Completely agree that some of the early scenes of the Doctor just sort of flatly explaining his deal almost to the audience more than Ruby felt a bit more studio driven than I'd have liked- though in a sense I kind of didn't mind it either. The Doctor has done this countless times now, so it almost makes sense that he'd want to breeze straight through all the big stuff. I especially enjoyed that angle in the scene where he mentions the two hearts, it starts off as an ordinary remark and then he sort of realises that he's used "hearts" plural so he sidesteps the inevitable question. As for the bit where he activates Ruby's phone, it was actually one of my favourite moments of the episode. It starts with an inversion on what happens with Rose, instead of seeing that her race is gone and her planet is dead Ruby sees that her race survives and makes it out to the stars and is filled with a sense of euphoria at that- she then makes the same observation as Rose anyway because at the end of the day it's a delightfully human trait to be faced with something so overwhelming and existential and immediately try to pull it back to your own loved ones. "Five billion years later and my mum is dead..." and all. And the Doctor, presumably reminded of that moment with Rose, decides to console Ruby the same we he does Rose. As for the rest of the episode, as is often the case for me I found the presence of infant "actors" more irritating than anything, and I wasn't overly fond of the gross-out aspects like the snot monster or The Doctor piloting a space station with feces, but despite all of that I thoroughly enjoyed the episode. The Doctor and Ruby's dynamic, save for a few awkward lines, is immediately one that I adore and cannot get enough of.
I do like the dynamic of them a lot. I've just reviewed Boom and it's even stronger there. We've got a really strong Tardis team. Often, things that happen in scripts aren't done because of character motivation. They're what I call 'mechanical.' They don't forward the plot, as such, but they deliver information the audience needs. There's nothing wrong with that, but you do have to use it sparingly. The re-treading in the episode was just too much. You could have added in bits as the series progressed. It's not that the Doctor might want to breeze through explanations, it's that the audience might disengage, which is always a problem for writers.
I expected way more - it's a launch episode which needs to be spectacularly good to get the audiance but this wasn't An unearthly child 1 or Speahead or 11th hour. The lore felt forced - maybe thats because we only have 8 episodes rather than 13 so maybe it couldn't be drip fed. But it also felt flat - compare thst delivery to that dialigue in Tomb of the cybermen. I'd assumed the genocide reference was related to current events but probably more influenced by Ncuti's country of birth? The episode felt just OK but not what you need for an episode 1 which is odd because the christmas special felt really good.
I always think that opening episodes are flat, with very few exceptions (almost all in the classic era). I think this had so much to do mechanically that it couldn't have done much else. It's a very simple concept, a simple story and a simple twist. But, you're right that we’re missing some of the spectacle that I'm sure audiences have been expecting.
@@binrotheheretic8174 I don't know, I've never been a fan of New Earth (or Christmas Invasion). 11th hour was fine, but it's not a top 10 episode, possibly not even in its own season… Deep Breath was fairly run-of-the-mill for a Moffat season. Woman Who Fell To Earth was a bit of a nothing episode for me, and being an ex-writer, I have all sorts of other issues with that era too. I'm not sure a single one really has that “wow” factor.
@@BeyondTheSofa the only one i referenced was 11th hour - which was a bit special - plot lite as you say is the case for openers but set everything else lore/character wise up perfectly to introduce new viewers. The others you listed i'd agree with you. If you haven't seen it go watch spearhead from space - that was a game changer which brought in an older expanded audience just like the show needs at the moment.
Spearhead was the first Jon Pertwee story I saw (ignoring 5-doctors as it was multi-doctor) way back in… ‘91/’92. It's a real favourite of mine and I adore the HD transfer. Just think, had things been different, we could have seen that with The Daemons as well.
I enjoyed the episode. I like the joyful, excited, youthful energy that the new Doctor and Ruby Sunday have. I thought the babies were cute. I found it entertaining. But, I'm surprised they chose it as the first episode of the season. A bit weaker episode. But they seem to be getting stronger as the season goes along.....Devil's Chord was great. And Boom....loved it!
Can anyone explain that line: “Humans don't speak one language by this point, a bit like Cantonese” ? No matter the angle of approach it does make sense
No, I didn't quite get it either. It feels like something that was missed in the edit. It would be nice to see the script to see what was actually in there.
@@BeyondTheSofa I misheard it. It's actually "Humans *all* speak one language" which does make sense. I still call it bad writing, since context often helps decode misheard words/lines, and Ruby's "ahhh", simply isn't how a normal person would react in that situation. Plus, I'd rather see how all of humanity came to speak one language, and Cantonese of all languages! And use traditional characters instead of simplified! ... instead of another cheap strawman of US republican beliefs.
See, I did as well. The Cantonese offshoot... I think there have been some predictions about how language will evolve and they suggested a kind of Pidgeon Cantonese as being a final sort of "universal" language. Perhaps it came from there?
@@BeyondTheSofa Thanks. As a China resident and Chinese learner, I can't imagine that happening, even Mandarin with simplified characters, let alone Cantonese/traditional
My initial feeling was, it’s folk playing at being a Doctor Who episode. Must say, I’m not a fan of Ruby. Way too accepting of the weirdness way too soon. She seems to be a new impossible girl too. But in a fairytale setting
❤❤❤❤ I liked the first episode very fun and cute with the space babies I like the new doctor and Millie she amazing I can’t wait to watch the rest of season big 👍
I’m really glad you enjoyed it. It’s been a really marmite episode. Some people seem to really hate it (and not just the usual suspects). But there were bits I really liked about the episode and I think you need to see the series as a whole before dissecting exactly what worked and what didn’t.
I feel like this was a solid introduction episode, but nothing special in the realm of things. A little silly, but it had its moments. One that comes to mind to compare it to is “partners in crime”. Also very much a wacky, finding its footing episode that isn’t very remembered. Awesome video, I’m a new subscriber and happy I found your channel :)
I always think that introduction episodes aren't the best of a series. They have to do so much mechanically, they often end up too fast paced or missing some vital ingredient. Thank you very much for subscribing. I'm so glad you liked the review 😊
I completely missed the "press the button" foreshadowing! Nice pick up. It was certainly a weird episode. And it definitely felt like an episode geared towards new viewers, what with the amount of exposition they included about the Doctor.
There was a lot of exposition. Possibly too much. I do talk about that at the start of my Boom video. The 'press the button' thing was meant to have more of an impact, or so I hear.
Think about 10 years time. If you rewatch this episode, are you going to come across one of those speeches and think that it is referring to something political? Probably not. Hell, if it had been released this time last year (when inevitably the episode would have been written) there wouldn't have been such an emphasis on it. There are very few lines that are politically charged.
