TEXT: INT. FLOOR 139, CORRIDOR The camera is focused on television screens, all broadcasting news channels. A reporter's voice over the sound of the TARDIS materialising. REPORTER: Solar flare activity has increased across space links 556 and all commercial flights are advised to... The sound of the TARDIS engines drowns her voice out. The camera swings slowly around to reveal the TARDIS appearing. When it stops whirring, the Doctor and Rose step out. THE DOCTOR: So, it's 200 000, it's a spaceship... no wait a minute, space station, and uh... go and try that gate over there. Off you go! He leans against the TARDIS, waiting. ROSE: 200 000? THE DOCTOR: 200 000. ROSE: 'Kay. The Doctor grins and raises his eyebrows. Rose giggles as she opens the TARDIS door and calls inside. ROSE (CONT'D): Adam? Out you come. Adam steps out with his mouth hanging open. ADAM (awestruck): Oh my God. ROSE: Don't worry, you'll get used to it. ADAM: Where are we? ROSE (knowledgably) : Good question. Let's see. So, um... judging by the architecture, I'd say we're around the year 200 000. Adam nods and mumbles, still boggling. ROSE (CONT'D): If you listen... engines. The Doctor watches her, smiling. ROSE (CONT'D): We're on some sort of space station. Yeah. Definitely a space station. It's a bit warm in here, they could turn the heating down... Tell you what, let's try that gate. Come on! Rose opens the gate, and the Doctor and Adam follow her into the room beyond. INT. OBSERVATION DECK They are in a room overlooking the Earth. ROSE (CONT'D): Here we go! And this is... She pauses as she looks down upon the Earth. Adam has to hold on to the railings for support as he makes his way to her side
SUMMARY:
The Doctor, Rose, and Adam travel to the year 200,000 and land on the space station Satellite 5, which controls journalism. Ever since the satellite began broadcasting, something has held the human race's attitude and technology back. The Editor invites the Doctor and Rose to the elite Floor 500, where he holds them captive, explaining that he and a creature known as the Jagrafess have made, through Satellite 5, the "Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire" a place where the news has installed fear in the human race, keeping them in a closed society. Meanwhile, Adam has installed a port in his head and is transmitting all the knowledge on Satellite 5 to his parents' answering machine at home. The journalist Cathica redirects the heat to Floor 500, allowing Rose and the Doctor to escape, while the Editor and the Jagrafess are destroyed by the heat. The Doctor is furious at Adam and returns him to his house, destroying the answering machine and banishing Adam from the TARDIS.