Doctor Who Social Club

I admit it, I still browse Doctor Who reddit — using safer frontends, mind — but mostly there is no great reason to crosspost here. People going nuts over leaks or revisiting their distinct lack of enjoyment of one series or another.

This I couldn't resist reposting, though. Somebody made a rather involved defense of the show adapting to the times, including this curiosity:

During 2nd's run, and perhaps also in Hartnell's, I noticed something interesting. Rarely they'd use a sort of opera singing common in "space operas" of the day - a nod to the audience that understood this genre convention meant that they'd be watching high drama, now an obsolete thematic device.

That's... not what is meant by "space opera" at all. Try looking up "soap opera" instead 😂

I'm 85% sure this is a GPT output, with margin for it being some clueless kid instead. There are a couple other tells in the wall of text, but this was pure hallucination.

Funny thing is, nobody calls OP out for this in the comments, which proves that anything past the title is fluff.

Generally speaking, though, I agree with the poster's sentiments, if not their grasp of facts 🙂

Let's get this out of the way – the second episode of this season of Doctor Who, "Lux," is already the best episode of the Disney+ era. Disney has never done anything like this before, and neither has the BBC.

— Bleeding cool

You’ll be so impressed watching “Lux” flit between the real and cartoon world, reality and fiction, that you’ll hardly care about the missing cinemagoers or the dodgy American accents. It’s silly but in a way that is incredibly watchable.

— That hashtag show

'Lux' initially feels like a traditional Doctor Who story, but is anything but. Mr Ring-A-Ding is a great villain, but it's the ambitious script and Ncuti Gatwa's layered performance that make this such a winner.

— Games radar

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/27468401

Season 15 returned to BBC One on Saturday 12th April and received an overnight rating of two million viewers, as per TV Zone. The consolidated ratings, which include BBC iPlayer, devices and catch-up, will be released at a later date.

The viewership marks it as the fourth most-watched programme of the day and second most-watched for BBC One, just slightly behind Gladiators' 2.9 million viewers.

I remain very...curious about this series. Hopefully "Lucky Day" will serve as a bit of a backdoor pilot that gives us an idea of its look and feel.

A rare instance of "UK-based celebrity whom I actually recognize appearing on DW."

Originally posted to X, saved you a visit to IRL Finetime 👍

These episode descriptions all look like they're written by RTD or based off an interview with him, so ignore all "awesomest ever", "most thrillingly amazeballs" hype.

It looks like the embargo on early reviews has lifted, so if you see any you'd like to share, put them in the comments!

Riffing off the high concept nature of the show, Davies mentions (with my emphasis):

a cartoon’s come to life, or we’re visiting the 803rd Interstellar Song Contest, or Boom Beasts have taken over London

Wait, what? The first two are previously announced episode briefs, but... "Boom Beasts"?

Did he just come up with that last bit on the spot or did I miss it in any of the advance promo copy?

Edited to add: Apparently they're Bone Beasts! (Spoiler warning)

RTD also praises the new writers this season:

Inua Ellams just to pick an example, set his episode in Lagos. He’s created a whole history of friendships for the Doctor around a whole new mythology. There’s that lack of fear. There’s not a second of worrying, of him thinking, ’Have they done this before? Did they do this in 1985?’ Although he’s always watched the show, he was completely free of its shackles. What you get is a completely new take on things you thought you understood in Doctor Who. The episode has the TARDIS doing things it’s never done before.

As I recall, getting the Doctor mixed in with African mythology was an explicit wish from Ncuti Gatwa coming in, and this looks like it could be a start.

Besides, frankly — what haven't we seen the TARDIS do yet? 🤯