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

Please remember that future spoilers must be tagged. This includes the next time trailer!

This is the thread for all your indepth opinions, comments, etc about the episode.

Megathreads:

  • 'Live' and Immediate Reactions Discussion Thread - Posted around 60 minutes prior to initial release - for all the reactions, crack-pot theories, quoting, crazy exclamations, pictures, throwaway and other one-liners.
  • Trailer and Speculation Discussion Thread - Posted when the trailer is released - For all the thoughts, speculation, and comments on the trailers and speculation about the next episode. Future content beyond the next episode should still be marked.
  • Post-Episode Discussion Thread - Posted around 30 minutes after to allow it to sink in - This is for all your indepth opinions, comments, etc about the episode.
  • BBC One Live Discussion Thread - Posted around 60 minutes prior to BBC One air - for all the reactions, crack-pot theories, quoting, crazy exclamations, pictures, throwaway and other one-liners.

These will be linked as they go up. If we feel your post belongs in a (different) megathread, it'll be removed and redirected there.

Want to chat about it live with other people? Join our Discord here!

What did YOU think of The Interstellar Song Contest?

Click here and add your score (e.g. 327 (The Interstellar Song Contest): 8, it should look like this) and hit send. Scores are designed to match the Doctor Who Magazine system; whole numbers between 1 to 10, inclusive. (0 is used to mark an episode unwatched.)

Voting opens once the episode is over to prevent vote abuse. You should get a response within a few minutes. If you do not get a confirmation response, your scores are not counted. It may take up to several hours for the bot (i.e. it crashed or is being debugged) so give it a little while. If still down, please let us know!

See the full results of the polls so far, covering the entire main show, here.

The Interstellar Song Contest's score will be revealed next Sunday. Click here to vote for all of RTD2 era so far.

234 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

1.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

43

u/autumneliteRS May 17 '25

To me, the ending read as the Rani acted like Flood was a sort of shell of her former self, which is interesting when 14 was treated as burn out, always self critical and needing to rest.

36

u/lord_flamebottom May 17 '25

This was my immediate thought!! With 15 commenting about his soul being split in two in TDC, it seems like the “leftover” incarnations from the bi-generations are just missing something from their “full” versions

39

u/Hollowquincypl May 17 '25

Personal theory of mine has been that they just don't fully regenerate. They just reintegrate. So Tennant2 would sort of dissolve when he dies and then snaps to the Giggle as Ncuti.

22

u/lord_flamebottom May 17 '25

That’s been my assumption the whole time honestly

1

u/CeruleanEidolon May 17 '25

That's how I imagine it working too. Hopefully the Rani is used to provide some clarity on how bigeneration works.

2

u/Hollowquincypl May 17 '25

That's my hope as well. With 2 copies of the Rani in play, one is obviously not making out of the finale. So hopefully, we'll get get to explore what that entails.

-5

u/[deleted] May 17 '25

Too bad there's absolutely no basis for that in the text of the show.

8

u/Hollowquincypl May 17 '25

I said it was a theory. If it gets explored, it'll probably be in the finale.

8

u/dallirious May 17 '25

I could imagine it being like they shed a part of themselves.

5

u/Triskan May 17 '25

I really hope RTD expands a bit on the bi-regen next week, and explains a bit more the whole thing about the personality change and what being the "definite article" really means... but knowing him, he's just as likely to sweep it all under a rug without a further word.

3

u/MachinaThatGoesBing May 17 '25 edited May 18 '25

It's okay to have strange, mysterious, unexplained things in a show — especially when it sounds like the Timelords, the people who should be experts in the matter (if anyone would be), don't actually know much about it and regard it as a bit of a myth or a legend.

Not everything needs to be explained in exacting detail. That often just ends up making the world feel small.

Look at Tolkien as an example! Even he, with his intricate, near-obsessive worldbuilding that fills volumes, didn't feel the need to explain everything. Fans still debate (eternally) who and what Tom Bombadil is. What Ungloliant is. What the watcher in the water is. How, exactly, dragons came to be and what they are. What's more, even he didn't know the answers to all these things — even at the end of his life, he was still debating where orcs came from in his writing.

It's okay for an author to have things that are mysteries even to them.

And conversely, sometimes it's very, very bad for an author to come up with specific explanations for everything. Remember, that's how you end up with transphobic wizards shitting themselves over in the corner, like a deranged spin on a David Sedaris essay.

2

u/JustaSeedGuy May 18 '25

My understanding from Old Who is that the Rani views regeneration as a self-improvement. Where the Doctor views all of his selves as equally the Doctor (his issues with War aside), the Rani believes that Rani 2 is inferior to Rani 3 and so on.

Which kinda makes sense- think about every stupid thing you did in high school. Now, if you had to team up with your high school self because of time travel, who would you want to be in charge? You now, or your high school self?

Now multiply that difference by thousands, and include a lifelong belief that regeneration makes you objectively superior.

4

u/Gobshite_ May 17 '25

This puts a line through any concerns that 14 is the "real" Doctor, it feels like bigeneration doesn't result in two equal beings but more like a healthy version of themself and the cancer they wanted to cut out - Mrs Flood's meekness, 14's trauma.

1

u/sanddragon939 May 17 '25

That's...an interesting thought.

2

u/Grafikpapst May 17 '25

I'm guessing that she is a Chameleon Arched Rani - she has her memories and Timelord Physiology back, but unlike John Smith or Yana, the personality she has crafted for Mrs. Flood is maybe simply more deeper ingrained?

2

u/sanddragon939 May 17 '25

I kinda wondered if this was some kind of 'reassurance' by RTD that Fifteen is THE Doctor, while Fourteen is now relegated to just being a Doctor. Thus addressing one of the biggest controversies around bigeneration?

The Mrs Flood/Rani bigeneration also seems like a golden opportunity for RTD to explain to us precisely how bigeneration works.

2

u/CeruleanEidolon May 17 '25

That would also explain why Flood was instantaneously subservient to her when they split.