Doctor Who – Fusion Patrol: Recent Episodes
Lone Locust Productions
Simon and Eugene look at the Dalek Master Plan, including the newly-recovered episodes 1 and 3, and they discuss companion deaths, the traditional Christmas Dalek, whether Douglas Adams watched this serial, and whether Mavic Chen could have been blue.
This week, Simon and Eugene finally come to the end of the 2025 season of Doctor Who and the end of the Gatwa era, when they look at the final two episodes, Wish World and The Reality War.
They discuss Ncuti Gatwa’s performance as the Doctor, compare the Deadly Assassin with the Reality War, whether it would have been more or less tasteless to joke about Ernest Borgnine’s death if he was still alive, if it makes Dimensions in Time canon, and oh, so many more things than this story actually deserves.
This week on Fusion Patrol, Simon and Eugene look at the 2025 season of Doctor Who, episode number six, the Interstellar Song Contest.
They discuss parallels between the ice in the Doctor’s heart and the Time Lord Victorious, the influence of Diamonds Are Forever on this episode, why Eugene’s local sports team is the New Zealand national cricket team, and you can listen to us googling 1970s Eurovision winners.
[Go Black Caps!]
The Doctor lands in Lagos, and Simon and Eugene land on their thoughts about the Story & the Engine.
The consider which continents on Earth the Doctor tends to visit, barbershops in television culture, and give their Fusion Patrol literary recommendations.
Is it Simon and Eugene’s lucky day as they discuss Lucky Day?
They argue over the capability of this incarnation of UN.I.T., they discuss the history of the Think Tank organization and whether Kate Stewart sends the Doctor monthly reports.
Simon and Eugene discuss whether the Well is needed to be a sequel and which episode it should have been a sequel to, whether twice is too many times to play Britney Spears’ Toxic in two decades, and whether dialogue on TV used to be easier to hear.
Doctor Who 2025 barrels on with episode 2, Lux, as Simon and Eugene discuss whether animations have depth, the missing merchandise from this episode, whether they’re seeing a new season template emerging, and how the new TARDIS wardrobe works.
Simon and Eugene kick off the 2025 season of Doctor who looking at the episode, The Robot Revolution, where they discuss meta-paradoxes, RTD using Moffatisms, and how you count hyphenated words when you are missing every ninth word.
Simon and Eugene discuss different forms of mind transference, they rate Steven’s departure against other companions, and they discuss what aspects of animation take us out of a animated reconstructed story.
Come join the conversation as they look at the newly-released animated Doctor Who story, the Savages.
This week, Simon and Eugene look at the 2024 Doctor Who Christmas special, Joy to the World, where they discuss whether Christmas episodes can break all the show’s usual rules, whether the TARDIS jukebox will be replaced by a chair, and how Doctor Who should treat the politics of the COVID lockdown rules.
We’ve come to the end of another Doctor Who series, which means its time to reflect back and announce what comes next.
When Fusion Patrol was first created, we imagined a podcast that was looking episode-by-episode at TV shows that time had been, perhaps, forgotten. We never envisioned needing to be “timely” because we were planning on looking at shows that were decades old. There’s no rush to edit, produce, and drop a pod talking about a 1970’s episode of Logan’s Run. Today, tomorrow, next month… it’s pretty much all the same.
While that was our original goal, and I would argue that we’ve been quite successful at it (more on that in a later post) when we actually got to a place where our ducks were in enough of a row that we could begin recording, we were right in the middle of the 2010 Doctor Who series – Matt Smith’s first.
Yes, there were then and still are dozens, if not hundreds, of podcasts looking at every episode of Doctor Who, but Ben and I were enjoying Steven Moffat’s revamp of the series, and we decided, “What the hell, why not get our feet wet on one of our all-time favorite programs?”
The first episode of Fusion Patrol was on April 28, 2010, and it looked at Time of Angels.
After the series ended, we did a couple more episodes about Doctor Who, and then we started our “regular programming” in August 2010 with Sapphire & Steel.
Since then, it has been Fusion Patrol tradition to look at every new series of Doctor Who as it premiers. However, this practice throws our standard workflow into the dumpster, which is quite disruptive. We’ve tried several different approaches with varying degrees of success, and none of them work out quite right.
This year, I gave myself a break by completely giving John and Kenneth the months of May and June off from recording episodes, but Simon and I still had to struggle to get Doctor Who done. We have to make the time to watch the episodes ASAP after they drop. We’ve got to schedule a time when we’re both available, and then afterward, I start the fight editing and posting the episodes. It’s never fast enough or soon enough.
While we don’t have ad-based sponsors, and this podcast has never been a commercial venture, we still like to get plays and find new listeners. With so much Doctor Who competition in the podosphere, getting the episodes out as soon as possible maximizes the number of plays. Delays mean people get tired of listening to all the takes on the most recent episode.
Doctor Who breaks our release schedule and tends to push us over our monthly storage quota. Even if we wanted to, we couldn’t post another podcast episode until July. I had to break things to get the last episode out before then.
But that’s all done for 2024 until Christmas Day. Our regular schedule will return starting July 6, 2024, when we begin our look at the 1977/78 NBC series Quark.
Quark was created by Buck Henry (co-creator of the classic series Get Smart) and meant as a spoof of Star Trek. Just a few weeks after the pilot aired, a little thing called Star Wars came along, adding a new twist to the series’ development. The first regular episode of the series, somewhat re-tooled from the pilot, was a Star Wars spoof, “May the Source Be With You,” and aired in February of 1978. Quark featured Richard Benjamin as Captain Adam Quark of an unnamed United Galaxy Sanitation Patrol cruiser with its dysfunctional crew.
Quark was a 30-minute show with neither many episodes nor much intellectual depth. We’ll examine two episodes at a time, covering the entire series in four podcasts.
As we always like to say, “Come join the conversation.“
…also, “The Universe Ad Infinitum!“
This week, Simon and Eugene discuss the two-part Doctor Who series finale, #TheLegendOfRubySunday & #EmpireOfDeath.
They discuss why the One Who Waits waited, wanting more Mel, the difference between an anagram and a homophone, and a new UNIT dating controversy.
Simon and Eugene look at the very recently released 3D animated re-creation of the missing 1966 Doctor Who story, #TheCelestialToymaker.
They discuss the new art style for 3D motion-captured animated Doctor Who, the consequences of budgetary constraints in both the original and animated productions of this story, and they finally agree on whether the animation should try to recreate the original or exploit the freedom that animation brings.
This week, Simon, Ben, and Eugene discuss the Doctor’s sexuality and changes in the representation of sexuality on Doctor Who, Gatwa singing the same pitch as Gene Wilder, and Checkov’s psychic earrings as we look at the #DoctorWho episode #Rogue.
This week, Simon and Eugene look at #DotAndBubble, the 5th episode of the 2024 Doctor Who series.
They discuss having sympathy for a homicidal AI, the influence of #BlackMirror on Doctor Who, and they talk about judgment with hindsight as they have a “fierce” argument over whether this episode is better than Kerblam!
Note This episode was originally intended to be released on May 27; however, quotas at my podcast host prevented it from releasing until June 1. This is re-release.
This week, Simon and Eugene look at the 2024 season Doctor Who episode #73Yards and discuss whether a reset makes an episode worthless, whether Doctor Who is really an anthology series, and they identify the influences of Nigel Kneale, Years and Years, 2001, An American Werewolf in London, and The Wild, Wild West.
This week, Simon and Eugene are looking at the 3rd episode of the 2024 series of Doctor Who with the episode Boom.
They discuss different approaches towards the writing of different writers, faith, and the logic of the landmine with the flashy lights.
This week’s second bonus episode looks at the Doctor Who episode, the Devil’s Chord.
Simon and Eugene discuss a missed opportunity for a respectful pastiche of the Beatles, whether bi-generation will be reversed, and whether Ruby is an abominable snowman.
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Bonus episode discussion this week is the first episode of the 2024 Doctor Who series, Space Babies, by Russell T. Davies.
Simon and Eugene discuss whether the best way to introduce the show to a new audience is a massive info dump, what Ron DeSantis would have thought of the episode, and whether it was written by ChatRTD.
DoctorWho #SpaceBabies
This week’s episode under review is Doctor Who – The Church on Ruby Road, the 2023 Doctor Who Christmas special written by Russell T Davies and directed by Mark Tonderai. Starring Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor, this episode first aired on December 25, 2023.
Hosts Simon and Eugene discuss the musical conceit of characters producing rhymes out of nothing, Ncuti Gatwa’s performance, and the Doctor committing gobslaughter. They also speculate about Mrs Flood’s identity.
Summary of The Church on Ruby RoadRuby Sunday, a foundling seeking her family, faces mysterious accidents orchestrated by mischievous creatures. A stranger named the Doctor aids her. On her 19th birthday, a foster baby arrives, coincidentally born on the same day. While caring for the baby, Ruby learns her family history search is futile. The creatures snatch the baby, leading Ruby and the Doctor on a rescue mission. Captured on a goblin ship, they escape, but normalcy eludes them. Goblins steal Ruby from her past, prompting the Doctor to intervene. In the end, Ruby discovers the TARDIS, beginning a new chapter in her extraordinary journey.
Simon and Eugene compare the differing reconstructions from this and the previous release, we discuss whether changes in the color version of the animation contradict the dialogue, as well as the sexy fish people, and we argue over our favorite color choice for the Doctor Who original titles.
Come join the conversation.
In this second of two parts, Simon and Eugene continue their chat about #TheGiggle and discuss what type of undershirt Tennant’s Doctor wears, will Donna spill coffee on the Vlinx and get fired from UNIT, and did RTD give us all a massive gift when he turned the Doctor’s history into a Toymaker-created puzzle?
Come join the conversation.
In Part One of two episodes on The Giggle, Simon and Eugene consider if David Tennant’s Doctor is now a discarded snakeskin, is RTD actually the Toymaker, and if Steven Moffat can fix all this mess later.
Simon and Eugene ponder the Wild Blue Yonder and wonder what the US Air Force song tells us about nothing on a spaceship, how and when you need to get the supersonic screwdriver out of the way, and Eugene breaks into song.
Oh the horror! (Video follows.)
Spotted earlier today on Amazon UK was a Blu-ray release of an animated reconstruction of the missing Doctor Who series, The Celestial Toymaker (prequel to the Giggle.) It disappeared, but later a steelbook version can be found with a release date of December 31, 2024.
Also today, the official Doctor Who YouTube channel released an “Animated trailer” for the Celestial Toymaker, and it is the stuff of nightmares.
Don’t think.
The newly-minted 14th Doctor arrives in London just in time for an alien invasion and to meet an old friend.
It’s the first of the three 60th Anniversary Doctor Who specials, The Star Beast.
Episode Synopsis
The newly-regenerated Doctor, suffering no obvious post-regenerative effects, arrives in London, where he almost immediately encounters Donna Noble, followed by her daughter Rose, and a crashing alien spacecraft. The Doctor also meets Donna’s husband, Sean, a taxi driver, and heads off to intercept the spacecraft.
UNIT has descended on a steelworks where the craft has made a controlled landing. The Doctor chooses to keep out of sight of the UNIT troops, but he’s soon spotted by Shirley Bingham, UNIT’s current Scientific Advisor. The Doctor explains his dilemma. For some reason, he’s got an old face back, and he’s been plunked down right next to Donna Noble, and there’s an alien invasion. Something is up. But if Donna ever remembers him, she will die.
He also points out that the ship was damaged by weapons fire, which means there are two alien invaders.
Rose has gone to see the escape pod, which landed near her house, and then, upon return to her shed, has found The Meep, a creature so cute you could sell them by the millions if you had a little shop. (I love a little shop.) The Meep is afraid, for there are monsters pursuing the.
UNIT has located the escape pod, and the Doctor hitches a lift to see it and realizes it is right near Donna’s house. (At least, I think that’s why he goes straight to Donna’s house.)
At the spaceship, a squad of UNIT soldiers are taken over by the craft and proceed to search for the Meep.
In Rose’s shed, Donna discovers the Meep, and a flap ensues. Sylvia — Donna’s mother pretends like there’s nothing there because she knows if Donna remembers about her journeys through space and time, she’ll die. The Doctor arrives and starts to try to deal with the Meep.
The explain that the Wrath Warriors have hunted Meepkind to extinction, and the is the only one left.
The possessed UNIT soldiers arrive at the front door, the Wrath Warriors arrive at the back door, and the shooting begins. The Doctor gets them out of the house and into Sean’s taxi. Along the way, the Doctor notices something curious. They escape, but not before the Wrath Warriors notice them and open fire.
In an empty car park, the Doctor stops and holds court, conveniently summoning two Wrath Warriors out of thin air. The Doctor, as judge, presents the evidence that he has amassed. The Wrath Warriors are firing non-lethal weapons and are not killing the UNIT soldiers but instead stunning them. (He fails to mention that they blew two walls out of Donna’s house with explosions that could have easily killed someone.) He also posits that the mind-controlled UNIT soldiers are actually under the Meep’s control and trying to rescue the.
The Wrath Warriors explain the Meep is the last of the kind, a race of beings mutated into cruel, evil killers by their sun when it went mad. The Meep responds by killing the Wrath Warriors with a concealed weapon, just as the possessed UNIT soldiers arrive. The Doctor bluffs his way into getting himself and Donna’s family taken prisoner rather than killed outright.
They are taken back to the Meep’s starship, which has been repaired by a team of more possessed workers. The starship uses a Dagger Drive, which will destroy and consume London upon takeoff.
The Doctor and the gang are rescued by Shirley, and while Donna’s family tries to escape, the Doctor heads to disable the ship.
Donna has been increasingly remembering the Doctor in an oblique way and, almost instinctively, follows him onto the starship. They get sealed in before the Doctor can send her away.
The engine compartment is split in two by the biggest plot contrivance in the history of television, and, with Donna’s consent, the Doctor must perform an undelete on the files in Donna’s head, even knowing that it is a certain death for Donna. They stop the ship and — bonus — undo all the physical damage to London.
Donna dies in the Doctor’s arms. But the Meep is still at large and plans to destroy the ship. This is where Rose comes to save the day, for she, too, has the mind of a Time Lord, passed down by Donna, which has split the meta-crisis between them, which also means Donna isn’t actually dead. The Doctor then causes the Meep’s escape pod to eject, allowing the Wrath Warriors to apprehend the.
The split meta-crisis only delays the inevitable, and now Donna and Rose are on a countdown to die. Fear not; they’re women, and they can just let it go, thus ending the meta-crisis. (“Just let it go?” Clearly, Donna has never met Donna.)
Later, Donna goes with the Doctor for one last trip — just to go see Wilf and let him know that everything has been resolved and Donna is safe; however, Donna spills coffee on the new TARDIS console, and they are off on an uncontrolled journey into time and space.
David Tennant is back as the Doctor, and Simon and Eugene look at his first outing in this special episode of Fusion Patrol.
Computer-generated Transcript. (Errors may exist)
[00:00:10.01] Eugene:You're listening to Fusion Patrol, a Lister-supported podcast. Each week, we take a single episode of a science fiction TV series, movie, or audio, and overanalyze it to within an inch of its life. Welcome to the discussion. Hello and welcome to a special episode of Fusion Control, I'm Eugene.[00:00:39.15] Simon:And I'm Simon.[00:00:40.63] Eugene:And we are looking at the 2023 Children in Need Doctor Who special with David Tennant and David Tennant. I'm not even gonna give you a recap. It's on YouTube. Go look for it. The Doctor lands on Scarra right after being regenerated, meets the Mark III travel machine, and you can... So, what did you think of this interesting little special, Simon, that they put out?[00:01:09.05] Simon:I mean, I wasn't sure how seriously to take it, and I guess that you could accept this as part of Doctor Who continuity. It was quite fun. I mean, it was a comedy. Yes, and yet it was not. was also quite sort of, it was, you know, you had Davros on Skaro and all the rest of it.[00:01:33.71] Eugene:Nider's voice in the background there is portrayed by Nick Briggs.[00:01:39.15] Simon:Oh, I missed that. I saw a comment about... Right, okay, yeah, that makes sense. I need you to come and check something.[00:01:48.36] Eugene:Yes, it's not handcuffed. Peace.[00:01:50.62] Simon:Scott Hancock said that he thought that Briggs sounded like... Oh God, I've forgotten the name of the actor who played Nyder, but yeah.[00:01:57.32] Eugene:Yeah, I'll think that's what he was going for.[00:02:01.04] Simon:Who was the actor who played Davros?[00:02:05.67] Eugene:It's Davros. It is... Julian Bleach? Something like that?[00:02:11.14] Simon:Right, who played Davros in 2009.[00:02:16.24] Eugene:Yeah, all of the all of the new series. Yeah, uh, Capone era as well.[00:02:21.42] Simon:Yeah, fair enough.[00:02:22.49] Eugene:I'll fight with him, and that's why he sounded very much like him.[00:02:25.05] Simon:What I did, what I, yeah, except I'm not used to listening to him because when I'm listening to Davros, it's, it's... Oh, terribly. Roy because it's big finish. So even when I'm watching Genesis of the Dalek and it's Daleks and it's Michael Wisher I'm thinking it doesn't sound quite right because I've got so used to Terry Roy doing it. The thing that didn't seem to... me quite right was that they were at this point in the in the genesis of the dialect. Ass. Davros is not in his chair.[00:02:56.54] Eugene:Yes, yeah, yeah, um, yeah. That is RTD. It's 2023. We do not equate people in wheelchairs with evil, and if I ever have Davros, he will not-- the production crew all felt that Davros should no longer be in a wheelchair.[00:03:18.14] Simon:Okay, that's interesting.[00:03:19.87] Eugene:Though I applaud his, again, progressive representation and, you know, it is a negative stereotype. You put him in the wheelchair and you make him the villain. But it's not just that. I mean, the reason the Daleks look like the Daleks is because Davros is creating them image, in a way, and so why do they look like they do now? I don't know if that means he's actually ever going to have Davros in his episodes. Well, yes. If I ever do.[00:03:56.43] Simon:Guess he's just had it. never I mean I don't know ever again be.[00:04:01.87] Eugene:In a wheelchair.[00:04:02.81] Simon:I don't know how I feel about it. I've not read anything by any kind of wheelchair user or anyone in the disability rights activists saying that Davros was a problematic character from that point of view. I have seen stuff about the way in which Davros was dealt with in the Peter Capaldi episode. I forget its title. Something to do with a witch?[00:04:29.73] Eugene:Yeah. The magicians are present.[00:04:32.00] Simon:Well, the image-- practitioner's apprentice, whatever, anyway, whatever it was called, because there are scenes where he is thrown out or pulled out of his chair and the doctor sort of almost mocks him and that looks very problematic now, and I can't remember what we said about it at the time, but it surprises me that that wasn't a bigger issue then. Whereas simply the fact that someone who is in a wheelchair and who is a genius might also be evil. I mean I get it, it's like there are not that many people on TV who you see in a wheelchair. Yep. not a positive thing if a very high proportion of them are evil geniuses rather than either geniuses or just not evil. But yeah, I'm okay. I need to think about it. But I knew City-wise.[00:05:26.71] Eugene:It's a bit of a mess. I think if my memory serves correct, this is a Mark 3 travel machine, and I believe when Tom Baker gets here, they introduces the Mark 4 travel. I'll cut it. So this is earlier, um, I, it's a comedy. I was definitely amused by the whole thing where the doctor keeps saying things like giving them their name, saying Genesis of the Daleks. I exterminate you. Yeah, yeah, it was funny. So I enjoyed it and I hope it made a lot of money for children in need, which is its goal, and I think, you know, when we talk about whether or not this is canon, the curse of the fatal death is definitely not.[00:06:14.44] Simon:That was a new release though, wasn't it? I think the rule is children in need is bad and comic relief is not.[00:06:21.57] Eugene:Oh, was that a different one? I thought that was Children in Need. I don't know. Yeah. Well, there was Peter Davis and that was probably Children in Need.[00:06:30.17] Simon:I was chosen in India. Yep, time crash. Interesting. Oh that did have a title.[00:06:36.37] Eugene:Yeah, I did. because credits I've yet I don't remember this. I've heard somebody call this by a name. Something of the Daleks. Ha ha ha. Origin of the Daleks. I don't remember what it was, but I don't know if that was official and I don't recall seeing it on the screen. So, um, because I think they wanted to hold it off and not, uh, you know, not give it away. >> Before the doctor. arrives. You know, it's like, "Oh, that's, uh, oh, dear. That's a Dalek. Yeah. Um, anyway. I just, it, wanted to see if you were amused by it and what your thoughts were, but apparently you had not picked up on the, uh, because I, I did see an awful lot of people cheering the, the non-ableist viewpoint that RTD has put forward. on this and I thought I didn't get that when I watched it I just thought this was earlier before he had been damaged but but frankly even that doesn't make sense because you know we know so much about Davros from say Big Finish and Well... It's not new that he's in that wheelchair.[00:07:37.80] Simon:That's what I was trying to remember. Is there anything in Genesis that suggests a kind of timeline in terms of where the development of the Daleks was at the point where he was injured? Because a lot of my kind of backstory of Davros comes from the big Finnish audio play Davros and the extremely brilliant spin-off, Idav. which goes into all of this in quite a lot of detail, and I would say on the whole is it contains fewer laughs than the children in the She's fresh. but it will but it's[00:08:15.01] Eugene:I think Finish now have to change Davros from this point forward.[00:08:17.58] Simon:Good question. - Javros walks into the room. Well, this is just a quick thing 'cause we didn't want to let that bit of celebration go by without mentioning it.[00:08:26.39] Eugene:But do you have anything else on it?[00:08:28.91] Simon:No, I think we've talked for longer than you, probably twice as long as the episode went on now.[00:08:34.92] Eugene:I think so. Anyway, let's... we've done that before. Maybe... Maybe even about... Yes. Maybe even about the Starbeast.[00:08:43.20] Simon:That is true.[00:08:45.16] Eugene:Thank you. Simon, thank you for joining me.[00:08:47.60] Simon:It's a pleasure, as always.[00:08:49.43] Eugene:Listeners, I hope you'll join us all again next time on Fusion Patrol. You've been listening to Fusion Patrol, thanks for listening. If you've enjoyed this episode, we hope you'll consider supporting us at BuyMeACoffee.com/FusionPatrol or Patreon.com/FusionPatrol. For our monthly Patreon subscribers, we're currently running a special series on Babylon Come join the conversation in the comments section of this episode at FusionPatrol.com. You'll also find there over a decade of past episodes. You can find some of our other works at SoundCloud.com/FusionPatrol. Our music is "Fight the Future" by Amberwolf. This has been a Lone Locust production.
Simon and Eugene discuss their previous encounters with this missing story, pure historicals and historical accuracy, and the editorial decisions around reconstructing a story where there is insufficient original material to convey the narrative.
Foreword
You’ll often hear that the world you create in the mind’s eye when listening to audio adventures is in every way superior to what can be created on TV or in movies. I find that argument wanting. That said, that is mostly what we have here in these reconstructions where two episodes are telesnaps. Later I found out that William Russell had a separate narrative track explaining some of the more obscure bits, but by this time, I’d already written my summary – and I’m sticking to it. Enjoy my mind’s eye.
Serial Synopsis
The TARDIS arrives near Jaffa in the 12th century. Nearby is King Richard the Lionheart and his party of men named William. They all come under attack by the Saracens under the command of Emir El Akir. Barbara is captured, and Sir William Des Preaux is captured, pretending to be the King as a diversion to allow the real king to escape.
The Doctor, Vickie, and Ian recover the wounded Sir William De Tornebu, giving him medical attention and eventually returning him and the King’s belt, which was in Sir William’s possession, back to the King in Jaffa. Before meeting the King, they must steal some clothes, which the Doctor and Vickie accomplish. These clothes, however, are no doubt already stolen from the Crusaders. Hopefully, that won’t cause any problems.
In El Akir’s camp, Sir William meets Barbara. After proper introductions, Sir William maintains his ruse, and he adds cover for Barbara by claiming she is his sister, Joanna, and they claim the treatment to which they are entitled as royalty. El Akir makes to take them to Ramlah, where Saladin, the Sultan, has his camp, to gain his favor.
Saladin isn’t deceived and knows immediately this is neither King Richard nor Princess Joanna, and El Akir looks a fool. Sir William is sent back to El Akir’s, but, as a knight, he is to be well treated in his captivity. Barbara will remain to entertain Saladin with tales of her travels.
In King Richard’s court, he is beholden to the Doctor and fam but not inclined to help Barbara. Sir William and the Doctor make the King see the humor of Sir William’s ruse.
The Doctor is a wily old bird and soon has the King thinking of a swap and perhaps something more.
The King’s sister, Joanna, meets the Doctor, Vickie, and Ian, and she is suspicious of them. Especially of Vickie, who is pretending to be Victor, a boy.
El Akir wants to do terrible things to Barbara, so he arranges for her to be kidnapped from Saladin’s encampment and taken to his place in Lydda to suffer her fate.
The King has decided to offer his sister in marriage to Saladin’s brother, Saphadin, to make a peace deal, and he sends Ian to convey the message, but first, he knights him, Sir Ian of Jaffa.
The stolen clothes have come back to haunt the Doctor as the Chamberlain recognizes them, but a 12th-century human brain is no match for a Time Lord brain, and the Doctor soon has this smoothed over to his satisfaction, if not everyone else’s.
Barbara arrives at Lydda, and then some noises happen. There are pictures of guards, apparently molesting a chicken, Barbara wandering the streets, and dramatic music, so I think she escaped.
Sir Ian arrives at Saladin’s camp and presents the King’s proposal. They aren’t going to let Sir William go, and he learns of Barbara’s kidnapping, so Saladin allows him to go after her.
Yes, Barbara did escape, and as she is about to be recaptured, Haroun Ed-Din rescues her and gives her shelter in his home.
Joanna discovers that Victor is a girl and, while upset, accepts that the Doctor only perpetrated the deception for the girl’s protection. She takes Vickie into her protection. In return, she suspects that her brother is up to something involving herself and asks the Doctor to tell her if he learns anything. He agrees.
Haroun tells Barbara his tale: His eldest daughter was taken by El Akir for his harem, and Ek Akir murdered his son and wife. For this, Haroun lives only to kill El Akir. He has not told his other daughter, Safiya, about the fate of their family, and she believes they have gone missing. Haroun goes out but is captured or maybe beaten and left in the street by the guards searching for Barbara. This ultimately leads them to search Haroun’s house, and Barbara surrenders to them to protect Safiya.
Saladin has received Richard’s peace offer and agrees to it, but still makes ready his armies, just in case it falls through or is a deception.
While sleeping in the desert, Sir Ian is taken prisoner by Ibrahim and his mostly-missing brother.
In court, the Doctor is not making friends with the Earl of Leicester, who wants war, not peace. When asked directly by Joanna what the King has planned for her, the Doctor demures, so Leicester tells her, and she is furious at both the Doctor and the King, and she flatly refuses, citing that the Pope is ultimately in charge, not the King, and he wouldn’t allow it.
The King thinks the Doctor spilled the beans to Joanna and kicks him out.
Now trapped in El Akir’s palace, Barbara is going to be treated very poorly indeed by El Akir, but she escapes again, this time into the palace.
Sir Ian is tied up and staked to the ground. His captor, Ibrahim, wants him to hand over his money, and when Sir Ian refuses, he covers parts of him in honey and leads ants to him. Ibrahim can wait until Sir Ian tells him what he wants to know.
Leicester is questioning Vickie, and the Doctor is less than complimentary to Leicester and his desire to fight. The King overhears and puts an end to the questioning. He also tells the Doctor that he knows he didn’t betray his plan but that it was expedient to pretend that he did. Leicester is a good fighter, and he’s going to need him. Having made an enemy of Leicester, the King sends the Doctor and Vickie to Acre. The Doctor readily agrees, and they leave immediately, although he’s actually planning to return to the TARDIS.
Barbara has found sanctuary in El Akir’s Harem. She meets Haroun’s eldest daughter, who tells her they all (apparently) hate El Akir and agree to hide her. All, save for one, who betrays Barbara in for a ruby ring.
In the desert, with the ants ever closer, Sir Ian cracks under pressure and agrees to turn over his gold. He convinces Ibrahim that it is in his boots, but when they are removed, Sir Ian’s foot odor overpowers Ibrahim and rots the ropes binding Sir Ian’s wrists. He subdues Ibrahim and forces him to take him to Lydda.
In Jaffa, Leicester learns of the Doctor’s departure and sends his men to follow them. Unfortunately. The TARDIS lies in the direction of Saladin’s camp, not in the direction of Acre. This gives Leicester all the proof he needs that the Doctor is a spy.
El Akir finds Barbara; this time, he’s really cross, but simultaneously two things happen. Haroun, who was just left in the streets, bursts in and… I don’t know, probably kills El Akir, and then Sir Ian shows up to non-lethally thump a few heads. They are both safe and head back to the TARDIS.
The Doctor and Vickie are aware that Leicester’s men are trying to entrap them, so the Doctor comes up with a picture-perfect plan for a telesnap reconstruction – they must make absolutely no sound whatsoever!
This doesn’t work, and the Doctor is captured and about to be killed when Sir Ian arrives and claims the right to kill the Doctor for himself. They get in the TARDIS and leave to the bewilderment of Leicester and his men.
Jodie Whitaker’s Doctor’s era comes to a close. Simon and Eugene conclude a two-part discussion of the fall of the Thirteenth.
Jodie Whitaker’s Doctor’s era comes to a close. Simon and Eugene begin a two-part discussion of the fall of the Thirteenth. Episode Synopsis The enhanced Time Lord Cybermen are attacking a train in space carrying some very special cargo, a small child. The Doctor, Yaz, and Dan do some derring do and rescue the train, ... Read more
Simon and Eugene discuss the ending, again, of the Doctor Who animation series, where animation improves on live action, and we look at what missing serials from Doctor Who remain unanimated. Episode Synopsis In the Himalayas, at a mountain camp, a strange creature enters the camp and leaves one man dead. Shortly thereafter, somewhere else ... Read more
Tick tock, goes the clock. It’s the penultimate 13th Doctor adventure, Legend of the Sea Devils. Simon and Eugene discuss. Episode Synopsis The year is 1807, and the infamous pirate Zhen Yi Sao is assaulting a statue of a sea devil over the protestations of one of the locals. The statute cracks, and out pops ... Read more
Episode 559 before 558? What the heck? Blame a Time loop. Blame Chibnall. Why not? The 2022 New Year’s Day Doctor Who Special Eve of the Daleks is here and the year is off to… a start. Simon and Eugene discuss. Episode Synopsis Warning: The following plot synopsis contains both editorializing and swearing. It’s New ... Read more
We conclude our two-part look at Doctor Who Flux as if it were a single six-part story. At six hours of television, it rivals the length of even the longest classic Doctor Who series. There’s a lot to unpack and the unpacking ends here. Simon and Eugene continue to discuss Doctor Who Flux.
We start our two-part look at Doctor Who Flux as if it were a single six-part story. At six hours of television, it rivals the length of even the longest classic Doctor Who series. There’s a lot to unpack and the unpacking begins here. Simon and Eugene discuss Doctor Who Flux. Serial Synopsis Chapter 1 ... Read more
Five episodes into the six and we’re still piling new storylines on. It’s our compressed reaction to Doctor Who Flux, Chapter 5, Survivors of the Flux.
Galaxy 4 is back from oblivion via animated recreation! Simon and Eugene take a second look at this third series, first Doctor story. For our original take, see our 2016 episode (259 – Doctor Who – Galaxy Four). Story Synopsis The Doctor, Vickie, and Steven land on what appears to be a dead planet, but ... Read more
The Weeping Angels are back and creepier than ever. Does this represent the high-water mark for Chibnall’s era?