Storytime with Rachel F Hundred

A silly fantasy adventure to kick off the new Doctor and introduce his next Companion

Spoiler Warning

Having really enjoyed Ncuti Gatwa’s performance in the last episode of the 60^th anniversary specials, I was very much looking forward to Christmas and seeing him in action as the Doctor free from the comforting nostalgia of Tennant and Tate.  Add in the introduction of the next Companion to establish the new team ahead of the next season and I was glued to my seat for the opening lines of the Doctor Who Christmas special.

What we end up with is something which is as clumsy as the next Companion believes herself to be until she realises she’s unfortunately being plagued by goblins.  Indeed, the reason why everything feels clumsy to me is because this story is unfortunately plagued with goblins.

Now I am a huge fantasy fan.  The idea of fantastical elements appearing in what is essentially a science fiction-based show isn’t a deterrent.  I like the idea.  There have been inclusions of fantasy-esque elements in the past even if many of them have ended up being debunked by the Doctor in-story with a scientific basis found to explain it away.  But the goblins, the goblin king and the whole pirate ship in the clouds just didn’t work for me.  The CGI was messy, the scale of the ship, Ruby and the Doctor seemed all out of whack at various points, and the song was very silly even if it went with the whole silly theme. 

The only thing that worked was the impact of the goblins’ actions in going back in time to steal Baby Ruby having been foiled in their attempt to eat Lulubelle.  The impact was played out very well and is testament to how quickly Russell T Davies managed to establish the loving and warm set-up of Ruby’s family situation, (even if the baby doll used in some scenes was just the peak example of clumsiness).   The most brilliant scene was in the kitchen with Ruby’s adoptive Mum denying she’d ever adopted Ruby.  It is a tour de force performance by actress Michelle Greenidge who plays an embittered Carla Sunday fully in denial, saying one thing and meaning another thing entirely, to perfection.  She steals the episode for me. 

Millie Gibson does do a good job with Ruby.  She plays the ingenue, the trope of the curious young woman captivated by the enigmatic stranger inherent in most Companion origin stories, very well.  The story also paints her as just a lovely and loving person, struggling with her identity and lack of answers, but with the love of her adopted family. She’s someone the audience might like to be friends with in the same way people wanted to have Rose or Clara as a friend. 

The story also sets up her family situation and the local environs very well.  I’m expecting Mrs Flood will get explored more in a future story (you don’t have an actress like Anita Dobson playing a role without it having more meaning than just the local neighbourhood busybody), just as I’m expecting the mystery woven about Ruby’s origin in being abandoned as a baby (and explicitly stated without any hint of a genetic tie to give a clue to her biological situation) to get picked up again at some point in the future.  But we’re back to the principle of the Companion being that human link for the audience which got bizarrely lost in the multitude of Companions occupying the TARDIS in Chibnall’s era.

If Gibson feels like she’s comfortable stepping into the Companion role, Gatwa’s Doctor doesn’t seem quite as settled into character yet.  There are familiar elements – his smarts in figuring out the ropes, his investigating something not quite right, the sonic screwdriver and tech invention which helps him save the day, his crazy style of dancing, and his joy in the unusual.  He is the Doctor through these familiar broad strokes and Gatwa is as charming in his performance as he was in The Giggle.  

But.

But there is a solidity missing from Gatwa’s portrayal of the Doctor.  Is he purposefully playing the Doctor as unsure of his identity in a more subtle way than the outright statement of uncertainty that Capaldi’s Doctor made through his first season or is he as an actor just getting used to the part and hasn’t quite found his groove yet?  Time will tell. What I did love though was that nod that there is a continuing struggle for the Doctor in accepting that his backstory isn’t the one he always believed with the revelation The Doctor makes to Ruby and her Mum that he has also found out that he is a foundling and adopted.  Clearly Davies doesn’t intend for only Tennant’s variation to have to deal with the consequences of that and hopefully there will be more about this too in the future.

In conclusion

The disconnect with the Doctor and the clumsiness with the goblins leaves the episode not as compelling as I’d hoped.  Add in the whole subplot silliness with the cameo from Davina McCall and…my admittedly probably too-high expectations of this episode weren’t quite met.

Still, it’s early days for the Doctor and Ruby and I’m determined to give this new team a chance to find their groove in their actual season.  On the plus side, this was a familiar Who delivering a solid Doctor meets his Companion story with a stand-out and very human scene stealing Companion Mum to enjoy at Christmas.