Recap / Doctor Who S28 E13 "Doomsday"

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Doomsday

Two dimensions, two degrees of heartbreak.

Written by Russell T Davies
Directed by Graeme Harper
Production code: 2.13
Air date: 8 July 2006
Part 2 of 2

"I made my choice a long time ago and I'm never gonna leave you."

— Rose Tyler to the Doctor.

The one where the Daleks and Cybermen have a sass-off, 38 years overdue. And the one where the Doctor experiences a companion's departure for the first time in a long time.

---

The episode begins with a variant of the final scene of "Army of Ghosts" as the four Daleks leave the Void ship, accompanied by something they refer to as the Genesis Ark. These four are a Dalek special forces team known as the Cult of Skaro, designed to think like the Daleks' enemies in order to more efficiently battle them, and, most unusually for Daleks, they all have individual names (Sec, Thay, Jast and Caan). After Rose, Mickey and Dr. Singh claim they all know about the Daleks and the Time War, Sec demands that they identify which of them is "least important". Dr. Singh ends up volunteering. Sec and two of his underlings extract information from his head using their plungers, which of course also extracts his life.

Sec sends Thay to investigate their surroundings. Thay soon comes upon a group of Cybermen and Sec realizes that Earth is already being invaded. The Cybermen offer to join forces with the Daleks, but Sec refuses and Thay effortlessly kills the Cybermen near it, with the Cybermen's weapons unable to even penetrate the Dalek forcefield. The Cybermen tell Thay that the Daleks have declared war on the Cybermen, but Sec responds that it will not be war but "pest control" and saying that the 5,000,000 Cybermen would not stand a chance against a single Dalek, much less four. Deciding to test those odds against her own experience, Rose mentions one single Time Lord against four Daleks. The Daleks cringe in fear.

While talking with the Doctor, the Cyber-Leader is quite suddenly killed by a parallel universe strike-team led by Jake. He takes the Doctor back to his dimension and reunites him with that dimension's Pete Tyler, who found out about their version of Torchwood and used its resources to battle the Cybermen. Knowing they were losing, the Cybermen jumped dimensions when the Void ship weakened the barrier between worlds. Pete reveals that his Earth is undergoing the early stages of catastrophic global warming, and the Doctor tells him it's because of the constant crossing of the barrier. The Doctor says he can seal the breach permanently, and that he has a plan to do so.

Rose has realised that as the Daleks have not killed her or Mickey, they must need one of them to open the Genesis Ark. When Mickey questions why the Daleks do not open it themselves, Sec reveals that it's actually Time Lord technology which needs the one thing Daleks cannot provide: skin contact. Sec demands that Rose open it; she refuses and recounts to Sec how she, as Bad Wolf, used the power of the Time Vortex to kill the Dalek Emperor. The Doctor makes his entrance at this point, but does not recognise the Genesis Ark for what it is. He uses his sonic screwdriver to activate detonation charges that blow the doors to the room, allowing their temporary Cybermen allies in to battle the Daleks alongside Torchwood and generally creating one hell of a battlefield.

Mickey stumbles and accidentally touches the Ark while escaping, and the Daleks take it outside. It opens and begins disgorging millions of Daleks, who attack the Cybermen and normal humans indiscriminately. The Doctor finally realizes the Ark was a prison ship and, like the TARDIS, is bigger on the inside...

The Doctor, Rose, Mickey and Pete encounter Jackie, and she and the parallel Pete have an awkward moment before embracing. The Doctor explains his plan by stating that anything which crosses dimensions becomes saturated with the energy of the Void, and that by opening the breach between the worlds into the Void instead of world-to-world, everything with that energy will be pulled into the Void, after which the breach will seal itself forever. This means all the Cybermen and Daleks, but unfortunately also means the Doctor, Rose, Mickey, Jake and Pete. The Doctor says that he can use some purloined Torchwood items to keep himself safe but is unwilling to risk Rose's life.

From this point on, Rose's actions closely mirror the previous series' finale: Pete takes Rose to safety back across the barrier. Rose, however, immediately uses the transportation device Pete put on her to return to the Earth dimension, and tells the Doctor she will never leave him. They activate the ghost shift device, which begins drawing in all the Cybermen and Daleks, with Dalek Sec realising what is happening and using an emergency time travel device to escape. One of the levers that controls the device slides out of position and Rose leaves her anchor to pull it back into place, once again saving the world...

But since Billie Piper had announced her departure before this episode aired... yeah, you can guess what happens next.

Yep.

Pete reappears for an instant and grabs Rose before she falls into the breach, then takes her back to his dimension as the breach seals itself. Rose completely breaks down as she realises she can never see the Doctor again.

Several months later in the parallel dimension, Rose awakens from hearing the Doctor calling to her in a dream. Pete, Jackie and Mickey believe her and they follow the signal to Norway, ironically, a place called Bad Wolf Bay. There Rose sees an image of the Doctor, who tells her that he managed to find one more small breach between the universes, but that he is using the energy from a supernova just to have enough power to talk to her. He tells her that the breach will close permanently in two minutes, and they share a final conversation, with the Doctor telling her that she and Jackie are missing and presumed dead, and Rose surprising the Doctor by telling him that Jackie and Pete have got together and Jackie is three months pregnant. She breaks down in tears and finally tells the Doctor that she loves him. The Doctor, whom we now know did love her back, replies that she deserves to know how he feels about her. He takes a deep breath, says her name once more, and gets halfway through "I–" before the connection's gone.

A heartbroken Rose is consoled by Jackie, while in our dimension the Doctor stands motionless in the TARDIS. He slowly begins to regain his composure and somewhat lackadaisically operates the TARDIS, then gets a case of Mood Whiplash as he looks up and sees a woman in a wedding dress demanding to know where she is.

---

Note: Series 1 of Torchwood (as well as Ianto's flashback in series 2's "Fragments") begins sometime after this episode.

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Tropes:

• Alas, Poor Villain: The ambitious and antagonistic Yvonne Hartman, post-Unwilling Roboticisation, overcoming her programming as a Cyberman to destroy the other ones with a BFG while repeating her earlier "Facing the Bullets" One-Liner over and over and weeping a tear of oil. It's a powerful moment.
• All There in the Manual: The website for Torchwood establishes that a total of 823 worked at Torchwood Tower. Of that number, only 27 were noted to have survived the battle, 467 were confirmed dead, while the rest were reported missing.
  • "Dalek Wars", a feature in the Battles in Time magazine, makes the claim that the Dalek army, who were active for no more than a matter of minutes, touched down as far as Aberdeen! They sure can be fast. It also establishes that the Cybermen found a way to destroy Daleks, luring them into close proximity and tearing their domes off with electrified Cyber-hands, though this was too late to give the Cybermen any real advantage.
• And I Must Scream: Discussed.
  "Sealed inside your casing, not feeling anything, ever. From birth to death, locked inside a cold, metal cage... completely alone. That explains your voice! No wonder you scream."
• Anywhere but Their Lips: The Doctor kisses Mickey on the forehead (while running, and without slowing down) while explaining the Daleks would've forced open the Ark anyway and wrecked Earth's solar system to do it.
• Arc Words: "Bad Wolf" from last season has apparently been scattered among the multiverse too; the bay where the Doctor projects his image ends up being in Norway, and its name translates to Bad Wolf Bay.
• Armor-Piercing Question: Rose says to the Daleks, "Don't you want to know what happened? What happened to the Emperor?" Dalek Sec is completely shocked. "The-Emperor-SURVIVED?!" For the rest of the conversation... see below.
• Artistic Licence – Linguistics: According to Norwegian-speaking viewers, "Bad Wolf Bay" as a translation of "Dårlig Ulv Stranden" is a stretch. "Dårlig" means "Bad", but either means "bad" in the sense of being "poor quality", "faulty", or "feeling sick", rather than morally bad. "Stranden" is also closer to "beach" or "sea-coast" than "bay". A strictly literal translation of "Dårlig Ulv Stranden" would be "The Poor Wolf Beach". The choice of words, however, and the episode's own Lampshading thereof, clearly indicate that the name was chosen mostly for its pun potential. "Dårlig" was clearly used because it sounds like "Dalek", and "Stranden" probably because it sounds like "stranded", which Rose was. It is unknown why they didn't translate it as "Bad Wolf Beach", since that still has the same alliterative appeal, but they may have thought that "Bad Wolf Bay" sounded more poetic. A closer translation to "Bad Wolf Bay" the way it was intended would be "Stygg Ulv-Bukten".
• Badass Boast:
  • The Daleks boast to the Cybermen:
    Cyber-Leader: Daleks be warned, you have declared war upon the Cybermen.
    Dalek Sec: This is not war; this is pest control!
    Cyber-Leader: We have five million Cybermen. How many are you?
    Dalek Sec: Four.
    Cyber-Leader: You would destroy the Cybermen with four Daleks?
    Dalek Sec: We would destroy the Cybermen with one Dalek! You are superior in only one respect.
    Cyber-Leader: What is that?
    Dalek Sec: You are better at dying!
  • What Rose says to the Daleks:
    Rose: If you, um, escaped the Time War... don't you want to know what happened? What happened to the Emperor?
    Dalek Sec: The Emperor... survived?!
    Rose: 'Til he met me. 'Cause if these are going to be my last words, then you're going to listen: I met the Emperor. And I took the Time Vortex and poured it into his head and turned him into dust. D'you get that? [smirks] The God of all Daleks, and I destroyed him! HA!
• Big Bad Ensemble: Dalek Sec and Cyber-Leader One.
• Bigger on the Inside: Used to dramatic effect: The Daleks mention that the Genesis Ark will establish their supremacy because of "Time Lord science". The Doctor wonders what that means, and near the climax, it's revealed that the Daleks meant this aspect of Time Lord science — the ark, though tiny, contains millions of Daleks.
• Big Damn Heroes: As Rose falls towards the Void, Pete beams in from the alternate universe just in time to catch Rose and take her back to his world.
• Big "NO!": The Doctor screams one when Rose cannot hold any longer and starts getting sucked into the Void.
• Bittersweet Ending: Rose is trapped in the parallel universe, but she's with her dad who has proven he loves her even if he doesn't know her, her mother, and Mickey. The Doctor manages to say farewell. Yet they saved the Earth from a dual invasion.
• Blatant Lies:
  • Jackie proclaiming there has never been anyone else after Pete died. It's clear no one believes her, either. (Though, to be fair, it doesn't look like she ever remarried, so there was never anyone else who measured up to Pete in terms of Jackie wanting to commit and settle.)
  • Jackie says that she doesn't care that Pete is (very) rich, but she keeps asking how (very) rich.
• "Blind Idiot" Translation: Just like in "c", "Bad Wolf" winds up mistranslated into another language, and in the same way, as seen under Artistic Licence – Linguistics.
• Bookends: Of the musical variety. The heartbreaking score that plays as the Doctor and Rose are separated by the wall is the same score that played when Rose first stepped into the TARDIS way back in "Rose".
• Buffy Speak: The stuff from the Void is eloquently called... Void stuff.
• Butt-Monkey: Subverted. Mickey accidentally stumbling into the Genesis Ark and triggering its activation initially seems like a prime opportunity to continue the "Mickey the Idiot" theme, but the Doctor reveals that he actually did them a favour as the Daleks would have tried forcing it open instead and blown up the Sun in the process.
• Call-Back: This isn't the first time the Doctor has sent Rose away for her own safety. As Rose herself remarks, "He's not doing that to me again!"
• Calling Your Attacks: To be expected when it's Daleks vs Cybermen.
  "Exterminate!" "Delete!" "Exterminate!" "Delete!"
• Can't Kill You, Still Need You: Rose stops the Cult from killing them all by shouting their name, and then revealing she knows about the Time War. Mickey and Dr. Singh quickly follow suit. Dalek Sec decides they'll be necessary... just not all of them.
• The Cavalry: A squad of the Preachers beam in from the alternate universe and quickly seize Torchwood Tower's control room, saving the Doctor. Later on, they storm the lab that the Daleks and the Ark are in alongside the Cybermen, rescuing the Doctor, Mickey, and Rose.
• Chekhov's Gun: The magna-clamps and 3D specs from the previous episode.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Dalek Caan, who plays almost no part in the episode, comes back in a huge way in "Evolution of the Daleks", and even more so in "Journey's End".
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Not a character, but an organization. Specifically, Torchwood compared to UNIT, which so far had barely appeared in the modern series. Both are alien-hunting/fighting organizations, headed by a leader who was very concerned about their people and duty to Queen and Country. But while UNIT allied with the Doctor and was fully capable of taking on various alien threats, not to mention it was a multi-national organization (originally, it was the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce), Torchwood is entirely funded and operated by the British government, and despite their Psychic Block Defenses, is not so much kerb-stomped as just flat-out ignored by the Daleks — and that says something; when the Daleks, who are designed to murder everything that isn't Dalek, ignore you, you know you're pathetic — and the Cybermen have no trouble assimilating them. Torchwood was also founded to combat the Doctor. The only villains that we see Torchwood deal with were the Sycorax... after the Doctor had already sent them off with their tails between their legs.
• Conservation of Ninjutsu: Five million Cybermen vs. four Daleks (with a prison ship full of reinforcements) vs. one Doctor. For most of the episode, the four Daleks are able to hold their own against the Cybermen despite being outnumbered, backing up the Badass Boast above. Then, they deploy their reinforcements at about the same time as the Doctor comes up with a strategy to defeat both the Daleks and Cybermen simultaneously. This is even somewhat justified given the nature of the foes — the Daleks are survivors of a war against aliens who controlled time and space like it was their toy, and were winning that war, and the Cybermen are made using mostly contemporary Earth technology (with a few extras, like laser guns and dimensional travel).
• Continuity Nod:
  • The Doctor asks Pete who has become President of Britain in their universe: Harriet Jones^note Yes, we know who she is. Sadly, we don't get to find out if she previously represented Flydale North..
  • The Doctor mentions being at Pete and Jackie's wedding. "You got her name wrong."
  • When the Doctor talks to the Cult of Skaro, the Dalek Emperor's music is played once again, just like it was used for the Void ship an episode ago.
• Cool Versus Awesome: After all these years: Daleks vs. Cybermen.
• Crapsaccharine World: As Pete describes, his world's version of Britain is experiencing a Golden Age with Harriet Jones as president. However, thanks to the breach, global temperatures have risen by two degrees in less than six months; the ice caps are melting, and London is going to be flooded if they don't close it.
• Cryptic Background Reference: The fall of Arcadia; the Doctor offers no details other than it being a particularly brutal moment of the Time War.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • Daleks vs. Cybermen quickly leads to victory for the former.
  • Daleks and Cybermen vs. Torchwood; the fight was over before there was a fight at all.
• Deadpan Snarker: Dalek Sec and the Cyber-Leader are both rather more sarcastic than is usual for members of their respective species.
  • This gem:
    Cyber-Leader: Daleks be warned. You have declared war on the Cybermen.
    Dalek Sec: This is not war! This is pest control!
  • The Cyber-Leader is no slouch itself:
    Cyber-Leader: Our technologies are compatible, though your design is inelegant.
    Dalek Thay: Daleks have no concept of elegance!
    Cyber-Leader: This is obvious.
  • And, most memorably:
    Cyber-Leader: We have five million Cybermen. How many are you?
    Dalek Sec: Four.
    Cyber-Leader: You would destroy the Cybermen with four Daleks?
    Dalek Sec: We would destroy the Cybermen with one Dalek! You are superior in only one respect.
    Cyber-Leader: What is that?
    Dalek Sec: You are better at dying!
• Deadline News: The one-minute "TARDISode" used to promote this episode featured a female news anchor reporting live on the emergency, then breaking down and urging people and her own family to run as Daleks break into the studio.
• Deus ex Machina:
  • Reversing the effects of opening a breach to the Void that's been pulling Cybermen and Daleks through not only seals the Void, but pulls back in any material that passed through it due to them holding background radiation. Also, it can be closed from one end.
  • Pete teleports in from the parallel universe to save Rose, in spite of having no sure way of knowing where she would be, no way of knowing he should appear at that exact moment and isn't immediately pulled into the Void even though he should be as affected as her.
• Do Not Adjust Your Set: The Cybermen send their message via TV signal to all humans.
• Doppelgänger Gets Same Sentiment: The Doctor tries convincing the alternate Pete to enter the prime universe because there's a still-living version of Jackie there. Pete tries (and blissfully fails) to tell himself and the main Jackie that they're not each-other's spouses but maintains that he is not Rose's father. Then in the Darkest Hour for Rose, Pete saves her from falling permanently into the Blank White Void — whether he did this for Rose or for Jackie is up for debate.
• Dying Moment of Awesome: From "I did my duty for Queen and Country! (Repeats) Oh God!" Yvonne Hartman just before she walks into a conversion unit. She then does it AGAIN as a Cyberman becoming the first person to resist having their will overridden by the programming, holding off a small army of Cybermen as they try to escape through the rift in a You Shall Not Pass! moment.
• Emergency Temporal Shift: This episode was the Trope Namer. The Cult of Skaro are seen escaping near the end of the episode, their story to be continued in "Daleks in Manhattan".
• Enemy Mine: Jake's team and the Cybermen join forces against the Daleks... for just long enough for the Doctor to get Mickey and Rose out of the sphere chamber. Cybermen and Torchwood soldiers are shown working together (sort of) in the fight in the storage bay. It's less that they're allies and more that they've agreed not to shoot at each other while they're busy shooting at the Daleks.
• Establishing Character Moment: Donna Noble, interrupting the very end of the tear-jerking finale while the Doctor splutters in confusion: "Who are you? Where am I?! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS PLACE??!"
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: The Cybermen stage an invasion of Earth, and the Cyber-Leader demands a complete surrender from humanity, telling them that they will be converted into Cybermen and have their emotions, fears, and differences taken away. When humanity forms a resistance and tries to fight off the Cybermen, the Cyber-Leader reacts with confusion; the Doctor informs it that humans are not going to willingly surrender the very things that make them human.
• Evil Gloating: The Cyber-Leader manages to sound amazingly smug for an emotionless shell, after Jackie and Yvonne have been dragged off to be converted.
  Cyber-Leader: You are proof.
  The Doctor: Of what?
  Cyber-Leader: That emotions destroy you.
• Evil Plan: This episode reveals the details behind the one from the previous episode; Cybermen crossing the Void to another world in order to continue "upgrading". However, it also reveals that they were piggybacking on the Dalek plan to open the Genesis Arc.
• Eviler than Thou: Cybermen? Bad. Daleks? Worse. In fact, when Daleks start pouring out of the Genesis Ark by the thousands the sight of Cybermen marching through the streets to oppose them looks practically heroic.
• Evil Versus Evil: Cybermen versus Daleks; the latter want to kill humans and the former want to "upgrade" humans by force, thus killing their humanity. The Daleks refuse to collaborate with the Cybermen to achieve the goal, even if it is basically the exact same thing, because the Daleks don't want to share the honour of accomplishing human extinction. And the Daleks don't consider it the same, in their eyes the Cybermen are also inferior and need to die.
• Five Rounds Rapid: British military forces are seen to deploy a rocket launcher against attacking Cybermen after small arms fail.
• Flat "What": There aren't many other reactions you can have when you have to deal with never saying "I love you" to a woman you can never, ever see again, only to discover that a belligerent bride has somehow appeared on your spaceship.
• Foreshadowing: The Doctor mocks the Daleks for their inability to touch — something he and Rose get to experience at the end of the episode. It also seemed to hit a nerve with Sec, who's become obsessed with leaving his casing the next time we see him.
• Funny Background Event: When Jackie tells Pete that "There's never been anyone else", Mickey and the Doctor can not keep straight faces.
• Futile Hand Reach: The Doctor when Rose loses her grip.
• Geeky Turn-On: "I love it when you talk technical."
• Glasses Pull: The Doctor does this multiple times with the 3-D glasses.
• Ham-to-Ham Combat: The Cybermen and the Daleks meet for the first time... and promptly proceed to bitch at each other for a good five minutes. It's hilarious. (Not in the least because they're all voiced by magnificent ham Nicholas Briggs.)
  Cyber-Leader: Daleks be warned, you have declared war on the Cybermen!
  Dalek: This is not war! This is pest control!
• Handshake Substitute: The Doctor and Mickey bump fists.
  Dalek Jast: Social interaction will cease!
• Happily Married: Pete and Jackie, together again. They have Babies Ever After and everything.
• Heel–Face Turn: Downplayed as she wasn't truly evil, more dangerously misguided, but it's still noteworthy that Yvonne Hartman is further towards the good end of the morality scale after being converted into a Cyberman.
• Heroic Sacrifice:
  • A minor one when the Torchwood scientist Dr. Singh offers himself up to give information to the Daleks in place of Rose and Mickey. The Daleks consent and drain the information forcibly from his brain in a horrific process that only leaves a blackened husk of a skull behind.
  • Rose nearly falls into the Void trying to get the lever in place so they can send the Daleks and Cybermen there, and is considered dead in her home universe.
• His Name Is...: A variation. The Doctor, despite knowing his time in which to speak to Rose for the last time is severely limited, decides to draw out his admission of love to Rose, ensuring he doesn't manage to finish saying so before the connection breaks.
• Homage: The ending, to the ending of the His Dark Materials trilogy. The setting is the same (beach) and the issue is also the same (two lovers about to be separated forever across different dimensions).
• I Gave My Word: The Doctor gives Jackie his word that he'll get her and Rose out alive. He manages to keep it.
• I Like Those Odds: Used by the Daleks, and then promptly turned against them.
  Cyber-Leader: We have five million Cybermen. How many are you?
  Dalek Sec: Four.
  Cyber-Leader: You would destroy the Cybermen with four Daleks?
  Dalek Sec: We would destroy the Cybermen with one Dalek!
  [...]
  Rose: Five million Cybermen, easy. One Doctor? Now you're scared.
• The "I Love You" Stigma:
  • Rose becomes the first companion to directly say "I love you" to the Doctor.
  • The Doctor, realizing this is the last chance he'll get, almost says it before the transmission cuts out.
• Immediate Self-Contradiction: When Jackie and Pete Tyler meet again, she pulls off a twofer:
  Pete Tyler: In my world, it worked. All those daft little plans of mine... It worked. Made me rich.
  Jackie: I don't care about that. [Beat] How rich?
  Pete: Very.
  Jackie: I don't care about that. [beat] How "very"?
• Interrupted Declaration of Love: After Rose's Love Confession to the Doctor, his response gets cut off as the transmission ends abruptly.
• Irony: Millions of Daleks that survived the Time War thanks to Time Lord technology.
• It's All About Me: Rose asks the Doctor if he can come through and he says more travel between the worlds would destroy them both. Her reaction is a joking "So?"
• Lack of Empathy: The Daleks cannot be bothered to listen to Dr. Singh for five minutes and decide to just fatally download his brainwaves.
  Rose: You didn't need to kill him!
  Dalek: Neither did we need him alive.
• Legacy Character: After the Preachers destroy the Cyberleader, another Cybermen downloads his files to become the new Cyberleader.
• Legion of Doom: The Daleks and Cybermen appear together, however the Daleks, being the Daleks, respond to the Cybermen's offer of an alliance with summary extermination.
• Licensed Game: This episode was the basis for the online game Daleks V Cybermen, which allows the player to lead the Cybermen to victory against the Daleks.
• Low Count Gag: Played for Drama when the Daleks attack the Cybermen, as four Daleks really are enough to defeat an army of five million Cybermen.
• Madness Mantra:
  Yvonne Hartman: I did my duty for Queen and country. I did my duty. I did my duty. Oh God... I did my duty! [scream]
  • This mantra is how she's still recognizable after being Cyber-converted when she prevents the Cyber-Leader from escaping into the Void back to their original universe.
• Mauve Shirt: Poor Dr. Singh. Rose does try to prevent this, but...
  Dalek Sec: Which of you is least important?
  Rose: What's that supposed to mean?
  Dalek Sec: Which of you is least important?
  Rose: Nah. We don't work like that. None of us.
  Dalek Sec: Designate the least important!
• Mind Probe: The Cult use their plunger arms to extract Singh's brainwaves — fatally.
• Mood Whiplash: The ending. Shot of the Doctor with tears running down his face, he turns around and there's a bride. See for yourselves.
  The Doctor: [sees woman in a wedding dress] What?
  Donna: [turns around, makes sound of shock]
  The Doctor: What?
  Donna: Who are you?
  The Doctor: But...
  Donna: Where am I?
  The Doctor: What?
  Donna: What the hell is this place?!
  The Doctor: ... what?
• My Country, Right or Wrong: Yvonne.
  Jackie: This is your fault! You and your Torchwood! You've killed us all!
  Yvonne: I did my duty — for Queen and Country! I did my duty... I did my duty... oh, God... I did my duty!
• My Sensors Indicate You Want to Tap That: Dalek Sec notes "The female's heartbeat has increased" when Rose sees the Doctor. Mickey jokingly adds, "Yeah, tell me about it."
• Never Found the Body: It's the story of how Rose Tyler officially died because they never found her body in the original universe.
• Never Trust a Trailer: The trailer at the end of the previous episode prominently features the Cyber Leader suggesting an alliance with the Daleks, leaving out the fact that the Daleks immediately reject this suggestion.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Mickey accidentally touches the Genesis Ark during a Dalek/Cybermen/human scuffle — but this is a subversion; the Doctor thanks Mickey since otherwise the Daleks would've probably tried to open the Ark by force, which would've resulted in spectacular collateral damage. "Switching off the Sun" kind of collateral damage.
• No Kill like Overkill: Implied in Dalek Sec's Badass Boast to the Cybermen:
  Cyberleader: You would destroy the Cybermen with four Daleks?
  Sec: We would destroy the Cybermen with one Dalek!
• Noodle Incident: The Doctor says he was at the "fall of Arcadia", during the Time War.
• Number of the Beast: Very subtle. After Rose comes back from the parallel universe and asks what she can do to help, the Doctor says she can enter the coordinates (the coordinates to Hell) and tells her to "set them all at six".
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Dr. Singh, when he realizes the Daleks are going to forcibly remove his brainwaves and what this entails (death, and not a very pleasant one).
  • When the Doctor discovers that the Daleks survived. He has another one when it seems as if the Cybermen and the Daleks will join forces, but fortunately (or unfortunately), it doesn't come to pass.
  • Lacking faces, you wouldn't imagine the Daleks could pull off a decent Oh Crap moment. But when a strange man shows up on the vidscreen the Daleks are watching (and have just informed five million Cybermen that they are no threat, claiming that destroying them "is not war, this is pest control") and they demand Rose identify him, she calmly does so: "That's the Doctor." All three Daleks present simultaneously recoil a few inches backwards. Rose's line is priceless:
    Rose: Five million Cybermen, easy. One Doctor ... now you're scared.
  • The Doctor and the audience have one when he realizes that the Ark is Bigger on the Inside. The Time Lords imprisoned lots of Daleks in there, and now it's open...
• Ominous Latin Chanting: A moment featuring the use of the Daleks' Genesis Ark — sending millions of Daleks against the 5 million Cybermen that have already taken over the world winds up using the prerequisite chanting as well.
• One-Word Title: "Doomsday".
• Outside-Context Problem: Pete, Jake, Mickey and the rest of the Preachers (who have gone from a small anti-establishment gang in Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel to a full-on militia fighting Cybermen all over the Parallel Earth) follow the Cybermen to the Doctor's universe to deal with them. They did not expect the Daleks, a completely unfamiliar, far more powerful alien race fresh out of a war which almost destroyed the multiverse, to invade Earth at the same time. Once the situation gets to the point of a fight to the death between vast armies of Daleks and Cybermen, Pete decides it's time for a Screw This, I'm Outta Here.
• Pair the Spares: Specifically, pair the corresponding widowed parallel universe counterparts (Jackie and Pete).
  The Doctor: There is a chance, back on my world... Jackie Tyler might still be alive.
  Pete: My wife died.
  The Doctor: Her husband died. Good match.
• Papa Wolf: He never raised a child and claims that Rose isn't family. Pete still goes back to save her just as she's about to be killed.
• Patriotic Fervor: Not even assimilation can remove Yvonne's love for Queen and country!
• Prison Ship: The Genesis Ark contains millions of Dalek prisoners.
• Quality over Quantity:
  Cyber-Leader: Daleks, be warned. You have declared war upon the Cybermen.
  Dalek Sec: This is not war! This is pest control!
  Cyber-Leader: We have five million Cybermen. How many are you?
  Dalek Sec: Four.
  Cyber-Leader: You would destroy the Cybermen with four Daleks?
  Dalek Sec: We would destroy the Cybermen with one Dalek! You are superior in only one respect.
  Cyber-Leader: What is that?
  Dalek Sec: You are better at dying!
• Reaction Shot: When the Doctor discusses the Time War and the fall of Arcadia, the camera cuts to Mickey's reaction in particular. Not only is this the first time he's heard the Doctor talk about this, but he's just spent three years fighting Cybermen. Something in common, at last?
• Recycled Plot: Not overall, but there are some definite parallels between these two episodes and "Bad Wolf"/"The Parting of the Ways" from Series One. Both hinge on The Reveal of the Daleks at the Cliffhanger, both climax on a pitched battle in a tower (Satellite 5 vs Torchwood Tower), and both involve the Doctor and Rose losing each other. They both even involve an Assimilation Plot, although this time it is the Cybermen, not the Daleks, who are assimilating humanity.
• Redemption Equals Death: Yvonne Hartman becomes a heroic character after her death, except she doesn't really "die" but was roboticized instead...
• Replacement Goldfish: All over the place at the end as a continuation of the Pair the Spares theme. Rose, Jackie, Pete, Mickey and Jake all either get a parallel-universe replacement for someone they lost, become a parallel-universe replacement for someone else, or both.
• Soundtrack Dissonance: An amusing example. The Cybermen's theme is used during the the main battle between the Daleks and Cybermen in the Torchwood warehouse, despite the Daleks slaughtering their way through an entire squad of Cybermen, who fail to even leave a scratch on them.
• Sealed Army in a Can: The Genesis Ark, opened by the Cult of Skaro to release an army of Daleks, in an unusually literal application of this trope. The entirety of the army is sealed in a metal can the size of a single Dalek. It used TARDIS tech.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: The Genesis Ark: a Time Lord device imprisoning millions of Daleks. "Time Lord science: it's Bigger on the Inside."
• Separated by the Wall: The Doctor and Rose end up leaning against the same wall in two different universes. For a moment, Rose even seems to sense the Doctor occupying the same space.
• Shaped Like Itself: Dalek Thay identifies the offending cyborgs as ”resembling the inferior species known as Cybermen." Key word is resembling. This race is a completely different type of Cybermen than the type the Daleks would have encountered before (built by an alternate world's Cybus Industries instead of hailing from the planet Mondas).
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: The Doctor implies this is true of himself.
  Dalek Sec: How did you survive the Time War?!
  The Doctor: By fighting, on the front line. I was there at the Fall of Arcadia. Someday I might even come to terms with that.
• Shout-Out: A method of inter-dimensional travel that slowly destabilizes the universe with every use? Does this remind you of anything…?
• Single Tear:
  • Cyberman!Yvonne leaks a drop of oil from the corner of one eye while repeating her Survival Mantra.
  • Also, the Doctor, when he loses Rose. Well, he had more than a single tear there, though he was crying silently.
• Smash Cut: There's a warning on TV, telling people to stay in their homes for safety. Cut to a group of Cybermen effortlessly breaking into a family's home to attack.
• Snark-to-Snark Combat: For two seemingly emotionless species, the Daleks and Cybermen prove remarkably adept at exchanging sass with one another.
• Star Killing: The Doctor says that if Mickey hadn't touched the Genesis Ark, the Daleks would have switched off the Sun while trying to force it open.
• Stealth Pun: This is not war! This is pest control! In other words, the Daleks see themselves as exterminators.
• Survival Mantra:
  Cyber-Yvonne: I did my duty for Queen and Country. I did my duty for Queen and Country.
• Take Me Instead: Singh tells the Daleks to let Rose and her friend go and take him instead.
• Take Our Word for It: The show certainly implied Rose and the Doctor were in love and implied to hell and gone that they were "dancing", but they never even showed a kiss. Nevertheless, here at the end, the Doctor wonders if Rose is the one who's pregnant.
• Take a Third Option: Faced with either helping the Daleks or watching them kill Mickey, Rose takes the opportunity to reveal how she personally vaporised the Emperor. Dalek Sec immediately forgets they need her alive and threatens to kill her on the spot.
• Tears from a Stone: Cyber!Yvonne manages to cry a Single Tear of oil from the corner of her eye during her You Shall Not Pass! moment.
• Teleportation Rescue: Rose and the Doctor are trying to close an interdimensional breach, thereby sucking the warring Daleks and Cybermen off of Earth and into the Void. Rose loses her grip and falls into the Void, but the Alternate Universe version of her father transports from the alternate universe, catches her, and transports back as the breach closes.
• This Is No Time for Knitting: The Doctor has to do this to himself. After pulling out 3D glasses throughout this episode and the one before, he has to wonder aloud if anyone's going to ask why.
• Title Drop: Not actually in the show, but said by an ill-fated news reporter in the one-minute promotional "TARDISode" that preceded this episode's broadcast.
• Tragic Intangibility: When the Tenth Doctor appears to say good-bye to Rose, he has to make clear that they can't touch, he's just an image. Just like how they can never meet, even in their goodbye, they can't even hug each other.
• Transhuman Treachery: Inverted. Cyberwoman!Yvonne retains her loyalty through conversion and stops the Cybermen from chasing down our heroes. "I did my duty for Queen and country." Played straight with every other Cyberman, given that they used to be humans themselves.
• Tranquil Fury: Upon hearing from Rose that she destroyed the Emperor, Dalek Sec said in his usual manner, but clearly angry "You shall be EXTERMINATED!".
• Trash Talk: Despite being two species of emotionless, genocidal killers, the Daleks and the Cybermen are pretty adept at slinging mud at each other.
• Unreliable Narrator: Rose going on about "dying in battle" isn't what you think it means.
• Villain Decay: After being utterly humiliated by the Daleks, it takes until the Eleventh Doctor's tenure for the Cybermen to once again be seen as a credible threat, and those are the original Cybermen, not the ones from Pete's World.
• Villain: Exit, Stage Left:
  • While most of the Dalek army gets sucked back into the Void, Dalek Sec and the Cult of Skaro "Emergency Temporal Shift!" to series three.
  • The Cybermen try to do this earlier, leaving and going back to their own world. Yvonne has other ideas.
• Wealthy Ever After: Rose and Jackie end up living with rich and successful parallel Pete.
• We Can Rule Together: As a Cyberman puts it: "Cybermen plus Daleks. Together, we could upgrade the universe." Naturally, the Daleks view the Cybermen with the same contempt as anyone else who isn't a Dalek, not even bothering to use them as pawns for a while.
• Wham Episode:
  • The emotionally devastating separation of Rose and the Doctor, the first time a full-time companion left in the revived series.
  • It also marks the first time that the Daleks and the Cybermen, two classic races, have fought each other (or interacted in a meaningful way).
• Wham Line: "Time Lord science... It's bigger on the inside!"
• What Happened to the Mouse?: So was Cyber-Yvonne eventually killed by the other Cybermen, or was she sucked into the Void with the rest of them?
• What the Hell, Hero?: The Doctor tells Rose off for choosing him over her mother, but is too preoccupied with defeating the Daleks to go into it and lets it go when Rose assures him that she had chosen this a long time ago.
• What You Are in the Dark: Pete knows he has a daughter in a parallel universe, but feels no emotional attachment to Rose, or so he says. Then he sees Jackie sobbing about losing their child again, and makes a decision. He goes back to rescue Rose just as the void closes, and just in time.
• White Flag: The Doctor has to improvise one with a sheet of A4. "Same difference."
• Would You Like to Hear How They Died?: A rare heroic example, when Rose taunts the Daleks about how she destroyed the Dalek Emperor at the end of the previous series.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: "Rose Tyler, I..." [transmission ends]
• You Are Worth Hell: Rose doesn't care about being thrown into the Void.
  Rose: I made my choice a long time ago and I'm never gonna leave you.
• You Just Told Me: As a Dalek and two Cybermen engage in a verbal pissing contest to get the other to identify first, the Dalek finally says "Daleks do not take orders!", to which a Cyberman responds ”You have identified as Daleks."
• You Shall Not Pass!: After her upgrade, Yvonne turns on her cybernetic fellows at the last possible moment before they break in on the Doctor & Rose; this rebellious Cyberman even says "You will not pass" twice, and then mows down the other Cybers with an electric rifle.
  Cyber-Yvonne: You will not pass.
  Cyber-Leader: What is the meaning of this?
  Cyber-Yvonne: You will not pass.
  [fires, screams of Cybermen]
  Cyber-Yvonne: I did my duty for Queen and Country. I did my duty for Queen and Country.
• Zeppelins from Another World: There's only one scene of the parallel universe and, yup, airship.

---

The Doctor: What?

The Runaway Bride: Oh!

The Doctor: What?

The Runaway Bride: Who are you?!

The Doctor: But-

The Runaway Bride: Where am I?!

The Doctor: What???

The Runaway Bride: What the HELL is this place?!

The Doctor: ...WHAT????