Doctor Who: Season 14: episode 8: The Legend Of Ruby Sunday by Russell T Davies
Blimey, it’s nearly the end of the season, and although it wasn’t promoted as such, this is supposed to be the first part of a double episode—especially since they’re back on Earth. However, the Doctor isn’t exactly subtle and just materialises the TARDIS in UNIT HQ. Watch before spoilers, though I’m going to be asking questions more than going over the plot.
This Doctor is certainly flamboyant. If this season is to be described as somewhat of an upswing, how much higher can the series go before a disturbing downswing occurs, giving the Doctor some serious difficulty, and not just figuratively standing on a landmine?
The opening question is whether Susan Triad is actually a Time Lady or something different that can appear in different time periods? Didn’t Clara Oswald do that? I mean, how many anagrams of TARDIS are out there? I see a new name-developing game. If this is the real Susan, she already has one—Foreman—although that might not be her real name. I can’t help but feel this is testing the ground before the real granddaughter pops up. It’s also a little contradictory because, although the Doctor said he left Susan so she wouldn’t be in danger, he did so originally because she was in love with a human. It wasn’t as though she hadn’t been in danger before.
What kind of time travel device has UNIT got that can project a videotape, but only as an image? It’s a little too much gobbledygook and more like an image window than actual time travel.
We would call that a hologram, but as people can’t interact with it, why can’t they walk around inside it? It’s not as though it was based on Gallifreyan theory or technology, let alone anything that other aliens, like the Daleks and Cybermen, have used.
Should I say the word ‘Sutekh’? A really old villain from The Pyramids of Mars. There are so many name plays in this episode.
There are a lot of levels in this episode, none of which really relate to Ruby or Susan’s background, but then what would be left for the last episode? More thoughts next week.
Unleashed looks through this episode, misdirecting in every direction. Oddly, until now, I hadn’t seen the connection of Susan Triad appearing in different guises in different episodes, mostly because it really wasn’t that obvious that she was significant. It’s like a magician’s misdirection when we were focusing more on Mrs. Flood. I wonder how many Whovians are going to rewatch the earlier episodes again. The thing is, this Susan doesn’t really do anything significant in her other appearances. Breath held until next week and a proper analysis, rather than speculating on something I’m not really sure about.
Geoff Willmetts
15 June 2024
