The history of Earth as presented in the Doctor Who universe is extremely complicated, with numerous glimpses into its future that often contradict one another. This is fine as Doctor Who continuity has never been entirely firm and multiverses are always a possibility, as is the suggestion at the end of this episode. But “Orphan 55” presents a vision of our future specifically to make a statement, something I don’t recall with such lack of ambiguity happening before.
It makes sense. Doctor Who it seems began to recognize its responsibility as a major T.V. program in recent years to address relevant issues and pressing concerns, and especially at this point in time a straightforward address is needed. “Orphan 55” certainly stands out for that, blatant cautionary tale and all, if I’m not entirely sure how good it is at doing so.
Its’ reference points in its plot and tone are easier to digest. For an episode that begins with the gang taking a spa leave to some resort called Tranquility, it’s a surprise when the story turns into essentially an Aliens riff, with hostile mutant creatures attacking the facility which was unknowingly constructed on a world teeming with them. It’s the Orphan 55 of the title, a desolate planet where Kane (Laura Fraser) -whom I’m convinced is not named by accident, Tranquility’s designer, opted to place the artificial reality of her spa (contained within a Truman Show style membrane), with the ultimate goal of terraforming the planet so it could become a real resort. But like in Aliens, the planet wasn’t as barren as she’d believed, and when the Dregs (a name which proves to be a bit on the nose) begin to break through its security, rendered weak by a matter-hopping virus, the Doctor is the one to take up the defence of the facility and its guests, because that’s just what the Doctor does.
She, Ryan, Yaz, and Graham are there by virtue of a transportation cube for an all-inclusive stay after a particularly trying adventure (that would have been fun to see) and in need for some relaxation -the Doctor still somewhat noticeably shaken by what she learned from the Master. For as fake as it is, Tranquility certainly looks rather paradisaical. Continuing last series’ tradition of rich colour schemes to compliment vibrant cinematography, director Lee Haven Jones fronts the episode with plenty of delectable imagery and nice shots, which gives way to cloudier, grimmer aesthetics once the Dregs show up, creatures with a design that seeks to evoke xenomorphs, werewolves, and a handful of previously established Doctor Who monsters. Often they’re seen at close-up or in tight shots or shrouded in darkness as they capture helpless victims, their teeth especially in focus, reminding me vividly of the mutant bear from Annihilation, something which nicely establishes them as a grave threat. However in showing them starkly as the episode eventually does on too many occasions, Jones nulls a lot of their intimidating power, revealing them as pale albino humanoids not dissimilar in appearance to White Walkers from Game of Thrones, only with Alien-like protruding jaws and slightly abnormal physiology nowhere near as scary as they are in limited profile.
In that hidden state however, they serve their purpose of instilling tension, especially as they start to pick off named characters. Yet there’s undeniably missed opportunity all through that initial attack on the spa, with little consideration for the possibilities of the environment and no clever horror set-pieces to speak of. Many of scenes around the Dregs are poorly edited as well, with Jones and the crew mistaking quick cuts for coherent visual language. And the Doctor kicking them out through pretty much the same technical wizardry the Master pulled to expel the Kasaavins from his cabin in “Spyfall” reeks a little too much of laziness. The episode doesn’t make much use of dynamic visual action afterwards either, choosing an underground mineshaft for its follow-up central setting.
Indeed in many regards “Orphan 55” is no different from any other base-under-siege monster story. Its’ guest characters are an elderly couple on holiday, the male partner ready to finally propose after decades -and whose capture by the Dregs is the catalyst for the whole cast to venture onto the toxic planets’ surface, protected only by nose bandages to feed them oxygen -on a mission swiftly ended and rendered pointless when Kane apparently kills the compromised man begging for death. There’s also a customer service representative called Hyph3n (the three is important), and a father and son mechanic team who don’t get along, notable only for the father being played by James Buckley, James Buckley in green hair, and James Buckley somehow responsible for a minor. There’s shreds of interesting characterization to each of these, but most of it is thrown out in favour of baseline personalities.
The exception is a young woman who factors into Ryan’s subplot (i.e. a minor romantic fling) whom I nearly mistook for Freema Agyeman on her first appearance. Her name is Bella and she’s played by Gia Re, ultimately revealed to be the estranged daughter of Kane -so estranged that Kane didn’t even recognize her. She’d lost her father not long ago, a fact Kane seems to barely be aware of, and it’s been Kane’s obsession with the spa that has kept them apart for so long, despite supposedly doing it all “for her”. That’s a pretty high level of bad parenting, an extremely shocking and barely remorseful absenteeism on par with Tommy Lee Jones’ abandoning father in Ad Astra. And it’s made even more heavily dramatic by the willingness of each to pull a gun on the other. There is a lot of nuance to the backstory here, and Fraser and Re are good actors; I so wish they had the chance to flesh out their characters more and the nature of their relationship beyond a mere series of expositions backed up by slight emotional delivery (although Kane remains fairly emotionally cut off for the episodes’ duration). Bella is determined to destroy Tranquility (both literally and metaphorically) as revenge for such bewildering neglect, an aim and weight we should care a lot more about than we do, but because the episode devotes little time to the details here and the finer points of their fractured bond, it can only muster a mild investment through Ryans’ -someone we actually care about.
Because by the time this plot point appears and begins to take shape for the climax, the episode is already more concerned with its major twist and the inferences of it than any thing else. Orphan 55 was Earth all along! This Planet of the Apes style bombshell comes when in an underground service tunnel, the Doctor, Yaz, and Graham (Bella had already transported herself and Ryan back to Tranquility) come across an old Russian inscription on some debris in the cave wall. Later, the Doctor happens upon an sleeping Dreg and manages to see into its mind the destruction of the Earth, discovering here that the Dregs are the mutated remnants of the human race, those who survived the cataclysmic worldwide holocaust.
To say this is not subtle would be an understatement. I half expected the Doctors’ mind-meld of imagery with the Dreg to include the Amazon (or even Australian) wildfires, the devastation of Puerto Rico, or footage of famously violent and climate change denying world leaders like Bolsonaro, Putin, and of course Trump spewing their usual filth. She explains as much to the companions, that a mix of environmental catastrophe due to neglect of scientific evidence and all-out war due to mass migration and destabilized regions led to the devastation of the planet and their all but extinction as a species. It’s so much more explicit than is customary for Doctor Who, which like a lot of popular science-fiction usually chooses to operate under allegory. And it becomes the overwhelming fact of the episode, even as the Dregs continue their assault and character arcs come to resolutions: a bewilderingly half-assed one involving the father and son, and a not-quite reconciliation but mutual understanding between Kane and Bella at the last minute that leaves them facing self-sacrifice to get the others to safety. The open-endedness of this latter point I find particularly irksome -there’s too much self-sacrifice in the episode as it is, and it robs both characters of a more meaningful, less rushed resolve.
Instead, the episode and the Doctor leaves them behind (though in fairness the Doctor had little choice in the matter) in favour of delivering a pointed motivational speech made more for the audience (and their parents) than the companions in the TARDIS with her:
“In your time humanity’s busy arguing over the washing up, while the house burns down. Unless people face facts and change, catastrophe is coming. But it’s not decided, you know that. The future is not fixed, it depends on billions of decisions and actions and people stepping up. Humans, I think you forget how powerful you are: lives change worlds. People can save planets or wreck them, that’s the choice. Be the best of humanity!”
Whittaker delivers it well, with the emphasis and urgency it deserves. And there’s necessity in what she’s saying and why she’s saying it with such transparency. Doctor Who’s target audience feels less sure of their future than any generation since the height of the Cold War. The world that they will inherit is unquestionably going to be one very foreign to the world we’re used to, for good or ill. “Orphan 55” is smart in not trying to alleviate those anxieties, it openly admits prospects are grim. But it ends on a note of encouraging action and the power of individuals to enact it, a worthy endeavour.
However, that doesn’t prevent this theme of the story from being clumsily integrated, another in a string of disappointments this episode presents, and only a relevant notion in the last third, having little bearing on the story and circumstances that came before. The issue of climate change, the inaction of world governments, and everything that came up and continues to come up during Greta Thunberg’s extraordinary movement deserves a more comprehensive focus than what it gets here. I respect that the people at Doctor Who know there’s a degree of power they wield with such a hit show and are willing to wield it for good. But it would strike a lot more momentously if the show could truly dive into it, rather than merely highlight its broadest strokes within a narrative framework it could exist wholly independent from.
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