The power of three

A doctor is a traveler in space and time. It looks like a man, but belongs to the race of the Time Lords from the planet Gallifrey . Representatives of his race have the ability to regenerate (reborn) as they get into fatal situations, as a result of which their appearance and partially their character completely change. The Doctor is the last Time Lord. Deprived of his home, he saves other worlds, including humanity ^[1] .

As a way of transportation, the Doctor uses TARDIS ( TARDIS - T ime A nd R elative D imension (s) I n S pace) - a living time machine (and at the same time a spaceship ) that looks like an English blue police booth of the 1960s, but containing much more than it seems (“it is more inside than outside”) ^[2] . As an improvised tool for performing small operations with objects (locking and unlocking locks, fixing devices, scanning something, etc.), the Doctor uses a sound screwdriver . In addition, he has a non-human intellect ^[1] .

Starting from the fifth season of the television series (2010), the Doctor, or rather, his eleventh incarnation, travels with his new companion named Amelia Pond , who appeared in the opening episode of the fifth season of the “ Eleventh Hour ” ^[3] . Also traveling with them (in the fifth season from time to time, starting from the sixth - constantly) is Amy's groom (and later husband), Rory Williams , who became one of the few male companions ^[4] .

Synopsis

Amy and Rory are trying to get used to the fact that they no longer travel with the Doctor. One night, mysterious black cubes appeared all over the world that seem to just do nothing, but they cannot be destroyed. The next day, the Doctor appears, who are interested in these small cubes, and after him appear the fighters of the organization, led by Kate Stewart, the organization’s scientific adviser and daughter of the team leader Lethbridge Stewart . Kate explains that no one has any idea about the purpose of the cubes, so they need the help of the Doctor. The doctor accepts the offer, but after several days have passed without changing the behavior of the cubes, he is ready to climb the wall from boredom. Tired of waiting, the Time Lord transfers responsibility for observing alien objects to Rory's father, Brian, and he flies off to the TARDIS .

The following year, Amy and Rory live a normal life: Amy manages to be a bridesmaid at a friend's wedding, and Rory is hired to the hospital full time. On the anniversary of their wedding, the Doctor reappears and takes his companions on a seven-week trip, although they were formally absent from the party for only a few minutes. Brian understands everything and secretly asks the Doctor what happened to those who traveled with him before Amy and Rory, to which the Time Lord replies: “Some left me, some left me, and some, few, but nevertheless they died” - and promises that Amy and Rory will not suffer. Mankind gradually forgets about the day of arrival of the cubes, geometric "intruders" become ornaments. household items, coasters, etc. Once in the hospital where Rory works, an unknown girl uses a cube to control orderlies that capture some patients.

Exactly one year after its arrival, the cubes unexpectedly activate - the Brian cube began to bounce, Amy's cube poked her palm with needles and measured her pulse, one of the faces opens and closes on Rory’s cube, and the Doctor’s cube soars, shoots with radiation weapons and downloads information from network. Rory also receives a call to the hospital, as many wounded by cubes of people turned there for help. Brian goes with him to help. Meanwhile, Doctors and Amy are called to the Tower of London , under which the main UNIT base is located, and they find out that each cube behaves individually, protecting itself or receiving information from the environment. However, later the number 7 appears on all the cubes and the countdown begins every minute - the Doctor understands that the cubes are still part of the invasion. Meanwhile, orderlies are seizing at Brian’s hospital, and Rory, chasing them, finds in the elevator a portal to the ship in Earth’s orbit.

The doctor, Amy, and UNIT wait until the end of the countdown and see how all the cubes open. Initially, it seems that there is nothing inside them, but then reports from the whole world about sudden heart attacks begin to come. The Doctor also had such an attack - one of the hearts ceases to work for him - and he understands that the cubes, opening, send an electric signal to the one who is closest and stops his heart. Having tracked the signal arriving at the cubes, Kate and UNIT not only identify several signal sources, but also determine the closest of them - Rory Hospital. Amy and the weakened Doctor go there and when they get there, Amy uses the defibrillator to launch the Time Lord his broken heart. After they both find the girl managing the orderlies, neutralize her and find the portal in the elevator.

On board the ship, Amy saves Brian and Rory, and the Doctor gets to the computer and finds a hologram of Shakri, a representative of the race from the legends of Gallifrey . The hologram explains to him that their goal is to destroy humanity before it goes into space and populates other people's worlds. In this regard, the Chakri is preparing a second wave of cubes, since the first killed only a third of the population. However, the Doctor destroys the alien plans by changing the settings of the new cubes so that they restart the hearts of people who died from the first wave of people. After everyone leaves the ship, since the feedback from the cubes is about to destroy the ship. The world is returning to normal life, and the Doctor is preparing to leave. Brian persuades Amy and Rory to go with him, as this is an opportunity not to be missed. The Time Lord and his companions say goodbye to Rory's father and fly to the TARDIS.

Link to other series

• In a conversation with Brian, the Doctor says that some of his companions died - this is a reference to Sarah Kingd , and Adrik ^[5] .
• In one scene, the Doctor, Amy, and Rory eat custard fish fingers, which is a reference to the Eleventh Hour series ^{[6] [7]} .
• On the wedding anniversary of Amy and Rory, the Doctor takes them to the newly opened Savoy Hotel, under which, as it turned out, the Zygon ship was hiding. Zygons are the main antagonists of the series about the adventures of the Fourth Doctor “ Zygon Terror ” and the special issue dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the series “ Doctor 's Day ” ^[8] .
• UNIT uses the Tower of London as its main base. In addition to The Force of Three, this was reported in the episodes Christmas Invasion ^[9] and The Sontaran Plan ^[10] .
• The doctor mentions that he had a metal dog that knew how to soar - this is a reference to K-9, the robotic dog of the Fourth Doctor.

The working title of this episode was “Cube” ^[11] , but it was later decided that it would be called “The Power of Three” ^[12] . The script for the series was written by Chris Chibnell , who had previously worked on several episodes of Doctor Who ( 42 , Hungry Earth / Cold Blood ) and his spin-off , Torchwood series ^{[13] [14]} . In addition, the scriptwriter's previous work was “ Dinosaurs on a Spaceship ”, as well as “Power of Three”, which are part of the first half of the seventh season ^[15] . Chibnell described his script as “one big excellent story of an invasion of Earth”, told from the perspective of Amy and Rory, the story of the Doctor’s influence on their lives ^[15] . He also mentioned that at a briefing with Moffat , he said: “Living with the Doctor is the same as becoming a character of the“ “in the style of“ Doctor Who “” ^[15] . Chibnell decided to use this idea, also inspired by the incident with the container ship ^[15] . In addition, the performer of the role of the Doctor, Matt Smith, asked to add a scene where he expressed his personal aversion to the social network Twitter - in the past, the actor decided not to deal with social networks ^[16] .

According to the scriptwriter’s decision, the fighters of the UNIT organization returned in the episode - for the first time this organization appeared in the 1968 episode “ Invasion ” and subsequently its staff regularly collaborated with the Third Doctor (performed by John Pertwi ) ^[17] . The series reveals that UNIT is now managed by Kate Stewart, the daughter of Team Leader Lethbridge Stewart, who previously appeared in direct-to-video branch films ( and ), both in the role of Kate Stewart starred actress Beverly Cressman. ^[8] The team leader himself had already died at the time of the events, as mentioned in the “ River River Wedding ” - this mention was added to the script for the final of the sixth season after Nicholas Courtney , who played the role of Lethbridge-Stuart, died in early 2011 ^[18] . Matt Smith liked working with Gemma Redgrave , he described her as “elegant, funny, charming and absolutely amazing” ^[17] .

Filming began on April 27, 2012 at , Cardiff ^[5] . “The Power of Three” is the only episode of the third production block ^[19] and the only one with the participation of Karen Gillan and Arthur Darville, in connection with which the series became the last for the actors ^[20] . After the last scene was shot in which Ponds say goodbye to Brian and enter the TARDIS ^[5] , Smith, Gillan and Darville hugged and burst into tears ^{[21] [22]} . Subsequently, some scenes featuring Amy and Rory were re-shot in June and July 2012. ^{[11] [23]} According to producer Marcus Wilson, for the episode “a hundred” layouts of black cubes were made and “even more” was created on a computer ^[24] . Filming near the Tower of London caused some difficulties due to preparations for the Summer Olympic Games in London . Later it was decided to shoot these scenes in the studio and combine with another video to create the illusion of the location of Amy and the Doctor near the Tower. The Power of Three also featured a cameo of Brian Cox and Baron Sugar - both of whom are longtime fans of the show. ^[25] Sugar’s appearance, in fact, was a specially recorded fragment of his program, , in which the director of the episode, , played the role of the fired employee ^[24] .

The premiere of "Power of Three" took place on September 22, 2012 on the British channels BBC One and BBC One HD ^[26] . Ratings of the evening showed that 5.49 million Britons watched the episode live ^[27] . After calculating the overall rating, this figure increased to 7.67 million viewers - this put the series on 13th place among the hits on British television of that day and 5th place on the BBC One channel ^[28] . On the online service, “The Power of Three” gained 1.3 million views, losing the lead to its three predecessors, “ Isolator of the Far Away ,” “Dinosaurs on a Spaceship” and “A City Called Mercy ” ^[29] . was 87 points out of 100 ("excellent") ^[30] .

Criticism and reviews

The Power of Three received mostly positive reviews. Dan Martin, a reviewer for The Guardian , stated that he “loved the hell of every moment” of the episode, calling it “nostalgia for the best qualities of the Russell T Davis era series” ^[8] . At the same time, he noted that in the episode “there are many flaws in the [Davis] series - the finale was so weak that even the magic button could not explain it - but“ The Power of Three, in every sense, is magnificent ” ^[8] . Niela Debnat, writing for The Independent , praised everything related to the normal life of Ponds, Amy and Rory themselves, as well as the appearance of Kate Stewart and her connection with Team Leader Lethbridge Stewart ^[31] .

Patrick Malkern of Radio Times described the series as a “beautifully shot TV episode,” and welcomed the appearance of Kate Stewart, calling it “a great addition.” However, at the same time, the reviewer admitted that “he did not always understand the motives of the Doctor’s actions” ^[24] . Keith Phipps, a critic at The AV Club , rated The Power of Three a B + rating. Despite the fact that he called the plot “fairly standard” and “somewhat predictable”, he acknowledged that the idea with cubes and “slow invasion” was “realized with skill” ^[6] . Matt Riesley, IGN , rated the episode 8 out of 10, commenting on the fact that the first three quarters of the series were “just brilliant” because of the abundance of emotions and good humor ^[32] . However, he sharply criticized the “decisions made in a hurry” and the fact that the reasons why the aliens were in the hospital were not disclosed ^[32] . Morgan Jeffrey, a Digital Spy reviewer, gave the series four out of five stars, calling it the “emotional, funny, and meaningful Doctor Who series,” despite the frustrating plot ^[33] .

According to Russell Lewin of SFX, the episode is worthy of three and a half stars and may be considered Chris Chibnell’s best work for Doctor Who. Although he noted that “the finale always fails ... Like here,” the critic acknowledged “the presence of some excellent points,” such as the emergence of UNIT and good humor ^[34] . Gavin Fuller, The Daily Telegraph , rated Power of Three the lowest of all - only two and a half stars. The critic himself called the episode “water”, which displays the events of the next episode ^[35] , its first twenty minutes - “crowded”, “massive, but not enough”; he also noted that no explanation was given for the incidents in the hospital ^[35] . Nevertheless, he praised the moments of communication between the Time Lord and his companions and admitted that, despite the banal and disappointing finale, he enjoyed the “countdown and mystery of the cubes” ^[35] .

• Graeme Burk, Robert Smith. Who's 50: The 50 Doctor Who Stories to Watch Before You Die — An Unofficial Companion . - Toronto: ECW Press, 2013 .-- P. 379-383. - 420 p. - ISBN 978-1-77090-475-0 .
• Graeme Burk, Robert Smith. Who Is the Doctor: The Unofficial Guide to Doctor Who-The New Series . - Toronto: ECW Press, 2012 .-- 421 p. - ISBN 978-1-55022-984-4 .
• Gillian I. Leitch, Sherry Ginn. Who Travels With the Doctor ?: Essays on the Companions of Doctor Who . - Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2016 .-- 180 p. - ISBN 978-0-78649-525-2 .

• The Power of Three on the Tardis Data Core external wiki
• The Power of Three on the official website of Doctor Who

Criticism

• Dowell, Ben Doctor Who tribute to Brigadier actor Nicholas Courtney (neopr.) . The Guardian (September 30, 2011). Date of treatment September 23, 2012. Archived September 6, 2013.
• Hogan, Michael Karen Gillan 'in denial' about leaving Doctor Who (neopr.) . The Daily Telegraph (August 14, 2012). Date of treatment August 18, 2012. Archived on September 6, 2013.
• Martin, Dan Doctor Who: The Power of Three - series 33, episode four (neopr.) . The Guardian (September 22, 2012). Date of treatment September 23, 2012. Archived September 6, 2013.
• Debnath, Neela Review of Doctor Who 'The Power of Three' (unopened) (link not available) . The Independent (September 22, 2012). Date of treatment September 23, 2012. Archived September 6, 2013.