Sci Fi Log #12: Mummy Murder on the Space Orient Express

For this sci fi log, I chose to discuss an episode of Doctor Who I recently watched, called “Mummy on the Orient Express”. The episode is the 8th of this current season of the show. To start us off, here’s a brief synopsis:

For her final adventure, the Doctor takes Clara (his current companion) for a trip on board the wondrous, space-traversing Orient Express. There, they find it has a supernatural passenger…

Now, on with the full description. In the beginning of the episode, you hear a quick and suspicious voice-over from the Doctor, stating to “start the clock,” at which point a timer starts counting down from 66 seconds in the corner of the screen. Just then, in a luxurious dining car of the train, Mrs Pitt, an elderly lady, spots what she believes to be a man dressed in a mummy costume. Her granddaughter Maisie, who is eating with her, says that there’s no one there. She pays no mind to him at first, but very soon starts to get worried, because the creature appears to be coming straight for her. She complains about it to the nearest conductor, demanding that he be thrown out of the room. The conductor asks what she’s talking about. This makes it clear that at this moment, only Mrs. Pitt can see the monster. CREEPY, AIN’T IT? As the timer reaches 6 seconds, the Mummy gets closer and closer to Mrs. Pitt. At 5 seconds, its face is in hers. At 4 seconds, Maisie begins to really worry for her poor grandmother. At 3 seconds, everyone in the car is staring, wondering what’s going on. At 2 seconds, Mrs. Pitt appears to be having some kind of panic attack. At 1 second, the Mummy places its hands on her forehead. When the timer hits 0, Mrs. Pitt collapses, dead.

A while afterwards, the Doctor’s spaceship, the TARDIS, appears in the baggage car of the space train. The Doctor and Clara emerge from the TARDIS, dressed in fancy 1920s outfits. They step into a passenger car, where a singer is performing and people are dancing. The two step up to a window and have a deep conversation, where Clara announces that she intends this trip with the Doctor to be her last. He quickly changes the subject, but then is interrupted by a visibly distraught woman, who turns out to be Mrs. Pitt’s granddaughter Maisie. She is gently ushered back to her room by some guards, and Clara asks Quell, the Captain, what happened to Maisie, and he explains to her Mrs. Pitt's sudden death before leaving.

That night, the Doctor ponders the story of Mrs. Pitt's death and the mummy creature that only she saw, becoming increasingly suspicious of it. Meanwhile, Clara is on the phone with her beau, Danny, discussing her last trip so far. He is relieved that at least the train is safe, which Clara seems a little bit unsure of, but agrees. The Doctor leaves his room, stopping at Clara's bedroom door. He almost knocks, but instead goes on, leaving her to rest. As soon as he leaves the hallway, Clara emerges from her room and goes to the Doctor's bedroom door. She knocks, and discovers that he’s not there.

The Doctor starts to poke around the engine room, where he examines the chair that Mrs. Pitt had died in. It's then that he meets Perkins, chief engineer aboard the Orient Express. Perkins tells him that they think something else might be responsible for the deaths of some of the passengers.

While out looking for the Doctor, Clara meets Maisie, who is coming down the hallway looking determined with a high heel shoe in her hand. Clara greets her, then follows her. Maisie asks the computer for access to a room, but the computer denies her. Maisie says that that's the room where they're keeping Mrs. Pitt's body, and that she should be allowed to see it. Maisie smashes the computer with her high heel shoe and the door slides open.

The Doctor has seeks out a passenger named Professor Emile Moorhouse,  a professor of alien mythology. The Doctor asks him about the Foretold, which is a mythical mummy-like being. He tells the Doctor bits of info, including a short legend: "They that bear the Foretold's stare have 66 seconds to live." Right at that moment, in the kitchen, a chef catches sight of the Foretold and screams (and the timer starts again). The chef backs towards the freezer and locks himself in it, seeing that the Foretold is on the other side of the door and can't get inside. But when he turns around, he comes face to face with the monster, who has somehow teleported inside the freezer. As the clock ticks to 1 second, the Foretold wraps its hands around the chef, who then dies.

The Doctor confronts Captain Quell about the Foretold, but Quell does not believe him. Perkins then gives the Doctor a large amount of documents and information about the Foretold and its victims. They meet up with Moorhouse in the engineer's room to watch footage of Mrs. Pitt's death and note its details. Meanwhile, Maisie and Clara get into the room, but Mrs. Pitt's body isn't there. The door has closed and locked behind them. The Doctor calls Clara, who notices that there's a strange sarcophagus at the back of the room. It opens up, but there’s just bubble wrap. Captain Quell then apprehends the Doctor, believing he is the one causing the deaths (Why? I don’t even know…).

Another Foretold death happens, this time to one of the guards. The Doctor then quickly deduces that all of the passengers are all experts and scientists in specific fields of study, and that they have been gathered on the train to study the Foretold (What?). The inside of the room turns into a laboratory, and most of the passengers disappear. They were holograms, says the Doctor, to make up the numbers (WHATTT?). The train comes to a stop and the computer, Gus, reveals that the Doctor was right and the whole Orient Express excursion was created to find out more about the Foretold (WHAT IS EVEN HAPPENING?). "Your goal is to ascertain the Foretold's true nature, probe for weaknesses with a view to capture, after which we will reverse engineer its abilities," explains the computer (WHY, THOUGH?!). Gus reveals that an ancient scroll, kept in the front of the car that everyone is currently in, is what causes the mummy to appear.

Professor Moorhouse suddenly catches sight of the mummy, and he describes its features to the Doctor. He ends up dying, as does Captain Quell. The Doctor finds out that Maisie is next to go, and just then the Foretold appears, coming for her. The Doctor pulls out a device that scans Maisie’s emotions, grief and trauma, and implants them in himself. He can now see the Foretold, and he has only a few seconds to figure out how to stop it. He discovers that the mummy is actually an ancient soldier augmented with technology to allow it to kill only its victims by pulling them out of phase and that it is protecting the scroll, which is actually a flag (.......they aren't trying anymore). The Doctor notes that for him, the war isn't over yet, and with one second left, the Doctor shouts: "We surrender!” The mummy is then seen by everyone, and the Doctor says, “You’re relieved, soldier.” The mummy wearily salutes him, and then collapses in a pile of bandages and dust.

Gus then announces that he is happy that they solved the mystery, but no survivors are needed for the experiment. The Doctor then rescues everyone and takes them to a nearby planet, where they are all safe and able to go home.

Clara then calls Danny, who says that she should keep traveling with the Doctor, and she agrees. The episode ends with the Doctor and his companion traveling to another planet.