Spoilers Boom grade and discussion thread

[Emperor-Tiberius]

It really seems iconic, to me, that the best episode of the show since Steven Moffat left it in 2017, is one written by the very same writer. Not that its been bad recently - I've liked all of RTD's efforts, even the obviously weak Space Babies, but I also feel that RTD has yet to tap into his best strengths to produce a consistent piece of work and deliver an actual jewel (though The Wild Blue Yonder comes really, really close). Boom meanwhile posits the Doctor in an actually impossible situation and one he has to get out of in his most uniquely Doctor-ish way. Ncuti has been amazing as the Doctor, the most instantly lovable incarnation ever I feel, but I do think this episode is the first time we've seen him flex his Doctor-ishness and it goes back to @The Wormhole's argument, actually. of Moffat writing the Doctor in one specific way. Its interesting that others remarked about how he sound either Eccleston, Smith or Capaldi, because all of them we've seen and know can be tough in tough situations, especially Eccleston and Capaldi, and here, we see Gatwa in an equally tremendous situation that forces his whimsy to take a backseat to his seriousness, and boy does it pay off. Gatwa is definitely the Doctor in this, and its brilliant. The rest of the episode is equally so, with Gibson conveying feelings of confusion, prowress, determination, wonder, pride, wit, sadness and relief in equal measure. RTD has a real knack for casting and she's another winner for his ouvre.

This is becoming a full scale review, but I don't want to go on and on, so lets just say I fucking loved it and get on with it. For the first time in 7 years, we have a clear-cut, unabashed, no argument about it winner, a modern classic. Can't wait for the Christmas Special now!

 

[Captrek]

Ncuti has been amazing as the Doctor, the most instantly lovable incarnation ever I feel

You didn’t fall in love with Smith when he was eating fish sticks and custard with 7-year-old Amy?

 

[Xerxes82]

I liked this a lot. Very intense, tight episode. Gatwa is proving to be very charming and charismatic, he takes over the screen when he's on it. A very good sign.

You didn’t fall in love with Smith when he was eating fish sticks and custard with 7-year-old Amy?

For me, that moment was "This isn't going to be big on dignity" the following week. Smith fixing his bowtie with the delivery just completely sold me and he remains my favorite Doctor into the present day.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Warhammer 40K had space priests, though they were more heavily armed and armoured than these guys.

Fish fingers and custard is still his favorite! (at least this time around).

A great "bottle" episode, it really showcases Ncuti's energy.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

You didn’t fall in love with Smith when he was eating fish sticks and custard with 7-year-old Amy?

Smith is like my third fave Doctor, and he convinced me he was the Doctor immediately too. But arguably, Gatwa got it during the bioregeneration was happening, so maybe just a tad earlier, yes.

But that's irrelevant. He sold his Doctor really fast. and that's the point.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

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[Mr. Adventure]

It took me until Boom to get a sense of Ncuti as the Doctor. He's been very charming from the start but I haven't been completely sold that this person is an incarnation of the Doctor. In that sense, I think some of the others have been faster in that regard.

 

[Samurai8472]

So Moffat remade this episode then?

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[Ar-Pharazon]

Re-Boom

 

[Photoman15]

I enjoyed "Boom" quite a bit more than last week's episode. Tense and gripping the whole way through.

My only issues with it were the dialogue at times sounding like Moffat dusted off an unfilmed Matt Smith script, right down to the fish fingers and custard reference at the end. The daughter was also strangely written. She's so bizarrely deluded that I couldn't tell if she's shell-shocked, or simple-minded. Like, how was she not able to tell that her father was just a hologram, even when he suddenly had the photographs floating around him?

Not deluded. She has FAITH. Faith that even after Death, there is something (where her father is).

 

[Firebird]

Not deluded. She has FAITH. Faith that even after Death, there is something (where her father is).

As I said not four posts later, that's not how the performance in the final cut reads.

RTD is saying Susan Twist keeps appearing because there was a “shortage of actors”.

Riiiiiiiiiiiight.

 

[Mr Awe]

So Moffat remade this episode then?

In an interview, Moffat said he was inspired by that moment in Genesis of the Daleks. However, it's hardly a remake of it!

 

[JD]

Volume.

I thought so. I've started to notice with stuff shot on a volume that if you look carefully you can sometimes tell where the set ends and the screen starts.

 

[Starkers]

I think I really liked it but I need a second watch to be sure. I had to pause it for ten minutes in the middle for RL reasons and it kinda disrupted the flow. It had some big ideas but I wouldn't say it did anything radically new, what it did it did well though and it was most definitely a Moffat episode. Maybe not top tier Moffat, but close. The ending did seem a bit of a get out.

I don't know why you'd take a child to a war zone, even if you were the only parent. The ambulances were suitably creepy and Ncuti and Millie were great again.

I am a bit weirded out about the timeline here. I'm happy to accept that the episodes are being shown in the right order, but after travelling with the Doctor for 6 months this is really the first alien planet Ruby has visited?

Next week's looks very interesting in a folk horror kinda way.

 

[The Wormhole]

but after travelling with the Doctor for 6 months this is really the first alien planet Ruby has visited?

As someone noted above, Rose didn't visit another planet until New Earth, and that was in the second season. Granted, I don't think they actually established how much subjective time went by for her and the Doctor at that point, but it seems reasonable it was more than six months.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

As someone noted above, Rose didn't visit another planet until New Earth, and that was in the second season. Granted, I don't think they actually established how much subjective time went by for her and the Doctor at that point, but it seems reasonable it was more than six months.

And on travels not just on her own but with Captain Jack, also.

 

[matthunter]

As someone noted above, Rose didn't visit another planet until New Earth, and that was in the second season. Granted, I don't think they actually established how much subjective time went by for her and the Doctor at that point, but it seems reasonable it was more than six months.

She didn't visit any on screen, but definitely refers to off-world adventures (Woman Wept, for one) in conversations with Mickey in S1 (that one's in Boom Town).

 

[The Wormhole]

She didn't visit any on screen, but definitely refers to off-world adventures (Woman Wept, for one) in conversations with Mickey in S1 (that one's in Boom Town).

Then that must be between The Doctor Dances and Boom Town, as it actually is stated in dialogue at the start of The Empty Child that they only visit Earth. Still probably sixish months subjective time.

 

[Saul]

Not a bad episode. One wonders how much, if any, of the 15th Doctor he saw before he wrote it. Feels at times to be dialogue for a Moffat type Doctor.

Starting to wonder if Ruby is actually Susan or something and that explains the snow and why the Doctor gets weepy.

 

[Jedman67]

Ok, quickie review:
Doctor at his best - monologuing his way out of disaster. Obviously he has to get off or there's no show, but the journey is important.
Him convincing a hologram to hack the weapons AI I think is just as satisfying as convincing some "Bishop" to surrender.
Ruby getting shot - I can't remember the last time a companion almost died (besides Rory) but it's rare. (being shot at while running away doesn't count )
I love the visuals, I don't think it suffers from using an AR wall to supplement the set and sky. It was gorgeous.
My only gripe is the absence of the sonic screwdriver.
Yes, he doesn't need to always use it but it's absence is quite glaring. Simply throwing in the word "deadlocked" would have helped lol.
9/10 excellent episode, keep them coming!