WEBVTT NOTE This transcript was created on 2026-06-07 at 11:54:45 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:10.439 Hello, dear listener, and welcome back to the 2nd Great and Bountiful Human Empire, the only Doctor Who flashcast that's decided that tomorrow is definitely going to be shoulder day. 2 00:00:10.500 --> 00:00:12.179 I'm Nathan. 3 00:00:12.240 --> 00:00:13.439 I'm Brendan. 4 00:00:13.500 --> 00:00:15.779 I'm James and I'm Todd. 5 00:00:15.839 --> 00:00:20.460 Well, we're here to talk about series 2, episode one. 6 00:00:20.519 --> 00:00:22.379 I think it's season two, episode one, isn't it? 7 00:00:22.440 --> 00:00:24.780 Is that the right way you're talking about it? 8 00:00:24.839 --> 00:00:25.859 nomenclature? 9 00:00:25.920 --> 00:00:26.579 Yes, yes. 10 00:00:26.640 --> 00:00:41.700 And it's the Robot Revolution by Russell T. Davis as usual, and directed by Peter Hore, who we will see later this season, but we already know him from a good man goes to war, and it's a sin, it turns out. 11 00:00:42.539 --> 00:00:45.539 So this is an exciting new episode. 12 00:00:45.600 --> 00:00:48.659 The beginning of a new companion's tenure on board the TARDIS. 13 00:00:48.719 --> 00:00:57.960 So there's a lot to talk about, but let's just start by talking generally about how we felt about the episode. 14 00:00:58.020 --> 00:01:00.359 Todd, do you want to start us off? 15 00:01:00.960 --> 00:01:04.500 Was a much better opener than last year. 16 00:01:04.560 --> 00:01:05.400 Polish. 17 00:01:05.459 --> 00:01:07.799 I would give it at least a seven. 18 00:01:07.799 --> 00:01:08.640 Polish. 19 00:01:08.700 --> 00:01:10.739 I can't keep doing this for much longer. 20 00:01:10.799 --> 00:01:11.519 Manny. 21 00:01:16.680 --> 00:01:29.819 Now, I'm someone who didn't think that Space Babies was the crime against humanity that some of our associates thought it was, but I thought this was sort of up there with it. definitely enjoyed myself. 22 00:01:29.879 --> 00:01:31.739 What did you think, Brendan? 23 00:01:32.280 --> 00:01:35.099 Um, on 1st viewing. 24 00:01:35.159 --> 00:01:40.140 I was left kind of confused by it, but I rewatched it today and enjoyed it a great deal more. 25 00:01:40.200 --> 00:01:47.040 I think it probably is a better opener than space babies, but I am also someone who quite enjoyed space babies. 26 00:01:47.099 --> 00:01:49.439 And finally, how about you, James? 27 00:01:49.680 --> 00:01:54.840 Well, unlike Todd, I could stand to do many much longer. 28 00:01:54.900 --> 00:01:58.019 I know that's not what you meant, Todd. 29 00:01:58.079 --> 00:01:59.340 But no, I really enjoyed it. 30 00:01:59.400 --> 00:02:00.239 I really enjoyed it. 31 00:02:00.299 --> 00:02:03.180 And like Brendan, I quite enjoyed Space Babies as well. 32 00:02:03.239 --> 00:02:04.439 I thought this was much stronger. 33 00:02:04.500 --> 00:02:15.479 It was just a good solid story with some really interesting concepts behind it and it was just, yeah, it was a lot of fun and made social commentary. 34 00:02:15.840 --> 00:02:18.659 It's kind of funny, isn't it? 35 00:02:18.719 --> 00:02:23.280 Because when you're comparing it to like previous Russell T. Davies season openers. 36 00:02:23.340 --> 00:02:28.020 They're all like, you know, nearly 20 years old. 37 00:02:28.080 --> 00:02:33.900 And so it's kind of impossible, I think, to kind of cast your mind back and think how you felt. 38 00:02:33.960 --> 00:02:39.599 And, you know, just the kind of level of emotion that I have about literally all 4 of those. 39 00:02:39.659 --> 00:02:43.620 You know, I have to remember, I'm not going to feel that about this. 40 00:02:43.620 --> 00:02:46.199 And I didn't feel that about space babies. 41 00:02:46.259 --> 00:02:58.919 And so it's a little bit kind of hard to judge, but I thought it was really fun and just looked amazingly gray and was very different from any of those openers, which I'm definitely up for. 42 00:02:59.639 --> 00:03:10.560 So the most important new element that the show has this season is Varada Sithu, who is playing Belinda Chandra. 43 00:03:10.620 --> 00:03:19.500 We met her in Boom last year and she is a very different companion, I think, from what we've had before. 44 00:03:19.560 --> 00:03:24.539 I know we always say that, but this kind of definitely seems like that. 45 00:03:24.599 --> 00:03:26.699 What did you make of her, Todd? 46 00:03:27.000 --> 00:03:29.159 She was wonderful. 47 00:03:29.219 --> 00:03:31.860 She out-acted shooting. 48 00:03:31.919 --> 00:03:33.479 She acted him off the screen. 49 00:03:33.539 --> 00:03:36.539 She left him in the dust as far as I'm concerned. 50 00:03:36.599 --> 00:03:38.219 She is Romana one. 51 00:03:40.139 --> 00:03:42.659 Maybe she is from mano one. 52 00:03:45.719 --> 00:03:52.020 But then again, I think this story is a mix of Flash Gordon and mixed with the Armageddon factor. 53 00:03:55.080 --> 00:03:56.219 But good, you mean? 54 00:03:57.060 --> 00:03:59.580 Yes, I've already said that. 55 00:04:00.060 --> 00:04:07.500 Actually, Richard wanted us to mention like John Carter of Mars and stuff, you know, those Edgar Rice Burrows things. 56 00:04:07.500 --> 00:04:23.579 And even kind of like the last Starfighter, it's got that sort of feel to it, you know, someone from Earth for some reason, he's revered by an alien civilisation who to kind of get them so that they can take their rightful place as queen or champion or whatever. 57 00:04:23.699 --> 00:04:27.420 So there is that and that is something that we've never had before. 58 00:04:27.720 --> 00:04:32.819 And we haven't had a reluctant companion, I think, am I right? 59 00:04:32.879 --> 00:04:34.740 Have we had a reluctant companion in the new series? 60 00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:37.740 Oh, Donna, for our 1st story. 61 00:04:37.800 --> 00:04:40.740 Yeah, yeah, but after that, she seeks him out, doesn't she? 62 00:04:40.800 --> 00:04:44.339 And she brings luggage. you know she's definitely there. 63 00:04:44.399 --> 00:04:57.240 Yeah, I think I think the closest we've had is Martha, uh, in the Santara and um, the doctor's daughter, where, you know, she's not meant to be going in the Tartars. 64 00:04:57.300 --> 00:04:59.339 That's not a full-time thing. 65 00:04:59.339 --> 00:05:01.740 And previously, she did want to be there full-time. 66 00:05:01.920 --> 00:05:03.720 Yeah, yeah. 67 00:05:03.779 --> 00:05:05.639 And I think it's a great touch. 68 00:05:05.699 --> 00:05:11.639 I'm surprised we haven't had one of those for years or the idea that we can't get back. 69 00:05:11.819 --> 00:05:19.079 You know, that's something we've often said, oh, Peter Capaldi can't control the Tartars in his 1st scene, we're not going to get back. 70 00:05:19.139 --> 00:05:20.160 Oh, no, wait, we're back. 71 00:05:20.220 --> 00:05:23.220 Jodie Whittaker loses the Tardis in her 1st seat. 72 00:05:23.279 --> 00:05:24.300 Oh, wait, no, we're back. 73 00:05:24.360 --> 00:05:24.660 Yeah. 74 00:05:24.720 --> 00:05:26.339 So it's nice that they're finally doing it. 75 00:05:26.459 --> 00:05:27.839 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 76 00:05:27.899 --> 00:05:46.139 It's, um, it's, it's, it's a thing that they do too, where they, they don't fall into some of the pitfalls that previous reluctant companions, you know, because if you've got a reluctant companion, the audience is not in sympathy with them, unless they kind of hate watching the show, I guess, we all want to be with the doctor. to who fans? 77 00:05:46.199 --> 00:05:47.100 Well, yeah, no, that's fair. 78 00:05:47.279 --> 00:05:53.819 We all want to be with a doctor, and so we think that Tegan is crazy for not wanting to travel with him. 79 00:05:54.720 --> 00:06:03.360 And it really goes out of its way, I think, to show that it's not that she's unadventurous. 80 00:06:03.420 --> 00:06:17.100 It's not that she uh, is small-minded or anything like that and they go, they do such a good job of presenting how warm and and, you know, smart and and caring she is. 81 00:06:17.160 --> 00:06:17.819 Humane. 82 00:06:17.879 --> 00:06:18.420 Humane. 83 00:06:18.480 --> 00:06:19.860 Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. 84 00:06:19.920 --> 00:06:27.959 And it's part of her makeup is part of her job, but she is actually also a really caring person who loves being a nurse. 85 00:06:28.019 --> 00:06:29.939 Yeah, because she's making a difference in the world. 86 00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:43.620 Yeah, I mean, that opening scene with her in the hospital is a bit similar, I think, to Martha's very 1st scene, maybe not quite as funny, but just, you know, that it is just a series of little scenes that show what she's like as a person. 87 00:06:43.680 --> 00:06:47.100 And she's not reluctant to travel with a doctor. 88 00:06:47.819 --> 00:06:51.360 She's just seen the doctor's previous companion die. 89 00:06:51.420 --> 00:06:56.399 And so, you know, and she is wary of him. 90 00:06:56.459 --> 00:06:59.699 And I think that that's pretty, you know, interesting. 91 00:06:59.759 --> 00:07:03.240 You know, she this is all still kind of part of the kidnap in a way. 92 00:07:03.300 --> 00:07:05.819 And so I'm really sympathetic to that. 93 00:07:05.879 --> 00:07:08.040 I think that that's going to be an interesting dynamic. 94 00:07:08.279 --> 00:07:11.519 And also she calls him out on that thing. 95 00:07:11.579 --> 00:07:20.759 He always does to people where he scans them without permission and she calls him out for not asking for consent for testing her DNA, which is definitely handled as well. 96 00:07:21.779 --> 00:07:25.079 I like what you said there, that she's wary of him. 97 00:07:25.139 --> 00:07:26.519 And I think that's a good thing. 98 00:07:26.579 --> 00:07:27.480 Yeah. 99 00:07:27.540 --> 00:07:28.139 Yeah. 100 00:07:28.199 --> 00:07:30.060 And she so she's not in awe of him. 101 00:07:30.120 --> 00:07:35.459 You know, she doesn't and and that's a really good contrast with with Milly, isn't it? 102 00:07:35.519 --> 00:07:41.639 Because she's much younger than shooty as an actor and, you know, much younger than the doctor appears as a character. 103 00:07:41.699 --> 00:07:45.540 Belinda's got to be in her sort of early to mid 30s. 104 00:07:45.600 --> 00:07:47.699 And the actor is. 105 00:07:48.600 --> 00:07:53.279 But, you know, she had a boyfriend 17 years ago, a horrible, odious boyfriend 17 years ago. 106 00:07:53.339 --> 00:07:58.439 Um, then, you know, she's definitely older and so she's not in awe of him. 107 00:07:58.500 --> 00:08:04.139 She doesn't want him to fight her battles and she is the one who stands up and resolves the plot. 108 00:08:04.199 --> 00:08:10.139 Hmm, she's also a sci-fi nerd because she gets the plot device. 109 00:08:10.199 --> 00:08:14.519 She goes, oh, you know, like she works out the Belenovic limitation effect. 110 00:08:15.839 --> 00:08:24.360 And basically, you know, signposts towards how she is going to resolve the plot. 111 00:08:24.420 --> 00:08:27.720 Um, so she has seen Modred undead. 112 00:08:27.839 --> 00:08:30.180 You see, this is the thing, right? 113 00:08:30.240 --> 00:08:31.920 She goes, oh, I've seen movies. 114 00:08:31.920 --> 00:08:44.580 And I sat there thinking, I can't readily think of any sci-fi movies that have something similar to the Blinovic limitation effect because, you know, time travel movies are a subgenre within sci-fi. 115 00:08:44.639 --> 00:08:48.059 So there's less of them than there is, say, alien or Star Trek or Star Wars. 116 00:08:48.120 --> 00:08:51.360 Uh, but it's just like, yeah, yeah. 117 00:08:51.419 --> 00:08:56.399 She's seen the modern undead equivalent episode of Professor X. That's what it is. 118 00:08:56.460 --> 00:09:01.620 Or the omnibus edition of Morden Undead, all edited together as a movie. 119 00:09:02.820 --> 00:09:05.460 Yeah, it could definitely be it. 120 00:09:05.519 --> 00:09:09.720 I would like to say, though, about Belinda. 121 00:09:09.779 --> 00:09:27.240 If I had a dollar for every time Russell T. Davies had a blonde companion, uh, with whom the doctor had facilitated the meeting of an absent parent, uh, who then leads to be with her family, then replaced by a companion who is a woman of colour, who works in a hospital. 122 00:09:27.299 --> 00:09:33.120 But I'd only have $2, which isn't much, but it's weird that you've done it twice, RTD. 123 00:09:34.139 --> 00:09:35.519 Yeah. 124 00:09:35.580 --> 00:09:38.340 It's funny that we just get a mention of her parents. 125 00:09:38.399 --> 00:10:02.100 And in fact, what I thought was interesting is that she is a professional who is in her early 30s, but she can't afford a house, and so she's living in horrible share accommodation, with 2 people who don't even really know what her name is, like, and that's kind of miserable, and it's a little bit of a kind of the moffetization of RTD too. 126 00:10:02.159 --> 00:10:04.620 There's a lot of Moffat in this story. 127 00:10:04.679 --> 00:10:14.759 And I think having 2 companions in a row who are mystery, you know, another companion who, you know, the doctors travelled through her time stream instead of the other way around. 128 00:10:14.820 --> 00:10:23.879 Um, uh, the big thing happening on the date of broadcast of the final episode of the series like we had in season five. 129 00:10:23.940 --> 00:10:28.019 Oh, I think it's actually on the on the date of the 2nd last episode. 130 00:10:28.080 --> 00:10:29.820 That's possible too. 131 00:10:29.879 --> 00:10:30.059 Yeah. 132 00:10:30.120 --> 00:10:34.139 But all of that is kind of fun and I'll be interested to see where that goes. 133 00:10:34.620 --> 00:10:47.159 Let's talk about the, um, the setting, which is the planet Miss Belinda Chandra one, uh, with the, what are they, the Miss Belinda Chandra kind? 134 00:10:47.220 --> 00:10:52.080 My favourite thing is where the robots are dropping Miss Belinda Chandra bombs. 135 00:10:52.139 --> 00:10:54.419 I think it's just that's so dark. 136 00:10:54.480 --> 00:10:56.220 That's so brutal. 137 00:10:56.759 --> 00:10:59.580 It's very Douglas Adams as well. 138 00:10:59.759 --> 00:11:09.840 Yeah, this whole thing reminded me of um, those scenes in, Is it um so long and thanks for all the fish? 139 00:11:09.840 --> 00:11:11.759 Or is it mostly harmless? 140 00:11:11.879 --> 00:11:24.840 Um, where, where the droids are attacking the hitchhiker's offices and they keep sending like upgraded versions of the same robot to attack it. 141 00:11:24.899 --> 00:11:31.080 And Ford keeps running rings around them because he's cleverer than they are. 142 00:11:31.139 --> 00:11:33.179 It really, it felt like that. 143 00:11:33.240 --> 00:11:34.440 It was just not a bad thing. 144 00:11:34.500 --> 00:11:35.519 No, no, no. 145 00:11:35.580 --> 00:11:40.139 And, you know, Moffat has been someone who's who's heavily drawn on Douglas Adams. 146 00:11:40.200 --> 00:11:50.460 And just having that very idea where you have, you know, those stupid things where you can buy someone a star and just having the star find out about it and coming to get you. 147 00:11:50.519 --> 00:11:51.480 Like, that's genius. 148 00:11:51.539 --> 00:11:52.740 That's absolutely brilliant. 149 00:11:52.799 --> 00:12:12.779 So apparently Russell thought of that, um, many years ago, and put it in his box of ideas, I might bring out one day and then he had the chance to do it for the season open, and it makes her, it makes a fun, um, easy, easy entry and into the series and shows her what the show can do in that setting. 150 00:12:12.899 --> 00:12:15.059 What did you think of the setting, Tom? 151 00:12:15.120 --> 00:12:17.100 I really enjoyed it. 152 00:12:17.159 --> 00:12:20.580 Like, as I said, I felt it had a Flash Gordon type of feel. 153 00:12:20.639 --> 00:12:48.120 That cue, that green hue in the control room with the sort of reds in the background, and then the green in the underground, um, and, and it was her tending to the injured in the underground, while the bombardment happens, that sort of reminded me of the Armageddon factor, when the princess is down there tending to the people, you know, who were, who were injured, and, and I kind of thought, 0 my god, there's like, there's a romance at the beginning, the princess and the queen is sort of connected to time. 154 00:12:48.179 --> 00:12:50.340 There could be the black and white guardian involved. 155 00:12:50.399 --> 00:13:10.860 You know, there's there's a robot AI controlling the wall, but actually there's a man, you know, a mask behind that, you know, and another robot comes to save the day, and there's, and then somewhere else there's something between 2 plants we can't get to, and and then Manny has a big gun, and Drax has a big gun, and I just thought, well, it's, it's the Armageddon. 156 00:13:10.919 --> 00:13:12.059 Is the Armageddon factor. 157 00:13:12.120 --> 00:13:15.240 It is the Armageddon. 158 00:13:15.299 --> 00:13:22.080 But, you know, there were things that I just kind of drew on that, you know, was, but I really, I love the robots. 159 00:13:22.139 --> 00:13:35.340 I like them being like a mix between smile and dinosaurs on a spaceship and, you know, the husbands of River song robots and and little polish polish and, and, um, yeah, I just, I just really enjoyed all of that. 160 00:13:35.340 --> 00:13:38.399 And the music, the music was quite, I thought epic. 161 00:13:38.460 --> 00:13:40.200 It reminded me of Star Wars or something. 162 00:13:40.259 --> 00:13:52.320 I really felt like this was an epic adventure that had been edited down because we didn't get to see to doctors, you know, 6 months on the planet or really how they got back to the AI, you know? 163 00:13:52.379 --> 00:13:53.519 Yeah. 164 00:13:53.580 --> 00:13:53.940 Yeah. 165 00:13:54.000 --> 00:13:54.480 Yeah. 166 00:13:54.539 --> 00:14:05.460 I mean, I just thought, you know, that sort of retrofuturist kind of look, you know, where everything kind of looks like a 1950s American car, particularly the little polish polish robot. 167 00:14:05.519 --> 00:14:15.720 Um, and like when the the rocket ship, you know, like when the spaceship that lands in her back garden is just a massive rocket ship with huge curved fins and stuff. 168 00:14:15.779 --> 00:14:17.519 That's fantastic, you know. 169 00:14:17.580 --> 00:14:19.019 That's Splash Gordon. 170 00:14:19.080 --> 00:14:20.519 And that, I thought it was meat the beans. 171 00:14:20.580 --> 00:14:22.019 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 172 00:14:22.080 --> 00:14:34.139 Yeah, definitely we've had some of those design elements in, you know, perhaps the other straightforward science fiction story of this entire era, which is the Starbeast. 173 00:14:34.980 --> 00:14:38.580 Yeah, yeah, I just thought, I thought that that was really great. 174 00:14:38.639 --> 00:14:43.440 And I thought what was really good about it too was that it was comic. 175 00:14:43.500 --> 00:14:49.440 You know, there's that moment where Belinda says, why is everything on this planet so stupid? 176 00:14:51.840 --> 00:14:55.620 It's comic, but, you know, people die. 177 00:14:55.679 --> 00:14:57.299 Like the doctor suffers a loss. 178 00:14:57.360 --> 00:14:58.980 You know, people are scared. 179 00:14:59.039 --> 00:15:01.440 Um, you know, like it's it's a proper thing. 180 00:15:01.500 --> 00:15:06.600 The government are bombing populated areas, like all of that sort of thing is happening. 181 00:15:06.659 --> 00:15:12.480 And so it is properly dark, but there's that just sort of fun Toyota kind of veneer to it. 182 00:15:12.539 --> 00:15:13.980 What did you think, Brendan? 183 00:15:14.039 --> 00:15:16.860 Yeah, I thought the setting was beautifully realised. 184 00:15:16.919 --> 00:15:25.500 It does have all those Flash Gordon, John Carter, Egarice Burrows, and the interpretations of those kind of texts. 185 00:15:25.559 --> 00:15:30.120 The rocket ship also reminded me of Tin tins rocket ship, but in yellow rather than red. 186 00:15:30.419 --> 00:15:33.360 And on story linkages. 187 00:15:33.419 --> 00:15:39.240 I had not seen the connections to Armageddon Factor, and I love that because I have a huge soft spot for the Armageddon Factor. 188 00:15:39.299 --> 00:15:49.200 But listeners may remember that last series I made connections between last year's run and the original season one of Doctor Who. 189 00:15:49.259 --> 00:15:59.580 And I didn't think I had much to connect this to Planet of Giants, except, of course, the TARDIS not working and the doctor opening the doors in space has happens at the end. 190 00:15:59.700 --> 00:16:04.320 We have miniaturisation because Alan goes microscopic. 191 00:16:04.379 --> 00:16:09.299 And I'm really sorry to fling a dead cat on the table. they both have a dead cat. 192 00:16:10.019 --> 00:16:13.679 You couldn't really fling that dead cat on the table. 193 00:16:13.740 --> 00:16:15.840 It did get disintegrated on the doormat. 194 00:16:16.080 --> 00:16:19.379 Those disintegration effects are very comic book. 195 00:16:19.440 --> 00:16:24.539 Like I just felt that they were like just the sort of the outline and all that, that thing. 196 00:16:24.539 --> 00:16:32.279 And, you know, I'm a statistic person and I was mortified by the dead cat, but also quite sort of thrilled that the master killed a dog. 197 00:16:32.340 --> 00:16:34.740 So, you know, here we go, dead cat. whatever. 198 00:16:34.799 --> 00:16:40.740 It's actually perfectly handled, I think, the joke, the joke with that of you, you shot the cat. 199 00:16:40.799 --> 00:16:42.840 The cat is irrelevant. 200 00:16:42.899 --> 00:16:43.799 It wasn't my cat. 201 00:16:43.860 --> 00:16:45.419 The cat is still irrelevant. 202 00:16:46.080 --> 00:16:58.019 I think that we're going back to the era of the original the original RTD era where each alien had a particular way of killing people and a particular special effect that went with it. 203 00:16:58.080 --> 00:17:03.000 And you remember the sicker acts where they have those whips that turn people into sort of skeletons and stuff. 204 00:17:03.059 --> 00:17:08.519 And here, like, it's a science fiction thing, so you don't have dead bodies or gore or anything like that. 205 00:17:08.579 --> 00:17:13.859 It is comic book, but it's also a little bit graphic because you get skeletons, you know. 206 00:17:13.920 --> 00:17:15.660 And so... 207 00:17:15.720 --> 00:17:16.500 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 208 00:17:16.559 --> 00:17:23.160 And we get slow motion, obviously, on Sasha 55's death. as well to make it a bit more harrowing. 209 00:17:23.579 --> 00:17:36.900 I thought that death was so well handled too, because you finally got a doctor who, you know, expresses that grief, and then shakes it off and moves on, you know, but properly expresses it. 210 00:17:37.019 --> 00:17:39.359 It's not just, I'm sorry, and we quickly get on with it. 211 00:17:39.420 --> 00:17:41.400 He feels it and then gets on with it. 212 00:17:41.460 --> 00:17:42.539 I thought that was pretty good. 213 00:17:42.599 --> 00:17:44.579 I'm going to disagree. 214 00:17:44.640 --> 00:17:53.220 That for me was a point in the episode where she said that she wanted to go, you know, into space or trusted him with the life and I thought, oh, God, you're dead in 2 minutes. 215 00:17:53.279 --> 00:17:53.700 That's right. 216 00:17:53.759 --> 00:18:01.200 And then and then I just waited for, oh, let's give me give me the single tear. and he gave me the single tear and I just said going, I'm over you crying. 217 00:18:01.259 --> 00:18:09.779 I would have preferred that tear at the end, perhaps, you know, when they talked about what they were naming the citadel, but that was almost the low point in this episode for me. 218 00:18:09.839 --> 00:18:18.480 No, that landed for me, I think, because it, you know, it made something that shooty does quite a lot actually kind of mean something more than perhaps it normally does. 219 00:18:18.599 --> 00:18:23.640 And it needed to sell that, I think, because we didn't get to see them interact, really. 220 00:18:23.759 --> 00:18:30.059 That was my problem, was that we didn't get the 6 months and then building a relationship and I just kind of went, why, whatever. 221 00:18:30.119 --> 00:18:35.940 Yeah, I mean, I actually, I, I, I think we're carrying on front top, but I agree with Nathan. 222 00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:42.180 Like that has weight because it's about somebody that we don't know. 223 00:18:42.240 --> 00:18:47.880 It sells the fact that they were friends that had worked together for 6 months because you don't have time to show that. 224 00:18:48.000 --> 00:18:51.720 Whereas, yes, quite often he just does start crying. 225 00:18:51.779 --> 00:18:53.460 Like, oh, Ruby, I love you. 226 00:18:53.519 --> 00:18:55.140 I've known you for 3 episodes but it's fine. 227 00:18:55.200 --> 00:19:01.680 Like, I don't have a problem with them crying, but often I think it's just, you know, let's, he's great at crying. 228 00:19:01.740 --> 00:19:03.119 Let's wheel out his tear ducts. 229 00:19:03.180 --> 00:19:06.059 We call it the Sanequa Martin Green effect. 230 00:19:07.079 --> 00:19:16.619 Because I actually felt something at the end when they called the citadel after her and I actually got an emotion there and I thought, well, you've actually, you've sold that to me, like it has affected me. 231 00:19:16.680 --> 00:19:20.160 She's really good in that one scene with Belinda too, isn't she? 232 00:19:20.220 --> 00:19:21.480 Oh, yeah, she's very good. 233 00:19:21.539 --> 00:19:32.880 See, I think how it might have worked better for me is to not have that line of, you know, then you promise to take me to the stars because as you say, Todd, that tells us that she's dead in 2 minutes. 234 00:19:32.940 --> 00:19:34.859 Well, that's where I was there, though, isn't it? 235 00:19:34.859 --> 00:19:37.740 But then you're not shocked, right? 236 00:19:37.799 --> 00:19:39.480 You can see they've been close. 237 00:19:39.539 --> 00:19:41.819 The doctor's been giving her nods and whatnot. 238 00:19:41.880 --> 00:19:46.859 And then if you get the doctor's reaction, you suddenly go, why hasn't it reacted that way to anyone else? 239 00:19:46.920 --> 00:19:50.640 And then he tells Belinda about them in the bunker. 240 00:19:50.700 --> 00:19:55.200 But then I also have to remember that this is not just being written for adults. 241 00:19:55.259 --> 00:20:03.480 This is being written for 12 year olds, who may not immediately guess that she's, you know, that she's going to be dead in a minute. 242 00:20:03.539 --> 00:20:07.019 And that's that's always the difficulty with Doctor Who, isn't it? 243 00:20:07.079 --> 00:20:08.519 That it has to write to all levels. 244 00:20:08.579 --> 00:20:13.319 So we who've been watching it for 35 plus years go, that's the trope. 245 00:20:13.380 --> 00:20:14.759 We know that's the throne. 246 00:20:14.819 --> 00:20:17.759 Yes, but you don't want to spoil it for the 12 year old. 247 00:20:17.880 --> 00:20:20.220 We had to be given the opportunity to learn that that's what that means. 248 00:20:20.279 --> 00:20:22.619 And a whole generation of kids get it. 249 00:20:22.680 --> 00:20:29.579 Thank you, Brendan, for reminding me like I'm an old my god, that which doesn't think of small children at these times. 250 00:20:29.640 --> 00:20:30.960 Yes. 251 00:20:31.019 --> 00:20:35.519 We, we, um, we killed Matthew Waterhouse, so, uh, so you could run. 252 00:20:35.700 --> 00:20:37.980 All right, well, let's move on. 253 00:20:38.039 --> 00:20:43.440 We should talk about Al, the generative owl, or whatever he is. 254 00:20:44.579 --> 00:20:50.400 How did we think that confrontation and that character worked? 255 00:20:51.059 --> 00:20:52.740 Todd. 256 00:20:53.220 --> 00:20:55.740 Why are you asking me? 257 00:20:57.180 --> 00:21:04.079 I thought it did work well and it tied obviously everything into the whole time. plot. 258 00:21:04.140 --> 00:21:08.039 Um, and I thought the look of him was actually quite creepy, really. 259 00:21:08.099 --> 00:21:18.180 And it tied it, like I said, it tied it all back into the beginning scene and what he actually was like as a boyfriend, which wasn't very good, really. 260 00:21:18.240 --> 00:21:20.039 So I bought it. 261 00:21:20.099 --> 00:21:27.960 And, you know, obviously when they revealed the AI and they took down the thing and it set out, I thought, okay, he did it in plain sight. 262 00:21:28.019 --> 00:21:30.299 Al bought it too. 263 00:21:30.359 --> 00:21:45.839 Um, It does a similar thing in a more subtle and singular way that Dotson bubble did last year, which is you can already see that he's a bit of a misogynist in his very 1st scene. 264 00:21:45.900 --> 00:21:49.619 There's lines in there about girls are not great at maths. 265 00:21:49.680 --> 00:21:54.059 You know, are you married, which, you know, the whole thing hinges on. 266 00:21:54.119 --> 00:22:05.579 And then they have flashbacks which just really sort of drive that home when, when she sort of says, oh, yeah, no, you, you were a terrible controlling bust, basically. 267 00:22:05.579 --> 00:22:08.519 And, and, and so I, I really enjoyed that. 268 00:22:08.579 --> 00:22:16.500 Like, he was kind of mixing the Doctor Who doing social commentary as allegory with Doctor Who doing social commentary as social commentary. 269 00:22:16.559 --> 00:22:18.960 Like, he was, he was controlling. 270 00:22:18.960 --> 00:22:21.779 And now he's doing it to an entire planet. 271 00:22:21.839 --> 00:22:24.960 He's been responsible for the deaths of, you know, 1000000s of people. 272 00:22:25.440 --> 00:22:27.359 Yeah, what was it? 273 00:22:27.359 --> 00:22:28.079 What's the line? 274 00:22:28.079 --> 00:22:31.500 You took coercive control and took control of the entire planet? 275 00:22:31.559 --> 00:22:32.700 Something like that? 276 00:22:32.759 --> 00:22:43.079 Yeah, I mean, I think it's impossible to see sort of populated areas being bombed and think about the kind of people who generally support that. 277 00:22:43.259 --> 00:23:18.299 And, you know, you end up thinking there is a line between sort of misogyny and, and, you know, perhaps in some of its aspects, gaming and computer stuff and politics, and, you know, none of those things are really drawn or fleshed out, but it's not really the focus of the episode, but it's certainly, it's striking, I think, that we take, like, something that looks like just awkward and horrific kind of teenage dating. and then draw a line from that to kind of carpet bombing populated areas. 278 00:23:18.599 --> 00:23:22.079 Planet of the in cells, I guess, is what she says. 279 00:23:22.140 --> 00:23:23.220 Yes, yeah. 280 00:23:23.460 --> 00:23:27.299 This was actually the scene that I... 281 00:23:27.299 --> 00:23:32.339 Kind of didn't like the 1st time around and it's got nothing to do with the content. 282 00:23:32.460 --> 00:23:34.380 It was actually to do with the direction. 283 00:23:34.559 --> 00:23:45.420 And I'm just like, So why is Alan just kind of sitting there while the polishing robot comes up with the thing that can destroy him. 284 00:23:45.480 --> 00:23:47.700 Uh, why is that happening? 285 00:23:47.759 --> 00:23:53.039 But then, watching it the 2nd time, help me save me pain. 286 00:23:53.099 --> 00:23:54.539 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 287 00:23:54.599 --> 00:24:00.180 There, there, every ninth word, he knows what is happening to him and it is there. 288 00:24:00.539 --> 00:24:07.500 And I think it's left ambiguous and I think it's deliberate that part of him wants this to end. 289 00:24:07.740 --> 00:24:10.619 Part of him knows what he's done. 290 00:24:11.039 --> 00:24:17.819 You know, and he's he's had 10 years to reflect on his behaviour. 291 00:24:18.240 --> 00:24:28.079 And so there's an ambiguous possibility there that he knows this could kill him, but it will end what's happening. 292 00:24:28.140 --> 00:24:33.119 And I like Russell doing that sort of ambiguity. 293 00:24:33.180 --> 00:24:39.900 It's a bit like the ambiguity of Margaret Slovine back in Boomtown when she looks into the heart of a TARDIS and looks up and says, thank you. 294 00:24:39.960 --> 00:24:42.480 Does she realise she's being given a 2nd chance? 295 00:24:42.539 --> 00:24:43.740 You know? 296 00:24:43.799 --> 00:24:59.460 Um, I wouldn't exactly say, you know, the character doesn't deserve redemption, but there's a reading of potential redemption there while also acknowledging this guy's been a bastard and a dictator and needs to be stopped. 297 00:24:59.819 --> 00:25:02.279 He's given a 2nd chance. 298 00:25:02.339 --> 00:25:09.720 He becomes an egg and a sperm, like in a similar way. and then gets vacuumed up. 299 00:25:09.779 --> 00:25:15.119 It's kind of, it's both giving him release, but also inaugulation can get away with it. 300 00:25:15.240 --> 00:25:16.619 Yeah. 301 00:25:16.680 --> 00:25:24.059 And the, the sort of Blinovich limitation, inferno dimension warp business that goes on. 302 00:25:24.119 --> 00:25:25.079 It's fantastic. 303 00:25:25.140 --> 00:25:26.759 It is, it is. 304 00:25:26.819 --> 00:25:27.299 It is. 305 00:25:27.359 --> 00:25:29.640 You know, it's it's indistinct. 306 00:25:29.700 --> 00:25:31.440 We don't know exactly what's happening. 307 00:25:31.500 --> 00:25:36.720 We don't know how it feels for them to go through it. really like that bit. 308 00:25:36.779 --> 00:25:41.220 The doctor's reaction was also something I had a bit of a problem with. 309 00:25:41.339 --> 00:25:51.000 It's like, okay, so the doctor watches Helen A, for instance, cry over the dead Fifi, and is moved and doesn't gloat. 310 00:25:51.420 --> 00:26:10.920 The doctor sees a sperm and an egg, gets sucked up by a vacuum cleaner, and does a high kick and a little dance, and I'm just like, uh, but then, this doctor is starting to display signs of arrogance and that he knows best, and it's like, okay, taken as a whole, he can also shut down a power in a whole hospital. 311 00:26:10.980 --> 00:26:12.359 Good luck if you're on life support, kids. 312 00:26:12.660 --> 00:26:14.700 They have generators. 313 00:26:14.759 --> 00:26:15.119 It fine. 314 00:26:15.180 --> 00:26:15.900 Yeah, yeah. 315 00:26:15.900 --> 00:26:16.799 I know, I know. 316 00:26:16.859 --> 00:26:17.519 But that's the thing. 317 00:26:17.640 --> 00:26:26.339 I'm glad I watched it a 2nd time to kind of take the take the piece as a whole because sometimes that can be hard to do when you're watching it for the 1st time. 318 00:26:27.180 --> 00:26:33.900 All right, let's just go around the table and talk about how we found the end of the episode. 319 00:26:33.960 --> 00:26:37.500 A lot of chatting the TARDIS and then off to new adventures. 320 00:26:37.799 --> 00:27:11.579 I have to say that I'm a little bit anxious about how much there now is to resolve. and I wasn't someone, again, who thought that the finale last year did a bad job of resolving what it needed to resolve, and I was sort of fairly happy with how things came out, but there's just a lot of balls in the air at this and it did, there was a lot of talking in the TARDIS, in a kind of series 6 kind of way. and I just was kind of wondering how that will go. 321 00:27:11.640 --> 00:27:15.240 But I am excited to see what's coming up, I have to say. 322 00:27:15.420 --> 00:27:18.720 Todd, how are you feeling at this point of the season? 323 00:27:18.839 --> 00:27:37.440 Well, Nathan, I, um, wasn't exactly thrilled with the resolution of last year, unlike you, and I do feel that often, Russell struggles to resolve things in a satisfactory way, and I am concerned about so many questions that need answering. 324 00:27:38.039 --> 00:27:41.880 But I'm intrigued and I'm on for the ride. 325 00:27:41.940 --> 00:27:43.680 So, you know, he's doing something right. 326 00:27:43.680 --> 00:27:48.119 And, you know, even if they don't resolve what's happening, you know, with Earth and not getting back. 327 00:27:48.180 --> 00:27:52.680 As long as I find out who Mrs. Flood is, that's all that matters. 328 00:27:53.519 --> 00:27:55.500 You never saw me. 329 00:27:56.099 --> 00:27:57.660 So cute. 330 00:27:57.779 --> 00:27:59.220 Brandon, what do you think? 331 00:27:59.279 --> 00:28:03.660 So I'm thinking about the fact that the 1st scene was 17 years ago. 332 00:28:04.740 --> 00:28:09.119 I am thinking about the fact that Matt puts it in 2008. 333 00:28:09.359 --> 00:28:17.339 I am thinking about the fact that Ruby Sunday would have been 4 around that time. 334 00:28:18.000 --> 00:28:20.700 And that's the thing. 335 00:28:20.759 --> 00:28:30.240 I'm wondering if there is some connection between Ruby and Belinda that we're just not aware of yet. 336 00:28:30.299 --> 00:28:38.940 And I have some ideas on that, but I'm going to keep my power dry because if I, if I'm right, I don't want to spoil, I don't want to spoil things for anyone. 337 00:28:39.000 --> 00:28:42.660 Well, so far, the only connection I can see is they have the same next door neighbour. 338 00:28:42.720 --> 00:28:43.740 Yes, yeah. 339 00:28:43.740 --> 00:28:45.359 They're living in the same street. 340 00:28:46.799 --> 00:28:51.839 I'd really like, given that it's an episode set in 2007 later in the season. 341 00:28:51.900 --> 00:29:00.720 The person who inspired Belinda to become a nurse, to be Moth Jones, a young, a young doctor. 342 00:29:00.779 --> 00:29:01.619 Yes. 343 00:29:01.619 --> 00:29:02.640 Not the joke. 344 00:29:02.700 --> 00:29:08.579 Well, you know, like, I mean, you wouldn't really need to, like, Freeman is still gorgeous. 345 00:29:08.700 --> 00:29:11.339 But yeah, that's my 2 cents with. 346 00:29:11.400 --> 00:29:12.839 Bring back Martha Jones. 347 00:29:13.380 --> 00:29:15.240 Well, all right. 348 00:29:15.299 --> 00:29:16.920 I think we might wind up there. 349 00:29:16.980 --> 00:29:22.619 We're obviously going to be back next week and every week for the next 7 weeks. 350 00:29:22.680 --> 00:29:26.819 In fact, to follow season 2 to its conclusion. 351 00:29:26.880 --> 00:29:29.579 But I've got one or 2 things to plug. 352 00:29:29.640 --> 00:29:42.059 Um, 500-year diary series 2, uh, the 2nd series, which is called the 2nd coming, arrives on the 27th of April with our episode on the Dalek invasion of Earth. 353 00:29:42.119 --> 00:29:46.619 And we're going to be looking at the 2nd time a Montreal villain appears in Doctor Who. 354 00:29:46.680 --> 00:29:55.980 You can keep up with us on flightthroughentirety.com on Blue Sky, or on FTE podcast on Mastodon, or I think we're still on Twitter, probably. 355 00:29:56.039 --> 00:30:04.559 And of course, I'm watching Star Trek more or less weekly with my friend Joe Ford in Untitled Star Trek project. 356 00:30:04.859 --> 00:30:07.500 Brendan, do you want to plug something? 357 00:30:08.160 --> 00:30:16.380 The most recent episode of the three-handed game is appropriately enough on the episode game. 358 00:30:16.440 --> 00:30:18.539 Meanwhile, over on maximum power. 359 00:30:18.599 --> 00:30:22.380 We are far ahead of games, so it can't hurt you anymore, Nathan. 360 00:30:22.440 --> 00:30:31.980 But we have we have recently published our series D retrospective, which is almost 3 hours long and nearly killed me. 361 00:30:32.039 --> 00:30:34.079 Yes, well done, Brendan. 362 00:30:34.140 --> 00:30:34.619 Well done. 363 00:30:34.680 --> 00:30:36.420 Excellent work. 364 00:30:36.539 --> 00:30:38.220 All right. 365 00:30:38.279 --> 00:30:47.339 In that case, all the remains is for me to say, until next time, remember that Miss Belle Chandra is an anagram of Chambers Island. 366 00:30:47.400 --> 00:30:49.259 You heard it here first. 367 00:30:49.319 --> 00:30:51.660 Thank you very much for listening and good night. 368 00:30:51.720 --> 00:30:52.920 Good night. 369 00:30:52.980 --> 00:30:54.119 Ta-ta. 370 00:30:54.180 --> 00:30:55.019 See you soon. 371 00:30:55.619 --> 00:30:57.660 And could I just ask? 372 00:30:57.720 --> 00:31:01.140 Could he really not see the Eiffel Tower coming towards the Tartars? 373 00:31:01.200 --> 00:31:02.460 It wasn't that far away.