By Volo on Monday, 25 December 2023
Category: Sci-Fi

Doctor Who - The Church on Ruby Road

As the trailer says: Long ago, on Christmas Eve, a baby was abandoned on the snow. Today, Ruby Sunday meets the Doctor, goblins, stolen babies, and perhaps, the secret of her birth...

This episode gets things rolling with lots of fantasy and action and in doing so introduces Ruby Sunday, the new companion of the Doctor. The show opens with the scene of a Church where a woman abandons her baby on the steps of a Church, who later takes her in, naming her Ruby after the road she was found. The show fast forwards to present day where she is being interviewed as part of a show that will go on to try to find her natural birth parents.  In this scene we hear distant cackling and laughing from what are later revealed as goblins who thrive and survive off eating humans. They appear when a cluster of coincidences occur and along with many mischievous accidents allows them entry into the world. However it appears that Ruby has had this "bad luck" and "accidents" over the past few weeks which has caused the Doctor to appear in her life to correct things.  He meets up with her in an episode of action and adventure where they board an alien goblin ship, saving the baby but eventually kidnapping Ruby. The Doctor then goes back in time to save Ruby by killing the Goblin King and destroying the Goblin ship.

Analysis and conjecture

This episode is one of a setup of sorts for the rest of the season and most of the fun of the show is in guessing what will unravel.The introduction of Ncutti Gatwa as the Doctor and his new companion, Ruby Sunday (played by Millie Gibson) as well as the carry through of what seems to be a running gag of "mavity" is established. The shadowy figure of the next door neighbor (Mrs. Flood) is also introduced.

The Doctor and Ruby are amazing dancers and singers! That is quite a twist to the show compared to Doctors of the past. There also seems to be a lot more laxity with social norms in this show: the trans-sexual singer and the doctor having a "hot summer" with Houdini.

Could the older woman living next door, Mrs. Flood, be the mother that dropped off Ruby at the Church and has been living next door, keeping an eye on her ever since?

The polaroid picture that shows the goblin and then doesnt is an interesting plot device that gives vibes similar to Back to the Future when Marty has a picture of his family that slowly disappear from the pic.

Techno gadgets and trivia

Characters of note in this episode

This week's aliens and villains

The goblins, so called because they gobble you up. They work on chance and coincidence and luck. They appear to be a time riders who surf the waves of time to cause accidents so that they have a point to appear to kidnap food.

Lingering mysteries and Unanswered questions

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