'Dinosaurs on a Spaceship' (Story Code 7.02) by Chris Chibnall

“I’m riding a dinosaur! On a spaceship!” – Brian Williams

Egypt, 1334 BC: after saving Queen Nefertiti and her people from weapon-bearing giant locusts in his latest adventure, the Doctor attempts to leave in the TARDIS – but Nefertiti has other, more amorous plans for her saviour. Luckily for the Doctor, Nefertiti’s advances are interrupted by a call for help on the Time Lord’s psychic paper…

2367 AD: the TARDIS takes the Doctor and Queen Nefertiti to the main operations room of the Indian Space Agency, where its commander, Indira, briefs them on the current threat to Earth: a spaceship the size of Canada is approaching on a collision course, and unless the Doctor can stop it in the next six hours and nineteen minutes, the I.S.A. will have no option but to destroy it with missiles. Gleefully accepting this latest challenge, the Doctor decides that he and Nefertiti need some help…

The African Plains, 1902: the Doctor drops in on his friend, big game hunter John Riddell, and offers him the chance to join him on a great adventure. Having shared previous exploits with the Doctor, Riddell happily accepts…

The present: Rory and his dad, Brian, are busy changing a light-bulb - overseen by Amy - when they suddenly find themselves standing inside a newly-materialised TARDIS. Before anyone can ask, the Doctor whizzes them off into space and then lands inside the approaching spaceship. Stepping outside the TARDIS, the Doctor and his “gang” find themselves inside a dusty, cobweb-strewn chamber. Leaving Rory to tell his overwhelmed father about his travels in space and time, the Doctor fills Amy in on their situation; remarking that it has been ten months since she last saw her friend, Amy is somewhat jealous that the Doctor now has new travelling companions; however, the Doctor just dismisses her worries, and gets on with exploring along with the others. Making their way through the abandoned ship the gang soon come across a circular door, which immediately opens to reveal two huge ankylosaurs – dinosaurs! On a spaceship! Fleeing from the armoured dinosaurs, the Doctor and his friends hide in a side chamber; having lost sight of their quarry, the ankylosaurs wander off into the depths of the ship. Unaware that their presence has been detected by an automated system, and all-too aware that in just a few hours the I.S.A. missiles will destroy the ship, the Doctor uses a nearby terminal to activate the vessel’s systems; and when he enquires about the location of the engines, the Doctor, Rory and Brian are instantly teleported to a beach. Intrigued by Rory’s observation that the sand is humming, the Doctor instructs him and his dad to dig; with the aid of Brian’s handy trowel, the men soon uncover a metal floor under the beach… Elsewhere, in a cramped control room, a man is watching their actions – and he recognises the name ‘Doctor’… Meanwhile, Amy, Queen Nefertiti and John Riddell make their way through the ship; hearing a growling noise, they look down to find that they are standing over a sleeping T-Rex and her nest! Carefully sneaking past the creature, they continue on their way… Back on the ‘beach’ the Doctor activates a monitor screen in a rock wall and learns that he, Rory and Brian are actually in the spaceship’s engine room, the location of its hydro-generators. At that moment they come under attack by a flock of pterodactyls; as the flying lizards try to grab them, the trio seek sanctuary in a cave – only to come face to face with two giant, yellow, rusty (and somewhat camp) robots, who are very cross with them… Amy, Nefertiti and Riddell come across a room filled with a jungle. Using a computer terminal to turn on the lights, Amy then accesses the ship’s records and discovers that they are aboard a ship that was originally crewed by Silurians, the race of humanoid reptiles that ruled the Earth millions of years before mankind… Escorted through the ship by the two robots, the Doctor, Rory and Brian encounter a friendly triceratops; the creature is attracted to the grassy smell of Brian’s golf balls, and a game of ‘fetch’ quickly ensues… Trying to ignore Nefertiti and Riddell flirting with each other, Amy learns how the Silurians built the huge, modular spaceship as a space ark; however, while the craft is still filled with dinosaurs, there is no evidence of any Homo Reptilia aboard anymore; furthermore, there is another, smaller space craft embedded within the ark – the ship has been boarded before… Arriving at the control room of that particular spaceship, the Doctor is forced to leave Rory and Brian outside while he enters; inside the cramped room he meets the pilot, a scarred old man named Solomon, who lies prone upon a couch. Solomon explains that when he entered the ship he was attacked by three raptors; he was rescued by his two robots, but they were unable to fix his legs, and so he needs a doctor to mend him – and to reinforce his request, Solomon orders one of his robots to injure Brian. The Doctor is furious, but with his friends in danger he has no choice but to agree to fix the pilot’s legs… After using his nursing supplies to treat his dad’s shoulder wound, Rory receives a phone call from Amy, who updates him on her findings. While the Doctor works on Solomon’s legs, he questions the man on his situation; Solomon reveals that he is taking the ship and its prehistoric cargo to the Rocksbourne Peninsula, a commerce colony where he intends to sell the dinosaurs. Sickened by the pirate’s disregard for life in favour of money, the Time Lord takes some satisfaction in the fact that his computer system cannot identify him: the Doctor is apparently worthless. Having fixed Solomon’s legs, the Doctor takes over Rory’s call from Amy; learning how the ship is devoid of Silurians, the Doctor asks the now-mobile Solomon of the whereabouts of its crew. When Solomon gloats about his robots jettisoning the cryo-sleeping Silurians into space so that he could steal the cargo of dinosaurs, the Doctor is appalled: he accuses the man of the crimes of piracy and genocide. Realising that Solomon has been unable to stop the ship from fulfilling its pre-programmed instructions to return to Earth, the Doctor informs the pirate of the impending missile attack; but Solomon refuses to believe the threat, so the Doctor, Rory and Brian make a break for freedom. Grabbing a ride from their pal the stegosaurus, they manage to evade the robots as they open fire on them. Having evaded their pursuers – and fallen off the dinosaur – the Doctor receives a message from Indira at the I.S.A.: with just thirty minutes remaining she has no choice but to continue with the missile launch, and refuses to listen to the Time Lord’s pleas to call off the attack. Back in the jungle room, Riddell arms himself and Amy with some tranquiliser guns that he has found; together they prepare to defend themselves from approaching dinosaurs. As the Doctor frantically tries to think of what to do next, Solomon and his robots teleport in; the trader has a new plan, now wanting to ditch the dinosaurs in favour of a greater prize: Nefertiti. Solomon orders the Doctor to hand over the Egyptian Queen, reinforcing his demands by instructing a robot to kill the triceratops. The Doctor is saddened by the death of the magnificent creature, but he still refuses to comply with the pirate’s demands. At that moment the teleport activates, transporting Nefertiti, Amy and Riddell into the chamber; Nefertiti is willing to go with Solomon, believing herself to be in debt to the Doctor for saving her people. Happy at obtaining his new bounty, Solomon teleports back to his ship with his two robots – just as the Silurian ship’s systems detect the missile lock. With just seventeen minutes to destruction, the Doctor teleports himself, Amy, Rory, Brian and Riddell to the ship’s control deck. With Riddell standing guard outside, the Doctor uses the computer to magnetise the hull to stop Solomon from escaping in his ship. When the Doctor notes that the Silurian ship has parallel pilot compartments that are bio-configured to operate with identical gene patterns, Brian makes a suggestion: he and Rory can pilot the ship. Elated by the idea, the Doctor hurries the two Williams into their chairs and instructs them to take the ship as far away from Earth as possible. As the Doctor works on the ship’s controls, Amy confesses her worry that he will never come back for her; the Doctor just laughs: Amy and Rory will always be part of his life. Happy again, Amy grabs a gun and goes to help Riddell, who is clearly enjoying himself fighting an oncoming pack of velociraptors. Leaving Rory and his dad to fly the ship, the Doctor teleports away… Back at the I.S.A., Indira learns that the approaching vessel has changed trajectory; however, it changes nothing – the missiles are still locked on to it… Arriving in Solomon’s control room, the Doctor short-circuits the two robots and then watches with satisfaction as Queen Nefertiti overpowers her captor. Accessing the pirate’s computer, the Doctor disables the ship’s signal and replaces it with that of the Silurian ship; leaving behind the module that the I.S.A.’s missiles have locked onto, the Doctor and Nefertiti leave Solomon to his much-deserved fate. Powerless to stop his ship from launching, Solomon screams in fury as the I.S.A. missiles close in and then blow him to pieces… With the velociraptors dealt with by Amy and Rory, and both the ship and Earth now safe, the Doctor is all for dropping off the dinosaurs and then resuming his travels in the TARDIS with his gang. Rory and Amy ask to go home, but Brian has other plans… Sometime later, the Doctor, Amy and Rory look on as Brian sits in the doorway of the TARDIS, watching the Earth suspended in space below as he enjoys a cup of tea and sandwich….

Later: having dropped Riddell and Nefertiti back in the African Plains of 1902, where they plan to hunt together (as well as other things), the Doctor takes Rory and Amy back home. Over the coming months the couple receive lots of postcards from Brian, now happily travelling around the globe on adventures of his own. They also get postcards from the Doctor, whose adventures are just mad as always…

Matt Smith (The Doctor), Karen Gillan (Amy Pond), Arthur Darvill (Rory Williams), Rupert Graves (John Riddell), Mark Williams (Brian Williams), David Bradley (Solomon), Riann Steele (Queen Nefertiti), Sunetra Sarker (Indira), Noel Byrne (Robot 1), Richard Garaghty (Robot 2), Richard Hope (Bleytal), Rudi Dharmalingam (ISA Worker), David Mitchell (Robot 1 Voice), Robert Webb (Robot 2 Voice)

Directed by Saul Metzstein
Produced by Marcus Wilson
Executive Producers Steven Moffat and Caroline Skinner
A BBC Wales production

TX (BBC 1 & BBC 1 HD):
8th September 2012 @ 7.35 pm

Notes:
*Featuring the Eleventh Doctor, Amy and Rory

*Like the previous episode, 'Asylum of the Daleks', the logo for this episode is updated to reflect the story, this time with a lizard skin texture

*Watch out for the ankylosaurs cracking the camera lens!