TV Review by Chlo Hickson
Well… This was a solid start to the season! After a full season of good vibes with little conflict between the Doctor and his companion, ‘The Robot Revolution’ is a fun and inventive bit of Sci-fi that has biting social commentary, led by a great re-introduction to Varada Sethu to the Whoniverse.
I loved that it wasn’t afraid to go into convoluted sci-fi scenarios. The time fracture, the timelines overlapping and going “schwupped”, even the final reveal. Also, the potential of season 2’s story arc which was an absolutely brilliant way to end the episode. I think Russell T Davies should do more time shenanigans episodes, as if I’m going to compare the writers it is more of a Steven Moffat thing to do.
I did think the plot was rushed a little bit but if you’ve watched Doctor Who Unleashed it says that this episode was filmed when ‘The Star Beast’ aired on TV so people’s criticism of pacing won’t have changed much from season 1. So, for the people that are complaining about pacing issues since the beginning I think we won’t see any changes until season 3, if we get it, which I personally hope so!
There isn’t a lot to say for the Doctor in this episode, regardless of that, I think Ncuti’s Doctor was brilliant in this adventure, the writing has taken him in a little bit of a different direction than what we saw in season1 and I think this is the direction they needed to take him in.
It’s a shame that the Doctor started crying after just 15 minutes and seemed to only care about one person that died. The thing about Sasha 55 is as soon as she said ‘show me the stars’, I thought well she’s dead, why is this funny? Because it took the length of me thinking that sentence for it to happen. I think we needed more time with her to make it more impactful, just mentioning that the Doctor spent 6 months with her isn’t enough as we were told this information not shown it! We had a similar problem in season 1 where they would tell us rather than show us. I also don’t think they should’ve had her planning to travel with the Doctor. We all know if you’re not the companion, then wanting to travel with the Doctor is practically a death sentence for the episode.
A highlight of the episode for me was when Belinda challenged the Doctor in the TARDIS. I’ll be talking about this again when I come to Belinda, but she corrected him so hard, which was honestly more than warranted because she said no like twice before that and he wasn’t listening to her. This was when 15 realised he was being manipulative and using his charm to get her to do what he wants. It reminded me of when Rose got mad at the Doctor because she found out that the TARDIS was making changes to her brain, without her permission. Or when the Doctor scans his companions without telling them, which has happened multiple times. I think it makes the companions more realistic.
I did think the Doctor already calling her Bel felt off. I don’t know if it’s just me, but it would’ve felt more natural for the Doctor to call her Bel when they’ve been traveling together for longer.
I thought this plot works pretty well for a companion introduction. RTD described it as being almost uniquely not being about the Doctor as he takes a backseat. I wish we got to see more of Belinda in her nursing job like we did with Martha. Having the episode literally kick off before the titles meant we kind of met her mid-story, but that’s the problem with only having 8 episodes.
Ignoring that though, I love Belinda. She feels like a breath of fresh air, someone who won’t just fall in love with the Doctor and his adventures. I like her chemistry with 15 and she’s got great humour too. What’s not to like?
It feels like we know her from just one episode in, like what her morals are, what her priorities are, what she really wants to do, and what she’s passionate about. I’m honestly so excited to go on this adventure with her and find out what happens with her. She’s shown to be a very confident companion and isn’t worried about pleasing the Doctor.
This episode really shut down some of my concerns I had about the companion role, I wanted a dynamic more than just two people having fun. A companion correcting the 15th Doctor is instantly giving him more depth. If anything I feel Ruby just enabled him and let him be cocky but we needed someone with Martha/Donna energy that won’t hesitate to talk back and I’m glad that Varada Sethu’s Belinda Chandra is exactly that.
I also love her no BS approach towards the Doctor – ‘Timey-Wimey’ ‘Am I six?’ – I hope this carries on beyond this episode.
It’s a really solid start for her character.
As usual though, it seems we have a mystery with the companion, if I’m honest I would prefer it if she was just ordinary but what can you do? With this obviously comes questions.
How did Belinda know it was called a TARDIS? Hint to something or a deleted scene? Also, who told the Doctor about Belinda? When the Doctor was sent through Belinda’s life, why was he holding Belinda as a baby?
Now let’s talk about Alan as unfortunately there are really people like him in the world for all genders and it’s a very scary reality for many people. Its so vital to highlight that there are people out there who are so forceful in their relationships and to their friends. Alan came off as a total dick from the start, but the episode moved on quickly and I really wanted it too because he honestly just offended me so much.
He’s truly a creep by nature, we saw how horrible he was towards Belinda, thus his undoing was so satisfying to watch.
I found it fascinating that the AI Generator uses every 9th word to talk to Belinda even after the reveal that it’s Alan. Some that I caught were ‘Beg you’ because he wants them to stop his pain, and then I caught him saying ‘Belinda mine forever’ which would make sense because he’s a creep. This just goes to show his mind set was still fixated on controlling Belinda, even after all those years apart. I think this is really cool! More writing like this please RTD.
This might be a hot take but I think when dealing with big political topics, like AI and his toxic behaviour, I don’t think it should be judged on subtlety but instead on how well it’s baked into the plot. People like Alan are fundamentally self distractive and they can’t see it. There is subtlety here, how he’s crying for help where the machine can’t comprehend so it believes everything is fine. How he gave his voice to the machine but it can’t scream. How it only mimics and amplifies his worst tendencies. It’s not AI and toxic masculinity bad; it’s AI and masculinity bad because…
To be honest I’m ok with it not being subtle and careful, sometimes you need to bring out the bullhorn. And let’s face it, Davies was never completely subtle, but he’s always touched on some very real issues.
I have got to say though, “cleaning up” the unborn Alan in retrospect was actually terrifying, if we compare this to Margret in ‘Boom Town’ she gets a second chance as an egg but Alan doesn’t. And this is treated like a fun scene and not a murder – I mean sure it’s justified – but still, I thought this was out of character for the Doctor seen as he always tries to save everyone and even tried saving a planet of racists!
Even though I laughed when I first watched it, on a re-watch the ‘oops!’ moment where the Doctor knocks out the power of the hospital was honestly concerning. If you think about it if something like this really happened it’d be terrifying, I mean yeah they do have backup generators but yikes. But that’s enough of the negatives I have for the episode.
For me ‘The Robot Revolution’ is giving vibes of RTD1 opener energy. It’s fun, fast paced, good humour, solid Doctor and companion interactions and it seems like Belinda is a mix of Rose, Martha and Donna where she brought out a different side to the Doctor. It was a clever script from Davies, funny yet serious and felt up to date. I really enjoyed the darker more serious moments, but did the cat seriously need to get killed? It honestly caught me off guard and took me out of it for a bit. It has high production quality – you could definitely see the Disney money this time. Varada Sethu is amazing, I know we’re only one episode in put I think it was perfect casting.
I’m very happy that it’s a much better season opener than ‘Space Babies’. I absolutely can’t wait for the rest of the series!
🌟 🌟 🌟🌟 1/2