 |
|
| World War Three | |
| Series: | Doctor Who - TV Stories |
| Series Number: | Series 1 |
| Story Number: | 160b |
| Doctor: | Ninth Doctor |
| Companions: | Rose Tyler |
| Enemy: | |
| Setting: | London; March 2006 |
| Writer: | Russell T Davies |
| Director: | Keith Boak |
| Producer: | Phil Collinson |
| Broadcast: | 16th April 2005 |
| Format: | 1 45-minute Episode |
| Prod. Code: | Series 1, Episode 5 |
| Previous Story: | Aliens of London |
| Following Story: | Dalek |
Contents |
The Doctor, Rose and Harriet Jones are trapped in 10 Downing Street. The world stands poised on the brink of interplanetary war, and the missiles can only be stopped if the Slitheen can be unmasked in time.
Following on from the end of Aliens of London, the deadly electricity courses through all of the alien experts in the room, killing them, but the Doctor, not being human, is not as affected as the rest. The Doctor grabs his own electrified identity badge and attaches it to the collar of the Slitheen that was masquerading as Asquith. Somehow, as the electricity courses through Asquith, it affects Green, Blaine and the police inspector threatening Jackie as well. The Doctor makes good his escape, running down and attracting the attention of the Metropolitan Police squad below. Mickey comes into Jackie's flat and sees the police inspector alien paralysed by electricity. He knocks it aside with a chair and grabs Jackie's hand, pulling her out of there — but not before taking a photograph of the alien with his mobile phone. Harriet and Rose rush past the writhing Margaret Blaine alien, running down the corridors of 10 Downing Street.
Green struggles and manages to remove the badge from Asquith's neck, and they hurriedly scramble into their skins just as the Doctor returns with the police squad. The Doctor tells the squad that the Acting Prime Minister is an alien, but is met with obvious disbelief. Green accuses the Doctor of having killed all the experts, and Asquith orders the police, under authority of the Emergency Protocols, to execute the Doctor. The Doctor, however, has his back to the lift, and ducks into it before they can do so. He rides it up to the top floor.
Blaine continues to chase Harriet and Rose through No. 10, and the two seek refuge in one of the offices on the upper floor. In the meantime, Asquith tells the police to isolate the upper floors, and rides upstairs in the lift together with Green, removing their skins. They join Blaine, who is enjoying the hunt, and they sniff out Harriet and Rose's hiding places. They are about to strike when the Doctor comes in, spraying the Slitheen with a fire extinguisher, causing enough of a distraction for Harriet and Rose to duck around the aliens. They run towards the Cabinet Rooms to get the Emergency Protocols to see what procedures they have for fighting aliens.
The Slitheen are just about to follow them in, when the Doctor grabs a bottle of port from a side table, threatening to use his sonic screwdriver to "triplicate the flammability" of the alcohol. He asks them who they are and why they are invading. The Slitheen, held at bay for the moment, say that they are not invading, and the Slitheen is not the name of their species, but their family. They are here for business reasons, but before the Doctor can get them to tell what that is, the Slitheen realise that the Doctor's threat is a bluff. They prepare to end the hunt, but the Doctor observes that the Cabinet Rooms have a special feature — three-inch thick steel walls that can seal off the room, making it the safest place in Great Britain. He does just that, shutting the Slitheen out... but also cutting off any avenue of escape.
The Slitheen summon the rest of their family, all disguised as various government and military officials, who start arriving at Downing Street. Meanwhile, Mickey and Jackie have managed to make their way back to his flat, but the Slitheen police inspector is still in pursuit, using his sense of smell to track Jackie. In the Cabinet Rooms, the Doctor puts the Prime Minister and Ganesh's body in the cupboard, and then checks for possible escape routes. Rose wonders how the Slitheen can fit inside smaller human skins. The Doctor explains that it is a function of the collar they wear — its compression field shrinks them down, leading to the gas exchange that causes their flatulence. The Prime Minister's skin was too small, even for them, which is why they did not use him as a disguise. The Doctor wonders why he finds Harriet Jones's name so familiar.
Harriet says she is not famous, just a lifelong backbencher. The Emergency Protocols list all the people who could help, but they are all dead downstairs. Rose wonders if the Protocols have defence codes that they can use to launch nuclear weapons at the Slitheen. Harriet explains that due to the United Kingdom's past record, the release codes for a nuclear strike are in the hands of the United Nations, and a resolution has to be passed before the authorisations can be released. As they wonder what the Slitheen could be after, Rose's mobile phone beeps. It is Mickey, and he has sent a picture of the Slitheen in Jackie's kitchen.
Despite his dislike of Mickey, the Doctor admits that he needs him. He asks Mickey to go to the computer and log on to the UNIT website, using the password "buffalo" to gain access. As he does so, Jackie takes over the phone, pointedly telling the Doctor how dangerous his life is, and asking him if he can promise her that Rose will be safe. The Doctor does not answer. Once in, Mickey finds the signal that the Slitheen ship in the North Sea is pulsing out into space. The Doctor puts Mickey on the speakerphone and tries to decipher the signal. The doorbell to Mickey's flat rings and Jackie goes to answers it. It is the Slitheen inspector, who unmasks and starts to break through the door. Mickey offers to fend off the alien with his bat.
Desperately, the Doctor and the others try to gather the information they know about the Slitheen so he can identify their race and hopefully their weakness. The various characteristics they have exhibited, including the fact that their gas smells like halitosis — calcium decay — helps the Doctor narrow it down to one planet — Raxacoricofallapatorius — and identify them as creatures of living calcium, which will be weakened by the compression. As the Slitheen crashes into the flat, the Doctor tells them through the phone to get into the kitchen and find anything with vinegar in it. Jackie dumps as many pickled foods into a measuring cup as she can and hurls the mixture at the Slitheen as it comes through. The acetic acid reacts with the creature, and it explodes.
In Downing Street, Green and Asquith sense the death of their brother. Green steps out onto the street and speaks to the media as Acting Prime Minister. He informs them of the death of the experts at the hands of aliens and that there are "massive weapons of destruction" capable of being deployed within 45 seconds above their heads. He urges the UN to pass a resolution and release the access codes that will allow the UK to launch a pre-emptive strike against the alien mothership. The Doctor, listening to the broadcast over Rose's phone, knows that Green is lying. He realises that is why the Slitheen made such a spectacle out of the crash; not just to attract the experts but to panic the world and make it more likely for the United Nations to acquiesce to Green's request.
He unseals the room long enough to confront the Slitheen outside. They will launch the missiles not into space but against other nations, triggering World War III. The Slitheen will then sell off the radioactive remains of Earth to the rest of the Galaxy as a fuel source. The signal from their ship is an advertisement that the planet is for sale. The Doctor tells the Slitheen he will stop them. Blaine sneers, expressing disbelief that he could do anything whilst sealed inside the room. The Doctor says grimly, "Yes. Me." He seals the room again, as uncertainty flickers across Blaine's face, her confidence shaken by the Doctor's demeanour.
As morning breaks over London, the streets are deserted. The Slitheen gather, unmasked, in the Prime Minister's office to await the call from the UN Security Council. Jackie calls the Doctor, and says there must be something he can do. The Doctor reluctantly admits there is an option, but he cannot guarantee Rose's safety. He could save the world, but he could lose Rose. Jackie protests, but without even hearing what the option is, Rose bravely tells the Doctor to just go ahead and do it. Harriet steps in at this point and, as the only elected representative in the room, orders the Doctor to take action.
The Doctor tells Mickey to use the "buffalo" password to access the Royal Navy's systems. Mickey locates the HMS Taurean, a Trafalgar class submarine off the coast of Plymouth, and under the Doctor's instructions, remotely selects and launches a Harpoon missile. The missile streaks inland, on a direct course for 10 Downing Street, as the UN concludes their debate. Persuaded by the "proof" that the UK has provided, they agree to release the nuclear missile codes.
The missile is picked up on radar, but Mickey stops the counter measures taking effect. The Doctor, Harriet and Rose take refuge in the cupboard, hoping to ride out the explosion. The police squad sergeant orders the evacuation of 10 Downing Street, and goes upstairs to warn Green. When he sees the Slitheen in their true forms, he makes a hasty retreat. The surrounding streets are cleared as the missile starts its final descent, and as the Slitheen still scramble around trying to get into their skins, 10 Downing Street is reduced to rubble. Thanks to the steel walls, however, the Cabinet Rooms survive, as does Harriet, Rose and the Doctor. The Slitheen are not so lucky.
Harriet wonders how they will rebuild from this, and the Doctor suggests that she become Prime Minister. She goes off to speak to the press and emergency services, announcing proudly that the crisis has passed; mankind stands tall, proud and undefeated. As he and Rose leave quietly, the Doctor remembers now why Harriet's name was familiar. Harriet Jones will be a future Prime Minister, elected for three successive terms and the architect of Britain's Golden Age.
Rose goes back to Jackie's flat and watches the aftermath on television. Jackie grudgingly admits that she can't get rid of the Doctor now since Rose is so infatuated with him, something which Rose denies. Jackie offers to cook for the three of them and get to know the Doctor better. The Doctor calls Rose on her mobile phone from the TARDIS, where he is cancelling the Slitheen "advertisement". When Rose tells him of her mother's offer, he refuses — Rose can stay there if she likes, but he has a universe to see. Jackie sees Rose packing and asks her not to go, but Rose just hugs her.
Mickey speaks to the Doctor by the TARDIS. He cannot believe that the papers are already saying the whole incident was a hoax. The Doctor gives Mickey a compact disc containing a computer virus that will wipe all trace of the Doctor's presence on the Internet and asks him to use it. He also offers Mickey a place in the TARDIS, but Mickey says that the Doctor's world is not for him. He asks the Doctor not to tell Rose he said this, however. Rose arrives with a backpack full of her belongings, tossing it to the Doctor and playfully telling him that he is now stuck with her. Rose says goodbye to Mickey and Jackie, assuring her mother that the TARDIS is a time machine — she can travel all over the universe and be back within ten seconds. Rose asks Mickey to come along with them but the Doctor, following Mickey's wishes, pretends that Mickey is not welcome.
Rose and the Doctor enter the TARDIS and it dematerialises. Jackie waits ten seconds, but it does not return, and she walks back towards her flat. Mickey stays in the street, and continues to wait.
to be added
to be added
to be added
| Series 1 |
|---|
| Rose • The End of the World • The Unquiet Dead • Aliens of London • World War Three • Dalek • The Long Game • Father's Day • The Empty Child • The Doctor Dances • Boom Town • Bad Wolf • The Parting of the Ways |
| Slitheen Television Stories |
|---|
| Doctor Who Aliens of London • World War Three • Boom Town The Sarah Jane Adventures Minor |
| Blathereen Television stories |
| The Gift |
I WILL SHOW YOU WAR!! 
Contents |
World War III was a worldwide metahuman conflict which lasted for only one week. Precipitated by the mass slaughter by Black Adam in Bialya, which resulted in millions of deaths, the conflict raged over the surface of the Earth. Eventually, the combined forces of the JSA, JLA Captain Marvel, China's Great Ten, Phantom Stranger Martian Manhunter, and other heroes stopped Black Adam's rampage.
The War was ultimately the result of a confluence of several events:
The primary product of the Science Squad of Oolong Island was the Four Horsemen: [1]
These beings were turned loose on the Black Marvel Family, killig Isis and Osiris. As Isis lay dying in Black Adam's arms, she told him that she was wrong - it wasn't he that required redemption, it was
Black Adam then followed Azraeuz to the nation of Bialya, killing first the military authorities in league with Intergang, then the entire population of the country - every last man, woman, and child. The world, for unknown reasons, chose not to intervene.
Succeeding in destroying Azraeuz, Black Adam learned that it was the Science Squad that created the Horsemen, and he set out for Oolong Island.
Black Adam, destroyed all of the defenses of the Science Squad easily, but they succeed slowing him down by attempting to unfold the hidden dimensions of space/time in his invulnerable brain. While Black Adam had appeared to heal from the damage done by the dimensional warp in his brain shortly after wards, the short moment allowed them to place the Neuro Crown on Black Adam (Which rerouted the electrical impulses Black Adam's brain sent to his body. Although this device had only a momentarily affect on Black Adam, it allowed them to place him in restraints specifically designed for the Black Marvel Family). While he was captured, they also tried to tortured him (The worst they could do was to use a devise known as the Thunder Pliers to break of a piece of his toe nail)
Chang Tzu offers Black Adam to the world community - by auction.
Arriving at Oolong Island, the JSA demands the release of Black Adam to stand trial for crimes against humanity. It is then, through the telepathicaly provided information of Thundermind that Alan Scott learns of the plot against Black Adam:
After entering the Island facility, Atom Smasher, unable to believe the charges against his former ally, lets Adam go free.
In Egypt, the Marvel Family does battle with Black Adam, destroying some of the Great Pyramids. The Marvel Family was defeated.
Australia is hit.
Italy is hit, with the Doom Patrol proving no match for the rampaging Black Adam. The Leaning Tower of Pisa is knocked over in the battle.
Checkmate locates Black Adam and notifies Mr. Terrific and the JSA.
Over the skies of China, Adam destroys fighter jets and makes his way to Beijing. Convinced that the Great Ten will be sufficient to stop his rampage, August General in Iron denies the world community the permission to assist them.
By Day 7, the JSA, JLA, Teen Titans, Doom Patrol and the other assembled heroes stand ready at the Chinese border, prevented from entering by virtue of a possible nuclear escalation. Black Adam easily defeats the Great Ten and, eventually, China allows international help. The JSA attack Adam.
Captain Marvel, petitions the Egyptian gods that power Adam to remove his powers, but they refused to make Adam mortal again, apparently supporting him in his quest for blood.
As the battle rages, the "heroes" of the Everyman Project retreat from the field, leaving the JSA and the other collected heroes to continue fighting.
They could not stop him in battle, so while co-ordinated by Zatanna, Jay Garrick, Green Lantern, and Power Girl try to force Adam into the skies, where Captain Marvel has called down the lightning of Shazam.
Captain Marvel caught the Bolt in the air.
Zatanna, Phantom Stranger, Zatara use their magical abilities, and force it to strike Black Adam, transforming him into a mortal again.
Falling from the sky, Adam is apparently caught by Atom Smasher and escapes.
Captain Marvel reveals that, although he couldn't get the gods to rescind Adam's powers, as Guardian of Magic he did have the power to change his magic word to something Adam will never be able to guess.
Issues in event are unknown.
Items: None known.
| World War III | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EVENT: World War III | Overview: 52 Week #50 | Part I: World War III #1 | Part II: World War III #2 | Part II: World War III #3 | Part IV: World War III #4 |
| World War III | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [[Image:{{{image}}}|center|250px|{{{description}}}]] | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Start date | 2026 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| End date | 2053 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Place(s) | Earth | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Result | Post-atomic horror, San Francisco Peace Accord |
||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
World War III was a global, and ultimately nuclear, conflict on Earth in the mid-21st century. Over 600 million people died in the war, and human civilization nearly collapsed, resulting in a period known as "the post-atomic horror" that lasted into the early 22nd century. (TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint", Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Unity)
Contents |
Historians of later centuries had varying opinions on the exact nature of the war and its origins. Some linked it to the Eugenics Wars of the late 20th century, and while the seeds of the conflict may have been planted then, most scholars agreed it really began with Colonel Phillip Green's ecoterrorism in 2026 which resulted in 37 million deaths. Green and his troops executed hundreds of thousands of people with "impurities" like radiation sickness, claiming that their deaths were for the good of future generations. (TOS: "Space Seed", "The Savage Curtain", VOY: "In the Flesh", ENT: "In a Mirror Darkly, Part II", "Demons", "Terra Prime")
Among other parties in the conflict were the Eastern Coalition ("ECON"), which fought against the United States of America and the European Union. Various factions, including Green's cadre and possibly the ECON, used drugs to control their military. (Star Trek: First Contact, TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint", novel: Federation)
Even during this period of global turmoil, the New United Nations worked for peace, and in 2036 declared that "no human being would be held accountable for the crimes of their race or forebearers". However, the group's efforts met with failure. (TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint")
World War III reached its peak on 1 May 2053, when nuclear weapons were detonated over London, New York City, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Mecca, Beijing and other cities. Asia was hit hardest, followed by the United States. Nearly half a billion people died in the initial blasts; Washington, DC and the surrounding three states were "blown off the map", and Earth was plunged into a nuclear winter that lasted most of the next decade. The post-atomic horror that followed severely destabilized civilization all over the world as governments fell and terrorist groups and rogue states detonated "suitcase nukes" and released biological weapons. The drug-controlled troops were used as cannon fodder in conventional ground battles after much of the global computer systems were sabotaged. Numerous small-scale conflicts erupted across the globe. The economy of the United States was devastated, and most of its citizens were reduced to living conditions worse than the Great Depression of the 1930s. (Star Trek: First Contact, The Lost Era novel: The Sundered)
For two months following the "outbreak" of World War III, Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas served as the operational command center for Colonel Amber's Regimental Volunteers and was the site of the final battle of the Siege of Las Vegas. (DS9 short story: "Second Star to the Right...")
When the extent of the devastation became clear, the remaining governments gathered in San Francisco to sign a peace accord. Even so, there were those who wished to keep fighting, like Colonel Green and others of his ilk. After Green's death, one of his lieutenants, Colonel Adrik Thorsen, continued terrorist strikes in the name of the Optimum Movement, and by the 2070s, gained control of Great Britain. (ENT: "Demons", novel: Federation)
First Contact with the Vulcans in 2063 inspired new hope in humanity and aided in recovery from the war's effects in some areas. Nonetheless, the post-atomic horror raged on in Asia, the Middle East, and the "new third world" sunk into total lawlessness. According to Jean-Luc Picard, these areas remained in "chaos" well into the early 22nd century. (TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint", "Up the Long Ladder")
Gradually, as the post-atomic horror declined, new attempts at unified global alliances sprung up, including the European Hegemony in 2126. These alliances eventually formed the genesis of the United Earth in 2150. (TNG: "Up the Long Ladder", "Attached")
World War III's legacy was far-reaching, and continued to be felt a hundred years later. The war eventually became a popular subject in the recovered film industry. The philosophy of Neo-Transcendentalism was founded to advocate a return to a "simpler life" in response to the devastation advanced technology had brought humanity. Other less-benign schools of thought emerged, including the xenophobia exemplified by the Back-to-Earth movement and its more aggressive "cousin" Terra Prime, an outgrowth of Green and Thorsen's "Optimum Philosophy". (ENT: "Home", "Demons", "Terra Prime", TNG: "Up the Long Ladder", Star Trek novels: Final Frontier, Federation)
Ultimately, World War III and first contact marked a turning point for humanity. In the aftermath, mankind came together, putting aside the differences of race and culture, and unified in a way never before seen. (Star Trek: First Contact)
During World War III, Kyoto was destroyed by three hydrogen bombs. After World War III, it was rebuilt.
The Vulcans were able to remove most of the radioactive material in Earth's atmosphere, but small, harmless amounts of radioactive particles remained in the atmosphere. In many big cities on earth, devices were installed to remove as much of their particles as possible. These devices were still in use during the 24th century.
In 2752, the crew of Starbase 001 became trapped within a holographic simulation of World War III, where they were forced to protect themselves from the holographic invading forces of the Eastern Coalition. One of the Coalition's strategies was to invade an abandoned city so that they would attain much of what was left, including possible technologies, intact. A corrupted Starfleet Command had claimed the simulation was intended as a time travel test for the crew, but in reality was a plot to kill off those who would oppose them. ("When It Rains...")
World War III had its genesis in the Eugenics Wars of the 1990s, through the following "dark age of genetics" and the "Confederation Era" of the 2020s. In addition to Col. Green and the Optimum Movement, the Macronesian Alliance became a prime mover in World War III during the 2030s, initiating a conflict with the Chaodai Confederation that gave rise to the Eastern Coalition in the early 2040s.
History remembered several soldiers of the period as heroes, including Bridger, Hudson, Ford, O'Neill, Connor and Mitchell.
During the war, the ECON invaded the United States. The Battle of Beachmont was fought in Maryland in an attempt to keep the invaders away from Washington, DC. Chicago was among the cities hit during the nuclear exchange in 2053; Florida was also targeted in order to disrupt the United States' space colonization program. Despite the cease-fire signed after the bombs fell, the war did not truly end until the 2080s with the collapse of the Optimal Republic of Great Britain and other fascist states.
In 2026 the Optimum Movement detonated a series of nuclear devices in 25 major cities of the United States of America, killing 30 million people and fracturing the country. In retaliation, what was left of the US government launched their own missiles at those they thought were responsible, killing a further 7 million and igniting the conflict.
Following the opening attacks there was a six month lull, during which the eastern states America had attacked unified into the Eastern Coalition Of Nations. A quarter of a centuries worth of tension between eastern and western nations and a hatred of the US and its allies fuelled the ECON with a seemingly unending supply of troops that allowed them to initially steamroller their way forwards. With their most powerful member crippled and facing overwhelming numbers, the western nations, under the organisational banner of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, used small tactical nuclear strikes to slow the advance.
The virtual stalemate continued for several years, draining resources on both sides and causing unrest to grow in the western nations, which the Optimum Movement used to promote their philosophy of survival of the fittest. By 2033 the USA had been reformed under the Optimum, with Great Britain, United Ireland, Spain, Germany and Italy joining it by 2047 and all withdrew from the New United Nations, effectively disbanding the organisation for a second time.
In 2053 the Optimum finally put its philosophy to the test, launching a massive nuclear strike on the ECON to end the war. Unfortunately for them, the ECON managed to launch a counter strike and the result was the effective crippling of either sides ability to make war and leading the signing of the San Francisco cease-fire, but the cost was high. Almost every major city on earth had been destroyed and the 300,000,000 people killed, a death toll that doubled that of the entire conflict up to that point and that made the attack that had began the war pale in comparison.
Despite the signing of the cease-fire, small conflicts continued to erupt over the next two decades as the Optimum and ECON governments continued to collapse, with the final Optimum stronghold, Great Britain, falling in 2079. ("Nuclear Time")
| Major Earth wars | |
| Crusades - American Revolution - American Civil War - World War I - World War II - Earth Cold War - Eugenics Wars - World War III - Earth-Kzin Wars - Earth-Romulan War | |
| Alternate timelines: World War IV |
 |
This is a Star Trek Expanded Universe featured article. We believe that it is well put together, informative and one of the best examples of the wiki's work. If you see a way to improve this page further, we invite you to contribute. To see other featured articles, click here. |
|
|
Wikis
Misc
Search
