Story 229 - A Town Called Mercy

In which the TARDIS materialises near the small town of Mercy, Nevada, in 1870. As the Doctor, Amy and Rory approach the town they notice a strange line of rocks and stones which encircle the settlement. The Doctor is also surprised to find that Mercy appears to have electric street lighting - which it should not have at this time. On entering the saloon, the Doctor states his name and that he is technically an alien, and the townsfolk immediately round on him. They seize him and carry him bodily to the edge of the town, where they cast him over the rock and wood boundary. A strange figure then materialises in the desert nearby, moving towards him as though by teleportation. Whilst dressed as a cowboy, the man clearly has advanced technological implants, as well as a distinctive marking on his face. The town's Marshal, a man named Isaac, arrives in time to stop the people from preventing the Doctor stepping back over the boundary. The strange gunslinger departs.
At the jailhouse, the Doctor discovers that he is not the only alien doctor in town. In a cell, in protective custody, is a small man with a similar face marking to the gunslinger. He identifies himself as Kahler-Jex, of the Kahler race.

Isaac explains that Kahler-Jex came to their town some years ago and is a doctor. He cured many of an infection, and helped to set up the electric lighting. He has been a good friend to the people of Mercy - until the coming of the gunslinger. For some unknown reason, this being intends to kill him. It won't cross the boundary, however, and the Doctor surmises that it may be programmed not to harm innocent bystanders, which it might do were it to come into town.
Intent on learning more about the cyborg, the Doctor has Rory and Isaac stage a diversion, whilst he rides out into the desert. He decides to trace the source of the electricity supply, and soon comes across a hidden space capsule. Inside, he manages to access Kahler-Jex's files and learns that he is not what he appears. Back at the jail, Kahler-Jex attempts to abduct Amy in order to flee the town. The Doctor returns and stops him, then drags him to the boundary. He has learned that Kahler-Jex was a scientists who performed ruthless experiments on his own people to create a cyborg super-soldier, to fight in a long and bloody war. The gunslinger reappears and approaches. Amy tries to stop the Doctor from allowing the prisoner to be killed. The gunslinger shoots, but Isaac intercedes and is shot instead of Kahler-Jex. He dies, but asks the Doctor to take over from him in protecting Kahler-Jex before succumbing.

Furious that it has killed an innocent man, the gunslinger gives the town an ultimatum. If Kahler-Jex is not handed over to him by noon the next day, he will come into the town and take him, killing anyone who gets in his way.
Back at the jail, Kahler-Jex tells the Doctor of how he stopped the war with his super-soldiers. Once the war ended, they were all decommissioned, except for the gunslinger, who was once Kahler-Tek. he has been systematically eliminating everyone involved in the super-soldier programme and has pursued him across the cosmos. He is the last survivor. he tries to convince the Doctor of his sorrow at what he had done, and of how he has tried to make amends ever since. That night, the Doctor stops a lynch mob from seizing Kahler-Jex. The next day he has many of the townsfolk apply fake markings to their faces in order to confuse the gunslinger's sensors and create a diversion that will allow Kahler-Jex to be smuggled out to his ship. However, the scientist has realised that he will never be at peace, and must atone for his sins. Once in his space capsule he activates a self-destruct mechanism and is killed in a massive explosion. With no purpose left, Kahler-Tek elects to go back into the desert and destroy himself. The Doctor convinces him, however, that this town needs someone to defend it and ensure law and order. The gunslinger becomes the town's protector.

A Town Called Mercy was written by Toby Whithouse, and was first broadcast on 15th September, 2012. It was the first attempt at the Western genre in the programme since The Gunfighters, back in 1966. That was generally felt to have been unsuccessful, with poor audience appreciation figures, leading to the ending of the purely historical stories. This wouldn't be a conventional Western - it would have a science-fiction element to it, in the same way that the previous season's pirate adventure hadn't been a straightforward historical romp. It was Steven Moffat who came up with the idea of doing a Western, and envisaged a small town being menaced by a robot. Whithouse elected to make the villain sympathetic, and was inspired by the Frankenstein Monster for the gunslinger.
The story proved controversial for the scene in which the Doctor forces Kahler-Jex out of the town at gun-point, determined to see him killed for what he had previously done in his war. This was quite out of character for the Doctor in general, and this incarnation in particular. The previous week had seen him deliberately cause the death of the trader Solomon by diverting missiles at his ship.
The episode was filmed overseas - at two Western themed locations in Spain, which had previously hosted many "spaghetti western" films and TV series. These were Oasys / Mini Hollywood, and Fort Bravo / Texas Hollywood in Almeria.

As with the pirate story of the year before, a number of genre cliches are squeezed in. There's the undertaker eager for new business, who had previously appeared in A Fistful of Dollars, and other spaghetti westerns. The gunslinger's ultimatum is for High Noon. The Doctor had been deputised in The Gunfighters, but here he becomes the town's Marshal on the death of Isaac. We have a lynch mob forming, as in many Westerns - as well as The Gunfighters again. The Doctor gets to wear a stetson again, as he did in Series 6, and he rides a horse.
The Western theme is reflected in this week's personalised opening titles, as the Doctor Who logo is given a rough wooden finish, with bullet holes.
This episode was given a prequel - "The Making of the Gunslinger". It depicts events prior to the story - a flashback to the creation of Kahler-Tek.

The main guest artists are Adrian Scarborough, who plays Kahler-Jex, and Ben Browder, of Farscape and Stargate fame. Browder has also appeared in Arrow. He accepted the role as he knew his children loved Doctor Who, and he wanted to do a Western. Scarborough has guested in dozens of TV series, but is probably best known for regular appearances in a couple of sitcoms - Miranda and Gavin & Stacey.
Playing the gunslinger, Kahler-Tek, is Andrew Brooke. The other actor of note in this story is Garrick Hagon, as the undertaker. He had previously appeared in the programme as rebel leader Ky, in 1972's The Mutants. Most of his material as Tatooine native Biggs in Star Wars: A New Hope, was left on the cutting room floor. He is often called upon to play American characters in British made TV series and movies.

Overall, a so-so story. There are some interesting moral and ethical debates on show, and some fine guest performances (especially Scarborough), but the episode is generally lacking in incident.
Things you might like to know:

• Working titles included "The Gunslinger" and "Mercy".
• Whilst on location, the crew made use of their proximity to the snow-capped Sierra Nevada mountains to film some scenes for Asylum of the Daleks, for the exteriors of the Asylum planet.
• There is a clear shot of a large white-washed building on top of a hill in the background of some desert scenes, which seems out of place with the supposedly remote location. This was Tabernas Castle. It is odd that this building wasn't digitally removed.
• This is the first story since 2005's Rose not to have any CGI work from The Mill. The new company is Space Digital. They had contributed some work on The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe, but are given the full episode to do here.
• About 10 minutes in we see an American flag flying. It has 50 stars on it, which is an anachronism for 1870. There should only be 37 stars at that time.
• The Doctor was supposed to be taking Amy and Rory to Mexico to see the Day of the Dead festival. They mention recently having been to the court of King Henry VIII, where Rory lost his phone charger. This seems to match events seen in the following story - The Power of Three - where we see the trio hiding under Henry's bed. This has led some fans to assume that this story actually occurs some time in the middle of The Power of Three's narrative, rather than preceding it. It may simply be that the scene in The Power of Three is them going back later to fetch the lost charger.