History Recap / DoctorWhoS37E5TheTsurangaConundrum

This episode aired on November 4, 2018. Written by Creator/ChrisChibnall.

-->'''Doctor:''' "You're probably wondering why I called you all here. Sorry, bit Poirot."

-->'''The Doctor:''' "I'm not being hostile!"\\
'''Astos:''' "Yes, you are! You're being hostile and selfish. There are patients on board who need to get to ''Rhesus 1'' as a matter of urgency. My job is to keep all of you safe. You're stopping me from doing that."

* FutureImperfect: For some reason, "Avocado Pear" has gone down in history as the name of one of Earth's greatest heroes, at least in Gifftan records. Graham and Ryan correct Yoss that those are foods.

The Doctor, Ryan, Graham and Yaz are searching a LandfillBeyondTheStars for something with metal detectors, when Graham uncovers a sonic mine that's about to go off. Unfortunately, it can't be defused in time, and they all wake up in a hospital. Well, actually, it's a Tsuranga space ambulance, which picked them up after being alerted to their medical emergency via remote drones. It's bringing the Doctor, her companions, and two other patients to a hospital called Rhesus 1. The Doctor initially attempts to turn the ship around so she can get back to the TARDIS, but after the chief medic, Astos, points out that she's being selfish, she realizes he's right and stops. The ship is, however, having to take a new route on the edge of disputed territory to get to the hospital.

As the Doctor works to figure out what the Pting wants and get everyone safely to Rhesus 1, the other patients have their own problems: Yoss is about to have a baby he's not sure he wants to keep, and celebrated war hero General Eve Cicero is trying to hide the truth about her medical condition from her brother and everyone else. The Doctor eventually deduces that the Pting feeds on energy, so as Yaz and android Ronan defend the ship's antimatter core, and Graham and Ryan are roped into serving as Yoss's doulas (a real-world term for a non-medical assistant for a birth) while Mabli delivers his baby. The General sacrifices herself to fly the ship to safety through a quicker but more difficult and dangerous route, which her heart can't take. The Doctor feeds the ship's self-destruct bomb to the Pting, giving it a very good meal that should keep it from endangering anyone else for a long time, and the General's brother takes the ship home for the final stretch. At the end, as the ship is being decontaminated before everyone can be admitted to the hospital, they gather round to say a few words for General Cicero.

* AccidentalMurder: The Pting was only interested in eating the energy from the life pods. Astos was merely in the wrong place at the wrong time when it was jettisoned.
* AcePilot: The General used to be one of the best pilots in her military — and although it has been a while, it seems she still is.

* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: The General and her brother have a moment of this as he sets her up to pilot the ship, with him admitting that he regrets not telling her he loves her more and how proud he is of her.

* BizarreAlienReproduction: Among Gifftans, men give birth to boys and women give birth to girls. We don't see how the women give birth, but males are pregnant for only a week, have a "birthing sac" that must be painlessly cut open to extract the baby, and are born with two umbilical cords. For his part, Yoss's reaction to finding out that human reproduction doesn’t work like Gifftans' is a weirded out "Ew".
* CelebrityParadox: Graham mentions ''Series/CallTheMidwife'', a show that shares several actors with ''Doctor Who'', including former lead actress Creator/JessicaRaine, who doubles down on the paradox as she played Creator/VerityLambert, ''Doctor Who'''s original producer, in the docudrama ''Film/AnAdventureInSpaceAndTime'', about the ''making'' of ''Doctor Who''. The paradox also triples down that Raine had ''also'' guest-starred in ''Doctor Who'' [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E9Hide four seasons earlier]], just ''before'' the docudrama.
** On the flip side, not too long ''after'' this episode aired, ''Call the Midwife'' had Creator/JackShalloo, who played Yoss in this episode, appear in its Christmas special. Following this, ''Call the Midwife'' would also occassionally reference to ''Doctor Who'' by showing some of the characters watching episodes that did air during the time period.

** The stethoscope makes a reappearance, and she compares herself to [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E7TheUnicornAndTheWasp Poirot]].

* CouldSayItBut: In a downplayed example, Mabli says that she can't tell the Doctor about General Cicero's medical condition because of patient confidentiality, but suggests that she examine her so the Doctor will find out what Cicero's ''really'' suffering from.

* CuteMonster: The Pting only attacked the ship because it's hungry, and it looks surprisingly adorable for something so dangerous.

* DueToTheDead: At the end, everyone gathers around General Cicero's body to recite a prayer for her.

* FailedASpotCheck: The Doctor berates herself for this after wandering around the "hospital" looking for an exit and failing to notice the telltale engine vibrations signifying that she was on a spaceship.
* FamedInStory: General Cicero is a well-known war hero, and the Doctor mentions she's listed in the Book of Celebrants. Cicero has in turn heard of the Doctor, who has a whole ''volume'' in the book.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Ryan discusses his mum's death from a heart attack, and the strain this put on his relationship with his dad. This foreshadows General Cicero's death from pilot's heart, and Yoss's reluctance to raise a child.
* FreezeFrameBonus: When the Doctor and Mabli research the Pting in the ship's database, images of a Cyberman, an Ood, a Weeping Angel, a Slitheen, a Sontaran, a Silent, a classic-series Silurian, and a Zygon are briefly seen.
* FutureImperfect: For some reason, "Avocado Pear" has gone down in history as the name of one of Earth's greatest heroes, at least in Gifftan records. Graham and Ryan correct Yoss that those are foods. Of course, between the 21st and 67th Centuries there’s definitely some time for an Earth hero of that name to appear — with the popularity of avocados and strange names at the time of the episode airing, it wouldn’t even really be surprising if there was a [[https://www.babycenter.com/baby-names-avocado-925425.htm baby with the name Avocado]] in the present.
* HeelRealisation: The Doctor when Astos points out how selfish she's being by trying to turn the ship around to get back to the TARDIS when it's taking others to a hospital.
* HeroicSacrifice: The General has "Pilot's Heart", which is apparently some inability to regulate adrenaline. She dies when a big surge of it causes her a heart attack while she's attempting to manually pilot the ship to safety through an asteroid field.
* HeroicSelfDeprecation: Subverted when the Doctor initially denies being the one with a chapter in the Book of Celebrants, then can't resist adding that it was actually an entire volumne.
* HidingTheHandicap: General Cicero is not keen for anyone to know about her pilot's heart, partly because she doesn't want to worry her brother and partly because she doesn't think it the sort of condition a war hero should suffer from.

* IdiotBall: Astos, knowing that there is something dangerous lurking near the lifepod, steps inside when he sees that it seems to be malfunctioning. He gets locked in, ejected, and dies when the pod explodes. He lampshades it as a "rookie mistake".
* IKnowMortalKombat: Graham mentions that he knows how to properly assist with childbirth thanks to watching ''Series/CallTheMidwife''. Later {{subverted}} when he mentions to Ryan that he actually looked away during the gross bits.
* InnocuouslyImportantEpisode: Maybe not plotwise, but the Doctor's outburst at Astos foreshadows her pricklier personality in Season 12.

* TheKnightsWhoSaySquee: The Doctor has a moment of squeeing over General Cicero, who returns the gesture upon learning that she is talking to the Doctor.

* MisterSeahorse: Yoss. In his species both genders can get pregnant, and can only give birth to their own gender.
* MythologyGag:
** The design of the ship's bridge, with a central console hanging from the ceiling, is reminiscent of a proposed console room for the Seventh Doctor's TARDIS.
** Another one, that really shows the Pting's invulnerability if you get it: A weapon called a "staser" is used, and can only stun it briefly. Stasers, introduced in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E3TheDeadlyAssassin The Deadly Assassin]]", are Time Lord weapons which prevent regeneration, and can leave the victim an unrecognizable burnt husk. A weapon created by the most advanced civilization in the universe at the height of their power that is ''designed to kill the unkillable'' can only give this thing a nice refreshing nap.

* ThePatientHasLeftTheBuilding: The Doctor ''tries'' to do this after waking up, despite Astos and Mabli's protests, before learning that she's actually on a spaceship.
* PintSizedPowerhouse: The Pting is about the size of a baby, but its speed, invulnerability, poisonous skin and ability to eat any inorganic material make it very dangerous. General Cicero mentions that she once encountered one that devastated an entire ''fleet''.

* {{Robosexual}}: General Cicero is human, and her consort Ronan is an android.
* RuleOfThree: The people on board the ship can only send a signal to Rhesus 1 denying the presence of hostile lifeforms onboard three times before it will stop working.

* SingleEpisodeHandicap: The Doctor seems to have taken the brunt of the sonic mine blast, and at several points during the episode stops to clutch her side and note that she still hurts. It doesn't slow her down much.

-->'''Doctor:''' You're probably wondering why I called you all here. Sorry, bit Poirot.

* SpaceStation: Rhesus 1, the hospital that is the ship's ultimate destination, is drifting in space.

* TrappedWithMonsterPlot: Downplayed as the MonsterOfTheWeek is not actively hunting them; it's just going to eat the spaceship around them and kill them as an unfortunate consequence.

* WakingUpElsewhere: The Doctor, Ryan, Graham and Yaz wake up on a medical ship after being caught in the blast of a sonic mine.

-->'''The Doctor:''' I'm not being hostile!\\
'''Astos:''' Yes, you are! You're being hostile and selfish. There are patients on board who need to get to Resus One as a matter of urgency. My job is to keep all of you safe. You're stopping me from doing that.