That’s fighting talk that is.
(For the record, I thought Church was fairly dull as Christmas specials go).
7 Likes
I’m going to rewatch the whole season with the new knowledge from the finale and see how I feel about it, but knowing what I know about the resolution to this story arc I think my enjoyment of Church may go down a bit.
Part of what made it exciting was the mystery.
8 Likes
The arc surrounding Ruby’s Mother has been quite polarising from what I’ve seen, but I personally love that she was revealed to be just an ordinary woman.
One of my biggest issues with companions from the revival is when they are treated like the most important people in creation - the DoctorDonna, Amy and Rory being River’s parents, Clara being scattered through the Doctor’s timeline.
Having Rubes be just this ordinary Mancunian lass with an interesting - but not sci-fi-centric - background story was honestly really refreshing to me.
I think that’s the big issue with a lot of big story arcs, though I can think of a few BigFinish audios which lose some of their sparkle the more familiar you become with them.
This is a good example of that. I went into ‘The Natural History of Fear’ blind and it absolutely blew me away - which seems to be the general consensus.
But once you realise that it’s - and don’t reveal the spoilers if you’ve not heard this story - Doctor Who does 1984, it loses that uniqueness and becomes just another experimental adventure, if that makes sense?
6 Likes
In the original non-changed version of Ruby’s abandonment shown before the opening titles in The Church on Ruby Road, the Vicar comes out of the Church and finds Ruby before the clock strikes midnight.
But when the Goblins bimble back in time to Ruby Road and kidnap Ruby from the Church doorstep, and after defeating them the Doctor brings her back there and leaves her, the Vicar comes out and finds Ruby after the clock strikes midnight.
What confuses things is the first version pre opening titles, because the Doctor arrives after the clock strikes midnight when Ruby is found and taken in by the Vicar, but I think when the Doctor arrives that was supposed to be a time jump back a few minutes before the events that we’d just seen.
I think the reason that the Vicar comes out of the Church after the clock strikes midnight after time changed, is that off screen when Louise left Ruby, she knocked on the door before walking away so Ruby wouldn’t be left out in the cold to die. But when the Goblins bimbled back in time, they put a sound barrier across the door so no one heard her knocking so they could take Ruby without any trouble. Then when the Goblins were defeated, the sound barrier they had put over the door dropped, and when the Doctor left Ruby, off screen he knocked on the door so again, she wouldn’t freeze to death.
I wish they had shown both Louise and the Doctor knocking on the door, and had Ruby wrapped in multiple blankets with a hot water bottle tucked underneath. It would’ve helped to emphasise that Louise wanted to keep her safe.
10 Likes
Here’s my work in progress of Ruby thinking about the night she was left, there will be three versions of this. The first version is before any interference, the second version the Goblin ship will be flying towards the Church, and the third version will have the TARDIS on Ruby Road and Sutekh on top, looking at Louise, who’s face is shadowed, and the snow and the musical notes will be falling through into where Ruby is.
10 Likes