Doctor Who

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/13742015

Speaking to Doctor Who Unleashed, Davies said: “So that’s goodbye to Millie Gibson, except it’s not! You’d have to be mad to say goodbye to talent and a character like that!”

He added: “This is a pause. I genuinely felt Ruby’s story paused there. She couldn’t get all that information about her family, all that emotional overload, and run off in the TARDIS. It pauses there. She’s coming back.

“A new companion is coming in, but you’ll see the three of them together. Three people in this TARDIS fighting evil. There’s good stuff to come. There are really crucial stories for Ruby to come, and her family – the story of that family hasn’t finished yet – that will all make sense when you see it. So more to come.”

Following the major reveal of the character in the latest finale, Russell T Davies and Anita Dobson address the current status of the mystery of Doctor Who's Mrs. Flood. Dobson made her debut in "The Church on Ruby Road" as the seemingly ordinary neighbor to the Sunday family, though it would be revealed that she has hidden knowledge of the Time Lords that has left viewers guessing her true identity. After having brief appearances in season 14, Flood starred in a guest role across the two-part finale "The Legend of Ruby Sunday/Empire of Death", which provided more hints.

With Doctor Who season 14 bringing the mystery of Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) and the One Who Waits to a close, Davies and Dobson addressed the remaining mystery of Mrs. Flood going into season 15 with Doctor Who: Unleashed. While the showrunner confirmed that Flood was not part of Sutekh's scheme, Davies did tease that she would play a key role in season 15, while Dobson described Flood as ever-evolving. Check out Davies' and Dobson's response below:

Russell T Davies: Clearly there’s a mystery with Mrs. Flood, played by Anita Dobson- Dobs, as I call her. We’ve seen way back in "The Church on Ruby Road", where Ncuti first appeared and when Millie first appeared. She was the next door neighbour, but then suddenly ends that episode with a great line to camera, where she goes “Never seen a TARDIS before”. So clearly, that’s saying “Something’s going on here.” She’s popped up then, living next door. We’ve seen her, she’s cast a little line in “73 Yards” on what’s going on. She gets a bit closer to the action in episode 7, she starts to reveal herself in episode 7. In episode 8, she had…. She says “I had such plans”. So she’s not part of what Sutekh was up to. She’s kind of trapped in whatever Sutekh was up to, in as much as the whole world is and says “I had such plans”. I wonder what that means…. I can promise you reveals, I can promise you astonishing reveals and a lot of fun with her as well. She’s so much fun to work with, so good times with Mrs. Flood to come.

Anita Dodson: Mrs Flood is sort of changing. We don’t quite know what into, but she’s definitely changing, yeah. Or else she needs to see a therapist, big time.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/16698275

Well that was a blast from the past...

Following a fakeout where it's theorized that the mysterious woman popping up in episode after episode may be the long lost Susan Foreman (last seen in the episode "The Five Doctors" in 1983), it turns out they were the villain Sutekh, last seen in the episode "Pyramids of Mars" in 1975.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Foreman

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Five_Doctors

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramids_of_Mars

Season Finale next week!

She died in that room, there were screams & lightening so I'm sure she died.

She also lived which is a paradox so my theory on Ruby stands she simply changed the timeline so she could survive.

As the doctor never went in the room to confirm her death the timline was never set.

Very cool social commentary, I think better than the Orville episode with the Up and Downvote society.

Though, at the end, I did hate everybody and wanted them to be eaten.

I do question having two "doctor lite" episodes back to back.

Imteresting music choices too... Didn't we just have the Flying Purple People Eater? Now we have Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini...

Edit My bad, Flying Purple People Eater was in X-Men '97, which I also just watched. Easy mistake to make!

If next episode is Everybody's Heard About the Bird...

The episode starts with the Doctor stepping into a fairy circle, causing him to vanish and locking the Tardis. I'm not a huge fan of this season's "magic is real" vibe, but so far it tracks.

A woman appears and follows Ruby around. She ends up in a pub where she asks about the fairy circle. After a long build up explaining just how serious the fairy circle is, it turns out no that's just racist. Pretty funny, and it works with the magic theme. So how does the fairy circle actually work then? No fucking clue, they never explain it. As far as I can tell it just exists for this bit.

So this woman makes everyone near her hate Ruby. Everyone. Why? Who fucking knows. They never explain why. It just does. It leads up to a politician getting scared and ruining his career. Again pretty clever. But again no explanation is ever given as to how or why this happens.

Then Ruby dies. And when she dies she becomes the scary woman. Then she goes back in time. How? Why? No idea. It just happens and you gotta deal with it.

So apparently the Doctor stepping on a fairy circle that doesn't do anything makes him vanish for no reason, creates an old copy of Ruby that follows her around for no reason, who scares everyone for no reason, then when Ruby dies undoes everything for no reason.

This. Makes. No. Sense.

To reference another work of surreal social horror, I'm going to say it was that Ruby is actually a giant cockroach

Good episode, maybe a little obvious where it was going. Way too much unexplained.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/12357996

The two-part finale of Doctor Who season 14 will be shown in cinemas across the UK next month.

Special screenings will kick off around the country at 11pm on Friday 21st June 2024, starting with a showing of the previous week's penultimate episode, The Legend of Ruby Sunday.

Then, at midnight, as the season finale Empire of Death lands on BBC iPlayer (and Disney Plus internationally), a select group of fans will be treated with seeing the blockbuster conclusion on the big screen.

The first one, "Space Babies" was alright, but felt too childish. "The Devils Chord" didn't hit for me because they just didn't have the budget for really being able to explore a higher level being of such power.

But Boom? Boom can be defeated by one simple question. "Where's the Sonic?"

It's never addressed, the Doctor never asks Ruby to go get it from the TARDIS if he doesn't have it on him. And it's never even explained that if she could go and get it, it wouldn't effect the landmine.

It's basic questions like this, that need to be answered in an episode like this. It would have taken a total of 4 sentences to cancel out the Sonic. But they never even mention it.

That's just bad writing right there.

Plus the Doctor's dialogue felt like it belonged more to Matt's Doctor than Ncuti's and DEAR GOD, Moffat cannot write children to save his life.

I'm hoping the season gets better because they're 1.5 for three with me right now.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/11809930

The overnight ratings for Doctor Who's season 14 launch episodes Space Babies and The Devil's Chord have been revealed, as Ncuti Gatwa well and truly takes over the keys to the TARDIS.

Space Babies, the first episode, was watched by 2.6 million viewers, with The Devil's Chord, the second, having an overnight audience of 2.4 million.

While the overnight figures are close to the lowest ever for the show (with Legend of the Sea Devils only securing an overnight audience of 2.2 million in 2022), it's not the whole story. It doesn't include viewers who watched on BBC iPlayer, who will be more significant than ever due to this season being the first to debut early on iPlayer.

Figures are also likely to have been affected by good weather in the UK.

Season 14 of Doctor Who marks many firsts - it's the first to launch with a double bill, with the first two episodes being available at once, and it's the first to debut episodes early on iPlayer before airing them on BBC One later that day. It's also the first season after the BBC's deal with Disney, meaning episodes are being transmitted globally at the same time for the first time ever.

Gatwa's first episode, the Christmas special The Church on Ruby Road, was streamed a whopping 10.1 million times on BBC iPlayer, setting a new record according to the BBC.

...

Next week will see Steven Moffat's return with his tense episode Boom!.

I figured this should be made for everyone – I didn’t see one already.

I figured this should be made for everyone – I didn't see one already.

They were coming out with videos pretty regularly but suddenly stopped in the beginning of this year.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/11332559

Just before the new Doctor Who series returns to our screens – the weekend before in fact – Titan Comics will be launching their new Doctor Who comic book series featuring the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby Sunday on a journey in the TARDIS that looks like it might well fit in between the Christmas edition and the first episode to come. Saturday, the 4th of May is, as well as Star Wars Day, is Free Comic Book Day. And Dan Watters and Kelsey Ramsay are bringing the first chapter of a new story, in which the Doctor hears a siren call across Space and Time. A tune that taps into some of his darkest moments, from the earliest days of the First Doctor, the end of days of the Third, and more recent troubles for the Tenth and Eleventh.

But where will it actually take him? Why, 1789 in Yorkshire. I'm from Yorkshire and, believe you me, it often feels like 1789, even now. And it's to the day of the execution of famed highwayman Dick Turpin. Man, everything is coming up Dick Turpin these days, one version on Apple TV, another (kinda) on Disney+, but this Dick Turpin seems to have a cyborg arm with a laser blaster on it. Which looks a little out of sorts in eighteenth-century Britain, even in Yorkshire.

As well as the first glimpse.of Fifteen in comic form, Titan Comics also have a Conan comic out for FCBD that features more than the titular Cimmerian:

Earlier this month, we followed that with the news that The Battle Of The Black Stone was not just Conan and not just the Hyborian Age. And that this was to be a Robert E Howard crossover event.

And now we have the proof, with Conan, Solomon Kane. Dark Agnes De Chastilion, El Borak. Professor John Kirowman. And the word that this is to be referred to as the Howardverse.

In amongst the exciting teasers and promo tidbits ahead of the new season, for some reason I find this deep cut of production lore one of the most entertaining:

Ncuti Gatwa was adamant that he grow his moustache back for the part of the Doctor, having shaved for years to play a teenager in Sex education. But there was a short overlap where he was filming both shows simultaneously — so he would have to be cleanshaven for the first shoots of Doctor Who, too. Barring the weird Henry Cavill CGI upper lip retouch, how would the crew solve this?

"Bella [Arghiros], my make-up artist, would present me with a little bag of pubes every morning," he explains. He doesn’t mean this literally, but he and Gibson are now laughing so much they can barely get the words out. "I went through the process of sticking them on for two months," he says.

"Trimming them," whoops Gibson. "Between every take," adds Gatwa. "As they flap off in the wind. I’m chasing a monster and the director says, 'We’ll have to go again because his moustache is half off.' So when it grew back, I felt very liberated."

The actors' giddiness goes a long way selling this anecdote... If the new season is half as fun as they seem to have had making it, it'll be [Eccleston impersonation] fantastic!