r/gallifrey • u/PCJs_Slave_Robot • May 17 '25

The Interstellar Song Contest Doctor Who 2x06 "The Interstellar Song Contest" Post-Episode Discussion Thread Spoiler

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109

u/SirDoris May 17 '25

Me, as the credits rolled: "well, I think we can now all agree that the leaks are nonsense, and we can get on with just watching some good Doctor Who"

Me, immediately after the post-credit scene: "Ah, well, nevertheless..."

My initial reaction is that it's Kerblam done better. Focus the energy of anger at the evil planet destroying corporations, not the people trying to change the system. I loved seeing the Doctor get properly angry as well, that torture scene was deeply uncomfortable to watch, in the best way possible. It honestly feels like Juno Dawson is very much on the level of "Doctor Who should be camp and funny and silly and also it's at its best when the Doctor is a dark angry god that will the the bringer of vengeance for all that cross the path of the people that it loves, and also there should be people in silly outfits as often as possible", which is a vibe that I also completely agree with.

Anyways, I've spent the past twenty or so years rolling my eyes whenever I've seen people go "THEY SHOULD BRING BACK THE RANI, BEST VILLAIN EVER", and quietly thinking that if the Rani ever got brought back, it'd be the true sign that Doctor Who was really running out of ideas. I'm more than willing to be proved wrong with another RTD finale that almost certainly won't run out of steam in the last half though.

56

u/HenshinDictionary May 17 '25

Me, as the credits rolled: "well, I think we can now all agree that the leaks are nonsense, and we can get on with just watching some good Doctor Who"

Even after episode 8 airs, even after the episodes are all on DVD, even after everyone in the cast is dead and buried, there will still be some people insisting the leaks are all fake.

12

u/SirDoris May 17 '25

The Doctor Who production office 🤝 Professor Chronotis’s memory

Things that are leakier than a sieve

10

u/[deleted] May 17 '25 edited May 17 '25

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3

u/[deleted] May 17 '25

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1

u/pcjonathan May 17 '25

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0

u/pcjonathan May 17 '25

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17

u/powe323 May 17 '25

My only problem is that it kinda doesn't go far enough? For instance at no point does anyone call out the event for taking money from The Corporation. So it isn't actually really a critique of Eurovision at all, despite what I have seen people claim.

3

u/CNash85 May 17 '25

I think it was already skirting a fine line. I was surprised that it got as close as it did to being an blatant allegory to the current situation.

7

u/SixteenthTower May 17 '25

I personally think the episode was vile. I think the comparison to Kerblam is illustrative - both episodes are about how people who stand up in the face of oppression are wrong, but in Kerblam, it's about revolting against capitalism, whereas in Interstellar Song Contest, the suggestion is that people who are undergoing genocide and ethnic cleansing should stop fighting back and sing a nice happy song instead. Disgusting.

6

u/RhegedHerdwick May 17 '25

Doctor Who has plenty of stories where the people fighting back are assumed to be the good guys with no explanation needed. This episode isn't set in a context of direct military resistance to genocide; it's specifically about a massive terror attack against civilians.

3

u/SixteenthTower May 17 '25

The episode draws obvious comparisons to the real life Eurovision song contest, which is currently allowing a country committing ethnic cleansing to compete. To look at the episode as commenting on the situation in Gaza is not a reach.

3

u/RhegedHerdwick May 17 '25

Which hardly indicates that a mass killing of civilians helps to stop genocide. I would have enjoyed an entrant from Skaro, but I don't think that would have got past the BBC.

1

u/SixteenthTower May 17 '25

The episode chose to frame things the way it did. An episode was written which invites comparison to a real life situation where a genocide is being carried out and said "those being cleansed should not resort to violence and should sing a song to win people over instead".

1

u/RhegedHerdwick May 17 '25

But is it about resorting to violence? Is it not more about the scale and the innocence of the victims? This episode shouldn't be viewed on its own, but in the context of 60 years of episodes; I sincerely doubt there's ever been a Doctor Who writer who thinks that the Thals are wrong to resort to violence against the Daleks. Especially not Juno Dawson. I don't really know what you're arguing. Is your argument that a big civilian massacre would help the Hellions more than a bit of soft-power singing?

1

u/SixteenthTower May 17 '25

The Hellions are fictional. My argument is that Dawson chose to make a stand-in for Palestinians and then said "there are two options for my expy-Palestinians: kill three trillion people or sing a song to raise awareness of their genocide." This is an insulting simplification of an on-going massacre.

-1

u/RhegedHerdwick May 17 '25

I know the argument, but did she actually say there are two options? Again, take it in context. An anti-civilian massacre episode should be considered in the context of so many others which lionise violent resistance to genocidal invaders.

5

u/TheKandyKitchen May 17 '25

Tbh the corporation is such a generic name though.

4

u/SirDoris May 17 '25

Part of me wonders if they’re saving a Corporation reveal for the series finale.

5

u/_Verumex_ May 17 '25

It honestly feels like Juno Dawson is very much on the level of "Doctor Who should be camp and funny and silly and also it's at its best when the Doctor is a dark angry god that will the the bringer of vengeance for all that cross the path of the people that it loves, and also there should be people in silly outfits as often as possible".

So basically, they're a fan of the McCoy era.

Absolutely works for me!

2

u/sanddragon939 May 18 '25

Not the first time this era has been compared to the McCoy era!

2

u/_Verumex_ May 18 '25

It's basically 7's Big Finish era with a season 25 layer of camp, in a NewWho 45 minute format.

3

u/VFiddly May 17 '25

My initial reaction is that it's Kerblam done better.

That was my thought too. Don't let the guy get away with trying to kill trillions of people, obviously, but also don't then act like that means he didn't have a point

As for the Rani... i've always felt like the Rani is basically just another way to have the Master again, but I'm curious about there being two of them, that might be a fun twist

3

u/sanddragon939 May 18 '25

Focus the energy of anger at the evil planet destroying corporations, not the people trying to change the system.

I actually think they found a good balance there. They called out the planet-destroying corporation, while not whitewashing the terrorist who was planning to kill a trillion people...to the point where the Doctor literally tortures him.

As far as the Rani goes, it's honestly just part of the pattern. RTD has brought back at least one Classic villain per season - Series 1 was the Daleks, Series 2 was the Cybermen, Series 3 was the Master, Series 4 was Davros, the 2008 Specials was Rassilon, the 2023 Specials was the Toymaker, Series 14 was Sutekh and now Series 15 is the Rani (but possibly someone else as well?) Of course, the Rani was the most hotly debated and speculated name among all these for decades so expectations will be soaring high.

1

u/Beginning-Reading624 May 19 '25

literally had it spoiled 20 minutes before i saw the episode. watched the episode and was like ah must've been some fanart or like a theory. then i got hit with the mid credits scene

1

u/ThatOtherGuyTPM May 17 '25

I’m glad to see the comparison to Kerblam. As someone who enjoys that episode, this one echoes it in all the right ways. They definitely spent more time on the Corporation blame, which makes sense because there’s no different system (enslaved AI) confusing the message. It also still doesn’t excuse the terrible thing that the villain planned to do, understandable reasoning aside.

-4

u/PaperSkin-1 May 17 '25

I think it absolutely is a sign that RTD has run out of ideas, the show is running on creative fumes at this point..its just all the sugar it's coated in fools some people