"Think of me now and then."

WARNING: THIS POSTING CONTAINS MINOR SPOILERS FOR THE JOY TO THE WORLD DOCTOR WHO CHRISTMAS EPISODE.

Anita: I like them.

The Doctor:  They like you too.  I can tell.

Joy to the World, Doctor Who

Dear Steven Moffat:

Oh, Mr. Moffat, you audacious, clever man. Congratulations for pulling off such a spectacular bait and switch, and in such a high profile setting!

We all watched the trailer for the 2024 Christmas episode, and we saw all the bits you wanted us to see to pique our interest: Nicola Coughlin as a much-heralded guest star; a glimpse of Joel Fry; a Silurian; something called the Time Hotel; a dinosaur; and the Doctor yelling at himself. 

When the time came, you started the episode with everything that we would expect. After a solitary Doctor in search of milk forgetfully pops out of the TARDIS with two mugs rather than just one, we (and the Doctor) very quickly discover a mysterious suitcase, the MacGuffin that drives the action.  The Doctor has chosen to have his morning cup of tea at the Time Hotel, which has portals that lead to other eras in lieu of accommodations. 

The suitcase, which casually kills its previous mind-controlled carriers as it moves to more advantageous hosts, is revealed to contain a starseed - part of a plan by the Villengard Arms Corporation to create a limitless source of energy in the form of a star, with the destruction of Earth as an acceptable price in the process.  (Come to think of it, we were first introduced to Villengard in Boom,  an episode that you also wrote.) The carrier must transport the starseed through an appropriate time portal into the past so as to allow the star to gestate over thousands of years, creating an apparently instantaneous result. 

The case ends up manacled to the arm of Joy, a melancholy young woman who is spending her 2024 Christmas alone in a rental room that has a portal to the Time Hotel.  It's the Doctor's task to save Joy from the suitcase without killing her, and to save Earth from the birth of the starseed.

And then, in the middle of it all, you boldly drop everything and have the Doctor work in Joy's hotel for a year with Anita, the concierge.

I actually timed it, Steven.  Surprisingly, it's only eight minutes and fifteen seconds from the moment he books a room in the Sandringham Hotel to wait out a time loop, to the NEW YORK CHRISTMAS EVE 2025 slate.  It feels more like it's half the episode, there's so much crammed into that eight minutes.  It's a sweet, sad, wonderful interlude, all the more wistful because we know it has to end. 

It’s the Doctor's life in miniature, a reverse twist where he stays in one place for a year with a companion, a beloved friend that he finally has to abandon to return to his mission and save Earth. Ncuti Gatwa and Steph De Whalley, who plays Anita, have incredible chemistry, to the point where I felt a bit sorry for Coughlin - in less than ten minutes, that segment steals the entire show, as two lonely people develop a deep and loving relationship.  

The special itself?  Not to worry, the rest of the program is a perfectly acceptable Christmas episode, well performed if a bit dodgy in plot. There's a poignant backstory for Nicola Coughlin's Joy, good foreshadowing of the various time portal destinations that fuel the climax of the show, and a brief but welcome cameo by Ruby Sunday.  I won't lie, I saw the Bethlehem thing coming, but I've got an awful lot of science fiction to draw upon for clues in these situations.

My only complaint is that you attempt to give Anita a happy ending by having the Time Hotel recruit her, and that’s the only place where this episode slips.  I realize that she's not going to be the new companion for the upcoming season of the show, but honestly, Steven, if there was ever a character who deserved to be visited by a blue police box at the end, it's Anita.

- Sid

Respect!

In Space Babies, the first episode of Ncuti Gatwa's tenure on Doctor Who, the following exchange took place between Ruby and the Fifteenth Doctor:

It was an unexpected little meta-media tip of the hat from one iconic series to another, like listening to the cast of Friends discuss their favourite episode of Survivor.

Last week, the Star Trek franchise returned the favour in The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail, the sixth episode of Season Three of Brave New Worlds.  The Enterprise is trapped inside a gargantuan scavenger ship, along with the remnants of a variety of other captured ships, including a Klingon D7-class battlecruiser, and, if you look very closely, a Type 40 Gallifreyan TARDIS in its standard British police box camouflage. 

It's good to see some reciprocal recognition, although, to be honest, I hope that's as far as it goes.  With the best will in the world, I can't imagine the canonical complexities that would result from an actual crossover episode, entertaining though it might well be.

- Sid

P.S. Just for the record, I did not spot this myself, but I have a strong geekish admiration for whoever did. 

"Is that my name?"

Hi Love, 
I thought this article might interest you!  I wonder how much you'd agree. 

https://ew.com/doctor-who-best-episodes-ranked-11956344 

Love you, 
Karli*

Since Doctor Who's 2005 revival - the "modern era" of the article's title - there have been either 196 or 199 episodes: internet sources vary.  Regardless, picking the best 50 from the catalogue means that you're selecting about one in every four episodes for your list, which is a pretty coarse filter.  Interestingly, the list only contains a single Ncuti Gatwa episode - surely Dot and Bubble** or Boom qualify as top 50 selections - but I accept the subjective nature of this kind of list.

That being said, I do take strong exception with one of the EW decisions:  how could The Doctor's Wife only be at number 38??! 

It's such an excellent episode that I would have expected to see it in the top five, if not in the running for first place.  The story stands alone as a thoughtful and touching examination of the relationship between the Doctor and the TARDIS, and the BBC paid it the ultimate compliment of not attempting to cash in on its success with a return visit from Idris, the human avatar of the TARDIS, as so perfectly portrayed by Suranne Jones.  

A small part of me wonders if the ranking somehow reflects episode author Neil Gaiman's #MeToo moment from last year, but I would think that if that were the case, the episode would have gone completely unconsidered for the list.  Although, with that taken into account, it really doesn't age well that Gaiman's Doctor christens the embodiment of the TARDIS as "Sexy".

- Sid

* It is such a pleasure to be married to someone with this kind of respect for my hobbies and interests - thank you, Karli!  

** Dot and Bubble is arguably a bit Doctor-light, but then so is Blink, which they rank as the number one episode - no argument with that choice, by the way.

"Doctor, quo vadis?"

This decision was not taken lightly, and we know it will be disappointing for fans, but in order to set the show up for future series, it was decided that rather than bridge the gap with a one-off special, we are choosing to push forward to invest in the long-term future of the show which ensures that when the TARDIS lands once more, it does so in all its glory.

BBC press release

"And so goodbye from me to Doctor Who."

Russell T. Davies 

There's no easy way to say this, so here it is:  Doctor Who has been cancelled.

Following the end of Ncuti Gatwa's last episode as the Doctor, speculation ran rampant as to how the upcoming Christmas special would address the cryptic results of his regeneration*. Would the regeneration would be permanent, or would it be another temporary substitute before the appearance of the actual 16th Doctor, as with David Tennant's unexpected return in 2022?  And, if the regeneration was a temporary one, as per general expectation, who would ultimately be chosen to be the next Time Lord?

Then, yesterday the BBC unexpectedly announced that they would not be proceeding with the Christmas special - or, in fact, with the series itself.  Production of Doctor Who is now on hold pending the results of a competitive tender for a new production partner to replace Disney+, with an expectation that the show might not return until 2028 at the earliest.  And with the cancellation of the Christmas special, Russell T. Davies is also ending his connection with the show - a move which seems oddly appropriate, given that he was responsible for the show's return in 2005 after a fifteen year hiatus.

The question now is how long this new interlude might last, or if in fact it might not become permanent.  Time, as they say, will tell.  It would be sad to see the end of such a longstanding franchise, but it's important to remember that the character of the Doctor will certainly remain active in a wide variety of other formats: the wide range of radio plays from Big Finish, books, comics, games, and interactive events like the Time Fracture experience. 

And, no pun intended, who knows? After all, the whole program is based around the idea of returning in a new form to cheat death, we may well see the Doctor back at the helm of the TARDIS sooner rather than later - to quote the Doctor, let's hope it's "allons-y" rather than "no more". 

- Sid

* No spoilers here, my sister Dorothy may not been keeping up with the show.

It's pronounced "Shooty".

The BBC has announced that Jodie Whittaker’s replacement in the role of the Doctor on Doctor Who will be 29-year-old Scottish-Rwandan actor Ncuti Gatwa. Gatwa came to public attention with his portrayal of Eric Effiong on the Netflix series Sex Education, which earned him a Scottish BAFTA award and several Television BAFTA nominations.  It's a noteworthy resume, but not a lengthy one - but then Matt Smith was three years younger and even less of a known quantity when he became the Doctor in 2010.

There's been a bit of backtracking as eager reports of Gatwa being the first black actor to play the Doctor were retracted in favour of "cast to play the Doctor on a permanent ongoing basis" or similar circumlocutions in order to recognize Jo Martin's stern depiction of the Fugitive Doctor* for the last three seasons of Doctor Who.

Regardless, Gatwa's casting in the role represents yet another milestone, and demonstrates the flexibility of the concept behind the Doctor.  As we move into the future, the Doctor may be the perfect cultural touchstone for a new generation: fluid in gender, race and sexual orientation.

...naw, who am I kidding, it's going to be Loki, isn't it.

- Sid

* I actually would have been quite happy to see her continue in the role full-time as a result of the upcoming regeneration, but I gather the current explanation is that she's the original incarnation of the Doctor.  Sigh...it's been a confusing few years with Chris Chibnall in charge.