The Daleks' Master Plan

Now streaming the recovered and restored first and third episodes along with the second.

Two lost episodes found!

The first and third episodes of The Daleka’ Master Plan have been found and will be watchable on iPlayer at Easter.

And so the number of lost episodes goes down again.

(Shame about the Mavic Chen of it.)

The War Between The Land And The Sea

Homo Aqua

An interesting slow start, could be a prologue to the kind of thing the Doctor deals with in a two-parter.

(Also Barclay notes meeting the Doctor, for a few seconds, and being amazed.)

Plastic Apocalypse

Good speech. Kate should know people can rise to the occasion without the Doctor there to help.

But also a twisting of words. The Sea side (sorry) is naturally sympathetic here but they aren’t playing fair.

There was a vodka advert eighteen years ago where everything dumped or lost at sea was hurled back to the land. The makers of Aquaman may have seen it. Just mentioning it here.

(Also Kate reflects how nice it would be to have the Doctor here.)

Introducing Guest Star as the Doctor

Daft celebratory thing for this year, idly thinking that almost as soon as Doctor Who came back it had guest stars who’d make great Doctors. Off the top of my head examples starting with where I got the idea:

2005: Zoë Wanamaker

2006: Don Warrington

2007: Christina Cole, Miranda Raison, Jessica Hynes (Mark Gatiss did it already and Carey Mulligan might as well for Blink)

2008: Peter Capaldi! Wait... Fenella Woolgar, Steve Pemberton

2009: Lindsay Duncan, David Harewood

2010: Iain Glen, Helen McCrory, Meera Syal, Neve McIntosh

2011: Sarah Smart

2012: Mitchell and/or Webb

2013: Jessica Raine, Rachel Stirling

2014: Jonathan Bailey, Keeley Hawes

2015: Reece Shearsmith

2016: Charity Wakefield

2017: Stephanie Hyam

2018: Alan Cumming (who was up for the role in one of the unmade 1990s versions)

2019: Charlotte Ritchie

2020: Maxim Baldry

2021: Jacob Anderson, Annabel Scholey

2022: Aisling Bea

2023: Davina McCall

2024: Majid Luke Mehdizadeh-Valoujerdy

2025: Ariyon Bakare

The War Between The Land And The Sea

Premiering December 7th

The Reality War

15.2.8 The Reality War

Anita! Yay!

Wish World

15.2.7 Wish World

After a What The beginning, the classic reality is not as it seems to torment someone. And Conrad was already a prick, but even for a fascist that really leaned on retrograde thinking for a guy in his twenties these days. Bowler hats?

Although of course his Doctor Who book looks like that.

The Interstellar Song Contest

15.2.6 The Interstellar Song Contest

As multicultural things with lots of weird costumes and effects and eccentric side bits that goes out here on BBC One, Eurovision and Doctor Who have always been a bit connected, so here we are.

But as an actual episode it’s as RTD says Eurovision meets Die Hard, and that’s fun, and it’s also a lot of surprise guests.

Belinda rightly gets the big crying moment.

I was just thinking we haven’t had any animal people this year.

Iona Anderson (Wynn) looks so much like Eve Myles I was expecting that to come up somehow.

The Story And The Engine

15.2.5 The Story And The Engine

Largely a bottle episode - I wasn’t surprised when I learned writer Inua Ellams is a playwright. (Thanks to Emmet Asher-Perrin at Reactor for linking his prologue to the episode.)

Having downplayed Ncuti Gatwa’s Blackness, an episode stemming from where the Doctor feels more accepted. Various Doctors have had places to go and feel at home, but the ones we’ve seen are usually with recurring supporting cast in the U.K.

The delayed reveal of the Barber had me expecting him to be someone familiar. I hope he will be, or this gets us more of Ariyon Bakare as wise and possibly sinister mysterious characters.

Big slow artistic spider probably not going to set off too many arachnophobes, which is nice.

Lucky Day

15.2.4 Lucky Day

Going into the back half of the season unspoiled - I’d seen clips showing Ruby organising the defence of the pub and the bit with her telling the story (which in isolation made me wonder if this was really her?) but that was it.

So I didn’t know what was coming at all.

Dalek at 20

Having brought back Doctor Who could they bring back the Daleks and make them work?

Yes.

James Whitbook for io9 on Dalek twenty years on.

The Well

15.2.3 The Well

Happy to have one Aliens episode every year or two, and I appreciate the yes-obviously-Aliens-ness of it. And the Planet Of The Vampires look of the suits. (See also the second Aquaman film.)

And a heart-tugging central guest performance by Rose Ayling-Ellis as Aliss.

And then...

... Okay, you can get away with bringing back a scary one-time-only monster if you wait seventeen years.

And another bonus for watching the credits.

Next week, Ruby! And after that, I have no idea...

Lux

15.2.2 Lux

I had this pegged as a Pantheon episode right away.

A Scottish actor recorded in New York as the voice of a Hollywood cartoon playing in Miami which is actually Wales.

Belinda continuing to be reasonably annoyed but running with it partially because she has to and partially because she’s a good person.

A light touch for the issues of the time.

A quick sketch of fans rather than a full portrait like Love And Monsters, but still showing them love. And a lovely little grace note - look at the credits.

(Does this mean the Doctor and Belinda just made our universe real? Er...)

Next week, Planet Of The Vampires?

The Robot Revolution

And here we go.

15.2.1: The Robot Revolution

Funny stompy robots are a bit less funny when they kill a cat and then a bunch of sympathetic characters.

Wondering if the bitten guy was gong to be plot, or might be later, or just a passing emergency-rooms-are-horrible reference.

Who gave the Doctor Belinda’s name?

People who saw Superman III at an impressionable age just flinched up and down the country, and I don’t believe for a second that wasn’t intentional.

Proper horrible looking cyborg for Saturday teatime.

Joy To The World

Joy To The World

Joy was right to follow the rules even though it hurt and might not have mattered, and just as right to rage at the people who made and broke them.

Some odd pacing, especially the “oh the villainous plan didn’t work it’s fine” bit. But wouldn’t have wanted to lose the lovely little section with Anita to get more there.

Mr. Benn’s Any Era Clothes!

Joy To The RT YouTube

Russell T Davies and Steven Moffat discuss the Christmas special, and Christmas specials in general, on video as well as in the Radio Times.

Survival

“There are worlds out there where the sky is burning. Where the seas sleep, and the rivers dream. People made of smoke and cities made of song. Somewhere there’s danger, somewhere there’s injustice, and somewhere else the tea’s getting cold. Come on, Ace, we’ve got work to do.”

Survival part 3, thirty-five years tonight.

Joy To The World

As well as announcing a new series and naming the new companion (Belinda Chandra... related to Rani?) we got a four-minute-ish pre-credits for the Christmas special Joy To The World introduced by Joy herself Nicola Coughlan.

Empire Of Death

Empire Of Death (6.40 pm)

Do you have the spoons to save all existence?

Ah, it’s a bit The Mummy (2017) with the ancient Egyptian adversary god loosing a killer dust storm in London, but mostly...

The Legend Of Ruby Sunday

The Legend Of Ruby Sunday (6.30?!)

Well...