There are some things that just go together perfectly with of those being Doctor Who and Christmas as alot of the time you really can't think of one without thinking of the other. While we won't be getting a Christmas special this year as we are instead getting the debut of the new Doctor Who spin off show The War Between The Land And The Sea that doesn't mean that we can't talk about Christmas episodes past and well I thought that i'd do just that with the episode that i'm going to be talking about today being a good example of one of the more better Russell T. Davies 2023 era episodes and so then join me as I review the episode that introduces us to a new companion with the episode in question being called simply "The Church On Ruby Road" enjoy.
The plot of this episode when a foster baby is taken by Goblins it's up to The Doctor and his friend Ruby Sunday to get her back before the Goblins eat her. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. With this episode episodes plot being one that's perfect for a Christmas episode as it is light on lore for the show and isn't that dramatic in the grand scheme of things and is just the perfect episode that you could imagine being on over the Christmas season and that's great for this episode as this episode is a Christmas episode and therefor you can go to those more camp and fun places with the show that you perhaps can't go to in an episode of the regular show with the fact that this episodes plot is for lack of a better word camp being something that does oddly enough work in the episodes favor as this is the kind of plot that really could only work as a Christmas episode where as with an episode like Space Babies that episodes plot is to campy for a plot of a regular episode of the show and would have been better served as being the plot of a Christmas special in it's own right and while yes this episode might be light on plot again that's the kind of thing that you want in a Christmas episode and really isn't a knock on the actual episode itself with the plot of this episode also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this episode is Ncuti Gatwa as The Doctor , Millie Gibson as Ruby Sunday and Davina McCall as Herself. Also starring in this episode is Bobby Bradley as Denzel , Mary Malone as Trudy , Barney Wilkinson as The Policeman , Anita Dobson as Mrs Flood , Hemi Yeroham aa Abdul , Michelle Greenidge as Carla Sunday , Angela Wynter as Cherry Sunday , Gemma Arrowsmith as Ruth Lyons and Susan Twist as The Heckler.
Now then interms of what i personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. With all of this episodes actors turning in some really good performances with this being something that does make alot of sense and yet is still also completely shocking as while alot of this episodes actors are some really good actors in their own there's alot more of them that are very little known actors as well and therefor it would have been foolish to expect good acting in this episode and yet that's exactly what we get and while of cause Ncuti does technically have the advantage here as he did play his version of The Doctor at the end of The Giggle he much like Millie Gibson is still trying to find his character and yet he still does turn in a good performance as the character and while it would have been very easy to name either one of them as the episodes best actor something which would have been well deserved as well the episodes best actor has to be Michelle Greenidge as Carla Sunday as she does have this truly emotional scene when Ruby has been taken out of time and she unknowingly breaks down infront of The Doctor as even tho she says she's happy with her current life where she's fostered much less kids then she had in the real reality it's clear as day that she's not that happy and all that is something that comes through not in just in the characters dialog but also in her body language as well with the acting that's in this episode not really being helped by the fact that this episodes script is just so bad as it gives none of this episodes actors absolutely nothing to work with interms of what it is that thee actual characters personalities are even meant to be in the first place which is something that really does harm the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode.
Doing the CGI for this episode is the legends and the greats that are currently over at Automatik VFX and Real SFX. Now then interms if what I personally thought / felt about the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good with the fact that this episodes CGI being is good is mainly due to the fact that this era of the show had a lot of Disney money put into it as well as the fact that the episode does have some really good effects companies working on it and while you don't really get to see that huge Disney money like you did the opening of The Star Beast for example it is still quite noticeable in this episode with them puling off shots that they wouldn't have been able to do in previous years and while the episode does have copious amounts of CGI as a show like Doctor Who has always been and will always be a heavy effects heavy show the episodes CGI is mixed in really well with the episodes practical effects almost to the point where you can't tell what was done for real like for example The Goblin King a character that you would be forgiven for thinking was done entirely in CGI but nope he was a practical character that had five or six people controlling him at any one time with the character only having CGI done to his eyebrows and ears and that's with even all of the Goblin characters being real people with the only real CGI effect in the episode being the Goblins ship which does look really good and whilst it is something that could have been pulled off without the huge Disney money it is also something that works just as well with that large amount of money.
There us perhaps one thing that this episode was either infamous or famous for depending on how you feel about it and that's the fact that it is has a song number in it. With the song being called "The Goblin Song" which was actually written by the episodes writer Russell T Davies look to be blunt if any episode of this show deserved to have a musical number in it it really had to be this one just due to the fact that this is a Christmas episode and therefor you do expect fun little things like that in Christmas episodes and to be fair the song itself is a really good song that was sung wonderfully by Christina Rotondo as the character Janis but what makes this song stand out is the fact that even tho it did get officially released as a single it's the TV version that actually has the extra verses in it as the single version of the song cuts out the verses sung by Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson which might have been because of the fact that they actually sung there parts of the song live on set whilst the rest of the song was obviously pre-recorded ahead of time with the song itself having this kind of Jazz like sound to it but whereas alot of Jazz songs is rather downbeat this one is actually kind of upbeat and is very much a song that you could very easily picture playing at a party with Christina Rotondo's singing really helping bring the song to live with the only thing that lets the song down is Russell's writing as while he does make for a good script writer he doesn't make for a good song writer as this song does feel rather bland where as if it was given to Murray Gold for example then he could have tuned in a much more better song just due to the fact that he's experienced with writing songs then what Russell is but with that being said this is a really fun filled song.
Speaking of The Goblins whilst they do make for passable villains in this special there also not the kind of characters that you can bring back without repeating what was done in this episode. As there whole thing was all about causing someone such bad luck that it makes it easier for them to kidnap a baby to eat and while that does make for a good villainous plot for them to have there's only so many times that you can tell that kind of story before it starts to get dull and boring but in saying that tho as villains for this special they work really well as while yes there are campy and silly that is the kind of thing that you want in a villain of a Christmas special let alone one that's being broadcast on Christmas Day and while it would have been nice if we got to see them be more scary and actually kill people instead of just hinting at it that is something that would go against there more goofy nature as these characters that are meant to be like the first villain in a video game in that there not be that scary and are there just to give you the basics of what a villain should be like and that's it but if you look at villain like the Daleks and Cybermen where for alot of the time they do tell the same kind of stories it's when they deviate from that that we get some of the best stories from those characters and that is something that the show won't be able to do with these characters with none of the Goblins apart from The Goblin Kind and Janis having a look that really stands out as all of the Goblins really just blend into one another whereas if you have a picture of popular Doctor Who villains your going to very easily pick out a Dalek or a Cyberman for example as they have these really distinctive looks about them which make them all the more terrifying whereas with the goblins it's only The Goblin King that looks somewhat terrifying and that's it.
Whilst The Giggle obviously introduced us to this new version of The Doctor this episode introduces us to his companion Ruby Sunday and pretty much all of this series side characters. With Ruby being the better of the side characters just because of the fact that we get to spend alot more time with her not only in this series of the show but in this episode as well with us getting a good glimpse into her life before she meets The Doctor something which really hasn't been done since Clara in series seven with it being made crystal clear that Ruby can spunky and can have a sense of humor about her and yet still be fragile at times and be a bit of ditz all of which does make her the best companion that this Doctor did have as she was perhaps the mist human companion that this Doctor had something which we see in this episode as when baby Lulubelle is in danger she straight away leaps into action without even thinking about which is the most human thing that she could have with The Doctor even calling her out on just jumping on a ladder that's floating in the air with both characters really balancing each other out as she needs him to show her that there's a world out there that's bigger then her hometown and he needs her t remind him of what its like to human with the rest of the episodes side characters like Carla and Cherry being fun little characters and while we don't get to hear alot about Cherry we do get some truly beautiful scenes with Carla all of which make it clear that even tho Ruby's story for this season is about finding her birth mother her actual mother the person her raised and who stayed up all night with her was Carla with the two of them having such a strong bond that when Ruby tells her to stay there just before she's kidnapped out of time Carla did exactly that in this new timeline she never went anywhere or did anything with her life because deep down she was missing something that something being her own adapted daughter Ruby.
Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly fifty five minuets and eleven seconds. Which is a solid running time for this episode to have with the episode even having the right amount of plot there to really cover that amount of running time as well and while the episode doesn't use it's running time all that wisely as the episodes plot isn't as well developed as it really could have been due to the fact that the episode does have so much stuff to set up for the series itself all of which is stuff that would have been better off being in the next episode as this is an episode that has so much to do and it can't do them all and still a good story as well and while the episode also doesn't fully develop it's characters either this is something that's a little bit more understandable as not only is this is a Christmas episode and those don't typically have character development in them alot of the episodes characters appear in future episodes of the show with characters like Ruby and to a lesser extent Mrs. Flood getting there development in those episodes therefor they don't really need to get character development in this episode as they all start of strongly in the first place that all of the character development that they do get does feel very much in character with the only characters that don't get any kind of character development oddly enough being the Goblins themselves as we get to find out nothing about them and while this really wouldn't have been a bad things if they appeared in more episodes they don't and therefor they do feel like undercooked characters albeit ones that have the potential to be fun villains but I really will admit that this episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is an action show that really does mean that I gave to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. With the episodes action being kind of the episodes down point not that it's bad or anything like that but rather it's because of the fact that the episodes action isn't as good as it really could have been with this mainly due to the fact that the episode does have so much stuff going on that the episode does become overstuffed with the episodes action suffering because of it as we don't get to have that much action in it with there really only being one action scene in the whole episode but to be fair that action scene is also really good with it by default being the episodes best action as when Ruby gets taken out of time as a baby we see The Doctor struggle to work out what's going around whilst everything from the Sunday's apartment changes around him subtly with him even having a heart to heart with Carla before going back to the Church on ruby road where Ruby was left as a baby with him stabbing The Goblin King with the bow of his own ship which was a pretty gruesome way for the character to die and yet at the same time it's really the only way that an action scene like that could have ended but in saying that tho given the fact that the action that we got was the budget friendly one as the original one had The Goblin King attacking the Sundays at home the action scene that we got was still fun even tho that action scene does sound all the more better in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall this was a really good special with it being one that whilst it doesn't really rely to much on theme of Christmas outside of the fact that Ruby's birthday is Christmas Eve it still really is a really fun filled special that gives you all of the things that you both expect and really want in a Doctor Who Christmas special in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked abut all of the good and as well aa all o0f the bad things that are in this very episode in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 6.5 out of 10 from me.
Now then as or where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very review being the really great Google Images really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with alot of them being really better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Google Images are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.
No comments:
Post a Comment