One tidbit I just thought I’d toss in here: the old lady at the piano in this episode was actually played by June Hudson, who was a classic Who costumer from the Tom Baker era!
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Me too lmao if we ever got Iris I would screammm
Though I enjoyed the episode a lot, I totally agree with this - I was ready to rate it a 4.5 but the end bumped it down for me. I like hammy and silly but that was over-hammed.
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I loved that! I thought it was her and as soon as the episode ended i checked the credits to be sure, what an adorable cameo
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Yeah, I love it when they do things like that, and given the things she worked on as a costumer, I love her work, too.
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This episode didn’t grab me much either. It was okay, i like the concept of Maestro but it just never fell into place for me, think the run time was a bit short and with time to breathe it would have been better. Reference to Susan was amazing. The Pyramids of Mars style trip to the future was great, and the outfit change was great, so excited to see more of Fifteens changing wardrobe.
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This episode really appealed to me! Maestro was brilliant! Loved the outfits, felt there was a genuine sense of terror at points, and a sincere sense of fun at others. My partner said it was their favourite Doctor Who episode… I wouldn’t go that far!
I’m enjoying this “god domain” style of villain and appreciated having a sequel to The Giggle.
8/10
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this is why I tend to avoid DW trailers, ever sense 12s last season
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Honestly I think a good episode should hold up even if you know roughly what’s going to happen… if it didn’t that’s its own issue.
I enjoyed this one, but I’ll need to rewatch to have a real opinion. I do think “we need to save music!” plots are a bit tired but I absolutely love seeing a drag queen doing their thing on Doctor Who.
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There is a point in that, for me I really like that feeling of something unexpected happening and the details in the promotion material that they went with just meant that it became predictable to the point of being dull.
I know a lot of people enjoy the antics of Drag performance, it’s just really not for me. And the story hinges a bit on Maestro’s performance.
I very much preferred Space Babies to this one.
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I liked it more than Space Babies. Maybe this would have fit better as an episode 4 or 5 than an episode 2 but I just had a lot of fun with this one. It was light and airy and kept pace. Jinkx Monsoon understood the assignment and I LOVED all the fourth wall breaks, including the implication that the Doctor has been able to hear the background music.
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I loved that bit
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Maybe it’s just because I went so low with Space Babies a moment before, but I really enjoyed this episode. I have some complaints, but not nearly as many. It was just fun.
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After sitting on it, while there are more standout moments for me in this than Space Babies, I must admit I didn’t vibe with this at all.
It’s not bad for me (although I have to sit on that), I just think its a bit overloaded and overall kinda a bit of a mess? Like the start of the episode is pretty cool but feels like a thing that never gets brought up again. In general, some of the elements feel very underused. The Beatles I find were played alright, there were a few nice moments, but the lack of Beatles music is felt and not in a good way. And the end Song, while I like the idea on paper, in execution this feels very poor. Especially after we had another in Church just an episode ago. That one I excuse it being poor because it fits, this one just didn’t hit for me. I also really didnt like how George Martin went dancing when the Beatles have sung it, like I dont wanna sound like the anti-fun police but it really didnt do it for me.
And while I enjoyed the Character, Maestro, but I must confess that sometimes and nothing against the Performance, I really didn’t like the constant shift of talking somewhat normal and then yelling. That’s probably more a me-thing, but I really just didn’t enjoy it.
This all pretty negative, and I will admit, I don’t sound very thrilled by the episode, but there were parts that I really liked. Having June Hudson play a character was lovely. Ncuti has the right energy and I really liked his Performance, there are some really nice moments, but then again overall as a thing, I just didn’t find myself loving it like I wanted to. Maybe I will come down to it after some rewatches (rewatched it only once so far).
Glad for everybody else who enjoyed it, of course! I still probably need a bit of time before I give my proper judgement, so that’s basically a first impression than anything else.
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Agreed with you here. I actually may have liked Space Babies more?
This one felt a bit off. I liked the beginning, Maestro starts off interesting, and then from the Doctor getting super scared til the end, I was’t much of a fan. I didn’t like parts of Jinx’s performance. From the trailers, I was expecting the big music number to be how they defeat Maestro. So the whole 7 notes thing to defeat them was so weird to me. It felt really random? Like okay, these notes you can suddenly produce will fix things? Kind of disappointing to me.
And the ending song was okay. It did go on too long. I have mixed feelings on it.
I don’t know about this one. 6 or 7/10 for me right now.
I’m ready for Boom next week. I think I need a break from the silly and hopefully to a more serious, grounded story.
I liked The Toymaker in The Giggle, and was totally fine with his magical powers. But Maestro and they way their powers and motivation were handled, I didn’t like. I’m quite conflicted about this one.
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I get that, I am not fond of either, but I think Space Babies for what it is success its goal and is a fine enough opener, it does nothing really wrong even if it feels rather like one of those special 10th Doctor Animated “Serials” than a fresh new start for a new Era. Meanwhile, devils chord was one that intrigued me more and kinda left me underwhelmed now.
I have nothing against the magic approach, but I think the placement of this Episode really hurts it too, felt more like a mid-season thing than episode 2.
Maybe it has something to do with me hoping for something more, but I also think it’s quite messy with a lot of story decisions, ideas, and even the references.
Oh well excited to see Boom, seems a lot more like my cup of stories and I am curious what Moffat can bring to the table. (Also just feels nice to get a break from RTD writing the episode, 6 RTD Episodes in a row is quite a lot)
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I did like this one better of the two. I do wonder what the season twist is going to be. The forth wall breaks I am not keen on but do believe there is a reason for them and will get explained towards the end of season 1. I thought Maestro was a pretty good villain and visually a better looking episode. The musical could have had a better song but this is drilling in our head that twist a is coming. What will the twist be, my prediction is Ruby and the Doctor are siblings with parents in common. Pretty far fetch but with Doctor Who you never know.
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I had so much fun with Space Babies—I had so much fun with this! Still waiting for that kick in the teeth of emotional catharsis, but hopefully Mr. Moffat can deliver that next week…
Didn’t love Maestro, but ADORED Jinkx’s performance. Didn’t love the Beatles angle either—I didn’t find the actors convincing enough—but Fifteen and Ruby’s 60s style made up for it! Adored the pushing-on-the-4th-wall moments!
But—and it makes me a little sad to say it—I didn’t find the music itself (diagetic and non-diagetic) particularly interesting. It felt like a pretty standard score to me. I really wanted something more powerful on that front, especially for a story all about music, one of my personal great loves.
Oh, and on that note (ha!) I really appreciated that we stayed with Ruby’s piano playing, solo, for so long. Even if I thought the piece itself was pretty tame I loved the chance to sit with it, to get a long moment of stillness and calm in the middle of a pacy episode, and appreciate the tune.
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I enjoyed it. I loved the dance number at the end and I though Jinkx was fabulous. And June Hudson put in a decent performance too. Millie and Ncuti are excellent and have quickly settled into their roles.
I want to enjoy Doctor Who and I like it when it’s this easy to enjoy.
Oh and “twist”, with the speculation about Susan Twist’s recurring roles. Quite the wink at the audience, that.
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Yeah, four decades of music are gone and history is so significantly altered that new international conflicts have existed but it’s never addressed again after the cafeteria scene and they never actually set things right! I really don’t like that, it feels like an unfinished story and I don’t think it’s meant to.
I don’t know how the recording studio or the Beatles even exist in this timeline. Surely the music industry as a whole would be gone? Even the bad music the Beatles play in this timeline would surely summon Maestro? Nothing in this plot really works for me.
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