DW 09-09: Sleep No More

A Guide to Classic Who references in new Who.

Doctor Who series 9 episode 9 - The Doctor and Clara visit a space station where they've found a way to get rid of sleep.

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.

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.

• [NEW]  Psychic Paper - Used by the Doctor as fake ID, first appeared in the new Who episode "The End of the World."  It was used as a way to contact the Doctor in "New Earth."  At least one employee at Torchwood One was trained to recognise it as psychic paper in "Army of Ghosts."  The Doctor noted in "The Shakespeare Code" that William Shakespeare's ability to not see anything on the psychic paper proved he was a genius.

• [NEW] Sonic Sunglasses - A sonic device that replaced the Doctor's famed Sonic Screwdriver and first appeared in "The Magician's Apprentice."

• [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).  Osgood mentions hearing a couple of versions, possibly refering to the use of "Dimensions"/"Dimension."  In Season 1's "An Unearthly Child" the Doctor's granddaughter Susan claimed to have invented the name, but later other Time Lords use it (although some call it a TT Capsule.)

This episode...

• [NEW] Triton - A moon of Neptune.  Possibly mentioned in the animated serial "The Infinite Quest" which features Baltazar: "King of Triton in the 40th century."

• [1ST] Grunt - First appearance of yet another slave race.

• [OLD]  Space Pirates - The Doctor has met space pirates before.  For example, there's a Season 6 story called "The Space Pirates."  It seems that "pirates" is one of those words that you can put the word space in front of, like "heater" and "bar."

• [OLD]  Even I sleep - It was suggested in novelisation of Season 4's "The Highlanders" that the Doctor only needed on hour sleep a night.  The series 6 extras "Night & the Doctor" expand upon this, showing what the Doctor does while Amy and Rory sleep, and the newly regenerated Doctor makes further claims in "Deep Breath."  He has, rarely, been shown sleeping, usually immedately post-regeneration as part of recovery or when drugged or otherwise forced.

• [OLD]  The Great Catastrophe - The Earth went through a number of these, but the episode's says it was the disaster that lead to some humans fleeing to Frontios in Season 21's "Frontios."

• [OLD] The Silurians - In "Doctor Who & the Silurians" (Season 7) the Doctor found a globe and files "with particular reference to the Silurian era."  It is he who later begins calling that story's monsters "The Silurians."  Because this era was unlikely to have produced humanoid dinosaurs, the Doctor stated in Season 9's "The Sea Devils":

That's a complete misnomer. The chap who discovered them must have got the period wrong. No, properly speaking, they should have been called the Eocenes.

~ DUG.

Other new Doctor Who episodes.

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.