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English
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Part 5 of Revised Episodes
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Doctor Who Shorts
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Published:
2013-09-03
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324
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1/1
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"Closing Time" Alternate Ending

Summary:

A rewrite of the final scene of "Closing Time" to make it less schmaltzy and make more sense.

Notes:


In Closing Time the power of love saves the day again.

I miss the days when people were saved by a bit of technical wizardry, determination, and cleverness, rather than some preachy meta-statement about the power of love. And I really don't like it when the Doctor stands around helplessly apologizing and not doing anything.

So I slightyly rewrote that ending scene in Closing Time. It's still about the power of a father's love. But I think by simply telling the story, the audience will understand that for themselves:

Work Text:

Craig is pushed into the conversion unit. It starts to envelop him.

"Fight it, Craig!"

"I can't!"

"You can!" The Doctor sees Alfie crying on the monitor and zaps the sound up with the sonic screwdriver, at the same time blinding the Cyberman with the light on the end, who jumps in response and the Doctor wiggles free. He dashes to the control panel, dodging Cybermen.

"Alfie!" Craig cries, hearing the baby.

"That's right, Craig. That's your son. You wanted to prove you're a good dad, you won't get a better chance than this!" The Doctor jiggers the controls. "Push, Craig, fight it! I've inverted the inhibitor controls, push it back at them. They want to take it all way from you! Your baby. Sophie. Don't let them, push the energy back at them." The Doctor dodges the lumbering Cybermen who come after him.

"NO!" Craig screams, straining. "You can't have it!" Straining, pulling with his arms, actually bending the cybersuit, lightning crackles around the converter, around the helmet, around the suit. A last visceral scream, "NO!" The helmet explodes, revealing his face, red, furious, determined, his arms rip forward out of the converter, still encased in the cybersuit, the chestplate expodes open and he rips himself out of the last of the cybersuit.

The converter is sparking like mad, lightning flashing all around it.

"Controller!" one of the Cybermen cries out in pain. Lightning lashes from the converter to all the Cybermen. Their heads explode, one by one. The Doctor and Craig run.

Upstairs Craig runs and takes his howling baby from the woman. He holds him up and beams at his furiously kicking son. "Yes, you scream, my boy, you scream!" And folds him into a fierce hug.

"What happened?" the woman asks.

The Doctor just beams. "Don't mess with the daddy."

—

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