TV Doctor Who ST | This Thread Is Bigger On The Inside

[Skipper93653]

I quite liked 73 yards, but it's way too early to do a Doctor lite story with just Ruby. We've had four episodes with her prior, we still barely know her, yet were expected to accept that they've been traveling for months on end now and that she knows enough about the Doctor to know who to contact and how to handle such a situation. It would be similar if Episode 5 of Eccleston was a Rose only episode, which is just insanely early.
Overall, so far, enjoying the new era. It started really rough with the 60th Specials, but the current season is pretty fun and decently produced.

Unrelated to the current showrun, recently bought the Sixth Doctor: The Last Adventure boxset which includes the regeneration story of the sixth Doctor.
Really fun boxset, of the four stories, two really are a true highlight and the other two are just kind of there. But that final story is really

Getting a Doctor-lite story this early is the side effects of 73 Yards and Dot and Bubble being in Production Block 1, the first episodes to be filmed, all the way back in December 2022/January 2023 which happened to overlap with Ncuti filming the final season of Sex Education at the same time. This also suggests a limited appearance in next week's episode too, which just so happens to be Dot and Bubble. The clips we have seen of Dot and Bubble so far suggests that Ruby and The Doctor are only in screens for the whole episode, sort of like Blink back in 2007.

 

[hologram]

I liked this episode a lot too. They didn't stick the landing but I don't think that detracted from the central concept and creepy vibes

Hopefully they maintain the quality of the last two episodes for the rest of the season!

 

[Skipper93653]

Just found out a fascinating statistic:
This year's Christmas special (titled 'Joy to the World') is the 312th televised story of Doctor Who, and 156th for Doctor Who since it's 2005 revival. This also means this story will tie modern Doctor Who and classic Doctor Who in story count as Classic Who had 156 televised stories including the 1996 TV movie.

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

73 Yards I like a lot as long as I don't try to think about the logic of things too much. Why is this happening? Why is that happening? I don't know! But the concept of something you get stuck with that's not enough to kill you, but enough to wreck your current and potential relationships for inexplicable reasons is the sort of horrifying concept that will stick with me longer than a lot of episodes.

 

[lexony]

The story a bit strange and the ending kinda meh. But I like it a lot. Production, Music, Location wise top, amazing acting and I got a bit melancholic. The episode was really engaging and enjoyable to watch in every minute. Something I didn't feel about anything Doctor Who in a long time tbh. I see the problem about this being somewhat too early in the season, but I can imagine that it will work better when watching the whole thing after all episodes are out. Otherwise I think the Series goes in the right direction again and for me each episode is getting better so far. I'm glad it's not all Space Babies, that episode got me a bit worried at first.

 

[oomoepoo]

The longer I think about the episode, the less I like it. That ending is just ruining the whole episode for me: It's one thing to not answer every single question or leave things up to interpretation but the ending not noly doesn't explain anything, it actively negates literally everything they did for the last 45 minutes. Unlike Turn Left or even Midnight, where you had Donna/The Doctor make a conscious effort to set things right and still have some payoff, which isn't here at all. That ruins what would've otherwise been a really good episode.

 

[Skipper93653]

Spoiler: Synopsis and cast list for Episode 6 (Rogue)

This is the only episode this season to be written by Doctor Who newbies: Kate Herron and Briony Redman.

Kate Herron has previously written a few episodes for Sex Education (which Ncuti Gatwa also starred in) and served as Executive Producer and Director on the first season of Loki and is serving as a Director on the upcoming Season 2 of The Last of Us.

Kate Herron and Briony Redman are also both writing for the currently in-development The Sims movie.

 

[hologram]

Kate Herron and Briony Redman are also both writing for the currently in-development The Sims movie.

Excuse me?! The current in-development what?!

 

[Skipper93653]

Excuse me?! The current in-development what?!

Yup, The Sims... produced by Margot Robbie too

 

[hologram]

Yup, The Sims... produced by Margot Robbie too

Interesting. I am unfortunately busy that day and will have to miss it

 

[Gingerbread]

I loved everything about 73 Yards. It was proper supernatural Doctor Who - the supernatural elements were an integral part of the narrative rules. But I agree that its position in the season was weird.

In general, I still don't know how to feel about the Doctor - Ruby relationship, and Ruby as a character. They barely feel explored. Maybe 8 episodes are just not enough (Series 7B had similar vibes).

 

[oomoepoo]

Really hoping the new writer episode will finally deliver. So far it's all been a bit underwhelming, with maybe the Moffat episode being a slight exception. Very low expectations about this week's Dot and Bubble too.

 

[EvilChameleon]

Just finished watching 73 Yards. What a bonkers episode. I'm still not entirely sure I understood what just happened, but, yeah, that's Doctor Who sometimes!

 

[Skipper93653]

Just finished Dot and Bubble:
That was uh, something....?
That ending though, was not expecting that at all.

EDIT: In hindsight, the ending was set up well throughout the episode and I wasn't really paying much attention to it at midnight.

 

[Deleted member 878]

The ending is what makes this episode, adds context to the rest ('FineTime' is just planetary White Flight), and induces conflict in the Doctor. The Doctor has always fought against prejudice and loves humanity. When humanity actively shows prejudice against him it leads to rage and sadness. Even worse is when they won't even entertain the idea of being saved by him because of it - the Doctor wants to preserve life, but is denied from doing that, for one of the most stupid possible reasons. There have been many instances in the show where people are not trusting of the Doctor or hestitant to receive his help, but always come around to it and are gracious to him. This time it doesn't happen, and it's a gut punch.

 

[oomoepoo]

That surprisingly wasn't the shitshow I expected it to be. By all means nowhere near Black Mirror but he tried his best and did a decent episode. That ending was a gut punch. Though I found "AI/Technology bad" a bit bland, would've preferred it to be a bit less heavy-handed. Still, competently executed episode.

 

[lexony]

I like the concept and I know that it only works this way, but with the main character being unlikeable on so many levels this episode was so hard to watch at times.

 

[Shadow]

I liked the episode decently enough until the end where it suddenly decided to hit really hard but falls completely flat on its face for me. The people flat out refusing his help, with Ruby getting the clue before The Doctor and starting to comfort him was something, then the crying starts, which... Well... Yeah... We've seen him cry nearly constantly, so it somewhat felt like a "Yeah, well that sucks" moment. The impact of seeing the Doctor getting emotional really gets lost when he's this emotional absolutely constantly. Seeing the Ninth Doctor breaking down in Dalek works so well because we've seen him happy, angry, frustrated but not emotionally breaking down, so when he finally does at the end of the episode, it hits you like a brick to the face. This really has been lost by making the Fifteenth Doctor as emotional as he is. I don't hate it, but this ending really could have been way more effective, but alas.

 

[Skipper93653]

Rewatching the episode, it's wild how you can see the seeds being planted for the ending throughout the whole episode.

Spoiler

e.g. Ricky September is basically acting Doctor-ish but Lindy is likes him because he's white but since the Doctor is black then it's a big no-no.



Oh, and the slugs literally eat the rich.

 

[oomoepoo]

The impact of seeing the Doctor getting emotional really gets lost when he's this emotional absolutely constantly.

That is actually a very good point. I get wanting to make the Doctor maybe a bit more emotional but making him cry like every episode just makes him seem immature tbh.

 

[oomoepoo]

Rewatching the episode, it's wild how you can see the seeds being planted for the ending throughout the whole episode.

Spoiler

e.g. Ricky September is basically acting Doctor-ish but Lindy is likes him because he's white but since the Doctor is black then it's a big no-no.



Oh, and the slugs literally eat the rich.

I've seen this take already somewhere else but is it really about that? Like, isn't it more about her idolizing Ricky September vs the Doctor literally being a random guy hacking into their feed?

 

[Skipper93653]

I've seen this take already somewhere else but is it really about that? Like, isn't it more about her idolizing Ricky September vs the Doctor literally being a random guy hacking into their feed?

I think the fact she idolizes him and sees no wrong in him for doing what the doctor is trying to do just shows the bigotry but then did she even care that much about Ricky in the first place as she threw him under the bus to be killed? She also blocks the Doctor immediately when he's trying to help but when Ruby hacks in and tries to help for the same reason, she listens, albeit with some pushback but is actually receptive rather than ignorant due to the person she is talking to.

 

[EvilChameleon]

Hoo buddy I did not see that ending coming. What an episode.

 

[oomoepoo]

I think the fact she idolizes him and sees no wrong in him for doing what the doctor is trying to do just shows the bigotry but then did she even care that much about Ricky in the first place as she threw him under the bus to be killed? She also blocks the Doctor immediately when he's trying to help but when Ruby hacks in and tries to help for the same reason, she listens, albeit with some pushback but is actually receptive rather than ignorant due to the person she is talking to.

Okay but that's just because Ruby kinda talks in a way she understands? She almost got insta-blocked too. I just don't really see it. Like, it probably would've played out the same with any other Doctor (minus Tenth/Eleventh, maybe). I think if it was intended that way, RTD would've been way clearer about it, he's not really someone that'd leave it open to interpretation

 

[Linkstrikesback]

I have no idea how they could make the racism any more blatant in the episode.

The exact kind of people who can't see the giant slugs in front of them I guess. If it wasn't blatant enough he confirmed in interviews it's about racism anyway

Except for boom which didn't do much for me, this has been an incredible run of Who through from the specials

 

[lexony]

I think the fact she idolizes him and sees no wrong in him for doing what the doctor is trying to do just shows the bigotry but then did she even care that much about Ricky in the first place as she threw him under the bus to be killed? She also blocks the Doctor immediately when he's trying to help but when Ruby hacks in and tries to help for the same reason, she listens, albeit with some pushback but is actually receptive rather than ignorant due to the person she is talking to.

Though Ruby appears just in a normal window not being her friend, but the first appearance of the doctor is clearly indicated as a "hacker" by her Bubble thingy. I see the racism angle to some degree, though I‘m not sure if it is intentional.

 

[Gingerbread]

Though Ruby appears just in a normal window not being her friend, but the first appearance of the doctor is clearly indicated as a "hacker" by her Bubble thingy. I see the racism angle to some degree, though I‘m not sure if it is intentional.

It was

 

[crepuscule]

Rewatching the episode, it's wild how you can see the seeds being planted for the ending throughout the whole episode.

Spoiler

e.g. Ricky September is basically acting Doctor-ish but Lindy is likes him because he's white but since the Doctor is black then it's a big no-no.



Oh, and the slugs literally eat the rich.

Spoiler

God I thought it was weird he was acting doctor-like but I didnt realise it was to show her difference in reaction to them, there really is so much.

I got it was about racism when she did the whole video call with her close friends and all of them were white as fuck, even me who went to a high school in a small post industrial town in the north of england where I had just one black classmate at least had some non white close friends and that realisation recontextualised previous weird things like her hostility to the doctor compared to ruby and the very white cast but I evidently still missed a load of it.

I've seen this take already somewhere else but is it really about that? Like, isn't it more about her idolizing Ricky September vs the Doctor literally being a random guy hacking into their feed?

Spoiler

That's the thing. Most individual things in the episode have a plausible explanation that doesn't require racism but that's how it goes for relatively subtle racism in real life too. It all adds up though. How she reacts doctor Vs Ricky, doctor Vs ruby, doctor and ruby being in the same room Vs the twins or her coworkers, all friends being white and of course the end was basically explicit with reference to voodoo (I don't really see any other explanation for that given the TARDIS looks nothing like anything voodoo lol) and probably other things I forgot or missed.

But yeah I enjoyed basically everything about this episode. Favourite episode since the moffat era for me.

I have no idea how they could make the racism any more blatant in the episode.


The exact kind of people who can't see the giant slugs in front of them I guess. If it wasn't blatant enough he confirmed in interviews it's about racism anyway


Except for boom which didn't do much for me, this has been an incredible run of Who through from the specials

Spoiler

Pretty sure some people I've seen on twitter wouldn't get it without the doctor doing a Chibnall style racism bad rant or someone literally using the n-word.

 

[EvilChameleon]

I got it when she had a conniption about Ruby and the Doctor being in the same room together. That's when I started to put it together, and I was like, oh, wait a minute...

 

[Winny]

I got it when she had a conniption about Ruby and the Doctor being in the same room together. That's when I started to put it together, and I was like, oh, wait a minute...

The part that really got me sitting up straight was when she acted as though she was entitled to being saved by the black man. Between that and what you pointed out, it gives you quite an insight into the kind of society she comes from.

 

[hologram]

I liked this episode, too. That's three in a row!

Spoiler

I really want to re-watch this with my wife as I suspect she will pick up on the "they're racist" twist basically immediately, but she really doesn't like Doctor Who lol. We'll see if I can convince her...

 

[PeachyLaCox]

Absolutely best episode of the season by a mile.

 

[ammonite]

So if most of this season is absolute bangers why did they start with the one bad one

 

[Winny]

So if most of this season is absolute bangers why did they start with the one bad one

I guess it had to go somewhere.

 

[lexony]

So if most of this season is absolute bangers why did they start with the one bad one

Personally I‘m not really a fan of the first 3 episodes (Christmas Special, Space Babies and Beatles). Though the recent 3 episodes were all good to great.

 

[Winny]

Personally I‘m not really a fan of the first 3 episodes (Christmas Special, Space Babies and Beatles). Though the recent 3 episodes were all good to great.

I'm surprised you didn't like The Church on Ruby Road. Space Babies I can get because that was really not a great way to kick things off, but I really thought the Christmas special did a very good job of establishing the new rules.

As in, the supernatural has creeped into the universe thanks to the Doctor invoking superstition at the edge of the universe and how that means for the first time in millions of years the Doctor actually doesn't have the answers.

The song was a pretty huge hit too.

 

[lexony]

I'm surprised you didn't like The Church on Ruby Road. Space Babies I can get because that was really not a great way to kick things off, but I really thought the Christmas special did a very good job of establishing the new rules.

As in, the supernatural has creeped into the universe thanks to the Doctor invoking superstition at the edge of the universe and how that means for the first time in millions of years the Doctor actually doesn't have the answers.

The song was a pretty huge hit too.

It wasn't that I thought it was bad, but that episode really did nothing for me. I don't know, everything felt a bit forced, even when I liked the overall concepts.

 

[Skipper93653]

 

[Skipper93653]

sorry for the double post but:

 

[oomoepoo]

That's another one of those that really stings, that only leaves Susan from the original TARDIS crew :/

 

[Shadow]

Oh man, that really stings. Seeing him reappear in Series 13 was wonderful (even if it canonically did not make sense him being old) and I really hoped we'd get one more look at his character. Well, at least the Season 2 Blu-ray has that wonderful interview with him, what a fun thing to watch and I think I will put that one up again.

 

[Tye]

Seeing him reappear in Series 13 was wonderful (even if it canonically did not make sense him being old)

Huh? Why didn’t it make sense? Wasn’t he sent back to 1965 when he left the Doctor? Why wouldn’t he be old in 2022?

I though the only one of the companions to appear in The Power of the Doctor that didn’t make sense was Mel, which was addressed in The Giggle.

 

[Shadow]

In the Sarah Jane Adventures it was mentioned that Ian and Barbara hadn't aged a day since the 60's for some reason. It's a small thing really, but if I had to pick between a that being correct and seeing him back on screen, well that is an easy choice

 

[Tye]

In the Sarah Jane Adventures it was mentioned that Ian and Barbara hadn't aged a day since the 60's for some reason. It's a small thing really, but if I had to pick between a that being correct and seeing him back on screen, well that is an easy choice

I haven’t watched The Sarah Jane Adventures yet (I probably should get around to doing that sometime, though, with the direction this season of Doctor Who looks to headed), but are we sure that line was supposed to be taken literally as opposed to, like, they haven’t aged in the sense of their personalities and all from when they traveled with the Doctor?

It wouldn’t be the first there was a line like that in The Sarah Jane Adventures that clearly wasn’t meant to be taken literally or seriously (or if it was, was clearly retconned later), because I know there was also that line from the Eleventh Doctor in TSJA saying that he has 507 regenerations.

 

[Skipper93653]

Spoiler: Synopsis and cast list for Episode 7 (The Legend of Ruby Sunday)

 

[Shadow]

I haven’t watched The Sarah Jane Adventures yet (I probably should get around to doing that sometime, though, with the direction this season of Doctor Who looks to headed), but are we sure that line was supposed to be taken literally as opposed to, like, they haven’t aged in the sense of their personalities and all from when they traveled with the Doctor?

It wouldn’t be the first there was a line like that in The Sarah Jane Adventures that clearly wasn’t meant to be taken literally or seriously (or if it was, was clearly retconned later), because I know there was also that line from the Eleventh Doctor in TSJA saying that he has 507 regenerations.

I recommend watching the series, it's more in line with classic Who over the reboot in how it's structured. I genuinely enjoyed the series on my rewatch of Who two years ago. Series 5 ends rather abruptly for obvious reasons, but still worth a watch.

 

[EvilChameleon]

A rare instance of RTD writing for 11. And speaking of, I really don't think the Doctor would ever say that "it looks like someone baked you" when meeting a companion again after a long time, but maybe that's just me.

 

[oomoepoo]

So...
Is Corporal Sullivan an ancestor of Harry's? Does Ruby have two moms now, maybe even three? Also, it's nice to see Briggs on the castlist

Also, I'm assuming Twist will be the main villain in this?

 

[Winny]

Also, I'm assuming Twist will be the main villain in this?

Well it does say that she plays Susan Triad and that Triad Technologies unleashes the "greatest evil of all" so I'd say that was a safe bet.

 

[Shadow]

A rare instance of RTD writing for 11. And speaking of, I really don't think the Doctor would ever say that "it looks like someone baked you" when meeting a companion again after a long time, but maybe that's just me.

And I will admit that it got a huge laugh out of me as it came completely out of left field. But the scene of the three on the other planet is very much what I wanted such a reunion to be. The music that plays during that scene is also seriously godtier and an utter shame they never bothered releasing the soundtrack of the SJA.