Did anyone notice that the Doctor was going beat for beat to not make the same mistakes he made with Rose? Including fixing Ruby's phone and having her call her mother right out of the gate, explaining who he was and what happened to his people immediately, etc.
The butterfly effect gag worked more for me than I was expecting, because after resolving it the Doctor goes "oh, I forgot to flip the Butterfly Compensation Switch", which is both a very funny idea, and a decent explanation for why the butterfly effect doesn't usually work like this in the show. It opens the can of worms for a joke and then really quickly closes the can of worms with another joke that cleanly explains it.
@@Mx-Alba I mean it looks like they accidentally landed next to Newton so I'll take it as canon. The 14th doctor was probably so excited to travel with Donna again that they forgot to switch on that butterfly thing.
I was entirely satisfied by the handling of this potential issue - that was a key to getting me fully on board with these episodes, and the new series as a whole. This WAS Doctor Who in its fullest - and I'm **not** piling in on Jodie with that!
28:53 I read that scene of the Beatles saving the day differently - earlier in the episode, when the Doctor and Ruby talk to John and Paul, there is a yearning and a sort of reach within both of their interviews towards music, and then Maestro intervenes, and they shot down. The same happens when that old lady tries to play Clair de Lune, after Ruby inspired her - so I read that scene as both of them, while Maestro being distracted, as being free to reach out and touch what was already there and was a part of them and just wanted to come out.
Also wanted to say that. But there's even more. In the Interview with Doctor, John (or Paul? Not a Beatles fan, so I don't know which right now, sorry XD) said that he had this one chord in the very back of his mind and he said the notes. And I later expected the Doctor remembering this and using this said chord to defeat Maestro. But when John and Paul finally got to the Piano, saw this musical riddle (that the Doctor started) and recognized this one chord they had in the back of their head for the whole time, it came around. It just made sense.
That's how I took it as well, but as Jessie was talking, I thought of another aspect. John thinks in voice over that he just wants to go home. The Doctor has never expressed that kind of desire to go home - be it Gallifrey or wherever they were before they were abandoned. That's a feeling they haven't really been shown to have. So maybe that experience was the last thing needed to banish Maestro - the idea of returning home.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned that "Henry Arbinger" was seen during the "there's always a twist at the end" song... I kinda thought that left an opening for Maestro to come back. Also want to state publicly that Maestro is my new favourite Doctor Who baddie.
Right!? but he seemed scared? I wonder if they are saving lil Harry Arvinger for someone else or if he will come back OR Just a little side effect, like with the toy maker, realitly is a "lil bent" as an after effect. also the tea lady was played by susan twist!!
I think that since he's the Harbringer, he will bring forth all of the other children in the future, not just Maestro. I'm also wondering if all Children of the Toymaker will start with an M and if that's a link to the Master, who the Toymaker captured in his golden tooth.
I found the space babies a little too uncanny valley, but I *loved* the "Did I grow up wrong?" conversation. It was the most Classic Doctor-ish Ncuti's Doctor has felt so far and it took me that last little distance I had to being completely 1000% ride or die for him. He's full of so much energy and kindness and empathy and I truly love him. The Maestro was fantastic, intimidating and clever and passionate, and the idea of a being of music seeking the music in emptiness really works for me. And I love how it was John and Paul together who saved the day; they always said they were happiest when they were in that creative flow together. The Maestro shutting down human music but not being able to actually *stop* that creative musical streak that feels transcendant is incredibly relatable to me as a musician. Edit: 16:20 he'd done that before back in Season 2, in the first part of the Cyberman parallel universe double! He breathed life into one of the TARDIS energy cells to help her recover, gave up ten years of life energy so his beloved ship wouldn't die! Okay massive nerd moment over, going back to feeling a Whole Lot about The Devil's Chord now.
Yeah, since he's the timeless child I guess he has infinite regen energy now. I guess it's not impossible for him to die since he has died a handful of times and got reset, fathers day and turn right/left I can't remember which, come to mind. Still, stakes are effectively gone
As a musician, I have some... Thoughts... About The Devil's Chord. Both good and bad. 1. Super nerdy music theory bit first: If it was just a tritone chord, aka an interval of an augmented 4th, needed to summon Maestro... Honey, that happens all the time. Playing with tritone suspensions and harmonizing with tritones has been a thing since before the Roman Catholic church said, "no, you must not." It would have been great if there was an explanation for why this very common musical concept needed a "genius" to find it and play it. What was different that made it "genius?" If it's me writing it, Harbinger retuned the piano to make it impossibly perfect, adaptable just-tempering (has to do with the mathematical ratios of frequencies for the tuning of notes and how we make compromises against perfect tuning in order to accommodate fixed tuning instruments like pianos versus instruments like violins that are infinitely adjustable in the moment). We've had well-tempering of tuning since before The Giggle, so this would be the first time since then that the devil's chord would be played with perfect tuning (well, except maybe jazz ensembles playing without a piano, but let's just suspend disbelief and say the piano needed magical tuning). But that wouldn't make it a work of genius. Unless perhaps, Drake's ear notices the piano has never sounded this well-tuned before, and he plays series of modulating tritone progressions, and you normally wouldn't be able to maintain perfect tuning through the modulations without some sci-fi magic. 2. I don't have perfect pitch, but I'm pretty sure the pitches Maestro sings land on a tritone interval when they call out, "wheeeere aaaaare yooooou?" and that is perfection. I have no notes. (Edit: on second listen, it's actually an octave dropping to a 6th. It does sound discordant and weird, but that's the effect of the minor 3rd created between the octave and the 6th. Still cool, I guess) 3. I hate the cartoonish animation of the music notes throughout. It felt more like Roger Rabbit, I wish they'd been animated a bit differently to give a more sinister edge. 4. I love the inclusion of aeolian tones and music of the spheres. Great callouts. Again, no notes from me. 5. They clearly animated the notes of the banishing chord as though they were sitting on an invisible staff... But they didn't match up the pitch and octave of the notes to where they were sitting (a note went higher, but was shown sitting lower on the staff... I'm not asking for perfection. Just put it higher instead of lower). That bothered me intensely. 6. Jinkx Monsoon deserves a standing ovation. Bravo, times a million.
they really are the god of music!! No notes for Jinx Monsoon!! also thoses are really interesting. i;m not a cool music nerd, but i love those new facts I learned!!
I literally laughed out loud when the Doctor said he thought that the music was diagetic And I absolutely LOVE that the embodiment of Music, was a non-binary character. Music is neither female or male and yet wholly both, and it felt so appropriate (other than the actor they cast being an absolute scene stealer!)
@@osnatashtaralevin8944 Diegetic is music that's a part of the environment in the story (say, a piano playing in a restaurant the characters are eating in) and nondiegetic is music that the characters don't hear and the audience does. (Well, when you're not in some weird situation when characters are able to hear the soundtrack, I guess, but that's pretty rare.)
I found it clever that they use the Beatles for the episode where "music is stolen", because I can imagine that the licensing for Beatles music would have been too expensive otherwise. 😅
Something I haven't seen anyone mention is that Maestro was very much channeling HIM, a villain from The Powerpuff Girls (androgynous, voice oscillating from high and sweet to dark and menacing). Furthermore, HIM was based on the Chief Blue Meanie form Yellow Submarine, the Beatles animated film, who had some of the same characteristics and whose goal was to... extinguish all music! It ties together so perfectly and cleverly that I can't believe this wasn't deliberate.
You're right, I haven't seen anyone mention The Powerpuff Girls yet, but lots of reviewers and commenters on other pages have noticed the parallels to Yellow Submarine. I would like to believe it was deliberate, but no effort was made to develop the Beatle characters, so there seemed to be a real lack of knowledge about them. OTOH it wouldn't take too much research to incorporate YS, so maybe.
Then again... Jessie *did* say she was drunk twice in the video (what with how alcohol messes with the mind in particular ways)... Maybe she'll notice it once she's sober.
The butterfly effect bit was a blatant inclusion for new fans. Because anyone who doesn't know the show would assume time travel in it works that way, so Ruby asks, we do the gag and then the Doctor says he's enabled the 'butterfly effect countermeasures' or whatever on the TARDIS so now we don't have to deal with it on that level. The Devil's Chord moment was much more explicitly a callback to Classic Who, specifically the Pyramids Of Mars story, as an explanation why the Doctor and companion can't just run away from an existential threat like this because 'well they don't win because everything's fine in the future'.
The butterfly scene directly went _against_ the previously-established rules of time; time is able to resolve paradoxes if they're small enough, often by introducing something else that has a similar effect. In a bit of an extreme example, imagine that that butterfly was destined to land on a Silurian and cause them to freak out and accidentally activate a nuke; if that butterfly was crushed before it ever landed on the Silurian, something like a fly might land on them instead, thus setting off a similar chain of events. This is how time works in Doctor Who; time wants to remain on specific path, and slowly nudges things back into position when events have been altered.
I turned the show off and walked away with the violin. Then later in the day I finished watching the episode. I found it so on the nose as to be cringe worthy. But overall this was just meant to be a fun little whimsical show, so something like this I won't over-analyze. For example, does this mean that in the Who Cannon there now was no music from the mid-1920s into 1963? Or did everything we saw in the episode get erased? It doesn't matter, it was just meant to be fun, no need to get bogged down in those type things.
On the resolution of the Maestro situation, to me it felt more like a nod to the fact that the Doctor needed help, that it took a community to solve the problem, than some kind of statement about genius.
It's a amall point, but Lennon and McCartney weren't at odds in 1963. They were close friends at that point. Certainly Yoko Ono wasn't around at that point. One inconsistency is that Lennon is wearing the wrong glasses; at this point he wore thick-rimmed NHS specs rather than the round granny glasses he would become known for. It's also interesting to note that the chord John and Paul play at the end is very reminiscent of the final chord from the Sgt Pepper album, which I don't imagine was unintentional.
^this!!! They went back to the First album recording. John and Paul at this time are thick as thieves, and definitely bouncing off of each other writing songs together. Maybe making the point that, not only can Genius be hard work sometimes, but also collaboration. Contrasting the lone all knowing Genius stereotype.
Yes, it was a nitpick of course, but the costuming of the Beatles and even the clothes of many of the actors were generic 60s, often later 60s, not 1963.
The thing about John and Paul finding the last note that I liked is there was a sense that the genius is in collaboration, in people working together. That's what made the Beatles work, very different people coming together, and it's a very Doctor Who thing, but it wasn't set up. It easily could have been, Ruby and 15 nerd out about everything Beatles in act one, why not plant the idea that genius is collaboration. No individual, even The Doctor, experiences everything but together we are more than the sum of our parts. We also could have seen the Beatles reacting to Ruby's song. Still a brilliant episode, and nothing is perfect.
Every new incarnation of the Doctor brings new things to the role. Pertwee was a martial arts and Bond fan. The show runners incorporated that into the show. Ncuti Gatwa is a well trained queer actor who can sing and dance. Makes sense Davies would incorporate those aspects into the show. I’m loving the energy. It looks like they love what they are doing which brings so much joy to the show.
I agree with you on the cgi babies, totally creeped me out. Im also interested in seeing what Vera has to say. In fact i can almost sense her sighing and possibly rolling her eyes slightly lol
I kind of liked the Doctor rehashing some of the "last of my kind" ideas, for a few reasons. First, it was brought up as part of a conversation that was clearly meant to introduce the Doctor to new viewers, so there's a certain amount of info-dumping that's both necessary and forgivable in my mind. More importantly.... Second, I think it shows a significant amount of character growth from the Doctor. Compare how previous incarnations try to avoid the discussion with new companions (e.g., Martha saying "Let's go to your planet", and David Tennant replying "No, that wouldn't be any fun for me, let's go somewhere else exciting"). From a character perspective, previous doctors were avoiding a trauma he hasn't dealt with yet. From a meta perspective, the repeated hinting and trickling of the backstory builds up the mystery and makes it a central feature of both the story of the episode and the audience expectation that future episodes need to and will explain this more. But here, Gatwa just says it, right out of the gate. This character has come to terms with it, this season isn't going to be about it, it's just part of the backstory info dump for new viewers. And, on a related note but worth its own separate point... Third, it's realistic that this major traumatic event that shaped the Doctor's life for so long will continue to affect him even after he's "dealt" with the trauma. Dealing with trauma isn't a one-and-done deal. He's come to terms with it, but you can see a certain amount of grief return in his eyes and his facial expressions when he tells Ruby. I also really liked her reaction (both actors were great in this scene), as she just doesn't know at all what to say in response to a very calm: "there was a genocide and now I'm the last of my people". On a completely unrelated note, I loved the Maestro playing the first part of the theme song, and the Doctor's later line that he didn't realize the music was diagetic. Those were both delightful moments, and I'm excited for how they're handling the season so far.
As a Beatles fan, I can tell you that the song at the end should have been ‘Twist and Shout’ and it’s weird that it wasn’t, and the chord that defeats the Maestro should have been the e major at the end of ‘A Day in the Life’. I did enjoy the Maestro, I hope you did too.
I was surprised, almost disappointed, you didn't mention the conversation the Doctor had with the Space Baby Captain who asked if they had been born wrong. His repaonse moved me to tears. I immediately thought of my older son whonis gay and then you and Vera. I also think Space Babies was tied to the seasonal myth idea as well, Ruby says as much.
I think Clara was just as much of a mystery box out of the gate. Clara *did* have an episode to start that didn't bring up the box at all (Asylum of the Daleks), but she also wasn't the companion at the time, and the next episode she shows up in (the Christmas special) immediately launches into the mystery box of "The Impossible Girl", and Clara only becomes a companion in the *next* episode at the true start of that season.
I don’t think it’s that different, but I feel like we only got to know Clara after the mystery. She essentially became a different (better) character after Smith’s run when they started exploring how her adventures were making her jaded and careless, and how that was making The Doctor break more and more of his rules to keep her safe This is subjective but I also think the mystery itself is more interesting, with all the cool cryptic snow visuals and the memory being seemingly alive. I got the impression Moffat hadn’t decided what the deal was with Clara when he set the mystery up, and just decided on an answer later. But we’ll see if RTD can stick the landing better. I do kinda wish Ruby didn’t have a built-in mystery, but I’m fine if the mystery itself is interesting and they don’t forget to make her a character too
"I would never describe myself as a genius" - OK, that's a different aspect of this Doctor's personality among many others. Eleven frequently called himself a genius, and Ten often did, too. These are light-hearted, fun episodes. It would be easy to pick them apart on details, but this is as much about energy and vibe as the plot details. It's magical realism, as you say. It's whimsy and musical, meant to simply be enjoyed.
Yup. It's too energetic and fun to warrant picking apart. And the 14th Doctor definitely seems like much more totally new take on the Doctor than we've seen in a long time. Pretty much every other incarnation, except maybe 13, had pretty enormous egos.
I thought the ending song was a full circle moment to tie in how music returned to the world by having the Doctor and Ruby making fun music with the Beatles and Cilla.
The doctor says “new TARDIS, new buttons” immediately after the butterfly incident. He then turns on the butterfly compensation switch (@5 min 35sec). So the butterfly effect exists but the TARDIS can compensate for it.
@@HuntingVioletsIt's not new, but the Doctor had to repair the TARDIS during Wild Blue Yonder and he literally says that the switch mustn't have been turned on like it used to be.
I do think what helps with the Doctor being scared in each episode is that the fear manifests differently in each case: The Bogeyman is something that scares him, but he has no idea why because on the surface it doesn't seem any worse than a lot of what he's faced; Maestro he knew _exactly_ why he was terrified because he was so scared of The Toymaker's incomprehensible powerset, and fairly narrowly defeated him - Maestro has a similar powerset, but also has their own rules and The Doctor didn't even know where to begin with defeating this threat
I’m surprised you didn’t mention the Doctor mentioning his granddaughter. According to Anton Chekhov’s theory of the gun, the Doctor’s granddaughter will be making an appearance later in the story. Why mention her in such detail if she isn’t going to be an important plot point before the story ends?
There's also an actress appearing in multiple episodes this season named, and I kid you not, "Susan Twist." She was Newton's servant in the Xmas special, and the lady selling tea in 'The Devil's Chord.'
@@mujiescomedy279 Rose had just left so it was natural to talk about her to the next person to travel with him But she did eventually appear again. There’s been no mention of Susan in more than 50 years (other than a single appearance in the Five Doctors story) and now he spoke of her for several minutes.
There was a "song". The music battle was meant to be a movement from a classical concerto and (bringing back Murray Gold in a big way)! I can't believe you skipped the Star Trek reference! I thought you'd flip out! I love how tender Gatwa's Doctor is so far!
I don't think this is the first time they referenced Star Trek in Who... but, anyway, as I recall there was a brief moment in 2005 when RTD wanted to try and do a crossover episode with the then-current Star Trek TV show, Enterprise. Nothing ever came of that, but maybe there's hope for a Strange New Worlds crossover? It wouldn't be all that more unusual that the live action Lower Decks crossover episode they did.
With how The Maestro kept breaking the fourth wall by looking at the camera/audience, plus how, after they "defeated" Maestro, The Doctor looked at the camera in the same way- and then how extremely campy and surreal the musical scenes at the end... idk, I don't think we've seen the last of The Maestro. I guess after toymaker we saw the effects last a while after so maybe that was just the residual magic in the air. But yeah, when they were singing and dancing and it was RAINING INSIDE... felt like I was missing something in connection to the snow Ruby brought snow into the room or the ash which was falling in the dino scene
oh yeah and the freaky lil victorian child of the Maestro at the end! What's that about!! I want a whole spin-off show with Maestro as the main character
In both of these episodes, I just feel like Ncuti and Millie are having the time of their lives. Space Babies seemed like they went down to a local daycare and played with babies for a few hours while the BBC filmed it and then edited an episode out of it.
I watched the episodes on two separate days, and that was (for me) enough space between the two episodes that I didn’t even notice that he was scared of two baddies in a row. I agree with Jessie that they should have only released the one episode and waited for the next one.
I don’t think you need to know the history between John and Paul for the moment at the end to land. It’s just resolving the bit near the beginning of them obviously having a pull toward music but denying that part of themselves. Anyway the Devil’s Chord kicks ass. Space Babies is alright.
Yeah, I know little enough about it that it wasn't on my mind and it still landed fine for me. I also like that the doctor set them up for it. Genius may have been needed to finish it, but hard work and experience got most of the way and in the heat of the moment trying to fight this powerful force that's a heck of a lot. Genius doesn't come out of nowhere anyway, that's why you'll get multiple people making the same breakthrough at pretty much the same time, because even though the breakthrough was amazing the foundation still had to be there. The talk at the beginning put them in the right place to make the breakthrough as well.
I think the problem of the mystery box being made too obvious might stem from the same issue a lot of TV these days have - the season's been truncated to eight episodes, they don't have the time to let it simmer.
Sherlock only ever had 3 episodes per season and it worked. The problem is the Runtime and the rush to get to the end of the episode more than anything else
@@joshuadownes9449 I can't speak to Sherlock, haven't seen it, but the strength of previous mystery boxes in Doctor Who stemmed from them building up much more slowly. "The DoctorDonna" seeming like a vocal mistake by the Ood, the implication by Donna throwing off the time bug thing and the soothsayer's terrified response being that something was coming (which was immediately overshadowed by the return of Bad Wolf), etc. Bad Wolf itself, an occasional seeming coincidence until it became more notable during the final two parter. It's a problem that a LOT of current TV has. There's no room for the tiny coincidences, the little hints, nor for any "filler" episodes that can quietly load up Chekhov's Gun while doing something else to contribute to character development. Donna didn't start off almost immediately getting told there was a lot of coincidence around her - that had to be built up. A lot of shows don't even get room to tell their MAIN plot, let alone the side ones necessary to give this kind of building mystery the room it needs to breathe. It's only episode 2 of the season and we already know an incredibly powerful entity, on par with Maestro, is involved in Ruby's either birth or abandonment. That's way too fast, we as the audience haven't been given time to get curious instead of having the answers front-loaded and spoonfed to us nearly immediately.
Jinkx Moonsoon was absolute scenery-chewing perfection in The Devil’s Chord. I hope that there’s a way to bring the Maestro back at some point. Part of me thinks that “Space Babies” was written as part of a bar bet centered around how many times RTD could fit the episode title into the script. I liked the more subtle part of the commentary behind Space Babies: That when faced with the orders by their company to leave the ship and babies, most of the crew went on record to “strongly object” to the decision, but then complied, implying that they would only do the bare minimum of protest necessary to still remain “good people” in their mind, while Jocelyn put her money where her mouth was to stay and care for the kids.
The Devil’s Chord really reminded me of a manga I have been reading for a few years called Undead Unluck. A lot of the fights that come out of the show involve the main cast battling concepts in a physical form. For example in the most recent little arc, the characters are fighting the embodiment of Language. They play a game of Shiritori where they say words and bring that thing into existence, and then the next person has to pick a word that begins with the ending letter of the previous word. For example if one person said Elephant and the other said Tiger, each would summon an elephant and a tiger to fight one another. There is more nuance in how it works, but I find it really refreshing to read something like that where it isn’t simple, you really have to think. Where you can’t beat The Toymaker or The Maestro with guns like Kate Stewart tried in The Giggle, and you actually have to figure out a new method for defeating them. Like playing catch or playing a specific tune.
The way I understood the scene where John and Paul save the day goes like this: Ruby and The Doctor had talked with Paul and John about music, attempting to nudge their innate genius to manifest itself, and had been rejected. But when John and Paul see the piano there in the hallway, with those crystalline notes hanging above it, and they think they're alone and can't be laughed at, that seed sprouts, and they start exploring real music for the first time. This is actually made explicit in the scene, where John hears Ruby's voice from their earlier conversation, and Paul quotes his own words from his conversation with The Doctor. This didn't come out of the blue; it was the direct result of Ruby and The Doctor doing the necessary groundwork.
I remember Sir Terry Pratchett complained, after watching Voyage of the Damned, that if Doctor Who was going to lean away from science fiction towards a more fantasy vibe then it should just commit instead of depending on technobubble to patch the holes. I feel like this is committing.
The thing i love about this doctor is how open he is. 9 to 13 were extreamly closed off. They didn't reveal anything, and when they did it felt like they let somthing slip. 15 is open about his past, his family and what he knows about himself.
I watched from day one because my Father knew it was good. He worked on it. Many years later so did I. I helped recover the colour on lost episodes. I cried when it came back in 2005 watching with my kids. No though... 'Magical realism' I can cope with at a push - full blown musicals I would and do run away from. The acting is splendid, the writing, the dialogue is top notch but - how I love a solid fourth wall. I need it ! This is a very good review, it helped me not hate the shows so much.
I saw the song at the end as music flooding back into the world when maestro was banished and the hint they are still in the background, as harbinger re-emerged during the song!
I think my biggest worry with how much they’re leaning into the mystery box isn’t that it will be underwhelming in the end but that it might weaken these episodes on rewatch. Right now without the knowledge of where Ruby’s story is going I’m really loving the build up, it’s incredibly intriguing to me and I love how it works with the newer magical feel we’re getting, but I just can’t help but think after everything is revealed in the end I won’t want to return to these episodes because of how much they focus on a mystery that we already know the answer to. Ideally after the end of the series I’ll want to come back to these episodes not only for their own stories but to catch new details I wouldn’t have noticed without having seen the whole arc, but I’m not entirely confident that will be the case.
I love that they gave the legendary Murray Gold a cameo in the music episode. He's playing the piano in The Twist at the End. Murray Gold's compositions are what Doctor Who sounds like. So deserved.
I would like to say I loved both episodes for very different reasons. Firstly with all the setup, we finally had acknowledgement of Susan and how the Doctor doesn't know where she is. Then everything with the timeless child being acknowledged. But where do I even start with episode 2? I honestly don't think that an episode has felt like so much fun in a long time. Jynkx absolutely killed it in every scene they were in, definitely one of the most entertaining villains I've ever seen. I could mention specific parts that I loved, but that list would be way too long.
I think Jessie missed the moment when one of the beatles told the doctor about dreaming of a divine chord, where they listed the first few notes that the doctor started with when he tried to find the right chord later in the episode.
I liked that John and Paul came in and finished the notation. To me it felt like "ordinary, stupid, brilliant people" were the final piece of the puzzle to get the win.
With regards the issue on the Big Man narrative about John and Paul saving the day, the thing is that I feel that are two elements on the story that undermine that reading: the first one is that, as many others said before in the thread, we're facing a version of the Beatles in a universe in which what they feel that is really their passion and what they want to tell is being repressed, the whole thing on the connection with the feelings as a source of authenticity in art is there. But in adition to this element, .and now the music nerd on me is the one who is talking- I feel that you have to do the following contextualisation: the year is 1963 and the Beatles that we find here are the Beatles that are straight out their Hamburg years* getting to record Love Me Do -their first ever release. These Beatles are the ones that are still on good terms one with another (there are still 3 years away from crossing paths with Yoko and 5 from tensions in the band being really an issue) , but also are the Beatles that not even yet were derided as little more than a glorified boy band and quite far from having life-changing experiences such as meeting Bob Dylan and beging to indulge into more experimental songwriting and production styles like they did from Revolver to the White Album (casually the two albums Ruby mentions in the TARDIS). If anything, having the context, these Beatles come across as that people still working hard to find a voice. *And that's supposing that Maestro's meddling with the timeline hasn't changed that either, which should be the case but wibbly wobbly timey wimey.
I really have to take issue with the use of the term "magical realism" in discussing The Devil's Chord. This was straight-up fantasy. Cartoonish fantasy in some instances. Magical realism is more akin to John Coffey's abilities in The Green Mile, not the silly animated musical staffs essentially coming to life and attacking Ruby. I really hope these 2 episodes aren't indicative of the "Disney-fication" of Doctor Who going forth.
In ‘The Devil’s Chord’, I was a bit disappointed though that they didn’t use an actual Beatles track at the end, like ‘Love Me Do’ or a song by Cilla Black. I DID like the song at the end though and the fact that they danced ‘the twist’. I’m not sure but one of those dancers appeared to look a bit like Dodo Chaplet, one of the first companions with the hat she was wearing. I wonder if that was intentional. 😃 I also liked the fact that the Doctor mentioned ‘76 Totter’s Lane’ and where it was located in Shoreditch, London; and that he and his granddaughter Susan Foreman were living there. ‘Maestro’ was a great villainess IMHO as was her young son Harry Binger (Harbinger). It was great that the Dr. Who theme at the start of the episode, with it being played on a piano by ‘Maestro’ and leading directly into the opening credits. There was a great call back scene similar to the one in the ‘classic’ Tom Baker episode ‘The Pyramids of Mars’; when, like Sarah Jane Smith, Ruby Sunday was shown what would happen if Maestro wasn’t stopped.
Another thing I appreciated was the nods to earlier Doctors. Including the mention of his granddaughter, which I expect to see a payoff of later in the aeason, or maybe next. Might Ruby be his great granddaughter?
lol I love the idea of a Beatles ex machina being something that can happen in any movie. Inaccurately cast John and Paul just saving the day in any given movie. obsessed.
Am I the only one who noticed now much the Bogey Monster pulled from the xenomorphs of the Aien series, or how closely the bogey monster's air lock experience went pretty much beat-for-beat with the air lock scene in Alien Resurrection?
Surprised you didn't point out the Star Trek mention in Space Babies and the Doctors "Haha, we've got to visit them someday" reply, which I feel kind of canonizes the Assimilation² comics where the 11th doctor meets Picard, the 4th meets kirk and they face off against a combined cyberman and borg threat.
The best Star Trek crossover is clearly the one with the TOS cast and the X-Men, leading to someone asking for Dr. McCoy and both Bones and Beast saying "Yes?"
I know right! It's like a life long geeks wet dream. Oh that reminds me . .... Note to self: New sheets. Weird how the potential fir crossover of these two franchises still inspires fangasams world wide!
The Doctor bringing back the butterfly reminds me of two other moments in the show: Back in series 2, the Doctor blows on a dead energy crystal to recharge it, and he tells Mickey he gave up ten years of his own life to do it. We later saw the 11th Doctor give up regeneration energy to heal River's injured hand/arm. So this is the third instance we've seen of the Doctor doing this.
I understood the song at the end was sort of the Doctor’s “prize”, in the same way he got to make a new tardis after beating the Toymaker. Also, has anyone caught that the chord John an Paul played is the finale of “A Day In The Life” (pretty sure)
Love the mention by The Doctor about he forget to turn on the Butterfly correct button in the Tardis, to account for butterflies and changes to timeline
a couple thoughts on the butterfly effect scene- I'm guessing the doctor used a lil bit of regeneration energy like how tennant grew back his hand. Also, it was interesting to me that 15 turned on "the butterfly effect switch" which I don't think we've heard of before? And then when The Maestro clearly does something to the TARDIS with sound, could that effect the butterfly effect switch? So excited to see how this all plays out!
Martha and Bill both asked about the butterfly effect and were pretty much mocked. I was relieved that Ruby was too (for various reasons) at first, but I have to think this switch is new and that maybe it didn't even show up until after the incident but once it did, to the Doctor it seemed as if it had always been there.
[Spoiler fuelled speculation warning]. . . . I wonder if the Maestro being part of a/the Pantheon, whether we may touch upon the Trickster at some point? Back in 10's appearance in SJA at Sarah-Jane's wedding, he mentioned that the Trickster was an elemental kind of force from the Pantheon of Discord (cue Clyde's 'that'd make a good band name' line). The namecheck of a Pantheon, Clyde's music joke, and a Pantheon coming back in a music-themed episode, and Discord / Devil's Chord, seems like a lot of coincidences. The Trickster would also be a VERY good fit for a Maestro, Toymaker gang etc.
I mostly liked these episodes, they were good, but am I alone in wanting to talk about the absolute rubble being made of the fourth wall lately? Like, famously this is far from the first time the Doctor has acknowledged the audience, but both him and Maestro regularly winked at the camera, Maestro spoke to camera and played the theme song, obviously there's Mrs Flood, and towering above all of that is the Doctor responding to Maestro physically manifesting musical notation with "I thought that was non-diagetic". It's an *amazing* line but wow, is this why they started again at season one, just because season fourteen is a bit late to introduce fucking Deadpool? Honestly, it does kind of feel like just a different show in a way that previous showrunner handovers never have. Is that a bad thing? I don't know, wait and see. But it's definitely a *thing*.
I disagree about the musical number feeling "tacked on" at the end. I personally think that it followed the same logic as the Toymaker, with whom, after he was defeated, the "rules of the game" kept lingering which allowed the Doctor to split the TARDIS in two. So, it only makes sense that after Maestro was defeated, the spirit of music kept lingering, thus creating the musical number and piano-crosswalk scene.
I did appreciate the butterfly effect gag for setting the stakes of the question: why can’t we go back and find the person who left Ruby at the church? Demonstrating that the timeline is pretty changeable makes the idea of going back more scary.
I actually kinda had the complete opposite reaction to the Beatles-ex-machina moment. Yes, it was cheesy, but the alternative that I was actively dreading in that moment was the Doctor actually playing the entire chord. Yes, this doctor is a more musical doctor, but he isn't passionate about music. He hasn't put time and effort into actually being a musician, so even though he's had all this experience, it feels like he shouldn't know quite how to translate it correctly. I think with the Beatles being the ones to finish the chord, you can have a lot more nuance to the moral. Like the one the episode establishes with the old lady after Ruby plays her theme, who's inspired and plays her own song. Music is, in this theory, an inherent human trait. Any spark of song can reignite the flame, and maybe it's that flame that the doctor lacks because he's not human, or it's the inevitability of death or any 'human' trait. You can read so much into that final note, and you should, because if the doctor plays it, why does he need humanity? Why stop the maestro? I feel that the Beatles should have formed more of the chord, seen the situation, and composed it in reaction, out of passion, fear, etc. This didn't give them enough power and agency, in my opinion. (I am not a Beatles fan; I don't even know many of their songs and can't name the members. My comments are motivated by a drive for my view of the thematic heart of the episode, not any desire to glorify the Beatles, who I feel were actually mocked a little bit in this episode? Not much tho)
I assume it was regeneration energy used to save the butterfly but not a lot as it is a small creature and he has used the trick before to fix RIVER's wrist
I think on reference to the Bogey man, the Dr. Was saying he isn't afraid of new things or the unknown. In Maestro he knew exactly what he was up against in the entity he daced and therefore was with good reason frightened in that situation.
As a person who isn't super into beatles history, I kind of read it as these people who have the echoes of music being suppressed by the whole Maestro thing rediscovering their love for the art and in doing so sealing the Maestro.
3:35 (Born in 2004) ...yes, yes hearing that birth year hurt as well and just felt surreal to hear and put stuff in weird time perspective. now i partially know how some of the older people ahead of me felt when i might've said when i was from or did something with them and they really felt time was weird and stuff.
I really was excited for the impossible girl story when it started and was disappointed with the execution. So I'm actually kind of hyped for a similar story that seems to already be getting stronger footing from rhe start. And I adore how Ruby and the Doctor are so platonically excited to do things together For me, the ending where John and Paul found that last note, I wasn't really aware of beetles history so I read it as human resilience. The doctor got them most of the way there and humanity managed to save ourselves in spite of what had been stolen
A potential prediction coming off watching this season through: I think the toymaker family and Ruby's family (and even Doctor Tennant settling down with Donna's family) are setting up a strong, multi-season theme with Susan Foreman being central. I also think, to not recycle The Master too often, that The Nightmare Child from the time war will come out as a major bad thing, which I believe could be a war machine with its power source either being Susan Foreman, the doctor's son or daughter, or another timeless child.
I didn't love Space Babies or the way the Doctor kept saying: "Babies... Space Babies!" all throughout the episode. And while the puppy energy from both Ruby and the Doctor is fun, I hope there's a little less screaming in the rest of the season. My little sound-sensitive self wanted to hop onto the TARDIS and ask why they were being so loud all the time... The Devil's Chord was a lot more my thing. When they were talking to The Beatles at the cafeteria, I think it was John's line that was something like "Work, family, these are all the things that I want... but why do I wake up crying?", that got to me. Carol of the Bells remains beautifully creepy and creepily beautiful. I also didn't love the "innate talent wins over hard work" solution in the end. ...probably because I really, really hate the concept of talentedness. "Talent" is meaningless without practice, IMHO. The musical number in the end was funny but pointless. I agree with Jessie that it'd been better to have it as a part of the actual plot. Like, sparking the song in everyone's hearts all at once is too much, and that's the key to defeating Maestro. ...or something. No less cheesy, but you know. Plot. Alsoalso, now that DW is properly in the realm of magical realism, it'd be so, so cool to have a Neil Gaiman script! I doubt it will happen, but one can hope.
I like both episodes but I prefer episode 2. Episode 1 was a bit too fast passed which ended up confusing me but I did really love the line "nobody is grown up wrong" especially as someone who has autism and was bullied for it. I also do really like how episode 2 shows how music has great power to effect the world as we know from the Vietnam war and music being removed would have catastrophic consequences for the world.
I loved it too. In fact it reminded me of an 11 quote that touched my heart in such a way it changed it forever. " in over 900 years of traveling through time and space I've never met any one who was not important!"
I agree. Having seen the trailer and knowing that there was a big musical number the way the episode was going it felt like the big musical number was going to be used to defeat the Maestro.
I got it as an explosion of music after Maestro is defeated, but it has the problem of most musicals - what is diagetic, what is non-diagetic - what is a metaphor, amd what is grounded?
I think that the musical ending was kind of a reference to The Toymaker's influence lingering. The Doctor got a prize for winning, and in a musical there's always a happy ending song.
I think that the song at the end makes sense. Throughout the episode Maestro was absorbing all music, right? So it feels like the song at the end was celebrating the return of music after Maestro was gone
For me, two ok, silly episodes (of course, silly episodes are common throughout the series). Were some of the repeated recalls fun or lazy? (devastated future like 'the Pyramids of Mars', the Doctor in the tympani in place of Micky in the trash bin, etc.). As for the two chords in 'the Devil's Chord,' any musician would know the chords played have been played too many times previously, esp. 'the devil's chord' itself. Only 3 stories in, and it reminds me of the 5th Doctor's era, me liking the Doctor more than the actual, ok, stories. I did laugh and enjoy the intro titles of 'the Devil's Chord.'
I know how it’s not gonna be everyone’s bag, but I absolutely loved Maestro’s winks & nods and breaking of the 4th wall to start the title sequence. It gives a sense that these are beings that the show hasn’t really shown before, and they’re like forces of nature that the show itself doesn’t really have control of. (Also thought Jinkx did a fantastic job, got real Classic Who Villain vibes 🤘)
14:42 (Butterfly effect Dino Ruby) i kind of like what Ruby looked like as an alternate timeline dino version of herself. from her speech tones, she kind of sounded like an aristocrat. Thought that was interesting and kind of funny as a concept. I'd be sort of curious to see what that alternate Earth was like if it doesn't cause too much problems. but mostly i thought her outfit looked cool and like the species design.
I think most of the stuff we're finding too magical is because the universe has been infected with magic now, yes (including Ruby's brief transformation). I don't know whether that will eventually be corrected. Martha is my favorite companion, bar none, and I don't understand when people object to her feelings but are fine with Rose's. I could go on about that, but I won't here.
The concensus as far as I can tell is that there are currently 3 eras for Doctor Who. Classical (1963 - 1989), Revival (2005 - 2022) and Modern (2023 - Present). Personally, I would add a fourth era between '89 & '05 called the Dark era, because Doctor Who was not dormant during this time, it just wasn't on TV that much. There were the novels, Big Finish, Paul McGann and "Scream of the Shalka". #ShalkaIsCannon
Space Babies was delightfully silly. Although Eric’s facial expressions did not at all match the words they gave him and, while im sure that baby was very confused at what was happening around him, it was a little odd to watch. The Maestro was amazing and I love them, I hope they come back again. I really enjoyed the opening bit where they start the theme song, and the soundless bit was also great. Music battle also a lot of fun. Good start to the season. Love the manic energy from Ncuti and Ruby is a good compliment to him. Her proactiveness in taking charge to save Eric was a good moment.
I also like the way the political side of Space Babies was handled - Reminded me of "Who do you think makes your clothes?" in Planet of the Ood. I like it when Doctor Who goes more... Full on... But sometimes Planet of the Ood is the right call rather than going full Turn Left. I'm entirely neutral on mystery boxes - They don't hurt my enjoyment of things like they seem to do with Vera, but they don't really do anything for me either. The One Who Waits might be the same mystery box as Ruby's mother, but feels different to me since that came from The Giggle rather than Church on Ruby Road I think I'd be more inclined to agree with your reading on the ending if Maestro was summoned by a Great Composer (or famous musician) . But they weren't. They were who, by all societal norms, would be considered a _failure_ of an artist - someone who didn't hack it in the industry and became a music teacher instead. Yes, it depicts The Beatles - or at least Paul and John - as Musical Geniuses, but... On the same level as an absolute nobody who has music in their heart but no successes to speak of. I think that helped give life to an idea that everyone has the potential for artistic genius as long as they're willing to let it out of themselves, and put in the work... Even if they aren't lucky enough for financial success or to be recognized as such. *Side note. Cilla - The woman who was singing when the Doctor and Ruby checked on others. In the real world, her first single was released in 1963 and was written by Lenon and McCartney. Of course, for my generation, she's more known as a light entertainer - That she hosted the UK version of Blind Date for 18 years is probably what she's most known for to my generation. I don't disagree with you about wishing there was more of a musical element to the episode generally - I actually found having the song at the end to be more of a tease of the musical this episode wasn't and that really frustrated me about it, I'd have preferred no non-diegetic music being performed by characters or it to be a full on musical so lots of non-diegetic music being performed by characters rather than having exactly one song that fits that mold at the end - apparently what the aim with the song was was something like an explosion of musical energy within everyone in the world as the spirit of music returns to their hearts. And the fact I needed that explaining to me with behind the scenes stuff, and that I'm needing to explain it to you, does rather suggest that it didn't work there.
Space babies was definitely my preferred of the two. It felt more like a typical episode that focused on the adventure and set up both Ruby and this doctor's personalities. The devil's chord had such a different structure that it did throw me quite a bit. None of the Beatles felt established as characters compared to most historical episodes. Also the jumping between time periods muddled the set piece of Abbey Road for me. I loved Maestro but they felt way too overpowered for a second episode. So far I am just a bit confused about the direction this mini reboot is taking but am hopeful I will grow to like it.
Just watched Space Babies and The Devil‘s Cord! Fantastic! I love Fifteen and Ruby and I wanna travel with them! I especially love how all the elements of having a new companion is done all over again in such a great way, from Ruby asking questions to the Doctor explaining the basics about himself and the TARDIS to the reintroduction of turning the companion‘s phone into a superphone and giving them a TARDIS key! I was confused when The Devil's Cord didn't pick up at Carla's flat (that was a bit jarring. I hope that there will be a flashback or so in the following episode) and when Ruby says "You know everything and you never run away", I was like: "How do you know, you've been on one adventure with him!". It was only when the Doctor returned the TARDIS to July 2024, that I was like: "Hang on, did they skip 7 months of travel and character development???"
The beginning of their travels at the beginning of “The Devil’s Chord” felt like it was happening immediately after the end of “Space Babies” so I was confused as well when Ruby said , “You always know everything.” Perhaps they should have begun the episode with some indication that they just finished an adventure somewhere else in the universe.
@@richardvinsen2385 I agree, like how we saw it in The Girl Who died for example or a montage like in The Caretaker where we saw Clara's double life as a time traveler and partner to Danny and working as a teacher. You could pick up with the scene in Carla's flat, have the "I'll take care of her" scene, and then a montage of a few of their adventures, perhaps Ruby wanting to see specific times, places and events and then continue with the main story of the Beatles.
"Space Babies" didn't really impress me. Ncuti and Millie have amazing chemistry, and it’s always a joy to see Golda Rosheuvel, but the episode was somewhat incoherent. Part of this was that it felt like there was a lot of Disney influence in there. Some things made no sense but the most obvious thing that _would_ have made sense in their place would have been pretty dark, so it felt like rewrites to make it more sanitised. The dodgy, uncanny CGI mouths on the babies didn't help. I think it would have been better to go with the classic technique of just never showing the mouths when they're supposed to be talking. It wasn't all bad - there were definitely plenty of elements I enjoyed or thought were good and worthy - but it felt a bit half baked. "The Devil's Chord", however, was strange and fascinating and I love how it's playing with the definition of reality. Memories are changing. Reality isn't snapping back into place. The Doctor assumed that music was non-diegetic, implying that he takes as read the fact that he is within a diegesis. Things are leaking out of the stories they started in and hanging around when they would normally go back to normal - it started with mavity, and now we're at the point of ending an episode with a fully choreographed ensemble song and dance number and not batting an eye. I have about an essay's worth of thoughts and observations on both episodes, but that would be far too much for a UA-cam comment. (It's up on Discord)
Minor bug of mine but it did take me out a bit. The change to 60’s clothes scene they played “California Soul” by Marlena Shaw (RIP Jan 2024). Thing is the Doctor had gone back to 1963. California Soul came out in 1967. Ideally they should have match the music to the year - but that’s just me being me. Maybe they couldn’t get the rights to an actual Beatles ditty!
I adored both of these episodes. They were so fun! Dark and scary at times, but overall the sense of fun and effervescence swept me up and left me grinning. LOVED the Space Babies, and I loved that the Doctor kept correcting himself when he said "babies... Space Babies". Ruby handling the children was a nice touch, since we know she has experience with lots of foster siblings. "Space Babies" felt kind of like a speed run of "Rose", but in a good way. Excellent introduction for people who've never seen the show, and are tuning in now because it's on Disney+, and good reintroduction to the key concepts for the rest of the fandom. And "The Devil's Chord"... WOW. Jinxx Monsoon was perfection as Maestro. They were amazing to watch! And for me, the "deus ex Beatles" was perfect - two humans famous for their music reading the diegetic notes hovering over the piano and just knowing what comes next to perfect the chord. Given how important their contributions to music are, and how they are to Ruby in the series, it makes perfect sense to me. One thing I noticed about the "mystery box" during "Space Babies" - the Doctor does the quick scan on Ruby at the end, and on the screen, her age flickers at one point, showing her to be 10 years 3 months old. Which cannot be right if she was born in 2004 (and gods, I feel you, Jessie; the youngest of the high schoolers I teach are from the beginning of the Obama administration). She'd be 19. Just a detail that caught my attention that made me go, "hmmmm".
I found the "babies...space babies" thing really annoying. Why does he keep correcting himself? It's not like they'd be offended. At no point, did they correct him and say that it was their preferred form of address. Sure it was written on the wall, but... Why was he making it an issue? So ridiculous.
Did anyone notice that the Doctor was going beat for beat to not make the same mistakes he made with Rose? Including fixing Ruby's phone and having her call her mother right out of the gate, explaining who he was and what happened to his people immediately, etc.
I definitely noticed, it's fascinating tbh.
Maybe not beat for beat, but I definitely appreciated him telling Ruby to keep her mom from slapping him, which was a fun callback.
And telling her she can't visit her abandonment. I immediately thought about Rose saving Pete
Also for Martha, with him telling the truth about Gallifrey
Rose and Martha.
The butterfly effect gag worked more for me than I was expecting, because after resolving it the Doctor goes "oh, I forgot to flip the Butterfly Compensation Switch", which is both a very funny idea, and a decent explanation for why the butterfly effect doesn't usually work like this in the show.
It opens the can of worms for a joke and then really quickly closes the can of worms with another joke that cleanly explains it.
"Mavity" must have slipped through the Butterfly Compensator's net, though...
@@Mx-Alba I mean it looks like they accidentally landed next to Newton so I'll take it as canon. The 14th doctor was probably so excited to travel with Donna again that they forgot to switch on that butterfly thing.
@@AH-vm8yo also the tardis was broken a bit. so maybe the switch wasn't working as well.
I was entirely satisfied by the handling of this potential issue - that was a key to getting me fully on board with these episodes, and the new series as a whole. This WAS Doctor Who in its fullest - and I'm **not** piling in on Jodie with that!
I forget what her name changed to but she obviously needs a Big Finish series.
28:53 I read that scene of the Beatles saving the day differently - earlier in the episode, when the Doctor and Ruby talk to John and Paul, there is a yearning and a sort of reach within both of their interviews towards music, and then Maestro intervenes, and they shot down. The same happens when that old lady tries to play Clair de Lune, after Ruby inspired her - so I read that scene as both of them, while Maestro being distracted, as being free to reach out and touch what was already there and was a part of them and just wanted to come out.
Yeah I thought that was pretty clear
Also wanted to say that. But there's even more. In the Interview with Doctor, John (or Paul? Not a Beatles fan, so I don't know which right now, sorry XD) said that he had this one chord in the very back of his mind and he said the notes. And I later expected the Doctor remembering this and using this said chord to defeat Maestro. But when John and Paul finally got to the Piano, saw this musical riddle (that the Doctor started) and recognized this one chord they had in the back of their head for the whole time, it came around. It just made sense.
@@Rutanachanto help you, John is the one with the glasses.
That's how I took it as well, but as Jessie was talking, I thought of another aspect. John thinks in voice over that he just wants to go home. The Doctor has never expressed that kind of desire to go home - be it Gallifrey or wherever they were before they were abandoned. That's a feeling they haven't really been shown to have. So maybe that experience was the last thing needed to banish Maestro - the idea of returning home.
Where was the Beatles music btw??
I'm surprised no one has mentioned that "Henry Arbinger" was seen during the "there's always a twist at the end" song... I kinda thought that left an opening for Maestro to come back. Also want to state publicly that Maestro is my new favourite Doctor Who baddie.
Right!? but he seemed scared? I wonder if they are saving lil Harry Arvinger for someone else or if he will come back OR Just a little side effect, like with the toy maker, realitly is a "lil bent" as an after effect. also the tea lady was played by susan twist!!
Henry, right?
I think that since he's the Harbringer, he will bring forth all of the other children in the future, not just Maestro.
I'm also wondering if all Children of the Toymaker will start with an M and if that's a link to the Master, who the Toymaker captured in his golden tooth.
@@Rutanachan ooh that could be interesting.
@@StijnHommes right! lol XD
I found the space babies a little too uncanny valley, but I *loved* the "Did I grow up wrong?" conversation. It was the most Classic Doctor-ish Ncuti's Doctor has felt so far and it took me that last little distance I had to being completely 1000% ride or die for him. He's full of so much energy and kindness and empathy and I truly love him.
The Maestro was fantastic, intimidating and clever and passionate, and the idea of a being of music seeking the music in emptiness really works for me. And I love how it was John and Paul together who saved the day; they always said they were happiest when they were in that creative flow together. The Maestro shutting down human music but not being able to actually *stop* that creative musical streak that feels transcendant is incredibly relatable to me as a musician.
Edit: 16:20 he'd done that before back in Season 2, in the first part of the Cyberman parallel universe double! He breathed life into one of the TARDIS energy cells to help her recover, gave up ten years of life energy so his beloved ship wouldn't die! Okay massive nerd moment over, going back to feeling a Whole Lot about The Devil's Chord now.
I assumed the Doctor gave regeneration energy to the butterfly
Yeah, since he's the timeless child I guess he has infinite regen energy now. I guess it's not impossible for him to die since he has died a handful of times and got reset, fathers day and turn right/left I can't remember which, come to mind. Still, stakes are effectively gone
That's not how resurrection works
@@Starsteam1didn’t River literally do that for 11 tho?
@@Whale-Shark-Katie She sacrificed all her regenerations to do that.
@@Starsteam1 it’s Doctor Who…the rules are always whatever they need them to be in this episode.
As a musician, I have some... Thoughts... About The Devil's Chord. Both good and bad.
1. Super nerdy music theory bit first: If it was just a tritone chord, aka an interval of an augmented 4th, needed to summon Maestro... Honey, that happens all the time. Playing with tritone suspensions and harmonizing with tritones has been a thing since before the Roman Catholic church said, "no, you must not." It would have been great if there was an explanation for why this very common musical concept needed a "genius" to find it and play it. What was different that made it "genius?" If it's me writing it, Harbinger retuned the piano to make it impossibly perfect, adaptable just-tempering (has to do with the mathematical ratios of frequencies for the tuning of notes and how we make compromises against perfect tuning in order to accommodate fixed tuning instruments like pianos versus instruments like violins that are infinitely adjustable in the moment). We've had well-tempering of tuning since before The Giggle, so this would be the first time since then that the devil's chord would be played with perfect tuning (well, except maybe jazz ensembles playing without a piano, but let's just suspend disbelief and say the piano needed magical tuning). But that wouldn't make it a work of genius. Unless perhaps, Drake's ear notices the piano has never sounded this well-tuned before, and he plays series of modulating tritone progressions, and you normally wouldn't be able to maintain perfect tuning through the modulations without some sci-fi magic.
2. I don't have perfect pitch, but I'm pretty sure the pitches Maestro sings land on a tritone interval when they call out, "wheeeere aaaaare yooooou?" and that is perfection. I have no notes. (Edit: on second listen, it's actually an octave dropping to a 6th. It does sound discordant and weird, but that's the effect of the minor 3rd created between the octave and the 6th. Still cool, I guess)
3. I hate the cartoonish animation of the music notes throughout. It felt more like Roger Rabbit, I wish they'd been animated a bit differently to give a more sinister edge.
4. I love the inclusion of aeolian tones and music of the spheres. Great callouts. Again, no notes from me.
5. They clearly animated the notes of the banishing chord as though they were sitting on an invisible staff... But they didn't match up the pitch and octave of the notes to where they were sitting (a note went higher, but was shown sitting lower on the staff... I'm not asking for perfection. Just put it higher instead of lower). That bothered me intensely.
6. Jinkx Monsoon deserves a standing ovation. Bravo, times a million.
they really are the god of music!! No notes for Jinx Monsoon!! also thoses are really interesting. i;m not a cool music nerd, but i love those new facts I learned!!
You know nothing about music how did you get so much wrong lol
Thank you! You taught me a whole course in music theory with one post. :)
@@eshbena lol thanks! I'm convinced it was more like a Doctorish technobabble rant, but thanks!
@@paulinezarzoso6181 lol troll. I'm not going to argue with you about my bachelor's in music or my 25 years of experience. Have a lovely Mother's Day.
I literally laughed out loud when the Doctor said he thought that the music was diagetic
And I absolutely LOVE that the embodiment of Music, was a non-binary character. Music is neither female or male and yet wholly both, and it felt so appropriate (other than the actor they cast being an absolute scene stealer!)
That line almost immediately became one of my all-time favorite Doctor Who quotes. And definitely one of my favorite jokes.
Didn't he say nondiegetic? I can't even remember now, though, really.
@@HuntingViolets Could be.. He spoke really fast and TBH I never remember which is which, but I understood the joke nonetheless and it made me laugh
@@osnatashtaralevin8944 Diegetic is music that's a part of the environment in the story (say, a piano playing in a restaurant the characters are eating in) and nondiegetic is music that the characters don't hear and the audience does. (Well, when you're not in some weird situation when characters are able to hear the soundtrack, I guess, but that's pretty rare.)
I found it clever that they use the Beatles for the episode where "music is stolen", because I can imagine that the licensing for Beatles music would have been too expensive otherwise. 😅
Something I haven't seen anyone mention is that Maestro was very much channeling HIM, a villain from The Powerpuff Girls (androgynous, voice oscillating from high and sweet to dark and menacing). Furthermore, HIM was based on the Chief Blue Meanie form Yellow Submarine, the Beatles animated film, who had some of the same characteristics and whose goal was to... extinguish all music! It ties together so perfectly and cleverly that I can't believe this wasn't deliberate.
You're right, I haven't seen anyone mention The Powerpuff Girls yet, but lots of reviewers and commenters on other pages have noticed the parallels to Yellow Submarine. I would like to believe it was deliberate, but no effort was made to develop the Beatle characters, so there seemed to be a real lack of knowledge about them. OTOH it wouldn't take too much research to incorporate YS, so maybe.
I think Jessie missed the joke in "There's always a twist at the end." The dance they're doing at the end is called The Twist.
Then again... Jessie *did* say she was drunk twice in the video (what with how alcohol messes with the mind in particular ways)...
Maybe she'll notice it once she's sober.
I loved the puddle showing they could perceive sound visually in the ripples and so track the Dr and Ruby
The butterfly effect bit was a blatant inclusion for new fans. Because anyone who doesn't know the show would assume time travel in it works that way, so Ruby asks, we do the gag and then the Doctor says he's enabled the 'butterfly effect countermeasures' or whatever on the TARDIS so now we don't have to deal with it on that level. The Devil's Chord moment was much more explicitly a callback to Classic Who, specifically the Pyramids Of Mars story, as an explanation why the Doctor and companion can't just run away from an existential threat like this because 'well they don't win because everything's fine in the future'.
The butterfly effect was underwhelming. Also, it did not have a real impact on the episode.
@@Donnagata1409 If Ruby were stuck as the imperious alternate Ruby for an episode, _that_ would have been interesting.
The butterfly scene directly went _against_ the previously-established rules of time; time is able to resolve paradoxes if they're small enough, often by introducing something else that has a similar effect. In a bit of an extreme example, imagine that that butterfly was destined to land on a Silurian and cause them to freak out and accidentally activate a nuke; if that butterfly was crushed before it ever landed on the Silurian, something like a fly might land on them instead, thus setting off a similar chain of events. This is how time works in Doctor Who; time wants to remain on specific path, and slowly nudges things back into position when events have been altered.
🤣 I was 100% expecting Devil Went Down to Georgia when the music battle started. I guess it would have been a TAD on the nose.
I turned the show off and walked away with the violin. Then later in the day I finished watching the episode. I found it so on the nose as to be cringe worthy. But overall this was just meant to be a fun little whimsical show, so something like this I won't over-analyze. For example, does this mean that in the Who Cannon there now was no music from the mid-1920s into 1963? Or did everything we saw in the episode get erased? It doesn't matter, it was just meant to be fun, no need to get bogged down in those type things.
"Abandon the station, but keep the baby making pods online" was the most savage jab at forced birthers I've seen lmao
On the resolution of the Maestro situation, to me it felt more like a nod to the fact that the Doctor needed help, that it took a community to solve the problem, than some kind of statement about genius.
It's a amall point, but Lennon and McCartney weren't at odds in 1963. They were close friends at that point. Certainly Yoko Ono wasn't around at that point. One inconsistency is that Lennon is wearing the wrong glasses; at this point he wore thick-rimmed NHS specs rather than the round granny glasses he would become known for. It's also interesting to note that the chord John and Paul play at the end is very reminiscent of the final chord from the Sgt Pepper album, which I don't imagine was unintentional.
^this!!!
They went back to the First album recording. John and Paul at this time are thick as thieves, and definitely bouncing off of each other writing songs together. Maybe making the point that, not only can Genius be hard work sometimes, but also collaboration. Contrasting the lone all knowing Genius stereotype.
Yes, it was a nitpick of course, but the costuming of the Beatles and even the clothes of many of the actors were generic 60s, often later 60s, not 1963.
The thing about John and Paul finding the last note that I liked is there was a sense that the genius is in collaboration, in people working together. That's what made the Beatles work, very different people coming together, and it's a very Doctor Who thing, but it wasn't set up. It easily could have been, Ruby and 15 nerd out about everything Beatles in act one, why not plant the idea that genius is collaboration. No individual, even The Doctor, experiences everything but together we are more than the sum of our parts. We also could have seen the Beatles reacting to Ruby's song. Still a brilliant episode, and nothing is perfect.
Every new incarnation of the Doctor brings new things to the role. Pertwee was a martial arts and Bond fan. The show runners incorporated that into the show. Ncuti Gatwa is a well trained queer actor who can sing and dance. Makes sense Davies would incorporate those aspects into the show. I’m loving the energy. It looks like they love what they are doing which brings so much joy to the show.
The one who waits being an embodiment of death makes sense as death just wait for you.
I agree with you on the cgi babies, totally creeped me out. Im also interested in seeing what Vera has to say. In fact i can almost sense her sighing and possibly rolling her eyes slightly lol
I kind of liked the Doctor rehashing some of the "last of my kind" ideas, for a few reasons.
First, it was brought up as part of a conversation that was clearly meant to introduce the Doctor to new viewers, so there's a certain amount of info-dumping that's both necessary and forgivable in my mind. More importantly....
Second, I think it shows a significant amount of character growth from the Doctor. Compare how previous incarnations try to avoid the discussion with new companions (e.g., Martha saying "Let's go to your planet", and David Tennant replying "No, that wouldn't be any fun for me, let's go somewhere else exciting"). From a character perspective, previous doctors were avoiding a trauma he hasn't dealt with yet. From a meta perspective, the repeated hinting and trickling of the backstory builds up the mystery and makes it a central feature of both the story of the episode and the audience expectation that future episodes need to and will explain this more. But here, Gatwa just says it, right out of the gate. This character has come to terms with it, this season isn't going to be about it, it's just part of the backstory info dump for new viewers. And, on a related note but worth its own separate point...
Third, it's realistic that this major traumatic event that shaped the Doctor's life for so long will continue to affect him even after he's "dealt" with the trauma. Dealing with trauma isn't a one-and-done deal. He's come to terms with it, but you can see a certain amount of grief return in his eyes and his facial expressions when he tells Ruby. I also really liked her reaction (both actors were great in this scene), as she just doesn't know at all what to say in response to a very calm: "there was a genocide and now I'm the last of my people".
On a completely unrelated note, I loved the Maestro playing the first part of the theme song, and the Doctor's later line that he didn't realize the music was diagetic. Those were both delightful moments, and I'm excited for how they're handling the season so far.
Yeah, those two moments of musical fourth wall bending from the Maestro and Doctor were hilarious, my favorite bits of the episode.
As a Beatles fan, I can tell you that the song at the end should have been ‘Twist and Shout’ and it’s weird that it wasn’t, and the chord that defeats the Maestro should have been the e major at the end of ‘A Day in the Life’. I did enjoy the Maestro, I hope you did too.
99% sure that that's a rights issue.
@@BalooSJ Yes Beatles rights are insanely expensive.
@@BalooSJ You can't copyright a chord.
First episode: Baby Geniuses in Space
2nd episode: The closest we get to a full blown musical episode.
I was surprised, almost disappointed, you didn't mention the conversation the Doctor had with the Space Baby Captain who asked if they had been born wrong. His repaonse moved me to tears. I immediately thought of my older son whonis gay and then you and Vera.
I also think Space Babies was tied to the seasonal myth idea as well, Ruby says as much.
Didn't mention it bc it goes against gender ideology
Ruby was way more of a mystery box than Clara was at this point in the season. don't really get how people can think it's totally different here
I think Clara was just as much of a mystery box out of the gate. Clara *did* have an episode to start that didn't bring up the box at all (Asylum of the Daleks), but she also wasn't the companion at the time, and the next episode she shows up in (the Christmas special) immediately launches into the mystery box of "The Impossible Girl", and Clara only becomes a companion in the *next* episode at the true start of that season.
I don’t think it’s that different, but I feel like we only got to know Clara after the mystery. She essentially became a different (better) character after Smith’s run when they started exploring how her adventures were making her jaded and careless, and how that was making The Doctor break more and more of his rules to keep her safe
This is subjective but I also think the mystery itself is more interesting, with all the cool cryptic snow visuals and the memory being seemingly alive. I got the impression Moffat hadn’t decided what the deal was with Clara when he set the mystery up, and just decided on an answer later. But we’ll see if RTD can stick the landing better.
I do kinda wish Ruby didn’t have a built-in mystery, but I’m fine if the mystery itself is interesting and they don’t forget to make her a character too
"I would never describe myself as a genius" - OK, that's a different aspect of this Doctor's personality among many others. Eleven frequently called himself a genius, and Ten often did, too.
These are light-hearted, fun episodes. It would be easy to pick them apart on details, but this is as much about energy and vibe as the plot details. It's magical realism, as you say. It's whimsy and musical, meant to simply be enjoyed.
At this point, he has made too many mistakes to be a genius. Its added humility which shows character development.
Yup. It's too energetic and fun to warrant picking apart. And the 14th Doctor definitely seems like much more totally new take on the Doctor than we've seen in a long time. Pretty much every other incarnation, except maybe 13, had pretty enormous egos.
@@Netherfly The 14th or the 15th?
I thought the ending song was a full circle moment to tie in how music returned to the world by having the Doctor and Ruby making fun music with the Beatles and Cilla.
The doctor says “new TARDIS, new buttons” immediately after the butterfly incident. He then turns on the butterfly compensation switch (@5 min 35sec). So the butterfly effect exists but the TARDIS can compensate for it.
And the switch is probably new, which is why he didn't tell Martha or Bill about it when they asked.
@@HuntingVioletsIt's not new, but the Doctor had to repair the TARDIS during Wild Blue Yonder and he literally says that the switch mustn't have been turned on like it used to be.
I do think what helps with the Doctor being scared in each episode is that the fear manifests differently in each case: The Bogeyman is something that scares him, but he has no idea why because on the surface it doesn't seem any worse than a lot of what he's faced; Maestro he knew _exactly_ why he was terrified because he was so scared of The Toymaker's incomprehensible powerset, and fairly narrowly defeated him - Maestro has a similar powerset, but also has their own rules and The Doctor didn't even know where to begin with defeating this threat
I’m surprised you didn’t mention the Doctor mentioning his granddaughter. According to Anton Chekhov’s theory of the gun, the Doctor’s granddaughter will be making an appearance later in the story. Why mention her in such detail if she isn’t going to be an important plot point before the story ends?
There's also an actress appearing in multiple episodes this season named, and I kid you not, "Susan Twist." She was Newton's servant in the Xmas special, and the lady selling tea in 'The Devil's Chord.'
@@Netherflyshe was also a hippie requesting Ruby play a song in Church On Ruby Road
He mentioned a lot of stuff to Ruby though. He’s telling her who he is. He mentioned rose loads to Martha IIRC but she never appeared in season 3
@@mujiescomedy279 Rose had just left so it was natural to talk about her to the next person to travel with him But she did eventually appear again. There’s been no mention of Susan in more than 50 years (other than a single appearance in the Five Doctors story) and now he spoke of her for several minutes.
Yeah, but we also had a picture of Susan on Twelve's desk in S10 and nothing came of it, so my hopes are not high...
There was a "song". The music battle was meant to be a movement from a classical concerto and (bringing back Murray Gold in a big way)!
I can't believe you skipped the Star Trek reference! I thought you'd flip out!
I love how tender Gatwa's Doctor is so far!
yeah, I mean Star Trek is now canon to the whoniverse.
@@cofteaamsr1717It kinda already was, 11 met Picard and fought the Borg in a comic.
@@lexruptor 😮
@@lexruptorIn that same series, 4 met Kirk while dealing with the Cybermen.
I don't think this is the first time they referenced Star Trek in Who... but, anyway, as I recall there was a brief moment in 2005 when RTD wanted to try and do a crossover episode with the then-current Star Trek TV show, Enterprise. Nothing ever came of that, but maybe there's hope for a Strange New Worlds crossover?
It wouldn't be all that more unusual that the live action Lower Decks crossover episode they did.
With how The Maestro kept breaking the fourth wall by looking at the camera/audience, plus how, after they "defeated" Maestro, The Doctor looked at the camera in the same way- and then how extremely campy and surreal the musical scenes at the end... idk, I don't think we've seen the last of The Maestro. I guess after toymaker we saw the effects last a while after so maybe that was just the residual magic in the air. But yeah, when they were singing and dancing and it was RAINING INSIDE... felt like I was missing something in connection to the snow Ruby brought snow into the room or the ash which was falling in the dino scene
oh yeah and the freaky lil victorian child of the Maestro at the end! What's that about!! I want a whole spin-off show with Maestro as the main character
I was born in 2004, just like Ruby. It feels like I'm finally old enough to be a companion, so I liked hearing it!
In both of these episodes, I just feel like Ncuti and Millie are having the time of their lives.
Space Babies seemed like they went down to a local daycare and played with babies for a few hours while the BBC filmed it and then edited an episode out of it.
I totally agree with you about both episodes having the Doctor "running" from the villain, one right after the other.
I watched the episodes on two separate days, and that was (for me) enough space between the two episodes that I didn’t even notice that he was scared of two baddies in a row. I agree with Jessie that they should have only released the one episode and waited for the next one.
Yeah it kinda takes away from the technobabble about why he ran away from the snot monster if he runs into another enemy he’s scared of the next day
That's why it's so jarring when Ruby says he NEVER does this! Dude! Who how would you know? You've never seen him do anything BUT run.😂
ah the age old debate of how to number doctor who episodes!
I don’t think you need to know the history between John and Paul for the moment at the end to land. It’s just resolving the bit near the beginning of them obviously having a pull toward music but denying that part of themselves.
Anyway the Devil’s Chord kicks ass. Space Babies is alright.
Yeah, I know little enough about it that it wasn't on my mind and it still landed fine for me. I also like that the doctor set them up for it. Genius may have been needed to finish it, but hard work and experience got most of the way and in the heat of the moment trying to fight this powerful force that's a heck of a lot. Genius doesn't come out of nowhere anyway, that's why you'll get multiple people making the same breakthrough at pretty much the same time, because even though the breakthrough was amazing the foundation still had to be there. The talk at the beginning put them in the right place to make the breakthrough as well.
I think the problem of the mystery box being made too obvious might stem from the same issue a lot of TV these days have - the season's been truncated to eight episodes, they don't have the time to let it simmer.
Sherlock only ever had 3 episodes per season and it worked. The problem is the Runtime and the rush to get to the end of the episode more than anything else
@@joshuadownes9449 I can't speak to Sherlock, haven't seen it, but the strength of previous mystery boxes in Doctor Who stemmed from them building up much more slowly. "The DoctorDonna" seeming like a vocal mistake by the Ood, the implication by Donna throwing off the time bug thing and the soothsayer's terrified response being that something was coming (which was immediately overshadowed by the return of Bad Wolf), etc. Bad Wolf itself, an occasional seeming coincidence until it became more notable during the final two parter.
It's a problem that a LOT of current TV has. There's no room for the tiny coincidences, the little hints, nor for any "filler" episodes that can quietly load up Chekhov's Gun while doing something else to contribute to character development. Donna didn't start off almost immediately getting told there was a lot of coincidence around her - that had to be built up. A lot of shows don't even get room to tell their MAIN plot, let alone the side ones necessary to give this kind of building mystery the room it needs to breathe.
It's only episode 2 of the season and we already know an incredibly powerful entity, on par with Maestro, is involved in Ruby's either birth or abandonment. That's way too fast, we as the audience haven't been given time to get curious instead of having the answers front-loaded and spoonfed to us nearly immediately.
Jinkx Moonsoon was absolute scenery-chewing perfection in The Devil’s Chord. I hope that there’s a way to bring the Maestro back at some point.
Part of me thinks that “Space Babies” was written as part of a bar bet centered around how many times RTD could fit the episode title into the script.
I liked the more subtle part of the commentary behind Space Babies: That when faced with the orders by their company to leave the ship and babies, most of the crew went on record to “strongly object” to the decision, but then complied, implying that they would only do the bare minimum of protest necessary to still remain “good people” in their mind, while Jocelyn put her money where her mouth was to stay and care for the kids.
The Devil’s Chord really reminded me of a manga I have been reading for a few years called Undead Unluck. A lot of the fights that come out of the show involve the main cast battling concepts in a physical form.
For example in the most recent little arc, the characters are fighting the embodiment of Language. They play a game of Shiritori where they say words and bring that thing into existence, and then the next person has to pick a word that begins with the ending letter of the previous word. For example if one person said Elephant and the other said Tiger, each would summon an elephant and a tiger to fight one another. There is more nuance in how it works, but I find it really refreshing to read something like that where it isn’t simple, you really have to think. Where you can’t beat The Toymaker or The Maestro with guns like Kate Stewart tried in The Giggle, and you actually have to figure out a new method for defeating them. Like playing catch or playing a specific tune.
The way I understood the scene where John and Paul save the day goes like this: Ruby and The Doctor had talked with Paul and John about music, attempting to nudge their innate genius to manifest itself, and had been rejected. But when John and Paul see the piano there in the hallway, with those crystalline notes hanging above it, and they think they're alone and can't be laughed at, that seed sprouts, and they start exploring real music for the first time. This is actually made explicit in the scene, where John hears Ruby's voice from their earlier conversation, and Paul quotes his own words from his conversation with The Doctor.
This didn't come out of the blue; it was the direct result of Ruby and The Doctor doing the necessary groundwork.
I remember Sir Terry Pratchett complained, after watching Voyage of the Damned, that if Doctor Who was going to lean away from science fiction towards a more fantasy vibe then it should just commit instead of depending on technobubble to patch the holes. I feel like this is committing.
Speaking of butterfly effects... Apparently "mavity" has hung around too so... :D
Someday maybe we'll see that fixed, but we're in a magical world for now.
Sigh.
The thing i love about this doctor is how open he is. 9 to 13 were extreamly closed off. They didn't reveal anything, and when they did it felt like they let somthing slip. 15 is open about his past, his family and what he knows about himself.
I watched from day one because my Father knew it was good. He worked on it. Many years later so did I. I helped recover the colour on lost episodes. I cried when it came back in 2005 watching with my kids.
No though...
'Magical realism' I can cope with at a push - full blown musicals I would and do run away from.
The acting is splendid, the writing, the dialogue is top notch but - how I love a solid fourth wall. I need it !
This is a very good review, it helped me not hate the shows so much.
I saw the song at the end as music flooding back into the world when maestro was banished and the hint they are still in the background, as harbinger re-emerged during the song!
I think my biggest worry with how much they’re leaning into the mystery box isn’t that it will be underwhelming in the end but that it might weaken these episodes on rewatch. Right now without the knowledge of where Ruby’s story is going I’m really loving the build up, it’s incredibly intriguing to me and I love how it works with the newer magical feel we’re getting, but I just can’t help but think after everything is revealed in the end I won’t want to return to these episodes because of how much they focus on a mystery that we already know the answer to. Ideally after the end of the series I’ll want to come back to these episodes not only for their own stories but to catch new details I wouldn’t have noticed without having seen the whole arc, but I’m not entirely confident that will be the case.
I love that they gave the legendary Murray Gold a cameo in the music episode. He's playing the piano in The Twist at the End. Murray Gold's compositions are what Doctor Who sounds like. So deserved.
I would like to say I loved both episodes for very different reasons. Firstly with all the setup, we finally had acknowledgement of Susan and how the Doctor doesn't know where she is. Then everything with the timeless child being acknowledged.
But where do I even start with episode 2? I honestly don't think that an episode has felt like so much fun in a long time. Jynkx absolutely killed it in every scene they were in, definitely one of the most entertaining villains I've ever seen. I could mention specific parts that I loved, but that list would be way too long.
I really appreciated how the Timeless Child stuff was acknowledged, but kept vague enough that the details didn't really matter.
I think Jessie missed the moment when one of the beatles told the doctor about dreaming of a divine chord, where they listed the first few notes that the doctor started with when he tried to find the right chord later in the episode.
I liked that John and Paul came in and finished the notation. To me it felt like "ordinary, stupid, brilliant people" were the final piece of the puzzle to get the win.
My main issue with The Devil's Chord is that it felt like it should have been a 2 part episode
With regards the issue on the Big Man narrative about John and Paul saving the day, the thing is that I feel that are two elements on the story that undermine that reading: the first one is that, as many others said before in the thread, we're facing a version of the Beatles in a universe in which what they feel that is really their passion and what they want to tell is being repressed, the whole thing on the connection with the feelings as a source of authenticity in art is there.
But in adition to this element, .and now the music nerd on me is the one who is talking- I feel that you have to do the following contextualisation: the year is 1963 and the Beatles that we find here are the Beatles that are straight out their Hamburg years* getting to record Love Me Do -their first ever release. These Beatles are the ones that are still on good terms one with another (there are still 3 years away from crossing paths with Yoko and 5 from tensions in the band being really an issue) , but also are the Beatles that not even yet were derided as little more than a glorified boy band and quite far from having life-changing experiences such as meeting Bob Dylan and beging to indulge into more experimental songwriting and production styles like they did from Revolver to the White Album (casually the two albums Ruby mentions in the TARDIS). If anything, having the context, these Beatles come across as that people still working hard to find a voice.
*And that's supposing that Maestro's meddling with the timeline hasn't changed that either, which should be the case but wibbly wobbly timey wimey.
I really have to take issue with the use of the term "magical realism" in discussing The Devil's Chord. This was straight-up fantasy. Cartoonish fantasy in some instances. Magical realism is more akin to John Coffey's abilities in The Green Mile, not the silly animated musical staffs essentially coming to life and attacking Ruby. I really hope these 2 episodes aren't indicative of the "Disney-fication" of Doctor Who going forth.
In ‘The Devil’s Chord’, I was a bit disappointed though that they didn’t use an actual Beatles track at the end, like ‘Love Me Do’ or a song by Cilla Black.
I DID like the song at the end though and the fact that they danced ‘the twist’.
I’m not sure but one of those dancers appeared to look a bit like Dodo Chaplet, one of the first companions with the hat she was wearing.
I wonder if that was intentional. 😃
I also liked the fact that the Doctor mentioned ‘76 Totter’s Lane’ and where it was located in Shoreditch, London; and that he and his granddaughter Susan Foreman were living there.
‘Maestro’ was a great villainess IMHO as was her young son Harry Binger (Harbinger).
It was great that the Dr. Who theme at the start of the episode, with it being played on a piano by ‘Maestro’ and leading directly into the opening credits.
There was a great call back scene similar to the one in the ‘classic’ Tom Baker episode ‘The Pyramids of Mars’; when, like Sarah Jane Smith, Ruby Sunday was shown what would happen if Maestro wasn’t stopped.
Another thing I appreciated was the nods to earlier Doctors. Including the mention of his granddaughter, which I expect to see a payoff of later in the aeason, or maybe next. Might Ruby be his great granddaughter?
lol I love the idea of a Beatles ex machina being something that can happen in any movie. Inaccurately cast John and Paul just saving the day in any given movie. obsessed.
Am I the only one who noticed now much the Bogey Monster pulled from the xenomorphs of the Aien series, or how closely the bogey monster's air lock experience went pretty much beat-for-beat with the air lock scene in Alien Resurrection?
Surprised you didn't point out the Star Trek mention in Space Babies and the Doctors "Haha, we've got to visit them someday" reply, which I feel kind of canonizes the Assimilation² comics where the 11th doctor meets Picard, the 4th meets kirk and they face off against a combined cyberman and borg threat.
The best Star Trek crossover is clearly the one with the TOS cast and the X-Men, leading to someone asking for Dr. McCoy and both Bones and Beast saying "Yes?"
Could be meaning they'd visit the set or something.
I know right! It's like a life long geeks wet dream. Oh that reminds me . ....
Note to self: New sheets.
Weird how the potential fir crossover of these two franchises still inspires fangasams world wide!
The Doctor bringing back the butterfly reminds me of two other moments in the show:
Back in series 2, the Doctor blows on a dead energy crystal to recharge it, and he tells Mickey he gave up ten years of his own life to do it.
We later saw the 11th Doctor give up regeneration energy to heal River's injured hand/arm.
So this is the third instance we've seen of the Doctor doing this.
And the third butterfly effect discussion, at least in New Who.
I understood the song at the end was sort of the Doctor’s “prize”, in the same way he got to make a new tardis after beating the Toymaker.
Also, has anyone caught that the chord John an Paul played is the finale of “A Day In The Life” (pretty sure)
Love the mention by The Doctor about he forget to turn on the Butterfly correct button in the Tardis, to account for butterflies and changes to timeline
a couple thoughts on the butterfly effect scene- I'm guessing the doctor used a lil bit of regeneration energy like how tennant grew back his hand. Also, it was interesting to me that 15 turned on "the butterfly effect switch" which I don't think we've heard of before? And then when The Maestro clearly does something to the TARDIS with sound, could that effect the butterfly effect switch? So excited to see how this all plays out!
Martha and Bill both asked about the butterfly effect and were pretty much mocked. I was relieved that Ruby was too (for various reasons) at first, but I have to think this switch is new and that maybe it didn't even show up until after the incident but once it did, to the Doctor it seemed as if it had always been there.
[Spoiler fuelled speculation warning].
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I wonder if the Maestro being part of a/the Pantheon, whether we may touch upon the Trickster at some point? Back in 10's appearance in SJA at Sarah-Jane's wedding, he mentioned that the Trickster was an elemental kind of force from the Pantheon of Discord (cue Clyde's 'that'd make a good band name' line). The namecheck of a Pantheon, Clyde's music joke, and a Pantheon coming back in a music-themed episode, and Discord / Devil's Chord, seems like a lot of coincidences. The Trickster would also be a VERY good fit for a Maestro, Toymaker gang etc.
I mostly liked these episodes, they were good, but am I alone in wanting to talk about the absolute rubble being made of the fourth wall lately? Like, famously this is far from the first time the Doctor has acknowledged the audience, but both him and Maestro regularly winked at the camera, Maestro spoke to camera and played the theme song, obviously there's Mrs Flood, and towering above all of that is the Doctor responding to Maestro physically manifesting musical notation with "I thought that was non-diagetic". It's an *amazing* line but wow, is this why they started again at season one, just because season fourteen is a bit late to introduce fucking Deadpool? Honestly, it does kind of feel like just a different show in a way that previous showrunner handovers never have. Is that a bad thing? I don't know, wait and see. But it's definitely a *thing*.
I disagree about the musical number feeling "tacked on" at the end. I personally think that it followed the same logic as the Toymaker, with whom, after he was defeated, the "rules of the game" kept lingering which allowed the Doctor to split the TARDIS in two. So, it only makes sense that after Maestro was defeated, the spirit of music kept lingering, thus creating the musical number and piano-crosswalk scene.
I did appreciate the butterfly effect gag for setting the stakes of the question: why can’t we go back and find the person who left Ruby at the church?
Demonstrating that the timeline is pretty changeable makes the idea of going back more scary.
I actually kinda had the complete opposite reaction to the Beatles-ex-machina moment. Yes, it was cheesy, but the alternative that I was actively dreading in that moment was the Doctor actually playing the entire chord. Yes, this doctor is a more musical doctor, but he isn't passionate about music. He hasn't put time and effort into actually being a musician, so even though he's had all this experience, it feels like he shouldn't know quite how to translate it correctly.
I think with the Beatles being the ones to finish the chord, you can have a lot more nuance to the moral. Like the one the episode establishes with the old lady after Ruby plays her theme, who's inspired and plays her own song. Music is, in this theory, an inherent human trait. Any spark of song can reignite the flame, and maybe it's that flame that the doctor lacks because he's not human, or it's the inevitability of death or any 'human' trait. You can read so much into that final note, and you should, because if the doctor plays it, why does he need humanity? Why stop the maestro?
I feel that the Beatles should have formed more of the chord, seen the situation, and composed it in reaction, out of passion, fear, etc. This didn't give them enough power and agency, in my opinion.
(I am not a Beatles fan; I don't even know many of their songs and can't name the members. My comments are motivated by a drive for my view of the thematic heart of the episode, not any desire to glorify the Beatles, who I feel were actually mocked a little bit in this episode? Not much tho)
I assume it was regeneration energy used to save the butterfly but not a lot as it is a small creature and he has used the trick before to fix RIVER's wrist
I think on reference to the Bogey man, the Dr. Was saying he isn't afraid of new things or the unknown. In Maestro he knew exactly what he was up against in the entity he daced and therefore was with good reason frightened in that situation.
As a person who isn't super into beatles history, I kind of read it as these people who have the echoes of music being suppressed by the whole Maestro thing rediscovering their love for the art and in doing so sealing the Maestro.
The biggest issue I'm having is we are doing the whole impossible girl story AGAIN!
So why do they keep harping on the doctor being the last of his kind when Tennant’s doctor is at Donna’s house?
YEP.
That is so strange. Does Fifteen have partial amnesia or are we supposed to?
I figured it was technically they ate the same person
@@bretwalker At the moment they are living different lives. Are they aware of each other's experiences? I think he may have his own house, though.
@@bretwalker I wondered whether he somehow doesn't remember, and that would be odd. Or he's lying?
3:35 (Born in 2004)
...yes, yes hearing that birth year hurt as well and just felt surreal to hear and put stuff in weird time perspective.
now i partially know how some of the older people ahead of me felt when i might've said when i was from or did something with them and they really felt time was weird and stuff.
yup, same here on loving The Doctor and Ruby being more platonic than romantic.
i mean romance is nice, but I liked fun friendships more I think.
I really was excited for the impossible girl story when it started and was disappointed with the execution. So I'm actually kind of hyped for a similar story that seems to already be getting stronger footing from rhe start. And I adore how Ruby and the Doctor are so platonically excited to do things together
For me, the ending where John and Paul found that last note, I wasn't really aware of beetles history so I read it as human resilience. The doctor got them most of the way there and humanity managed to save ourselves in spite of what had been stolen
A potential prediction coming off watching this season through: I think the toymaker family and Ruby's family (and even Doctor Tennant settling down with Donna's family) are setting up a strong, multi-season theme with Susan Foreman being central. I also think, to not recycle The Master too often, that The Nightmare Child from the time war will come out as a major bad thing, which I believe could be a war machine with its power source either being Susan Foreman, the doctor's son or daughter, or another timeless child.
We also got Susan Twist back in episode 2 as the tea lady that over charges them
There's always a twist at the end.
I didn't love Space Babies or the way the Doctor kept saying: "Babies... Space Babies!" all throughout the episode.
And while the puppy energy from both Ruby and the Doctor is fun, I hope there's a little less screaming in the rest of the season. My little sound-sensitive self wanted to hop onto the TARDIS and ask why they were being so loud all the time...
The Devil's Chord was a lot more my thing. When they were talking to The Beatles at the cafeteria, I think it was John's line that was something like "Work, family, these are all the things that I want... but why do I wake up crying?", that got to me.
Carol of the Bells remains beautifully creepy and creepily beautiful.
I also didn't love the "innate talent wins over hard work" solution in the end. ...probably because I really, really hate the concept of talentedness. "Talent" is meaningless without practice, IMHO.
The musical number in the end was funny but pointless. I agree with Jessie that it'd been better to have it as a part of the actual plot. Like, sparking the song in everyone's hearts all at once is too much, and that's the key to defeating Maestro. ...or something. No less cheesy, but you know. Plot.
Alsoalso, now that DW is properly in the realm of magical realism, it'd be so, so cool to have a Neil Gaiman script! I doubt it will happen, but one can hope.
I like both episodes but I prefer episode 2. Episode 1 was a bit too fast passed which ended up confusing me but I did really love the line "nobody is grown up wrong" especially as someone who has autism and was bullied for it. I also do really like how episode 2 shows how music has great power to effect the world as we know from the Vietnam war and music being removed would have catastrophic consequences for the world.
I loved it too.
In fact it reminded me of an 11 quote that touched my heart in such a way it changed it forever.
" in over 900 years of traveling through time and space I've never met any one who was not important!"
I agree. Having seen the trailer and knowing that there was a big musical number the way the episode was going it felt like the big musical number was going to be used to defeat the Maestro.
I got it as an explosion of music after Maestro is defeated, but it has the problem of most musicals - what is diagetic, what is non-diagetic - what is a metaphor, amd what is grounded?
I think that the musical ending was kind of a reference to The Toymaker's influence lingering. The Doctor got a prize for winning, and in a musical there's always a happy ending song.
I think that the song at the end makes sense. Throughout the episode Maestro was absorbing all music, right? So it feels like the song at the end was celebrating the return of music after Maestro was gone
You know Jessie, "The Impossible Child" would be a great story title when the Doctor looks closer into their own past... 🤔
For me, two ok, silly episodes (of course, silly episodes are common throughout the series). Were some of the repeated recalls fun or lazy? (devastated future like 'the Pyramids of Mars', the Doctor in the tympani in place of Micky in the trash bin, etc.). As for the two chords in 'the Devil's Chord,' any musician would know the chords played have been played too many times previously, esp. 'the devil's chord' itself. Only 3 stories in, and it reminds me of the 5th Doctor's era, me liking the Doctor more than the actual, ok, stories. I did laugh and enjoy the intro titles of 'the Devil's Chord.'
I know how it’s not gonna be everyone’s bag, but I absolutely loved Maestro’s winks & nods and breaking of the 4th wall to start the title sequence.
It gives a sense that these are beings that the show hasn’t really shown before, and they’re like forces of nature that the show itself doesn’t really have control of.
(Also thought Jinkx did a fantastic job, got real Classic Who Villain vibes 🤘)
Make sure you have the Butterfly Compensation Switch on.
14:42 (Butterfly effect Dino Ruby)
i kind of like what Ruby looked like as an alternate timeline dino version of herself. from her speech tones, she kind of sounded like an aristocrat. Thought that was interesting and kind of funny as a concept. I'd be sort of curious to see what that alternate Earth was like if it doesn't cause too much problems. but mostly i thought her outfit looked cool and like the species design.
I think most of the stuff we're finding too magical is because the universe has been infected with magic now, yes (including Ruby's brief transformation). I don't know whether that will eventually be corrected.
Martha is my favorite companion, bar none, and I don't understand when people object to her feelings but are fine with Rose's. I could go on about that, but I won't here.
SAME re: Martha vs Rose. That's always bothered me as well. (Also, Martha is my fave companion too)
@@NicoleM_radiantbaby Thank you. I appreciate it. I could do a whole video on this myself. Or maybe an essay.
I was never fine with Rose's. I felt it was a constant distraction. Martha's felt more natural and didn't threaten to overwhelm the show.
I couldn't watch these until Monday. These episodes were fun. Thanks for the review.
The concensus as far as I can tell is that there are currently 3 eras for Doctor Who. Classical (1963 - 1989), Revival (2005 - 2022) and Modern (2023 - Present). Personally, I would add a fourth era between '89 & '05 called the Dark era, because Doctor Who was not dormant during this time, it just wasn't on TV that much. There were the novels, Big Finish, Paul McGann and "Scream of the Shalka". #ShalkaIsCannon
Space Babies was delightfully silly. Although Eric’s facial expressions did not at all match the words they gave him and, while im sure that baby was very confused at what was happening around him, it was a little odd to watch.
The Maestro was amazing and I love them, I hope they come back again. I really enjoyed the opening bit where they start the theme song, and the soundless bit was also great. Music battle also a lot of fun.
Good start to the season. Love the manic energy from Ncuti and Ruby is a good compliment to him. Her proactiveness in taking charge to save Eric was a good moment.
I also like the way the political side of Space Babies was handled - Reminded me of "Who do you think makes your clothes?" in Planet of the Ood. I like it when Doctor Who goes more... Full on... But sometimes Planet of the Ood is the right call rather than going full Turn Left.
I'm entirely neutral on mystery boxes - They don't hurt my enjoyment of things like they seem to do with Vera, but they don't really do anything for me either.
The One Who Waits might be the same mystery box as Ruby's mother, but feels different to me since that came from The Giggle rather than Church on Ruby Road
I think I'd be more inclined to agree with your reading on the ending if Maestro was summoned by a Great Composer (or famous musician) . But they weren't. They were who, by all societal norms, would be considered a _failure_ of an artist - someone who didn't hack it in the industry and became a music teacher instead. Yes, it depicts The Beatles - or at least Paul and John - as Musical Geniuses, but... On the same level as an absolute nobody who has music in their heart but no successes to speak of. I think that helped give life to an idea that everyone has the potential for artistic genius as long as they're willing to let it out of themselves, and put in the work... Even if they aren't lucky enough for financial success or to be recognized as such.
*Side note. Cilla - The woman who was singing when the Doctor and Ruby checked on others. In the real world, her first single was released in 1963 and was written by Lenon and McCartney. Of course, for my generation, she's more known as a light entertainer - That she hosted the UK version of Blind Date for 18 years is probably what she's most known for to my generation.
I don't disagree with you about wishing there was more of a musical element to the episode generally - I actually found having the song at the end to be more of a tease of the musical this episode wasn't and that really frustrated me about it, I'd have preferred no non-diegetic music being performed by characters or it to be a full on musical so lots of non-diegetic music being performed by characters rather than having exactly one song that fits that mold at the end - apparently what the aim with the song was was something like an explosion of musical energy within everyone in the world as the spirit of music returns to their hearts. And the fact I needed that explaining to me with behind the scenes stuff, and that I'm needing to explain it to you, does rather suggest that it didn't work there.
Space babies was definitely my preferred of the two. It felt more like a typical episode that focused on the adventure and set up both Ruby and this doctor's personalities. The devil's chord had such a different structure that it did throw me quite a bit. None of the Beatles felt established as characters compared to most historical episodes. Also the jumping between time periods muddled the set piece of Abbey Road for me. I loved Maestro but they felt way too overpowered for a second episode. So far I am just a bit confused about the direction this mini reboot is taking but am hopeful I will grow to like it.
Just watched Space Babies and The Devil‘s Cord! Fantastic! I love Fifteen and Ruby and I wanna travel with them! I especially love how all the elements of having a new companion is done all over again in such a great way, from Ruby asking questions to the Doctor explaining the basics about himself and the TARDIS to the reintroduction of turning the companion‘s phone into a superphone and giving them a TARDIS key!
I was confused when The Devil's Cord didn't pick up at Carla's flat (that was a bit jarring. I hope that there will be a flashback or so in the following episode) and when Ruby says "You know everything and you never run away", I was like: "How do you know, you've been on one adventure with him!". It was only when the Doctor returned the TARDIS to July 2024, that I was like: "Hang on, did they skip 7 months of travel and character development???"
The beginning of their travels at the beginning of “The Devil’s Chord” felt like it was happening immediately after the end of “Space Babies” so I was confused as well when Ruby said , “You always know everything.” Perhaps they should have begun the episode with some indication that they just finished an adventure somewhere else in the universe.
@@richardvinsen2385 I agree, like how we saw it in The Girl Who died for example or a montage like in The Caretaker where we saw Clara's double life as a time traveler and partner to Danny and working as a teacher. You could pick up with the scene in Carla's flat, have the "I'll take care of her" scene, and then a montage of a few of their adventures, perhaps Ruby wanting to see specific times, places and events and then continue with the main story of the Beatles.
"Space Babies" didn't really impress me. Ncuti and Millie have amazing chemistry, and it’s always a joy to see Golda Rosheuvel, but the episode was somewhat incoherent. Part of this was that it felt like there was a lot of Disney influence in there. Some things made no sense but the most obvious thing that _would_ have made sense in their place would have been pretty dark, so it felt like rewrites to make it more sanitised. The dodgy, uncanny CGI mouths on the babies didn't help. I think it would have been better to go with the classic technique of just never showing the mouths when they're supposed to be talking. It wasn't all bad - there were definitely plenty of elements I enjoyed or thought were good and worthy - but it felt a bit half baked.
"The Devil's Chord", however, was strange and fascinating and I love how it's playing with the definition of reality. Memories are changing. Reality isn't snapping back into place. The Doctor assumed that music was non-diegetic, implying that he takes as read the fact that he is within a diegesis. Things are leaking out of the stories they started in and hanging around when they would normally go back to normal - it started with mavity, and now we're at the point of ending an episode with a fully choreographed ensemble song and dance number and not batting an eye.
I have about an essay's worth of thoughts and observations on both episodes, but that would be far too much for a UA-cam comment. (It's up on Discord)
Can you link it -- does that work for Discord?
Oh no! The Doctor has been trapped in the Land of Fiction all along! Quick, Jamie, put your face back together!
Minor bug of mine but it did take me out a bit. The change to 60’s clothes scene they played “California Soul” by Marlena Shaw (RIP Jan 2024). Thing is the Doctor had gone back to 1963. California Soul came out in 1967. Ideally they should have match the music to the year - but that’s just me being me. Maybe they couldn’t get the rights to an actual Beatles ditty!
I adored both of these episodes. They were so fun! Dark and scary at times, but overall the sense of fun and effervescence swept me up and left me grinning. LOVED the Space Babies, and I loved that the Doctor kept correcting himself when he said "babies... Space Babies". Ruby handling the children was a nice touch, since we know she has experience with lots of foster siblings. "Space Babies" felt kind of like a speed run of "Rose", but in a good way. Excellent introduction for people who've never seen the show, and are tuning in now because it's on Disney+, and good reintroduction to the key concepts for the rest of the fandom. And "The Devil's Chord"... WOW. Jinxx Monsoon was perfection as Maestro. They were amazing to watch! And for me, the "deus ex Beatles" was perfect - two humans famous for their music reading the diegetic notes hovering over the piano and just knowing what comes next to perfect the chord. Given how important their contributions to music are, and how they are to Ruby in the series, it makes perfect sense to me.
One thing I noticed about the "mystery box" during "Space Babies" - the Doctor does the quick scan on Ruby at the end, and on the screen, her age flickers at one point, showing her to be 10 years 3 months old. Which cannot be right if she was born in 2004 (and gods, I feel you, Jessie; the youngest of the high schoolers I teach are from the beginning of the Obama administration). She'd be 19. Just a detail that caught my attention that made me go, "hmmmm".
Hmmm. That would put her in range to . . . although with time travel that wouldn't matter.
I found the "babies...space babies" thing really annoying. Why does he keep correcting himself? It's not like they'd be offended. At no point, did they correct him and say that it was their preferred form of address. Sure it was written on the wall, but... Why was he making it an issue? So ridiculous.