TEXT: EXT. THE PALACE OF VERSAILLES The view of a starry night sky drifts down to that of a lavish estate,the Palace of Versailles. INT. BALLROOM Inside are a crowd of panicked 18th century French aristocrats, dressed for a masked ball. They are screaming and running away from the sound of whirring and ominous shadows on the wall. INT. REINETTE'S BEDROOM We focus momentarily on a mantelpiece clock, the face smashed, as the King's voice is heard. He walks into a bedroom, where Reinette is standing and staring at the fireplace. KING LOUIS XV: We are under attack! There are creatures... I don't even think they're human. We can't stop them. REINETTE: The clock is broken. He's coming. The King moves towards her, concerned that she is still looking at the fireplace and not trying to flee. KING LOUIS XV: Did you hear what I said? He takes her hand, pulling her away from the fireplace. She stops and looks insistently at him. REINETTE: Listen to me. There is a man coming to Versailles. He has watched over me my whole life and he will not desert me tonight. KING LOUIS XV: What are you talking about? What man? REINETTE: The only man, save you, I have ever loved. (Continues quickly, before the King can interrupt). No, don't look like that, there's no time. You have your duties. I am your mistress. Go to your queen. (Goes back to the fireplace, this time crouching down and speaking into the flames with a sense of urgency). Are you there? Can you hear me? I need you now, you promised. The clock on the mantel is broken. It is time. Doctor! Doctor! OPENING CREDITS EXT. SPACE 3000 years later. A starry sky. The view moves upwards to reveal a stationary spaceship. The TARDIS can be heard materialising inside. INT. SPACESHIP The Doctor emerges
SUMMARY:
The Doctor, Rose, and Mickey arrive on an abandoned spaceship which contains several "time windows" into the life of Madame de Pompadour , known as "Reinette". The Doctor first enters her bedroom through an 18th-century fireplace when she is seven years old and saves her from a clockwork man which has hidden under her bed. On the ship, the Doctor and his companions discover more time windows into Reinette's life and see that the clockwork droids continue stalking her, but do not consider her "complete". The Doctor discovers that the ship's human crew have died out and the droids have recycled some of their organs for use in the ship but still needs Reinette's brain to be fully functional. The brain must be 37 years old, the age of the ship; the ship is actually named after Madame de Pompadour. The Doctor manages to arrive at her 37th birthday costume ball and save her from the droids, who shut down because they have no way of returning to their ship.