| The following article is written from an Out of Universe perspective. |
Doctor Who: The Upgrade from Tomorrow was the seventh feature film in the Doctor Who motion picture franchise, produced by Paramount Pictures and BBC Films. It was released on 14 May 2021 on Paramount+, before it's premiere broadcast on 15 May 2021 on BBC One.
The film starred returning Doctor, Paterson Joseph and Rosalyn Clyne, played by Felicity Jones. It also featured Gillian Anderson as Caitrin Ryan.
Synopsis
When the Prime Minister sends the Doctor and Rosalyn on a mission, they end up finding out a deep and dark secret within the heart of UNIT, as well as instigate a full-scale alien invasion...
Plot
A lonely space station, in the midst of the vacuum of space. A group of familiar looking ships surround it as a siren begins to sound. Inside the spaceship, battalions of Cybermen teleport in, as they begin to stomp in formation. A group of scared aliens huddle together in a dark enclosed room, hiding from the Cybermen. They look so frightened, so scared – clutching onto a box, shielding it from harm’s way. The Cybermen draw nearer, edging further towards the door, in which the aliens are hiding. They try so hard to stay still – but the door slams open as a Cyberman finds them. But – after just a moment of sheer terror – the Cyberman’s head is blasted off, into flames, as the group of aliens look confused but relieved. Revealing who shot the Cyberman, the aliens see that it’s none other than Rosalyn Clyne, standing there with a big sci-fi gun. She tells them that they have to hurry and get to safety. Rosalyn, leading the group, tries to get them to safety, as they navigate the station, trying to avoid Cybermen. Eventually they run into a group of them, and Rosalyn fights the Cybermen off, protecting the group, eventually killing loads of them. They get into a corridor at the other end of the ship, where the TARDIS materialises, and the Doctor holds open the door, telling them all to run in. Rosalyn grabs the box the group were shielding, as she’s running and opens it, seeing a series of numbers alternating, she says to herself “Fascinating”, and smiles, as she runs into the TARDIS, the doors close, and the TARDIS dematerialises.
The TARDIS lands in UNIT HQ, as the Doctor and Rosalyn step out. They are greeted by both Caitrin Ryan and Barbara Deaconsfield, who Rosalyn makes a comment about the fact she’s just got back into office again – to which Deaconsfield smiles and said that the public just didn’t trust Apperley anymore. Caitrin tells the Doctor if he has the transmission codes, to which Rosalyn presents the box. The Doctor says that these will be vital in protecting the Earth against the Cyber threat.
Sometime later Caitrin arrives in a UNIT aircraft hangar, talking to a man called, Dr. Martin Amadeus, UNIT’s new scientific advisor. He tells her that the transmission codes will help UNIT operations greatly. Caitrin asks about the security for the Prime Minister’s visit to the Black Archive, but Amadeus assures her it’s all taken care of. Caitrin then leaves, before Amadeus gets onboard a helicopter which takes him to a huge aircraft carrier, travelling through the sky – the Valiant. Amadeus steps onboard the ship, whereby two guards escort him to a heavily sealed room – inside, 5 Cybermen – old school, Cybermen, left over from their attempted invasion of London, a long time ago. They all seem dead, but Amadeus smiles as he sets down the box on a table next to them and tells the guards it’s time to get to work.
Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor sets the controls for another time and place. Rosalyn asks the Doctor whether he’s going to make a regular thing of this – undertaking missions for UNIT, or the Time Lords, or whoever else wants to deploy him. The Doctor smiles and says that first and foremost he’s a traveler, an explorer of the universe… but if someone genuinely needs help – he’s always going to be there. Interrupting them, however, is a notification from the console, which worries the Doctor… he says that apparently the box hasn’t been activated yet, the defenses against the Cybermen aren’t up. Rosalyn looks confused, not understanding why UNIT haven’t raised them, when getting it was so urgent for them.
The TARDIS lands back on Earth, this time directly inside Caitrin’s office. She’s startled as the Doctor runs out and begins asking her about the box – but Caitrin’s unsure on what the Doctor means. As far as she was aware, Dr. Amadeus activated the box, hours ago. Caitrin tells the Doctor that he better get the three of them to the Valiant, as they all step onboard the TARDIS and it demateralises.
Dr. Amadeus, on the Valiant, tells several guards that there’s an intruder in the laboratory. The guards follow him inside, but when inside, Amadeus locks the doors, and presses a button on a piece of machinery – the guards scream out in pain, as the camera cuts away.
The TARDIS lands in the main hanger, as the Doctor, Rosalyn and Caitrin step out. The guards automatically salutes as they see Caitrin, but she tells them to stand down, and take her to see Dr. Amadeus. They march the three of them down the corridors, but as they go, Caitrin begins to feel something is wrong. Caitrin then sees one of the guards go for his gun, and like that: she snaps, grabbing the gun off him and starting a fight, between them and the guards. The Doctor, Rosalyn and Caitrin all hand-to-hand fight the guards, eventually defeat them, as the three run off down the corridor. Caitrin says that she thinks UNIT might be ‘just a bit’ compromised… the Doctor looks at her and just blankly says “you think??”. As they run, the two bicker, as Caitrin tries to defend UNIT, saying that just something has gone wrong, but the Doctor takes the view that giving anyone a load of guns, usually causes this problem – he then remarks that it’s not as if bullets ever work on aliens, so he doesn’t get why UNIT uses them – Caitrin just says they use them because that’s just what they do! Rosalyn rolls her eyes at this exchange, as the three manage to reach the lab.
Inside the lab, they find sparks falling from the ceiling and embers illuminating the floor. In the distance they hear the sounds of saws, and… laughing. They continue walking forwards, as they walk straight into a Cyberman – blood pouring out of its eye hole – it’s old, very old… but it’s alive, it begins to speak: “Pain”… over and over again “Pain”. The three examine it, as Caitrin fears the worse saying that she thinks Dr. Amadeus maybe making Cybermen. The Doctor almost facepalms and says that Caitrin really needs to sort out her personnel issues. The three continue, making their way through and finding Dr. Amadeus, with a saw in his hand, having just completed some work. Caitrin asks what on earth has he been getting up, but Dr. Amadeus tries to lie, before the Doctor cuts in an says that they saw a vintage Cyberman walking about in the other room, so he can drop the act. Amadeus says that the Cybermen were a missed opportunity, not a threat to the human race, but the upgrade humanity needs – the upgrade from tomorrow. Amadeus says that they can’t defeat him, and that the Valiant is full of Cybermen now, or those in the process, who have his loyalty. Caitrin says they can just blow up the Valiant – she remarks that it’d destroy her credit rating and blow the insurance out the water, but if it saves humanity, then that’s what they’ll do. Amadeus looks worried, and freighted, before he snaps to call for back up.
The Doctor, Caitrin and Rosalyn run – to the bridge, to set off the self-destruct. They come across Cybermen and guards along the way, all trying to kill them – but they manage to expertly fight them off, eventually arriving at the bridge of the Valiant. When they get there, Caitrin begins work, as the Doctor tells Rosalyn everything will be fine, they’ll get to the TARDIS and all the Cybermen will be destroyed – as the 30 second countdown begins. The three quickly scarper, moving from the bridge, back to where the TARDIS is – but a group of Cybermen get in their way – causing the ship to blow up, before they get to the TARDIS.
The Doctor falls through the sky, with Caitrin and Rosalyn close behind. Parts of Cybermen bodies rain down from the exploding Valiant above. The Doctor navigates himself as he falls, reaching the TARDIS key out, and managing to find himself to the TARDIS, also falling through the sky. The Doctor gets into the TARDIS and begins to fly it – coming alongside firstly Rosalyn, pulling her inside to safety and then the same to Caitrin. Once everyone’s safe, the Doctor demateralises the TARDIS, as they all breathe a sigh of relief.
The TARDIS lands in New York’s Central Park, as the Doctor, Rosalyn and Caitrin step out, out a smoking doorway, as the Doctor blows a fire extinguisher inside, before remarking that it’ll have to be a while before they do that again. Caitrin says she better get to a UNIT facility to contact Headquarters, see what the damage is. The Doctor says that he also wants to check out how much Cyber-tech is still around, and to dispose of it – since the TARDIS is out-of-service, for now, they better come with her to UNIT.
The trio approach the Empire State Building, whereby Rosalyn asks them why they’re going there, but Caitrin just smiles and says that “she’ll see”. When the trio arrive in the lobby, they go to one specific elevator and enter, whereby Caitrin takes a small pen-like device out and stabs it into a hole on the controls. The elevator suddenly rushes downwards, at a thousand miles an hour, before it comes to a stop and pings. The trio step out, to see a huge military base, as Caitrin says “Welcome to the American Headquarters of the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce”.
A man, dressed in a similar outfit to Caitrin, comes to greet them – Brad Zimmerman, Director-General of the United States Division of UNIT – he shakes Caitrin’s hand asking to what he can do for them. Caitrin sums up events as the trio walk to the Central Operations room. Zimmerman says that there’s been no reports of the Valiant’s destruction, to which Caitrin looks confused. Caitrin logs into the Valiant’s systems, which are still active. The Doctor checks it out, equally as confused, and then he pieces it together – the Valiant was destroyed, an hour earlier, but its computer systems seem to have been redirected to another location, by a third party, making the ship look as if it’s running as normal to the rest of UNIT. The Doctor tells Caitrin that it looks like their Cyberman problem is not yet over. Rosalyn suggests triangulating the signal to its source, to which the Doctor, brings up a set of coordinates – he grabs a map and draws markings on it, drawing a triangle and working out just where the Valiant’s systems have been redirected to. The camera zooms in on the map, as it cuts to a shot of a building from the top….
The TARDIS lands inside a derelict warehouse in London. The Doctor comments that they won’t be able to move it again for another few hours, and it was tricky enough doing it this time. There is no sign of life or action – Caitrin says there must be a computer terminal inside somewhere and tells everyone to split up to find it. Meanwhile at UNIT, Zimmerman speaks to someone on the phone, telling them that “they have a problem”. The Doctor searches, finding blood along the floor; he follows the trail, which seems to abruptly stop at a blank wall. Intrigued, the Doctor presses the wall, where the handle would be on a door – and it opens. The Doctor steps in, and his eyes widen…. Rosalyn enters into a room where, she finds, sitting on a table – the box – the transmission codes, she remarks they must’ve survived the crash – and if this did – “oh, no”… Caitrin enters the basement of the warehouse, where she comes across several skeletons, in vintage UNIT uniforms – beside them, Cyberman bodies, just like the ones on the Valiant. In front of her, a door, with a security lock. Caitrin walks up to it and sees that it’s of UNIT design, only about 10 to 15 years old. Caitrin enters in her access code, and the door opens. She steps inside, and like the Doctor earlier, her eyes widen…
The Doctor keeps discreet as he walks around the balcony of a huge base, full to the brim with Cyber conversion units, and other sorts of Cyberman technology, including a huge data core. The Doctor says to himself that this must’ve been here for over 40 years, and that he’s now only hearing about it?… Meanwhile, Caitrin enters into the same room but right at the bottom of it, far away from the Doctor, up close to the Cyber conversion units, and noticing the UNIT logo stamped on it. Caitrin, quickly hides, as she hears stomping, a group of Cybermen walking down the aisle, coming towards her. She keeps very still and very quiet, trying to hold her breath – but it’s no good, one of the Cybermen sees her, and grabs hold of her. Caitrin lets out a loud scream. Hearing this, the Doctor quickly moves, jumping down from the balcony, landing on top of the machinery, and running after Caitrin. Cybermen are in his way, but the Doctor manages to avoid capture, as the Cybermen continue to drag Caitrin away… towards the conversion units. The Doctor tries to pull Caitrin away from the Cybermen, but the others catch up with him and restrain him. Caitrin is pushed into the unit and then someone turns it on – the Doctor looks around and Brad Zimmerman stands there, smiling, as the conversion process begins. He tells the Doctor that unfortunately he’s incompatible, but he’s still very much part of their plans.
At that moment, Rosalyn enters, through the lower door, finding it open, and holding the box. The Doctor makes eye-contact with Rosalyn, motioning for her to ‘get out of there’, but Zimmerman sees her, as Cyberman restrain her too and bring her to him. He thanks her as he grabs the box and said that he needs this. Rosalyn asks what’s happened to Caitrin, but the Doctor looks deadly silent, and then the door to the conversion unit opens and out steps a brand new Cyberman – Zimmerman asks if that answers Rosalyn’s question… Zimmerman then tells the Doctor to take him to the TARDIS, or the same fate will happen to Ms. Clyne. The Doctor tells Rosalyn, that it’s best they do what he says, as the Doctor leads the way.
In the far reaches of outer space, a Cybership picks up a transmission. The new, shiny Cybermen receive and understand, as they set their ship into flight. On Earth, in the TARDIS, the Doctor finishes attaching the box to the console, as the signal broadcasts out, inviting the Cyberfleet to Earth to deliver everyone… the Upgrade from Tomorrow…
Cyber-Caitrin looks around the secret base – something’s wrong. She feels, she remembers – the process isn’t correct, the pain – it’s all there. Cyber-Caitrin stays quiet and walks alongside the other Cybermen.
Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor and Rosalyn signal to eachother, before the Doctor sets the TARDIS into flight, and unplugs the box. Zimmerman fights the two of them off, threating to “upgrade” Rosalyn, but the Doctor says that’ll be pretty difficult inside the Time Vortex. Zimmerman tuts before opening the TARDIS doors, where the Vortex swirls outside. Zimmerman confused, tells the Doctor to take them back to Earth immediately. The Doctor says nothing, instead dropkicking Zimmerman, pushing him out of the TARDIS into the Vortex. Rosalyn looks at the Doctor astonished, asking him why he did that, he’s “The Doctor” – The Doctor says that he’s lost too many people he cares about, and he’s not about to lose her too, as the Doctor shuts the door.
The TARDIS lands back in Downing Street, as Rosalyn tries to tell Deaconsfield what’s happened. Deaconsfield takes in the information before grabbing the telephone and telling the security services to suspend all UNIT operations immediately in the UK, and to get her a line to Geneva. Rosalyn asks why she did that, UNIT are the only force equipped to deal with Cyberman and an extra-terrestrial invasion. Deaconsfield says that based on what she’s been told, UNIT has been compromised, as far back as maybe their inception – it’s safer to take them out of the equation, if there’s an invasion awaiting them, and she hopes the rest of the UN Council agrees, in the coming minutes, as Deaconsfield gets back onto the telephone. However, a shadow descends through the room, as everyone goes to the window, and a huge Cybership enters the atmosphere. The Doctor steps out of the TARDIS, telling Rosalyn to get back inside, as they have spaceships to blow up.
Cyberships descend on major cities all around the world, London, New York, Paris, Beijing, Tokyo etc, as Cybermen load out of them, in legions. At the same time, from UNIT bases all across the world, vintage Cyberman foil out, joining their newer brothers. Cyber-Caitrin is one of them, obviously different but moving alongside the others.
The TARDIS lands on the Cyber-Mothership, smoke pours out of the doorway as the Doctor remarks that the TARDIS really won’t be able to move again, and that she really needs some R&R. Rosalyn points out the Doctor’s plan of blowing up all these ships then, would blow up the TARDIS alongside it – but the Doctor boasts that the TARDIS is indestructible – well almost. They find the main controls easily, as the ship is pretty much empty, with most of the Cybermen on the ground. The Doctor presses the button to self-destruct all the ships, and… nothing. Rosalyn says that she guesses the Cybermen have better firewalls than the Valiant.
On the ground, the British army disperse, fighting off the Cybermen, as the whole of central London becomes a battlefield. Deaconsfield appears on TV, telling the people of Britain to stay home. In America, their army soon does the same, and so on, around the world. Earth becomes a giant battle, between humans and Cybermen. The newer Cybermen, are able to simply touch a human to convert them, without the need of a conversion unit, which makes the battle even deadlier. The army are given the orders to kill anyone, even if they were just human a second ago, that’s a Cyberman.
Trying again to disable the firewalls, the Doctor fails. Rosalyn tells him they need another plan, as the Doctor agrees. And then – it hits him – the box. The Doctor runs back into the TARDIS and grabs it, plugging it into the Cybership. He tells Rosalyn that this contains the access codes to every Cyber-system everywhere and will unlock the firewalls.
The battle continues on the streets below, as some Cybermen begin to break away and invade people’s homes, as an opportunity to upgrade more and more people. The army continues trying to fight back, securing some victory, but overall suffering more defeats.
The Doctor finishes unlocking the firewalls, finding his way to the self-destruct. Rosalyn then remarks that this isn’t actually going to solve the Cyberman issue if none of them are onboard. The Doctor looks at her for a moment, as he thinks to himself that she’s right, and then the Doctor says that it’s simple – they need to get all the Cybermen onboard the ships. Rosalyn asks how he’s planning to do that – the Doctor says: “Me”.
The new Cybermen suddenly drop still in the battle. Several of them are destroyed by the army as they seem completely dead, but the vintage ones are still fighting. On the mothership, the Doctor is broadcasting to all the new Cybermen, telling them to come back to their ships – as their oldest enemy, the Doctor is there, ready to be killed, and his TARDIS ready to be captured. The Doctor ends the broadcast, as all the new Cybermen everywhere, retreat to the ships. Cyber-Caitrin, watches, understanding what’s happening, and unlike the other vintage Cybermen, she follows the new ones to the ships.
Once the Cybermen are onboard, the Doctor uses the controls, to get the entire fleet into the air, so he can press the self-destruct button. The Doctor sees, as he’s doing it, that there’s no timed countdown, it’ll have to be pressed manually. He tells Rosalyn to get inside the TARDIS, they can’t dematerialise it, but inside it’ll protect her, and it’ll fall to the Earth – the Doctor just warns her to hold onto something. Rosalyn says she won’t let the Doctor die, but the Doctor says it’ll be fine, he’ll change, regenerate, turn into a grumpy old man (probably), plus he’s never been blown up before – that’ll be fun. Rosalyn begins crying, telling the Doctor not to do it, but the Doctor shouts, loudly, and commandingly telling her to DO AS SHE IS TOLD and GET INSIDE THE TARDIS. Rosalyn does so, reluctantly.
The Doctor gets ready to hit the self-destruct button, but a Cyberman enters the room. The Doctor gets ready to do something, but then he realises that it’s an older Cyberman – it shouldn’t be aboard. And then it speaks, it’s Cyber-Caitrin. She tells the Doctor to let her do it, let her press the button and that he should get inside the TARDIS. The Doctor asks her what happened, how is she still in possession of herself – but Caitrin says that she doesn’t know, but she’d rather die saving the world, than become an emotionless slave. The Doctor tells Caitrin she was a good woman, and Caitrin asks the Doctor to keep hold of what happens to her, as a secret – she says that she will meet him again, in his future, and that she doesn’t want to know this is what happens to her. The Doctor stands up straight and salutes Caitrin, saying that it would be his honour, as he steps inside the TARDIS. Caitrin presses the button.
Earth’s Orbit: Dozens of Cyberships explode, in unison.
The TARDIS falls from the mothership, at 1000mph towards the London. It falls and falls, fire erupting at its seams and then, it lands, right in the River Thames, creating a crater at the bottom of the river. Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor looks at the scanner and tells Rosalyn, that they better get their scuba diving gear out of the TARDIS wardrobe.
A few days later, the Doctor and Rosalyn stand in Deaconsfield’s office, dressed in black formal clothing – and so is Deaconsfield. Deaconsfield tells the two of them, that the older Cybermen have all been defeated, by the army, with their remains incinerated. The Prime Minister then says that following the attempted Cyber Invasion of London, four decades ago, it seems a company called International Electrometric became a trading partner with the United States branch of UNIT. Over the years, Deaconsfield explains that they manage to infiltrate all of UNIT, salvaging technology from the Invasion and brainwashing many important figures inside the organisation. Caitrin says that UNIT’s facilities and bases will be transferred over to the British Army, in the meantime, while the United Nations discuss and agree upon the creation of a new international defense organisation against the extra-terrestrial. Deaconsfield says that she thought she’d lobby for this name, as she passes over a piece of paper to the Doctor, before explaining that she thinks it will honour Ms. Ryan. The Doctor smiles and says that he thinks it’ll do nicely. The three then leave the room, heading outside into a funeral car, before the piece of paper is revealed saying simply: “Tomahawk”.
The funeral parade leaves 10 Downing Street.
Cast
- The Doctor – Paterson Joseph
- Rosalyn Clyne – Felicity Jones
- Caitrin Ryan – Gillian Anderson
- Barbara Deaconsfield – Caroline Quentin
- Brad Zimmerman - David Duchovny
- Martin Amadeus - Peter Dinklage
- Army General - Jake Weber
- Army Officers - Sam Asante, Conrad Pla, Hamza Fouad, Noah Davis, Elias Toufexis
- UNIT Guards - Ross Carter, Pay Chen, Christine L. Nguyen, Thom Marriott, Shannon Lahaie
- Aliens - Taylor Martin, Clayton Scott, John MacDonald, Hélène Cardona
- Voice of the Cybermen - Nicholas Briggs
Crew
- Doctor Who Created by Sydney Newman, Donald Wilson and C.E. Webber
- Senior Executive Producer - Mal Young
- Executive Producers - Jeffrey Chernov and Mark Herman
- Director - Rachel Talalay
- Producer - Gerard Butler
- Screenplay by - Karey Kirkpatrick
- Story by - Karey Kirkpatrick and Mark Forster
- Director of Photography - Stuart Biddlecombe
- Production Designer - Tamara Deverell
- Visual Effects - DNEG
- Casting Director - Andy Pryor
- Music - John Debney
- Costume Designer - Jany Temime
- Edited by - Will Oswald
- Cybermen created by Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis
- United Nations Intelligence Taskforce created by Derrick Sherwin
- Rosalyn Clyne created by David Renwick
Memorable Quotes
To be added.
Background Information
Development
- To be added.
Pre-Production
- To be added.
Production
- To be added.
Post-Production
- To be added.
Reaction
- To be added.
Story Notes
To be added.
Continuity
To be added.
Home Video Releases
To be added.