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[Loud Whispers]

(Heaven Sent, natch...)

I remember talking with one of my friends over Heaven Sent, who loved it but also hated it because they thought it meant the "original doctor" had been killed a billion doctors ago and after Heaven Sent we were watching a brand new doctor. But I argued that we're talking about a time traveler who has probably deleted themselves from several timelines/dimensions before, has already used teleportation devices and is the sort of eldritch alien/mathematical constant that believes any copy of themselves is them, any instance of them in time or space is them. To a human, the continuity of identity may be important to the sense of self, but the doctor will look at any ship of theseus at any point in time and agree, they are all the ship of theseus

[Folly]

Well, the new Doctor spent half of his first episode running around in a skirt and tank-top. Messaging aside, it just wasn't a good look. And his new Sonic Screwdriver looks like a half-melted tamagotchi. But at least the new companion looked good; Ruby has great legs and knows how to show them off~

The goblins just sort of appeared from nowhere, apparently summoned by some minor coincidences. I really would have liked a better explanation. And then the Doctor straight up murders their king, and simply dismisses the rest as though they won't be a problem now. And the concept of 'Rope Science' did absolutely nothing for me.

At the end, Ruby just spontaneously realizes that the Doctor is a time traveler and completely unprompted decides to run out into the street, discover his TARDIS, and join him on his escapades. Granted, that's how most companions join up...but it still felt like lazy writing. A lot of very lazy writing this episode.

Songs were pretty decent though.

[Maximum™]

I mean, Ncuti (Shoo-tee apparently?) has great legs too.

[Starver]

There are a number of things I can admire the episode for. And don't forget that there are a number of post-millenium Companions-to-be (and I can think of at least one original-run one for sure, another probably) that have a degree of "working this thing out" as part of their joining-plot, so that's not to its detriment. That said, the Perception Filter seems to be a bit broken in the Tardis. (Also, the dimensional displacement doohickey. When the Policeman is shown where the Doctor 'lives', it was sticking out into the street, but when they go right next to it it's behind a bit of building... Looks like the same bit of road (same bollards), but clearly they had to break visual continuity due to the bollards getting in the way and only being able to be 'built around' in a long-shot where it has to be in order to make sense in pointing it out, whilst it needed tucking back round a building corner when they needed to do the close-up.  Small issue, but somewhat peeving to get to spot and worry about.)

There's more than a hint of Clara in this new gal. (Too much? ...nothing against Clara, just the noted 'been here before',) With a dash of Amy[1], in the "Why is this person interesting? Let's do some travelling with them to find out..." sense. I fully imagine we'll get exactly that, to find out the answer that he conspiciously did not try to ask (at least, on-screen) when he had the opportunity to question the hooded woman(?).  And quite strong vibes of Martha and even some Rose. (Not yet much Donna, for which I'm so far grateful.)

Not overjoyed by the screwdriver (which, ironically, seems to have been donwgraded to only screws (and traffic lights!), not long after it was shown to do much more. It's supposed to be the (so-called) 'deadlocks' that are its Kryptonite. Or Yellow/Wood to its Green Lantern Powers, anyway.

That breaking the fourth wall at the end stuck in the craw a little. Well, it's probably just a nod to the 'new' Disney-insipired market. But makes me think too much that <rot13>Zvggl</rot13> is 'back'.

Although they're also a prime candidate (possibly the right age) for being the true mother. (Other candidates being Davina McCall, or... because of the cloak... Claudia Winkleman.)  Also a distinct possibility is that they are Ruby.  Timey-Wimey (Kathy Nightingale-like, but by other means). Which doesn't actually stop them also being the true mother. (All You Zombies!)


We had a music-number in the third of the pre-Christmas shows. I enjoyed that, and this one, but hopefully we're not going to have it as a (semi-)regular thing under the new/returning regime?

Naw, I like Fifteen, and I won't fault the clothing (remembering that last time we saw him, he was in boxers). Definitely was already on a quest to find out why the goblin-stuff was happening, by the time he (probably quite deliberately) intervened in Ruby's life, so might just have been trying to 'blend in', but of course initial tastes tend to continue onwards (except maybe in seafood and pudding sauce combinations). Remains to be seen if this mini-mission carries over to an 'arc mystery' of the main 2023+ season(s). But he's certainly enough enamoured (in a Companionesque way, if nothing else) of Ruby to have not totally vanished. And/or the TARDIS likes her/needs her, for reasons of 'her' own. But we shall jave to see how it ends up being written.