Doctor Who

[Deborah54]

This will be my 12th Doctor. I’m a big Doctor Who fan. Happy memories of Sat with my dad watching cyber men and darleks.
But what the hell has happened? I’ve just finished, well I managed 25 mins, before I couldn’t take it anymore the 1st episode with the new Doctor and sidekick. Awful acting with a ludicrous plot (yes I know it’s fantasy) but it’s never been this stupid. Can’t help but think the BBC aren’t bothered and think they can put out anything and we’ll watch. Russell T Davies should have his pens taken off him and spare us anymore pain.

I can’t be the only Doctor Who fan who thinks like this. Absolutely Gutted 😞

No. The movements were suggested by a movement coach along with that script.

I think that the Toymaker/Maestro/Fairies stuff is all connected

It definitely is. I can't remember the line but David tennant as the Dr says something flippant he instantly worries about in the 2nd of his episodes, when they're at the edge of the universe, in doing so when the the toymaker is at large, he undoes some unwritten law of reality which let's all the eldritch stuff become real. And in the next episode, when vanquished the toymaker says he's sending his legions...

So - the supernatural is what underpins this entire new story arc: myth & legend becoming reality - fairies, witches, hobgoblins, dragons, pixies...There's a huge catalogue of national mythology to plough now. Untested scope for writers, lots of new material, completely new rules for the world they write about. It was RTD coming back as a showrunner & reinventing Dr Who like he did first time around.

I'm sure we'll see the Toymaker again. In the meantime, the Dr knows everything has changed- he may have well fallen into a different dimension, where fairytales, magic & science are the same thing.

Oooh interesting yes I know the line you mean @KikiShaLeeBopDeBopBop but can't think off top of my head to quote.
Also something about invoking the myths, the superstitions with the salt.. Think that is all related too

Did the people scream and run as they recognised Ruby or was it because the woman was blurry when they got up close?

Think she told them
something terrifying.

Never thought of that, yes, could be why even Kate L.S disengaged, knew it was something not to be messed with....

I liked the little "TARDISes" scattered here and there as Ruby was living through her lonely life. A big TARDIS-blue panelled front door with a central light above, visible through the pane of glass above the door. A tall blue rectangular bus shelter advert in the background while she was talking to Kate. A building with lots of big tall rectangular windows, one of them lit up blue. Mostly really subtle — I don't know if I missed a few before I twigged when I saw the big blue door.

It felt to me like little reminders of where she'd been before, what was important to her, and maybe what she was going back to.

I wondered if the hints of TARDISness here and there were meant to reflect her own inner workings and lifelong preoccupation, give us an inside track on the way she sees the world, so we get a feeling that ordinary things are, to her, always tweaking at or connecting to her memories of her brief travels with the Doctor.

Or maybe they were meant to be real signs of some kind of power/influence at work. Either way I thought it was a nice touch.

Oh, at one point I think I may have noticed something blue box-y - but now I may need to go back and look properly. Thank you! (To me it would suggest that even in this alternate timeline the Doctor is a benevolent presence through her life, only at a distance. Holding her safe.)

Here’s a decent, thought filled review - with a twist that I’m struggling to believe … Spoilers for Ep 4, obvs:

https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/doctor-who-series-14-episode-4-review-73-yards/

With all the talk of the supernatural and superstition and fairytales - are we to infer that Ruby herself was born from that world? That she’s maybe not really part of this world and will eventually have to return from whence she came?

It's entirely possible I'm imagining things and over-interpreting 🤣 but I guess nothing gets into the frame that isn't meant to be there, especially in something as glossy as this series where they know fans will obsessively analyse every little thing. I like your reading of it.

The Standard thinks it surpasses Blink!

https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/tvfilm/doctor-who-bbc-ncuti-gatwa-b1160022.html

Ms Gibson is getting so many 5* reviews I won’t be surprised to see her following Karen Gillan into the wider Disney universe. (It has only just occurred to me that the new deal must make Dr Who a direct gateway to Disneywood stardom for members of the cast.)

It was about crossing or breaking a line of salt.

This is a very interesting review!

In it, there is mention of the fact that RTD said that the repeated recasting of Susan Twist was simply down to issues with Equity, but when Ruby meets her on the cliff top, she seems to think that she has met her before. 🤔

The Standard is just plain wrong...

A vast improvement though..and only two weeks ago everyone was saying RTD can't write any more.
It felt a bit Years and Years to me.

Absolutely amazing job by Millie, to have done this as her first WHO episode.

As for the reasoning for casting Susan Twist: if rule 1 is “ the doctor lies” then let’s not forget rule 2 - “the show runner lies”

Totally. It's amazing she was only 18 then. Such a talent. She'll go far.

There's something in there about correcting timelines too. I wouldn't be surprised if there was something like Terminator about her birth - unless she's planted in the world, she can't avert whatever she's supporting to avert.

(this is a much, MUCH superior companion mystery to Clara the Impossible Girl)

I thought it was great until the last ten minutes which didn’t make a lot of sense or provide much resolution.

Sian Phillips is amazing, even at 91!

I like not knowing exactly why everyone ran. Means we can fill in the gaps...

Its not quite Blink... but the episodes like this, relying on psychology, effect us all differently. 11yo was terrified last night!

(My take on it... it was them realising it was the older Ruby that did it!)

I liked the little "TARDISes" scattered here and there as Ruby was living through her lonely life.

I saw absolutely none of those 😂😂 I think I might need to rewatch it.

I'm not sure what the woman said to scare the people is important, it's more the why. I think it was done to make sure Ruby was in the right place at the right time and in the right frame of mind to deal with the PM. It also gave the the means to do it.

@SoupDragon i think it does matter because it felt beyond bad mouthing Ruby when it made her mum abandon her and beat out Kate L-S’s training and defences. A sense that Ruby is somehow really wrong.

The Hiker and the welsh guy - “that girl is dangerous, stay away” might be enough as they were strangers to Ruby and to aliens. But not the closer people.

Bechdel test smash, this episode. Often Doctor Who isn’t.

The other thing is the 73 yards distance when on trains etc - and the sense that she might die if she took a flight (but most planes are longer than 73 yards, so she could have booked a front row seat!).

I do agree that what the woman said was less about the content than the aura of fear she managed to create. It's a shame UNIT don't have any deaf staff... It would have made the experiment interesting.

(I think she looked normal close up because Ruby's mum thought she looked normal).

I suppose you can't really have someone appearing on a plane or scaring the passengers so much that they run away.

Scaring the pilots away!