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tvrealm's TV Trope Challenge

10 TV tropes from Doctor Who

1. Acting for Two
An actor playing more than one role in the same show

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- Noel Clarke: In the Series 2 episodes 'Rise of the Cybermen' and 'The Age of Steel', the TARDIS ends up in a parallel universe. In this episode Noel Clarke plays both Mickey Smith and his parallel counterpart Ricky.

- David Tennant: In Series 4 episode 'Journey's End', a Human/Timelord 'clone' of the Doctor is created from the left over regeneration energy. David Tennant plays the Tenth Doctor and the clone.

- Matt Smith: In the Series 5 episode 'The Eleventh Hour', Prisoner Zero takes on the appearance of other people or creatures. Matt Smit plays the Eleventh Doctor and Prisoner Zero when it takes his form.

- Karen Gillan: The Series 6 episode 'Let's Kill Hitler' features a Tessalecta, which is a robot which can change its appearance. Karen Gillan plays Amy Pond and the Tessalecta when it takes on her form.

2. An Ass Kicking Christmas
An action packed episode set during the Christmas period

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- 'The Christmas Invasion' - Set on Earth during the Christmas period, the Doctor has not yet fully recovered following his regeneration, and the Sycorax are invading Earth. Also featuring killer Christmas trees and Santas.

- 'The Runaway Bride' - Set on Earth during the Christmas period, a bride materialises on the TARDIS. Cue killer Santas, a trip to the creation of earth and evil giant spiders.

- 'Voyage of the Damned' - Set during the Christmas period, on a spaceship called the Titanic, from the planet Sto. It's owner Max Capricorn is planning to crash the ship into Earth, to get back at the other owners of his company.

- 'The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe' - Set during the Christmas period on Earth in 1938, the episode begins with the Doctor falling out of a spaceship and landing on Earth. 3 years later he attempts to help give the children of the woman who helped him the best Christmas ever. Featuring living, moving trees and a WW1 pilot.

3.Chekhov's Gun
An unimportant element introduced early on, which later becomes important

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The Doctor's Hand:

- The Doctor loses his hand in a sword fight against the leader of the Sycorax. It falls off the spaceship to London below.

- At some point Jack collects the hand, and in 'Utopia' we learn the he has turned it into a sort of Doctor-Alarm which lets him know that he is nearby

- Jack appears to have left the hand in the TARDIS because after he begins to regenerate in 'Journey's End he sends the excess energy into the hand.

- When Donna touches the jar which contains the hand later on in the episode, a Timelord-Human metacrisses is formed and a 'clone' of the Doctor is created. Following this event him and Donna can save Earth from Davros and the Daleks.

4.Colour-Coded for your Convenience
Colours are used to help the audience recognize certain things

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The Eleventh Doctor's bowtie shows whether he has gone to the past (Blue) or the future (Red), e.g.
- 'The Impossible Astronaut', set in 1969
- 'Let's Kill Hitler', set in 1938
- 'A Good Man Goes to War', set in an unknown year
- 'The Girl Who Waited', set in an unknown year

5. Iconic Item
An object carried or used only by one specific character, which also serves to define the character

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The Sonic Screwdriver was first show in 1968. Although throughout the run of the show there have been periods without the Sonic Screwdriver, since the reboot in 2005 it has made a full comeback and is used regularly. It is also often used in promotional images.

6. MacGuffin Girl
The object that everyone is looking for, turns out to have been transformed into a girl

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- Cal - In the episodes 'Silence in the Library' and 'The Forest of the Dead', the Doctor finds an empty planet-sized library. The CAL computer system claims that there are "4022 saved, no survivors". After being told that Donna has left the building and been saved, the Doctor tries to figure out what this means. It is later revealed that the computer system is formed around the mind of a little girl called Charlotte.

- The TARDIS - In the episode 'The Doctor's Wife', the matrix of the TARDIS disapears. The Doctor later discovers that it has been put inside a woman called Idris.

7. Meaningful Name
A name that has some sort of extra meaning to it

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We are first introduced to a mysterious woman named River Song in the episode 'Silence in the Library'. Later, in 'A Good Man Goes to War', Amy states that she has named her and Rory's daughter Melody Pond. Lorna Bucket, from the Gamma forests gives Amy a prayer leaf with Melody's name on it in her language. At the end of the episode River tells Amy and Rory to read the prayer leafe, which is translated into English by the TARDIS. It is revealed to say River Song, because the people of the Gamma Forest don't have a word for Pond, as "the only water in the forest is the River".

8. Pajama Clad Hero
A hero who spends an entire adventure in their pajamas

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- The Tenth Doctor in 'The Christmas Invasion'. Rose puts him to bed to recover from his regeneration. He wakes up just in time to have a sword fight with the leader of the Sycorax.

- Amy Pond in 'The Beast Below'. Amy goes straingt into an adventure, after the Doctor picks her up in the middle of the night.

9. Shirtless Scene
A common form of fanservice which entails a gorgeous man going shirtless

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- The Ninth Doctor in 'Dalek'.
- The Tenth Doctor 'clone' in 'Journey's End'.
- The Eleventh Doctor in 'The Lodger'.
- Rory Williams in 'Curse of the Black Spot'.

10. Wham Episode
An episode which radically alters the status quo. Contains a big twist

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- 'The Impossible Astronaut' - Near the beginning of the episode we see the Doctor getting killed. We then meet up with an earlier version of the Doctor, and so are waiting the whole series to find out what actually happened with regards to the Doctor's death.

- 'Day of the Moon' - At the end of this episode the young girl regenerates. This implies that she is a Time Lord, who up till now we thought were extinct.

- 'The Almost People' - At the end of this episode we discover that through the series so far we haven't seen the real Amy, just a flesh copy of her. The real Amy is in an unknown location, and about to give birth.

- 'A Good Man Goes to War' - At the end of this episode we finally discover who River Song is - Amy and Rory's daughter!

Word Count: = 1000+
Image Count = 40

All images are property of the BBC
Screencaps from The Medusa Cascade and Sonic Biro
Tropes from TV Tropes