intuitive-revelations

[intuitive-revelations]

Writing a post to do with Time Lord heartbeats and reading through a section of Time Zero for research, and it's fascinating after the relevant bit to see Eight fully explain the principles of gravitational wave detection (accurately, I'll add, as someone who worked on this stuff during my Master's project):

The Doctor slumped down in one of the folding chairs. He raised his two hands, index fingers extended as if there was a string between them. ‘Gravity waves,’ he said. ‘Not easy things to detect because they affect the world around them. So what do you do? You dig a tunnel. A very long tunnel. Long as you can, in fact. Let’s not worry about the curvature of the Earth for the moment, or how you focus the monitor to detect the source of the waves. . . But just imagine if you will that you have a completely flat tunnel perhaps, what, fifty miles long?’ ‘Fifty miles?’ Nesbitt was wondering where this was leading. ‘More if you can manage it. Then you set up a big laser and shine it along your tunnel. The clever thing now is that you’ve put a mirror at the other end. A perfect mirror, of course – flat, no blemishes, atomically accurate. What happens?’ He snapped his fingers and pointed at Lansing. The Corporal blinked. ‘The laser gets reflected back.’ ‘Exactly. Along the self-same line. And of course you’ve set it up so that the waves of light exactly match. The length of the tunnel from laser-tip to mirror is a perfect multiple of the wavelength of the laser light. Which means?’ The Doctor rippled his fingers, as if drawing the answer out of Lansing. ‘Well, it means the laser exactly matches up with itself.’ ‘Good. Excellent.’ The Doctor leaned forward. ‘Now along comes a gravity wave. They’re very small. And because they change the size of the ruler as well as the thing you’re measuring, you can’t detect them. But. . . ’ He paused and raised his finger, lecture-style. ‘But what happens to the tunnel?’ He waited for a couple of seconds before his expression betrayed his disappointment at the lack of an answer. ‘The tunnel changes length,’ he told them. ‘Just very slightly. The greater the gravity wave, the greater the distortion. And that means?’ ‘Well. . . ’ Lansing looked as Nesbitt, who shrugged. ‘Think about the laser,’ the Doctor prompted. ‘Its waves exactly match, remember. But if the tunnel changes length. . . ?’ ‘They no longer match!’ ‘Exactly right. Light’s wavelength isn’t affected by the gravity wave, so the two waves – the original and the reflected light – get ever so slightly out of synch. Bounce the light up and down the tunnel a few times, or even a few hundred times, and you’ll see the difference even more clearly. Or rather you won’t as it’s still so small. But you can detect it.’

Keep in mind, this novel came out in 2002. The first direct gravitational wave detections were made in 2015! Obviously the theory behind GW interferometers existed much longer and there was a long construction process before LIGO or VIRGO came online, but still interesting to see.

Some funny things to note:

1. Eight suggests building a tunnel 50 miles long, which isn't wrong of course, but is much longer than LIGO ended up needing, only being 4 km long.

2. It's mentioned a bit after that gravitational waves of the scale of nm are detected.

‘So how big are the gravity waves your chums in Whitehall have detected?’ ‘They’re talking in nanometres,’ Lansing said. ‘Except. . . ’ ‘That’s quite big,’ the Doctor admitted. ‘Except,’ Lansing went on, ‘they said the last one was off the scale.’

While the Doctor does say this is quite big, this is kinda an understatement! LIGO, which has an effective length (due to reflections) of 1120 km typically detects changes of length on the scale of 10^-19 m - about 10 billion times smaller! I don't think it's said how long (or effectively long) the detector in the book is, but it must be huge. If the "nm" signal was comparable to those typical signals we see (tbf it's obviously meant to be on the large side, but explicitly normal compared to a much larger detection in the book), that would seemingly correspond to a laser path length a good fraction of a light year!

TBF, the waves are artificial, so they could very well be very powerful, but it's still pretty extreme, and funny the Doctor makes such an understatement after discussing very realistic detection methods. Let's just say that if there was something producing waves that powerful, you wouldn't need miles-long interferometer arms to detect it.

The detection is also made by "chums in Whitehall" which makes it sound like it's from a pretty small lab instrument, not a full observatory like LIGO. Maybe it's using alien technology from UNIT or Torchwood or something? Maybe something bigger on the inside so it can have such a large and powerful interferometer, and that's how they're reading "nanometres"? That's the only way I can think to justify anything, though it's possible I'm missing something from the rest of the book, since I'm only reading part of it.

[intuitive-revelations]

One thing I did just realise and now appreciate regarding Fifteen's sacrificial regeneration is how it brings us full circle.

Obviously, the connection to The Church on Ruby Road is pointed out explicitly in-universe, with the Doctor fixing the timeline to bring Ruby back. But remember, he also did the same thing just one episode later in his first regular story, even using regeneration energy!

[ID: Fifteen carefully picks a stomped butterfly off the ground, cupping it in his hands. As Rubathon Blue, the rewritten Silurian-like Ruby, looks on, he seemingly blows some remaining bi/regeneration energy into his hands to heal it, then smiles as he opens his hands and it flies away alive.]

And of course, one could argue even this comes with its own timeline-rewriting moral baggage, given the Doctor justifiably saving Ruby and humanity from erasure still arguably comes with the erasure of Rubathon Blue and her timeline.

In retrospect, despite being a simple expositional gag, this really does just show how Fifteen's life was leading to something like this (even if the details may have changed with behind-the-scenes stuff), just like Twelve and Davros's conversation in The Witch's Familiar ("Compassion then. It will kill you in the end.").

[ID: Determined, Fifteen directs regeneration energy into the TARDIS console, which pours out in all directions, shining out through the TARDIS windows into the Time Vortex like a beacon. ]

[intuitive-revelations]

A Long Watsonian Discussion on the Death Particle, the Genetic Explosion and the Fate of Surviving Time Lords and Hybrids

Been having some thoughts about the Death Particle retcon RTD seems to have done (though it is still unclear exactly what caused the "genetic explosion", the Death Particle seems to be the likely culprit).

So remember, in The Timeless Children, we were led to believe the Death Particle would wipe out all organic matter on Gallifrey. I don't think it was ever explicitly said, but it was implied that the Master and some of the CyberMasters survived by jumping into the Matrix at the last moment.

Now it's implied that it ended up killing surviving pure Time Lords all over space and time. The Rani survived by having temporarily modified her genome (presumably via Chameleon Arch?). The Doctor's survival, given this new effect, is less clear, but could be justified either via their nature as the Timeless Child and thus arguably not a pure Gallifreyan (if at all, depending on how their link to the Timeless Child works), or if we take another perspective, by being a half-human hybrid. Meanwhile, those with partial Time Lord DNA were instead 'merely' sterilised. We're slightly stuck with the question of how closely someone would have to fit to being a Time Lord (especially if we throw in the genetic differences between those of the first rank and those who don't go through the Academy), but for the sake of this, let's assume everyone under the modern Gallifreyan/Time Lord genetic pool is impacted, since this does seem to be implied by the Rani. Technically, it could be more of a biodata / temporal thing, but being called a genetic explosion implies it's more DNA-based.

At first I thought this might have been a plot hole with regards to Tecteun in Flux, who obviously survived the explosion. But there's a few possible explanations for this:

Having gotten her DNA modified seemingly directly from the Timeless Child, she may not be exactly as standard "Time Lord" as others. If she's "in-sync" with the Doctor and Gallifrey, having lived through all of Gallifreyan history, this would make sense, as it would imply having regenerated way more than twelve times.

On the other hand, if she's not in-sync, then she might also be saved by being from earlier in Gallifrey's timeline, since the Death Particle clearly wasn't retroactive, wiping Gallifrey from all history (unless we do theorise the sterility effect is somehow linked to the original sterility thought to be from the Pythia's curse). This could also justify the Division members guarding Swarm, though it also wasn't confirmed that they were Time Lords, so the question might be moot.

A much easier explanation, however, is that she was saved by already being outside of the universe, since it's clear the Death Particle didn't effect all of reality.

In fact, the universe and timeline criteria can make things quite ambiguous. From what I can tell, it seems likely that any pocket dimensions / alternate universes are safe, though TARDIS interiors do not seem to be distinct enough. Meanwhile, I'm generally assuming most people the Doctor interacts with to be in-sync in terms of their timeline and Gallifrey, even when this becomes comparatively meaningless (with characters who are fully/part Time Lord, but have no connection to Gallifrey themselves).

This does also lead us to the question of the fates of other surviving Time Lords, Gallifreyans, and hybrids:

Donna / the DoctorDonna - may have been protected by her memory suppression. Obviously wouldn't have been killed, not being a full Time Lord, but could technically have been rendered infertile? This doesn't have a noticeable effect, mind you, given her age and having already had Rose by this point.

Rose Noble - technically contained part of the metacrisis. Again this could have been suppressed, or just so minimal as to not have an effect, but it's also possible that she'd be rendered infertile too. (On the other hand, again probably not that noticeable, given she's trans and has been medically transitioning.)

The Master - technically integrated into the Cyberiad, so could be considered a hybrid (plus the Master's no stranger to messing with his DNA), though I doubt this would have effected his genetics. A better answer would be that he was protected by being in the Matrix and thus technically in a pocket universe at the time the Death particle activated, as I said. He may or may not have dodged infertility as a result. If he can be gotten out of the tooth form the Toymaker put him in (assuming he didn't revert already when the Toymaker's influence faded), then he might be Gallifrey's best hope.

Jenny - Jenny's fate is a bit ambiguous. It's still unclear if she's fully Time Lord, given she didn't immediately regenerate following being shot, so she may be part human. But even disregarding that, if the Doctor survived via not being fully Gallifreyan, either via human or Timeless Child DNA, then it makes sense Jenny would too. It is quite likely she will have been effected by infertility, though. (Though given the ongoing arc with Susan I wouldn't be too surprised if she came back and there's some logic to explain why she's not, and she ends up being Susan's parent?)

Susan - again ambiguous. If she is a direct descendant of the Doctor and/or the Other/Timeless Child, then she may inherit the same protection. It is worth noting that her biological son Alex was much more than half-human, suggesting she may well not be a full-blooded Time Lord either. If she's unrelated to the Doctor, but still Gallifreyan / a Time Lord then it's more questionable how she would have survived. There's also the same timeline issue as Tecteun, where we don't know exactly what her true Gallifreyan "present time" is, but at this point I assume we can consider her a present day Time Lord, even if she was actually from the distant past or the future.

(Obviously no-one will take this seriously, but since I've just been writing about them, I will throw out there that if John and Gillian a) are real, and b) are alive, then they fall into similar ambiguity).

Metacrisis-Ten - this one's fairly easy. He obviously survives via being part human. He could have been rendered infertile (though again, EU stories with him suggest he's already had kids with Rose - though who knows if those will still be canon if that was Rose last episode). However, it is very likely he's protected just by being in Pete's World.

River Song (+ other Silence hybrids) - Another dubious hybrid, but quite likely to have been effected by the infertility effect? This doesn't exactly mean much given we know she's never had kids. A far bigger question would be how on Earth her timeline can possibly be synced to Gallifreyan relative time. I'm inclined to say that, relative to the Doctor's / Gallifrey's timeline, she is best considered dead at this point, inside the Library, so any other question of the effect of the Death Particle on her is moot.

Romana - if she's even alive, the last we heard of her she was in a pocket dimension, so if she's still there she will have survived. She likely wouldn't be sterile either. However, we also have multiple possible post-Romana II incarnations from all over the War in Heaven and Time War (Tomb of Valdemar, Romana III, Trey, Time Fracture), so who knows which of those, if any, exist in the current timeline. Time Fracture might be the best evidence for Romana eventually being released, given it's a) an official BBC / New Who attraction, and b) shows them present around the final days of the Time War, but if so, it ironically probably dooms them to death either around that time, or via the Master or the Death Particle.

The Monk - We know quite explicitly the Monk survived the Time War. Unfortunately, this does mean that they are very likely to have been one of the casualties of the Death Particle. I wouldn't rule anything out, and maybe, depending on timeline logic, he could have survived in the time he was Chameleon Arched to survive the Time War, but it's not looking good for him.

Braxiatel - We're less certain if Brax survived the Time War, especially given his most recent appearance in Gallifrey: Time War, though this did leave open the possibility of one version of him having escaped to another timeline. One reading of Big Bang Generation could also be read to imply he survived, but it's more likely that this is pre-Time War / Benny-era Brax who is referenced. If he did survive, he's another possible victim. I personally always liked to headcanon that he was on Gallifrey during Hell Bent, being the one who helped Twelve get reinforcements, but this isn't canonical. Brax's fate is especially open right now - he could be safe in another universe, he could have died in the War, or he could have been killed by the Master or the Death Particle. I actually think he is one possible candidate for "The Boss" of Beep the Meep and the Time Hotel, especially the latter given his history with the collection. He is also exactly the sort who'd want someone to pass on greetings to the Doctor. It would be a wild pull for RTD, but maybe not that crazy given previous finales (plus I did literally just say the words Beep the Meep!).

Rassilon - Here's a significant one. Rassilon we know was almost certainly not on Gallifrey at the time of the Master's destruction, due to being exiled by Twelve. I wouldn't put it past the Master to have hunted him down, but there's no evidence of this. Technically he also at one point became integrated into the Cyberiad, during Supremacy of the Cybermen, but this was erased from history, presumably leaving him out there somewhere at the end of the universe. This does however mean he's another likely victim of the Death Particle.

Omega - Obviously, Omega survived and is implied to not be effected by the genetic explosion. This is almost certainly due to being in the Under-verse, and this seems to be the Rani's assumption at least. It could also be linked to his evolution, or whatever has happened to him in that universe.

Other hybrids? - It is likely there are other hybrids out there, even just by specialised soldiers created during the Time War or War in Heaven. See also folk like the Special Executive. While such survivors are likely to be few, it's likely than many who were still around would likely have been killed being still on Gallifrey, but any in the wider universe would likely have been sterilised, if they weren't sterile already (after all, biologically speaking sterility is common in cross-species hybrids, though this isn't always the case, and especially not in Doctor Who or other sci-fi/fantasy).

But on the bright side...?

If the Death Particle did not do as predicted, and was instead targeted closely on Time Lords throughout space and time, then Gallifrey itself may not be as barren as originally thought. Sure, any surviving Gallifreyans would have been killed, but other life on the planet may have survived. This includes natural flora and fauna that survived the Master's devastation, but could potentially also include things like Houses or other TARDISes. Granted it's implied the Doctor's TARDIS is the only one remaining, but this is unlikely to be the case, given the one Thirteen escaped in during The Timeless Children, as well as the Master's. There's also multiple pieces of TARDIS coral out there, including in Pete's World.

Maybe, if I'm wrong and the scope of the Death Particle didn't stretch to every modern Gallifreyan, then there might even be some surviving Shobogans and Outsiders out there? Again, this is unlikely though, as this would seemingly diminish the Rani's entire motive, even if she was just being classist, given all Gallifreyans start out that way genetically. On the other hand, if they did survive then it's possible they were later cyber-converted.

Speaking of which, I will also add that if organic life did survive on Gallifrey, then this is a big boost to one of my theories while we watched Flux.

Remember that red planet Bel briefly visited while looking for Vinder?

Not only did it have red rocks and grass, but also two suns and an army of Cybermen occupying it. I theorised from a trailer clip that it might be Gallifrey, but was a bit more sceptical while watching once we saw the plant life, even if the Cybermen fit really well.

But now we know the Death Particle didn't do exactly as predicted, it does leave open the possibility that other life on Gallifrey did indeed survive, meaning that theory could be correct!

As with the rest of my discussion, there's still the question of whether this is feasible given Gallifrey's time zone. Last we saw it, it was at the end of the universe, but the Master implied it was back in its pocket universe when he destroyed it (which, if true, kinda harms the logic used above regarding which universes / dimensions were effected), but there's no gurantee that this is still the case. Plus Gallifrey is kinda weird temporally anyway, given the transduction barrier etc., so maybe even if it is technically in the far future, Bel could still have accessed it from her time. Who knows. The theory's definitely still a lot more feasible now than it was when I first watched the episode.

[intuitive-revelations]

Omega's deformed, skeletal appearance in The Reality War kinda gave off yssgaroth vibes. Considering also the whole bone aesthetic going on in that place and those people permanently connected into some digital consciousness, feels like there should be potential for war in heaven/faction paradox/remote canonwelding in there?

Anon, no kidding, I was literally just watching reaction videos for that episode and had exactly the same idea when I thought about his huge size and the fangs he seemed to have. I literally thought that he looked like a Great Vampire or something.

[Warning - A lot of fanon-weldy BS below:]

I feel you could even make a compelling theory that the "Underverse" is actually the Spiral Yssgaroth, and that by ripping open the Web of Time, the Rani was actually creating more tears into that universe.

It's worth nothing there's a historical connection there, given that Omega originally fell into a black hole experiment, while the Vampires were released from one. Not to mention, the Doctor actually ends up banishing Yssgaroth?Omega with the power of billions of supernovae, presumably powered by the Eye of Harmony.

Combine this theory with the retcon regarding Omega's banishment, and it starts to feel a bit like Rassilon somehow retroactively transferred all these legends, myths, and truths about himself to Omega instead, doesn't it? Being a despot, banished by his kin, a secret vampire...? We even see a Seal of Rassilon be symbolically transformed into a Seal of Omega in the episode!

(Plus this happens in an episode where we get a weird twist on Time Lord sterility, something which was originally a consequence of the Intuitive Revelation, led by Rassilon, though including Omega and others. And this isn't even mentioning the obvious Magic vs Science themes of this whole era, and how that relates to the revolution and Rassilon's changing of the laws of physics following Omega's loss.)

Maybe as part of his actions as the Great Grey Eminence and/or during the Time War, Rassilon did something to rewrite his own history and scapegoat Omega for all his own sins? Note that the Eminence's changes also ended up erasing/delaying Romana's presidency and cancelling out the events of Lungbarrow, which of course connects to the big sterility question. On the Romana point, potentially we could even connect it to Omega's return in Intervention Earth, which was referenced in the previous episode, despite having been erased from the timeline along with Trey's presidency (plus you could add the theory that Trey IS Romana III of the EDAs, and that erased timeline is connected to / part of the War in Heaven)?

Heck, you could almost even connect it with the stuff with Rassilon in the Time Lord Victorious storyline, where we seemingly meet a female incarnation of Rassilon during the Eternal War, implied to have been part of some great secret of his. This could just be the gender thing and how that interacted with the Pythian / Post-Revelation gender role switch, but it becomes even more interesting when you consider that stories like Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible are pretty dependent on Rassilon being a (almost certainly cis-)male, and the comic's events seemingly predated the "official" introduction of regeneration, and combine that with the origins of regeneration either being taken from the Timeless Child or based on Vampire abilities.

Then combine THAT with @aristidetwain's "Child-That-Was-Taken" idea, that the Timeless Child's universe WAS the Spiral Yssgaroth, and the similar purple hues of the reality fissures and the portal the Timeless Child was found under, and it all starts coming together, doesn't it?

Anyway, I'm really getting away from myself. To answer your other point, the Bone Beasts 100% feel thematically connected with Faction Paradox, and kinda work if you think about the paradoxical nature of two realities connecting. You could almost imagine the Faction's masks as being partially symbolic of a sort of triumph over such forces that would try to untangle such a reality.

We also got the Bone Palace, which may or may not have been part of the TARDIS all along? I don't think it was clear whether the TARDIS was just embedded into it or transformed into it, but if the latter then it very much rhymes with the Edifice, doesn't it?

[intuitive-revelations]

Oh to add on the Rose theory. Thirteen did say they were risking shattering themselves by reshaping reality, didn't she?

What are the chances that, that's going to be exactly what happened? The Doctor tore himself out of reality, and Rose(?) somehow slipped in through the cracks.

So...um... holy shit.

Unfortunately, I don't have the time tonight or tomorrow to do a full analysis and write-up of the episode (I have a very last-minute zine story to work on due tomorrow), so that will have to wait. But have some rapid half-baked thoughts:

Seeing this in the cinema was an experience.

Omega was such a disappointment. I mean... for fuck's sake. How hard is it to do a cool modern version of the Three Doctors armour? That would look 'godly' enough already! No wonder they only used archive audio last episode.

Also weird how his origin was seemingly retconned, so that he was deliberately exiled? I wonder if this could be headcanoned to link to the "Could Have Been King" Time War stuff?

The Rani being eaten was dumb, but at least it's the kind of fate that could leave her open to return? Plus, Mrs. Flood is still out there, but who knows how that would work.

Honestly, not only was Omega wasted, but we could have done a lot more with the Rani. Again I hope we see more of her.

Even though this episode was a two-parter, I think it's yet more evidence that the compressed series length needs to die. This honestly should have been a Series 3 or Series 4 style three-parter finale, with Wish World being the Utopia / Turn Left before The Reality War parts 1 and 2.

But a lot of other stuff in the episode was good tbf. My heart was pounding through so much of it.

After some of debates about things in Conrad's world that last episode didn't discuss (specifically trans people) I'm glad we got Rose (Temple-Noble, can't believe I have to specify that) back acknowledging that.

Kinda shocked, but honestly relieved, that they didn't retcon Susan's origin. Still surprising that wasn't checked in this finale.

You should have seen me when they declared that Time Lords are sterile. I'm usually very quiet and respectful in cinemas, but it took all my willpower not to scream. I thought we were actually going there...

(Kinda fascinating how ever since Series 9 we've been teasing and teasing at the idea of looms and Lungbarrow, but never actually gone there.)

But it ended up being a consequence of the "genetic explosion" thing Fifteen mentioned in The Devil's Chord, which we've never had actually explained. It's presumably a soft retcon of the effects of the Death Particle in The Timeless Children, but still weird. For a sec I thought they were going to make it fully retroactive too, as a sort of alternative explanation for Time Lord sterility from the Pythian curse.

Everything with Belinda is weird. It feels a little uncomfortable to have her retconned into motherhood and also sidelined for much of the episode. Maybe it would have felt better if this kinda longing for a family, as anti-feminist as it could risk looking (think about the backlash with some of Amy's characterisation), was part of her personality through the series, so it was more of a wish fulfilment (heh) thing? But having it all happen retroactively feels a lot worse.

But on the other hand, as long as it went, I loved all the timeline weirdness at the end, with the idea we're sort of split between these two time tracks? I wonder if that's all going to come back? It must, right, with Belinda's reason for wanting to return home 'glitching' in the new reality too?

I can't believe we got Thirteen back, for a brief moment. A surprise, but a welcome one. And we got a Thasmin moment out of it too?

So sad to see Ncuti regenerate. I've known about the rumour that he wanted to leave so he can do more work in Hollywood and on-stage (though the tabloids as usual have claimed it's a sacking, I doubt that - this episode was clearly planned for a longtime to be a swansong for him). I did think for a while, as the episode concluded, that it was false and he was going to survive after all. But sacrificing your regeneration to reshape reality to save one child is a pretty great way to go out.

(BTW loved Joy to the World of all things having a big impact on this episode, with the final song even being rewritten into Fifteen's regeneration theme?)

On the other hand, I do wonder whether or not this is going to be the last we see of him? For one thing, Rogue's story is still unresolved, and it's going to be weird if Fifteen's not the one to find him. There's also everything about...

...Billie Piper? What a weird pull. On one hand, of course RTD somehow manages to drag us back to Rose in some way. On the other hand, I kinda dig it.

The big question I think is whether Billie is ACTUALLY the Doctor? That may sound ridiculous, but the show's clearly being coy. Note how the credits don't do the usual "Introducing X as the Doctor" thing? I wonder if it's actually meant to be Rose / Bad Wolf or something, somehow switched with the Doctor as part of all the reality warping stuff? I'm totally fine if she is the Doctor, who's just regenerated into that face, but I sense shenanigans. In a way, I kinda hope this is the case, as it implies this might not be the last we've seen of Ncuti.

If she is the new Doctor, it's funny how this comes right after seeing Thirteen, seemingly harkening back to that theory about an incarnation's experiences influencing their choice of regeneration. In fact, if you include Joy, then technically the last two faces Fifteen saw were both white blonde women?

I'm going to throw out a little theory here: I wonder if it is actually Rose, and by reshaping reality the Doctor's accidentally pulled her into this universe as a sort of wish-fulfilment thing, like has been teased the last two series? I know there was another worrying rumour that the BBC and/or Disney wanted to do something with Tennant (presumably Fourteen). The fact we didn't see him again this episode seemed to quash that, but maybe having Rose show up could be a sort of starting point for a limited-run in-between series with him, at the end of which Ncuti, or another actor, will return as the current Doctor?

I also strongly suspect that Billie's addition is a last minute thing. The rumour I saw also implied that Fifteen's regeneration was going to cut to black, similar to the original plan for Thirteen, if RTD didn't come back to showrun. If we link that with the Tennant rumour I bet this was a last minute pitch for a way to keep the show running, maybe, if we're lucky, just for Ncuti to take a break, or maybe more for behind-the-scenes production stuff with Disney to settle.

On a final note, with regards to in-between series, to get us through the hiatus however long it may be, which we don't really know yet, I am mostly looking forward to The War Between The Land and the Sea. Kinda disappointed 1. with Russell Tovey being back playing a different character (which honestly feels like RTD kinda treating himself), and 2. with whatever the fuck are those Sea Devil designs? Seriously, Legend of the Sea Devils wasn't a great episode, but the designs there were great. It feels like someone just wanted to rift off the Talokanil and Atlanteans from the MCU and DCU. Hopefully, there's at least something about this being a sub-species or a hybrid group or something. Supposedly Gugu Mbatha-Raw isn't playing Tish Jones either, which will really be a shame, as between her possible UNIT connections via Martha and her history with Harold Saxon etc., she would have been a good fit for the story - I'm kinda shocked RTD isn't bringing her back.

[intuitive-revelations]

So...um... holy shit.

Unfortunately, I don't have the time tonight or tomorrow to do a full analysis and write-up of the episode (I have a very last-minute zine story to work on due tomorrow), so that will have to wait. But have some rapid half-baked thoughts:

Seeing this in the cinema was an experience.

Omega was such a disappointment. I mean... for fuck's sake. How hard is it to do a cool modern version of the Three Doctors armour? That would look 'godly' enough already! No wonder they only used archive audio last episode.

Also weird how his origin was seemingly retconned, so that he was deliberately exiled? I wonder if this could be headcanoned to link to the "Could Have Been King" Time War stuff?

The Rani being eaten was dumb, but at least it's the kind of fate that could leave her open to return? Plus, Mrs. Flood is still out there, but who knows how that would work.

Honestly, not only was Omega wasted, but we could have done a lot more with the Rani. Again I hope we see more of her.

Even though this episode was a two-parter, I think it's yet more evidence that the compressed series length needs to die. This honestly should have been a Series 3 or Series 4 style three-parter finale, with Wish World being the Utopia / Turn Left before The Reality War parts 1 and 2.

But a lot of other stuff in the episode was good tbf. My heart was pounding through so much of it.

After some of debates about things in Conrad's world that last episode didn't discuss (specifically trans people) I'm glad we got Rose (Temple-Noble, can't believe I have to specify that) back acknowledging that.

Kinda shocked, but honestly relieved, that they didn't retcon Susan's origin. Still surprising that wasn't checked in this finale.

You should have seen me when they declared that Time Lords are sterile. I'm usually very quiet and respectful in cinemas, but it took all my willpower not to scream. I thought we were actually going there...

(Kinda fascinating how ever since Series 9 we've been teasing and teasing at the idea of looms and Lungbarrow, but never actually gone there.)

But it ended up being a consequence of the "genetic explosion" thing Fifteen mentioned in The Devil's Chord, which we've never had actually explained. It's presumably a soft retcon of the effects of the Death Particle in The Timeless Children, but still weird. For a sec I thought they were going to make it fully retroactive too, as a sort of alternative explanation for Time Lord sterility from the Pythian curse.

Everything with Belinda is weird. It feels a little uncomfortable to have her retconned into motherhood and also sidelined for much of the episode. Maybe it would have felt better if this kinda longing for a family, as anti-feminist as it could risk looking (think about the backlash with some of Amy's characterisation), was part of her personality through the series, so it was more of a wish fulfilment (heh) thing? But having it all happen retroactively feels a lot worse.

But on the other hand, as long as it went, I loved all the timeline weirdness at the end, with the idea we're sort of split between these two time tracks? I wonder if that's all going to come back? It must, right, with Belinda's reason for wanting to return home 'glitching' in the new reality too?

I can't believe we got Thirteen back, for a brief moment. A surprise, but a welcome one. And we got a Thasmin moment out of it too?

So sad to see Ncuti regenerate. I've known about the rumour that he wanted to leave so he can do more work in Hollywood and on-stage (though the tabloids as usual have claimed it's a sacking, I doubt that - this episode was clearly planned for a longtime to be a swansong for him). I did think for a while, as the episode concluded, that it was false and he was going to survive after all. But sacrificing your regeneration to reshape reality to save one child is a pretty great way to go out.

(BTW loved Joy to the World of all things having a big impact on this episode, with the final song even being rewritten into Fifteen's regeneration theme?)

On the other hand, I do wonder whether or not this is going to be the last we see of him? For one thing, Rogue's story is still unresolved, and it's going to be weird if Fifteen's not the one to find him. There's also everything about...

...Billie Piper? What a weird pull. On one hand, of course RTD somehow manages to drag us back to Rose in some way. On the other hand, I kinda dig it.

The big question I think is whether Billie is ACTUALLY the Doctor? That may sound ridiculous, but the show's clearly being coy. Note how the credits don't do the usual "Introducing X as the Doctor" thing? I wonder if it's actually meant to be Rose / Bad Wolf or something, somehow switched with the Doctor as part of all the reality warping stuff? I'm totally fine if she is the Doctor, who's just regenerated into that face, but I sense shenanigans. In a way, I kinda hope this is the case, as it implies this might not be the last we've seen of Ncuti.

If she is the new Doctor, it's funny how this comes right after seeing Thirteen, seemingly harkening back to that theory about an incarnation's experiences influencing their choice of regeneration. In fact, if you include Joy, then technically the last two faces Fifteen saw were both white blonde women?

I'm going to throw out a little theory here: I wonder if it is actually Rose, and by reshaping reality the Doctor's accidentally pulled her into this universe as a sort of wish-fulfilment thing, like has been teased the last two series? I know there was another worrying rumour that the BBC and/or Disney wanted to do something with Tennant (presumably Fourteen). The fact we didn't see him again this episode seemed to quash that, but maybe having Rose show up could be a sort of starting point for a limited-run in-between series with him, at the end of which Ncuti, or another actor, will return as the current Doctor?

I also strongly suspect that Billie's addition is a last minute thing. The rumour I saw also implied that Fifteen's regeneration was going to cut to black, similar to the original plan for Thirteen, if RTD didn't come back to showrun. If we link that with the Tennant rumour I bet this was a last minute pitch for a way to keep the show running, maybe, if we're lucky, just for Ncuti to take a break, or maybe more for behind-the-scenes production stuff with Disney to settle.

On a final note, with regards to in-between series, to get us through the hiatus however long it may be, which we don't really know yet, I am mostly looking forward to The War Between The Land and the Sea. Kinda disappointed 1. with Russell Tovey being back playing a different character (which honestly feels like RTD kinda treating himself), and 2. with whatever the fuck are those Sea Devil designs? Seriously, Legend of the Sea Devils wasn't a great episode, but the designs there were great. It feels like someone just wanted to rift off the Talokanil and Atlanteans from the MCU and DCU. Hopefully, there's at least something about this being a sub-species or a hybrid group or something. Supposedly Gugu Mbatha-Raw isn't playing Tish Jones either, which will really be a shame, as between her possible UNIT connections via Martha and her history with Harold Saxon etc., she would have been a good fit for the story - I'm kinda shocked RTD isn't bringing her back.

[intuitive-revelations]

Broke: The Reality War is going to canonise Rassilon's betrayal of Omega/Susan's "Other" origin/the Deca/[insert EU lore here].

Woke: The Reality War is going to canonise 1986 Make Your Own Adventure With Doctor Who gamebook "Race Against Time":

The First Rani investigated the world of antimatter as part of her general pursuit of scientific knowledge. When the Sixth Doctor investigated the Rani's laboratory on Pyro Shika, he became stuck in a cabinet which summoned his negative antimatter self from the antimatter universe. His human companion was able to correctly identify the true Doctor due to the negative version having a mirrored appearance. (PROSE: Race Against Time [+])

I'm only half-joking, tbh. It's honestly not bad canon-welding material for those of us wondering when exactly the Rani first became interested in finding Omega.

[intuitive-revelations]

Hey an opportunity to flex my physics knowledge a bit! (Sorry Rowan for probably taking your post a bit too seriously, but I kinda want to expound on this for fun.) It's less of a discovery and more something that was always assumed. The consensus has long been the antimatter experiences mavitational attraction the same way as normal matter for various theoretical reasons, but there were always large error bars as experimentation is difficult in the limited time antimatter can be preserved without annihilating. Even now the error bars are still pretty big - that 2023 paper, which was the first free fall experiment using antimatter, found the antimatter experienced a mavitational acceleration of "0.75 ± 0.13 (statistical + systematic) ± 0.16" x g(m?). Though this potentially consistent with antimatter experiencing mavity as normal matter does, it's still something we'd like to know more about, as any asymmetries between the behaviour of matter and anti-matter could potentially go a long way in explaining why we see the former abundant in our universe and not the latter, which remains a big question in our current physics.

Worth noting that even a miniscule difference in the strength of the mavitational interaction of antimatter could have huge impacts on our current theories (and the result of that paper leaves open room for some variation, especially with the mean being below unity). See related topics like the Wu experiment, in which a 10% difference in the emission direction of Cobalt-60 beta decays were enough to rule out parity symmetry in our universe. Symmetries / symmetry breaks like this (specifically CP and CPT symmetry) also play a big part in the anti-matter puzzle.

At the very least, however, the experiment does at least seem to rule out the fringe theory that it might experience anti-mavity, which is certainly a belief that has been around, but hasn't been very popular for a long time (if at all?), as far as I'm aware. I'd be kinda surprised if RTD used it, especially as the anti-matter creatures we've previously seen (including in The Three Doctors) all experienced mavity normally (though tbf since when has consistency meant anything with DW?).

Antimatter is subject to mavity apparently. However it seems like that was discovered in late 2023 so potentially Rusty could not possibly have known that, and therefore antimavity may be involved.

[intuitive-revelations]

Live analysis of Wish World!

Sorry for the wait! I'm with family so haven't been able to watch the episode until now. I almost skipped the live reaction aspect of this for this episode, but have managed to work out a system with my laptop + ipad that works so I can write and watch at the same time. I also can't add any screencaps, as I can't PrtScr on this keyboard. Given all this, I'll think I'll hold back on most of my overall thoughts and theories for now, and save that for later this week.

Spoilers below. Again, I think I've been partially spoiled on this episode, but we'll see how this goes:

OK. Straight away it's 1865, so our third member of the unholy trinity is somewhere here?

And a baby, straight away, hm.

Luck? Is the Rani experimenting with the universe's new superstition?

"Sturm-und-drang" Thought that was going to be Gallifreyan for a sec, before I relistened and turned on the subtitles. "Storm and stress"?

Yep, doing something with superstition.

"It's older than that, darling." DARK TIMES MENTION?

"Your child is the fountainhead of a power from beyond this universe." May be spoiled on this being something else, but... Timeless Child link? Or Pantheon?

Hm, the word play with VIolets was a lot better, since it felt intrinsic. The Rani using similes and metaphors feels a lot more arbitrary.

Actually, I think I might discuss that spoiler now. If this goes back to Omega, is the "wish" thing linked to his ability to shape the anti-matter universe, now being applied to N-space too?

This domestic setup feels so expanded universe-y, like the The Natural History of Fear or something, with our main cast projected into a very different kind of story.

Poppy! So we're "casting" her as the Doctor and Belinda's child here?

Yep, and Conrad is the voice of this reality reshaping.

"Doctor Who and the Deadly Wish" Very 1st Edition Philosopher's Stone cover there. Kinda surprised we didn't go in on a Target cover instead. Is there some anti-JKR commentary to be had here, with crypto-fascist Conrad reading it?

WAIT WAIT THAT SAYS I.M. FOREMAN?! (On one hand, yay how can I link this to the EDA character. On the other hand, how dare you put them in the place JKR's name would be.)

"Uncle Connie" Hmm... given Poppy's the Doctor's child here, how can I link this to Brax?

"Once upon a time, the TIme Lords were really clever people from the planet Gallifrey. But one of the Time Lords ran away."

Amma?

What was that big tease RTD gave? "Tables don't act that way"?

Ruby :)

"My name is John Smith" The return!

Doubt. Interesting. So a post-truth-y sort of thing? This feels like it could get pretty poitically disjointed, given Conrad is a conspiracy theorist, but let's see how this goes.

Mel :D

And great skeletal beasts. I know I'm not alone in thinking of Faction Paradox here.

"The people who lived on the Earth were called humans. Doctor Who had lots and lots of human friends." The past tense is fun. Makes me wonder if it will be literal in some way. Also very TARDIS wiki.

"They loved him, they'd travel with him, but sometimes they'd leave him so they could go and fall in love and marry and have babies. And then the Doctor was all alone." Hm, what interesting contrast, after that moment with Mel. What are we getting at here, especially with something so reductive? Is this something to do with the Doctor wishing he could have that life?

"But he travelled on with bravery in his heart, looking for his next best friend." And now we see Shirley. (Also, heart singular? Almost could be interpretted as a "First Doctor had one heart" confirmation.)

Susan Twist!

Hmm, this retro environment feel quite HP-like actually. Like the Ministry of Magic. Hm...

"But then a sad day came along. All the Time Lords were killed, and Doctor Who was the only one left." This is what I've been waiting for, with the Rani back.

Ich, so sexism is alive and well here. Very cool Conrad.

"You're a beautiful man." "What's that supposed to mean?!" Oh God. Yep we're going there, and it's not just flavour.

"Unified National Insurance Team" lol

"And Doctor Who .wished it was like the old days, when he had a faithful companion at his side, but sadly those days were gone." The old days huh? Also, are we really going there, with the Doctor's subconscious wish warping reality and causing Belinda to be stuck with him, like theorised?

Belinda's family!

"Good little girl, good little wife, then good little mother." Triple goddess?

"And as Conrad says, that's what we're here for." Again, very cool Conrad.

Interesting having Poppy here, but clearly a lot more convention in terms of her childhood intelligence. How does that happen?

Ooh, is Belinda breaking out of this?

"It turned out, Doctor Who wasn't the only one left. A Time Lady had survived." Hm, are we going in some "repopulate the species" direction here? Seemingly not conventionally, given the Rani isn't herself acting as the Doctor's wife here, but there's implications from Conrad's lines here.

...what's she riding?

Seal of Rassilon spotted!

Hm, what with these helmetted people? Thought they were passenger-forms for a second.

Wait, the Rani wants people to doubt?

"Is it ok out there? Is it working?" Hm? So Conrad a) seemingly isn't in as much control as he seems, and b) is trying to accomplish something specific.

"Sometimes I forget about the weather and South Africa gets flooded." So reality is flowing through him somehow? It's almost like he's trying to take care of everyone, but is also clearly malicious in other ways.

Ah right. Clear mummy issues. That makes sense.

"The boy who wants the world to be better." Stop trying to make him sound earnest.

THE GIGGLE!

Hm, so the vindicators still have a part to play? I wonder how accurate or not my episode one onwards theory is.

"Tonight, we will find him. The One Who Is Lost." Gee I wonder who that is (disclaimer: I already know who that is). Interesting that this name echoes "The One Who Waits". Are we pulling Omega into the Pantheon too? I kinda hope not, as really can't fit with having a history with the rest. Not like Sutekh with the Titan Comic parallels.

"And then the great work begins." Rebuilding Gallifrey maybe?

"Many years ago when Gallifrey was young, the Doctor and the Time Lady had been terrible enemies." Uhh... 'young' is an interesting choice of phrasing. I'm guessing this is just for the narrative, but taking this literally, this feels like a Fugitive / Morbius Doctor sort of thing. But the Rani doesn't fit into that (unless we really are getting "Time Lord reincarnation is more common than we think" theory confirmed, like I said on that one Chibnall-related post.

"But the Time Lady knew they could be great friends, if only Doctor Who knew how clever she was!" Hmm... this feels interesting. Hopefully we're not making the Rani's research all about the Doctor, are we?

Also, what does this refer to? Ancient Gallifrey (as mentioned above)? Academy era (this arguably could fit best, if we take this as a sort of meet cute of how Ushas joined the Deca)? Classic era? Now?

"So one day she stepped out from the shadows..." "He said her name out loud. And he said, "We shouldn't be enemies any more..." NO, PLEASE LET ME HEAR ALL THIS! ... also by name, do we mean "Rani", "Ushas" or somehting else? I hope Conrad's background speaking is included in the script, whenever Writersroom releases it.

"The disabled, the dispossessed, the ones who don't fit in." Once again, very cool Conrad.

"It's like a glimpse in the corner of my eye, like I can remember something, then... it's gone." Perception filter?

WAIT, are we seriously about to link back to 73 Yards?!

"It's perception bias. He's not disabled, so he can't see us." God I love this. This is such a clever way to use this reality warping actually. Of course Conrad's biases enforce gender roles, homophobia, but he doesn't give a shit about disabled people, for better or worse.

"We're going to bring down God." Huh, so who did the Rani/Flood overthrow to get us to this point?

"But the Time Lady had an idea. She said, 'It's not over, because I know a secret, hidden away.' And the secret came from the depths of Time Lord history. A secret so old and so terrible, everyone had forgotten. But the secret was beginning to wake." OH?

SUSAN! SUSAN! SUSAN!

(Why does her appearing on the screen in white feel so "The End of Time Woman"-core?)

Also, no way, is this going to link back to her origin?

"But the secret was beginning to wake." Dark Times / pre-rationality? The Timeless Child? Omega's betrayal?

"And the Doctor said, 'Tell me the secret'. But the mysterious Time Lady was clever and wise, and she knew that Doctor Who was weak. " Again very curious when this story, if real, actually occurred. It sounds like it must have been right before the episode, but how does that work with the previous episode's cliffhanger?

ROGUE?!!!

'Hell dimension'. So he's not in a Land of Fiction then. So much for that sequel idea.

"Tables don't do that." There we go.

"I miss you. Well... more than that. I love-" And of course Conrad interrupts this!

"I warn you, Doctor. This secret will change reality forever."

Oh, I didn't realise the cups were literally falling through the table. So it is a matter of projection, isn't it? The matter, in a sense, isn't actually there? (Or the force of electromagnetism itself has technically vanished with the surrounding loss of rationality?) Again, reality being held together by the mind, ala the Antimatter universe.

(Also, quite TV Movie esque, with matter's properties changing from the Eye of Harmony being open. Who do we know who was involved in those Black Hole experiments?)

Nope, Belinda is still suppressing then.

OK, I know it being UNIT is what's important, but I chuckled at the "relic from the other world" being a fucking iPad.

Rassilon mention! President Eternal huh?

Hm, the Rani's characterisation is interesting. It's clearly paralleling the Master in some ways, with the emphasis on their history etc. but she also thankfully doesn't actually feel like them at all (though the discoball is cutting it a bit close). Sure it's a bit of a far cry from Kate O'Mara's Rani in some some ways, but I actually really like it. This feels like someone who really was close with the Doctor once upon a time. It also makes sense she may act in a way that builds off those old bonds, given they are both, effectively, among all that's left of Gallifrey. Regardless, Archie is VERY good. I hope we keep her.

The way she's testing him is specifically very Rani though. It shows her inate academic curiosity.

Also, tbf, there are actually a few tender moments between the Rani and the Doctor in previous stories. They're easy to forget, but they are there. Like when she's disguised as Mel and clearly, for a moment, sympathises with Seven as he bemoans the nature of regeneration (one reason I like the interpretation, which I've seen some others share, that the Rani was actually scared of regenerating and hestitated for a long time). Or when the Doctor momentarily begins to wonder if they can be friends again (or maybe more? he doesn't finish the sentence), before dismissing the thought. It's a shame their dynamic is so often slept on tbh.

"We danced once upon a time, you and I, with the city burning around us! People said we were lovers. Can you remember if that's true? Far away in time and space. Were we?" I'm sure people are annoyed at this, and I can see an argument that it's a shame the Rani being being brought back so quickly leads to something romance related, a bit like the discourse around Best Enemies being depicted so strongly once the Master became Missy (I got the unfortunate implications of it all, but disagree it was intentional or anything - it was Moffat's first time writing the Master and I think he just wanted to depict their relationship explicitly while also introducing us to an on-screen cross-gender regeneration, and doing both together just happened to look a bit bad). But the Rani is clearly just teasing the Doctor's lack of memory.

Yay, Kate O'Mara :D

"Yes! I had a different face. So did you, a long time ago." Hm, who danced with her? Logically, it would make most sense to be Six or Seven, but this honestly sounds quite academy era-like? Could this be seen as evidence for O'Mara indeed being the First Rani?

"Because the tragedy is... we were never enemies. Every villain you ever thought wanted death. I only wanted life!"

"But this planet is a lie. This whole world is a wish." Yep, the planet's already gone isn't it? I'm so curious how this all comes together, it feels like the Rani's playing every side. She (presumably) wanted the Earth destroyed (by the TARDIS and the Vindicators?) but is also here holding it together? There's a gamibit here.

"But he made so much of this happen. He stirred the gods, Belinda. He woke the most ancient of powers."

"Desiderium - the god of wishes" Ok, this works for me so far.

"The Vindicator. Hidden in plain sight. Do you remember?" Plain sight is a bit much (we payed plenty of attention to it) but ok. This is what I'm waiting for.

But how does this work to amplify Desiderium's powers? Unless the Rani somehow planted it in the TARDIS, it must be via it's intended purpose, right?

"It crisscrossed the universe, creating a web of power to bring you back here." A Web you say? 👀

Or am I wrong, and it'll be more of a ritual thing, ala the fairy ring in 73 Yards?

"A billion supernovas" wait, is this based on what Rassilon did when Omega was lost? With the energy of the black hole flowing through him, how he changed the laws of physics and created the event horizon?

Kind of? She's using his doubt. Literally the Doctor's own Observer Effect.

"Omega" YEP there we are.

"Omega. The First Time Lord. The creator of the Time Lords. The greatest and most terrifying Time Lord of all."

OMG she's not acting to restore rationality per say (though in a way, using the Doctor's doubt could be seen as doing just that, re-imposing logic on a reality that has ceased to make sense) she's doing this to tear down Rassilon's work, isn't she?

When you think about it, this is the consequence of the Doctor's overthrowing of Rassilon in Hell Bent. The Time Lords finally began to see him for what he was, and the Rani may well have been among them. Only she filled the void of what once was likely a great hero of hers, given his impact on Time Lord science and rationality, with someone else.

And of course she wants to help Omega. The Deca loved him, Morbius, other fearsome Time Lord leaders of legend.

Side note - I can't believe they're actually showing us Omega's seal again too!

The Series 4 version of the Doctor's Theme! Have we even heard it since Eleven regenerated?

Ooh, the purple hues of everything disappearing are very similar to the threshold (I've been thinking about it every time they've said that word) and the portal the Timeless Child was found below. Is that just what portals out of N-Space look like (remember, the Master implied that Gallifrey was in the pocket universe when he destroyed it)?

"I have a daughter. Poppy is real. Do you know what that means?" HUH? THAT'S WHERE WE'RE GOING TO END IT?!

OK, as I said I'm not going to say too much right now, as it's late and writing is a bit inconvenient atm. I'll be saying a lot more later next week.

What I am going to say now though, before I see any other reactions to this? HOLY SHIT I LOVED THAT EPISODE. Low key, might be one of my favourite penultimate episodes (Heaven Sent is still top though obviously). Admittedly it leaves SO many questions open, so we're dependent on it sticking the landing and not copping out of all this, but my hopes are so high right now, even with the bad taste Empire of Death gave me previously. That's not to say it's perfect (there's a few RTDisms in there, with obvious reveals and such, plus things like Rogue kinda coming out of nowhere, but maybe he's back next episode?), but the fact we're actually kinda hinting at all this deep lore, FINALLY some consequences actually making good use of post-Time War Gallifrey (even if it's not around, and to be clear, I did like 90% of the Timeless Child/Division arc too), and giving us compelling characterisation of the Rani?

You've got me Russell, don't let us down.

[intuitive-revelations]

Here's a higher quality version from the Radio Times Threads account.

It's still blurry, but seems to read "Doctor Who and the Deadly Wish".

WHAT???????????????? WISH WORLD STILL IMAGE RELEASED JUST NOW. CONRAD IS READING A BOOK CALLED DOCTOR WHO

[intuitive-revelations]

Oh, also, as I forgot to mention it, note there is a baby involved somehow?

♥️♥️➕👶

I've seen people joking about how Conrad somehow is part of the "unholy trilogy", but according to RTD, this is actually a misconception and we're still waiting for someone else...

"The third is lying in wait, exactly 160 years away 🤔"

Assuming 160 years away from 24 May 2025, that implies we're talking either 2185 or 1865... The description implies it could be another member of the Pantheon (the Trickster, maybe?), but who knows. With everything else this series, plus people's speculation, I want it to come back to the Master, but that didn't quite seem to fit. (So he's probably not the third member of the trinity, but I do suspect he's going to at least come up or be teased in the next two episodes.)

The first year bring us to the aftermath of the Dalek invasion of Earth, so could link to Susan (or even BE Susan 😳, though I doubt that). It wouldn't really make sense though, given Carole Ann Ford's age, to be just 20 years after the Dalek Invasion (plus would contradict both Big Finish and the EDAs, not that that means much).

The alternative I don't know about. It brings us back to the Victorian era, which could link to all sorts of things. For example, it is 52 years after Rogue, so technically could end up linking to him, depending on how long he's been waiting? Given how time has been altered by Earth's destruction, the past may be a more likely option?

The alternative is that 160 years away refers to the date of the Interstellar Song Contest, but again I doubt this is what RTD means. If so though, that would bring us from 2925 to either 2765 or 3085. Arguably this would be a better option if it linked to Susan, given Time Lord ageing, but again is unlikely.

Some positive things to note:

RTD does explicitly refer to this as "the Ranis' most terrifying experiment yet" which is hopefully a good sign for their characterisation in the next two episodes.

"Old friends are helpless." I assume this refers to UNIT, Ruby, and Mel, but could refer to someone else, like Susan?

This may or may not mean anything, but among the comments on Instagram:

So it's possible we could see the fugitive Doctor again at some point in the finale?

[intuitive-revelations]

I've seen people joking about how Conrad somehow is part of the "unholy trilogy", but according to RTD, this is actually a misconception and we're still waiting for someone else...

"The third is lying in wait, exactly 160 years away 🤔"

Assuming 160 years away from 24 May 2025, that implies we're talking either 2185 or 1865... The description implies it could be another member of the Pantheon (the Trickster, maybe?), but who knows. With everything else this series, plus people's speculation, I want it to come back to the Master, but that didn't quite seem to fit. (So he's probably not the third member of the trinity, but I do suspect he's going to at least come up or be teased in the next two episodes.)

The first year bring us to the aftermath of the Dalek invasion of Earth, so could link to Susan (or even BE Susan 😳, though I doubt that). It wouldn't really make sense though, given Carole Ann Ford's age, to be just 20 years after the Dalek Invasion (plus would contradict both Big Finish and the EDAs, not that that means much).

The alternative I don't know about. It brings us back to the Victorian era, which could link to all sorts of things. For example, it is 52 years after Rogue, so technically could end up linking to him, depending on how long he's been waiting? Given how time has been altered by Earth's destruction, the past may be a more likely option?

The alternative is that 160 years away refers to the date of the Interstellar Song Contest, but again I doubt this is what RTD means. If so though, that would bring us from 2925 to either 2765 or 3085. Arguably this would be a better option if it linked to Susan, given Time Lord ageing, but again is unlikely.

Some positive things to note:

RTD does explicitly refer to this as "the Ranis' most terrifying experiment yet" which is hopefully a good sign for their characterisation in the next two episodes.

"Old friends are helpless." I assume this refers to UNIT, Ruby, and Mel, but could refer to someone else, like Susan?

This may or may not mean anything, but among the comments on Instagram:

So it's possible we could see the fugitive Doctor again at some point in the finale?

[intuitive-revelations]

Semi-live/retrospective analysis of The Interstellar Song Contest!

And here's my usual commentary for episode 6! Featuring a long final discussion by a very split me, who wants to rave about bits they loved in this episode, but needs to confront some very concerning (or at least bungled) messaging.

As I'm not sure what will go on with the airing with Eurovision and the football, I'm just going to go ahead and post this one before the live airing, since I've seen plenty of other people already posting anyway. Spoilers below the read more.

Before we get started, some acknowledgement that I seem to have been partially spoiled regarding some reveals this episode. I'll hold my tongue for now, as I want to see how it comes together, but we'll see...

I love the absurdity of being cryogenically suspended just to keep hosting for centuries.

Ok, 2925 And it's the 803rd song content - assuming this grew out of an Earth thing (and follows Earth years) that would give us a potentially starting date of 2122?

As someone who's never watched Eurovision in my life, despite how much everyone ends up talking about it, I'm not sure what to make of the premise of this episode. Neat idea I think.

Oh yeah! Juno Dawson's writing!

WTF, that's Trenzalore! Literally stock footage from Time of the Doctor. Wasn't expecting to see it here (especially as I didn't think it would have been settled until circa. the 51st century).

A nice couple of easter eggs at the bottom, with the Zygon New Colony and Alpha Centauri. Trion too!

Also look at that resolution: 11920x6705.

Ok, Mrs Flood's here straight away.

Oh, good point regarding Earth from Belinda! This would seemingly imply Earth is fine, though absolutely it may not be a human derived thing. Trenzalore being a human colony (plus potentially the Zygon colony, if they're from Earth's refugee population) could be points towards Earth's state too?

Ah, the Doctor's joy at seeing Belinda enjoying herself.

So the vindicators are important to Flood. We'll see how accurate my prediction is I guess? "Link" seems to imply otherwise.

Does Freddi Fox's audio seem slightly off in this scene? Might just be my bluetooth headphone delay, but the lip sync seems weird. It's like he's barely annunciating?

"Hellians" huh? Could have done a bit more with this design, but whatever.

This is an insane number of people to kill off! wtf?!

"Not again" lol. I also see they're using the same freezing over in the vacuum visuals from Oxygen, which always seemed to be possibly inspired by GOTG.

Never mind, not dead I guess. Also mavity again! Interesting - as if Earth is gone then there's no real need to use that word again, since people presumably aren't actually speaking English here? I guess it can still be translated relative to Belinda I guess.

I wonder if Mrs Flood got sucked out too?

A DELTA WAVE?! (Remember the Doctor's plan in Parting of the Ways?)

Interesting detail on the betting. I guess that's more due to the broadcast than FTL communication specifically, but interesting thought.

Dugga fricking Doo

So much for Belinda enjoying herself...

"And I never got to tell him?" ??? I can't imagine Belinda has anything specific she knows she wants to tell the Doctor, so is this more of a subconscious thing, where she really is hiding another identity chameleon arch style? (Again, may have been partially spoiled here, but let's see.)

SUSAN SUSAN SUSAN, LOML!!!! HOLY SHIT!

I was spoiled on some sort of tease relating to her, but I wasn't expecting to actually see Carole Ann Ford today?!

This could link to the above, but I think it's a red herring. a) that's a sudden 'reveal', b) Bel still referred to the Doctor as her 'friend', and c) it's pretty notable we've got Carole Ann Ford here specifically.

(Also wow, she looks great here!)

Weird that this moment specifically reached the Doctor, is Susan telepathically reaching out to him right this moment, and that's what woke him?

Obviously the Doctor surviving in space is nothing new, but the frost melting is a bit interesting. I guess it was more just water settling on him, but makes me wonder if his body was also going to a sort of 'rest state', and the shock was enough to get his body temperature shooting up to keep him awake? We know Time Lords can survive a wide range of temperatures after all (oddly, despite being not that warm-blooded).

Also curious if there's actually oxygen here? The Doctor making sounds etc. would imply as such, as would everyone not really being dead, so maybe it's just a) low pressure, and b) cold?

Ooh, Gary's another nurse!

Ey, respiratory bypass system mention.

"Camp" lol.

"Mavitic suspension" oh come on... I'm trusting the low pressure idea.

"she/her" Yay, if a surprising courtesy to provide in talking to a terrorist in this situation.

Oh wow, and here we get to see the delta wave in action!

Pretty concerning that so many TVs (or future equivalent) are capable of broadcasting a delta wave?

Ok, so we're clearly getting a prejudice (and maybe Palestine?) thing with the Hellians. Kinda tired of stories where the oppressed go beyond being "well-intentioned extremists".

Also Cora is 100% a Hellian right? Horns hidden in her hair?

Graham Norton!

Oh so the song contest does originate from Earth? Interesting...

Definitely teasing the Susan connection, but I'm still sceptical.

"Revenge against the corporation" Hm?

Damn, and he we get the rageful side of the Doctor. The "ice" line reminds of that one: "there's a sliver of ice in his heart" from Series 7.

"That's not him" And Bel notices.

Oh, so horns are less hidden and instead cut. At least Cora is a lot more sympathetic. Also obvious real world parallels with her hiding this side of her.

And there's the corporation again. So they're responsible for Hellia. Is it a thing where the Hellians went into debt, and had to sell everything off?

"Your planet was invaded for honey?" Damn, I noticed the ad earlier, of course it comes back.

It may not be that absurd, but the sonic being able to be used so broadly and destructively against robots always feels a bit much, since it kinda implies most robots shouldn't be a threat. I get there's probably difficult levels of complexity to this based on the tech, but still.

Also the gun here, that tends to be particularly egregious. Again, I can excuse it for the sake of a story, but tend to prefer being a bit more restrained with these things.

Damn, rare we see the Doctor get to the point of actually trying to hurt someone for glee. Pretty ironic after what he just said about revenge. Also surprisingly fitting this comes with visions of Susan, given One's early attitude.

From reactions I'm seeing, I'm clearly not alone in finding this rough. Especially with no-one, not even Belinda, calling the Doctor out harder. I thought this would be the thing that pushed her back away from starting to enjoy travelling and become determined to leave, so I wasn't expecting her to coddle him so much.

Hard light holograms as a tractor beam is actually pretty clever.

"I'll do anything for you" lol

Did anyone find Mrs Flood among the rescued people, or has she been fine this whole time?

I wonder if they did any conlanging for this song, or if it's just syllables.

The intercuts of visuals of Hellia, a planet we don't even know, are honestly a great addition.

Side note - I think that alien behind the Doctor is an old prosthetic? I think i recognise it from Rings of Akhaten, plus some other Moffat era episodes.

Hmm... so in regard to real world parallels, what's the message here? As I said, it's always a bit uncomfortable when a member of an oppressed group acts as an extreme terrorist in a story, especially villainised as much as Kid here. On the other hand, in every other way, there's clearly a message here simultaneously celebrating the union of Eurovision and the like, while also seemingly condemning its failure on a political / world events front? Still pretty incoherent though. I'll go into a lot more detail later.

"I don't think I've ever told you, you're wonderful." Oh, is that it?

Ah, and of course this comes back to Gallifrey for the Doctor. Was thinking it, especially with his reaction to Cora's song. It's also clearly foreshadowing, given Susan's appearances (and, that thing I've been spoiled on).

Uh oh, Graham Norton here. It's going to be revealed this didn't come "from" Earth, but is more of a tribute to it, isn't it?

"Poor old Earth died many years ago." YEP!

"It is said the planet disintegrated, into rock and dust and ashes. All of the memories here were sieved from the rubble of a civilisation that died in a single second. Cause: Unknown." IT'S GOING TO BE THE VINDICTOR, I'M SO CERTAIN OF THIS. Did I actually get this right as far back as the first episode, that the TARDIS trying to get home is ripping Earth apart?

OMG, is him going there now going to be what causes it?!

CLOISTER BELL CLOISTER BELL

Jesus, that's a hard cut.

Ah, there's Flood. Here we go.

YEP IT'S THE RANI! Also bigeneration, which I also expected.

Hm... I was sceptical of Flood being the Rani, and in a weird way I still kind of am. Her new regeneration definitely has the right vibes at least, which is good! On the other hand, Flood herself doesn't really feel like the same character. Sure Time Lords can be eccentric and vary in personality wildly, but it's weird for an incarnation of the Rani to be so glib. At least the new one feels a lot more in character, which helps sell it.

Also interesting how oddly submissive and apologetic Flood is to her other incarnation, during and after the bigeneration? "Oh I'm ever so sorry ma'am." "Unfortunately, yes." Feels like there might be something else going on here.

Maybe there's something in-particular with the Flood incarnation, to try and induce the bigeneration, like taking cues from the Doctor after his bigeneration? Clearly the new Rani views her with some disdain, like she's a variation from the norm.

I'm sure other people are saying this, but it's so funny that after so many years theorising about Susan and/or the Rani returning, we now get both in one episode!

Overall Thoughts

Oh boy. I'm in two (or more) minds about this episode. To the point I think I need to properly segment this discussion.

Let's Talk Politics...

First off: the messaging of this story is kinda disasterous. I was going to be more forgiving and put it more aside, but seeing some other people's discussions does want me to emphasise the issues here, especially after not talking that much about it above. Plus it is leaving a worse and worse taste in my mouth the more I think about it.

In particular, the Hellians continues a bad trend (see things like The Zygon Inversion) of villainising portrayals of abused peoples while trying to provide real world commentary. While the trope has a long history and can definitely be interesting in cases, it is at it's worst here, putting the "extreme" in "well-intentioned extremist".

The Hellian's exact history is clearly a bit of a mix, between the capitalistic colonisation and enslavement of their world, and the way Cora has to hide her true self. This could be an allegory for a number of things (the latter partially making me compare it to a queer/trans metaphor) but obviously it's impossible to watch without thinking of Palestine. This villainous portrayal seems especially blind, considering the episode directly discusses how they've been targetted by propaganda, regarding ideas of things like cannibalism and witchcraft (they're literally called HELLIANS and are still getting demonised!). Meanwhile the status quo of the Intergalactic Song Contest is largely upheld, with the exception of allowing Cora to sing about her people. There's clearly some element of critique there, which is appreciated, but it is not enough. Note there's never any discussion of the Song Contest itself doing anything wrong, but rather just a general vibe of intolerance which Cora stands up against, and some offscreen "corporation" which doesn't even get its own name (other than the honey ad - which tbf I did appreciate as showing the price of such things and how petty it can be). There's half-hearted attempts of attacking the exploitation of colonised peoples for luxuries and the white/pink-washing of those crimes through media like Eurovision, which would be a good starting point, but the episode never commits.

Similarly, Dark!Doctor moments are hardly new, but this wasn't a good one. It's clearly meant to be a Witch's Familar / Face the Raven kind of thing, with him believing Belinda might be gone, and also being furious at someone's intent to commit genocide many times over. As he acknowledges, it's also his own trauma regarding Gallifrey coming out (he did NOT finish therapy). But it's rare we get to see him actually be physically violent in such a way, which makes it really stand out. It's only worse when you mix in the above politics. I compare it to The Zygon Inversion, but that's honestly doing that episode a disservice, as for all the Doctor's fury he still forgives Bonnie and the Zygons. I think something like this could have been saved if it were for two things (not necessarily both, but at least one of them):

All those people actually do die. While it doesn't change Kid's intentions, nor the plan to kill trillions with the delta wave, it does provide genuine, lethal stakes for the Doctor to become angry about, plus avoids the whiplash with the "happy-go-lucky" ending we get, of everyone in suspension being awoken.

Belinda is furious with the Doctor. Her reaction was not enough, which is kinda shocking, given the series has done so well with her realistic reactions previously. This should have been the breaking point that reminds her that, no, she was right: he is dangerous. I can sort of excuse her being relieved he's alive and understanding his trauma, if we take her to still be angry below the surface, but we needed much more.

One of the few possible saving graces of this, is that Wynn at least, despite being part of the plan is still treated sympathetically by the narrative, which is better than if it was just Cora, since it at least doesn't condemn all outrage and lets us see Kid as a particularly extreme terrorist / "psychopath" (again, not exactly a great trope to use). That is really picking at scraps though, and shows just how much the episode bungled this. There's clearly an intent to look at ideas of demonisation (again, just think about their names!), propaganda, whitewashing etc., which might be why I want to be generous to the writing, but it honestly falls flat because of Kid and his plan.

I'm pretty keen to know at this point how much of this came from Juno Dawson, from RTD, or from executive meddling. That might sound like a weak excuse, but given we are talking about Israel/Palestine and Eurovision, I really wouldn't be surprised if there was some interference from either the BBC or Disney. It would make some sense of some of the mixed messaging - but at the same time, the blame may very well be wholely on RTD and Juno and I don't want defend them if it's the case.

I don't know, I can technically make excuses all day and justify things in my head so I can better enjoy the rest of the episode, but I know that's not helpful. Ultimately I'm just disappointed the episode didn't do better.

As for how I'd haved tried and fixed it? Well, assuming we really do want to do "Die Hard at Space Eurovision", as in the original pitch, and for better-or-worse we really want a well-intentioned villain that has a point that can be applied to real-world issues, this could have been a hostage situation (rather than, you know, attempted mega-genocide). Maybe even have the hostage takers intentionally make sure the audience are alive and suspended, as they didn't want to actually hurt them all, but needed them out of their way so they can make their threat. It's still an antagonistic role, but one which is much more defendable and potentially justified, plus would allow a deep psychological / moral element, without racing to stop a countdown that will literally kill trillions. It also would allow them to actually, y'know, make demands which we can hear about and discuss, plus we could meet their enemy. It could even have had Bel and the Doctor on seperate sides of the hostage situation, which would've been a great way to use them both. Obvious potential risk would be it being considered a bit too close to real life, with regards to the hostages held by Hamas and Israel, but I'm sure you could make it work, framed more as a bank robbery style hostage situation. Even if this was impossible, this is just what I came up with off the top of my head in 10 minutes. I'm sure something better could be developed.

You Spend Decades Waiting for a Time Lady, then Two (Three) Come at Once!

Ok, now I've gotten that off my shoulders, time to go back to my usual optimistic self...

HOLY SHIT SUSAN AND THE RANI. Originally I wanted to make this section purely about them, before I decided I really had to discuss the politics of the episode in depth.

As mentioned, I had heard two spoilers: 1. that Flood would end up being the Rani bigenerated, and 2. that Susan may be back sometime this season, and there may be a hint at her this episode.

I certainly wasn't expecting Carole Ann Ford herself to show up this episode, which I'm so, so, so glad for. Even though it is surprising that Susan wouldn't have regenerated by now, given the Time War and everything, it always would have been disappointing if she came back with another face. So I'm so happy we got to see her. There's obviously meant to be a tease that she's regenerated into Belinda, but I strongly doubt that. Indeed I hope this is a sign she's alive and well telepathically communicating with the Doctor, and we'll see her in person.

I'm so curious where we'll find her though. Obviously she can't be on 22nd/23rd century Earth right now, unless she'll be found there once the timeline is restored. We saw her in the TARDIS, but I assume she isn't literally travelling in one (after all, if she was she'd probably be seen in another console room). It depends where she says the Doctor needs to "go back" too? It could be future Earth, or even modern day Earth (even another trap to get him back to Earth right now?). Honestly, I even think it might be Gallifrey itself? After all, that's where the Doctor always said he and Susan originally wanted to go back to, "some day". This feels particularly logical with the Rani's presence here too.

SPEAKING OF WHICH. OMG we've actually got the Rani on-screen. Even having heard about the leaks I was sceptical until I got spoiled about this episode specifically. Part of me was wondering if it would be a fake leak, akin to the filmed line with Missy where she calls herself the Rani.

I'm actually kind of relieved by the depiction thus far. I was pretty concerned at the idea of Mrs Flood being the Rani, as her personality largely doesn't seem to line up. She seems malicious and entitled, sure, but seemingly lacked any of the seriousness and scientific thinking of the Rani we know. Bigenerating now, however, into an incarnation that immediately takes on those traits makes it a lot more pallatable. Archie Panjabi is an amazing choice, and is immediately recognisable as the character.

Some immediately big questions we need to have answered:

Where has she been this whole time? No seriously, we've got to have some update on what happened to her during the Time War, right? If I had to guess, maybe she survived most of the war and was on Gallifrey on the final day, but immediately went renogade as soon as Gallifrey returned, a la the Master? We also know Flood was "hiding away", but for how long? Was a chameleon arch involved?

Why is Mrs Flood so different? Sure Time Lord regenerations vary greatly, but Mrs Flood is barely recognisable as the Rani, before and after the bigeneration. At most, we could say some of her companion outfit pastiches are references to the Rani dressing as Mel in Time and the Rani, but that's pretty much it. I guess her wanted to 'overthrow God' could be seen as a science / anti-myth motif too?

Building on the above, why the sudden dynamic and shift after the bigeneration? It could again just be Time Lord quirkiness, but it does feel as if something's off about Flood. Like she's an experiment, or an intentional diversion from the norm. Not only does the new Rani immediately dismiss her, barely admitting she's even "a Rani" (even calling her Mrs. Flood as they leave), but she is immediately subserviant herself.

Again possibly linked to the above, why another bigeneration? While it could be something to do with the current state of the universe (remember RTD suggested bigeneration might even have been retroactive for all the Doctor's incarnations?), it seems more likely it would be part of some sort of experiment, maybe based on the Doctor. This could also be linked to Flood's oddness, potentially.

And finally, of course, what is her plan and motive here? (A bit more on this below.)

I kind of love that the person we've seen repeatedly breaking the fourth wall turned out to just be another Time Lord, rather than making it purely a god and Doctor thing. I'm also keen to see how she'll interact with everything/everyone else. Does she know about the Timeless Child (if so, she could potentially be a pretty strong parallel to Tecteun, and may want to experiment on the Doctor)? Does she know what the Master did? What's her reaction to the current state of the universe, with its decaying rationality and growth in magic? As a scientist, is she trying to reverse this?

Hopefully, we might get some more Academy era stuff, when she and the Doctor finally interact, this time not purely about the Master? (Imagine if we got an Ushas or Deca namedrop!)

...or maybe do make it about the Master, and let her be exasperated with them on-screen all over again. Bring him back too, so we can really get the full Mark of the Rani experience!

Everything Else

Anyway, for all the messy analogies, the episode as a whole was fairly fun. I enjoyed the setting and the side characters. Kind of a shame we didn't get more focus on the music? A lot of continuity references this episode too, between the familar planets (seriously, Trenzalore?! I can't believe they just straight up through that archive footage in there) and the delta wave.

Interesting to note, with all the Doctor / Master parallels this season, Kid kind of fits into that too? He literally lacks a real name, and is acting to revenge exploitation and the destruction of his homeworld. Mix in the Doctor's rage for Gallifrey's destruction being triggered, and we can see both of them: the Master, destroying the Time Lords in light of learning about the exploitation of the Timeless Child, and the Doctor showing that same rage for his destroyed world that Kid has himself.

Graham Norton of all people being used to deliver the wham line that Earth really is gone in this time was such a choice, which I can't help but respect. As mentioned above, I remain locked in on my "the TARDIS ripped Earth apart" theory, but this still leaves a number of questions. Why was the TARDIS unable to reach Earth in the first place? How is this part of the Rani's plan? Is it just revenge, or something more?

Logicially, if she's getting involved, it could very much be something "Time Lord-y" which fits well with my theory she's targetting the Web of Time. But why would she want to tear it down? To build something better? Or is she just experimenting with reality in general - possibly via the Doctor, seeing just how much she can use him to reshape history? The latter maybe supported by her biregeneration, if it suggests she's deliberately experimenting with him specifically, probably specifically because of his connection with the Timeless Child.

[intuitive-revelations]

If no-one else has already told you after your review of the latest ep... the little girl isn't such a mystery if you look at the credits... she's Captain Poppy from Space Babies last season! No idea how that works but there it is.

Yep, I saw that shortly after!

A pretty weird choice, I get that stories are bleeding together and these may not need to be chronological with the Doctor telling a story in the barbershop... but Space Babies?

I feel like it either means something, or there's some sort of nepo thing going on behind the scenes that led to her showing up again. I assume the prior, but who knows. For all I know, her mum could be an actress who showed up in the episode, and had her on set with her and someone decided to include her as a cute cameo.

That being said, I don't think it being Poppy specifically may be important, but can see her being used as the face for a lost child being important, especially if it comes back to more parentage reveals like with Ruby, or something with the Timeless Child, or both. It definitely feels like it's meant to be significant that only Bel saw her. On the other hand, Space Babies did seemingly include some veiled allusions to looms, so there could be a weird connection there with the latter?

[intuitive-revelations]

One ironic thing I noticed actually, while giffing The Metaphysical Engine, or What Quill Did:

Remember how Quill questions the Governors keeping Ballon prisoner?

QUILL: The Governors keep alien prisoners? Does UNIT know about this?

Well, Quill, turns out they might not object to it as much as you think!

If there was ever anything that better showed the decline in the "science leads" mission of Kate's UNIT.

In her / UNIT's defence, the Shreek is clearly something more animalistic than a sentient prisoner like Ballon, so keeping it alive and secure could debatably be seen as a mercy considering how a dangerous animal might be treated in real life, but still... that is a lot of cells to contain nothing but alien wildlife...

[intuitive-revelations]

He wrote it in six words. Short as hell. Do you want to hear mine? You told me a never-ending story...

The Story & the Engine // Lungbarrow / Cold Fusion / Human Nature

[intuitive-revelations]

Jumbled thoughts and theories on belief and metaphysical engines, the Nexus, and fate of the Web of Time...

"Do all those gods seriously exist (not just as alien fakes) in the DW universe? How did the Doctor supposedly meet them?"

Keep in mind, belief making something real is hardly a new theme for DW. The most obvious example for this would be belief in the Doctor being able to empower him in The Last of the Time Lords.

We also know that every story has a place in reality, with the Land of Fiction, not to mention the Doctor's own statement in The Gallifrey Chronicles:

"My dear, one of the things you'll learn is that it's all real. Every word of every novel is real, every frame of every movie, every panel of every comic strip."

But I hear you. Suppose, for example, we want a more concrete example of this applied to religion:

Look no further than the series I've long batted for: Class.

In "The Metaphysical Engine, or What Quill Did", Quill, Ballon and Dorothea literally travel into several afterlife realms using something called "the reliquary", or a "metaphysical engine".

DOROTHEA: This, as best we can tell, is a 'metaphysical engine'. QUILL: Metaphysics? Metaphysics aren't real. It's just thought. DOROTHEA: Everything in the universe is conserved. Everything. Even belief. Get millions of creatures believing something strongly enough for long enough and even space responds.

Quill even gets to meet (and fight) the goddess of her own people:

"Ok, so there is a device that can take you into a theoretical space where beliefs are real, you haven't answered how the Doctor is going about meeting these gods."

Is now a good time to mention that the metaphysical engine is bigger on the inside?

"Yeah, but so are a lot of things, even the Barber's ship..."

Except, there really is more here. Because the TARDIS itself is a metaphysical engine. Canonically. Explicitly.

In the First Doctor Short Trip "Every Day", the TARDIS actually ends up seemingly landing in a man's head, as he struggles to come to terms with his wife having an affair, which manifests as a time loop. Once it's broken, they suddenly find themselves far gone from the loop:

"What happened?" asked Ian, looking around in shock. One minute they had been in the house, the next they were on their way. "I don't know for sure," said the Doctor. "But my TARDIS, you see, is a metaphysical engine. It can travel through all the dimensions related to space and time. It's possible that, on this occasion, we entered the dimension of one man's mind. One man's imagination."

Other stories have similarly seen the TARDIS breach into metaphysical space, even at one point physically landing in the Doctor's own mind in the VNAs.

Some of the Doctor's other meetings with legendary, mythical, or fictional characters (even on-screen: the Devil, Robin Hood, Santa Claus etc.) start to also make a bit more sense, don't they?

This all perhaps also shouldn't feel that incongruous, considering we had the Doctor literally end-up in Bethlehem in time for the birth of Christ just this Christmas (even if that one wasn't itself by the TARDIS).

This, perhaps, also sheds light on how the Barber's plan really was going to work.

I mentioned in my live reaction that the "World Wide Web / Nexus" strongly resembled the idea of the Web of Time (with "signals" even being transmitted through it in a way resembling the Matrix). Well the Web of Time, in expanded universe lore, is partially constructed through something called the "Observer Effect", in which temporal probabilities become fixed in history, named after the real-life effect in quantum physics. Through this, history becomes fixed by those that perceive it - designed to enforce Time Lord dominance over history.

For an in-show example, think of the laws of fixed points established by The Angels Take Manhattan: if you read your own future, you fix it into being. This is one reason why the Time Lords ostensibly forbid Time Lords from interacting with one's own past or future, despite the many times we've seen this violated.

I'd make an argument that the Nexus, if it's not literally connected to the Web of Time in some way, effectively serves a similar purpose. Just as observers can shape history, the Nexus allows believers to shape reality, via the effect Dorothea mentioned previously. By controlling it, the gods secure their own existence, just as controlling the Web of Time secures that of the Time Lords. If it is destroyed, those stories are lost, just as history as we know it is transformed by the degradation of the Web of Time.

This may sound like a lot of fanwank, but I have a suspicion that this kind of thinking with regards to the Web of Time is good to keep in mind over the next few episodes.

I theorised after Episode 1 that the TARDIS trying to "pull" itself back to Earth via the Web of Time is what resulted in those various landmarks somehow ending up pulled into the middle of space between MissBelindaChandra-1 and the Earth. That these represented sort-of "node points" in the Earth's history as represented in the Web, and by continuing to pull when it couldn't arrive, the TARDIS had actually pulled them towards it, rather than the other way round.

One episode on, and we get the "vindicators", devices designed to do exactly what I just said!

DOCTOR: We land anywhere, and the vindicator casts out a signal, like a fishing line - whoosh! - to May 24th, 2025, and we use it to pull the TARDIS in like a hook. So we must land.

ANOTHER episode later, and it's revealed that Mrs. Flood (hey remember she said she literally wanted to seize God's kingdom?) actually wants the Doctor to be using the vindicators? We also discover, even more concerningly, that Earth's future history, despite its significance to the universe, has been completely erased.

Next week in Episode 4, we get a relatively grounded episode, that ends with someone "rejecting the Doctor's reality", who is then seemingly recruited by Flood.

Finally, this week, we get this: a story of someone determined to control / tear down a Web stretched over time and space.

Put all this together with the ongoing decline in Rassilon's established laws of rationality, which started after the devastation of Gallifrey in Series 12 and the creation of the Flux, but accelerated after the Doctor fell to the point of using superstition outside the bounds of the Time Lord noosphere in Wild Blue Yonder, and what we know about the final two episodes, including episode titles (which I won't repeat here for spoilers), and it quickly starts to seem like Mrs. Flood might be planning to tear apart the Web of Time.

This may admittedly seem like a bit too much for casual viewers, but the vindicator element at least I'm feeling pretty confident with. If this WILL actually connect to the Web of Time, we'll see, but today's episode didn't exactly dissuade me...