Attack of the Graske (video game)

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Attack of the Graske (TV story)

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Attack of the Graske was a Doctor Who video game of the interactive movie genre. It premiered on BBC Red Button at the time of the broadcast of TV: The Christmas Invasion. It was later placed on the series 2 DVD box set, to be played by home viewers around the world. It also has been converted for play in a web browser, and is available on the official BBC Doctor Who website.

Like the popular arcade game, Dragon's Lair, it was in many respects a "proper" motion-picture production. It required a full television crew to produce. Judged as a piece of television, it has unusual aspects — it is the only BBC Wales Doctor Who production filmed in a 4:3 aspect ratio. It was the first DWU production for which director Ashley Way and writer Gareth Roberts were credited. It was also the first time that Rory Taylor received onscreen credit as a director of photography.

Seen as a game, Graske was not actually the first of its kind. Destiny of the Doctors has essentially the same game mechanics. However, this game's independence of platform has given it far more longevity and universality than the earlier Destiny.

Synopsis

A Graske is loose and causing havoc. Can you help to stop him? Become the Doctor's companion and save the world!

Plot

After the Doctor drops Rose Tyler off in 1979 to see ABBA, he picks up the Viewer in his TARDIS and goes to stop the Graske. The Viewer helps find a Changeling and a Graske, pilot the TARDIS and get through doors on Griffoth, but the ultimate decision is when a Slitheen escapes. The viewer must choose whether to freeze the station, killing everything inside, or teleport the kidnapped people back to their homes and destroy the Changelings. After the choice is made, the Doctor thanks the Viewer and drops him or her home.

Cast

Crew

Executive Producers Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner


Written by Gareth Roberts	Produced by Sophie Fante Jo Pearce Andrew Whitehouse	Directed by Ashley Way	Director of Photography Rory Taylor	Production Designer Edward Thomas	Visual Effects The Mill

Make-up Designer Marie Davis	Casting Director Gary Howe	Music Murray Gold	Costume Designer Brian Malam	Edited by Jamie Marsh
Original theme music by Ron Grainer

General production staff

Script department

Script Editor - Simon Winstone

Camera and lighting department

Art department

For BBC Red Button

Interactive Assistant Producer - Claudia Griffiths
Interactive Team - Philip Watson, Ronnie Bullen, Tom Wey, Branwen Lynch

Costume department

Make-up and prosthetics

Prosthetics - Millennium Effects

General post-production staff

Special and visual effects

Sound


Not every person who worked on this adventure was credited. The absence of a credit for a position doesn't necessarily mean the job wasn't required. The information above is based solely on observations of the actual end credits of the episodes as broadcast, and does not relay information from IMDB or other sources.
Technically, the casting credit on this adventure is "Casting", rather than "Casting Director"

References

to be added

The Doctor's TARDIS

The vortex loop and the vector tracker are TARDIS components which can be operated by the Viewer at home with either the digital remote control or a computer mouse which has been temporarily linked with the sonic screwdriver.

Story notes

This story immediately followed The Christmas Invasion and was initially only available to subscribers to the BBC Red Button interactive service. Viewers were able to pilot the TARDIS and fight the Graske both on its native world of Griffoth and in Victorian London. From Wednesday 18 January 2006, the story was available to access via the BBC website, but only for UK residents. It was subsequently made available to international users of the website as well.
The question of whether this episode "counts" as a television story is somewhat muddied by its interactive nature. Some regard it primarily as a game, rather than an episode. However, a possible reference to the events of the story can be heard in The Sarah Jane Adventures story Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?, which featured the first undisputed valid appearance of the Graske, in which Sarah Jane Smith makes reference to there being some Graske activity on Earth a couple of years earlier. Gareth Roberts wrote both stories. Changelings and Graske activity at Christmas are also mentioned by Jack Harkness in his Monster Files, using footage from this adventure. The story is also considered official by Doctor Who: The Encyclopedia; the episode index at the back of the 2011 edition of the encyclopedia places it between Tooth and Claw and School Reunion.
The Doctor mentions that if the viewer switches their television to ITV tonight the galaxy may implode. This is presumably because the BBC and ITV are rival companies. In his eleventh incarnation, he said that ITV had gone off the air in the second Doctor Who Proms, as a result of saving the Royal Albert Hall and the BBC Proms.
Technically, David Tennant is not credited in this episode as "the Doctor". He receives only pre-title billing. This makes this the only Doctor Who television production which does not credit the role of "the Doctor" or "Doctor Who". This includes Mission to the Unknown in which the Doctor doesn't even appear at all.

Filming locations

to be added

Production errors

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.

When Urchin was turned into a Changeling Double, the bottom of his cup has disappeared and you can see the snow instead of the base of the cup.

External links

Play Attack of the Graske on the BBC website
Attack of the Graske at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
Transcript of Attack of the Graske at Chrissie's Transcripts Site

Tardis