Episode Quotes

Mistakes/Goofs

• Goof (factual errors): Ida, the science officer, says that the planet is in geostationary orbit around the black hole. However, the word "geostationary" applies very specifically to objects orbiting the planet Earth. Since a black hole is a type of star, this planet's orbit could be described as astrostationary, or even just stationary, but definitely not as geostationary. A science expert on an interstellar mission wouldn't make this mistake, and she wasn't dumbing things down, either, since "geostationary orbit" is already a pretty obscure topic for people unfamiliar with space technology.
• Goof (errors made by characters, possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): On the night shift, Scooti is holding the wrist communicator to her face to speak, while wearing a helmet and doing maintenance work in vacuum.
• Goof (continuity error): Ida's hair is parted on the right. But 12 minutes into this episode, when those gathered are looking at the projected image of the planet, Ida's hair is parted on the left. Cut to the Doctor and Rose, back to Ida and now her hair is parted on the right again.
• Goof (factual errors): The Doctor insists that it's impossible to orbit a black hole. Black holes are like any other body. They can be safely orbited as long as you're far enough away or going fast enough. Close to a black hole, the orbital velocity becomes faster than light. But there's no mention that they are that close, within the event horizon.
• Goof (continuity error): Scooti's communicator changes from left arm to right arm as she appears floating in space. The footage from the Confidential episode confirms that the f/x crew used a mirrored image

Trivia

• It has been alleged by director James Strong that Danny Webb was last name on the casting ideas list for Jefferson.
• SPOILER: The shots of Scooti's body floating in space were achieved by filming the actress floating underwater and painting out the air bubbles.
• This episode was watched by 6.316 million viewers on its original transmission.
• In this episode, and in its sequel, The Satan Pit, when doors open or close on the space station, the sound effect used is from the video game Doom, which deals with a space station that is overrun by demons from Hell.
• The weapons used by Mr Jefferson and his security team are FN P90 series of Personal Defense Weapons.