Doctor's warning by stating that the greatest danger at the party is choking on an olive is one of the first people Lazarus kills just moments later.
- Delayed Reaction: The Doctor sees Lazarus' press conference without commenting, leaves in the TARDIS, and then comes back to double-check what he just heard with Martha.
- Digging Yourself Deeper: The Doctor puts his foot in it talking to Martha's mum and gives her the impression that he's sleeping with her.
- Dirty Old Man: Pre-transformation Lazarus is implied to be this, what with his reaching for Martha's sister and asking her about the perfume she's wearing (it's called 'soap').
- Dying as Yourself: Averted, as Lazarus was always himself, even while transformed.
- Follow the Chaos: Martha finds the Doctor by running towards the sound of the explosions.
- Fountain of Youth: Lazarus' machine is for rejuvenation.
- Game Face: Early on in Lazarus' mutation, his face changes to match his new form.
- Gone Horribly Wrong: Lazarus' machine works by reprogramming DNA and commanding it to rejuvenate. The problem is that he accidentally released a bunch of 'junk' DNA that had been inactive until then.
- Handsome Lech: Post-transformation Lazarus appears to be this, such as his attempts to charm Martha's sister, although he might just be trying to lure in easy prey.
- I Kiss Your Hand: Martha lets Lazarus do this for the sake of a DNA sample.
- Immortality Seeker: Having barely survived the Blitz as a child, Lazarus has been obsessed with conquering death all his life. He's looking forward to what he can accomplish in two, three or maybe four lifetimes.
- Insult Backfire:The Doctor: 'Science geek'? What's that mean?
Martha: It means you're obsessively enthusiastic about it.
The Doctor:[happily] Oh, okay! - Innocent Innuendo: The Doctor causes a few awkward moments talking to Martha's mother by saying he and Martha haven't had much time to talk as they've been 'busy'. Fortunately, their conversation is interrupted before he can dig himself deeper.Francine: Busy? Doing what, exactly?
The Doctor: Oh... you know... stuff. - Involuntary Shapeshifter: Lazarus constantly shifts between that... thing and his youthful human form due to an Unstable Genetic Code.
- Irony: The Doctor condemns Lazarus for doing whatever he can to avoid death. He'll go on to do pretty much the same thing (though admittedly without turning into a hideous monster and feeding on people).
- Liquid Assets: Mutant!Lazarus feeds on Life Energy.
- Living Forever Is Awesome: Lazarus thinks so. The Doctor disagrees.
- Loud of War: Sonic screwdriver plugged into cathedral pipe organ = weaponized music.
- Mad Scientist: The classic story of a deluded scientist who ends up turning himself into a monster.
- Meaningful Name: In The Four Gospels, Lazarus was the man raised from the dead by Jesus. Which the Doctor neatly lampshades at one point; 'I should have seen that coming.'
- Monster Sob Story: Lazarus ruthlessly murders others to prolong his life, but you can somewhat sympathise with his sheer determination to conquer death.
- Never Be Hurt Again: Lazarus wants to avoid death because of his experiences during World War II. Waiting helplessly for bombs to blow him up, he vowed to never be so helpless again.
- No Immortal Inertia: Lazarus inexplicably turns back into an old man immediately after his death.
- Noodle Incident:
- The Doctor says that whenever he wears his tuxedo, something bad always happens. This episode is the second of only three onscreen occasions where the Tenth Doctor is seen wearing a tuxedo, so what caused him to develop this opinion is a mystery.
- The Doctor says he's seen something like Lazarus' tech before. His wording strongly suggests what Lazarus did isn't too far removed from Time Lord regeneration.
- No Transhumanism Allowed: Averted. The Doctor isn't against Lazarus' work per se, but saying that he doesn't understand what he's dealing with, and is definitely against the killing people thing. The immortality-is-bad thing is separate, applying to non-transhumans, such as himself.
- Offscreen Crash: The ambulance carrying the apparently deceased Lazarus drives away from the reception gallery. Just after Francine slaps the Doctor, and the conversation that results, we suddenly hear a loud crash. The Doctor, Martha and Tish rush off to investigate the noise and find the ambulance has gone off the road and crashed. They open up the back doors and find that Lazarus has killed the paramedics by draining them of their life energy and escaped.
- One-Winged Angel: Lazarus transforms into a giant scorpion for battle scenes. There is no battle when he's human.
- Professor Guinea Pig: Lazarus' first success is himself. It's justified in that he's 76 years old and might not live long enough for clinical trials.
- Reverse Polarity: Mentioned by name when weaponizing Lazarus' device. The Doctor says 'Really shouldn't have taken so long just to reverse the polarity. I must be a bit out of practice.'
- 'The Reason You Suck' Speech:The Doctor: You can't control it, the mutation's too strong. Killing those people won't help you. You're a fool. A vain old man who thought he could defy nature, only nature got her own back, didn't she? You're a joke, Lazarus! A footnote in the history of failure!
- Seeking Sanctuary: As a child, Lazarus hid from bombs in a church. When he's losing control of his mutation, he retreats there a second time. The Doctor lampshades this.
- Shaky P.O.V. Cam: We see Lazarus attacking from his perspective several times, most notably when he's chasing the Doctor down a hallway.
- Shapeshifter Baggage: Averted. It's explicitly stated that even though Lazarus' size has changed, he's still the same mass, so 'he's spreading himself a bit thin!'
- Shout-Out: The climax in the cathedral is an acknowledged shout-out to the climax of The Quatermass Experiment.
- Smash Cut: 'The biggest danger here is choking on an olive!' Immediately, enter the monstrous Lazarus!
- Speculative Biology: The Doctor describes Lazarus' monstrous form as a creature of evolutionary potential — something that evolution could have turned humanity into if it hadn't gone for the 'two arms and legs' approach — lying dormant in Lazarus' genes and awakened by the experiment.
- Talent Double: In the final scene inside the church, the actual organ playing was done by someone else.
- This Was His True Form: After dying (both times), Lazarus returns to human form. The final time he dies, he goes back to his original age.
- Unstable Genetic Code: Lazarus has one due to his experiment and it causes his mutation. Yes, Martha the medical student points out the sheer impossibility of this trope.
- Up to Eleven: The Doctor invokes it by name when dialling up the volume on the organ.
- Villain Has a Point: Lazarus rejects the Doctor's claim and insists the opposite, 'rejecting death is part of being human'. Human beings are hardwired to avoid death; that's why adrenaline kicks in to aid in overcoming danger. Every advance in medicine is to stave off disease, increasing crop yields to prevent famine etc.
- When Things Spin, Science Happens: Lazarus' machine works by spinning really fast to create 'hypersonic resonance'.
- Who Wants to Live Forever?: The Doctor informs him that being immortal in a world of mortal things is not fun at all. All you do is watch things waste away.The Doctor: I'm old enough to know that a longer life isn't always a better one. In the end, you just get tired; tired of the struggle, tired of losing everyone that matters to you, tired of watching everything you love turn to dust. If you live long enough, Lazarus, the only certainty left is that you'll end up alone.
- Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: Lazarus is carted away in an ambulance... and there's almost 15 minutes left of the episode; just enough time for another climatic showdown...