Doctor
Matt Smith (Eleventh Doctor)
Companions
Karen Gillan (Amy Pond)
Arthur Darvill (Rory Williams)
Alex Kingston (River Song)
Others
Frances Barber – Madame Kovarian
Charlie Baker – Fat One
Dan Johnston – Thin One
Christina Chong – Lorna Bucket
Joshua Hayes – Lucas
Damian Kell – Dominicus
Neve McIntosh – Madame Vastra
Catrin Stewart – Jenny Flint
Richard Trinder – Captain Harcourt
Annabel Cleare – Eleanor
Henry Wood – Arthur
Dan Starkey – Commander Strax
Simon Fisher-Becker – Dorium Maldovar
Danny Sapani – Colonel Manton
Hugh Bonneville – Henry Avery
Oscar Lloyd – Toby Avery
Nicholas Briggs – Voice of the Cybermen
Production
Directed by Peter Hoar
Written by Steven Moffat
Produced by Marcus Wilson
Executive producer(s)
Steven Moffat
Piers Wenger
Beth Willis
Incidental music composer Murray Gold
Length 50 minutes
Originally broadcast 4 June 2011
Synopsis
The Doctor (Matt Smith) and Rory (Arthur Darvill) have discovered Amy (Karen Gillan), Rory's wife and the Doctor's companion, has been abducted from them and her place taken by an avatar made from "the Flesh", a semi-sentient shapeshifting material ("The Almost People"). The Doctor tracks Amy's location to an asteroid base called "Demon's Run", and he and Rory gather several of his allies to attack, including Sontaran Commander Strax (Dan Starkey), Silurian Madame Vastra (Neve McIntosh) and her human wife Jenny Flint (Catrin Stewart), Henry Avery (Hugh Bonneville) and his crew, and the black market trader Dorium Maldovar (Simon Fisher-Becker). Rory tries to convince River Song (Alex Kingston), locked in her Stormcage prison cell, to help, but she insists that she cannot since this battle is where the Doctor will learn of her true identity.
At Demon's Run, Amy has been held by Madame Kovarian (Frances Barber), and has taken her just-born infant Melody. Amy befriends human soldier Lorna Bucket (Christina Chong) who had met the Doctor before as a child on her home planet; Bucket gives her a good luck token with Melody's name, written in the language of the Gamma Forests, on it.
Demons run when a good man goes to war
Night will fall and drown the sun
When a good man goes to war
Friendship dies and true love lies
Night will fall and the dark will rise
When a good man goes to war
Demons run, but count the cost
The battle's won, but the child is lost
When a good man goes to war
Aided by additional Silurian and Judoon forces, the Doctor and his allies secure the base, find Amy, and reclaim Melody before Kovarian can flee with the child. The Doctor celebrates his victory, but Madame Vastra informs him that she had been scanning Melody and found traces of Time Lord DNA; she asks if Melody could have been conceived while Amy and Rory were in flight through the Vortex in the TARDIS. Initially denying this, it slowly comes to him that this truly is what happened. The Doctor provides an old Gallifreyan cot for Melody, claiming it was his own.
Bucket arrives too late to warn the group about Kovarian's trap. The TARDIS is blocked by a force field, and her army of Headless Monks attack, killing many Silurians, fatally wounding Strax and Bucket, and beheading Dorium before they can end the battle. Kovarian contacts the Doctor, elated to have been able to fool him twice, and reveals she will use Melody as a weapon against him. She sends a signal to cause Melody, made of Flesh, to disintegrate in Amy's arms, with the real Melody in her possession. Amy becomes hysterical, and the Doctor and Rory try to comfort her.
River arrives and the Doctor berates her for not helping. She explains what she had told Rory, and then shows the Doctor the cot. The Doctor is enlightened, asks River to return everyone to their proper time, and sets off in the TARDIS excitedly. Rory demands River explain what the Doctor saw. She shows them Bucket's gift with Melody's name on it, and as the TARDIS translation circuits engage, River explains the people of the Gamma Forests had no word for "Pond", as the only water in the forest is the river. The words come out to be "River Song". River reveals she is Amy and Rory's daughter Melody.
A Good Man Goes to War