Based on the teaser, the episode synopsis, and the above image, it looks like Doctor Who is doing a proper folk horror. Hopefully it's more Horror of Fang Rock and "The Eaters of Light" and less The Stones of Blood and "Countrycide."
Spoilers 73 Yards grade and discussion thread
- Thread starter The Nth Doctor
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Based on the teaser, the episode synopsis, and the above image, it looks like Doctor Who is doing a proper folk horror. Hopefully it's more Horror of Fang Rock and "The Eaters of Light" and less The Stones of Blood and "Countrycide."
Have we had colour-coordinated Doctor/Companion since Four/Romana?
And is that Ncuti's kilt Ruby is adopting in the second pic or just a skirt that looks like it?
His hat is cool but bobblehat would have been chef's kiss. Fuck fezzes.
And is that Ncuti's kilt Ruby is adopting in the second pic or just a skirt that looks like it?
His hat is cool but bobblehat would have been chef's kiss. Fuck fezzes.
IIRC, it is a Doctor Lite episode, as it done to accommodate Gatwa's busy scheduling between Doctor Who, Barbie and Sex Education.
Bit of a tangent, but I finally figured out what I was missing while watching the the prior episodes.
Jelly babies!
No, not for Ncuti Gatwa, for me! I forgot to visit the local Publox that actually carries them on the shelf of the international foods aisle. Tthis morning while running errands, I swung by the store and grabbed 3 bags to cover tonight's episode and the next two. Hopefully more will be in stock come next week or the one after that to "nom" during the last two episodes.
Jelly babies!
No, not for Ncuti Gatwa, for me! I forgot to visit the local Publox that actually carries them on the shelf of the international foods aisle. Tthis morning while running errands, I swung by the store and grabbed 3 bags to cover tonight's episode and the next two. Hopefully more will be in stock come next week or the one after that to "nom" during the last two episodes.
Well, it’s obvious who rubys mum is at this point. Borrowed from a bunch of old Who stories, and made absolutely no sense at the end. I suppose we are expected to wait for something later to explain it all. But… it was just treading water tosh, with none of the impact of say The Girl Who Waited or Turn Left.
The really sad thing — it was better than the first couple, but only because The Doctor wasn’t in it.
When he was back with his Honey nonsense, I realised RTD is just writing Auton Mickey style dialogue for him. Is it much the same reason Bambera had a shame problem? Maybe.
Think RTD may have oversold the Welsh Folklore a bit too. Though he did manage to get in a poorly veiled Little Britain reference by the looks of it.
The really sad thing — it was better than the first couple, but only because The Doctor wasn’t in it.
When he was back with his Honey nonsense, I realised RTD is just writing Auton Mickey style dialogue for him. Is it much the same reason Bambera had a shame problem? Maybe.
Think RTD may have oversold the Welsh Folklore a bit too. Though he did manage to get in a poorly veiled Little Britain reference by the looks of it.
It was an interesting episode, though there are a lot of unanswered questions at the end, which I'm guessing will be addressed by the end of the season.
Yeah, I felt like I was missing something with the way it all wrapped up. Several things, actually. I liked the episode, though, and I appreciated the misdirect that made me think it was mostly going to be in the village, or even just the pub.
I did briefly think that Gwilliam might've been the Minister of War that was once mentioned as being a forthcoming adventure of the Doctor, but I guess not, since there was no Doctor, no war, and hardly any Minister.
This episode had a lot of misdirects. I remember last year when the stuff about Gwilliam leaked online, making it look like it was something major for the season. Which doesn't appear to be the case now.
Then again, I guess they do need to explain how he gets talked down from starting nuclear war now that Ruby won't be living the next twenty years alone and abandoned on Earth.
Which even got lampshaded when Kate commented to Ruby that UNIT seems to be dealing with more supernatural things here lately.
So many questions. If this is a standalone, it will feel ultimately unsatisfying. I liked the vibe of the episode. But without some sort of explanation, events feel pointless.
For the first time someone recognizes Susan Twist showing up in different times and places, even though Ruby was too distracted to really think about her too much.
I dunno what to make of this one. Found myself going "WTF is going on" multiple times throughout.
It's certainly odd that there's only eight episodes this season, but they couldn't figure out a way to shuffle the shooting schedule around so Ncuti could be in every one of them? To have a nearly Doctor-less episode in his first season is a strange choice.
It's certainly odd that there's only eight episodes this season, but they couldn't figure out a way to shuffle the shooting schedule around so Ncuti could be in every one of them? To have a nearly Doctor-less episode in his first season is a strange choice.
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I'd give this one a 7.5 but will round up to 8, which I also gave to Boom. However, it isn't quite as good as Boom.
It was great at setting up the mystery, being creepy, and excellent cinematography. This episode had a great feel to it.
However, it kind of fell apart as the episode progressed. Too many unanswered questions. Why was everyone running after talking to distant Ruby? What's the deal with 73 yards? Not clear how old Ruby became distant Ruby? How did old/distant Ruby prevent the Doctor & Ruby from breaking the circle the 2nd time around (which was still the first and it didn't happen then)? Do they still need to stop the PM guy or not?
So, intriguing mystery but ultimately felt a bit unsatisfying by the end. The solution of having Distant Ruby talk to the PM was good. As Kate said, you come up with the rules to explain weird things and use them to the best of your ability. Or something like that! So, from that standpoint, the story worked. The weird rules surrounding Distant Ruby worked as they should on the PM.
It's far easier to build up a mystery than it is to give a satisfying conclusion. And ultimately that limits this episode. Unless some of the questions are to be resolved later.
Also, not a fan of having weird stuff happen because the Doctor accidently stepped on a circle of string!
It was great at setting up the mystery, being creepy, and excellent cinematography. This episode had a great feel to it.
However, it kind of fell apart as the episode progressed. Too many unanswered questions. Why was everyone running after talking to distant Ruby? What's the deal with 73 yards? Not clear how old Ruby became distant Ruby? How did old/distant Ruby prevent the Doctor & Ruby from breaking the circle the 2nd time around (which was still the first and it didn't happen then)? Do they still need to stop the PM guy or not?
So, intriguing mystery but ultimately felt a bit unsatisfying by the end. The solution of having Distant Ruby talk to the PM was good. As Kate said, you come up with the rules to explain weird things and use them to the best of your ability. Or something like that! So, from that standpoint, the story worked. The weird rules surrounding Distant Ruby worked as they should on the PM.
It's far easier to build up a mystery than it is to give a satisfying conclusion. And ultimately that limits this episode. Unless some of the questions are to be resolved later.
Also, not a fan of having weird stuff happen because the Doctor accidently stepped on a circle of string!
Yeah, this is half of a story. Literally, I hope. Nothing is explained. It's a shame, because it was a nicely weird and suspenseful story for a while there. Parts of it also reminded me of something I've seen or read before, but I can't place it.
Huh. Well, that wasn't quite what I expected (which may or may not be for the better). I clearly set myself with the expectation of a folk horror story, and while that was partially true, it instead was more of an alternate future history of Ruby and how she saved the world from a political monster, but then turned itself into a paradox. Obviously Davies played on my expectations with the evening scene in the pub with Siân Phillips (!) and company playing a gag on poor Ruby's fears and worries about a broken fairy circle, so well played there.
But in the end, I'm not quite sure what the point was. As I read back at what everyone else said, I see I'm not the only person who felt like there was something missing, something deliberately left out to be explained later, and I agree that ultimately hurt the episode. I'm all for lampshading expectations (even if when it's against a story style that I wanted to watch) but there still needs to be standalone plot reasoning.
I agree with jaime that "73 Yards" doesn't have the emotional impact of similar stories like "Turn Left" and "The Girl Who Waited" because, like Mr Awe noted, it asked too many questions without providing any satisfying answers. I think that's all a shame since I think there was something wonderfully sinister in the potential of this story that wasn't successfully pulled off as a result.
I do hope that when do get the full story, "73 Yards" will stand stronger but I just wish it didn't need that extra explanation in order to work.
But in the end, I'm not quite sure what the point was. As I read back at what everyone else said, I see I'm not the only person who felt like there was something missing, something deliberately left out to be explained later, and I agree that ultimately hurt the episode. I'm all for lampshading expectations (even if when it's against a story style that I wanted to watch) but there still needs to be standalone plot reasoning.
I agree with jaime that "73 Yards" doesn't have the emotional impact of similar stories like "Turn Left" and "The Girl Who Waited" because, like Mr Awe noted, it asked too many questions without providing any satisfying answers. I think that's all a shame since I think there was something wonderfully sinister in the potential of this story that wasn't successfully pulled off as a result.
I do hope that when do get the full story, "73 Yards" will stand stronger but I just wish it didn't need that extra explanation in order to work.
Yep.
All the answers are in the opening titles.