I just realised (and apologies if someone has already pointed it out) that when Rose looks into the heart of the TARDIS in The Parting of the Ways and scatters the warning “BAD WOLF” all over the universe… we can now read that as a warning about Sutekh, which the Doctor completely failed to spot for several regenerations!

RTD must have been so…[Read more]

@WhoHar – yes, sorry – I’m not sure how Douglas is Cancelled is being distributed outside the UK.

Eeek – I know there’s a new season of The Boys out – I could barely deal with the gross factor previously (and struggle with its “ironic” sexism) and I hear this one is even more revolting – will wait for a strong-stomach day. Anthony Starr is…[Read more]

I’ve just watched Moffat’s new drama (available on the ITVX app UK) Douglas is Cancelled – Karen Gillan, Alex Kingston, Hugh Bonneville and Ben Palmer were  all absolutely superb.

I won’t post anything too spoilery about it, because it’s really worth watching pre-spoilers.

But episode 3 in particular was heart-in-mouth gripping. Karen Gillan…[Read more]

@Blenkinsopthebrave

 I suspect that many of us feel that to some extent, we have been “played” and are left clutching at straws (or the one remaining straw–Mrs Flood)… Am I being too harsh?

In one sense, that’s fair – and interestingly, the final season of Moffat and Gatiss’ BBC Sherlock did the same thing. Created a puzzle it did not cash,…[Read more]

BBC APPROVED SPOILERS...

@mudlark

The problem, for me at least, was that after all the previous build up which misled us into thinking Ruby must be special in an extraordinary, possibly timey or extra-terrestrial way, and overpowered by the apocalyptic events earlier in the episode, it fell rather flat.

Yes, I did think it would have been awesome if Ruby’s eyes had turned…[Read more]

Also – “there’s always a twist at the end” and Moffat has written the Christmas special…

So my guess is – yes, it’s true that Ruby is an ordinary person with ordinary parents which fits with RTD’s very wonderful recurring message for Doctor Who about how every ordinary person is valuable and meaningful.

However, it’s also going to be the case…[Read more]

@ps1l0v3y0u

The arc is VR. The VR is created by someone who knows The Doctor as well as they know themself…

Why does Ruby snow? The VR snows…

I really like this theory – which might lead to the Great Intelligence, as others have previously theorised, given the snow connection. Or alternatively to a Time Lord using a grand-scale version of The…[Read more]

@BlenkinsoptheBrave – I’ve had The Tempest in mind as an inspiration for this season because of the magic entering the universe since Wild Blue Yonder.

The Tempest has been ripe for modern discussion in the context of colonialism – Prospero seems like a cool magician aristocrat but he sets about enslaving the spirits of the island he and his…[Read more]

@cathannabel @devilishrobby  I did indeed think about Thanos’ big Snap from Avengers. 

Thanos vs Sutekh – Sutekh would presumably win, as Thanos *only* wanted to depopulate the universe by half, not slaughter everyone.

It also made me think about Torchwood: Miracle Day when Jack Harkness’ blood is used to abolish death on earth (with p…[Read more]

@classicsrule1 – The TARDIS still beats Sutekh, as she only got infected by him during the Fourth Doctor’s era, so she was whirling through the episodes with just the Doc before that!

https://x.com/aljeensane/status/1804499553254850592

Narrator voice <Ruby was not, in fact, Horus, God of Rejuvenation>

I’m tickled my suggestion that Sutekh had been travelling in shadow-form with the TARDIS ever since The Pyramids of Mars panned out though, at least. I do really, really appreciate having, in RTD2, a fan of the classic series.

Like others, I was also disappointed in The Empire o…[Read more]

Wow – the Forum has been on fire with some super musings! (I’ve been immured in Exam Boards).

@thane16

If the Tardis was infected when the Doctor saved baby Ruby from the goblin dinner then do we account for his tears, at other times, because part of him, perhaps due to his connection with the Tardis, is aware that something is deeply w…

[Read more]

@bunface and @Devilishrobby

Thanks yes, blank post, I was trying to include an image of the jukebox with Rose but failed in my efforts!

@pufferfish – thanks for the song find!

Seems like a gloating song from Lord Sutekh – he’s got control of the TARDIS (/alternative Red TARDIS – let’s see) so can presumably spread his dominion of death throughout time and space:

“Roam if you want to

Roam around the world

Roam if you want to

Without wings, without wheels”

@Whisht and @ScaryB as our resident musos – what is the tune Susan Twist dances to on stage? It’s bugging me as it’s really familiar…

@bunface @Blenkinsopthebrave @thane16

I wonder if Gatwa Doctor’s frequent tears are because, on some deep level, he recognises that there is a Red Doctor/ Sutekh-possessed Red TARDIS out there in the crossed…[Read more]

Sutekhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Lord of Death…

@bunface @thane16

Just rewatching… What about Kate testing DNA and saying ‘Just because Susan Triad is nice, doesn’t mean she can’t change. A chrysalis doesn’t know it’s a butterfly. A phoenix is just a bird until it burns.’

Is that a hint… As you said, baaaad Doctor?

I re-watched The Pyramids of Mars…[Read more]

@WhoHar exellent summary!

To your “What needs clearing up” list I’d add:

8. Who is the Meep’s boss and is that the same as Rogue’s new boss?

9. To whom did the mysterious red-finger-nailed hand belong, which picked up the gold tooth the Master is supposedly trapped in?

10. Why could Maestro sense that the oldest of the Toymaker’s Pantheon was…[Read more]

I feel like we haven’t talked about Rogue’s line about loss – sometimes the simplest dialogue is the best:

“We travelled together, we had fun, and then one day a day came along, and at the end of that day, I lost them.”

I love that line – it captures the shock and the banality, the unexpected finality of loss. We know death is coming,…[Read more]