Monday 24 October 2016

Children In Need 1 - Born Again


In which Rose struggles to come to terms with the new Doctor. He has just regenerated, and is mainly interested in his new physiology and appearance. At first Rose thinks he is an imposter - perhaps even a Slitheen. He mentions various shared experiences, to prove he is still the Doctor. If given the choice, Rose wants him to transform back into the Doctor she knew. The Doctor suddenly starts to act bizarrely, belching Artron Energy. He becomes increasingly more and more manic, and speeds up the TARDIS. Instead of the planet Barcelona, he will now take Rose home for Christmas, but the ship is flying out of control...

This 7 minute minisode was produced for inclusion in the BBC's 2005 Children In Need telethon, broadcast on 18th November. Officially, it is titled Doctor Who: Children In Need. Writer Russell T Davies jokingly referred to it as the "Pudsey Cutaway" - recalling how Mission to the Unknown was often called "Dalek Cutaway". Pudsey is the telethon's mascot - a teddy bear with a spotted bandage over his eye. One officially licensed reference book referred to this under the title of Born Again, which is the one I usually use.
After a lengthy recap of events from Parting of the Ways, we get the short scene outlined above.

  • This marked the public's first proper view of David Tennant, one month before his proper debut in The Christmas Invasion.
  • You can clearly see that this was filmed by a different director from Parting of the Ways, as the lighting of the TARDIS is so much different.
  • Elements from the first series are referenced as the Doctor tries to convince Rose that he is the same man. He tells her that Captain Jack will be busy rebuilding the Earth - suggesting that he knows that he is still alive. Later he will reveal that he knew Rose had brought him back to life, and made him immortal, and he left hurriedly without him deliberately. 
  • The version released on the Series 2 DVD box set is slightly different in terms of music, and the cloister bell sound effect is missing.
  • The minisode does not have any end credits.

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