Oxygen (TV Story)

Hilary Salmon

***Oxygen*** was the fourth serial of Season 52 of *Doctor Who*. It was written by Jamie Mathieson, directed by Charles Palmer and starred Damien Molony as the Fourteenth Doctor & Joana Borja as Felicity Wilson.

## Synopsis

The Doctor & Felicity investigate a strange space station, but are interrupted by walking dead in spacesuits... will they make it out alive? And how much does air actually cost?

## Cast

* The Doctor - Damien Molony
* Felicity Wilson - Joana Borja
* Ivan - Kieran Bew
* Tasker - Justin Salinger
* Dahh-Ren - Peter Caulfield
* Abby - Mimi Ndiweni
* Ellie - Katie Brayben

## References

### Chemistry

* The boiling point of water is much lower in a vacuum.
* Electrolysis is splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen.

### Biology

* The Doctor intentionally "maxes out" Felicity's adrenaline as "fear keeps you fast." Fear also causes an acceleration in breathing, though, which would constitute a waste of oxygen credits while on Chasm Forge.
* When the suits kill the crew, they deactivate the organic component and disable the central nervous system.
* Felicity wonders what happens if she were to throw up in the space helmet.
* After having been exposed to the vacuum of space, Felicity suffers from oxygen deprivation.
* The Doctor says he has spare eyes in the TARDIS, though they're from lizards, though the validity of this claim is never brought up.

### Technology

* The space helmets experience an error on the Radio Com Channel.
* The Doctor calls distress calls "[his] theme tune", and emphasises that "[he] only [sees] the true face of the universe when it's asking for [his] help."
* Chasm Forge uses artificial gravity.
* The Doctor is happy that the "space doors", as Felicity calls them, are of a classic design. They have pressure seals and hinges. He and Felicity disagree on whether space doors should go "shuck-shuck" or groan like these do.
* The smartsuits employed at Chasm Forge uses gyro stabilisers, magnetic boots and gloves, and has on-board computers. According to the Doctor, it can run, jump and update one's Facebook. They also have force fields to keep the air in, and oxygen tanks for air supply. The suits' AI have "limited problem solving".
* The Smartsuits have unfolding helmets.
* To send the distress call, the miners boosted a smartsuit through the dish.
* The Smartsuits uses a Powercell to get into the Power Core.
* The Doctor hacks into the Coolant System.
* The Doctor likens the Smartsuits to an algorithm and a spreadsheet.

### Medicine

* The Doctor claims he has "stuff in [the TARDIS] that'll cure anything", though he is unable to completely heal his eyes.

### TARDIS

* The air shell emanating from the TARDIS can provide oxygen to enough of the space station for the TARDIS crew to stroll around.

### Travelling

* The Doctor compares going to outer space to camping, and refers to tents and campsites.
* Felicity asks if there are reviews for space locations, like there are online for restaurants.

### Units of measurement

* Distance is measured in average breaths, rather than in metres.

### Locations

* Chasm Forge is a mining station in outer space. It has a crew of 40.
* The TARDIS crew gets trapped in the repair station.
* The surviving workers ask the Doctor to drop them off at head office.

### Business and economics

* The smartsuits are made by Ganymede Systems.
* Ganymede provides oxygen for personal use only, charging credits for air, and making breathing into a capitalist endeavour. Unauthorised oxygen is automatically expelled, to protect market value.
* The Doctor sees the endpoint of capitalism as "a bottom line where human life has no value at all".
* According to the psychic paper, TARDIS crew is from the Union.

#### Currency

* The Chasm Forge crew has to pay oxygen credits to stay alive.

#### Resources

* Chasm Forge is a station for mining copper ore.
* The managers of Chasm Forge are seeking a bottom line for oxygen usage, and are seemingly prepared to kill off and replace workers if they're using too much of it.

### Foods and beverages

* The Doctor says that it takes five minutes to "boil the hell out of an egg."
* Felicity mentions lasagna when giving examples of what a restaurant review is.
* The Doctor tells Dahh-Ren he sent him out for a latté.
* The Doctor says the phrase "the universe is your crustacean".

### People

* As a result of saving Felicity from dying through exposure to the vacuum, the Doctor has now become blind. His eyes were healed at the end of the story.

### Time Lords

* Time Lords can survive in the vacuum of space longer than humans can.

### Literature

* The Doctor says, "Death, where is thy sting?", quoting the First Epistle to the Corinthians in the New Testament.

### Culture

* The Doctor mentions, amongst other things the smartsuits can do, updating Facebook.
* Dahh-Ren cannot understand why Felicity would experience racism herself. He suspects her to be racist because of her reaction to his blue skin.
* The Doctor insinuates that the purpose of jokes, in general, is to distract people from whatever's about to kill them.
* The Doctor jokes that "too many rescue ships" is a "first-world problem".
* The Doctor quips that he thought he was just tweeting, rather than locking the crew out of the subroutine.
* Felicity wonders whether the deceased man in the working suit has "his tunes on", when he doesn't respond.

## Continuity

* Time Lords can survive in a vacuum for limited periods of time far longer than humans can. (TV: *Four to Doomsday*) The Eleventh Doctor once said he had "a knack" for it. (COMIC: *Interstellar Overdrive*)
* The Doctor and his companions are almost sucked into the vacuum of space. (TV: *The Daleks' Master Plan*, *The Impossible Planet*)
* The sonic screwdriver is broken. (TV: *The Visitation, The Night of New Life*)
* The TARDIS extends its airshell so those around the outside of it can breathe. (TV: *The Beast Below*)
* The Doctor says that fear is good, as it keeps one fast. (TV: *The Angels of the Dark*) He previously described it as a generator of savagery. (TV: *Kelsey's Choice*)

## Home video releases

### DVD

* This story along with the other stories in Season 52 were released as *Doctor Who: The Complete Fifty-Second Season* in 2016.

### Blu-ray

* This story along with the other stories in Season 52 were released as *Doctor Who: The Complete Fifty-Second Season* on Blu-ray in 2016.