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Jun 194 min read

Doctor Who Series 1 (14), Episode 7 Review: The Legend of Ruby Sunday

Updated: Jul 25

What did you think of this episode?

  • Sonic!

  • Good!

  • Bumpy-wumpy!

  • Exterminate!


I won't lie, I was worried at the start! Very worried!


Everything happens so quickly in this series, bang, they turn up at UNIT and ask for help. Bang, straight into the finale. There hasn’t been any real lead up to it bar a comment in Dot and Bubble between the Doctor and Ruby.


I've never been a big fan of UNIT stories, I wasn't overly impressed with Rose in The Star Beast, and then to increase my worries I was a bit baffled by the Susan comment before the titles!! I mean come on Doctor, there are A LOT of Susan’s on this planet! If he started panicking that every Susan was his granddaughter he would be a very stressed Timelord!!


I had a bad feeling - but I shouldn't of worried because I bloody loved it!! Finally we got a scary arsed monster and a vintage RTD part one cliff-hanger. Everything about it screamed Utopia and Army of Ghosts, and that isn't a bad thing.


I still haven’t fully put my finger on this series, I have mentioned a few things in the past but this also made me think about something else. - that this is very much RTD going back to what he did before but with a dash of The Moff sprinkled on the top. The arc with a companion who doesn’t quite add up, the silly light opener, the Doctor-lite and companion-lite episodes, and the bombastic cliff-hanger in the penultimate episode. The thing is, even though it has seemed similar it has also been very different, it has been experimental and yet at the heart of it, it is 2005 Who. It is a very strange combination, I cannot quite work it out but I love it anyway!!


Once the pre titles were out of the way this episode was gold. Pure RTD gold!!


"This is your history. The legend of Ruby Sunday."


Ncuti as always was fab. Millie as always was fab. I also felt like Kate had a bit more to go on -she had some stand out moments in this. Far better than what has been before. Yes we get it, your Dad was the Brigadier, you are the woman in charge of UNIT, you get annoyed when your soldiers die. Yet you keep sending them to their death I might add. Anyway, there was a bit more to her this time, and she had the stare of the series when she basically told the Doctor he was a prick for sending her man into the fire (or the sandpit).


I think the main issue I have had with Kate is she talks a good game but she doesn't half let a lot of stuff slide. Kids in UNIT, allowing Mum's in UNIT, she really should be sacked!!


Susan Twist, now I am a big fan of Susan. She was great as the other characters she has played in this series and was great as Susan Triad here. Right down to taking the piss out of the bint Theresa May. More importantly she was fucking ace in the bat shit crazy ending. Now this is where Russell really does edge other showrunners for me. He has a moment every series he writes where the last five or ten minutes of the penultimate episode has me on the edge of my seat or standing up with nerves and excitement.


Big up to the directing as well, how can you make the TARDIS scary? Well they did in this episode with a camera angle and a noise. Christ this was so good.


"Do you dream about being an ambulance?"


I have heard a few murmurings that this cliff-hanger wouldn't work for non fans, well I can tell you, I have only ever watched An Unearthly Child and all of the Seventh Doctors run, plus a few ToTT episodes and I was buzzing. I don't have a clue who Sutekh is, but I sure as hell know he is going to cause some carnage and need sorting out pretty quickly!!


What else about this episode? Rose - not really sure what she brought to the episode. I get it, bring back some characters and all that, but she didn't do a whole lot and seemed pretty pointless, but then I guess the same could be said of a few more minor UNIT characters. Plus I must give the benefit of the doubt as this is only part 1 after all.


I cannot wait to get a few answers. What is it with the lamppost? Why Susan Triad? Who is Ruby's Mum? I wonder if we will get all the answers?


Who can believe we are nearly done? It is a travesty we only got the eight episodes.


I am hauling my autistic arse to the cinema on Friday, I have never done anything like this before for Doctor Who, so I am nervous as hell, but mostly, I am fucking buzzing for it!! Let's go!!!!!


RATING: Sonic!

BEST LINE: "He has hidden in the howling void. He has hidden within the tempest. He has braved the storm and the darkness and the pain. And he whispered to the vessel. All this time, he whispered and delighted and seduced, and the vessel did obey."



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