The Rings of Akhaten
| 233 – "The Rings of Akhaten" | |||||
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| Doctor Who episode | |||||
Official poster from the BBC website
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| Production | |||||
| Directed by | Farren Blackburn | ||||
| Written by | Neil Cross | ||||
| Produced by | Denise Paul Marcus Wilson (series producer) |
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| Incidental music composer | Murray Gold | ||||
| Series | Series 7 | ||||
| Length | 45 minutes | ||||
| Originally broadcast | 6 April 2013 | ||||
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"The Rings of Akhaten" is the seventh episode of the seventh series of the British science-fiction drama Doctor Who, first broadcast on BBC One on 6 April 2013. It was written by Neil Cross and directed by Farren Blackburn.
In the episode, alien time traveller the Doctor (Matt Smith) takes his new companion Clara Oswald (Jenna-Louise Coleman) to the Rings of Akhaten, where several planets revolve around a larger one. They attend a religious festival where the young Queen of Years, Merry Gejelh (Emilia Jones), is about to be sacrificed. Determined to save Merry, the Doctor and Clara come face-to-face with the parasite of Akhaten, who requires memories, stories, and items of sentimental value.
Cross was asked to write the episode after the success of scripting and shooting "Hide", a later episode. "The Rings of Akhaten", as Clara's first trip to an alien world, was intended to show the wonders of the universe instead of the Doctor getting his new companion trapped somewhere less glamorous, a trend that had been observed in the history of the programme. The episode also explores Clara's backstory. Filmed entirely in-studio in late October 2012, pre-made moulds were utilised for the many different aliens to save money. "The Rings of Akhaten" was watched by 7.45 million viewers in the UK and received a mixed reception regarding its emotion and plot.
Following the events of "The Bells of Saint John", in which he encountered a third version of Clara, the Doctor decides to learn more about his new companion and travels into her past to observe her. He finds that her parents met by a chance encounter caused by a gust of wind blowing a leaf into her father's face and discovers that her mother died while Clara was a teenager. The Doctor goes back to the present and collects Clara, then takes her to the Rings of Akhaten, where they observe a series of planetoids orbiting a planet, with a shining pyramid on one of them. The Doctor takes Clara to a giant alien marketplace and introduces her to several aliens, including a merchant named Dor'een who attempts to rent them a space bike. The market does not use hard currency but rather trades in items of sentimental value; this appalls Clara, who believes sentimental items should be cherished and not given away. She becomes separated from the Doctor and encounters a little girl (Emilia Jones) who appears to be running and hiding. Clara catches up to her and she explains that her name is Merry Galel, the Queen of Years. Merry tells Clara that she is hiding because she is supposed to sing a song at a ceremony and she is afraid to get it wrong. Clara reassures her by telling her what her mother once said, and Merry heads to the ceremony.
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