Hello, dear listener, and welcome back to Jody Inter Terror, the
only Doctor Who Flashcast, terrified at the prospect of having to
sit down and have a conversation with each other.
We've just watched nearly a day ago, the very, very 1st Doctor Who
New Year's special, I guess, unless you count uh, Darling Master
Plan 8. 10 to 5 times two.
Actually, scratch that.
Forget I said that.
I don't know anything about Doctor Who.
And so we're here to give you our scalding hot takes on the
episode.
So let's start with Todd, Todd, what did you think?
I was relieved.
I was relieved that I actually enjoyed it and it was actually
quite good.
I mean, there's a few niggly things, but I was happy that, you
know, Jodie got confrontation with the Dalek and she got
confrontation with Ryan's dad.
There was a bit of an edge to her performance and she wasn't just
info dump, grimace face doctor, which she was becoming.
And so I, it made me sort of relax into the episode.
Like, you know, I wasn't just looking at her performance the whole
time.
I really like the fact, I like the way in which the dalek was used
to get back into its casing, and I thought the performance of that
actress who was possessed for most of the time was absolutely
outstanding.
I really loved it.
And you know, the Dalek just went psychotic.
I mean, don't get me started on the number of deaths.
I mean, we'll talk about that in a moment, but even I was
mortified by that.
The other thing, going to the other story, which, of course, was
Ryan's dad, again, really hard for an actor, I think, to come in
and give a likeable performance.
Like, I thought he did a really great job and Ryan and Graham in
that whole, you know, that whole subplot.
Really, I mean, I had tears at various times and, you know, big
bonus points to Ryan for liking the Sydney 2000 fireworks.
That was great.
And you know, I loved, um, I loved seeing the Tatas materialise
and dematerialise in front of people and go through the inside of
the, um, the bobby thing from, um, the 3 doctors, the gel guards, I
love, I just love.
I just love that.
So they were all things that I absolutely, you know, really loved
about the episode.
Um, you know, there were a few things that, um, I guess, I don't
know, we can talk about the setup or, um, there was something else
I was going to say, but I, oh, uh, of course, Paul Yaz was, was
Niss or nobody again, and I think it would have been much better
had she been actually taken over by the Dalek at some point since
they were in Sheffield.
But besides that, you know, I'm sure you guys have got other
things to say, but I give it 7.5 to 8 out of 10. just enjoyed it.
What did you think, Brendan?
Um, look, I have to, I have to agree with Todd.
I really quite enjoyed it and but I am going to take exception.
Yaz got to do 2 things this episode.
Thank you very much.
Admittedly.
It was the same thing both times.
It was taken in out of the building, but she got to do 2 things.
So.
There was almost a hint of her policeness, sort of, wasn't there?
Yeah, you know, she says, I've got I've got go to details.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, why did you ask for our numbers, by the way?
Oh, I'm a police woman.
There's been all we want to do.
Say, I'm a police officer.
And she, it's just, it's just weird.
It's just very weird.
Just flash your badge.
Yeah, that's it.
Like, the easiest way of getting in there.
I can't save that.
We've got the clean look.
Oh, bad.
I beg your pop.
Sorry, it's my list.
No, I look, I really did enjoy this one.
I was talking to a friend of the podcast, Alex Gibbs about this
episode, and something I really loved about Aaron, Ryan's dad is
that he is not painted as a horrible person.
He's just someone who suffered, you know, suffered a loss and
handled it poorly.
And then it took suffering another loss of the same magnitude and
handling that poorly for him to realise I need to do something.
Yeah.
And, um, one thing I kind of took exception was with was at the
end, when he gets possessed, he gives a, he gives, he kind of
gives a classic Doctor Who, I'm possessed.
I'm kind of going to stumble around performance.
It's really good, but in a different way to Lynn's performance.
But I really thought that Ryan should have had a bit of a go at
the doctor for risking his dad's life without saying what she was
going to do.
And that's an, that's been an ongoing problem for me, this series
that really only happens in the last episode, you know, when
Graham says, I'm going to kill Tim Shaw.
We know he's not, but Occasionally, I'd like the companions to
kind of say, oh, actually, hold on.
You know, we're risking people's lives here, et cetera, et
cetera.
Yeah, but it's a minor thing.
I give it 8 out of 10 as well.
And I would like to point out that gay cop is probably still
alive.
Because most fingerprint and hand scanners need a living body.
He's probably just unconscious, so he'll be fine.
Yeah, I thought we were going to, you know, have 2 dead lesbians
and one dead gay guy for this season, which, you know, was very
kind of bury your gays, and I was a little bit irritated by it.
But I'm prepared to accept that.
Is criminal reacting against the gay agenda?
No, no, no, no.
He's absolutely.
And he is trying to do representation like Moffatt tried to do in
series six, you know, and at least he comes out of the gate
attempting it.
But, you know, it's...
The body count was horrific.
I actually think, like compare it to Dalek, right?
where that dalek kills like 200 people with just like 2 shots or 3
shots, you know, um, and it needs to be there so many years later
now to show how the doctor's not exaggerating when she says that
this dalek could take over the world or destroy the world or
whatever.
But plot wise, that had absolutely, there was no need for that to
be there, that entire scene, could have been excise, and the, you
know, it had an important role, but not an important role in the
plot, I think.
It looked great.
Yeah, I agree. great I want a toilet now.
It looks like it's an Aldoir.
It looks like it actually looks like a Louis Marx style a cause
because of the sort of squashed middle section.
Yeah, yeah.
I thought it looked great.
And I thought it was a bookend, the 1st episode where the doctor
makes her new Sonic screwdriver in a warehouse. workshop, brother.
Yeah.
I was thinking that watching that.
It was like, ah, parallels.
I mean, that was very, thought that was very well done.
I think the whole episode was the bookend to the season because it
also didn't have the opening credits and at 1st I thought, oh, that
should only be safe for special times, but then I realised that
this resolution was not only to doctor's New Year's resolution.
It was a resolution for Graham and Ryan in their whole ongoing
plot throughout the series.
And I also realised that, you know, we've had, like, you know, in
past series, like, you know, the big bads, the master running
through or, you know, all this foreshadowing, but this time it's
been their relationship getting to where it is and their growth.
That's been, that's been the ongoing, you know, miss, miss, miss.
Is that?
Um, and so that really did, that really did affect me.
I guess the one thing that I found, and I still struggle with, is
the fact that you have these big action sequences and things are
sort of building, and then you go back to that character stuff, and
I feel the pace, like just slow down.
There's like 5 minutes in the cafe where Ryan and Aaron are
talking while there's a dialect on the loose.
And I have to say that I found the Rhine and, you know, I've
complained about the dialogue in this series before.
I think it lacks subtext, but I do think that, you know, it Ryan
got to take control of that and tell, you know, just tell his
father what he needed and what he'd done wrong.
And I thought it was done so well and it was done, you know, he
doesn't let Aaron off the hook, but he doesn't rub his nose in it
either.
You know, it seemed sort of fair and and like properly grown up
you know, that he was able to confront things in a way that Aaron
hadn't been.
I thought it was, I thought it was good.
I did hear people complain about it, though.
No, I thought it was good.
It just, as you said, it was 5 minutes in the middle of that, which
sort of I'm going, okay.
And I thought Graham handled it, you know, after the initial, like
closing the door, which is, which, you know, is...
That was funny.
Yeah, yeah, it was funny, but I thought he handled it very well
because he could have gone off his rocker, but his advice and
everything was just beautiful.
I mean, he's still my MVP for the whole season and and I just, I
just, and I just love the way that this resolution, you know, it
is a bookend of the season.
It is part of the season, is really the season finale, really.
Yeah.
Well, I'm prepared to almost forgive Rand score out of Colos for
being such a crappy season finale given that we got quite a good
one.
James, we went round the horn and as usual, we just completely
failed to ask you what you thought.
In the great journey.
That's fine.
I'm keeping score.
I will have my revenge.
Um, I, no, no, I, look, I think, I think the point that you made
about the bookends was really, was, I mean, like that. yeah, I saw
that too.
I thought, Also, the, The parallel with the, the Dalek
reconstructing itself.
It's almost as, you know, it's metatextual.
It's like the doctor reconstructs her selling screwdriver and in
effect, the show, you know, episode one.
Um, and then the Dalek does the same thing.
It's the same kind of going.
Yeah, like this is us rebuilding this from the ground up.
Yeah.
So I really enjoyed that.
Um, and it was, it was kind of the, the, the steampunk dalek was
quite cool.
And I couldn't fault any of the acting, though there were moments
when I was in tears, especially with the stuff between Ryan and
his father and Ryan Graham.
Yeah.
Um, I thought it was, I thought it was really well done.
I was really pleasantly surprised.
And I thought it was, you know, it was probably drama wise, one of
the more strong specials that we've had in years.
In terms of, it felt like it was doing something not just a fairy
tale or...
You know, like the, there have been some, there have been some
quite good specials which have dealt with some quite deep
emotional stuff, um, in recent years, but I, I thought this was
one was a, was really solid story.
Yeah.
Yeah, I think I agree.
Look, I'm still not on board with all of the aesthetic decisions
that are made this season and I certainly understand why they're
made.
And certainly, like, you know, the cast were interviewed saying it
was going to be epic and it's kind of like, well, I'm sitting
there for 50 minutes, 60 minutes going, well, if this is so epic
where's the reality bomb then?
You know?
Oh, I did like the, I did like the Brexit related joke about
unit.
Brexit and Trump, I think, probably as well.
You're sitting there going, oh, yes, universe coming back.
He's like, damn.
Oh, this is a really dark sort of.
Um, this is the, the darkest, um, the darkest timeline, isn't it?
Really?
I think, you know, he trying to do more jokes.
Uh, he's been a bit humourless tubinal throughout the year.
What did people think of the family who?
Can I just say that gumface family?
Nobody's ever going to have one conversation with them ever.
No wonder they they always spend the time in their rooms.
I actually really like the mother's delivery of that line, but it
was a bit of a pseudo joke in the sense that it wasn't actually
that clever and the point had already been made, I think.
And it, for me, it was just played a little too broadly and a
little too archly.
For the same reason, that means I kind of love it because I love
that kind of thing.
But I really wanted the, the punchline not to be quite so on the
nose.
Like, I was expecting her to say, Scrabble?
Yeah, yeah, no, I liked I liked that take on Brennan.
I think, you know, also, Cuban all doesn't actually understand how
video games work because most of them you can play offline, like
literally 95% of video games you can play offline.
The kids are fine.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
They have an Xbox.
Yeah, I do think that Chidwill does have a tendency to go for the
very obvious line.
He is not in any way captain subtext. at all.
Do the kids have a microwave oven?
And again, I thought that was great.
Strap a microwave oven to the tarlic and destroy it.
I did something very similar on the planet, spiral on, I think.
I did think her little advent horizon thing sucking out the Dalek
or whatever, that was a bit, um, oh, quick, we've got 3 minutes
left.
This is what we're going to.
It's a bit DSX masher.
Yeah, but let's just open the doors and suck it off.
As it were.
But I mean, we did that to the what's his face, to the pating as
well, only without killing him, obviously.
We gave him a lovely, a well-prepared meal and then pushed him
into space.
I've no memory of that.
The actual premise of it, like, you know, with these 3 different
groups letting up the Dalek and all of that.
I don't know, that, I mean, I just kind of thought, really, this
can leave the body there with that part, like, can somebody
explain to me this?
Like, you know, when the dalek got the UV lamp or whatever it was
does that mean it could then transport the rest of its body back?
Yeah, into the plastic bag. interstitial vortex.
Yeah, the wizard did it.
Yeah.
Yeah, pretty much.
Something I...
Sorry.
It's Mary Gold is back.
Oh, no.
Before we parade, I just say something I really loved.
Yes.
And that is, you know, I've been saying for 12 episodes.
I want the doctor to be put in a situation where she actually
acknowledges, I don't want to have to be cruel, but I'm going to
have to be, and this episode gave me that.
I like too, that she threw back to everyone else and said, look
I'm trying to be nice.
And like, I'm rewatching the tenant ear.
And what you kind of forget, and you get it with Eccleston as
well.
In fact, you get it with all of the previous male doctors in the
new series, is that they're all kind of a bit dickish and
arrogant.
And, you know, tenant in particular with the snarly teeth thing.
I'm watching New Earth for no particular reason.
And, um, and, you know, the snarly tea thing where he's yelling at
the nuns and stuff.
And it's like it's a bit of obnoxious and she very definitely
doesn't want to do that.
But she still it...
And so I think that we, I, you know, the downside of that is that
we're not going to get much from Jody in the way of acting because
I just don't think she's going to give us the opportunity to see
her being properly angry.
Um, But I do, I kind of am on board with this reconception of the
character.
Yeah, because isn't, isn't sort of over the top anger, what we all
like, we as a group, just privately, spoiler alert, there was no
always criticise tenant for.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's the one, like, it's the one thing.
A lot of us, it might not.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But I mean, all of the doctors do it.
Yes, yes.
But just that little bit. puts the comment of calling it the Dalek
a refugee, which initially rubs me up the wrong way into context.
It's not, as some people have suggested, it's not an anti-refugee
sentiment.
It's the fact that the doctor can have compassion even for a
Dalek.
Yeah.
Yeah, no, I think I like that.
But I do, you know, I do...
You worry about the drama.
Well, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
I guess that's it.
Yeah I understand.
Look, I think the episode gave me hope that if Typno can write
like this more consistently, I'll be personally a lot happy.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
I, you know, like, I don't think that the, the episodes have
necessarily been bad, but I do think I miss, you know, I was
hoping that as the police car was driving down the highway that
you know, the doctor would bounce along behind it in the TARDIS or
something.
You know, it's a bit, there's, it's a bit less crazy and a bit
less cartoony than it used to be, and it is sort of trying to be
more serious drama.
And I don't know.
I don't know if I'm totally on.
I'm going to say, it travels through time.
Oh, the joy on his face when he says that as well.
It's like London, 1965.
That's his name.
Whatever happened.
All right.
Well, um, uh, the uh, Matt Smith's theme has obviously sounded and
told us that we need to wind up.
Any last thoughts, gentlemen?
Good stuff.
Okay, good.
Excellent.
Enjoyable.
Yeah.
Yeah, I really enjoyed it.
Yeah, good.
Excellent.
All right.
Well, this is the only Doctor Who episode that we're getting this
year in 2019.
Uh, which means that we will be back early uh, in 2020 for more
Jody into Terra, I imagine.
I'm actually holding out hope that there will be a New Year's
special for 2020, but obviously no announcement's been made, and
we've got no way of knowing, but that would be kind of cool.
In any case, we will see you in 2020.
We will also be back later in the year.
Plans are furiously underway to do our coverage of series two
David Tennant's 1st series over on our parent podcast, flight
through entirety.
And in the meantime, you can catch up everything we've done all
the way since the pilot episode 0 to our recent commentary on the
Christmas invasion.
You can find that on flight through entirety.com.
Flight through entirety on Facebook and Apple Podcasts and at FDE
podcast on Twitter.
Uh, I guess that's it.
Yeah.
All right.
So we'll see you then and thank you very much for listening and
good night.
Good night.
See you in 2020.
Hindsight always is.