A Case for the Blue Box (episode): Difference between revisions

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*The following article is written from an Out of Universe perspective.*

A Case for the Blue Box was the fourth story of Season 35 of Doctor Who. It was written by Joe Menosky, directed by Les Landau and featured Michael French as the Doctor and Laurie Holden as Sammy Thompson.

This episode was an official crossover with Star Trek: Voyager and was the idea of Steven Moffat after the 'Paramount Deal' was finalised in early 1998. The episode takes place after the Voyager episode Counterpoint.

Synopsis

Reaching the end of Devore space, the USS Voyager comes across a mysterious small Blue Box hanging in space. Captain Kathryn Janeway, hails the box, but to no avail before it vanishes into thin air.

Soon after, two mysterious strangers arrive on Voyager, and with them, the very same Blue Box. But that's the least of their worries, as Voyager's medical supplies begin to evolve and mutate, transforming into a deadly creature, hungry for Time Lord blood.

Plot

To be added.

Cast

The Doctor - Michael French
Sammy Thompson - Laurie Holden
Captain Kathryn Janeway - Kate Mulgrew
Commander Chakotay - Robert Beltran
Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres - Roxann Dawson
Ensign Tom Paris - Robert Duncan McNeill
Neelix - Ethan Phillips
The EMH - Robert Picardo
Lieutenant Commander Tuvok - Tim Russ
Seven of Nine - Jeri Ryan
Ensign Harry Kim - Garrett Wang

Crew

Created by Sydney Newman, Donald Wilson and C.E. Webber
Executive Producers - David Renwick and Rick Berman

Writer - Joe Menosky
- Story by Joe Menosky and Steven Moffat
Producers - Susan Belbin and Kenneth Biller
Script Editor - Steven Moffat
Director - Les Landau

Star Trek created by Gene Roddenberry
Star Trek: Voyager created by Rick Berman, Michael Piller and Jeri Taylor

Memorable Quotes

To be added.

Background Information

Production History

In 1997, BBC Worldwide negotiated a co-production deal with Paramount Television for the next 5 seasons of Doctor Who, with BBC Wales. The idea of this being pushed at the BBC by Mal Young, the new Head of Drama
During negotiations, Kerry McCluggage, who was Mal Young’s opposite number at Paramount suggested that Star Trek: Voyager could do a crossover episode with Doctor Who.

Development

Development began, just after the Paramount Deal was signed, with Joe Menosky, a Voyager writer who was personally interested in working on the Doctor Who project, coming up with a storyline for the Voyager episode.
Mal Young intervened, suggesting that perhaps Doctor Who could do the episode instead of Voyager, as he wanted a big “second launch” for the programme, halfway through the upcoming season, and he thought it would be a great way to tell the British audience that “Doctor Who is a big deal now”.
One person who was rather indifferent about the whole thing was, showrunner, David Renwick, who went along with it, but didn’t really care either way.
Renwick assigned Steven Moffat, the Script Editor, to work on the storyline further with Menosky, but while he appreciated the fact that it would be a great publicity pull for the series, he wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about it, especially as he had already been encouraged to increase the outer space “futuristic” episodes, which he’d conceded nearly half of the run to.

Production

No other characters apart from the main cast of both shows actually appear and on top of that only the USS Voyager sets, and the TARDIS sets appear in the episodes too.
Kate Mulgrew flew to the UK to film the TARDIS scenes for the episode, as such the next episode of Voyager produced, was a ‘Janeway-lite’ episode.
For the most part, however, filming took place in Hollywood with the production crew of Star Trek: Voyager producing it.
The episode was directed by Les Landau and only credited to him, but the TARDIS scenes were actually directed by Susan Belbin, who went uncredited, although her Producer credit, as a senior position, covered this, technically.

Post-Production

To be added.

Reaction

This episode received a 7-Day Viewing Figure from BARB of 10.46m viewers. It ranked at 19th over the week.

Story Notes

To be added.

Continuity

To be added.

Home Video Releases

To be added.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{Episode|prodcode = 9W|episodenumber = Episode 7|doctor(s) = [[Ninth Doctor]]|companion(s) = [[Sammy Thompson]]|main_enemy = |main_setting(s) = [[USS Voyager]], [[2375]]|written_by = [[Joe Menosky]]|directed_by = [[Les Landau]]|produced_by = [[Susan Belbin]]
-[[Kenneth Biller]]|season = [[Season 35 (Doctor Who) | Season 35]]|story_number = |original_air_date(s) = [[2 January (releases) |2 January]] 1999|original_release = BBC One|image2 =35x04.jpg |caption2 = |previous_serial = |next_serial = |title1 = A Case for the Blue Box|featuring = [[Kathryn Janeway]]
+and [[Kenneth Biller]]|season = [[Season 35 (Doctor Who)|Season 35]]|story_number = |original_air_date(s) = [[2 January (releases)|2 January]] [[1999]]|original_release = BBC One|image2 =35x04.jpg |caption2 = |previous_serial = |next_serial = |title1 = A Case for the Blue Box|featuring = [[Kathryn Janeway]]
 [[Chakotay]]
@@ Line 11: / Line 11: @@
 [[Neelix]]
-The [[Emergency Medical Hologram |EMH]]
+The [[Emergency Medical Hologram|EMH]]
 [[Tuvok]]
@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
 [[Harry Kim]]|story_by = [[Joe Menosky]] & [[Steven Moffat]]|executive_producers = [[David Renwick]]
-[[Rick Berman]]|format = 1x45 minute episode|chapter = [[Doctor Who: Chapter Two | Chapter Two]]|chapter_nuber = [[Doctor Who: Chapter Two#Part III | Part III]]|nNthReleasedInSeries = 211|aPrevReleasedInSeries = The Robots of Time (serial)|sSeries = Doctor Who|aNextReleasedInSeries = GodEngine (serial)|nNthReleasedInAll = 214|aPrevReleasedInAll = The Robots of Time (serial)|aNextReleasedInAll = GodEngine (serial)|image1 = Voyager von unten.jpg}}{{Realworld}}'''A Case for the Blue Box '''was the fourth story of [[Season 35 (Doctor Who)|Season 35]] of ''[[Doctor Who (TV Series)|Doctor Who]]''. It was written by [[Joe Menosky]], directed by [[Les Landau]] and featured [[Paul McGann]] as [[Ninth Doctor|the Doctor]] and [[Laurie Holden]] as [[Sammy Thompson]].
+[[Rick Berman]]|format = 1x45 minute episode|chapter = [[Doctor Who: Chapter Three|Chapter Three]]|chapter_nuber = [[Doctor Who: Chapter Two#Part III|Part III]]|nNthReleasedInSeries = 211|aPrevReleasedInSeries = The Robots of Time (serial)|sSeries = Doctor Who|aNextReleasedInSeries = GodEngine (serial)|nNthReleasedInAll = 214|aPrevReleasedInAll = The Robots of Time (serial)|aNextReleasedInAll = GodEngine (serial)|image1 = Voyager von unten.jpg|TXtime = 18:55}}{{Realworld}}'''A Case for the Blue Box '''was the fourth story of [[Season 35 (Doctor Who)|Season 35]] of ''[[Doctor Who (TV Series)|Doctor Who]]''. It was written by [[Joe Menosky]], directed by [[Les Landau]] and featured [[Michael French]] as [[Ninth Doctor|the Doctor]] and [[Laurie Holden]] as [[Sammy Thompson]].
 This episode was an official crossover with ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_Voyager Star Trek: Voyager] ''and was the idea of [[Steven Moffat]] after the '[[Paramount Television|Paramount]] Deal' was finalised in early 1998. The episode takes place after the ''Voyager'' episode ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterpoint_(Star_Trek:_Voyager) Counterpoint].''
-== Synopsis==
+==Synopsis==
-Reaching the end of Devore space, the USS Voyager comes across a mysterious small Blue Box hanging in space. Captain Kathryn Janeway, hails the box, but to no avail before it vanishes into thin air.
+Reaching the end of Devore space, the [[USS Voyager]] comes across a mysterious [[The Doctor's TARDIS|small Blue Box]] hanging in space. [[Kathryn Janeway|Captain Kathryn Janeway]], hails the box, but to no avail before it vanishes into thin air.
 Soon after, two mysterious strangers arrive on Voyager, and with them, the very same Blue Box. But that's the least of their worries, as Voyager's medical supplies begin to evolve and mutate, transforming into a deadly creature, hungry for Time Lord blood.
 ==Plot==
 To be added.
 ==Cast==
-*[[Ninth Doctor|The Doctor]] - [[Paul McGann]]
+*[[Ninth Doctor|The Doctor]] - [[Michael French]]
 *[[Sammy Thompson]] - [[Laurie Holden]]
-*[[Captain]] [[Kathryn Janeway]] - [[Kate Mulgrew]]
+*[[Captain]] [[Kathryn Janeway]] - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Mulgrew Kate Mulgrew]
-*[[Commander]] [[Chakotay]] - [[Robert Beltran]]
+*[[Commander]] [[Chakotay]] - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Beltran Robert Beltran]
-*[[Lieutenant]] [[B'Elanna Torres]] - [[Roxann Dawson]]
+*[[Lieutenant]] [[B'Elanna Torres]] - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roxann_Dawson Roxann Dawson]
 *[[Ensign]] [[Tom Paris]] - [[Robert Duncan McNeill]]
-*[[Neelix]] - [[Ethan Phillips]]
+*[[Neelix]] - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethan_Phillips Ethan Phillips]
-*[[Emergency Medical Hologram|The EMH]] - [[Robert Picardo]]
+*[[Emergency Medical Hologram|The EMH]] - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Picardo Robert Picardo]
-*[[Lieutenant Commander]] [[Tuvok]] - [[Tim Russ]]
+*[[Lieutenant Commander]] [[Tuvok]] - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Russ Tim Russ]
-*[[Seven of Nine]] - [[Jeri Ryan]]
+*[[Seven of Nine]] - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeri_Ryan Jeri Ryan]
-*[[Ensign]] [[Harry Kim]] - [[Garrett Wang]]
+*[[Ensign]] [[Harry Kim]] - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garrett_Wang Garrett Wang]
 ==Crew==
+* Created by [[Sydney Newman]], [[Donald Wilson]] and [[C.E. Webber]]
-{{35crew|CreatedBy = Sydney Newman|CreatedBy2 = Donald Wilson|CreatedBy3 = C.E. Webber|ExecutiveProd = David Renwick|SeriesProducer = Susan Belbin|SeriesScriptEditor = Steven Moffat|Writer = Joe Menosky|Director = Les Landau|ProductionDesigner = John Asbridge|MakeUp = |CastingDirector = Andy Pryor|Music = Julian Stewart Lindsay|CostumeDesigner = James Baylan|Editor = Mark Lawrence|OriginalTheme = Ron Grainer|TitleMusic = Dominic Glynn|TitleSequence = Santa Barbara Studios|DOP = Geoff Harrison|VisualEffects = Orange Tree VFX|Make-upDesigner = Vanessa White|ExecutiveProd2 = Rick Berman|StoryBy = Joe Menosky|StoryBy2 = Steven Moffat|Producer = Kenneth Biller|DOP2 = Marvin V. Rush|ProductionDesigner2 = Richard D. James|KeyMake-upArtist = Suzanne Diaz|Music2 = |Character1 = Star Trek|CharCreatedBy1a = Gene Roddenberry|Character2 = Star Trek: Voyager|CharCreatedBy2a = Rick Berman, Michael Piller|CharCreatedBy2b = Jeri Taylor}}
+* [[Executive Producers]] - [[David Renwick]] and [[Rick Berman]]
+* [[Writer]] - [[Joe Menosky]]
+** Story by [[Joe Menosky]] and [[Steven Moffat]]
+* [[Producers]] - [[Susan Belbin]] and [[Kenneth Biller]]
+* [[Script Editors|Script Editor]] - [[Steven Moffat]]
+* [[Director]] - [[Les Landau]]
+* [[Director of photography|Director of Photography]] - [[Geoff Harrison]], [[Marvin V. Rush]]
+* [[Production designer|Production Designers]] - [[John Asbridge]], [[Richard D. James]]
+* [[Visual effects|Visual Effects]] - [[Orange Tree VFX]]
+* [[Make-up designer|Make-Up Designer]] - [[Vanessa White]]
+* [[Make-up designer|Key Make-Up Artist]] - [[Suzanne Diaz]]
+* [[Casting director|Casting Director]] - [[Andy Pryor]]
+* [[Incidental music|Music]] - [[Julian Stewart Lindsay]]
+* [[Costume designer|Costume Designer]] - [[James Baylan]]
+* [[Editor|Edited by]] - [[Mark Lawrence]]
+* [[Theme Music|Original Theme Music]] - [[Ron Grainer]]
+* [[Theme Music|Title Music]] - [[Julian Stewart Lindsay]]
+* [[Title Sequence|Title Sequence by]] [[Mike Tucker]]
+* [[Star Trek]] created by [[Gene Roddenberry]]
+* [[Star Trek: Voyager]] created by [[Rick Berman]], [[Michael Piller]] and [[Jeri Taylor]]
 ==Memorable Quotes==
 To be added.
 ==Background Information==
+=== Production History ===
+* In 1997, [[BBC Worldwide]] negotiated a co-production deal with [[Paramount Television]] for the next 5 seasons of ''[[Doctor Who (TV Series)|Doctor Who]]'', with BBC Wales. The idea of this being pushed at the BBC by [[Mal Young]], the new Head of Drama
+*During negotiations, [[Kerry McCluggage]], who was Mal Young’s opposite number at Paramount suggested that ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek%3A_Voyager Star Trek: Voyager]'' could do a crossover episode with ''Doctor Who''.
 ===Development===
+* Development began, just after the Paramount Deal was signed, with [[Joe Menosky]], a ''Voyager'' writer who was personally interested in working on the ''Doctor Who'' project, coming up with a storyline for the ''Voyager'' episode.
-To be added.
+*Mal Young intervened, suggesting that perhaps ''Doctor Who'' could do the episode instead of ''Voyager'', as he wanted a big “second launch” for the programme, halfway through the upcoming season, and he thought it would be a great way to tell the British audience that “Doctor Who is a big deal now”.
-===Pre-Production===
+*One person who was rather indifferent about the whole thing was, [[showrunner]], [[David Renwick]], who went along with it, but didn’t really care either way.
-To be added.
+*Renwick assigned [[Steven Moffat]], the [[Script Editors|Script Editor]], to work on the storyline further with Menosky, but while he appreciated the fact that it would be a great publicity pull for the series, he wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about it, especially as he had already been encouraged to increase the outer space “futuristic” episodes, which he’d conceded nearly half of the run to.
 ===Production===
+* No other characters apart from the main cast of both shows actually appear and on top of that only the USS Voyager sets, and the TARDIS sets appear in the episodes too.
-To be added.
+*Kate Mulgrew flew to the UK to film the TARDIS scenes for the episode, as such the next episode of Voyager produced, was a ‘Janeway-lite’ episode.
+*For the most part, however, filming took place in Hollywood with the production crew of ''Star Trek: Voyager'' producing it.
+*The episode was directed by [[Les Landau]] and only credited to him, but the TARDIS scenes were actually directed by [[Susan Belbin]], who went uncredited, although her [[Producers|Producer]] credit, as a senior position, covered this, technically.
 ===Post-Production===
-To be added.
+* To be added.
 ===Reaction===
+* This episode received a 7-Day Viewing Figure from BARB of 10.46m viewers. It ranked at 19th over the week.
-* In 2014, [[Doctor Who Magazine|Doctor Who: Magazine]] ran a poll consisting of every broadcast Doctor Who story at the time, and "A Case for the Blue Box" was voted 220th out of 323 stories.
 ===Story Notes===
-To be added.
+* To be added.
 ===Continuity===
-To be added.
+* To be added.
 ==Home Video Releases==
+To be added.
-*
 [[Category:Stories]]
 [[Category:Ninth Doctor stories]]
-[[Category:Chapter Two Part IV Stories]]
+[[Category:Chapter Three Stories]]