May 22, 2025
Good posts from the best Doctor Who subreddit.
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from United Kingdom
seen from Malaysia
seen from China
seen from Russia
seen from Belarus
seen from Malaysia
seen from Türkiye
seen from India
seen from Japan
seen from Japan
seen from United States
seen from Türkiye
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from Australia
seen from United States
Good posts from the best Doctor Who subreddit.
So I doubt that The Story and the Engine is meant to tie into the wider arc that strongly, but as the RTD2 era is all about looking at television broadly and what Doctor Who means for us the viewers that engage in it more specifically, Im still looking at aspects of this through that lens. Just thoughts swimming through my brain:
-The fact that the theme song and thus, the show proper started through the story window, that at its core Doctor Who is just a story people share with one another
-the discussion about the power of stories in general, that a world dies without the ability for us to pass on stories and tradition to each other
-an explicit shoutout to a Doctor that needs their story to be told one day
-The thought of Doctor Who itself as a never ending story, contrasting Mrs Flood's idea that it's one nearing it's end
-Yet another instance where we view the Doctor's stories through the lens of TV screens, which for me feels different post Empire of Death which very much took that idea and made it more literal. The day is explicitly saved by harnessing the power of remembering Doctor Who stories that meant things to us.
-The barbershop itself, a ship flying through time and space, powered by the stories happening inside of it, with a central figure and companion, who wants nothing more than to not be forgotten, learns that the way to do this is to create new stories to share with those around them after the last person in charge retires and lets them take over.
I'm not going anywhere specific with these thoughts, but these things make the episode feel so in line with the rest of the season thematically, despite being incredibly unique and interesting in its own right
For some reason when Susan came on screen, despite not reading any leaks I wasn't surprised in any way. The second Susan Twist was revealed to be a Sutekh reference instead of a Susan reference a countdown started in my mind until the eventual Susan double fake out reveal.
It makes sense that the Strange New Worlds team is so enamored with making Doctor Who references, it is also a show that is obsessed with aliens as monsters rather than just the other, actions and traits being based around biology rather than culture, and beings of mindless evil as opposed to things that exist in a framework of power dynamics.
I'll be honest Doctor Who family this was a Vibes™ episode and so I'm not wondering at all why 15 remembered something he did as the Fugitive Doctor, I'm just happy we got to see her, if they're massaging the rules to make it happen fine by me.
Hot take but I think there's an air of people causing a self fulfilling prophecy by immediately declaring Billie Piper is overshadowing Ncuti Gatwa by coming after him that I think people should be more careful of not falling into.
We have the power to make that not be the case and I think that's worth remembering.
The world is absolutely relentless to Ruby Sunday but the more that happens the more she shoots up my Doctor Who companion rankings as she is put in some of the wildest situations out there and has to go through it isolated or alone.
Has anyone else been thinking about how Lux and Badgey more or less died the same way?