DW 09-04: Before the Flood (Part 2)

A Guide to Classic Who references in new Who.

Doctor Who series 9 episode 4 - The Doctor goes back to the past of the area from Under the Lake.

References

[OLD] - Things that first appeared in the classic series (or the film.)  Episode List.

For context, the following are also covered:

[1ST] -  The first appearance of things in Doctor Who series.

[NEW] - Things that first appeared previously in the new series.

[TW] - Things that first appeared previously in Torchwood.

Ongoing References...

• [OLD] The Doctor - The main character.  Real name: unknown; actual age: unclear.  Status as a Medical Doctor:  Undetermined.  He is a Time Lord from the Planet Gallifrey

• [OLD]  The TARDIS - The Doctor's time and space travel vechicle.  TARDIS stands for Time And Relative Dimension(s) In Space.  Like a lot of Time Lord technology it is "bigger on the inside."  The Doctor stole his Tardis when fleeing Gallifrey.  It is an older model ("Type 40") and unreliable, often ending up in the wrong location and the chamleon circuit - designed to make the Tardis appear inconspicuous in any surroundings it appears has failed so it always appears as a police telephone box from 1960s England.   It is often implied to have a personality, which was given form in "The Doctor's Wife" and previously disliked Clara (who later entered the Doctor's time scar) and refused to visit Tranzelor (which had the Doctor's time scar and also had a future version of the TARDIS).

• [1ST] Magpie Electricals - The guitar amp used here (and in "The Magician's Apprentice" is made by Magpie Electricals, the company from "The Idiots Lantern."  It also appeared in "The Runaway Bride," "The Sound of Drums," "Voyage of the Damned," "The Eleventh Hour." "The Beast Below," "Vincent and the Doctor," and "Day of the Moon" as well as the Sarah Jane Adventures episode "Mark of the Berserker."

• [OLD]  It's bigger on the inside - Dimensionally transcendentality is a key Time Lord discovery allowing large spaces into smaller ones, like the TARDIS.  This usually leads to people saying "It's bigger on the inside" when they first enter the machine.  

• [OLD]  The cloister bell - A TARDIS warning which sounds when the TARDIS, the universe or both are in danger.  In the previous episode it sounded when the ghosts changed the shift from day to night leading the Doctor to blame ghosts.

• [NEW] Sonic Sunglasses - A sonic device that replaced the Doctor's famed Sonic Screwdriver in "The Magician's Apprentice."  In seems they do wi-fi.

• [OLD] UNIT - A paramilitary force, set up after the invasion of the London Underground by robot Yeti controlled by the Great Intelligence.  Called United Nations Intelligence Taskforce in the classic series and initially in the new series of Doctor Who until the real world UN complained.  It is now called the UNified Intelligence Taskforce.

From Part 1...

• [NEW] Spaceship - First seen in the previous episode.

• [NEW] Trivoli - The homeworld of the Tivolian a race who love to be overthrown, a member of which (Gibbis) appeared in "The God Complex."

This episode...

• [NEW] I've met Beethoven - The Tenth Doctor suggested he'd spent time with Beethoven, noting (in "The Lazarus Experiment") about his ability to play an organ:

Oh, well, you know, if you hang around with Beethoven, you're bound to pick a few things up. 

• [OLD] Bootstraps Paradox - Also know as an ontological paradox is a causal loop within an predestination paradox.  These have occured often in Doctor Who, including (despite the Doctor's initial refusal to do so) the First Doctor giving the Greeks the idea of the Trojan Horse in Season 3's "The Myth Makers."  The term comes from the expression "pulling onceself you by thier own bootstraps" which is attributed to Rudolf Erich Raspe's "The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen" (although he pulls himself up by his own hair) and was popularised as a time travel term by the Robert A Heinlein story "By His Own Bootstraps.

• [NEW] Rose - The companion to the Ninth and Tenth Doctors.  She first appeared in 'Rose."  That episode also featured her first trip in the TARDIS, although her first few jumps through time didn't occur until the beginning of "The End of the World."

• [NEW] Amy - A companion of the Eleventh Doctor.  She first appeaed in "The Eleventh Hour."  Her first trip through time occured in "Meanwhile in the TARDIS" (1) between "The Eleventh Hour" and "The Beast Below."

• [NEW] Martha - A companion of the Tenth Doctor.  She first appeared in "Smith & Jones" and her first trip through time happens at the end of that episode.

• [NEW] Harold Saxon - An identity the Master used in 2008 during which time he became the UK Prime Minister.

• [1ST] Ministry of War - First mention of this Department of the British Government.  Historically the War Office was the closest this the UK had to something with that name and was the department in charge of the Army before being combined with the Admiralty (Navy) and Air Ministry (Air Force) to form the Ministry of Defence. Whatever it will be, it sounds ominous.

• [NEW]  The Moon 8and the big bat coming out - The events of "Kill the Moon" in 2049.

• [1ST] The Fisher King - In Arthurian legend, the Fisher king was the last in a long line of kings who guarded the Holy Grail and not a giant sea monster.

• [TW] Arcateenian - First mentioned in the Torchwood episode "Cyberwoman" as a mostly liquid race called Arcans, they later appeared in "Greeks Bearing Gifts" (Torchwood) and "The Invasion of the Bane" (The Sarah Jane Adventures).  Sarah Jane considered them a truly benevolent race of beings" but a fugitive member of their race claimed that they were savage and had the death penalty for every crime.

• [NEW]  Security Protocol 712 - Activated by a DVD in "Blink" not the Echelon circuit as it was this time.  it is similar to Emergency Program One which appeared in "The Parting of the Ways."

~ DUG.

Other new Doctor Who episodes.

Now kiss.

The Time Crash blog was created to help New Who fans understand Classic Who references - and to know if something isn't a reference but a new idea.  If there's a reference I missed or a subject that you feel needs more explaining, please comment.