Doctor Who Premiere Early Review

The following is a spoiler-free review of the first two episodes of Doctor Who premiere this Friday at 7pm EST internationally on Disney+ where available and simultaneously on May 11 at midnight on BBC iPlayer in the U.K. New episodes debut weekly.

In the age of streaming wars, content is king therefore it only makes sense for Disney to target one of the biggest sci-fi properties in the world with the Doctor Who franchise. Putting their considerable dollars behind the production of the series, they also gained the highly-coveted streaming rights in the hopes of attracting viewers to Disney+. This new partnership between Disney and BBC has already garnered 3 specials featuring David Tennant and Catherine Tate reprising their original roles from the series which helped set up the fifteenth incarnation of the titular doctor, this time played by Ncuti Gatwa. As opposed to the 2005 revival of the series, running from 2005 to 2022, the series begins yet again here. Technically starting with last December’s Christmas special, The Church on Ruby Road, Gatwa got his first chance to strut his stuff as The Doctor in a winding story that helped set up this first (new) season and his latest companion, Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson). Wherever this season goes, she will inevitably be in the middle of it. An orphan with a connection to The Doctor, the mystery surrounding her birth and the identity of her mother appear to be a season long one. Meanwhile, speculation has run rampant by a Mrs. Flood (Anita Dobson), one of Ruby’s elderly neighbors with a connection to the TARDIS. Who is she? Viewers will have to wait for that answer.

As far as the first two episodes provided to press before the premiere were concerned, it was all about developing the dynamic between The Doctor and Ruby. Though the Christmas special did a great job at establishing the chemistry between Gatwa and Gibson, the first two episodes will help viewers better understand them as characters as they got to show more of themselves. Armed with a TARDIS, The Doctor and Ruby could essentially go anywhere and do virtually anything so the first episode saw them put that to the test before eventually ending up on a space station operated by human babies or as The Doctor would call them, space babies. A baby farm used to help populate human colonies in case of a crisis. Abandoned by adults, the babies were left behind and forced to fend for themselves while also keeping the station operational for the moment when their mommy and daddy finally come back. Why it was still allowed to operate in spite Their introduction and initial confusion upon seeing a man and a woman who were not their mommy and daddy was incredibly cute. Those fearing that the baby gimmick would get old and/or would get annoying should not worry. The malfunctioning station and the monster living in the lower levels were the more pressing concerns, especially the latter which proved to be a confounding case for The Doctor, but it wasn’t something he couldn’t overcome in dramatic fashion.

Next, The Doctor and Ruby found themselves going to 1963 to witness The Beatles recording their first album. However, once they arrived and were decked out in period-appropriate clothing, it was clear that something wasn’t quite right as music seemingly disappeared from the world. A key part of a developed society, we wouldn’t be where we are today if not for music but someone or something was getting in the way of that. In fact, the force responsible for eliminating all music was another Giggle known as Maestro (Jinkx Monsoon). Just like the Toymaker, she was part of a pantheon of God-like entities older than the multiverse. Fueled by music, she was obsessed with stealing all the music until she was the only act in the universe. That being said, after barely making out of his fight with the Toymaker, The Doctor was afraid and feeling out of his depths at the prospects of another fight with a formidable foe. The daughter of the Toymaker, like he was the personification of games, Maestro was the personification of music. So in order to stop her, The Doctor and Ruby needed to use music. The culmination of that was an intense musical battle that was undercut in the absolute corniest of ways to tie the premise of the episode together. With another giggle down, the season foreshadowed that there would be more to come. Comparing the two episodes, the former was definitely the most consistent as the latter was mostly propelled by Maestro.

In the end, the new Doctor Who is off to a decent start, starting to set the stage for what is to come, guided by the energy of Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson. Merely a taste, the potential of each is there. The rest of the season just needs to keep building the characters and its overarching subplots and it could be a winner.

still courtesy of Disney

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.