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Gizmodo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Gizmodo
‘Doctor Who' Utterly Wasted Belinda Chandra
Varada Sethu's addition to the TARDIS was a jolt of energy 'Doctor Who' needed—but it bafflingly transformed her into the modern era's most squandered companion. When the latest season of Doctor Who kicked off, the most exciting thing about it wasn't even its premiere story, or what was being set up to lead towards the season's grand finale: it was the arrival of Varada Sethu as Belinda Chandra, promising to shake up the Doctor/companion dynamic in a way it hadn't been in years. But now that the season is over, and Doctor Who lies amid a litany of narrative and production messes lurching towards an uncertain future, one of its biggest of all is just how it completely and utterly wasted Belinda's character. A young nurse balancing the rigorous demands of her career with the sudden tumult of being thrust into a suitably ludicrous Doctor Who narrative—abducted by giant robots and whisked off into space to become a planetary ruler and forcibly thrust into a horrific arranged marriage—Belinda's arrival in 'The Robot Revolution' immediately bucked the trends of most Doctor Who companion debuts, especially in the modern era. After initial moments of fear and hesitation, life in the Doctor's orbit is, more often than not, too mesmerizing to resist: 45 minutes to an hour later everyone from Rose Tyler to Ruby Sunday is ready to step inside the TARDIS, remark on its interior's size, and run straight forward into adventures in time and space. And yet, while Belinda ends up in the blue box just like the rest of them, she challenges the Doctor, both from his own perspective and that of the audience, every step of the way. The Belinda of 'The Robot Revolution' isn't obstinate for the sake of it or anything, but she rightfully pushes the Doctor's assumption that his way, his default of being the person that everyone in the room should listen to unquestionably, isn't the only way. It made for a remarkable chemistry between the Doctor and Belinda, and not just for Ncuti Gatwa and Varada Sethu's own sparkling charisma (the latter certainly cannot be blamed for the narrative choices the show makes with her character), but because you really see them feel out each other over the course of the episode, figuring out where lines are drawn between them—and it's Belinda drawing the lines. The Doctor's charm offensive, which has by and large driven so many of those initial sparks in the companion/Doctor relationship, simply does not work on Belinda. It all culminates in a brilliant final moment in that debut episode to set the tone going forward: calling him out for invading her privacy, for not thinking to ask people consent, for brazenly trying to dazzle her in the same way he'd clearly dazzled many people before her. There is clearly some part of Belinda that likes the Doctor; she's not actively horrified or disdainful of him, but she makes it clear he crosses lines, and the world he operates in (or rather worlds) are dangerous. She wants home, and the only thing that stops that is the fact that they can't get there—the adventures along the way aren't her signing up for this dazzling new life, but a necessity to get what she wants. It's a shame then, that this version of Belinda by and large stops existing halfway through her season of Doctor Who. Of course, she was always going to soften in her appraisal of the Doctor the longer she spent with him, but the show plays an awkward balancing act where both Belinda moves on from this challenging almost inorganically—arguably she is totally fine with traveling with the Doctor by the end of the second episode, 'Lux,' but even after the darkness of 'The Well' an episode later she is truly into the default companion mode—and because the season then also starts suddenly having to balance in dedicating its limited runtime to episodes about Ruby like 'Lucky Day,' or 'The Story and the Engine,' where Belinda is barely part of the narrative. For many of the other thorny narrative issues it has, by the time the season is heading into its endgame in 'The Interstellar Song Contest,' the version of Belinda we get there, where her reaction to the Doctor crossing a distinct moral line in aggressively torturing his 'foe' in Kid, is far from the woman who called him out for scanning her without asking her in 'The Robot Revolution,' willing to effectively rubber-stamp the Doctor's actions as a moment of duress. Which would be disappointing, but fine if Doctor Who replaced that initial skeptical archetype with anything, but instead Belinda is pushed into a void, a generic 'companion.' We don't learn anything about her, really, other than the fact that she wants to get home. But all that is before the real injustice comes in the two-part season finale. In its first part, 'Wish World', Belinda is transformed by the reality imposed by Conrad—the asshole villain weirdo who stalked Ruby in 'Lucky Day'—onto the earth into the Doctor's matronly wife. The reality is presented by the text as aberrant and dystopian, a world where every woman exists to be a good daughter, a good wife to her husband, and then a willing mother dutifully raising the next generation of daughters to follow in that exact same mold. In 'Wish World,' Belinda's one-note definition as mother to her and the Doctor's child, Poppy, is reflective of Conrad's retrograde views about women, filing them down into a single trait that is subservient to a traditionalist, conservative patriarchal power balance. The fact that Belinda, Poppy's mom, is not Belinda, the Doctor's companion that we've followed over the course of this season, is meant to be disturbing, to be something we want her to break free of and recognise the trap she, the Doctor, and the rest of the world in. 'The Reality War' instead decides that reducing Belinda to this singular trait—altered reality or otherwise—is Good, Actually. The second Belinda is freed from Conrad's world, her sole dramatic trait is reminding us that she is Poppy's mother and that that is all that she cares about, regardless of the chaos beginning to unfold around her on the Doctor, to the point that she literally tells him that she can't help him in his fight against the Rani. The episode metaphorically and literally shoves her in a box so Ruby can take on the primary companion role, safeguarding her and Poppy from any reversions to the original reality that might render the latter erased as quickly as she was wished into being. She's only allowed out the box when the day is saved, and again, she reverts to this matriarchal character, both when it initially seems like she, the Doctor, and Poppy might travel together, and then when Poppy vanishes from reality and the Doctor choses to sacrifice his life to bring her back. There is a lot of 'Reality War' that is an absolute mess, but little of it feels quite as insulting as what it does to Belinda's character. Having a character for whom motherhood is important is not the issue here; there is plenty that could've been done with a companion that's a mother (we certainly got a particularly involved version of that with Amy's arc in the Steven Moffat era!). It's that Doctor Who essentially took the Belinda it had—who, by episode count and other narrative decisions, had already been losing her sense of an arc—wiped her clean, and then metaphorically stamped 'mom' on her forehead, and left her like that for the episode's final act. An act that is now our farewell to the character, one that even attempts to retroactively 'reveal' that Belinda's arc was always about returning home to Poppy via a series of flashbacks to prior scenes from the season altered to now have Belinda add 'for Poppy' to the end of every mention of her desire to get back to Earth. That's not an actual character arc, or even an interesting recontextualization that reframes what the audience had already seen in new light. It's a literal re-write of what the audience already saw! After telling us the week prior that it was wrong for Conrad to impose, without consent, a patriarchal gender role on Belinda, Doctor Who itself has the Doctor do exactly that to Belinda, re-write all of reality to make her into a single mom. The Belinda Chandra we met in 'The Robot Revolution' doesn't exist any more, not just because the show whittled down her character into nothingness, but because the show concludes her arc by rewriting her existence so that that Belinda never existed in the first place. There's even a dark mirror in the final moments of that arc, when the Doctor does exactly to Poppy what he did to Belinda in the climax of 'The Robot Revolution': medically scan her with his alien technology without a single thought to ask if he was allowed to first. It's just that this time not only does Belinda not challenge him, she doesn't react at all. She is 'just' Poppy's mother now, with no thought or feeling given to her beyond that description. Again, a having a female character to whom being a parent is important is not the issue with what Doctor Who did with Belinda. There were so many ways the series could've given this ending to her storyline and actually organically laid out a path to it across the season. Perhaps have her slowly realize over time that something, someone is missing from her memories of her life on Earth, to struggle with the feeling that she has to get back to Earth as soon as possible while not fully grasping why, to eventually play with the reality manipulation that the finale hangs its dramatic stakes on. Instead, the show started with a completely different idea and dynamic for her—one brimming with potential it almost immediately decided not to capitalize on—before slowly but surely pushing her further and further to the fringes of its priorities over the course of the season. Belinda was never given the chance to grow and change over her time in the TARDIS, to challenge, and to be challenged by, life at the Doctor's side. Her final ending was just the last nail in a coffin Doctor Who had been building for Belinda's character as we'd known her in that first episode for a while, whether that was its narrative intent or otherwise—and ultimately just one extra failure to add to the season's list of many.
Forbes
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
The ‘Doctor Who' Regeneration Controversy, Explained
Billie Piper as the 16th Doctor in 'Doctor Who' 'The Reality War,' the finale of the 15th season of Doctor Who, saw Ncuti Gatwa exit the role of the Doctor, regenerating into Billie Piper, who previously appeared in the series as the Doctor's companion. Fans of the show were shocked at the reveal, as recasting a former companion as the Doctor was a first for the long-running sci-fi series. The Doctor has been played by a total of 16 different actors across the show's 60-year history, with each new actor introduced via 'regeneration.' Doctor Who is an interesting example of a sci-fi story offering viewers an in-universe explanation for the inevitable recasting that occurs during a multi-decade series. The Doctor is a member of an ancient alien race known as the Time Lords, who have the ability to regenerate into a fresh body when fatally wounded, imbuing them with a new personality and appearance. Canonically, Time Lords are limited to 12 regenerations, but of course, the Doctor was granted an exception, so that the series could continue. The ability to regenerate can result in a Time Lord changing race and sex, and the Doctor's recent regenerations have introduced more diversity to the series, but the show's latest regeneration proved controversial with fans. The backlash wasn't some tedious culture war bickering, but a debate over canon, nostalgia and the future of the show. 'The Reality War' sees Ncuti Gatwa's Doctor regenerate into Billie Piper, who first appeared in the series as Rose Tyler. Rose was the Doctor's companion between 2005 and 2013, during the eras of Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant, who both played the Time Lord. Many fans viewed the recasting of a previous companion as a desperate move motivated by nostalgia. One commentator even explained the casting through the lens of Spider-Man, so outsiders could understand the controversy. The discourse sparked a discussion about what kind of audience is still watching Doctor Who today, with some asserting that children are no longer the main audience of the series. Other commentators were disappointed to see Gatwa's time as the Doctor end so abruptly. Gatwa's Doctor was unusually short-lived, lasting a mere 18 months, and the actor never got to see his Doctor face off against the series' most iconic villains. Some viewed the modern Doctor Who regenerations as too frequent, with actors leaving the show before they could truly leave their mark on the role. Many comparisons were made to the MCU recasting Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom, a movie which was widely viewed as a gimmick among Marvel fans. Some fans even suspected that there was more to the story, and that Piper's casting was a red herring, noting that Piper was not officially introduced as the Doctor in the show's credits. 'Just how and why she is back remains to be seen,' the BBC said in a suspiciously vague statement after the finale aired. 'It's an honour and a hoot to welcome her back to the TARDIS, but quite how and why and who is a story yet to be told,' showrunner Russell T. Davies said. Despite the controversy, Piper sounded optimistic about her new role, saying that the opportunity to "step back on that TARDIS one more time was just something I couldn't refuse.'
Geek Vibes Nation
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Geek Vibes Nation
GVN Talking Comics: Chuck Austen On Edgeworld Vol. 3 (ComiXology Originals)
Back in October of 2020, we first sat down with creators Chuck Austen and Patrick Olliffe about their new series for ComiXology Originals Edgeworld. An intriguing and creative mix of Sci-Fi and Western highlighting the talented team at their best. Fastforward to the present and ComiXology Original's Edgeworld is getting ready to launch its third and final volume on May 13th. Giving creators Austen and Olliffe the chance to end their story on their own terms. In preparation for the release of season 3, Issue #11, we sat down once again with creator Chuck Austen to discuss the evolution of Edgeworld and everything that has gone into its final chapter. So, let's welcome back Chuck Austen to GVN Talking Comics . Revisiting the Origins of 'Edgeworld' GVN: Thank you once again for taking the time to chat, Chuck. CHUCK: Thanks for having me again, Martin. GVN: The last time we spoke was back in 2020 when we discussed 'Edgeworld,' your imaginative mix of Sci-fi and Westerns, along with Patrick Olliffe. During that conversation, you mentioned that you were ready for a long-term commitment from the very beginning. I recall you saying you had written 15 scripts, with 10 of them completed before you even pitched the story. CHUCK: Ha! I actually found two more. A story called 'Dead Man Walking', but yeah. I had done quite a few. Preparing for the Long Haul GVN: Was that confidence rooted in your belief in the concept and its potential longevity? CHUCK: Some confidence, yeah, but really, I was just loving writing the stories, and the more I wrote, the more excited Pat got, which would get me more excited, and encouraged me to write more. I think it was my working situation at the time. My day-job was helping mentor younger creators in creating their scripts, and stories, and it had been a long time since I'd written anything for myself. Edgeworld kind of opened the floodgates, I guess. GVN: Did you think that, if necessary, you could adapt the scripts into another idea? CHUCK: Not really. They were always intended as Edgeworld stories, and they're pretty specific, and tied to the characters and concept, though maybe I could have. I was just having fun, and we approached the concept as if it was an old-style television series, Weekly one-and-done stories, or at most two parts. No weekend drops for Netflix. So we could stop and start at any time and no one would feel like they'd been deprived of a satisfying conclusion. But Chip wanted arcs for trades… 5 issues that paid off from beginning to end, so that's why we took the approach we did. We took those original scripts and opened them up with threads and character arcs. The hope was we could get to 15 and end the main storyline. Or we could stop at 5, if need be. Pat and I always thought it was such an unusual concept we'd be lucky to get 5. Then after 5, we were approved for the next 10, and that was it. So those extra scripts could still be used at some point, but for now they'll lie around on my hard drive, or in print at Pat's house. The rights revert back to us, so we can always take it somewhere else. Or I could retire. LOL. My plan is to retire. Multiple Creative Roles GVN: Your confidence has paid off, as Issue #11 is set to be released on May 13th. However, starting with Issue #12, you are stepping up to take on multiple roles—not just as the writer, but also as the artist and letterer. Was this your intention as you entered the third season? CHUCK: Oh, God, no. That was a combination of things. The book never paid for itself, so I paid the difference out of pocket. Then I left animation production, intending to retire, and I wasn't making enough money anymore to produce a book. This was just about the time Pat and I sold Defiant. I talked to Amazon and they allowed us to do Defiant so Pat could earn a living while I worked out the finances for Edgeworld, but they weren't thrilled about having to wait–understandably. So Pat and I put Edgeworld on hold for a while, expecting to return to it together again in the future. Somehow the idea of me being the artist came up, and Jeff and I began discussing my drawing Edgeworld to finish out the contract. I did some samples to show I could approximate Pat's style, and he approved me, though he preferred Pat's art to mine LOL, and so here we are. The Challenges of Drawing Once Again GVN: Did you have any concerns about taking on such a challenge? Although this isn't your first time handling artistic duties for a project. CHUCK: I did, yeah. I haven't drawn a comic in over twenty years, and the expectations in the industry have only gotten higher. And Pat is so great. Such a hard act to follow. I didn't think I could live up to him, and I think of it as half his. It took me a week per page to do the tests for Jeff, and at first I told him I couldn't do it. It wasn't possible. Then I got the idea to use CG as an assist, and I was able to produce the pages fast enough to make it work. The Premise of Edgeworld GVN: For fans who may not be familiar with the story, could you explain the premise of Edgeworld? Also, can a new reader start from Issue #11? CHUCK: New readers can start with #1. Amazon/Comixology keeps them available in their digital store, and Dark Horse has them in print as two trades available through comic shops. 11 is part 3 of a cliffhanger, so I'd recommend going back and starting at the beginning, if you're interested. It's worth it. I'm very proud of what Pat and I produced. Star Wars/Star Trek thrown in a blender with old westerns and Twilight Zone. The basic concept is–as a friend described after reading them–'the Sheriff of Mos Eisley'. Rush is a small spaceport on a planet named Pala–called Edgeworld by the invading humans–at the edge of the galaxy is orbited by a riftgate that opens into other galaxies, normally out of reach. Rush becomes the gateway to trade, and wealth in those other galaxies, and Rush is the reststop–the bathroom break on the trip to and from those other galaxies. Dozens of alien species travel through that gate every day, and Killian, the human 'Magistrate', is judge, jury and executioner of this little frontier town, keeping the peace with Cheela, his local adopted daughter who hates him (don't call it Edgeworld, the name is Pala!). Cheela is a genius detective who helps Killian even though she's not legally old enough for the work, because Killian needs her inventive thinking and local knowledge. In a way she's better at his job than he is. Killian's newest partner is Halley, another local female who is tough and resourceful in her own right, but learning the job, the 'hew-mann' language, and personal hygiene as she goes. Then there's Shay, the somewhat emotionless mayor of Rush, and the proprietor of the Moonlight, a local bar, and brothel, who is Killian's best friend, and sometime lover. Together they deal with weird alien crimes, strange diseases, murderous parasites, and hostile humans who feel they're better than everyone else, especially the locals. Possible Regrets Now that the End is Near GVN: Edgeworld has received widespread acclaim from both critics and fans, with your third and final season fast approaching. The hard work that you and Patrick put in is coming to fruition. As you are near the end of the story, will you have any regrets that it is over, or will you feel satisfied that you were able to tell the tale you envisioned? CHUCK: The response has been really rewarding, and I've enjoyed every minute of creating this series. I'm so glad it's connected with people. I feel satisfied that it will come to a pre-planned conclusion, but yeah… I'll have some regrets about not being able to do more. I do love those other stories, and the idea of continuing beyond this first major arc. But I'm older, and tired, and at my age it's kind of crazy to be drawing comics again, so retirement sounds a little better at the moment. LOL. I tease my son that he'll have to finish out the series in the far distant future, after I'm gone. Other Projects Upcoming GVN: Thanks again, Chuck. Before I let you go, I want to give you the opportunity to tell our fans one last time about the third season of Edgeworld and any other projects you might have coming up. CHUCK: The third season wraps up some threads from the very first issue and beyond. I think most readers thought of them as backstory, but there's an underlying mystery that I hope will surprise and delight people when we get to 15. In the meantime, if you like 'Edgeworld,' Pat and I also created 'The Tormented' for Amazon/Comixology, a horror series about a fake ghost hunting TV show that gets a little more real than anyone expected when it turns out the host of the show, Ryan, can actually see, and communicate with the dead, otherworldly beings, and violent creatures from other realms. He's the son of an intensely powerful warlock and has many of his father's powers–which he'll need if he's going to survive and protect his crew. Beyond that, we're also finishing the third issue of 'Defiant,' a terrifically fun series we created for DSTLRY that takes spacefaring, and galactic exploration to the next level. Bizarre, alien cultures, and worlds, galactic mysteries, strange, advanced beings whose goals span millenia… We had so much fun with that one. Thanks so much for the time, Martin! ComiXology Original's Edgeworld , Issue#11, Volume 3 by Chuck Austen and Patrick Olliffe is available on May 13th.
Gizmodo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Gizmodo
‘Doctor Who' Needs to Go Away and Think About What It Did
Doctor Who is frequently bad television. In some ways, it's part of the charm: dodgy production values redeemed by inspired storytelling or character work, or clunkily camp B-movie sci-fi elevated by glimmers of spectacle, the perpetual promise of big ideas yearning to escape one holdback or another. So rarely do those myriad failings combine, so rarely do those big ideas fail to emerge, to deliver a truly wretched piece of television. That scrappy charm in spite of it all is one of several reasons that, just like its protagonist, the series has managed to cheat death for over 60 years. Unfortunately, all those things combined this past weekend in 'The Reality War.' And they made for a state so dire that maybe Doctor Who shouldn't get out of this one, at least for a good long while. You can't really describe the plot of 'Reality War,' in so much that it is less a coherent narrative and more of a collection of scenes that barely hold things together—some altogether good, some altogether frustrating—before they are forced to collapse with still a good third of its run time to go, to give way to a sudden long goodbye to Ncuti Gatwa's 15th Doctor—one sudden surprise among several that feels less like it was the plan for this story, and more like bracing for the show's still-uncertain future. Characters, sometimes literally, vanish in and out of proceedings as they're needed (some are shoved into a box, actually literally, which we'll get to). Plot threads built up across the season either get left hanging, cut off abruptly, or in some cases, just undone for the sake of a completely different change in direction. A mess from a production standpoint, again, might be redeemed in part if 'Reality War' had anything incisive to say about the mishmash of characters it starts flinging about its myriad plot threads, but alas, it is a story as incoherent from a thematic and narrative standpoint as it is logistically. From the moment the Doctor is saved from last week's cliffhanger—falling into the underverse, alongside the rest of reality—by the arrival of Anita from the 2024 Christmas special (who has fallen in love and become pregnant, a point that will become important later, but otherwise largely exists to hold doors open, a way for the Time Hotel she now works for to let the prime reality begin to flood back into existence), 'Reality War' is on a scramble. First, to snap our various heroes and UNIT out of Conrad's Compulsory Heterosexuality Reality from last week (that will also become important later), and then to have them thrust into the path of the vengeful Rani as she explains why she is trying to provoke the rules of existence into granting her access to Omega's imprisonment beneath reality itself. That reason is, rather succinct, and in a moment where 'Reality War' slowing down to actually have its characters discuss something together works. Desperately seeking a way to restore her people with Omega's body to save the Time Lord race from the aftermath of genetic sterilization (although it's unclear just which calamity the Time Lords and Gallifrey faced the Rani is referring to here), it lets Archie Panjabi's Rani become, in contrast to last week's Master-like villainess cackling about wishes and prophecy, that cold, sinister woman of science she was in classic Who, ruthless and blinded at any cost of finding the answer wrought of her experiments. A Rani who makes a callous remark about humanity as impure cattle beneath her—because Poppy, the Doctor and Belinda's Wish-World child is a combination of human and Time Lord DNA—and then jokes that she's lost the room for making a discriminatory remark is pure Rani, and far away from the essentially new character with an old name we'd been delivered last week. It's a shame then, that as spectacle forces all the talking to stop and the action to commence, that 'Reality War' the just as quickly discards this Rani, and its bizarre take on Omega, and brings the episode's whole set of stakes to a juddering crash of a conclusion. As soon as the Rani departs, the Doctor shoves Belinda and Poppy into a literal box—a tiny room built in a handful of hours by Susan Triad, of all people, to protect anyone inside from the effects of the Wish World reality being erased entirely—and tasks Ruby to go confront Conrad, while he chases after the Rani… only to watch Omega emerge from his prison as a giant, baby-ish skeleton, eat her, and then be blasted back into his prison by the Doctor shooting him with the charged up Vindicator. All this—the moment the series has been building towards all season, the return of villains from its past for the first time in decades—is resolved in a handful of minutes in the middle of the episode. The Mrs. Flood incarnation makes a glib Two Ronnies joke and promptly vanishes, but Omega and the new Rani are dealt with all the dramatic weight of a dull thud. The day is not quite yet saved though, as meanwhile, Ruby has to confront the man who first harassed and stalked her, and then re-wrote the entirety of earth into a dystopian reality where strict traditional roles of gender and sexuality rule the day (trans people literally cannot exist in Conrad's world, we learn this week, when Yasmin Finney's Rose Noble pops back into existence early in the episode, if you were excited to add another bigotry to Conrad's long list!) and minorities like the disabled are an invisible second class. Her resolution to this confrontation with arguably one of Doctor Who's most compellingly awful villains in years? To tell him he must be awful because he had a bad childhood, and then use the wish baby the Rani picked up to facilitate this whole wretched thing to wish him a happy life, free of any of the consequences of his heinous actions from either these episodes or earlier in 'Lucky Day'. Doctor Who loves itself a sympathetic villain, sure, but Conrad never argued for, or justified, his retrograde attitudes: he happily was just an awful person, and instead of facing any kind of reckoning or even acknowledging that, one of his biggest victims instead gets to wish him to freedom. Oh, and Ruby's adoptive mother gets a new baby to raise too, giving Ruby the extended family she'd been seeking throughout her time on the show. So after doing away with all three (technically four, if you count the Ranis) of its villains with a good 20 minutes to go, what other ignominy can 'Reality War' offer? The complete and total re-writing—and essentially assassination of—Belinda Chandra as an interesting character. As Conrad's wish world reality begins to buckle, it initially seems like shoving Belinda and Poppy in a box has worked, but just as soon as she, the Doctor, and Ruby begin to celebrate, Poppy vanishes from reality and their memories… save for Ruby's, whose prior experience with altered realities gives her some ability to retain some recollection. After being gaslit for a few minutes by the Doctor, Belinda, and her UNIT colleagues, Ruby's pleas eventually break through, and Belinda—who had briefly escaped the tradwife version of herself that Conrad had wished her into in his reality—suddenly flips back into her singular driving desire being safeguarding Poppy. It's her wish to see the child again that sees the Doctor similar make a sudden pivot, deciding to give his current incarnation's life to fuel the TARDIS with an overwhelming shunt of regenerative energy, allowing it to twist reality just enough to save the life of a child that otherwise wouldn't exist. On the surface, this would be an incredibly compelling way for the Doctor to go out. The Ninth Doctor died to save Rose from the power she absorbed to become the Bad Wolf, the Tenth gave his own to save Wilfred Mott, even all the way back into the classic era, you can see the Fifth Doctor's relentless, fatal quest to save Peri, a girl he'd just met, in 'The Caves of Androzani'—echoed here. But 'Reality War' never actually builds up to this decision in a dramatically organic way. The Doctor isn't fatally wounded in the process of stopping the Rani and Omega or anything; part of the initial tragedy is that he seemingly forgot Poppy's existence along with the rest of the world when Conrad's wish dissipated. He just decides that now he has to die, to do this one thing, even if it potentially means sundering all of time and space, as he's warned by none other than the 13th Doctor, who gets to make a brief, reassuring appearance as reality begins to crack, first to try and stop her future self but then to ultimately aid him, realizing the noble intent behind his actions. It is again, another rare moment where in isolation 'Reality War' shines, but only in that isolation, removed from any of the incoherence that lead to the moment in the first place. The Doctor's plan works, however, and we return to earth with a dying Time Lord reuniting with a happily mothering Belinda. Reality has shifted, we're told via retroactive flashbacks to points throughout the season, to establish that Poppy was always Belinda's daughter, and her reason for getting home wasn't because she had her work and life to get back to. It was once a life that the Doctor and his world had whisked her away from with little in the way of consent—but now, that life is Poppy herself. Retroactively having reality itself establish an entire character arc that previously dig not exist throughout the season might carry a level of existential horror to it, akin to Belinda's initial challenging of the Doctor's own invasive attitudes at the climax of 'The Robot Revolution'. But that version of Belinda Chandra—a strong, independently minded person, one who forced the Doctor to earn her trust by realizing where her boundaries were—is discarded with a handwave. She's replaced by a Belinda whose sole defining trait is motherhood to Poppy, a desire she never even expressed before (and was arguably against, in some ways, when we met her with her first toxic boyfriend Alan!). That familial desire isn't inherently a bad trait to give a character, but it's one that was never once actually indicated as part of Belinda's story during this season. If anything, it feels more true of Ruby, after her search for her birth mother and her own feelings about being adopted. This entire plotline is thrust upon Belinda in a choice she doesn't actively make—either when Conrad wishes Poppy into existence in the first place, or when the Doctor decides to break reality for her—and the nail is hammered into the coffin when we watch her not say a single word as the Doctor, without even asking, scans Poppy with his sonic screwdriver to confirm that she has been restored to reality as completely human, rather than with any Time Lord DNA. The very thing Belinda first challenged the Doctor on back in the first episode of the season now goes by unquestioned! For a season that started so strongly with this vision of Belinda, only to end it with a complete absence of her starting characterization, taking an actual characterization of motherhood and watering down to a singular, flat trait is beyond disappointing. Last week, the enforcement of a traditional, matronly role on Belinda by Conrad's usurpation of reality was a horrifying thing, a breach of consent and sign to the audience of his dystopia being wrong and aberrant. Now the Doctor essentially re-enacts that same reality back onto her, and it is Belinda's happy ending. While that's where we leave Belinda, seemingly for good, 'Reality War' has one last confounding twist to give, as the 15th Doctor prepares to say goodbye. Again, this is a fleeting moment that in isolation works: it's a beautiful goodbye to a Doctor that embodied so much joy and lightness, to want to go out sharing his explosive energy one last time with a universe he cherished, regenerating as he flings the doors of the TARDIS out to see the great breadth of the cosmos beyond him. Except, that regeneration ends with a familiar face: Ncuti Gatwa's Doctor gives way in a flash of light to Billie Piper, who, of course, is famous for having played Rose Tyler (and the Bad Wolf, and the Moment) across Russell T Davies' initial term as showrunner. Having a landmark Doctor in terms of representation regenerate into a familiar face from that 2005-2009 era of the show might be a surprise, albeit a slightly questionable one if we hadn't already done this two years ago. Gatwa's time as the Doctor, already cruelly short, is now bookended by two 'weird' regenerations that overshadow both his arrival (especially in so much as that, in bi-generation, David Tennant's 14th Doctor got to stick around) and his exit with a play to nostalgia. A play that we have no idea exactly how it's going to play out any time soon, given that Doctor Who's latest end has yet to come with news of its renewal. This is the last Doctor Who we will get to see for at least several years, and it is a moment where the show's future should feel bursting with potential. Instead, it's closed doors and rehashed cheap tricks. If 'The Interstellar Song Contest' represented a vision of Doctor Who at its most cowardly from a politically minded standpoint—so unwilling to be seen as saying anything it offered singsong in the face of genocide, while torturing its victims—then 'Wish World' and 'Reality War' together as a whole represent a vision of the show at its most creatively cowardly. A companion that challenges the Doctor? Out the window for a one-note character to be discarded and defined by a singular motherly trait. The return of classic villains with something to say about their place in the modern era? Smoothed over, cut short, discarded as emptily as they're introduced. A bright future of new promise? Only old faces, old ideas, reheated and re-delivered at the expense of wasting a generational talent. Whoever Billie Piper's mysterious figure portends to be as the show clumsily teases that there may be more than meets the eye to this regeneration, whenever we get to find out, should the BBC's deal with Disney fall through or carry on, the only thing that is clear coming of out 'The Reality War' is that the current version of Doctor Who cannot carry on like this. Doctor Who has no future without building on its past, to be sure, but as it stands, its creative guideline in the here and now has no interest in building on it: only returning to it in increasingly arcane and shallow ways, pointing fingers and jangling keys over any meaningful engagement that would set the stage for future ideas and vitality. Perhaps, for now, this should be the end. The moment has certainly been prepared for, in delivering an era of the show at its absolute nadir.
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Rylan Clark breaks down in tears as he shares his emotional reaction to Doctor Who's regeneration reveal after his own iconic cameo on the show
has revealed his tearful reaction to Saturday's bombshell Doctor Who finale, after his own jaw-dropping cameo earlier in the series. Having joined much of the nation who tuned into the series conclusion, the presenter and longtime fan took to Instagram to share a video mere seconds after Ncuti Gatwa 's regeneration hit screens. Viewers were stunned when it was revealed that Ncuti had regenerated into former Doctor Who star Billie Piper, with the star making a surprise In the clip, which Rylan joked he'll look back on with 'absolute embarrassment,' the Radio 2 star said: 'So this is going to be a really embarrassing story that I will look back on and be like ''you absolute embarrassment'', but I've just watched the finale of Doctor Who. 'I don't know what's just happened. Oh my god it's unbelievable, what a turnout, I can't believe it.' From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the Daily Mail's new Showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. He went onto caption the post: 'To be a part of this season was such an honour, I'm in bits. What an ending xxx.' Rylan previously starred as himself in a Eurovision-inspired sixth episode of this series of Doctor Who, titled the Interstellar Song Contest. Billie will now be the second woman to take on the role as the Time Lord after Jodie Whittaker portrayed the 13th doctor. She replaces Ncuti, who leaves Doctor Who after two seasons in the science-fiction series. The actor's time on the long-running science fiction programme came to an end as The Reality War episode brought this season to a close on Saturday. The two-part season finale saw the Doctor face the Rani in a battle to save the world after making the decision to safe the life of one little girl. As he bid farewell to companion Belinda Chandra, played by Varada Sethu, he said: 'I hope you'll see me again, but not like this.' The finale also saw Whittaker, the 13th doctor, make a guest appearance as Gatwa's Doctor appeared to be travelling through alternate universes. In a statement released by the BBC, Ncuti Gatwa said: 'You know when you get cast, at some point you are going to have to hand back that sonic screwdriver and it is all going to come to an end, but nothing quite prepares you for it. 'This journey has been one that I will never forget, and a role that will be part of me forever. There are no words to describe what it feels like to be cast as the Doctor, nor are there words to explain what it feels like to be accepted into this iconic role that has existed for over 60 years and is truly loved by so many across the globe. 'The fans are truly the final character and beating heart of this show and I can't thank the Whoniverse, and the Whovians, enough for welcoming me in, and making this such a touching experience. 'I've loved every minute of it, but now is the time to hand over the keys to that beloved blue box and let someone else take control and enjoy it every bit as much as I have. 'I'll truly miss it, and forever be grateful to it, and everyone that has played a part in my journey as the Doctor.' Reacting to the news Billie said: 'It's no secret how much I love this show, and I have always said I would love to return to the Whoniverse as I have some of my best memories there, so to be given the opportunity to step back on that Tardis one more time was just something I couldn't refuse.' After Doctor Who was broadcast, Billie Piper posted on Instagram 'A rose is a rose is a rose !!!' with images from her previous time on the show playing the Doctor's companion Rose Tyler. Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies said: 'What a Doctor! Thank you, Ncuti! 'As his final words say, this has been an absolute joy, and the team in Cardiff and everyone who has worked on this show for the past few years, are so lucky to have been part of Ncuti's great adventure as he shoots off to stratospheric new heights.' The BBC programme is also said to have been paused for an extended break amid criticism about recent plots involving non-binary aliens, incels and even a pregnant male extra-terrestrial. A small number of social media critics have pointed to the diversity of the cast, a drag queen villain, and introduction of transgender and non-binary characters. However, both Davies and Gatwa have strongly dismissed this criticism as from a minority, with Davies telling BBC Radio 2's 20 Secrets From 20 Years: 'Someone always brings up matters of diversity. 'And there are online warriors accusing us of diversity and wokeness and involving messages and issues. 'And I have no time for this. I don't have a second to bear (it). Because what you might call diversity, I just call an open door.' Gatwa told Attitude magazine in 2024 that the hateful comments the sci-fi show has received after casting a black man is 'fascinating, because there's so much energy they're putting into it ... I think they need to go find a hobby is one thing'. During his time, he has had companions in the form of Andor actress Varada Sethu, and former Coronation Street actress Millie Gibson, who played Gatwa's companion Ruby Sunday since the 2023 Christmas episode The Church On Ruby Road. Highlights of his two series have included a Regency-themed episode that saw him have a burgeoning romance with the character Rogue, played by Mindhunter actor Jonathan Groff, the explosive Boom episode and the arrival of the classic Time Lord villain, the Rani.
