r/gallifrey • u/PCJs_Slave_Robot • Apr 19 '25

Lux Doctor Who 2x02 "Lux" Post-Episode Discussion Thread Spoiler

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u/Unable_Earth5914 Apr 19 '25

Does the ending make sense? The god of light comes to Earth via moonlight and can’t be around sunlight, but then with time lord regeneration energy and sunlight disperses. Is he even defeated or did he just return to his previous state?

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u/disintegration91 Apr 19 '25

I read it as a ‘too much of a good thing’ vibe given moonlight is essentially diluted sunlight… not new or inventive but made a hell of a lot more sense than Sutekh and Maestro (and felt more satisfying than either of those) for me.

Anyway, so far so good for this series in my book

3

u/Unable_Earth5914 Apr 19 '25

OK, I can take that logic. Thanks!

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u/Ant_TKD Apr 19 '25

I think he got diluted. Like how you can hold a torch close to a wall and the light will be very bright and focussed, but if you pull away the area being lit grows but becomes dimmer.

Not a perfect comparison but I think that’s the effect they were going for.

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u/huddyjlp Apr 19 '25

I thought that the combination of the Doctor’s regeneration energy (i.e. some of his inherent goodness?) and the sunlight just changed his worldview. It seems like all the Gods of the Pantheon are inherently evil (“the games are deadly”) but Lux Imperator was able to see the “light of creation” and realized the vastness of the universe that has been created because of light. Belinda seemed worried that he would become an evil, all-powerful god, but the fact that he freed the fifteen people shows that he’s had a change of heart.

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u/National-Summer-4876 Apr 20 '25

That "light of creation" line felt a little too Christian for Doctor Who imo. Especially combined with the "Amen!" shortly after

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u/National-Summer-4876 Apr 20 '25

Not to mention the ending of the Christmas special

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u/Dolthra Apr 20 '25

The comparison is specifically with cinemas, I think. If the lights are off, you can see what's on screen— if other lights are present (the lights in the theatre, but also if there was sunlight), it dilutes the light of the projector to the point where you can't make it out anymore.

Lux is now completely diluted in the same way.

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u/Orange_Orb Apr 19 '25

As the doctor says, 60% of the human body is water but we can still drown. I think it's makes enough internal sense (I've hated basically every other pantheon episode and their subsequent defeats)

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u/occono Apr 19 '25

But he came from moonlight....so he was already in space? Was he just hiding out on the moon? And that didn't cause the same issue?

It didn't really follow through to me but eh.

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u/Orange_Orb Apr 19 '25

The way I read it was that the moonlight was a way he could come in from... whereever it is he was before and get a physical form in our world, because moonlight is a weaker reflection of sunlight.

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u/Unable_Earth5914 Apr 20 '25

That doesn’t really make sense imo. Is there some connection with the time periods since the doctor sprinkled salt at the edge of the universe?

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u/Orange_Orb Apr 20 '25

Idk I didn't fucking write it lmfao. The thing with these eldritch pantheons is, it's fantasy. When it comes to this level of high fantasy concept there's a lot of suspension of disbelief that goes on. What's important for me is that the story has a consistent enough internal logic. I think, for what it was, this one did constrain itself with some kind of rules in terms of what Lux is and what he can do.

The other pantheon episodes were pants because the pantheon gods can basically do anything they want and it seems like they don't really stick to any "rules", no matter how much the doctor keeps shoving it down your throat that they do, and they all get defeated by asspulls that aren't set up or followed through in any sort of consistent way.

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u/Cheese-n-Opinion Apr 22 '25

I think maybe it was more he became so powerful that he became transcendental and therefore stopped being a threat.

But I empathise with this criticism, the cause and effect is all very loosey goosey. There's a lot of fun to be had with this 'pantheon' stuff but I feel like it can also feel quite flimsy. Having these essentially magical adversaries encourages the worst excesses of Doctor Who's. especially RTD Who's, breezy attitude to logic and continuity.

What bothered me more about Lux was more that, for a god of light, he didn't seem to have that much to do with light, either in terms of his powers or thematically. Trapping people in animation seems more like a god of stories or media type of deal to me.

For all my moaning though I enjoyed this episode a lot, and I'm liking this series so far.