@blueberry8526 Please, please. PLEASE can you explain the episode for us? I assumed there was no explanation, but you seem to be saying there's an explanation? In particular, could you answer 16 basic questions I wrote down after watching the episode: 1) Why did the Doctor Disappear? 2) Why did the TARDIS key not work? 3) Why was 'Ghost Ruby' always at a distance and blurry? 4) Why did the 'Ghost Ruby' torment people and cause them to run away? 5) Why did Ruby's own mother, and the head of UNIT, disown her and scowl at her? 6) How did Ruby travel back in time at the end of her life? 7) Was the Fairy Circle connected to Ruby's time travel and her becoming this "ghost"? If so, how? 8) When "ghost Ruby" came back in time to meet her young self, why did she chose NOT to stop her young self from stepping on the fairy circle? And why did she choose to spend a lifetime "haunting" herself? I don't understand that decision. 9) At the end of the episode, the entire episode/timeline we just watched gets deleted when "Ghost Ruby" comes back and this time stops them breaking the Fairy Circle. What created this divergence? What caused "ghost Ruby" to change her mind this time and warn them, when originally she didn't? 10) Was it just a coincidence that Ruby's "ghost visitation" allowed her to thwart the evil politician? Or was the whole thing set up so that it was her "destiny" to thwart the politician? In which case, who set it up and why? 11) Why did Ruby need to use the "ghost" to stop the evil politician? Surely there were far more conventional ways? She did have years to plan her attack. 12) What was the "point" in showing us Ruby thwarting the evil politician, when in the end, none of that ever happened and as far as we know, the villain still blew up the world? It just seems really odd to have an episode of Doctor Who that establishes a villain, shows him being defeated, then "undoes" that and tells us he's no longer defeated. How is that supposed to be satisfying to watch? I don't get it. 13) Why, in the original timeline, is the Doctor insensitive/unaware of the Fairy Circle, but in the altered timeline he seems incredibly sensitive and aware? 14) Then there's the (obvious) time travel paradox - Old Ruby came back in time to make her young self avoid the Fairy Circle. But now, young Ruby is completely unaware of the danger it poses, all she knows now is that she nearly stepped on some kind of memorial and it's just about "respecting the dead". This, to her is an insignificant, momentary event which she will most certainly quickly forget. So WHY, at the end of her life, is old Ruby so determined to come back and warn herself about something so trivial and forgettable? How does the episode deal with this paradox? 15) The episode also raises the issue that for the rest of the series, Ruby now cannot die, since we know she lives to be an old woman who comes back to visit herself at the end of her life. This means we now know Ruby is invincible, which removes all the jeopardy from future episodes. How are we, the fans, expected to "deal" with this? To me, it just seems like an oversight and not intelligent writing. 16) How is anyone supposed to enjoy watching an episode where nothing we saw actually ever happened? The entire episode is not part of Doctor Who canon, not part of Ruby's history, it's just a timeline which never existed, and no one will remember any of those events. How are we supposed to enjoy watching that? How does RTD justify one of the 7 stories this series being a non-event which never happened, leaving only 6 actual stories? Now you claim that we didn't enjoy the episode because we "didn't understand what was happening", but I'm an intelligent middle aged man who's very familiar with sci-fi concepts. I think I have as good a chance of understanding the episode as anyone, and perhaps a better chance then the small Disney-watching children RTD has been trying to target. Do you really think the answers to the above 15 questions are so "obvious" that most children will be able to figure them out after little reflection? This "Series 1" is meant to be an introduction of The Doctor and the show to a whole new generation of kids. Is such a complicated and confusing story REALLY the best way to go about doing this? To me, this whole thing just doesn't add up. RTD has never been a particularly clever writer, and I find it hard to accept that suddenly he's created something so clever that it's bamboozled me, BUT Disney-watching kids everywhere will get it.
@Scripture-Man I think the problem is that it's not entirely about sci-fi anymore. It's clear Doctor Who is stepping more into the supernatural. Kate even hints at it when she says that more unexplainable supernatural things have been happening as of late. 14th sprinkled salt at the edge of the universe, introducing superstitions into it. It's because of that a lot of what happened in this season happened (the toy maker coming back, maestro, etc.) Suddenly superstitions that could be explained away by sci-fi are real. This is my guess about the explanation for this episode, based on the belief around fairy circles and what I saw in the behind the scenes videos. I'm going off from if superstitions are real now, fairy circles really work the way people believe they do. There's a belief that if you step into fairy circles, you disappear into another realm. That explains why the Doctor, the one who stepped into it, was the one who disappeared. During some of the behind the scenes videos, they refer to the circle as if it were sentient, and it was disrespected when it was stepped in. Ruby was cursed with the blurry women as a consequence of the circle being broken. They refer to the woman being there as Ruby serving penitence for it. If superstitions are real, then mad jack is real and he was actually released when the circle is broken. The blurry lady might not actually be Ruby. It might be a form of the circle itself. Following her around, bothering her for what happened to it. That's why its always there, and it drives people away if they get close. It's part of Ruby paying the price for the Doctor breaking it. She's given a chance to go back to prevent it from happening once she died because she's already paid that price; she stopped mad jack and lived her life going through her worst fear: being abandoned. The circle gives her a second chance. Not everything has an explanation, there's no real reason why the blurry lady is, well, blurry. That's the thing about the supernatural, some things just are. This episode is meant to have some questions unanswered. So, fairy circles are real. The Doctor steps in and disappears as fairy circles do. Ruby is left to deal with the consequences of that by being cursed by the circle after it was disrespected. At the end of her life, she's given a second chance to prevent what happened. The blurry lady might not be her, but a manisfestion of the circle. I don't believe that the show is trying to target children, idk what makes you think that. Younger audiences maybe, but children? I dont think so. This episode doesn't make sense if you think about it as purely sci-fi. If you think about it from a supernatural point of view, it at least serves to explain most things. Watching the behind the scenes and seeing how they refer to what happened also helps. If people can't enjoy the episode just because it didn't really happen and it's not canon technically, then that's a them issue, not an issue with the story itself.
@@blueberry8526 Thanks for taking the time to answer. I'm still bewildered by the episode though. Some of the gaps you've filled in are based on things RTD has said in interviews, or obscure folklore (you're saying fairy circles weren't invented by RTD and legends of them already existed? I've never heard of them). To me, and surely most people, having important information absent from an episode is just bad writing. A work of fiction needs to contain all the information you need to understand it. Writers should not be deliberately withholding information from the audience that's critical for understanding the plot. You also seem to be implying that this is some kind of supernatural fantasy show. No, it's a sci-fi show. There have never been actual ghosts in Doctor Who. Every villain and monster is explained by science, by facts. This isn't Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Incidentally, I like Buffy The Vampire Slayer, but that's a completely different genre of TV. As is The Simpsons. All different kinds of shows. And note that even supernatural phenomena in a show like Buffy were always explained with rules and parameters. Things didn't just randomly happen for no reason otherwise there would be no point watching because nothing would make sense.
Wait, you actually LIKED "73 Yards"? Does this mean you don't think episodes need to be "stories" any more, and they can just be a series of random events happening with no explanation? Or does it mean that you UNDERSTOOD what happened? In which case, PLEASE can you explain it to us?
@@Scripture-Man Sorry you need your hand held for complex episodes. Don't worry, there's plenty of episodes that aren't all that complex and give tidy endings. Maybe try The Lodger? It's a Welsh ghost story. This is a continuation of the Doctor accidentally letting the magic out, leading the Toymaker, Sutekh, etc. Magic is in the world now. A lot of classic ghost stories don't have comfortable resolutions. That's the POINT. But if you really don't get it - The basic story structure is, Ruby is haunted by the spirit of herself from the future. This is a classic ghost trope - used to great effect in Netflix's adaptation of The Haunting of Hill House. Ruby has to deal with the haunting for her entire life, uses it for good but also loses those closest to her. On he death bed, she realizes it was her all along and gets another chance to warn herself and the Doctor. And does. The effect, just like in Turn Left, is that the world without the Doctor ceases to be. Ruby warns her younger self not to step, and the Doctor and Ruby avoid the danger. It's really no more confusing than Midnight, which most people love. Mystery thing with rules that defy explanation does weird shit for an hour, and then the Doctor manages to escape. If the episode had been a David Tenant or Matt Smith episode it would be considered one of the high points of their tenures. As is, it's the best episode since Capaldi punched a diamond wall (I'll give you that one).
Yup, perfectly summed up this episode. I really thought at the beginning that it was finally going to be something good but alas it was not meant to be😂
Well fans tend to talk about things they are passionate about, they dont tend to just drop a franchise because its in a rough patch. Casual viewers will do that but people who care about their favourite shows talk about them. Not every discussion is going to be positive. If you are seeing an uptick in negative videos maybe you should start wondering why rather than assuming the fans who are complaining are the problem. Maybe just maybe the abysmal viewing numbers and the amount of negativity on the new season and the previous one are happening for a reason
I just simply CANNOT understand this kind of odd reaction!? This isn't some random show that's "not for us". We've been Doctor Who fans since the 1960s, 1970s, and so on. Lifetimes dedicated to watching this man and his adventures, and then some tosser comes along and writes utterly idiotic episodes like this. Do you seriously believe that no one in the world should ever write a negative review of any form of entertainment? You think the "Rotten Tomatoes" website should be taken down because it encourages both positive AND negative opinions? Do you really want to live in a world where there's no way to know what TV shows are better than others, because any kind of criticism is banned, and no one can say what's good and bad - everything has to be "good" only? I've spent so many decades talking to other fans about Doctor Who and other shows and never in my life encountered such a strange view - the view that no one should say anything negative about TV shows? Complaining about TV shows (and other things) is what it means to be a man. That's how human beings act. We complain about things that annoy us. I'm wondering what kind of a man are you? Men get angry about things. We get angry with each other. We're not afraid to call one another out. We give each other hell, we expect to be scolded when we've something idiotic. Sometimes it ends up in a physical fight. That's what men are. Physically and mentally tough. To use your own logic, no one is FORCING you to watch this review video. If you don't like it then don't watch it..
I just simply CANNOT understand this kind of odd reaction? This isn't some random show that's "not for us". We've been Doctor Who fans since the 1960s, 1970s, and so on. Lifetimes dedicated to watching this man and his adventures, and then RTD comes along and writes utterly idiotic episodes like this. Why wouldn't we be annoyed or angry? Do you really want to live in a world where there's no way to know what TV shows are better than others, because any kind of criticism is banned, and no one can say what's good and bad - everything has to be "good" only? To use your own logic, no one is FORCING you to watch this review video. If you don't like it then don't watch it..
@@Scripture-Man I didn't like it, and I didn't watch it. I commented on it. And if I'd watched this channel 40 years ago I wouldn't think I'd be entitled to control how it works today, because that would be very arrogant and self-important of me.
careful the numbers are pretty dire as they are mate, people keep saying dont watch and less and less people are watching. Be careful what you wish for
Let’s be real, us Dr who fans will cry, bitch and moan about episodes but we will always go back and watch it regardless 😂😂 i slagged off all of chibnalls era but still watched it all. It’s the curse of the Who-vian 😂😅
Great review. I like your voice! :-) I can't understand why this video has so many dislikes? The episode is absolute nonsensical garbage - just a series of random events with no explanation. That's NOT a story, it is, as you say, just a complete waste of everyone's time. Even the abysmal TV series "Lost" gave its viewers SOME answers to SOME of the mysteries. This episode gives no answers to ANY of the mysteries. I counted 14 major unanswered questions when I watched it. At the time, I thought this was the all-time worst episode of Doctor Who. "Rogue" went on to challenge this, but I think "Empire of Death" beats them both. Without doubt, the most nonsensical thing I've ever seen, where the Doctor, apparently, is now a wizard who can do anything without any explanation given.
I agree, RTD already said that we would never know what the old lady (old Ruby) said, so your right when you said this whole episode was a waste of time. Especially since the events of the episode was undone when the Doctor didn’t step on the fairy circle. Meaning that Ruby didn’t stop the crazy prime minister dude from nuking stuff. So everything that Ruby did in Thai episode was for nothing. Meaning that this whole episode was essentially filler and a waste of time.
He doesnt speak like the doctor, the way he speaks just comes across as a regular person and not an otherworldly ancient being. They made him too human
@@charg1nmalaz0r51 Even in Boom he really didn't come off at all threatening. I can tell he tries, but he just cant seem to pull it off. The best doctors can switch from joyful to downright menacing like flipping a switch, and all the way back again when the world is safe. His interpretation of the character is just not working for me.
The fact that they cast an immigrant is ridiculous because his accent strips him of his authority. He seems small and underprivileged. The Doctor is supposed to be a master of time and space. He needs to be played by someone who reflects that in the way they speak, with an excellent command of the English language and a sense of history and heritage. That's why a lot of American shows get people with English accents to play people of great authority and intelligence. We have a country full of people who speak like that and they go and cast someone with a foreign accent. Well done, Beeb! Plus more racist casting.
Nice concept, well executed and directed. For me, it wasn’t really a Dr who episode. It fits more within independent/ experimental IP’s such as Black Mirror or Inside Number 9. If you have a look at most of RTD’s dramas such as Years & Years, The second Coming, Cucumber, Its a sin there’s a constant concept of social issues that are portrayed very realistically. In this case, it felt like a bit of a re-hash of old ideas and narratives that weve seen before. The Antagonist, Mad Jack, falls into the repetitive Evil Authority figure archetype or “Definitely not Trump”. I felt like the Sexual assault reference between Mad jack and the volunteer was too heavy for Dr who but i can see how it adds to the character of Mad jack and his narcissistic and selfish behaviour. I can’t help but feel like Ruby knew this would happen to the volunteer and she essentially pimped her out. I know it wasn’t the volunteers fault in anyway but Ruby pointed Mad Jack in her direction, it was a calculated move to get everything in place but at the expense of the volunteer. Its a nice little drama but just not as amazing as some say
people are actually just hating so they can hate at this point, ask anyone who isnt afraid of black people and has a moderate social life and they will say its a brilliant episode
No crap. This episode has me legitimately shook. It was so on point with the level of bewildering fae capricious manipulation and terror. It was fantastic. I am still living in the existential dread of "She looks like what she looks like. She looks like what she is."
Nah people manufacturing outrage so they may get views. Most of the rage baiting has been moving to viewership rating (which excluded iPlayer and Disney+ rating) or saying "nobody cares anymore" narrative. They knew that the viewership and quality of the episodes are getting better and started running out of stuff to criticize with.
It was not a brilliant episode. It had potential but he fumbled the ending, he left it too open. For me i checked out about half way through, about the time the mad jack storyline started to kick in. You may love it, and that is fine. But some people cannot get over the plotholes of the episode or the vagueness of the episode. That doesnt make them hate black people. Grow up
i guess you can't really critique his video because he's on point... much easier to just call him a hater and make it about skin colour. something simple you can understand it's ok.
The episode was very promising and interesting at the start. i didnt miss the title sequence and i certainly did not miss the doctor. He overacts and takes me right out of the moment. Then the ending happened. That ending was really annoying. All this character development for Ruby and she wont even remember it. it is such a shame
@Scripture-Man she remembered by saying she had been to wales 3 times and then in the final episode she remembered that 66.7 meters was exsctly 73 yards and she remembered due to what happened in the episode 73 yards so i was correct, it did come back in a later episode
It's a good idea, more for a Torchwood than a Doctor Who episode. But it gets ruined by this stupid Politics plot and a non-pay-off. The end feels rushed and finally it becomes another Nothingburger. And Ncuti-Doctor acts like a child that eats too much sugar. Massive ovaracting and non of the storiesso far gave him a real time to shine and show some adult and masculine gravitas. He remains a non-threatening black (and flamboyant) funny guy like most of the newer Disney black and male characters.
@@scottgodfrey7118 Boom was stupid from the beginning to the end. The only good thing was that Ncuti didn't act as overly gay as in the other episodes.
@@lucymiau5700 So how do you think Tennant or Smith would have done in the same story? Better? Worse? The whole reason I watch Doctor Who is because it has to change to survive. The series works because it goes anywhere, and can succeed or fail. Every Doctor has terrible episodes and good ones, but Boom is actually a tour de force in terms of acting. I think either this or Devil's Chord should have been the intro to the characters, and I say that because Ncuti completely sells the emotion here. You feel his terror, grief, everything, so it works. How did you find it stupid? I'm kinda curious.
@@scottgodfrey7118 The main problems of Boom lie in the plot and the worldbuilding arround. The battleground looks like a playground, including kids that run there. The premise is stupid and the explanations for are gringeworthy. An evil corporation fakes a war and tricks an experienced Army into fighting a non-existing enemy to sell weapons? This is not believeable. Politicians are the main force behind unnecessary wars. The soldiers in this episode do not act believeable, too. There is no chain of command, even a kid runs to the battleground. Ask youself is this could happen in a real war scenario. Regarding the Doctor. The Doctor is written overemotional again, he brings Ruby in danger and when he is saved, he dances and giggels arround while still on a place where the "corpses" of 2 men lie arround. Regarding Ncuti. Ncutis voice is annoying, he acts like a child and has no gravitas at all.
@@lucymiau5700 The Doctor Dances, that was DURING WW II. As for the evil corporation starting the fake war, they actually didn't. The colonists fired and ASSUMED an enemy was there. There is no indication in the episode itself that the corporation tricked anyone. The hardware was designed to act this way with an enemy or without one. As for children running on battlefields, yeah that still happens. So that's not unbelievable. As for the set looking childlike, I thought the set was fine. Finally, being overly emotional, A, he was on a landmine so emotional makes sense, but B have you not SEEN this show? Each actor has to find their own niche for this to work. Capaldi being emotional, nah, wouldn't buy it. Matt Smith being emotional, YEAH, buy that. The whole point of each actor doing this is to find their voice, to see how they'd do this. This is, what the third episode? Tennant had bad episodes, and Smith, and Capaldi and Whitaker, and Hartnell, Troughton, Pertwee, and even Baker. That's part of the game. Thing is, THIS WASN'T A BAD EPISODE. Space Babies, yeah that was bad, or at least not great. But this was good. So, best way to find out is wait ten years, see what fans say then. You could be right, I could be right. Let's wait and find out.
Liked Ncuti from RUBY to before BOOM but in BOOM he really got under my skin with his delivery and he felt unconvincing in a way Matt Smith felt unconvincing when the scripts were bad. Don't like BOOM at all.
And I think Boom had the most convincing and natural character writing since before Jodie's era. And Ncuti's acting was the best so far. It's my favorite episode since Twice Upon a Time.
@@EkmekArasiKlavye"natural and convincing" Doctor - aslong as I stay calm it wont blow up. Proceeds to have a breakdown every 40 seconds. Doctor - "the mines are invisible but I'm not going to warn you until your already in the minefield"
@@Killthefish He's standing on a landmine. It's not up to the person if they want to have a breakdown or not lmao. He's trying to calm himself every time his heart starts beating faster. The mines are invisible but they are in a narrow pit, the only mine in that area is figured out to be at the bottom center of the pit, under the Doctor's foot. I thought that was obvious.
@@EkmekArasiKlavye and how do they figure out theres no other mines without you know? Walking there to find out, and if you have been in this situation as he admits he has before, and you know for a fact your safe if you keep calm, he would very easily keep calm it's like being stood next to a puppy at that point because you know your safe and you could give your companions 100 different plans for how to fix this but instead, he walks them into and say it with me, a invisible mine field, and then proceeds to have a breakdown even though this is a absolute none issue
@@Killthefish Bro, there cannot be any other mines _inside the pit_. There's literally no room to put another motion detecting device without them being put on either a slope or the risk of them setting off each other. The pit was most likely formed from the sole mine itself. Surely we don't need a script to spell things out for the viewer, right? He's not randomly having a breakdown, he was in constant risk of being pushed or moved by external forces and he was worried because of it. And "breakdown"? I went along with it earlier but fast heartbeats and tears forming in eyes aren't close to a breakdown at all.
Ncuti's absence was GREAT! I wish all his other episodes could also be Doctor-lite. He is miscast, and hasn't got the eccentricity, screen presence or authority for the role.
I think what we are going to begin to find is the youtubers are so fucking negative that everyone's just going to stop watching them. I mean look at every comment! We are over your shit !
It's not a wate of time, it's good, entertaining horror, what it isn't, is good Doctor Who. It's also full of holes and is lazily written with a very pointless ending
@@teristeward9161 Let''s start with the fairy ring, talking about "mad jack" who,at the time, wasn't even known, so was it a coincidence, in which case, lazy writing. Let's talk about what's said to make ppl run away. Another deliberate hole, left completely empty, more lazy writing. There are plenty of reviews that cover the poor writing in detail. I enjoyed the episode, bit don't pretend it was some genius work of writing, because it wasn't, and it sure as hell wasn't good Doctor Who
@@teristeward9161 Well the biggest one was mad jack, the stopping of the pm and his nuke agender and the loop breaking. In both versions of the episode, regardless of ncuti breaking or not breaking the fairy circle the pm dude was still the most evil Welshman in history according to ncuti. So whatever she did had no impact on the outcome of that event. Regardless of Ncuti stepping on the circle or not it still happened, so her doing that in that timeline couldnt logically be why she broke out of the loop. There is is no reason for the loop to have ended, nor was there a reason why she could now hear/sense her older self the second time around. Thats also ignoring or the nonsensical/non explanations of why she was the old woman in the first place, or why she went back in time, or why she was haunting herself or why she was 73 yards away or why she couldnt speak, or why she was doing the same actions, or why ncuti just vanished or why people were scared of an older version of ruby, or why she was suddenly near her at the end, or why she was facing the wrong way, or why this second time around she appeared before he stepped on the circle, or why anything was even happening. I have more but my god this was a garbage story
I am truly bewildered that anyone could be entertained by nonsense. You do realise that "73 yards" is NOT a story, it's just a series of random events - one after the other - with no logic, no cause and effect, no reason. It's just a series of "things happening". Anyone - and I mean ANYONE - can write that. It doesn't take skill. I can just write a series of random events happening, without the need for anything to make sense. It's NOT a story. How can you enjoy something that ISN'T a story? The whole entire POINT of TV shows is that they give us stories. Not random events.
@@Scripture-Man You have a very limited idea of what a narrative can do. If you like, I can recommend a couple of really good academic, but accessible books, to explain the various types of story telling, narrative styles and genre explanations in various types of media from books to TV to theatre. 73 Yards was 2 things. It was a clue to later story, and it was an exercise in atmosphere generation and light horror. The sort of strict narrative structure you're taking about is more a starting point, rather than an ultimate goal for good writing.
"Russell doesn't have an explanation, so there's literally nothing to understand." - Thegasmaskpodcast
Bet he loves the episode "Orphan 55" too.
Oh yeah it's my favorite...
Classic example of not liking something because you didn't understand what was happening.
I didn't like it, and I understood what was happening. Very little actually happened, and what happened was kinda boring.
Russell doesn't have an explanation, so there's literally nothing to understand.
@blueberry8526 Please, please. PLEASE can you explain the episode for us? I assumed there was no explanation, but you seem to be saying there's an explanation? In particular, could you answer 16 basic questions I wrote down after watching the episode:
1) Why did the Doctor Disappear?
2) Why did the TARDIS key not work?
3) Why was 'Ghost Ruby' always at a distance and blurry?
4) Why did the 'Ghost Ruby' torment people and cause them to run away?
5) Why did Ruby's own mother, and the head of UNIT, disown her and scowl at her?
6) How did Ruby travel back in time at the end of her life?
7) Was the Fairy Circle connected to Ruby's time travel and her becoming this "ghost"? If so, how?
8) When "ghost Ruby" came back in time to meet her young self, why did she chose NOT to stop her young self from stepping on the fairy circle? And why did she choose to spend a lifetime "haunting" herself? I don't understand that decision.
9) At the end of the episode, the entire episode/timeline we just watched gets deleted when "Ghost Ruby" comes back and this time stops them breaking the Fairy Circle. What created this divergence? What caused "ghost Ruby" to change her mind this time and warn them, when originally she didn't?
10) Was it just a coincidence that Ruby's "ghost visitation" allowed her to thwart the evil politician? Or was the whole thing set up so that it was her "destiny" to thwart the politician? In which case, who set it up and why?
11) Why did Ruby need to use the "ghost" to stop the evil politician? Surely there were far more conventional ways? She did have years to plan her attack.
12) What was the "point" in showing us Ruby thwarting the evil politician, when in the end, none of that ever happened and as far as we know, the villain still blew up the world? It just seems really odd to have an episode of Doctor Who that establishes a villain, shows him being defeated, then "undoes" that and tells us he's no longer defeated. How is that supposed to be satisfying to watch? I don't get it.
13) Why, in the original timeline, is the Doctor insensitive/unaware of the Fairy Circle, but in the altered timeline he seems incredibly sensitive and aware?
14) Then there's the (obvious) time travel paradox - Old Ruby came back in time to make her young self avoid the Fairy Circle. But now, young Ruby is completely unaware of the danger it poses, all she knows now is that she nearly stepped on some kind of memorial and it's just about "respecting the dead". This, to her is an insignificant, momentary event which she will most certainly quickly forget. So WHY, at the end of her life, is old Ruby so determined to come back and warn herself about something so trivial and forgettable? How does the episode deal with this paradox?
15) The episode also raises the issue that for the rest of the series, Ruby now cannot die, since we know she lives to be an old woman who comes back to visit herself at the end of her life. This means we now know Ruby is invincible, which removes all the jeopardy from future episodes. How are we, the fans, expected to "deal" with this? To me, it just seems like an oversight and not intelligent writing.
16) How is anyone supposed to enjoy watching an episode where nothing we saw actually ever happened? The entire episode is not part of Doctor Who canon, not part of Ruby's history, it's just a timeline which never existed, and no one will remember any of those events. How are we supposed to enjoy watching that? How does RTD justify one of the 7 stories this series being a non-event which never happened, leaving only 6 actual stories?
Now you claim that we didn't enjoy the episode because we "didn't understand what was happening", but I'm an intelligent middle aged man who's very familiar with sci-fi concepts. I think I have as good a chance of understanding the episode as anyone, and perhaps a better chance then the small Disney-watching children RTD has been trying to target. Do you really think the answers to the above 15 questions are so "obvious" that most children will be able to figure them out after little reflection?
This "Series 1" is meant to be an introduction of The Doctor and the show to a whole new generation of kids. Is such a complicated and confusing story REALLY the best way to go about doing this?
To me, this whole thing just doesn't add up. RTD has never been a particularly clever writer, and I find it hard to accept that suddenly he's created something so clever that it's bamboozled me, BUT Disney-watching kids everywhere will get it.
@Scripture-Man I think the problem is that it's not entirely about sci-fi anymore. It's clear Doctor Who is stepping more into the supernatural. Kate even hints at it when she says that more unexplainable supernatural things have been happening as of late.
14th sprinkled salt at the edge of the universe, introducing superstitions into it. It's because of that a lot of what happened in this season happened (the toy maker coming back, maestro, etc.) Suddenly superstitions that could be explained away by sci-fi are real.
This is my guess about the explanation for this episode, based on the belief around fairy circles and what I saw in the behind the scenes videos. I'm going off from if superstitions are real now, fairy circles really work the way people believe they do.
There's a belief that if you step into fairy circles, you disappear into another realm. That explains why the Doctor, the one who stepped into it, was the one who disappeared. During some of the behind the scenes videos, they refer to the circle as if it were sentient, and it was disrespected when it was stepped in. Ruby was cursed with the blurry women as a consequence of the circle being broken. They refer to the woman being there as Ruby serving penitence for it.
If superstitions are real, then mad jack is real and he was actually released when the circle is broken.
The blurry lady might not actually be Ruby. It might be a form of the circle itself. Following her around, bothering her for what happened to it. That's why its always there, and it drives people away if they get close. It's part of Ruby paying the price for the Doctor breaking it. She's given a chance to go back to prevent it from happening once she died because she's already paid that price; she stopped mad jack and lived her life going through her worst fear: being abandoned. The circle gives her a second chance.
Not everything has an explanation, there's no real reason why the blurry lady is, well, blurry. That's the thing about the supernatural, some things just are. This episode is meant to have some questions unanswered.
So, fairy circles are real. The Doctor steps in and disappears as fairy circles do. Ruby is left to deal with the consequences of that by being cursed by the circle after it was disrespected. At the end of her life, she's given a second chance to prevent what happened. The blurry lady might not be her, but a manisfestion of the circle.
I don't believe that the show is trying to target children, idk what makes you think that. Younger audiences maybe, but children? I dont think so.
This episode doesn't make sense if you think about it as purely sci-fi. If you think about it from a supernatural point of view, it at least serves to explain most things. Watching the behind the scenes and seeing how they refer to what happened also helps.
If people can't enjoy the episode just because it didn't really happen and it's not canon technically, then that's a them issue, not an issue with the story itself.
@@blueberry8526 Thanks for taking the time to answer. I'm still bewildered by the episode though.
Some of the gaps you've filled in are based on things RTD has said in interviews, or obscure folklore (you're saying fairy circles weren't invented by RTD and legends of them already existed? I've never heard of them).
To me, and surely most people, having important information absent from an episode is just bad writing. A work of fiction needs to contain all the information you need to understand it. Writers should not be deliberately withholding information from the audience that's critical for understanding the plot.
You also seem to be implying that this is some kind of supernatural fantasy show. No, it's a sci-fi show. There have never been actual ghosts in Doctor Who. Every villain and monster is explained by science, by facts. This isn't Buffy The Vampire Slayer.
Incidentally, I like Buffy The Vampire Slayer, but that's a completely different genre of TV. As is The Simpsons. All different kinds of shows. And note that even supernatural phenomena in a show like Buffy were always explained with rules and parameters. Things didn't just randomly happen for no reason otherwise there would be no point watching because nothing would make sense.
Good damn this video is a waste of time
Ya I feel like making this video was a bigger waste of everyone's time. If you don't like a show anymore stop watching it not that complex...
Thanks for watching!
@@thegasmaskpodcast😂
@@thegasmaskpodcastThanks for watching 73 yards!
@@t.d.i8954 No problem! I do it for you guys.
Only the best episode in a decade.
Not when there's an episode where the Doctor punches through an Azbantium wall for a billion years.
@jadedflames Boom was better; and don’t go disrespecting Heaven Sent like that.
Wait, you actually LIKED "73 Yards"? Does this mean you don't think episodes need to be "stories" any more, and they can just be a series of random events happening with no explanation? Or does it mean that you UNDERSTOOD what happened? In which case, PLEASE can you explain it to us?
@@Scripture-Man Sorry you need your hand held for complex episodes. Don't worry, there's plenty of episodes that aren't all that complex and give tidy endings. Maybe try The Lodger?
It's a Welsh ghost story. This is a continuation of the Doctor accidentally letting the magic out, leading the Toymaker, Sutekh, etc. Magic is in the world now.
A lot of classic ghost stories don't have comfortable resolutions. That's the POINT.
But if you really don't get it - The basic story structure is, Ruby is haunted by the spirit of herself from the future. This is a classic ghost trope - used to great effect in Netflix's adaptation of The Haunting of Hill House. Ruby has to deal with the haunting for her entire life, uses it for good but also loses those closest to her. On he death bed, she realizes it was her all along and gets another chance to warn herself and the Doctor. And does.
The effect, just like in Turn Left, is that the world without the Doctor ceases to be. Ruby warns her younger self not to step, and the Doctor and Ruby avoid the danger.
It's really no more confusing than Midnight, which most people love. Mystery thing with rules that defy explanation does weird shit for an hour, and then the Doctor manages to escape.
If the episode had been a David Tenant or Matt Smith episode it would be considered one of the high points of their tenures. As is, it's the best episode since Capaldi punched a diamond wall (I'll give you that one).
Yup, perfectly summed up this episode. I really thought at the beginning that it was finally going to be something good but alas it was not meant to be😂
If you listened to any of these videos you'd think everyone was forced to sit down and watch doctor who every saturday like Clockwork Orange...
Well fans tend to talk about things they are passionate about, they dont tend to just drop a franchise because its in a rough patch. Casual viewers will do that but people who care about their favourite shows talk about them. Not every discussion is going to be positive. If you are seeing an uptick in negative videos maybe you should start wondering why rather than assuming the fans who are complaining are the problem. Maybe just maybe the abysmal viewing numbers and the amount of negativity on the new season and the previous one are happening for a reason
I just simply CANNOT understand this kind of odd reaction!? This isn't some random show that's "not for us". We've been Doctor Who fans since the 1960s, 1970s, and so on. Lifetimes dedicated to watching this man and his adventures, and then some tosser comes along and writes utterly idiotic episodes like this.
Do you seriously believe that no one in the world should ever write a negative review of any form of entertainment? You think the "Rotten Tomatoes" website should be taken down because it encourages both positive AND negative opinions?
Do you really want to live in a world where there's no way to know what TV shows are better than others, because any kind of criticism is banned, and no one can say what's good and bad - everything has to be "good" only?
I've spent so many decades talking to other fans about Doctor Who and other shows and never in my life encountered such a strange view - the view that no one should say anything negative about TV shows? Complaining about TV shows (and other things) is what it means to be a man. That's how human beings act. We complain about things that annoy us.
I'm wondering what kind of a man are you? Men get angry about things. We get angry with each other. We're not afraid to call one another out. We give each other hell, we expect to be scolded when we've something idiotic. Sometimes it ends up in a physical fight. That's what men are. Physically and mentally tough.
To use your own logic, no one is FORCING you to watch this review video. If you don't like it then don't watch it..
I just simply CANNOT understand this kind of odd reaction? This isn't some random show that's "not for us". We've been Doctor Who fans since the 1960s, 1970s, and so on. Lifetimes dedicated to watching this man and his adventures, and then RTD comes along and writes utterly idiotic episodes like this. Why wouldn't we be annoyed or angry?
Do you really want to live in a world where there's no way to know what TV shows are better than others, because any kind of criticism is banned, and no one can say what's good and bad - everything has to be "good" only?
To use your own logic, no one is FORCING you to watch this review video. If you don't like it then don't watch it..
@@Scripture-Man I didn't like it, and I didn't watch it. I commented on it. And if I'd watched this channel 40 years ago I wouldn't think I'd be entitled to control how it works today, because that would be very arrogant and self-important of me.
If you think it's a waste of time, you haven't understood this. Also, stop being so negative. If you don't like Doctor Who, don't watch it!
careful the numbers are pretty dire as they are mate, people keep saying dont watch and less and less people are watching. Be careful what you wish for
How arrogant. We love Doctor Who - that's why we're so upset to see it ruined.
Let’s be real, us Dr who fans will cry, bitch and moan about episodes but we will always go back and watch it regardless 😂😂 i slagged off all of chibnalls era but still watched it all.
It’s the curse of the Who-vian 😂😅
Lol yeah that is what were all doing -switching off
What, not gonna tell everybody to touch grass?
Too late, someone beat you to it!
Great review. I like your voice! :-) I can't understand why this video has so many dislikes? The episode is absolute nonsensical garbage - just a series of random events with no explanation. That's NOT a story, it is, as you say, just a complete waste of everyone's time. Even the abysmal TV series "Lost" gave its viewers SOME answers to SOME of the mysteries. This episode gives no answers to ANY of the mysteries. I counted 14 major unanswered questions when I watched it.
At the time, I thought this was the all-time worst episode of Doctor Who. "Rogue" went on to challenge this, but I think "Empire of Death" beats them both. Without doubt, the most nonsensical thing I've ever seen, where the Doctor, apparently, is now a wizard who can do anything without any explanation given.
I agree, RTD already said that we would never know what the old lady (old Ruby) said, so your right when you said this whole episode was a waste of time. Especially since the events of the episode was undone when the Doctor didn’t step on the fairy circle. Meaning that Ruby didn’t stop the crazy prime minister dude from nuking stuff. So everything that Ruby did in Thai episode was for nothing. Meaning that this whole episode was essentially filler and a waste of time.
Exactly.
Gatwa's return really pissed me off. He is incredibly annoying.
this comment is annoying.
I don't find him annoying, but he is extremely creepy.
A waste of your time not mine.
DW i have adblock on and i clicked off this video after this comment.
I'm not monetized, but thanks for the engagement anyway.
Are you saying the episode made sense to you? PLEASE can you explain it? Just answers to the episode's 16 most basic and obvious mysteries will do?
great point on NChuti, his performance is so uncomfortable but I just can't put my finger on what it is exactly
He doesnt speak like the doctor, the way he speaks just comes across as a regular person and not an otherworldly ancient being. They made him too human
@@charg1nmalaz0r51 Even in Boom he really didn't come off at all threatening. I can tell he tries, but he just cant seem to pull it off. The best doctors can switch from joyful to downright menacing like flipping a switch, and all the way back again when the world is safe. His interpretation of the character is just not working for me.
The fact that they cast an immigrant is ridiculous because his accent strips him of his authority. He seems small and underprivileged. The Doctor is supposed to be a master of time and space. He needs to be played by someone who reflects that in the way they speak, with an excellent command of the English language and a sense of history and heritage. That's why a lot of American shows get people with English accents to play people of great authority and intelligence. We have a country full of people who speak like that and they go and cast someone with a foreign accent. Well done, Beeb! Plus more racist casting.
Where is Waldo...
73 yards away I guess
@@thegasmaskpodcast Not really he was missing in action filming his Gay Show and left Ruby Tuesday to fend for herself LOL
@@WhiteDragon689 I am ashamed and aghast that I didn't think to call her Ruby Tuesday. Hats off to you, sir.
Made me think!
Nice concept, well executed and directed. For me, it wasn’t really a Dr who episode. It fits more within independent/ experimental IP’s such as Black Mirror or Inside Number 9.
If you have a look at most of RTD’s dramas such as Years & Years, The second Coming, Cucumber, Its a sin there’s a constant concept of social issues that are portrayed very realistically.
In this case, it felt like a bit of a re-hash of old ideas and narratives that weve seen before.
The Antagonist, Mad Jack, falls into the repetitive Evil Authority figure archetype or “Definitely not Trump”.
I felt like the Sexual assault reference between Mad jack and the volunteer was too heavy for Dr who but i can see how it adds to the character of Mad jack and his narcissistic and selfish behaviour. I can’t help but feel like Ruby knew this would happen to the volunteer and she essentially pimped her out. I know it wasn’t the volunteers fault in anyway but Ruby pointed Mad Jack in her direction, it was a calculated move to get everything in place but at the expense of the volunteer.
Its a nice little drama but just not as amazing as some say
people are actually just hating so they can hate at this point, ask anyone who isnt afraid of black people and has a moderate social life and they will say its a brilliant episode
No crap. This episode has me legitimately shook. It was so on point with the level of bewildering fae capricious manipulation and terror. It was fantastic. I am still living in the existential dread of "She looks like what she looks like. She looks like what she is."
@@teristeward9161 i know this is a good description of the episode because i dont understand half the words
Nah people manufacturing outrage so they may get views. Most of the rage baiting has been moving to viewership rating (which excluded iPlayer and Disney+ rating) or saying "nobody cares anymore" narrative. They knew that the viewership and quality of the episodes are getting better and started running out of stuff to criticize with.
It was not a brilliant episode. It had potential but he fumbled the ending, he left it too open. For me i checked out about half way through, about the time the mad jack storyline started to kick in. You may love it, and that is fine. But some people cannot get over the plotholes of the episode or the vagueness of the episode. That doesnt make them hate black people. Grow up
i guess you can't really critique his video because he's on point...
much easier to just call him a hater and make it about skin colour. something simple you can understand
it's ok.
The episode was very promising and interesting at the start. i didnt miss the title sequence and i certainly did not miss the doctor. He overacts and takes me right out of the moment.
Then the ending happened. That ending was really annoying. All this character development for Ruby and she wont even remember it. it is such a shame
but she kinda did and i think we will see this come back in later episodes.
@@97infinite Explain? What do you mean she kinda did? The entire episode didn't happen.
@Scripture-Man she remembered by saying she had been to wales 3 times and then in the final episode she remembered that 66.7 meters was exsctly 73 yards and she remembered due to what happened in the episode 73 yards so i was correct, it did come back in a later episode
It's a good idea, more for a Torchwood than a Doctor Who episode. But it gets ruined by this stupid Politics plot and a non-pay-off. The end feels rushed and finally it becomes another Nothingburger.
And Ncuti-Doctor acts like a child that eats too much sugar. Massive ovaracting and non of the storiesso far gave him a real time to shine and show some adult and masculine gravitas. He remains a non-threatening black (and flamboyant) funny guy like most of the newer Disney black and male characters.
Did you not see boom? Because I kinda feel like that was less funny and more horrifying.
@@scottgodfrey7118 Boom was stupid from the beginning to the end. The only good thing was that Ncuti didn't act as overly gay as in the other episodes.
@@lucymiau5700 So how do you think Tennant or Smith would have done in the same story? Better? Worse? The whole reason I watch Doctor Who is because it has to change to survive. The series works because it goes anywhere, and can succeed or fail. Every Doctor has terrible episodes and good ones, but Boom is actually a tour de force in terms of acting. I think either this or Devil's Chord should have been the intro to the characters, and I say that because Ncuti completely sells the emotion here. You feel his terror, grief, everything, so it works. How did you find it stupid? I'm kinda curious.
@@scottgodfrey7118 The main problems of Boom lie in the plot and the worldbuilding arround. The battleground looks like a playground, including kids that run there. The premise is stupid and the explanations for are gringeworthy. An evil corporation fakes a war and tricks an experienced Army into fighting a non-existing enemy to sell weapons? This is not believeable. Politicians are the main force behind unnecessary wars. The soldiers in this episode do not act believeable, too. There is no chain of command, even a kid runs to the battleground. Ask youself is this could happen in a real war scenario. Regarding the Doctor. The Doctor is written overemotional again, he brings Ruby in danger and when he is saved, he dances and giggels arround while still on a place where the "corpses" of 2 men lie arround. Regarding Ncuti. Ncutis voice is annoying, he acts like a child and has no gravitas at all.
@@lucymiau5700 The Doctor Dances, that was DURING WW II. As for the evil corporation starting the fake war, they actually didn't. The colonists fired and ASSUMED an enemy was there. There is no indication in the episode itself that the corporation tricked anyone. The hardware was designed to act this way with an enemy or without one. As for children running on battlefields, yeah that still happens. So that's not unbelievable. As for the set looking childlike, I thought the set was fine. Finally, being overly emotional, A, he was on a landmine so emotional makes sense, but B have you not SEEN this show? Each actor has to find their own niche for this to work. Capaldi being emotional, nah, wouldn't buy it. Matt Smith being emotional, YEAH, buy that. The whole point of each actor doing this is to find their voice, to see how they'd do this. This is, what the third episode? Tennant had bad episodes, and Smith, and Capaldi and Whitaker, and Hartnell, Troughton, Pertwee, and even Baker. That's part of the game. Thing is, THIS WASN'T A BAD EPISODE. Space Babies, yeah that was bad, or at least not great. But this was good. So, best way to find out is wait ten years, see what fans say then. You could be right, I could be right. Let's wait and find out.
Liked Ncuti from RUBY to before BOOM but in BOOM he really got under my skin with his delivery and he felt unconvincing in a way Matt Smith felt unconvincing when the scripts were bad. Don't like BOOM at all.
And I think Boom had the most convincing and natural character writing since before Jodie's era. And Ncuti's acting was the best so far. It's my favorite episode since Twice Upon a Time.
@@EkmekArasiKlavye"natural and convincing"
Doctor - aslong as I stay calm it wont blow up.
Proceeds to have a breakdown every 40 seconds.
Doctor - "the mines are invisible but I'm not going to warn you until your already in the minefield"
@@Killthefish He's standing on a landmine. It's not up to the person if they want to have a breakdown or not lmao. He's trying to calm himself every time his heart starts beating faster.
The mines are invisible but they are in a narrow pit, the only mine in that area is figured out to be at the bottom center of the pit, under the Doctor's foot. I thought that was obvious.
@@EkmekArasiKlavye and how do they figure out theres no other mines without you know? Walking there to find out, and if you have been in this situation as he admits he has before, and you know for a fact your safe if you keep calm, he would very easily keep calm it's like being stood next to a puppy at that point because you know your safe and you could give your companions 100 different plans for how to fix this but instead, he walks them into and say it with me, a invisible mine field, and then proceeds to have a breakdown even though this is a absolute none issue
@@Killthefish Bro, there cannot be any other mines _inside the pit_. There's literally no room to put another motion detecting device without them being put on either a slope or the risk of them setting off each other. The pit was most likely formed from the sole mine itself. Surely we don't need a script to spell things out for the viewer, right?
He's not randomly having a breakdown, he was in constant risk of being pushed or moved by external forces and he was worried because of it. And "breakdown"? I went along with it earlier but fast heartbeats and tears forming in eyes aren't close to a breakdown at all.
Ncuti's absence was GREAT! I wish all his other episodes could also be Doctor-lite. He is miscast, and hasn't got the eccentricity, screen presence or authority for the role.
I think what we are going to begin to find is the youtubers are so fucking negative that everyone's just going to stop watching them. I mean look at every comment! We are over your shit !
Thanks for commenting! It boosts my numbers!
@@thegasmaskpodcast yeah of people tired of your shit lmao
@@emwooding5030 dr who just broke the record for the lowest ratings of any show in recorded tv history
lol
@@hamadkennedy6295 No it didn’t? Do you even have the numbers to back that up?
So your solution to "negativity" is to post THAT comment? Well done, that's helped make the world a less negative place.
It's not a wate of time, it's good, entertaining horror, what it isn't, is good Doctor Who. It's also full of holes and is lazily written with a very pointless ending
What holes?
@@teristeward9161 Let''s start with the fairy ring, talking about "mad jack" who,at the time, wasn't even known, so was it a coincidence, in which case, lazy writing. Let's talk about what's said to make ppl run away. Another deliberate hole, left completely empty, more lazy writing. There are plenty of reviews that cover the poor writing in detail. I enjoyed the episode, bit don't pretend it was some genius work of writing, because it wasn't, and it sure as hell wasn't good Doctor Who
@@teristeward9161 Well the biggest one was mad jack, the stopping of the pm and his nuke agender and the loop breaking. In both versions of the episode, regardless of ncuti breaking or not breaking the fairy circle the pm dude was still the most evil Welshman in history according to ncuti. So whatever she did had no impact on the outcome of that event. Regardless of Ncuti stepping on the circle or not it still happened, so her doing that in that timeline couldnt logically be why she broke out of the loop. There is is no reason for the loop to have ended, nor was there a reason why she could now hear/sense her older self the second time around. Thats also ignoring or the nonsensical/non explanations of why she was the old woman in the first place, or why she went back in time, or why she was haunting herself or why she was 73 yards away or why she couldnt speak, or why she was doing the same actions, or why ncuti just vanished or why people were scared of an older version of ruby, or why she was suddenly near her at the end, or why she was facing the wrong way, or why this second time around she appeared before he stepped on the circle, or why anything was even happening. I have more but my god this was a garbage story
I am truly bewildered that anyone could be entertained by nonsense. You do realise that "73 yards" is NOT a story, it's just a series of random events - one after the other - with no logic, no cause and effect, no reason. It's just a series of "things happening". Anyone - and I mean ANYONE - can write that. It doesn't take skill. I can just write a series of random events happening, without the need for anything to make sense. It's NOT a story. How can you enjoy something that ISN'T a story? The whole entire POINT of TV shows is that they give us stories. Not random events.
@@Scripture-Man You have a very limited idea of what a narrative can do. If you like, I can recommend a couple of really good academic, but accessible books, to explain the various types of story telling, narrative styles and genre explanations in various types of media from books to TV to theatre. 73 Yards was 2 things. It was a clue to later story, and it was an exercise in atmosphere generation and light horror. The sort of strict narrative structure you're taking about is more a starting point, rather than an ultimate goal for good writing.
Fair critique.