Extremis Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Pope

The Pope arrives and requests the Doctor visit the Vatican Secret Archives to examine a strange document. How strange? Everyone who reads it commits suicide. The Vatican sought out the Doctor because he had been recommended by Pope Benedict IX in the year 1045.

Benedict IX was the only person to serve multiple terms as Pope. He served from 1032 to 1044, briefly in 1045, and 1047-1048. Benedict IX was one of the most scandalous Popes in history, and was widely reputed to be a homosexual. It is implied the Doctor had a relationship with the Pope.

While the Pope has shown up in "Doctor Who" prose, this marks the first time the Pope has appeared on television.

The Doctor has encountered presidents over the years, most notably Richard Nixon in "The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon" (2011). He has also encountered a variety of British Prime Ministers, including Winston Churchill and Harriet Jones.

Answer: Penny

Bill was on what appeared to be a first date with an attractive young woman named Penny. Towards the end of episode, Bill claims that Penny is "out of her league". The Doctor tells Bill to ask Penny out anyways, because life is dangerous.

Moira was Bill's roommate. Jenny was the Tenth Doctor's daughter in "The Doctor's Daughter" (2008). Felicity was one of Bill's housemates in "Knock Knock" (2017).

Answer: River Song

It was Doctor River Song who sent Nardole, along with her diary. She gave Nardole instructions to "kick the Doctor's ass" if he did not listen. River Song is, among other things, the wife of the Doctor. She is also an archeologist, a would-be assassin, and a quite accomplished thief.

Clara Oswald was the companion of the Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors. Me (AKA Ashildr) was a Viking girl who was made immortal by the Doctor. They were both seen in "Hell Bent", the last episode of series nine.

Madame Vastra is a Silurian detective and the founder of the Paternoster Gang. She has helped the Doctor on a number of occasions.

Answer: Missy

Michelle Gomez returns as Missy, an incarnation of The Master. In "Extermis" Missy has been taken to a planet were the residents take great pride in their ability to execute people. The Doctor has been brought to the planet because apparently it requires a Time Lord to execute another Time Lord. The Doctor short circuits the machine and saves Missy.

"Extermis" solves the mystery of the vault, because the Doctor takes a pledge to look after Missy's body for 1000 years. The Doctor having custody over the remains of the Master was central to the plot of the "Doctor Who" film (1996).

Missy first showed up during series eight, revealing herself as the Master during "Dark Water" (2014). She appeared several times during series nine. Michelle Gomez is a native of Glasgow. She has been acting regularly since 1996, and can be seen in the British series "The Book Group" (2002-03), "Green Wing" (2004-06) and "Psycho-Bitches" (2012-14).

The Master is one the Doctor's greatest rivals, first appearing during the Third Doctor's tenure in "Terror of the Autons" (1971). The Master has fought virtually all of the Doctor's incarnations at one time or another.

Answer: The Pentagon

Bill and Nardole find themselves on floor three of the Pentagon. They make a quick exit to a room filled with projectors, where Nardole figures out the reality of the situation: they are part of a huge computer simulation, and the room with the projections is creating an alternate Earth. Nardole dissolves into pixels testing out his theory.

The Pentagon is the headquarters for the United States Department of Defense. It was built during World War II, and when it was completed in 1943, it was the largest office building in the world. The Desjardins Complex in Montreal beat it out in 1973. It is located in Arlington, Virginia.

The Kremlin is the headquarters of the Russian government. Buckingham Palace is the resident of the British sovreign. Fort Knox is a military installation in Kentucky which holds much of the world's gold supply.

Answer: Blowing themselves up with dynamite

The scientists wired up the tables in the cafeteria with hundreds of sticks of dynamite and blew themselves sky high. Nardole and Bill managed to escape with seconds to spare.

CERN is the European Organization for Nuclear Research, site of the largest physics laboratory on the planet. It was established in 1954, and is located near Geneva. CERN plays a major role in the Dan Brown novel "Angels and Demons" - as does the Vatican.

Answer: A series of numbers

The Doctor explains that the "Test of Shadows" reveals whether someone is part of the computer simulation that is being run by an evil demon who created the program as a test run for the invasion of Earth. Because computer generated numbers are not truly random, if someone was part of the program, they would repeat the same numbers.

For the record, the series of numbers was: 36 - 17 - 9 - 48 - 103 - 1,000,000 - 7,000,007 - 905 - 3460 - 12 - 4 - 87 - 702.

Answer: Moby Dick

It is the Herman Meville classic "Moby Dick" (1851). "Shut up and get to the whale" says the Doctor. "Moby Dick" is widely regarded as one of the most important novels in world literature, and one of the great works of American literature. The Doctor is correct on one point: it does take a while to get to the whale.

"Ulysses" (1922) is a stream of consciousness novel by James Joyce, most notable for being censored. "Silas Marner" (1861) is a remarkably boring novel filled with symbolism, written by George Eliot. "War and Peace" (1869) is Leo Tolstoy's incredibly long saga about the Napoleonic invasion of Russia.

Answer: The White House

Bill finds The Doctor in the Oval Office of the White, where the President of the United States has committed suicide. The Doctor explains that they are inside a computer simulation created by an alien demon, who seeks to invade the Earth. People who discover the truth about the nature of the situation kill themselves to remove themselves from the simulation - the Doctor compares it to Super Mario discovering his true nature.

The Doctor manages to thwart the demon's evil plans by sending himself an e-mail, which details what is going on. He tells himself to save the Earth yet once again.

10 Downing Street is the residence of the British Prime Minister. Los Pinos is the residence of the President of Mexico. The Casa Rosada is the residence of the president of Argentina. Given how thorough the evil demon was, it is reasonable to assume there are facsimiles somewhere in the simulation of the other three.

Answer: Daniel Nettheim

Daniel Nettheim directed "Extremis". This his third "Doctor Who" episode to air. He also directed "The Pyramid at the End of the World" (2017). Nettheim also directed series 9 episodes "The Zygon Invasion/The Zygon Inversion" (2015). A native of Australia, he has directed a broad range of television episodes since 2001.

Steven Moffat has been the show-runner on "Doctor Who" since 2010. He will be leaving at the end of series 10. He now holds the record for writing the most episodes of "Doctor Who", including "Extremis" which is part of a trilogy.

Ivanno Jeremiah played Rafando, who was so proud of his ability at killing people. He is probably best known for playing Max and Synth Max on "Humans" (2015-16).

Jamie Hill was the guy behind all the ugly makeup as the evil monk. He was also The Foretold (the mummy creature) in "Mummy on the Orient Express" (2014).