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S01.E03 (BBC/D+): Boom

DanaK

By DanaK
in Doctor Who

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DanaK

DanaK

Premiering May 18 at midnight Saturday in the UK streaming on BBC iPlayer and Disney+ internationally (in the U.S., that would be 7pm EDT Friday evening) and then broadcast on BBC One at 18:50pm (6:50) UK time

Synopsis: Caught in the middle of a devastating war on Kastarion 3, the Doctor is trapped when he steps on a landmine. Can he save himself and Ruby, plus the entire planet... without moving?

Writer: Steven Moffat

Director: Julie Anne Robinson

Runtime: 44 minutes

Full production listing https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001zh0j

PurpleTentacle

PurpleTentacle

Steven Moffat is amazing at writing small self-contained stories. I had almost forgotten that fact, after he always went way too big in his time as showrunner.

Now I see the writer who brought us Blink or Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead, again. I'm usually rubbish at remembering episode names, but I'll always remember those.

Apart from the great main story I liked the expansion of the Villengard lore. I think it was even Moffat who invented it in The Doctor dances (another episode title I remember by heart). I guess this is before the doctor turned the weapons factories into a banana plantation. Wibbly wobbly timey wimey.

The only thing I didn't like was the kid. She was way too naive and oblivious for a kid her age, let alone for a kid growing up in a war zone. The writing of her character could have done with another pass.

Still, all in all, best episode in years, more than half a decade for sure.

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Lantern7

Lantern7

I think the episode was titled “Boom” because “And Then Things Got Worse” would’ve been too on the nose.

I get why this wasn’t the second episode. The whiplash in mood would’ve been too much to take. It’s not that the Doctor was taking things lightly in last week’s episodes, but it was a nice contrast to see him under pressure. It turns out Ncuti is good at selling that.

Bleak episode “solved” without cheesiness . . . though the AI-created “Force ghosts” were a little overkill.

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DanaK

DanaK

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4 hours ago, ajsnaves said:

While thinking about this episode a thought occurred to me. Where was The Doctor’s TARDIS key? We see Ruby’s when she exited and they needed hers to get back in. So where was his? 
My theory. Susan Twist took it while the Ambulance was attached to him. 

Or he left it in the Tardis along with his sonic

Overnights for Boom (BBC linear + viewings until 2am): 2.04 million viewers, 4th for the night overall, #1 on the BBC

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ajsnaves

ajsnaves

2 hours ago, DanaK said:

Or he left it in the Tardis along with his sonic

That’s what I would have thought, but they specifically showed Ruby closing AND locking the TARDIS. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen them locking the TARDIS before. I seem to remember them just closing the door and it’s just locked. And neither RTD nor Moffet just include things. Everything has a reason. (Or it’s just a directorial choice and I’m just grasping.)

As to the sonic, I assumed it was in his pocket, and thus inaccessible without setting off the mine. Otherwise Ruby could have just gone and got it. (After unlocking and then relocking the TARDIS.)

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Kite

Kite

I thought this was pretty good entertainment. Cleverly done. Easy to follow. Really liked the alien panorama at the end, hello budget! Was waiting for the inevitable sexist zinger from every Moffat episode but to my surprise didn't register any on first viewing. Maybe the man really is learning. Anyway I've been thoroughly enjoying the RTD2 era (despite musicals not being my thing). Love all the light/dark tones this show can pull off, and love the mysteries. RTD so wanted to do it first time round but conceded the tv landscape in Britain wasn't up to it yet, settling on "Bad Wolf". Now he can. Mr 9 is watching with me and really getting into it too. (He's watched a lot of Doctor Who but still likes "girl Doctor" the best!) You betcha he particularly enjoyed Space Babies. 

Apparently Villengard was mentioned in The Doctor Dances and Twice Upon A Time. I like the world building. The AI resurrection was super creepy to me, as it is no longer science fiction but science fact. Business is booming. I hope no one ever does that to me. I'm not sure if the kid's assertion her dad wasn't really gone was meant to be slightly creepy, I'll have to watch it again. 

Dissent against capitalism is getting louder and louder. Even mentioning the word was considered communist 20 years ago. Now it's accepted it's a specific economic system rather than "normality", hence it can be open to criticism and change. Some economists have even been saying capitalism is dead, long live techno-feudalism. And science fiction is starting to resemble our near future if things do not change. Let it do its job of being a warning.

Always love when the Doctor gets placed in a particularly tight corner. That's been happening a lot recently. The Doctor can't run? Yesss, great concept. 

Really could have ADR'd the contradiction in last week's Ruby travelling for 6 months and here this being her first time on an alien world. 

4 hours ago, DanaK said:

Or he left it in the Tardis along with his sonic

Overnights for Boom (BBC linear + viewings until 2am): 2.04 million viewers, 4th for the night overall, #1 on the BBC

28 day consolidated is the real metric now, if a slow one. Will be interesting to see!

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tv-talk

tv-talk

Cant say I'm a fan of the Doctor on the verge of tears or actually crying all the time. I liked the concept here and thought it was overall good Ep but I'm starting to be a bit worried this Doctor is so far off from what Doctors have "traditionally" been it may stray too far for this old head. Which is odd because I really do like the actor and think he is doing a great job as far as the acting and energy, but this Doc may be too modern for my tastes.  I hope at some point we get the sense, again, that he is a millennia old alien and doesnt perfectly relate to humans. This Doctor seems like someone you'd be normal friends with in real life, no quirkiness or oddness as of yet.

 

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isalicat

isalicat

I mostly enjoyed "Boom" although at the end, it veered right back into the "After School Special" trope that has characterized Doctor Who in the last few seasons. If we could return to the days when this show did not have to hit everyone over the head with the moral at the finale and just let viewers draw their own conclusions, it would be lovely. And new Doctor: stop crying all the time - its getting old!

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John Potts

John Potts

I think I’m detecting a slight anti-capitalist trend in this Season... which is fine (and not the first time - Dr Who has been written by committed communists before now). I may not agree with it (or the equally explicit anti-religious tone), but at least it's saying something interesting. Of course, once you think about it, you'd think you'd have to be completely idiotic to notice that all your casualties were caused by their own ambulances and no child of that age could possibly spend any time in a warzone and not realise that people were dying, but it at least kept me invested.

Did like that the Doctor's first concern on stepping on a landmine was for the screaming man and that Ruby risked her own life to save the Doctor.

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lovett1979

lovett1979

16 hours ago, Affogato said:

I’m beginning to think the world isn’t revolving around Ruby, she is just opening, like a flower, and showing that she is not what she originally appeared to be. The question is, is she a relative of the doctors or, um, whut?

I think something that people are forgetting is that The Doctor was stalking Ruby for quite a while before they actually "met" in the Christmas episode. Something in her being/aura/whatever was causing both all those dangerous happenings/coincidences and drew The Doctor in. It was only after they went on their goblin adventure and she showed herself to be smart/resourceful/pleasant/whatever that The Doctor invited her to be a companion. And also to maybe keep a better eye on her/figure out what's her real story.

On 5/17/2024 at 10:34 PM, PurpleTentacle said:

The only thing I didn't like was the kid. She was way too naive and oblivious for a kid her age, let alone for a kid growing up in a war zone. The writing of her character could have done with another pass.

This was the only thing that bothered me about this episode. First of all, she looked 12/13 to me (though Google says the actress is 10) but was written at a 6/7 year old level. She comes out to the crater and hears her father's voice and asks where he is. She continues thinking that he's alive but somehow hiding, I guess, for quite a while. Even when his hologram appears, she's just like, Oh hi Daddy! and then gets mesmerized by the photographs around him. At no point do we see her realize that he's dead, or experience any mourning or grief. And it's kinda weird. 

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Affogato

Affogato

27 minutes ago, lovett1979 said:

I think something that people are forgetting is that The Doctor was stalking Ruby for quite a while before they actually "met" in the Christmas episode. Something in her being/aura/whatever was causing both all those dangerous happenings/coincidences and drew The Doctor in. It was only after they went on their goblin adventure and she showed herself to be smart/resourceful/pleasant/whatever that The Doctor invited her to be a companion. And also to maybe keep a better eye on her/figure out what's her real story.

This was the only thing that bothered me about this episode. First of all, she looked 12/13 to me (though Google says the actress is 10) but was written at a 6/7 year old level. She comes out to the crater and hears her father's voice and asks where he is. She continues thinking that he's alive but somehow hiding, I guess, for quite a while. Even when his hologram appears, she's just like, Oh hi Daddy! and then gets mesmerized by the photographs around him. At no point do we see her realize that he's dead, or experience any mourning or grief. And it's kinda weird. 

I figured he was following the Goblins and found her. We don’t know their place in the story yet. Could she have been any baby?

We will see. 
 

the girl was weird. I figured maybe faith was the thing. Still acted very young. 

tennisgurl

tennisgurl

Talk about a tonal whiplash, we go from two episodes of talking babies and wacky music wizards to the Doctor nearly exploding on a landmine on a war torn planet where people are being slaughtered by the soldiers own machines. This must have been rough on poor Ruby, she's only been in fun adventures so far, she hasn't experienced a classic "war is really bad" serious episodes yet, this must be even bigger whiplash for her than me. I thought this was a really strong episode, it reminded me that Steven Moffet can write a killer one off episode when he isn't getting too bogged down in his Big Ideas. 

I thought that Ncuti did a really good job with the more serious material, you could really feel the tension in his performance which you really needed to sell a story that is basically just people standing around in a hole. 

I know that it was part of the bigger commentary on the military industrial complex, but it does seem like a bit much that a whole army would never figure out that they're fighting no one and all of their casualties come from their own evil robots, but as commentary it still worked. Really, as much as RTD said he was going to double down on social commentary, it hasn't been as anvil dropping as the show has been in the past. The messages are very clear (and The Doctor and Ruby are here to explain it to anyone who missed them) but I was honestly expecting more. I also like the world building

Nice to see a glimpse of the actress who will be our next companion, she seems good. I actually thought for a second that Mundy was being set up to take over for Ruby, but of course she'll be playing someone from the modern UK, the only kind of main companion we can have now. 

My only real complaint with the episode was the little girl seemed way too young and naïve for a kid who looks to be about ten and is growing up in a war zone. Instead of figuring out that her dad is obviously dead she keeps acting like the obvious hologram (which she should be familiar with) is her still alive dad and she's way more invested in her old pictures than the landmine or her obviously dead dad? The ending seemed a bit too cheery considering Slice and Mundy just lost their respective dad/love interest, even if they expect to be reunited with them again.  

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DoctorAtomic

DoctorAtomic

I only know the Skye song from Outlander. I thought that's what the Doctor was singing. 

I know in reality Gatwa wasn't standing on one foot, but he was still standing there and had to extremely limit his movements. That's got to be an acting challenge for anyone. And he couldn't talk loud at all. 

I don't know that shooting at anyone standing on a mine is a smart move. With a civilian and kid (that she knows). It's not like they were stealing anything. Although I suppose given the guy immediately shooting, that they're not trained for nuance. Also, given the war profiteering theme, I suppose that was the point. 

Gatwa really turned on the wrath too. More like "Doctor Who Doesn't Have Time For Your Faith Nonsense."

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tennisgurl

tennisgurl

11 hours ago, DoctorAtomic said:

I only know the Skye song from Outlander. I thought that's what the Doctor was singing. 

 

I thought the same thing, its weird to hear that song without footage of ethereal dancers and sexy Scotsmen on horses playing over it. 

I wonder if the split did something to make the Doctor more nervous and emotional, beyond it just freaking him out to tear himself apart. I thought it was weird how freaked out he was by this, even crying, when the Doctor has certainly been in worst spots than this, but maybe some parts of him are still in the other Doctor and he needs to work to become whole again? 

DoctorAtomic

DoctorAtomic

That certainly might be. The Doctor really hasn't been paralyzed like this even when the situation was very dire though. I would guess that's kind of new. The Doctor also gets emotional when the Companions are in real danger too. 

Had he not been incapacitated, he wouldn't have had Ruby doing the shooting, for example. 

I think maybe there's a theme here about the Doctor not being the most all powerful being in the universe. Even the Doctor can be rendered helpless. 

However, I don't think I'd be counting him out either. You saw how fast he turned on the soldier to admonish the anglicans for their war mongering and feeding the algorithm. 

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PurpleTentacle

PurpleTentacle

On 5/21/2024 at 5:27 PM, lovett1979 said:

This was the only thing that bothered me about this episode. First of all, she looked 12/13 to me (though Google says the actress is 10) but was written at a 6/7 year old level. She comes out to the crater and hears her father's voice and asks where he is. She continues thinking that he's alive but somehow hiding, I guess, for quite a while. Even when his hologram appears, she's just like, Oh hi Daddy! and then gets mesmerized by the photographs around him. At no point do we see her realize that he's dead, or experience any mourning or grief. And it's kinda weird. 

I would say that was more the behaviour of a 3 year old. 6 year olds go to school, learn to read, write, maths, etc. If they lived in the world as it was shown, they would be a concept of holograms, AI and death.

Of course filming with a three year old is complicated, but on the other hand, they did it (badly) the week before with even younger kids. In the end, I'd like them to at least make an effort. Like go with a 6 year old, not with a girl who is two months away from entering puberty. Or write her character differently. There was really no need for her to be this naive and childish. It didn't directly contribute anything to the plot and I'm pretty sure a father can also love his daughter when she acts her age...

Speaking of loving your daughter and that being the solution to the problem in the episode, I forgot to mention that the guys last name is literally father. I'm not sure if I should groan about something this on the nose or if I should be impressed with how bold it is. But I'm strongly leaning towards the groan.

PurpleTentacle

PurpleTentacle

On 5/21/2024 at 12:02 AM, John Potts said:

I think I’m detecting a slight anti-capitalist trend in this Season... which is fine (and not the first time - Dr Who has been written by committed communists before now). I may not agree with it (or the equally explicit anti-religious tone), but at least it's saying something interesting. Of course, once you think about it, you'd think you'd have to be completely idiotic to notice that all your casualties were caused by their own ambulances

I mean what other stance is there to take towards late stage capitalism (and these people have to live in laaaaaaaaate stage capitalism)? We know how things turn out when all companies converge into monopolies and the regulatory is captured. Maximising war profits probably isn't that far off anymore, and partially already in practice.

-

I also don't think it was very anti religion. If anything it was against organised religion.

Mundy: "I thought you didn't like faith, doctor."

Doctor: "Just because I don't like it, doesn't mean I don't need it, Mundy."

-

They weren't just killed by ambulances, but also by mines and probably all kinds of automatic war equipment. If the algorithm's only motive is to maximise profits, with only a limit of acceptable casulties and nothing else, how are you supposed to know who is killing you? Is it your own algorithm or the enemy? The algorithm certainly isn't going to tell you.

On 5/21/2024 at 12:15 AM, Affogato said:

I’m beginning to think the world isn’t revolving around Ruby, she is just opening, like a flower, and showing that she is not what she originally appeared to be. The question is, is she a relative of the doctors or, um, whut?

I don't think she is a relative of the doctor. Even though Susan is probably coming back, considering the doctor mentions her or him being a father/grandfather in almost every episode. I don't think Ruby has anything to do with it. There I could see more Mrs. Flood being connected. She knew what a Tardis was and then there is her last name, of course. Pond -> River -> Flood. So maybe she is the daughter of River Song and the Doctor, and Susan is her daughter. Of course that could just be a red herring.

Anyway, I think Ruby will be her own thing that won't tie into the doctor directly. Or at least I hope so.

On 5/22/2024 at 4:08 AM, DoctorAtomic said:

I only know the Skye song from Outlander. I thought that's what the Doctor was singing. 

The Skye Boat Song is pretty old. Probably not quite old enough to be considered a folk-song but almost, I'd say.

The melody is from 1782, the lyrics we know today are from 1892.

The original goes "Sing me a song of a lad that is gone", while the outlander opening changes it to "Sing me a song of a lass that is gone".

It has pretty old connections to Doctor Who though. The second Doctor used to play it on his recorder. Which is exactly the type of thing a nerd like Moffat would remember, so I assume it was a reference to that.

On 5/22/2024 at 4:08 AM, DoctorAtomic said:

I know in reality Gatwa wasn't standing on one foot, but he was still standing there and had to extremely limit his movements. That's got to be an acting challenge for anyone. And he couldn't talk loud at all. 

He was at least standing on one foot some of the time, seen in the making off. I wouldn't be surprised if they had him stand on one foot in the scenes where he's supposed to be, even when his feet weren't visible, as it will show up in your body language. That weren't too many scenes, till he could shift his weight with the help of the dead body cylinder. He's young, he can take it.

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Kite

Kite

(edited)
On 5/21/2024 at 8:02 AM, John Potts said:

I think I’m detecting a slight anti-capitalist trend in this Season... which is fine (and not the first time - Dr Who has been written by committed communists before now).

I think you've missed the zeitgeist, my friend. This isn't considered radical any more (nor considered "committed communism"). I've seen a LOT of fandom opinions about this episodes from a variety of places and apart from the insane "I hate black people and gays" brigade, you are the first fan I've seen to consider it as being really out there. Most people are just low key "well that's what weapons manufacturers and big corps are like innit". It's a not controversial take any more to be critical of a system producing billionaires etc. 

That said, it's a bit spicy for the US milquetoast Disney. But obviously not enough any more to be vetoed. The US is being polarised and Disney is being blasted as on the liberal & godless side of it, so I'm guessing they just aren't as much "playing both sides" cautious any more. RTD blasted Disney over their cowardice in queer representation a few years ago, and look who's funded now. 

I mentioned it in another thread but it was only due to Kate Herron's careful advocacy with Disney as the director and one of the main creatives of Loki season 1 that there was ANY acknowledgement that Loki was bisexual on screen. But it's pretty clear that she, as a queer person, thought it was a slog to bring up, and that they didn't go far enough. (She also chose not to continue on S2, not officially related.) That's when RTD gave Disney an absolute public serve over what we got on screen with Loki. It's also when RTD and Herron had a conversation and he asked her to write for Doctor Who. (Rogue in a couple of weeks with Briony Redman!) I'm excited about that because she's a big Doctor Who fan and her influence on Loki season 1 was "Doctor Who on a big budget" as far as I can see. 

Edited by Kite
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tkc

tkc

Thanks for the interesting tidbit about RTD and Kate Herron. I looked it up and found these comments from RTD about himself, Loki, and Kate Herron:

As reported by Uproxx, during a virtual Pride month panel at Swansea University, Davies described the queer representation in the MCU show as being a "feeble gesture". As you may recall, Tom Hiddleston's God of Mischief became the first openly queer lead character in MCU canon thanks to a reference to the character's love life in the first season, but at the time Davies wasn't impressed by the inclusion: "Loki makes one reference to being bisexual once, and everyone’s like, ‘Oh my god, it’s like a pansexual show.’ It’s like one word. He said the word ‘prince’ and we’re meant to go, ‘Thank you, Disney! Aren’t you marvelous?’ It’s a ridiculous, craven, feeble gesture towards the vital politics and the stories that should be told.”

Reflecting on that statement now, Davies admits that his comments were a mistake, explaining that he reached out to Herron immediately to apologize. Little did he know that they would continue chatting, striking up a friendship, which would then result in working together on Doctor Who.

Sharing the love for Loki, Davies divulged to GamesRadar+: "I love Loki! I actually found Loki very Doctor Who-y and wasn’t surprised to find that there was a British sensibility behind it. I actually made contact with her because there was a terrible set of circumstances where without thinking, I accidentally criticized Loki in what I didn’t realize was an interview! I thought it was one of those online sessions talking to students. And of course, when any showrunner criticizes any other show, it suddenly becomes a headline."

Davies continues: "So suddenly, poor Kate Herron is being confronted by reporters saying 'what do you think about what Russell T Davies has said?' I had never met her, so I contacted her to say 'I’m so sorry and you know, maybe I might disagree with this or that in Loki, but I would never put you in an embarrassing situation, how unprofessional of me.' She was absolutely delightful about it and so kind and so lovely - so, we became friends. We started chatting to each other and eventually I said 'look, we both agree on so much, we’ve got very like minds, and we love our science-fiction, do you want to write an episode of Doctor Who?' And here she is!"

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Kite

Kite

On 6/1/2024 at 1:46 AM, tkc said:

Thanks for the interesting tidbit about RTD and Kate Herron. I looked it up and found these comments from RTD about himself, Loki, and Kate Herron:

As reported by Uproxx, during a virtual Pride month panel at Swansea University, Davies described the queer representation in the MCU show as being a "feeble gesture". As you may recall, Tom Hiddleston's God of Mischief became the first openly queer lead character in MCU canon thanks to a reference to the character's love life in the first season, but at the time Davies wasn't impressed by the inclusion: "Loki makes one reference to being bisexual once, and everyone’s like, ‘Oh my god, it’s like a pansexual show.’ It’s like one word. He said the word ‘prince’ and we’re meant to go, ‘Thank you, Disney! Aren’t you marvelous?’ It’s a ridiculous, craven, feeble gesture towards the vital politics and the stories that should be told.”

Reflecting on that statement now, Davies admits that his comments were a mistake, explaining that he reached out to Herron immediately to apologize. Little did he know that they would continue chatting, striking up a friendship, which would then result in working together on Doctor Who.

Sharing the love for Loki, Davies divulged to GamesRadar+: "I love Loki! I actually found Loki very Doctor Who-y and wasn’t surprised to find that there was a British sensibility behind it. I actually made contact with her because there was a terrible set of circumstances where without thinking, I accidentally criticized Loki in what I didn’t realize was an interview! I thought it was one of those online sessions talking to students. And of course, when any showrunner criticizes any other show, it suddenly becomes a headline."

Davies continues: "So suddenly, poor Kate Herron is being confronted by reporters saying 'what do you think about what Russell T Davies has said?' I had never met her, so I contacted her to say 'I’m so sorry and you know, maybe I might disagree with this or that in Loki, but I would never put you in an embarrassing situation, how unprofessional of me.' She was absolutely delightful about it and so kind and so lovely - so, we became friends. We started chatting to each other and eventually I said 'look, we both agree on so much, we’ve got very like minds, and we love our science-fiction, do you want to write an episode of Doctor Who?' And here she is!"

Oh wow! I hadn't heard that! I didn't realise that was the trigger for talking to Herron, I'd gotten the (wrong) impression it was initially for creative reasons. I heard Herron talking publicly about gingerly getting it past Disney before I heard RTD criticising it. Herron's subsequent dignified response about feeling like she got the most out of Disney's limits, and identifying as bisexual, may then have even been before they talked. 

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