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Doctor Who 2023 Christmas Special โ€œThe Church on Ruby Roadโ€ FULL REACTION

  • Masterpiece ๐Ÿ˜(9-10) 1
  • Loved It ๐Ÿฅฐ(7-8) 5
  • Liked It ๐Ÿ˜„(5-6) 2
  • Just Ok ๐Ÿ˜ฉ(3-4) 1
  • Piece of Shit ๐Ÿคฌ๐Ÿ’ฉ(0-2) 0
  • 2023-12-27
  • 9 votes
{'title': 'Doctor Who 2023 Christmas Special โ€œThe Church on Ruby Roadโ€ FULL REACTION ', 'choices': [{'text': 'Masterpiece ๐Ÿ˜(9-10)', 'votes': 1}, {'text': 'Loved It ๐Ÿฅฐ(7-8)', 'votes': 5}, {'text': 'Liked It ๐Ÿ˜„(5-6)', 'votes': 2}, {'text': 'Just Ok ๐Ÿ˜ฉ(3-4)', 'votes': 1}, {'text': 'Piece of Shit ๐Ÿคฌ๐Ÿ’ฉ(0-2)', 'votes': 0}], 'closes_at': None, 'created_at': datetime.datetime(2023, 12, 27, 11, 52, 43, tzinfo=datetime.timezone.utc), 'description': None, 'allows_multiple': False, 'total_votes': 9}

Content


Streamable LINK:https://streamable.com/1c5v4q

Google Drive LINK: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1R4g3aT9DITOzZJHv61E_aZAK6XTYpL3D/view?usp=drivesdk

Comments

Toby Harmon

I feel like the Doctor observing Ruby from afar is actually a future version scaling her timeline, examining her life, trying to figure out the mystery of who she is - whether she's even human. Maybe we'll see him travel back to those points next season. And I wouldn't be surprised if an older version of Ruby, herself, is the one beneath the cloak. Stranger things have definitely happened on this showย ๐Ÿ˜น As for Mrs. Flood, I've seen various theories... her being the latest incarnation of the Master would be very predictable but also something I can see them doing, as they planted the seed of the Master's return with the gold tooth at the end of the last special. Or maybe Mrs. Flood, in actuality a servant of the Master, is the one who retrieved the tooth. This special overall is pretty good in my opinion but oddly rough around the edges with terrible direction. Hopefully next season lives up to expectations!

JY

Saw your reaction a month ago but I forgot to comment lol. Hope you had a good Christmas/holiday/new year. I thought this Christmas special was pretty decent. It's nice to have the Christmas specials return after 6 years without them. I think the strongest elements of this episode were the introduction to Ruby's life and the connection between her and The Doctor. And you're right about the club scene. Some people reacted angrily or "negatively" to that moment, even when it was shown in the trailers before broadcast. Although, this isn't the first time we've seen The Doctor in a club as you'll find out eventually in your Classic who journey. The scene with 15 and Ruby meeting in the club also takes some real life inspiration from RTD as he also met his husband in a club. I like Ruby's family. Carla and Cherry seem like fun and likeable characters. I like how they emphasised how much Ruby meant to them when the timeline changed and we saw them acting differently without Ruby. Adopting 33 kids is a lot but it's interesting how they've used this thread of Ruby being adopted and also abandoned which also connects with The Doctor also being a lost child and not knowing where he came from. As I said before, I wasn't the biggest fan of how the Timeless Child stuff was executed in the Chibnall era but it seems like RTD is continuing to expand upon this by having The Doctor and his new companion share something in common (orphans with unresolved answers) which I think is fascinating and could potentially do good things for their relationship going forward and I hope it goes well. They were definitely testing the chemistry and dynamic between 15 and Ruby for this Christmas special and there's potential for it to be really good if RTD plays his cards right. Ruby's already more compelling and interesting than any of the Chibnall companions and it's funny because she's only had 1 episode. I'm already invested in her life and backstory more than Ryan, Yaz, Graham and Dan combined. The mystery regarding her mother and unknown origin is a good mystery but it also doesn't overshadow her as a character either which is good as she's still charismatic in her own right and we still have so much more to learn about her. I'm intrigued to know more about who dropped her as a baby and whether she'll discover her true roots. Best parts of this episode were 15 and Ruby's connections; the house scenes with Carla and Cherry and the second half when Ruby was erased and taken out of the timeline which showed how much of an affection Ruby had to Carla and Cherry's lives. 15's reaction to that and seeing the person who dropped Ruby as a baby was interesting too and the moment where Ruby goes around the Tardis and walks in was good too. However, there were definitely some issues I had with this episode and that includes Ruby's reaction to the Goblins. Very odd reaction for her to be immediately sassy at the moment she seems them? Didn't feel natural at all either. It would have been much better if she had attempted to grab the baby first while the goblins aren't looking but then have them turn around when they notice her trying to get the baby, so she can see them directly and then give a more shocked reaction at their appearance rather than being sassy because that just wasted so much time she had in attempting to save the baby when it was being taken away on the ladder. Or have her get distracted by the height after she sees them. That would have made her reaction slightly more natural. Although, we still have yet to find out her knowledge on aliens and stuff. Seems like she didn't process anything until the very end after being saved. I hope we get more insight about her going forward. I also didn't really care about the Goblins tbh. They're very meh as villains, although the song is actually good and performed well but it also clashes a bit in tone because it doesn't really feel like the goblins are actually singing the song themselves. I feel like they could have conveyed that better. The goblin saying "He can eat me, he makes me swoon" was so cringeworthy too. That's the only part that I genuinely don't like about it. The part with 15 and Ruby singing was fine though, mainly because they could actually sing decently and there was good charisma, although it's still a bit convenient how there were no goblins guarding them while they were tied up or attempting to stop them when they escaped with the rope. Nice to see the "Mavity" joke is still be used. The mystery about Mrs Flood is also interesting. I'm curious to know who she is, after she broke the fourth wall during the credits. Her behaviour also changed during the episode. She went from being cold to Abdul but nice to Ruby and then her whole personality changed when she saw the Tardis in action and the fact she knows what it is raises even more questions. So many theories on who she could be. Maybe Ruby from the future or a secret time lord or something else. I'm intrigued by that. The scene with The Doctor saving the lady with the pram was also a bit odd. The lady's reaction to The snowman display falling on The Doctor felt way too casual. His interaction with the policeman was nice though. The new sonic screwdriver however? Sorry to say but I'm not a fan of the design. It doesn't look anything like a sonic device. It looks more like a remote. It actually reminds me of that remote from the Click movie with Adam Sandler. I saw someone make a meme of this and it just made me laugh because that's all I could think when I saw 15 using it. Kind of a shame that 15 couldn't keep the sonic screwdriver that The 14th Doctor had in the 60th anniversary although I guess it makes sense to give 15 a new one since 14 will still being using it while he resides on Earth and his Tardis. My only other issue is that I didn't like the camera direction in this episode. One of the Chibnall era directors was brought back for this episode and it makes sense to why I disliked it because there were too many close ups on the characters' faces and overly long shots (such as Ruby circling around the Tardis). As much as I like that scene, the camera direction shifting from overhead to overly long shots of Ruby and Mrs Flood was too distracting for me. Overall, a decent Christmas episode. It's a step up from the new year special episodes that we got from the Jodie Whittaker era. It's also better than Capaldi's last episode (Twice Upon A Time) which was a whole load of nothing, but I'd say this was probably the weakest of all the 4 specials we got in 2023. This definitely wasn't as good as The Giggle or Wild Blue Yonder. I would even say that The Star Beast was also better but more so with its first half but this special probably had a stronger second half than The Star Beast as it feels less rushed than The Star Beast's conclusion. So they sort of even each other out in that aspect where one has a better first half while the other has a better second half. But it was still decent. Ncuti shows great promise as The Doctor and I'm curious to see his journey and how he evolves. Ruby also shows promise and great potential. And the mysteries regarding Ruby's mother, origin and Mrs Flood is intriguing enough for me to want to watch more. We've also got other mysteries that were set up in The Giggle with The Master and someone grabbing his tooth and also the boss and the one who waits as both The Meep and Toymaker hinted this in The Star Beast and The Giggle. It seems like ever since The 14th Doctor evoked that superstition in Wild Blue Yonder, weird things are now happening. First the bi-regeneration and now goblins. Seems like RTD is going for a more fantasy route, possibly for this new era and while I'm excited, I hope he still keeps things somewhat grounded in whatever direction he goes. Curious to see where we go from here. You probably already know this by now but the new series will return in May 2024, so we still have a few months to go. I'm curious to know how you would rank all the 4 specials now that you've watched them all. My personal ranking is this 1 - The Giggle 2 - Wild Blue Yonder 3 - The Star Beast 4 - The Church on Ruby Road

otherboy

I would rank them the same as you. The only thing that โ€œsavedโ€ The Star Beast for me was the fact that David Tennant and Catherine Tate were in it.