Guys what if we started a movement: #releasethebelindacut haha wouldn’t that be so funny, just jokes tho haha (i desperately need to see Belinda’s original ending for my own conscience and wellbeing)
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Btw, re: Anita being pregnant, it was written in because Steph de Whalley is or was in real life.
“Thank you to Russell T Davies for Anita’s return and for embracing my pregnancy. You are a champion for female roles on screen.” (Instagram post)
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Hooray!!! 
I’ve finally made it to the current end of this thread! Here are my initial thoughts from Saturday[1]: First of all, it was rather nice (and unexpected) to get a return of Anita. Now we know why Steven Moffat got to read the script early. I rather liked the looks into the past with scenes from The Wedding of River Song, Day of the Daleks and Rogue. I liked that the Bone Beasts got an explanation and they weren’t just there to look cool. I liked that Mel remembers the Rani and their actual meeting didn’t disappoint, short as it was. I liked that the Rani used a Time Ring to escape Gallifrey when it was destroyed the last time (though I really need to rewatch The Timeless Children because I don’t remember the terms they were using this episode. We get a Zero Room too, and Project: Indigo. So, I thought that Omega and the Rani were actually explained rather well for new viewers in this episode. Should it have been done last episode? Definitely. But the explanations we got here were quite good. Omega himself was rather creepy, and then the Rani gets eaten and Mrs. Flood runs away. That was an interesting way to end that character. I did kinda like the Doctor using the vindicator to banish Omega though. I was a bit surprised that the Omega and Rani side of the plot was wrapped up within the first half. It felt rather quick.
So then we have the quest for Poppy. It was interesting, I liked that this Doctor in particular has been willing to break reality or risk everything for a single individual. Then we get a rather lengthy scene with Thirteen, a la Time Crash. I liked it. The interactions between Doctors were enjoyable and it worked well within the episode as a whole for me. Then the Doctor pours regeneration energy into the TARDIS and reality seems to shatter. Then he wakes up in the garden. I thought that was a nice ending with Belinda and Poppy. Would I have prefered another season with Fifteen and Belinda? Sure. But it was kinda nice to see what she was so intent to get home to. Amendment: Now having read through all your thoughts on this, I’m not sure how I feel about belinda’s ending. I understand where a lot of you are coming from. I can definitely understand not liking the change in Belinda’s reality and while I think motherhood is a good thing and does seem somewhat marginalized, I totally understand what you’re pointing out about consent and not liking this change to her character as laid out in the premier.
So now we come to the regeneration. As much as I hoped that Ncuti would get another season, or that they’d leave it open ended, a la McCoy and Ace walking off into the distance, we knew this was probably inevitable. I’m kind of sad to see Ncuti go. Two short seasons where he barely features in a quarter of the regular episodes is too short a run. I feel like we were only just getting to know him. Then we get Billie Piper, presumably as the Sixteenth Doctor, but the credits didn’t specify so… I don’t know what I think of it. There were so many leaks this season, and so many that came true. The leak situation definitely needs to be reigned in whenever the show returns. I’m definitely interested to see where the show goes from here. Will we get more Disney+ Who? Will Billie be the Doctor long term or this another mayfly incarnation like Fourteen? We have some hanging threads such as Susan and “The Boss”, so we’ll see what Russell has planned (if he’s not sacked). In the end, I had fun with this one. More fun than with Wish World.
My current feelings are still very mixed. Despite having fun with the episode and liking the bulk of it (at least in the moment of watching it), I can totally see that it has problems. I’m not entirely sure which of the problems are because of the rewrites around the regeneration and which are just problems that have been there from the start. I definitely agree that going back to a producer/script editor team like they had in Classic Who is good way forward. I may have more thoughts later, or I may just leave The Reality War behind having survived to the other side.
I may have some amendments and more thoughts later, but these were my initial reactions right after I watched the episode ↩︎
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Also, for anyone curious, here’s Tardis Eruditorum’s thoughts:
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I am excited for it:
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Keep thinking about little details.
Like RTD changed the Sonic so it doesn’t look like a gun (
) but then he defeats Omega with a big laser gun??!
I just don’t get it.
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Welcome, welcome indeed! Good to read your first post. I’m glad we helped (in our way) and it’s great to have you aboard.
I love your obvious passion for the show and for Thirteen. I also thought that was such a lovely scene. I was overjoyed to see Jodie don her coat one more time (and am really looking forward to her upcoming run of audio adventures).
Anyway, delighted to make your acquaintance. You have found the right place to discuss Doctor Who (or spoons, mugs, cheese or Moomins).
I look forward to reading more of your thoughts.
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Shades of the ending of The Invasion of Time (though, on balance, I much preferred Mr Agnew’s 
story).
Yes. I completely agree. Why not tinker with the wiring on the vindicator or even, yes, just flick a switch and reverse the polarity, man!
It is out of character, doesn’t fit with the story of the new sonic’s design or… anything. It was wrong and sent the wrong message… again.
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Well, guns are smaller. It looked much more like a fully automatic rifle.
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I’ve been thinking about it, and in order of likelihood imo:
- The TARDIS because they got mixed up when the Doctor pushed his regeneration energy into it; thus, “Oh, hello!” because she realizes she’s in the physical world again
- The Doctor, and all the ambiguity is just to keep us talking / drive #socialmedia #engagement; thus, “Oh, hello!” because she realizes she’s a woman again, and/or as a fourth wall break
- The Master. Hear me out - they’re definitely coming back sooner or later, and you know RTD could and would cook up a ridiculous reason for them to take the Doctor’s place. For instance, the Rani was the one who took the Toymaker’s tooth, and she left it in the section of her headquarters that was build from the Doctor’s TARDIS, so it was somewhere in there, and the Master got out because of the regenerative energy swirling around. Thus, “Oh, hello!” because she realizes she’s successfully taken the Doctor’s body (again).
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Unironically I think this isn’t any worse than the actual line 
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After a couple of days, the thing that bothers me the most is that some of the things in this episode taint the rest of the season and I had been loving it.
It makes me angry to think that on rewatch, I won’t be able to like Belinda as much because that Belinda has been erased and every appearance of Mrs Flood I’ll be “all this teasing for nothing”.
Also, I’m still pissed at the gimmicky regeneration and I think Russel has put himself into a corner because if Billie is the Doctor it will need an explanation as to why this face and make it seem like RTD can only work with two people and if she isn’t it will feel like a pointless stunt. In both cases this feels like just something to keep us talking and there were so many other ways to do that and still respect us and the material.
But had it been only that I could just roll my eyes and think “we’ll see” so it’s really the Belinda retcon that upsets me.
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Indeed. For me, the only real bum note in an otherwise wonderful tale. So glad the Special Edition expunged this moment. Day of the Daleks is (and I know I’m in a minority here, but I just don’t care!) an absolute work of genius! 5 out of 5. Stone cold belter of a classic. Can we have stories like that back please? 
Not even tongue in cheek, actually. And, no, I’m not seriously suggesting a retun to the classic days, but there was a discipline to Day of the Daleks, a tightness to plot and concept, that was sorely missed in Saturday’s episode. Done with today’s budget, Day of the Daleks would tick pretty much every box for a stand out season finale.
I love it so very much! 
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Billie is Mrs Flood/The Rani, she broke the 4th Wall saying “oh hello!” to us. 
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Genuinely think this is Sandifer’s best work (on Doctor Who) in quite a long time. Very good read, very good points.
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Some more random thoughts which I’m using to try and help me make sense of this. Some may well have come from up thread and I’m sorry if I don’t fully credit the originators. If any of them are you, please let me know and I’ll give full credit.
- Terrance Dicks often said that they weren’t always trying to make brilliant TV; they were fighting to ensure that they didn’t have to put the test card out at 5pm on Saturdays (To younger viewers; until the late eighties most TV channels weren’t 24/7 and had regular shut downs, when they showed a test card that enabled you to adjust your TV and for them to calibrate their cameras etc).
- Someone, somewhere here on the forum posted about Ncuti’s interview on the Graham Norton show shortly after season 1 aired, where he talked about them shooting season three soon. They say that this was edited out of the iPlayer version of the show, suggesting that things changed around that time.
- Rumours about Disney not continuing with the deal started circling around last summer. The rumours about Ncuti leaving began shortly after that, although we also had rumours about the show completely folding due to the loss of Disney money. Between then and transmission of S2, we also heard about Wolf studios advertising space for filming, which was being argued, was evidence that standing sets had been struck and Doctor Who was bieng wound up.
- Only a few weeks ago, we heard that Seasons 3 and 4 are definitely in preparation, but this is not fully confirmed, just a press report from a usually reliable source. RTD has said on record that he’s been preparing scripts for season 3, whether DIsney money is there or not.
- The official story put out in the face of cancellation rumours was that Disney had always said that it would only make a decision about renewal after Season 2 aired.
- RTD is not always 100% truthful. He’s good at hyping the show, but has often contradicted himself and so I’ve learned to take what he says with a pinch of salt.
- He has explained how reshoots work in DWM and how he used them for the Robot Revolution to give Belinda housemates very late in the day. He is adept at reshaping episodes even after shooting to fix them.
- Going by the Graham Norton interview, it seems that Ncuti intended to stay up to and after initial shooting for season 2 wrapped. @realdoctor’s information from student set visits would weem to corroborate this.
- It seems highly likely that the Reality War was reshaped after initial shooting wrapped and new material was written and shot to include a regeneration after Ncuti decided to leave once the shooting dates for Season 3 could no longer be confirmed.
- TV in the streaming age has become unpredictable. Things get made with big gaps between seasons. Things are cancelled, uncancelled and so on without much clarity behind the decisions. We don’t have access to full viewing figures or appreciation indexes etc, unlike with broadcast TV. Doctor Who now has to fit in both the linear broadcast TV model and the streaming model and it’s not a comfortable fit in either.
- Doctor Who as I knew it as a youngster and even in its revival no longer exists. By that, I mean that it isn’t a regular fixture in the TV schedules, appearing for half of the year, or latterly a quarter of the year as part of the TV furniture. That picture was first shaken with the 1985/6 hiatus and then the 1990 cancellation, when suddenly it couldn’t be relied upon to just be there. The return in 2005 brought certainty with it for four years and then it came and went a bit, had split seasons, had years off, reduced episode counts and so on. Unlike, say, Death in Paradise, it can’t be relied upon to be there for us on TV every year. Fans like me tend to feel hard done by as our expectations are managed by announcements that massage the figures a bit to make us less likely to kick off about the show being cancelled or sidelined.
- Doctor Who is not the phenomenon it was in 2008, or even in 2015.
- I tend to favour cock up theory over conspiracy. I believe the reason that the Reality War is a dog’s breakfast of an episode is that RTD wanted to make it fit and explain Ncuti leaving, keep the possibility of the continuation of the show going, reduce speculation about a casting that they can’t make as yet while managing expectations around the possibility of cancellation or of a longer than usual hiatus while finding is found.
- I might well have got some of this wrong.
I think it was a weak episode that was an idea salad including too many characters who had too little to do. I think the conclusion was disappointing for numerous reasons, mostly already cited by others on this thread. I’m disappointed by it as a conclusion to what I thought was a strong season and I think it let a number of its characters down, not leasrt of all Belinda. However, I firmly believe that there was a better version of the episode that existed before the production uncertainty kicked in. I only wish that we’d got that version with no regeneration, as I think it would have been better to leave the show with the existing Doctor if it was due to go on hiatus. We could always pick up with a different Doctor without showing the regeneration. There’s nothing wrong with having a narrative gap, and it’s far better in my opinon, than trying to bend the story to ensure continuity. I was never a fan of the Sylvester McCoy in Colin Baker’s costume and wig regeneration. I would have rather just picked up with the Seventh Doctor and Mel having adventures and explained the regeneration along the way. I think it’s stronger sometimes to leave a bit of doubt and let us discover the story as things unfold.
That said, Doctor Who has done things I’ve not enjoyed before and it will do so again. The show has not been killed. Given the breadth of expanded universe material and merchandising I think it’s now as close to being unkillable as possible. It might not continue on TV or streaming, but it will keep going on audio in books or comics. People will keep writing it. When it does something I dislike, that doesn’t mean that it won’t come back with something I like afterwards. It has a vast, sprawling narrative that often contradicts itself. It can always course correct.
It sucks when the show appears to have gone off the boil or off the rails, but it has a remarkable ability to bounce back and do something really interesting and enjoyable after being cheesy, clichéd or plain clunky.
What I think doesn’t matter. I may have been invested in the show since I became aware of it aged about 3, but that doesn’t mean I have any right to dictate what it does. As a viewer, as a fan, I can watch or not watch. I can discuss on forums or go and do something else. There’s so much other Doctor Who material out there that I could probably keep consuming it for the rest of my life and not get to the end of it, even if they stopped making it in all media today.
Things feel a bit suckky right now, but a bad episode or a narrative choice that I disagree with doesn’t ruin what comes before. And it doesn’t necesarily mean that what comes afterwards will be uniformly bad either. I’m going to prime my head cannon with the stuff that I like and try not to worry about the bits that I don’t.
After all, the curate supposedly liked parts of his egg.
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There’s lots in your thoughtful and rich post that I’d like to respond to. A bit busy now, so I just picked this bit.
This is ABSOLUTELY my take.
Thank you.
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This is so absolutely 100% true and it saddens me sometimes that this gets forgotten in the fallout of a less well-received episode (or even era).
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