Class 01-01: For Tonight We Might Die

A Guide to Classic Who references (and other references) in New Who including in Class episodes.

Class series 1, episode 1 (story 1) in which we meet the students of Coal Hill Academy.

Warning: May contain Spoilers for

"For Tonight We May Die"

References:

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

For context, the following are also covered:
[1ST] - Things that appear for the first time in this episode.

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

This episode:

• [OLD]  Coal Hill Academy - Formerly Coal Hill Secondary School, the school appeared in classic series (the first episode "An Unearthly Child" (Season 1) and the 25th Anniversary "Remembrance of the Daleks" (Season 25)).  It was also the school that Clara Oswald taught at beginning in "The Day of the Doctor" (50 Anniversary Special) throughout Series 8 and in "The Magician's Apprentice" and "The Woman Who Lived" (both Series 9).

• [1ST]  Shadow Kin - First appearance of this race.

• [1ST]  Displacement gun - First appearance of this weapon.

• [NEW]  Mr Armitage - Headteacher of Coal Hill Secondary School, appearing in this role in a couple of Series 8 episodes.

• [1ST]  Homeworld - Presumably the first appearance of this unnamed world.

• [1ST]  Rodia - First appearance of this race.

• [1ST]  Quill - First appearance of this race.

• [1ST]  Arn - First mention of this creature.

• [OLD]  TARDIS - Has been appearing on and off in Doctor Who since the first episode.  Although the theme played is the Tenth's Doctor's theme, the TARDIS shown has the St John's Ambulance logo on the door, a feature of the First, Second, Eleventh and Twelfth Doctor's TARDIS.

• [OLD]  The Doctor - The central character of both series of Doctor Who.  This is the Twelfth Doctor.

• [NEW]  The caretaker - A role the Doctor briefly held in the not-coincidentally named series 8 episode "The Caretaker."  It is also a role he was asked if he was applying for in the classic Who episode "Remembrance of the Daleks" (Season 25) when investigating the school in 1963.

• [OLD] Last of their species - The Doctor is friend and foe of many of these and has thought himself one.  Such meetings include:
• Davros - At the time of their second meeting ("Destiny of the Daleks" (Season 17)) Davros  as the last of the Kaleds, the race having been destroyed in "Genesis of the Daleks" (Season 12) and replaced by the Daleks that evolved from them.
• Scaroth - Is believed to be the last of the Jagaroth in "City of Death" (Season 17).  The Doctor is given the choice of the survival of the Jargaroth or life forming on Earth, leading to the supposed extinction of the Jagaroth.
• Delta - At the time of the episode "Delta and the Bannermen" (Season 24) she was the last Chimeron, with the rest being wiped out by the Bannermen.  The episode ends with hope of the continuation of the race.
• The Doctor - For much of the time the new series, the Doctor thought he was the last of his race, believing he'd destroyed them in the Time War before "Rose" (Series 1).  Until "The Day of the Doctor" (50th Anniversary Special) it was only when he knew that the Master was alive ("Utopia," "The Sound of Drums," "Last of the Time Lords" (Series 3) and "End of Time Part 1" and "Part 2" (2009 Specials)) that he knew otherwise.
• Cassandra - Claimed herself to be, by her genetic standards, the last human ("End of the World" (Series 1) and "New Earth" (Series 2)).  She had a mostly antagonistic relationship with the Doctor.
• The Metaltron - was believed by the Doctor, and believed itself to be, the last Dalek in "Dalek" (Series 1).
• Chantho -  was the last Malmoth as the universe was dying off in "Utopia" (Series 3).
•  The Star Whale - The species was assumed to be extinct when the last of the Star Whales came to save Britain from the solar flares destroying Earth in the 29th Century.  ("The Beast Below" (Series 5).
• The Teller - was assumed to be the last of its kind in "Time Heist" (Series 8), although it wasn't.

• [1ST]  The Cabinet of Souls - First appearance of this object.

• [OLD]  Genocide - Article 7 of Gallifreyan law states that genocide is unconditionally punishable by death.  In this episode the Doctor term the eradication of the Hath on this planet as being genocide (although, you'd have to assume that they existed elsewhere in the universe).  Given that definition of genocide, though, the Doctor has been responsible for it a few times:
• "The Daleks" (Season 1) the First Doctor led a Thal attack to wipe out  the Daleks stuck on Skaro.  At the time it was assumed that were the only Daleks in the universe.
• "City of Death" (Season 17) the Fourth Doctor stopped Scaroth, last of the Jagaroth, from using time travel to save his crew when the last known Jagaroth ship (the rest had been wiped out in a war with another race) exploded.
• "State of Decay" (Season 18) the Fourth Doctor killed the King of the Vampires, the last of the Great Vampires, a race who had been wiped out in a war with the Time Lords.
• "Terror of the Vervoids" (Season 23) when put on trial by the Time Lords, the Sixth Doctor was found to have wiped out the Vervoids. 
• "Remembrance of the Daleks" (Season 25) causes Skaro's sun to go supernova, destroying the planet (and a large portion of the Daleks).

• [OLD]  Sonic Screwdriver - A device regularly used by the Doctor.

• [OLD]  Artron Emissions - Artron energy residue is linked to characters who have traveled through the time vortex.  In the Fifth Doctor story "Four to Doomsday" (Season 19) the Doctor mentions it having something to do with the functioning of the TARDIS.  In "The Caretaker" (Series 8) the Doctor mentioned of that an alien robot at Coal Hill was "A Skovox Blitzer. One of the deadliest killing machines ever created. Probably homed in here because of artron emissions. You've had enough of them in this area over the years."

• [1ST]  Lothan - First mention of this race.

• [OLD]  Barbara Wright - "The Barbara Wright Building" is named after a history teacher at Coal Hill School who traveled with the First Doctor from "An Unearthly Child"  (Season 1) until "The Chase" (Season 2).

Coal Hill School Memorial Board:

• [OLD]  Foreman, S. - Sue Foreman, the Doctor's granddaughter, was a student at Coal Hill in the first episode ("An Unearthly Child"  (Season 1)).  She disappeared with a pair of teachers (who later return) in 1963.

• [NEW]  Dunlop, A. - A teacher called Mr Dunlop appeared in "The Magician's Apprentice."  (Series 9). It is unclear if there is a connection, though, as this "A. Dunlop" appears to have died before Danny Pink, while Mr Dunlop appeared afterward.

• [NEW]  Pink, R. D. - Rupert Pink, who was usually known as Danny Pink, appeared throughout Series 8 of the new series, dying in "Dark Water."

• [NEW]  Osward, C. - Clara Oswald (no middle name), was a companion of the Doctor who first appeared in "The Snow Men" (Christmas 2013) and became the Doctor's companion in "The Bells of St John."  She died in "Face the Raven" and never returned to the school.  The Doctor doesn't quite remember her, as referenced here.

~ DUG.

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