Review by Chlo Hickson
Honestly where do I start with this one?
I think it’s probably the most creatively ambitious episode done in recent history. Russell T Davies has really found his stride again with these episodes and has taken some massive swings that have really paid off.
Now that Belinda had traveled to a futuristic setting, it was time to travel to the past with ‘Lux’.
First off the setting really comes to life in such an effective way. The costumes, set design and acting create a really authentic and atmospheric experience. When you think of the 1950s you imagine these exact visuals and this exact atmosphere, and I really like the acknowledgment of the Doctor knowing they are in hostile territory because of segregation because he and Belinda are at risk of being arrested just for being there. Even talking to people in certain places breaks rules, it adds an extra layer of engagement to the episode to make everything just feel all that more real.
This isn’t a situation like ‘The Shakespeare Code’ where Martha is worrying about her skin colour and the Doctor just brushes it off, this time they both have to worry about it. Which is why they are thankful that they landed in the early hours of the morning where they’re not in as much danger.
I liked the way they handled the racism of 1950’s America because it would’ve been really weird if they had this TARDIS team show up at that time and not have at least touched on this aspect. I think that them noting that just because it’s late at night that they shouldn’t be at the diner – it’s illegal for them to be in there – and I think noting it like that then moving on from it was a really good way to handle it because again 1950’s Florida you can’t pretend that that’s not a problem but at the same time seen as the episode isn’t about that it’s not worth them taking anymore time of the story than it does. It makes the point and that’s it.
I’m really liking the fact that we’re back to random landings as they try to get to the only date and time they can’t actually get to. Doctor Who can be at its best when the Doctor has little to no control of the TARDIS. It’s how the show started to begin with, and it just leads to a lot more interesting scenarios because it opens up things so much.
The Doctor and Belinda are great in this story. I like the way Belinda is shown to start trusting the Doctor throughout this episode. It was good to see their relationship develop.
I loved the scene where they both turned into cartoons. I do wish that they stayed that way for longer, but I assume that it costs a lot of money. It’s a funny idea that to escape they both have to show off their emotions which makes them literal three dimensional characters, very tongue in cheek RTD. It’s also a good excuse for this to be the way Belinda learns about Gallifrey, the Doctor being the last of the Time Lords, him having no home to get too, the possibility of never getting Belinda home and how this episode ended with their understanding for each other.
This does remind me of series 3’s ‘Gridlock’ where we had Martha wanting to go to the Doctor’s planet only for him to brush it off and then later explain that his home was gone because he’s the last of the Time Lords. And what happened at the end of that series? Another Time Lord was revealed, that’s an interesting thing to keep our eyes open for.
I was thrown off at first with Belinda being excited about dressing up to fit the time period they’d landed in, seen as she was really good about putting her foot down and telling the Doctor to take her home now and now, she’s suddenly excited? It made a bit more sense after the Doctor had set up what he’s calling a vindicator and got what he needed and when Belinda heard that she went straight back to wanting to leave. So, it wasn’t a change in attitude it was more of the fact that she’s excepting that they can’t get back to 2025 yet so she’s making the most out of it. It would’ve been great if this was made clearer at the beginning, so I wasn’t confused but it does make sense.
The opening scene also gives us some facts about Belinda, giving us an indication of her home life and what her parents are like, who she obviously wants to get back too. This is also an important aspect of the show as we need to at least have some idea about the companion’s personal life, we want to know who they really are, what they’re leaving behind and who they are scared of losing. It’s just such a simple touch that slips into this scene quite well.
Moving on to the controversial part of the adventure: The fan scene. It could’ve been terrible, but it was good. If anything, it was a true representation of what some of us would’ve been like if the Doctor climbed out of their TV. Am I wrong?
For a while now there’s been rumours going around that the Doctor’s going to find out he’s in a TV show, well he did but just in this episode. Not the overall season.
There’s an overall feeling about this scene that I like. What this did really well – speaking as someone who has been to Doctor Who conventions multiple times, not just comic cons but Doctor Who conventions specifically – that energy, that unashamed love for this show felt really well captured by these actors. Samir Arrian (Hassan), Bronté Barbé (Lizzie) and Steph Lacey (Robyn) do really well at capturing that passion, that energy, that joy that I see all the time and that was great.
I have got to address the controversy honestly as I can’t understand the comments that this scene received. I mean, how unbearable and thin skinned do you have to be to think this scene was mocking you in a negative way? If I was in RTD’s position I would’ve been a lot ruder to certain fans.
I’ll never understand why these types of fans read everything so literally. It was obviously a loving tribute of how the best thing the show does is connect people and build communities together.
I like that the Doctor still doesn’t think he’s in a TV show and that it didn’t ruin it. So, it’s a meta scene without going too far.
It’s revealed to us that as soon as the Doctor and Belinda go it will mean that the fans will ‘blink out of existence’, grateful for the time they had together, as friends, watching Doctor Who. It’s a tragic moment – though a mid-credit scene reveals that the fans survived, by means unknown, and will go on criticising and over analysing a show that they love unconditionally.
And I’m clearly with them as I have got to criticise this scene for one thing; The music. Did anyone else think the music was too loud in this scene? Not only that but the music they were playing – The sad man with a box – didn’t go with the scene?
With this, Doctor Who continues to delight in rewriting its own rules.
I love Lux/Mr Ring a Ding – so I can separate the title of the episode from the character I thought it’d be easier to call him Mr Ring a Ding from now on – was a great villain, he’s a great addition to the growing Pantheon of Gods. The performance by Allan Cumming was fantastic. The overall look of Mr Ring a Ding is incredible, there’s these cool little moments where he’s trying to get up the stairs when before he was massive and he says I shouldn’t have learned perspective, that was a good little throw away joke that reminded me of the Not-Things from ‘Wild Blue Yonder’ where they had to learn about object permanents because they didn’t have enough experience in the world as we know it to understand that once something was no longer attached to them it didn’t stop existing. So that line was great.
If I’m being honest there is quite a bit that I don’t understand about him. Why did moonlight reflecting off a spoon mixing with the light projector bring him out? How hasn’t that happened before? This can’t have the same excuse from ‘The Devil’s Chord’ as it was said Maestro came out in 1925 which was the same year as the Toymaker – and the Mara in the Big Finish story ‘Art Decadence’ – because it implied that the Toymaker being able to enter our world loosened everything up and allowed these other beings to come through as well. So it was the first time someone played that tune since the Toymaker had been around, but this was 1952 so its 27 years later! Because of this I don’t completely understand how he’s here but it’s not the biggest issue. I also felt that it was confusing that Mr Ring a Ding has certain rules that he has to obey, like when the Doctor says that he must tell him how to defeat him, and I just think why does that apply to him as its more something to do with the Toymaker because he’s obsessed with games which obviously have rules so it makes sense for him to have rules that he’s stuck with because that’s the nature of the thing he represents. Why do things like this apply to Mr Ring a Ding or Maestro who are the god of light and the god of music? Why are they obeying the same rules as the god of games? I think they should make each member of the Pantheon feel properly unique and they haven’t.
Also why didn’t he go outside when the thing you want is light and he didn’t have a problem getting exposed to the sun, why didn’t he ever go outside? The only answer I can come up with is that the Doctor’s regeneration energy made him be able to survive being exposed to the sun but if this is true, why wasn’t it made clearer?
All this doesn’t take away from the fact why you shouldn’t make him laugh. He said quite a few times – if I’m being honest how many times he said it did get annoying – and then when they reveal it it’s the giggle. It’s the same giggle from ‘The Giggle’ and ‘The Devil’s Chord’ and hearing that was like oh damn! Dropping that sound right there that was good, it was so good. I could feel my heart jump in a good way so all the praise to that reveal. I honestly don’t know if they’ll be able to pull it off like this again.
I understand the complaints about him disappearing in the middle, I think it would’ve been great to have him on the screen for longer, but I can’t imagine how much this cost them to even have him in the episode to begin with. I also think the middle part of the episode went on for a little too long, though I enjoyed the Doctor and Belinda’s struggle to get out of the film.
One of my favourite scenes has to be when Mr Ring a Ding tied the Doctor up with film and used his regeneration energy to evolve, it was an interesting concept and honestly a cool (if not horrifying) visual. It was creepy as hell, which I liked. I love that he goes from this appealing soft rounded character to being darker with the core design changing. The design remained the same throughout but they somehow made it so much creeper. I thought this was a nice touch.
I also enjoyed the way the Doctor defeated this god; he had sort of a nice ending? He didn’t die exactly; he just became what he’s supposed to be.
Basically, there’s not much I didn’t like to do with Mr Ring a Ding. Though I do have a question regarding the use of spoons when it comes to the Gods.
Maestro reflected themselves in a spoon, Sutekh’s defeat was by a spoon – well kind’ve – and now we have Mr Ring a Ding who came to life because of the reflection of the moonlight on a spoon. Why? Why is there always a spoon when it comes to the Pantheon?
Overall, ‘Lux’ is one of my favourite RTD2 episodes. It’s meta, it’s funny whilst having some horror and mystery elements involved and it’s got quite a tight script. I do feel as though the runtime held this one back a bit though, as they were trying to do a lot in a 45 minute episode. Of course, we also had the increasingly cliched moment of everybody lives as the missing fifteen people magically return after the building exploded, I mean did they return because Davies didn’t want to commit to the idea that Mr Ring a Ding or the consequence of the fire and them people trapped in the film killed everyone? I was frankly taken out of this scene because of it to be honest as I can’t make it make sense. On a more positive note though, they don’t always succeed in this with me, but I actually liked one of the side characters too, I thoughts Linus Roache’s Reginald Pye was a nice addition to this adventure. I was invested in the subplot with him and his wife. I do wish we had a moment to mourn him, with the type of person Belinda is surely they should have had a little moment to acknowledge what happened to him.
Speaking of acknowledging I need to say that this is the first time we got a Mrs Flood cameo anywhere but present day Earth. It really makes things interesting as it shows that she can definitely time travel, now just seeming to follow the Doctor and of course she manages to avoid being seen by either him or Belinda. She also hints to ‘Wish World’ being the end of everything, the day of the 24th of May once again getting mentioned so clearly whatever is going to happen, she is involved.
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