Calibris, the spaceport planet where anything goes (if it's got the right paperwork). The Vacintians are trying to impose some order on the wayward place, but there's a problem. Somewhere on the streets are guns. Time Reavers, one of the most horrific weapons ever invented, banned across the universe. Weapons that make it take an age to die.
Tropes:
- And I Must Scream: Anyone zapped by a Time Reaver, which slows the perception of the victim to a crawl at the moment they're zapped. Bad enough if you've just got an itch in an annoying place, but if you're in pain... you can't move, can't breath, can't do anything but think, and scream. Even the Doctor isn't immune.
- Arc Words: "There is something on your back." In this case, a Time Reaver bomb, which everyone can see.
- "Begone" Bribe: The Doctor and Donna run into a guy playing bagpipes really badly. Donna gives him her watch to make him shove off.
- Bothering by the Book: The Vacintians won't even shoot an obvious threat without the right paperwork signed in triplicate
- Brick Joke: Donna suggests going to find a coffee shop while they wait for Soren. When they get arrested, it turns out the holding office is the coffee shop.
- Changed My Jumper: Donna changes her outfit to something "wench"-y. Apparently it was all she could find in the TARDIS wardrobe.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- The psychic earplugs.
- The Doctor mentions Time Reavers can be made into bombs which make people take months to die.
- Continuity Nod:
- The TARDIS needs a new fluid link, again. Bit difficult finding the parts when the Time Lords aren't around anymore.
- Donna brings up her dead father at several points.
- The Fagin: Gully, an evil octopus... thing, who runs the slums of Calibris. He's even got the accent for it. Only he doesn't recruit children.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Cora tried flogging the Time Reavers because she thought people would use them for nice things, like prolonging weddings or holidays, rather than using the incredibly horrific weapons to make people suffer horribly.
- Of Corset Hurts: At the end, Donna mutters that if the Doctor wanted to experience prolonged agony, he could've just gone wench-y like she has.
- Planet of Hats:
- Calibris is a port planet. The last time the Doctor came through it was more of a Tortuga-y flavour. Time and gentrification have made it more a planet-sized Stansted Airport.
- The Vacintians have Obstructive Bureaucrat as their hat. Gets deconstructed, when it turns out they're facing extinction, but none of them will do anything because they're so non-individualistic that none of them will leave their planet.
- Donna is convinced that somewhere out there in the universe is the Planet of the Boys Looking for a Woman (possibly while dancin' around in their underpants). The Doctor is very insistent there isn't.
- Police Are Useless: The Vacintians are lovely, friendly, well-organised people, and terrible police. The one we see leading the search is convinced that thoroughly examining everyone's paperwork is correct will crack down on the horrible, agonising deaths going around, even though criminals are not usually the sort to list hideously illegal weapons on their inventory. On the plus side, if you get taken in, you get free coffee and scones.
- Skewed Priorities: The Doctor seems more outraged about the police handing out coffee and scones than anything else.
- Stepford Smiler: At the end, the Doctor claims after zapping himself with all those Time Reavers is that he really wished he'd had a book. He's hiding the fact it did have an effect on him after all.
