In fact, so fast and frenetic was the first chapter of the six-part Flux story that you might\u2019ve missed a number of fan-pleasing references to the show\u2019s history, including nods to a former Doctor and two departed companions.<\/p>\n
The episode\u2019s pre-titles sequence along contained two such Easter eggs: failing in her attempts to free herself and Yaz (Mandip Gill) from a set of voice-activated handcuffs, the Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) wondered, \u201cMaybe I was Scottish when I set them up?\u201d \u2013 a nod back to Peter Capaldi\u2019s \u201cwhite-haired Scotsman\u201d Twelfth Doctor.<\/span><\/p>\n But by this point The Halloween Apocalypse had already included a reference to even further back in Doctor Who\u2019s history, when the Doctor apologised to Yaz \u2013 sort of \u2013 for using the notoriously unpredictable explosive Nitro-9.<\/p>\n First introduced to the show in the 1987 story Dragonfire<\/a>, Nitro-9 was a powerful homemade explosive concocted and used by the Seventh Doctor\u2019s companion Ace (Sophie Aldred) against everything from Daleks to the Cybermen.<\/p>\n It appears that the Thirteenth Doctor has now adopted this particular piece of kit \u2013 a particularly interesting Easter egg given that she was actually reunited with Ace in the 2020 spin-off novel At Childhood\u2019s End<\/a>, written by Sophie Aldred and taking place when the Time Lord was still travelling with Graham and Ryan. If the events of this book are taken as canonical, might her recent run-in with Ace be what inspired the Doctor to start carrying the Nitro-9 again?<\/p>\n The throwbacks continued as the episode unfolded, with the Doctor giving the TARDIS an extra push by taking a hammer to the console \u2013 a habit regularly adopted by two of her predecessors, the Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) and the Tenth (David Tennant).<\/p>\n Then, of course, there was an allusion to one of Doctor Who\u2019s most beloved companion characters \u2013 and no, we\u2019re not just talking about Vinder\u2019s posting at Observation Outpost \u201cRose\u201d\u2026 though that\u2019s quite a coincidence, right?<\/span><\/p>\n Reuniting with Yaz aboard Karvanista\u2019s spacecraft, the Doctor meets the kidnapped Dan Lewis (John Bishop) for the first time \u2013 but there\u2019s little time for pleasantries as the new TARDIS trio are still being pursued by their dog-alike alien nemesis. \u201cNice to meet you, Dan,\u201d the Doctor yells. \u201cRun for your life!\u201d<\/p>\n Sound familiar? It should, because it\u2019s the exact same greeting \/ order the Doctor delivered to Rose (Billie Piper) 16 years ago in the episode Rose<\/a>, when they were on the run from the Autons\u2026<\/p>\n![\""Peter\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2017\/12\/logo-dw-fcff231.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"Peter\\"\/"){kind=logo}
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