The Dawn of Time

The Dawn of Time is the thirteenth episode of the first season of the BloodLoomis Productions' Lego Doctor Who Series which was first uploaded on 3rd July 2016. It was the second part of the two part story that began with 'The Sins of the Time Lords'. It was written and directed by Cameron Hughes.

In the episode, the two Doctors, Jess and Caldril, the Time Lord Castellan, must journey to the Death Zone to avert the Vultures' plan to send the planet of Gallifrey back to the dawn of time, where it will be destroyed.

This episode serves as the finale to Season 1, and leads into the events of the subsequent Children in Need Special, 'Antecedent'. It received a largely positive response from viewers, who praised its resolution to the Vulture story, and for its use of music.

Plot
The two Doctors return to the Lord President's chamber, arguing amongst themselves. They explain to Jess who the Vultures are: beings that originated from the dawn of time that possess the ability to remove anything from existence, and that they want revenge on both the Doctor and the Time Lords for imprisoning them. The Vultures attack the Citadel, and land in the Death Zone, presumably to gain the power of Rassilon from the Dark Tower. The Doctors decide to stop them by getting to the Death Zone itself, along with Jess and Caldril (who wants to atone for the mistakes of his father, the previous Castellan, who failed to improve the Quantum Ark).

The Vulture Commander sends a team of Vultures to the Citadel to retrieve the Time Scoop, whilst the Doctors, Jess and Caldril arrive in the Death Zone, moving in two parties to get to the Dark Tower faster: the Doctor and Jess, and the Shalka Doctor and Caldril. The Vultures use the Time Scoop to summon several of the Doctor's enemies, such as the Sontarans, Autons, Weeping Angels and Cybermen. These villains are evaded however.

Inside the Tower, the Doctors, Jess and Caldril surprise the Vultures, who have made a portal leading to the dawn of time. They plan to send Gallifrey back there using the power of Rassilon, which will ultimate destroy it. The Doctors and Caldril use their collective psychic ability to weaken the Vultures, allowing the consciousness of Rassilon to send the Vultures through their own portal, trapping them in the dawn of time. The strain is too much for Caldril, and he dies of the exhaustion, having made up for any failings of his father. The Doctors and Jess return to the Citadel, and the Shalka Doctor is sent to his own time. The Doctor remembers that the Chendaki and Tarquan were still removed from time, so he heads to the Vultures' ship to reverse the process.

On the ship, he is able to return the Chendaki and Tarquan to their proper places in the timestream, but is hit by an energy bolt, which damages him, but not fatally. He and Jess are brought back to Gallifrey, where the President offers the position to the Doctor, who declines, saying he'd much rather travel the universe with Jess. In the TARDIS, Jess says that she might want to take a small holiday at home for a bit, to which the Doctor accepts.

Continuity
The Nihil is mentioned as being another entity from the dawn of time, in fact an enemy of the Vultures, and the cause of his death in 'Devour'. The Death Zone and Dark Tower were seen in The Five Doctors, where four of the Doctor's incarnations and his companions stopped Borusa from trying to gain the power of immortality. Several villains from Season 1 appear to fight the Doctors in the Death Zone: Sontarans, Autons, a Weeping Angel and the Cybermen. Event One, first mentioned in Castrovalva is brought up in this story.

Writing
The inclusion of the Shalka Doctor was decided out of a desire to include him in the series at some point. A multi-Doctor story was also an intention, so it was decided to include the Shalka Doctor here. Despite not being a massive fan of big finales, Hughes decided that one was necessary. The deus ex machina ending, where the Doctor reverses the Vultures' actions was deemed to be slightly weak by both Hughes and James Stone.

Filming
The sets were slightly more difficult for this story, as both the Death Zone and the Dark Tower were seen in the TV Series, and so to some degree had to be replicated accurately, although with some sort of artistic licence.

Trivia

 * The Shalka Doctor's decal was in fact an Eighth Doctor decal modified to be more akin to his webcast counterpart.
 * Jess' remark that the Death Zone looks like 'a field in Wales' is a reference to the fact that in The Five Doctors, it was a field in Wales.
 * This is the last appearance of the original title sequence, before it was modified for 'Antecedent' and abandoned altogether in 'Playthings'.