Doctor Who - The Reality War

Paying The Piper

Doctor Who
The Reality War
UK/USA 2025
Airdate: 31st May 2025

Warning: All the spoilers.

I’m not so much as angry with The Reality War, the latest and possibly last episode of Doctor Who as I am...  disappointed with it. Primarily because what Russell T. Davies cooked up for both last season and this season, regarding the season finales, smacks of the one thing a previous showrunner (Steven Moffat) was really bad at... that is to say, setting up all these threads, teasing great things and then, well, kind of dropping the ball at the last minute. 

This one ran way over the scheduled episode length according to the Radio Times so... I’m guessing people who were relying on it to run to time, since there was no pre-iplayer version... were possibly angry they were all half an hour out on their schedules. But before I talk about the things which went wrong... and the, kinda, nice things about the episode, lets do a quick story summary. 

The Rani’s bring back Omega from the underverse of the wish world version of Earth but, yeah, it’s a quick mythical version of Omega who promptly eats the latest regeneration of the Rani... although Anita Dobson’s Mrs. Flood version of the character manages to escape to somewhere else. Perhaps it was a case of having a Rani knows moment. It’s up to The Doctor, played by Ncuti Gatwa, Varada Sethu’s Belinda Chandra and Millie Gibson’s Ruby Sunday (who still seems to be a major dangling plot thread in terms of identity, if you ask me), along with several members of UNIT and Anita from the Joy To The World Christmas special (reviewed here), played by Steph de Whalley and now working at the Time Hotel... to put a stop to things and restore the world back to reality... including saving the Doctor’s daughter (who’s not his actual daughter, it turns out) and bringing on the expected regeneration at the end. Yup... and I’ll get to who he regenerates into in a little while, because it is revealed, in what I suspect is a last ditch attempt to bring back old viewers and avoid cancellation.

Okay... so the new thing about the timelords being sterile... if this is a new thing since the latest few iterations then that’s fine but if it is supposed to be going back to the original shows then, it completely contradicts The Doctor having a granddaughter at all. 

And talking about Susan Foreman... everyone was pleased to see Carole Ann Ford coming back as a cameo in the last two episodes. People were excited to see how it would unfold in this final episode to see her finally reunited with The Doctor. Well guess what folks? It didn’t happen. She’s not in the episode and doesn’t really get much reference either. That, I think, was a bit of a mistake which I’m sure fans of the show will be grumbling about. I’m glad the teased Rogue return didn’t happen though. Also, that will probably annoy some fans, I suspect.

Meanwhile... the big bad reveal of Omega turned out to be... some kind of mythical ‘wished into existence’ version who lasts about five minutes before The Doctor vanquishes him back to the same dimension. Bit quick for a villain who once had to have three incarnations of The Doctor present to defeat him. Um... a bit rubbish too. 

I didn’t really like the Back To The Future tyre tracks that UNIT lady left with her wheelchair as a joke either. Kinda felt almost a little too throw away if you ask me.

So, as far as all that goes... an optimistic but also bitter sweet finale which, honestly, just got bogged down in a lot of exposition and really felt quite a bit draggingly dull at some points. Not to mention the terrible, retrofitting ‘flashbacks’ to conversations which Belinda had which, yeah, just reminded me of the whole ‘who is Ruby’s mother fiasco?’ at the end of the last season. It was just cheap and not terribly clever. Some might say awful (yeah, okay, that’s what I said too). 

Okay, so wouldn’t put many thumbs up or recommend this episode to anyone at all, really. The teased out promises turned out to actually be much more than the finale could bear... even with the unscheduled extra half an hour. 

Now then. There were a few nice things. Firstly, Anita Dobson’s joke about The Two Rani’s followed up with “And it’s good night from me!”... well. I loved that even as I was wondering just who, apart from the 50 plus British audience in the world, would even understand that joke. For all those people wondering, look up an old British TV comedy show called The Two Ronnies, with Ronnie Corbett and Ronnie Barker. 

Secondly, it was really nice to see Jody Whittaker back as The Doctor. I always loved her portrayal, even though I lamented she hardly ever had any good scripts to work with. It was good to see she’s willing to return to the show if needed. Although, where the Earth bound(ish), retired David Tennant incarnation was during all this with, you know, his extra much needed TARDIS, is anybody’s guess. To quote Ellen Ripley in Aliens... did IQs suddenly drop?

Thirdly... it was also really nice seeing Anita back from the Christmas special. A lot of fans wanted that to happen. She seemed really wasted here though and didn’t have anything to do in terms of the emotional impact she had when we first met her so... yeah, good and bad at the same time.

Fourthly... and this is a kind of double edged sword... I called it when I had a conversation with some friends a few weeks back when I said that, when The Doctor inevitably regenerates at the end of the last episode... they would either end the show mid-regeneration or, if they were smart, get back a really big superstar which would pull in financial backers to bring the show back and ward off cancellation. Alas, although I loved seeing The Doctor regenerate into... Billie Piper at the end of the show (who has now played three different characters in the modern era of Doctor Who, with this iteration)... I’m not sure if she’s a big enough pull to get people back on board with another show resurrection. At least not with American audiences (which is where the big money is)... which is a shame because I’m all for it. It’s almost like the writers and producers said, we’ll bring Billie Piper back... Because We Want To. And, it has to be said... just to remind you all... this is not the first time The Doctor has regenerated into a person he’s already met and accidentally changed into their face. I might mention Colin Baker and Peter Capaldi here. Not ot mention the reappearance of David Tennant a couple of years ago. And don’t get me started on Lalla Ward’s regeneration of Romana.

I guess we’ll know soon enough whether the show gets cancelled or not. Meanwhile, next year’s apparently Doctorless UNIT VS Sea Devils spin off, The War Between The Land And The Sea, was trailered after the show and all I can say is... it looks pretty awful, to be honest. I mean... yeah... I hope the trailer truly isn’t reflective of the content but... again, time will tell I guess.

And that’s me done for a while, with The Reality War and the modern era of Doctor Who at least. There are still reviews coming, soon and less sooner, for stories starring various past Doctors from the classic series so, yeah, blog posts on these will be forthcoming, at some point soon. And with that I’ll finish this review by saying... and it’s good night from me. 

PS.  One last thing... thanks so much to the anonymous individual who has been leaving comments on my recent Doctor Who posts. Firefox won't let me reply and I just haven't got enough time right now to go through the whole rigmarol with Safari each time to have to re-log in and respond. But please know, whoever you are, that your comments are very welome and, like I said, thank you.

Doctor Who - Empire Of Death

Sutekh And
The Banshees

Doctor Who -
Empire Of Death
Airdate: 22nd June 2024
BBC 1

Warning: More spoilers.

Well that was... okay. Better than the set up episode and not a real clunker like a fair few in this season of Doctor Who have been. Empire of Death is the second of a two part season finale, carrying directly on from last week’s The Legend Of Ruby Sunday (reviewed here). It has a lot to do but the exposition is fairly light handed and it does have time to go off and explore other story ideas as it sets about mostly resolving questions and threads brought up in the current series. There’s also a big problem right from the outset here but I’ll get into it that in a moment.

Okay, so this episode sees The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa), Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) and former Sixth/Seventh Doctor companion Melanie Bush (Bonnie Langford) on the run from Sutekh and his gift of death. They are on their own in the universe now because almost everything is now dead worlds and dead suns (Earth and all life on it is destroyed very early on in the episode... and therein lies the problem) but they find someone who has a bit of metal they need to get their ‘get out of jail free’ gadget back, so they can regain the upper hand and set to putting things right.

Which they do... and then we finally find out who Ruby’s mum is... who turns out to be nobody of any importance (which, in Marvel comics terms, would be the equivalent of what Steve Dikto wanted to do with the reveal on the Green Goblin, as opposed to what Stan Lee actually did, causing the rift between them). Which is a bit of a let down in some ways but, I like the idea that this simple matter of identity, which is the only reason Sutekh has allowed these three fugitives from death to live, has become important because of the way certain life forms value things and people... and so that’s what they become. Which is a nice idea and, yeah, almost certainly true.

So most of the mysteries are tied up and The Doctor and Ruby Sunday part company (although I suspect she may be back to guest star in the odd UNIT episode or two at some part in the next series). If Disney don’t decide to just write off the already completed next series as a tax loss, that is. However we still have the mystery of next door neighbour Mrs. Flood and the way Anita Dobson is scripted and plays the character makes me think that I was on the right track thinking she’s an important villain from some point in the Doctor Who universe... especially when she breaks the fourth wall again at the end of the episode to tell the audience that The Doctor’s story ends in terror.

And I thought the episode played pretty well and the memory TARDIS from the, not so good I’d have to say, Tales From The TARDIS streaming show is given a practical use, of sorts, in this episode (although everybody kind of recognised the background of a memory TARDIS through the open doors in a shot in the early trailers for the series so... no real surprise there).

The big problem for me with the episode was that, most of the regular characters, UNIT or otherwise, die near the start of the episode (as does all life on Earth) so, you kind of know there’s going to be a huge ‘reset button’ of a resolution to the story, to get everybody back to life again, at some point. So The Doctor trapping Sutekh in the time vortex to bring death to death (which, by the way, would mean everybody in the universe should now be immortal... so that would be a huge problem in itself) seems a bit of a cop out ending, to be honest. Still, it got the story back to where it needed to be and although this new incarnation of The Doctor kept crying again (as he has in every bloody episode this season, I think)... it was an okay end of season finale and I totally didn’t mind it.

Not much more to say about Empire Of Death. Murray Gold’s score was great, it was nice seeing Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen in footage from The Pyramids Of Mars on the viewer as part of the story and I’m still looking forward to seeing this year’s Christmas special, I’m pleased to say. Unfortunately, I’m not expecting the producers to learn anything much from the reception of the show in the next season because, well, they’ve already shot it before the first series aired, I believe.

Here’s my ranking of the episodes in this year’s series, from worst to best, if anybody wants to know (because that’s what people seem to be doing these days, it seems... personal rankings) now that I’ve had time to reevaluate them (click on the titles for the corresponding review)...

8. Rogue
7. Space Babies
6. The Devil’s Chord
5. The Legend Of Ruby Sunday
4. Empire Of Death
3. Boom
2. 73 Yards
1. Dot And Bubble

Doctor Who - The Legend Of Ruby Sunday

 

Triad-itional Celebration

Doctor Who -
The Legend Of Ruby Sunday
Airdate: 15th June 2024
BBC 1

Warning: Spoilers aplenty.

Okay... well I have to say I am not feeling much love for this first instalment of the two part season finale of the new series of Doctor Who. I certainly didn’t hate it and it was put together well but... I dunno, I feel kind of underwhelmed, to be honest.

So the brief plot set up is that The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) visit UNIT HQ to try and figure out two things... firstly, who is the mysterious woman they keep seeing cropping up in their adventures (as played by actress Susan Twist, every week as a different character) and, also, the answer to the question... “Who is Ruby Sunday’s mum who left her on the church steps on Christmas Eve 2004?

Well, the woman is Susan Triad, about to give the world her new technology (and who has dreams about the things her characters would have seen in each episode)... not knowing she’s the victim of this week’s returning villain. Yeah, so Russel T. Davies said they wouldn’t be bringing any old villains back this series and so, what did he do? He brought an old villain back. Meanwhile, looking through a time window to recreate the night that Ruby was left on the doorstep of the church, they bring more death and the villain manifests itself in our time.

Okay... so I’ve seen many theories on what could be happening over the last month on the internet and, subsequently... as far as we are in the story by the end of this episode... they’ve all been speculated successfully so that, yeah, there are no real story surprises in this episode at all (but, not to worry, some more suprises may be coming next week, one hopes). Debut character Harriet’s second name being Arbinger, for example. So, H. Arbinger or Harbinger. People were pretty sure that would be the case and so it goes (to quote someone who once found themselves unstuck in time... I’m pitching to you, Kurt Vonnegut fans).

So we all knew that Susan Twist’s character this week, Susan Triad or S Triad, was an anagram of TARDIS (where the manifestation of an ancient God was hiding). And, yes, many people had already figured out the ‘Sue Tech’ idea as meaning it could well be an appearance of the God Sutekh from the 1975 Tom Baker era story The Pyramids Of Mars. And it is, it would seem. I think that’s what most disappointed me about the episode and, if there was any surprise for me, then it was that they’d bothered brining this enemy back in this form. I mean, really?

Two reasons for that disappointment. One, the great thing about The Pyramids Of Mars storyline was not Sutekh but his large, robot mummy henchmen, who were iconic monsters of the era (despite only appearing in that story). So I’d much rather have the cool mummies back than Sutekh, to be honest. Secondly, I guess I am a little curious as to why they decided to bring back a monster who is not going to be familiar to any modern era audiences, unless they’ve gone back to look at the classic stories. I mean... yeah, it’s  only really going to mean something to fans of old. Nothing against that personally but... maybe not the smartest move considering you’re trying to hook new viewers into the show for the Disney fatherland.

And, yeah, it was an unsatisfying cliffhanger, to be honest. I’m not really buying into it. But there are still some surprises yet, I suspect. Firstly, since they keep invoking The Doctor’s granddaughter Susan all through the episode, I’m not completely ruling out that she’ll put in an appearance at some point in next week’s episode. Maybe by way of an epilogue, The Doctor could revisit her where he left her in Earth’s far future, after the Dalek Invasion Of Earth (although how The Five Doctors fits into that, I can’t really remember).

Secondly... Mrs. Flood’s return, as played by Anita Dobson. Now, okay, she could just be a manifestation of Sutekh (I hope not, that’s boring) and she’s certainly presenting as a villain. But... she’s not immediately aggressive with it and so, maybe she’s another old returning villain (such as The Rani) waiting to pitch in and help The Doctor against a common enemy. Who knows? Well, not me I can assure you but all the audiences who went to the 12.01 cinematic showing of the final two episodes this morning will already know the answer to that one. As for the likes of me (who is not near a cinema playing it), I’ll have to wait until next Saturday, alas.

I’ve not got that much else to say other than that, I think... other than well done to returning companion Mel in the form of Bonnie Langford. She did some good work here. Way too much hugging going on again in this episdoe though. The Legend Of Ruby Sunday is an excellent title for an episode but, yeah, I was seriously underwhelmed on this one, it has to be said. Keeping my fingers crossed for next week’s concluding episode, Empire Of Death. We’ll see how that goes, I guess.

Doctor Who - The Giggle

52 Card Split

Doctor Who - The Giggle
Airdate: 9th December 2023
BBC

Warning: Spoilers right from the outset.

Ha! I totally called it... and have been amongst a few people for several months now at least. Wish I’d have written it in last week’s blog and backed myself more (goes back to check last week’s blog to make sure I didn't)...

Oh... okay... it turns out I did, actually.

Okay... well in that case... it needs repeating. So here’s a sentence from the last paragraph to my review of the Doctor Who episode Wild Blue Yonder (reviewed here) from last Sunday...

“Kinda half looking forward to next week’s show but not happy that Tennant will be leaving it then... if indeed he does and they don’t pull a ‘split regeneration’ on the audience, so they can ‘have their cake and eat a spin off series’ too.”

So, yeah, they totally went there. And, truth be told, I was both happy and disappointed with this direction at the same time. Happy because I’m sure the adventures of David Tennant's incarnation of The Doctor can carry on having adventures in a spin off series... probably one of the spin offs the BBC have been touting for the last year... but disappointed that this in some way dilutes the show for the next... sorry... split generation Doctor played by Ncuti Gatwa. Not that I thought he was a great debut in the role but... okay, getting ahead of myself again.

So, The Giggle... good and bad stuff in this week’s episode but mostly bad. Now, when Russell T. Davies had the reigns of the show before there was always the odd bad episode but, mostly I loved around 99% of his tenure on the show. So... I’m finding his decisions less likeable this time around and this episode was, for me, the worst of the new batch of three. So...

Okay, good things...

The opening in Soho in 1925 was good and I especially liked some of the eerie, surreal terrors found in the episode... such as the puppet babies trying to eat Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) which seemed, to me, to be lifted straight out of the original Barbarella movie... but with less blood. Still sinister though and I enjoyed the whole sequence in that room a lot. I bet that gives some of the kiddies nightmares, for sure.

And it was great to see Bonnie Langford as Mel again... although her inclusion seemed a little pointless, it had to be said. As far as anything in a work of fiction could be said to be pointless. But she was really great in this and I loved hearing about what became of Sabalom Glitz (died tripping over a whisky bottle... I’m sure the late Tony Selby would have loved that) and, also, I was pleased when Ncuti Gatwa mentioned Logopolis... one of my favourite Tom Baker stories.

Okay... the bad.

I don’t know who the heck Neil Patrick Harris is but he did a good job as a Doctor Who villain. Just not a good job as The Celestial Toymaker who, if memory serves, didn’t leap around that energetically and try to channel Joel Gray’s Master Of Ceremonies from Cabaret (which seemed so blatant to me that I can only assume it was a deliberate riff on that character) back when Michael Gough played him in the 1960s. That being said, I’ve only been following the show properly for 53 of its 60 years so, I’m not exactly an expert on it like some people are. But good on Harris from making a good job of what was written... just didn’t buy that writing, to be honest.

Generally, it felt like less was at stake because everything was just ‘made up’ all the time too, without limits. Although, the story about The Toymaker shrinking down The Master and putting him inside his gold tooth was a neat trick for bringing The Master back... I assume everyone spotted that his tooth remained and an unknown hand picked it up after The Toymaker had winked out of existence? A bit like Ming's ring at the end of the Flash Gordon movie.

Okay... not many surprises. My one surprise was when Tennant started dying and I really thought they might let that cash cow go a second time... except, nope, first ever (according to the writing) split regeneration brought about, to my mind, for all the wrong reasons, I reckon. It felt like a gimmick to hang onto future David Tenant ratings in a spin off series ‘cash grab’ rather than a genuine plot point to be honest. So was a little bit disappointed to tell you the truth (and I say that with the background that Tennant is my third, all time favourite Doctor... following closely behind Troughton and Pertwee).

Oh and.... ‘first split regeneration’ kinda but... it’s not without precedent in the show. Russell T. Davies already regenerated The Tenth Doctor’s severed arm and made a new Doctor from that (albeit a mortal one... which makes much more sense as a story thread to pursue since, you know, Tennant ages in real life) during his reign in the show. Yeah, I know it’s kinda different but... it’s also kinda the same.

Now then, the elephant in the room. I was somewhat underwhelmed by the way Ncuti Gatwa played The Doctor to be honest, “love”. Lots of confidence but coming off as a bit too full of himself somehow... which I didn’t expect actually. I was expecting to like the new guy right from the start because RTD has been saying some good things about him and, also, I know he’s already starting shooting his second season so... I’m guessing the producers are confident enough in him to pull in the ratings. But, you know, it’s very early days for this incarnation of the character so, if you felt the same way as me about him... I would caution you and say, let him settle into the role and we’ll see what he’s really like. I’m kinda hoping to be blown away by both him and also RTD again at some point soon. So, let’s not jinx it, right?

One last thing... no explanation has been given as to why Jodie Whitaker’s regeneration into David Tennant had the costume regenerate with her/him this time around... for the first time ever in the show. A friend showed me a quote from RTD saying he didn’t want to have Tennant in female clothes because it mocked ‘drag culture’ or some such rubbish. My friend also went on to point out that Jodie was wearing a pretty gender neutral costume anyway and she agreed with my less than elegant response to such a terrible decision. Either way though, it still doesn't explain why, in the world of Timelord physics, The Doctor’s clothes suddenly changed with him instead of just The Doctor... thus destroying all verisimilitude within the show. Not to mention, why did Gatwa’s new Doctor emerge from Tennant’s body with half a costume on? It makes absolutely no sense and, I’m sorry, if you’re going to pull such ridiculous nonsense on an audience, at least come up with a reasonable explanation of it within the world of the show. It just makes the writing feel a bit amateurish, to be honest. Like nobody actually really cares about the world of Doctor Who.

And I think that’s me about done on this one but, while I’m at it... The Giggle was my least favourite, by a long chalk, of the three new 60th Anniversary specials but, honestly, although I kinda liked the first one and quite enjoyed the second one... I thought that, all in all, this was not the way you celebrate a Doctor Who anniversary. Sorry to be a bit of a stick in the mud and probably a little bit old school (no, just old... yeah, I know) but I want a lot more old companions and a lot more Doctors teaming up together to save the universe from an extinction level event in this kind of celebration. I thought the two 50th anniversary shows... The Day Of The Doctor (reviewed here) and the original cut (don’t get me started) of An Adventure In Space And Time (reviewed here) were hands down ten times better than these ones... so, yeah, bit frustrated by the lack of celebratory goodness here. Not to mention the absence of a stand alone Radio Times special celebrating sixty years of the show (I still have my 10th Anniversary Special with Jon Pertwee on the cover).

So, yeah, more than a little underwhelmed and I am not really looking forward to the new Christmas special, to be honest. But, yeah, of course I’m going to watch it and I hope it proves way better than I am expecting. As always, I’ll let you know my thoughts about it here... probably on December 26th, I would think.