Doctor Who – Series 2, Episode 6: The Interstellar Song Contest
As per normal these days, I plan to watch this ahead of tonight’s transmission, courtesy of iPlayer. I won’t post my comments until AFTER tonight’s prime-time showing.
Written by Juno Dawson, directed by Ben A. Williams, and with only two more episodes to go in this series, so far, the stories have been pretty good! Having said that, this one ‘stars’ Rylan Clark who, for reasons I don’t understand, I completely detest! I’m sorry, I’m sure his mother loves him, but he really does nothing for me, apart from being a shining beacon for ‘Turkey Teeth’. Yuk! I’m therefore going into this yarn thinking: “This is going to be an embarrassing luvvy-fest where I’m only going to hide behind the sofa for fear of RC’s teeth searing my retinas!”
But wait! There’s a blurring of fact with fiction with this one – how so? This episode was shown just before tonight’s REAL Eurovision Song Contest. And what follows was either the biggest coincidence going or very careful planning by the BBC. I think the latter! Also, the BBC announced that Nkuti Gatwa was to be the UK scoring spokesperson for the real event!
(Drum roll!) Then he dropped out! 🤔
Now, being a somewhat cynical viewer these days (and having NOT watched this week’s Who episode just yet). I can’t help thinking the two events are connected in some sort of BBC marketing stunt. Showrunner Russell T Davies has already gone on record to imply that if the Who episode is viewed earlier on iPlayer, there’s a massive spoiler that’s going to set the Internet on fire! 🤔. I wonder if it’s related to this??? 🤔
Anyway, back to the ‘here and now’! Unusually, I was out for most of the day today and got home around 1.30pm, where this was first on my list of ‘must watch’. It’s now 1.45 and I’m off to iPlayer then – and ready with the extinguisher for that so called ‘Internet fire’.🙁
(As a slight aside, I also squeezed in watching Crystal Palace in the FA Cup Final. I’m not really a footy fan, but when CP gets this far in a tournament, it’s a rare treat!),
Trailer
Synopsis
The Doctor’s quest to get Belinda back home to Earth leads to a space station hosting the famous song contest.
But a harmless night of fun soon becomes a battle to survive.
Any Good?
Minor Spoilers ahead!
Well, there are only
TWO episodes to go!
Lots going on with this one – best go to the loo before it starts! 🙂.
The whole episode has a cinematic feel about it in terms of the story and the soundtrack. There are quite a few genuine surprises in store, on many levels – including an appearance of a past Companion (20 minutes in and also later) plus a past MAJOR adversary (and it’s NOT Daleks or Cybermen). Mrs Flood makes her appearance (as she has in every episode so far) as does a previous Eurovision Winner.
The quest continues in attempting to get Belinda home, and we get a few more clues as to why it hasn’t been that easy so far. Being Eurovision-themed, we have a couple of regulars playing themselves. Yes, one is Ryland and the other is… guess who? This week’s story isn’t particularly dark, but it’s still quite watchable. At worst, it’s a bit ‘silly’ but it does have its (very) serious moments. It’s another one of those where you could watch it with a non-fan, and they’d (mostly) follow the story without knowing much about the Whoniverse.
The CGI and SFX are well up to scratch, so that’s a good thing but for ‘Who in-jokes’ there’s three references to ‘mavity’ and that may confuse newcomers who will be frantically searching for its meaning/significance. Luckily, there’s (now) plenty of explanation from Mr Google! 👍
There’s been quite a few negative comments about how ‘woke’ the programme is becoming. This episode won’t change that feeling, with ED&I front and centre when it comes to the casting. To me, sometimes it all looks/feels a little forced, but if you can get past that, this is a coherent story with a big message and one that sees a rare aggressive side of our hero’s personality. In fact, it’s worth watching just for that scene (around the 30 minutes in).
For me, it all got a bit over-sentimental towards the end and – oh dear! – then the crying began (and it wasn’t just one person either!!! 😡).
Hang around for the mid-credit scene where there’s a major reveal – and I do mean MAJOR. If you’re a fan (and especially a longtime fan) you won’t want to miss this. Think Doctor Who, February 1985!🤔.
So, all-in-all, a good watch, but a bit mushy in the final act – and what’s with all the crying? A mix of frivolity and seriousness probably prevented me from scoring it higher, but I liked it (in spite of the tears and RC’s teeth!). Looks like there was NO connection between NG dropping out of being the UK Spokesperson for Eurovision tonight and this story, but then again, what do I know! 🤔🤔
Next Episode?
Next week’s episode is entitled: Wish World, written by Showrunner, Russell T Davies – it’s the first of the two-part finalé to this series.
See you then! 🙂✍️
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