The Scream of the Shalka
A BBC Webcast for the 40th Anniversary. Original Airdate: 13 Nov 2003.
Starring Richard E Grant as the Doctor.
Part Six - Hitting the Right Note
[Shalka Lair]
(The Doctor and Alison are chained to a pillar. Shalka are shrieking in the distance.)
ALISON: Why is it keeping that going?
DOCTOR: The Shalka share the scream like whale song. A way to transmit a lot of messages between each other at high speed.
ALISON: Their sonic internet.
DOCTOR: Mm-hmm. And that machine adds automatic coordination. It keeps all their slaves doing what they're supposed to be doing without the Shalka having to think about every little command. It must be able to record, play back, relay and boost the screams.
ALISON: Their sonic service provider.
DOCTOR: Stop that.
ALISON: What are you going to do?
DOCTOR: Same hairpin I used to open the hardware store.
(His chains fall to the floor.)
DOCTOR: There. Now, hold still.
(Scenes of destruction and bad weather.)
(The Doctor picks at Alison's chains.)
DOCTOR: A friend of mine, Andy Warhol was his name, said "They always say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself." Wonderful man. He wanted to paint all nine of me.
ALISON: What are you talking about?
DOCTOR: Just getting my courage together.
(Her chains fall off.)
ALISON: Thank you.
DOCTOR: In time I hope you'll allow me my eccentricities, Alison. Sometimes they're all I or the world has got.
ALISON: Is that why you brought me down here? So you could do this in front of me and save my life?
DOCTOR: Of course not. That would be sheer vanity. I need you in a very practical way.
(He opens the jar containing the Shalka worm and swallows it. We see it going down his throat. It gets lodged and forms connections. Alison slaps him. His eyes glow like a Shalka.)
ALISON: Doctor!
DOCTOR: Oh! What it must be like to escape the reliance of all life on other life! To take substance directly from worlds! They take good care of their planets, Alison, after they've transformed them.
(Alison slaps him repeatedly.)
ALISON: Don't let it take over you!
(The Doctor grabs her hand.)
DOCTOR: Stop slapping me! I wasn't. My neurons were linked to it. I was learning from it and reprogramming it.
ALISON: Oh.
DOCTOR: I can understand the scream now. All that beautiful information. That was the pleasurable part. Now, here comes the dangerous bit. Don't move until I tell you.
(He walks up to a piece of machinery that looks a bit like a microphone hanging from the ceiling.)
DOCTOR: ♫ what good is sitting along in your room? Come hear the music play ♫
(A Shalka hisses at him.)
DOCTOR: I must say I'm getting tired of all your ooh, "nil points" says the Time Lord jury.
(More hissing)
DOCTOR: Tell me honestly,Am I irritating you yet?
(All the Shalka scream at him. The Doctor groans in pain, covers his ears and falls to the floor.)
DOCTOR: You'll have to do better than that. Look how strong the Time Lord is! Look how he stands up to you! A billion worlds? Top predator of the cosmos? You're just a bunch of one-penny jelly snakes!
(The Shalka scream louder at him. A little blood comes out of his nose. He wipes it away.)
DOCTOR: Oh. Hit me again, George.
(The Shalka scream at him. He starts vocalising again into the Shalka microphone. As he does, the Shalka around him start exploding. The Doctor looks around at the now empty room.)
DOCTOR: Perfect pitch, finally.
(All the Shalka slaves on the surface are still screaming.)
(The Prime has survived and is in front of the warp gate, currently in wormhole mode.)
DOCTOR: I think, therefore, I win.
PRIME: You haven't won.
DOCTOR: You kept your human vocal cords.
PRIME: Which doesn't prevent me from doing this!
(She screeches at him. The Doctor screams and is thrown backwards.)
PRIME: Amateur! You could only destroy an unprepared or inexperienced Shalka. We have a tradition of sonic combat.
DOCTOR: And I have a tradition of getting in the way.
PRIME: You are not preventing the destruction of this world by delaying me. The scream continues to operate without my personal direction.
DOCTOR: But with the knowledge of your whole system in my head, I'm eventually going to get the hang of this.
(He screams. The Prime screeches back at him. The Doctor is thrown further backwards.)
DOCTOR: Or perhaps I'll just,
(The Doctor takes a deep breath. The Prime screeches loudly at him. He's thrown further back.)
DOCTOR: Get you to fire me in the right direction.
(He pulls a lever. The warp gate goes into black hole mode. The Prime screams in terror and grabs the gate with her tentacles. The Doctor is pulled backwards and grabs hold of the gate's edge. Alison is clinging to a console.)
ALISON: Doctor!
(The Prime wraps some tentacles around his neck, strangling him. Alison screams.)
DOCTOR: Alison!
PRIME: Die, Doctor! Die!
DOCTOR: That's just it, Prime. Life won't,
(He kicks her. She loses her grip on him and the gate and falls into the black hole, screaming in terror.)
DOCTOR: That nodule, the big one! Hit it!
(Alison does just that. The warp gate goes back into wormhole mode. The Doctor stands in front of it.)
DOCTOR: Oh, yes! Yes!
[Black hole]
(The Prime continues screaming as she falls into the black hole.)
[Shalka lair]
(The Doctor rushes to Alison's side.)
DOCTOR: Quickly. Hundreds of Shalka have taken up positions just under the surface to protect the slaves and direct operations. They're starting to ask why they haven't had any central commands for the last couple of minutes. But they're more than capable of getting the slaves to finish the job.
ALISON: How long have we got?
DOCTOR: The atmosphere could react and change any second. Do you trust me?
ALISON: Oh, how needy are you? Yes!
DOCTOR: Then this is why I brought you.
(He regurgitates the Shalka worm into his hand and holds it out to her.)
DOCTOR: I want you to take your passenger back on board.
(The plaster is now gone.)
ALISON: Right.
DOCTOR: I've put it into a deep sleep. Being a Shalka, it can communicate with all the others via the scream. It grew into your head, already connected to a human brain. So it was easy for me to mentally reprogram it. Now, it'll plug your brain into the Shalka network.
(He puts the worm back into her head.)
ALISON: I am going to be okay, aren't I?
DOCTOR: I wouldn't risk losing you. You know I wouldn't.
ALISON: It just feels so,Oh.
(She gasps and her eyes glow blue.)
DOCTOR: You're in charge now. You're the centre of Shalka Operations. Tell the slaves to shut up. The Shalka will try and stop you. You mustn't let them!
ALISON: Ah!
(Shalka slaves screaming. Alison flashes in and out.)
ALISON [VO]: Listen to me. Everybody, I'm one of you! A human being. You're free! Free! Stop the scream! Stop the scream!
(Shalka rise up, screaming.)
ALISON: They're trying to drown me out. Trying to take control back.
DOCTOR: You had the willpower to fight them on your own. Now you've got all those people on your side. You can do it.
(The Shalka colony creature bursts into the lair.)
DOCTOR: Change of plan.
(He taps the Shalka microphone.)
DOCTOR: Am I speaking to the Shalka now?
ALISON: Yes.
DOCTOR: Are you all on the surface, all trying to control every single one of those humans on your own? Spinning all those plates at once?
ALISON: Yes.
DOCTOR: Well then, this is how it feels to drop them.
(He vocalises. The Shalka colony creature explodes. All across the world, Shalka explode. Even the worm in Alison's head pops.)
DOCTOR: Come to the cabaret.
(Alison gasps.)
ALISON: They're gone.
DOCTOR: Vaporised, all of them. Including the little ones. Amateur, indeed!
ALISON: We could've used a scream to fix the atmosphere. Not just to stop the Shalka but, to get rid of all the pollution. All I needed was another couple of seconds!
DOCTOR: I wouldn't have allowed you that. Humans can sort out the problems they make themselves.
ALISON: Everytime I think I understand you,
DOCTOR: I feel the same way! I don't like the military, but I have so many friends in it. I say I do not kill, but then I exterminate thousands.
ALISON: Look, you do your best to keep all the plates from smashing. You don't have to be perfect, okay.
DOCTOR: Okay.
(He kisses her forehead.)
DOCTOR: So,Tea?
(She laughs.)
(Army HQ. It's raining.)
[Office]
(Kennet is treating some nasty burns on Greaves, who doesn't look happy about it. Greaves winces.)
KENNET: It's only antiseptic, sergeant. Hold still.
GREAVES: Permission to howl, sir?
KENNET: Permission denied.
(Greaves groans as Kennet presses the cloth to his head.)
KENNET: There.
(Kennet walks over to the window and smiles. It's raining.)
KENNET: Ah, smell the air, Greaves! Ah! Fresh. I think we're going to be all right.
GREAVES: Who's we, sir?
KENNET: Greaves.
[TARDIS]
(Alison is stirring a spoon in a plain white cup. The Master is stood by the console, watching her.)
ALISON: This place is so huge.
MASTER: You have seen but a small part of it, my dear Miss Cheney. Tell me, do you plan to stay long enough to explore?
ALISON: Stay?
MASTER: With us.
ALISON: Uh,I don't think I'd been invited.
MASTER: He would never invite you. And neither would I, because I am by no means fond of you.
ALISON: So why do you call me, "My dear"?
MASTER: I call everyone that.
ALISON: Oh.
MASTER: However, loathe as I am to admit it, you offer him a companionship that I do not. One he has not allowed himself for a long time.
ALISON: What happened to make him such an emotional island?
MASTER: It is for him to tell you the whole story. But I think he sees an echo of it in you.
ALISON: Have you always travelled with him?
MASTER: By no means. I was of aid to the Doctor after he had lost,During the events that so damaged him. In return, he offered me a last chance for salvation. An offer I was foolish enough to accept, as those who punish us are always sending us into danger. And I doubt we will ever, as the Doctor promised me, reach the place he calls Bognor Regis. Of one thing, however, I am certain. He wants you to stay and share his exile. Trust me.
ALISON: Exile? Exile from what?
(Before the Master can answer, the Doctor returns to the console room, umbrella in hand.)
DOCTOR: You left the umbrella stand in the Zeppelin hanger, again.
ALISON: Zeppelin hanger?
[Wood]
(The Doctor and Alison step out of the TARDIS underneath the umbrella.)
ALISON: Couldn't you have landed back at the school?
DOCTOR: My control over the old girl's a bit erratic. Shame that worm never told how it works.
ALISON: Couldn't you have got us back after it stopped raining, at least?
DOCTOR: It won't, not for ages. The Earth needs to sort itself out. The English will love it. Probably try to conquer the world all over again, which would be bad.
ALISON: If I stay with you, could we go back to see the pyramids, find out who really built them?
DOCTOR: The TARDIS can travel to any time or place.
(A truck pulls up.)
DOCTOR: Ah. Here comes your boyfriend. So, all's well that ends well, eh?
(Joe gets out.)
JOE: Alison!
KENNET: Doctor, the Prime Minister and the US President want to thank you. The UN has already been in touch about a closed session and I believe there's even talk about a parade!
DOCTOR: Oh, let's not get all mushy, Major. Leave that to the Shalka, eh?
KENNET: You saved the World, Doctor. Good on ya!
DOCTOR: So this really is goodbye.
(Alison looks down.)
JOE: Alison?
DOCTOR: Goodbye.
(He moves off.)
ALISON: Doctor? Wait.
DOCTOR: What on Earth for?
ALISON: I,I have to say goodbye to Joe.
DOCTOR: What?
JOE: Alison?
ALISON: The Doctor can drop me off at Mum's place. I'll be okay.
KENNET: Doctor,
DOCTOR: Greaves, how fabulous! You've got a tan!
GREAVES: Permission to thump him, sir?
KENNET: It suits you, Sergeant. Good for you to get outside.
ALISON: Because I'm bored, Joe. I want to do something. This is my chance to travel in a time machine.
JOE: Doctor, how do you know that you'll be able to get her back?
DOCTOR: Time machine, Joe. She's probably back there already.
(He hands Joe the TARDIS mobile.)
DOCTOR: Go on, phone up her Mum and see.
(Joe dials.)
JOE: Hello, Mrs Cheney? Is Alison there? Oh, I see.
(He hangs up.)
JOE: You're not.
ALISON: Well, I guess now we know. Don't we?
(Joe kisses her on the cheek.)
ALISON: Doctor?
KENNET: You can't just saunter off again, Doctor. Not on your own.
(Alison steps beside the Doctor.)
DOCTOR: You're right, Major, not on my own.
KENNET: Doctor,
DOCTOR: Yes, Major?
KENNET: Fancy an extra hand?
DOCTOR: Not enough room, Major. She's smaller than she looks.
(The TARDIS dematerialisation noise starts.)
DOCTOR: Aha. The Master wants to go.
ALISON: Does it always have to make that awful racket?
DOCTOR: I'm afraid you'll have to get used to that.
ALISON: Is there anything else I'll have to get used to?
DOCTOR: Ship rules. No running, no jumping, no pushing and no slapping.
(He opens the door.)
ALISON: Aw.