The more I think about it, the more I think the mavity bit is more than just a silly time travel joke. They didn’t have to sacrifice several minutes of precious story time just to land briefly in Newton’s orchard to set that up.
The episode wouldn’t have been any different without that cold open. But they went out of their way for it. I think there’s a good chance it’s either a tease or a primer for some other change to come in the future.
This felt like a spiritual successor to Midnight, and I mean that in the highest form of compliment. Every scene was just creamed with emotion, literally more feelings in a ten minute span than in the cumulative total of the Chibnall years. This is possibly my favorite episode since Heaven Sent, absolutely phenomenal.
Yeah me and my son watched it and both preferred it to Star Beast (though we both liked Star Beast too) - Doctor Who does weird /surreal/uncanny exceptionally well and it had a nightmare Alice in Wonderland vibe in its visuals, especially when the Not Doctor/Donna were blocking the tunnel.
The Doctor picking the wrong Donna got us both, and seeing Wilf at the end was great. I loved the way that the Timeless Child was acknowledged in a dramatic way and moved on from (it's a nod that RTD is respecting the continuity of the show but not going to let it get in the way of a good story).
If I was going to criticise, I'd say there was a bit of padding (really unlike Doctor Who) and some of the effects weren't as good as they thought they were. But really what could be better for an anniversary story where they're literally running up and down the same corridor?
Plus - technically a multi doctor story!
(I bet if I was younger and watching this high it would have been astonishing...)
It was a bit muddled, in my eyes. Felt like they were trying to go for spooky and whimsical at the same time and neither melded well with the other, and it ended up feeling confused and messy. It got better as the episode went on, though.
Midnight still holds the top “spooky Dr Who episode”, imo, and I don’t expect it to be one upped easily. It’s so good.
I wasn't a fan of the cartoonish CGI bits, I would have preferred a smaller real set. The story was amazing though, I love the stories where the concept is really simple, like Silence in the Library and this felt very similar.
Yeah, I think that’s my only complaint with the episode, but it’s not a big one. There were a few places where the CGI looked off, and one or two parts where you could tell they were in front of a green screen, but other than that, I really enjoyed it :)
For me anytime it was in the hallway it felt like Star Wars prequel levels of green screen. Honestly looked worse than doctor who green screen from years ago
The golf cart driving in the hallway looked fake in exactly the same way some of the speeder bike driving in The Mandalorian looked fake. Quite possibly for the same reason.
I 100% agree with the sentiment here, almost exactly what I said to my wife about the perfect blend; it’s uniquely Doctor Who.
However, the gravity bit is almost certainly not unnecessary, because they kept saying “mavity” for the rest of the episode. It’s a clue. This is no longer our universe, shenanigans are already afoot. There’s definitely a reset coming at some point, because it’s not going to be “mavity” for the rest of the show’s life.
And the Doctor is aware (his facial expressions whenever “mavity” was said, and he said “gravity” near the end), but Donna isn’t (she didn’t know what he meant when he said “gravity” near the end)
I had the same thought. They’re in the mavity universe/timeline right now, and somehow righting things back to gravity is going to also reset the flux stuff so that half the flipping universe isn’t destroyed. RTD likes to clean up messes if I remember correctly (I’m not the super fan some are, so I might be misremembering?), like how in the star beast the roads somehow repaired themselves after cracking open. I think he’s setting it up to clean up the aftermath of Flux.
But, resetting things will also mean that Donna is set back to being in danger if she remembers stuff. He’ll have to make the tough decision that fixes the universe, but dooms his friendship with Donna once more. It’s RTD’s style.
It was definitely a return to form, one of my favorite episodes in a long time. Tennant has still got it, and it’s been a real treat getting to see him in this role again, however briefly. I was never a big Donna fan, but she’s been killing it the last couple of episodes.
Donna is both my least and most favorite character. It’s interesting. I hate the character when she’s being overly critical and hostile for no reason, which she was mostly in the beginning (and still is a bit, here and there), but her character development is the best in the series. She’s one of the most caring and empathetic characters that we’ve seen so far and I love that. And her (previously) final arc was absolutely heart breaking.
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