EXT. DOWNTOWN LONDON – NIGHT
The Doctor and his companion step out joyously from the TARDIS
DOCTOR
Welcome home!
COMPANION
We're in Brixton. And not a good
area either. Only 15 miles off though,
closer than you usually are.
DOCTOR
Something not right…
COMPANION
Yeah, we're in Brixton.
DOCTOR
Yeah but of all places to accidentally
land, why Brixton?
COMPANION
It's not all bad. I can hear music
playing, and that reminds me that I've
never seen you dance.
DOCTOR
Because of very intricate and calculated
efforts on my part.
COMPANION takes lifts the psychic paper out of the Doctor's pocket and walks towards a bouncer at a nearby club door.
COMPANION
And once again, your calculations are
wrong.
(To the BOUNCER) We haven't missed the
show have we?
BOUNCER
I think they've still got some songs left.
Enjoy!
COMPANION
(looking at the paper) Look at that,
VIP!
THE DOCTOR and COMPANION float around the back of the crowd trying to get a glimpse of the stage.
SINGER
This next one goes out to the mysterious
young man that just walked into the back
The CROWD turns to look at the DOCTOR and COMPANION as "Mr. Blue Sky begins to play. The DOCTOR'S face falls as he has flashbacks of ELTON, a big ELO fan whose involvement in a hunt for the DOCTOR lead to the death of his friends and the injury of his love. Snapping himself out of it THE DOCTOR quickly leaves with the COMPANION on his heels.
COMPANION
Not an ELO fan I take it?
The DOCTOR begins to pace frantically.
DOCTOR
Something wrong something is very very
extremely wrong.
COMPANION
What's going on?
DOCTOR
(still pacing) We need to get back to
the TARDIS. Those people know something,
know something about me. (Behind him,
COMPANION begins looking closely at the
show posters on the wall.) I don't think
this is a coincidence.
COMPANION
I don't think so either.
The DOCTOR turns and holds the light of the sonic screwdriver up to the faded poster. A man who is the spitting image of the tenth Doctor is holding a sonic screwdriver in front of his face. The blue light obscures his features, but the brown hair and blue suit are unmistakable. Underneath the picture are the words COME MEET THE DOCTOR
MYSTERY WOMAN (O.S.)
Leaving the show so soon? We've been
waiting so patiently for you to come visit.
DOCTOR
Who are you?
WOMAN
Follow me, there's someone who wants to
meet you.
INT. CONCERT HALL BACKROOM – NIGHT
THE DOCTOR and COMPANION follow WOMAN in the backroom of the concert hall. A man in blue suit is waiting in the room with his back turned. When they enter the room he turns to greet them with a smile. He is dressed like the tenth Doctor to a tee.
MAN
Doctor! So good of you to join us!
THE DOCTOR stare at him coldly, calculating.
MAN
I'm the Doctor! At least that's what
everyone here calls me. But I can see
you're not too happy about that so you
can call me whatever you like.
DOCTOR
(with false amusement) How about Jim,
Jim's a nice name. Or what about John.
JOHN
I like John. I've known a lot of good
Johns.
DOCTOR
Okay then John, why are you stealing
my name?
JOHN
You flatter yourself Doctor, the name
doesn't actually belong to you. I could
be any doctor. I could be Dr. John Watson.
He was called by his title all the time in Doyle's stories.
DOCTOR
But you're not copying Doyle, you're
copying me. An outdated copy at that.
JOHN
Well you're more interesting than Watson.
DOCTOR
(with venom) I am a dangerous man to
impersonate.
JOHN
You know why I like the UK? Everywhere
else in the world I would be Dr. John Watson,
but here I'm just the Doctor. And I get to
hear fascinating stories from people who
knew another Doctor, one in a blue suit. A fantastic Doctor an unbelievable Doctor, an impossible Doctor.
DOCTOR
You're not the first one to chase me John.
JOHN
Oh but I'm the first one to know you.
I know more about you than any other
living being in time or space. You would
be amazed by what I know about you. It
makes me a great Watson to your Holmes.
You're impossibly clever man who knows how impossibly clever he is, running around
solving impossibly intricate mysteries
while leaving the dirty work to those who
can stand his presence for a short time.
And I'm the man who holds all of your
secrets, the man you would keep very safe
if you knew what was good for you
DOCTOR
Are you threatening me?
JOHN
I'm warning you. I don't want to be the
Doctor, I don't. I should've moved on years
ago, to other countries to other shows. But
this country is more lost and confused
and abandoned than any other I've been
to and they don't even know why. Thousands
and thousands of people have lost loved
ones to strange events and they've accepted
the loss but they can't move on because
nobody can tell them why no one is even acknowledging the question. Doctor, you've
left an enormous wound in the conscience
of this particular race of humans and I'm
helping close it up.
DOCTOR
If you tell them anything you'll only
endanger them more!
JOHN
You think I'm trying to bring them closer
to you? That is last thing I want. You have
a terrible track record with humans that know
you intimately.
(TO COMPANION) There are two words darling,
that you should fear above all others as
long as you travel with him. "I'm sorry".
God forbid he ever says those words to you because your life is about to be destroyed forever if it even continues passed those syllables.
(TO DOCTOR) Doctor it is very important to me
that I singularly hold the knowledge of your existence. I'm not spreading you to the world, I'm erasing you from it.
DOCTOR
My enemies will come looking for you if you
keep this up.
JOHN
They already have. And in case they can't
tell I'm human immediately I carry insurance.
JOHN pulls out a gun and points it at the DOCTOR.
DOCTOR
Your gun would be useless against the
weapons by enemies have.
JOHN
It's true, it wouldn't hold up against a
Dalek or a Sontaran. But anyone willing
to chase a rumor across the universe to
find you knows you would never let this
pass through your hands.
DOCTOR
Why are you doing this? Why is this so
important?
JOHN
This isn't a concert Doctor, it's a support
group for people whose lives have changed
because of you. People whose loved ones were killed by mannequins, whose homes were
destroyed by Christmas stars, who saw
your running through devastation, who
watched others sacrifice everything for a
man in a suit. Most of these people you
never met. Some you ran past, some
you knew briefly, and some were your best friends. I've talked to them all. I know all their stories.
DOCTOR
You cannot keep those secrets.
JOHN
Why can't I? You do it pretty well.
Tell me, what does she know about your
past companions? The people that knew
you the best? Does she know about the
husband and wife stranded in the past
away from their families and friends?
About the woman that loved you that you
turned into a freelance soldier? How about
the woman you loved, whom you stranded on a parallel universe with your genocidal twin
who was genetically spawned from the DNA of another woman? Does she even know about Donna?
DOCTOR
What do you know about Donna?
JOHN
A woman came to me one day, a fiery
redhead at the end of her rope. When she
got married she won the lottery, and became
a billionaire overnight. She invested well
and hadn't had to work for years. I'm sure
you thought it was a grand gift, money, but
it's interesting what happens to someone who
owns so much of it. A lost girl like Donna
didn't have any hobby to fall back on, she
only had one in her life and it was erased
from her mind. Except it wasn't, completely.
The more idle hours she spent, the more
this old idea kept scratching at the back
of her subconscious like a bug biting at her brain she said, an itch she could never
scratch. It was like going to work all day
not knowing if you locked the door, but
never being able to get validation. Just
always wondering. Any attempt to seek psychotherapy to retrieve the lost idea
or memory or thought was so strongly
discouraged by her parents that she gave up
and let itch get worse and worse until all
she could think about was the thing she
couldn't think of. Then she sees a poster
of mind and the itch gets a little easier
to bear. She doesn't know why this is clicking but she come to talk to me after show and explains her bizarre predicament. Not daring
to hope that I could help, but out of a desperation when she had no where else to go.
I gave her some basic dream techniques to bring out thoughts from her subconscious and pretty soon she was dreaming of her adventures with you.
DOCTOR
What did you tell her?! If she remembered
me she could've died.
JOHN
I figured it was something like that. And
the last thing I wanted was for her to go
chasing after you when she had so much
potential for happy human life. It was
easy enough to convince her the man in the
dreams was me, we have a similar build,
hair, dress, manner of speech. The mystery
man was saving her in dreams, and she had
come to me as a last chance at help.
Eventually I had her focus her dreams on
her role, not what the mysterious man in
the blue suit was doing. How did she act,
what deeds as she doing, how did she feel
in the dream completing those deeds? She
was able to see a whole new side of herself,
the Donna you created and then took away.
The itching idea melted with the dreams,
and the dreams gave her confidence in real
life. Pretty soon she took over your role
in the adventures, and she couldn't even
describe what you looked like the next
morning. Donna used her newfound confidence
to start a nonprofit helping children from
tough background gain confidence and education and realize their aspirations. Doctor Donna, charity of the year.
Everyone is infatuated with her. Her
personality, her flare, her confidence,
the media and the public eat her up. The
woman who had everything showed how useless
it was without the right inner control,
and now she's sharing her lessons with
the world.
DOCTOR
You fixed her.
JOHN
No I just showed her how to get her life
back after you took it away.
DOCTOR
I had to.
JOHN
Yes. You did. You saved her life like you
always do, and then you left like you always
do. You gave up on her and ran away. Left her with your conscience to rot.
DOCTOR
You always said bad things happen to people
who know me intimately. And you're right.
You're endangering yourself to. You're endangering your loved ones just as much
as me.
JOHN
Are you ever afraid for your life?
DOCTOR
No.
JOHN
Because you've accepted that when death
comes, it's probably overdue. You don't particularly want to die but you know it
wouldn't be so bad. Because you don't have
a future. You don't have a home or a race
or anybody who could possibly keep up with
you for as long as you want to run. So you
save people. Make yourself feel better. And
keep moving towards danger because really,
the thrill of danger is the last thing worth living for. I'm right. I know I'm right
because I'm the same way. I'm a French-Irish American rejected from Ireland, France,
and America. I don't have a home, I don't
have a race to call my own, I have close companions I try to keep safe that I know
will want to settle far before I'm ready to
stop running. So I save people. Your people.
And put myself in danger. Because what else
is there for people like us to do?
DOCTOR
You could come with me. We could find
a home together.
JOHN
Yes but if I abandon the human race now there'd be no distinguishing us at all.
DOCTOR
All this hate for me, all this built up resentment. You think you know me from stories so it gives you the right but you know nothing of who I am or the things I do for this world.
JOHN
I don't hate you because of what you do
or who you are. I hate you because you
don't understand it. Because you don't
understand what it means to be human.
You don't understand that the only thing
we know with certainty is that our lives
are very short and insignificant in the
grand scheme of the universe. You don't understand how precious that makes each
and every life. You don't understand how devastating it is to watch an already
miniscule life get stop short by someone
who takes time for granted. We count our
seconds and horde them together and you
play with time like it's a toy. And you're reckless with your toy and you break us
and leave before you have to pick up the
pieces. That's what I call myself the Doctor. Because someone has to pick up the pieces.