May 24th, 2024
16 comments
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Doctor Who Season 1 Episode 4 73 Yards
Saturday 15/05/2024 on BBC iPlayer at 00:00 and 18:50 on BBC1
Landing on the Welsh coast, the Doctor and Ruby embark on the strangest journey of their lives. In a rain-lashed pub, the locals sit in fear of ancient legends coming to life.
The Season 1 Steelbook is available to order from www.amazon.co.uk, www.zavvi.com and www.rarewaves.com
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Cully’s Pal
May 31st, 2024 - 11:44amI decided to give this a go last night when it was repeated late on BBC2 – It’s a bad sign when I fall asleep 15 minutes into an episode can only remember falling asleep during Who once before. Woke up as it was going off !
The Moffat Paradox
May 30th, 2024 - 11:18amIt was okay but we expect BETTER THAN OKAY.
Is this about fan service or RTD personal woke service because the writing looks on the wall longer term if the latter except the pepetrators of this seem like oblivious royalty/aristocrats before the fall of the Bastille.
Cully’s Pal
May 28th, 2024 - 11:57amOh deary me a character in next weeks called Dr Pee. Might be perfectly innocent I suppose. Wonder if hes a urologist.
Didnt watch this one by the way after last weeks awful episode.
SDW
May 28th, 2024 - 5:18amA better episode, but still left more questions than it answered. And even though The Doctor was hardly on screen, he still managed to get a “honey” in… SMH.
Mr T
May 27th, 2024 - 9:16amThought this episode was great best so far
GuyTheZygon
May 27th, 2024 - 9:02amWell I know this goes in contrary to most opinions on here, but after a mediocre start and absolutely cringeworthy second episode, things definitely improved with Boom! (although the ‘standing on a landmine’ idea was hardly novel, having come straight from Genesis of the Daleks Pt1) and I personally found 73 Yards the scariest, most atmospheric one in many years, in that respect for me it was Dr. Who at its very best: unsettling, claustrophobic, the lack of answers actually heightening the unease… The only thing I didn’t see any need for was the omission of the title sequence at the start, a novel and entirely justifiable move in the ‘found footage’ Sleep No More, stroke of genius there actually – but here, no real reason for it I could see… btw did anyone find the pub sign uncannily reminiscent of The Cloven Hoof in The Daemons?
Pats86
May 26th, 2024 - 7:36pmWell after 4 episodes I can’t put any anywhere near 4/10.
Utter rubbish. Never thought Jodie Whitaker’s time as the Doctor would ever be worse than hers but here we have it.
We had high hopes for Gatawa and the return of RTD, how wrong we were.
Go back and reboot Capaldi’s regeneration and start again, and make sure Missy is some kind of imposter renegade time lord of some sort.
skaroman
May 26th, 2024 - 3:04pmSomeone’s take on X is that it’s a metaphor for being abandoned inexplicably. This is a common theme with Ruby/The Doctor being orphans who are abandoned and I thought it was done really well.
I thought the episode was a breath of fresh air and I think the only reason some fans are mad at it is because everything wasn’t explained in the end. I really enjoy having the mystery and alternate takes on something – if it was all explained then it would be confined to one corner. We need more things that provide multiple takes. Would Midnight be any better if we found out what the possessor was? (name, species, backstory). Would the mysterious woman’s identity in The End of Time honestly settle everything?
Give us more mystery! Stop explaining everything to a simplistic viewpoint! Some fans take this to such extremes that they forget a lot of the good things on offer in these episodes: Great cinematography, the best VFX we’ve had in years, smart and subtle character development.
“What’s the mystery of the fairy circle?” – Not important
“Why specifically 73 yards?” – Not important
“What does she say and why do they run away?” – Also not important.
These are such trivial things and I think we need to grow up past them.
Nb7
May 26th, 2024 - 1:51pmNot a great episode I don’t think. I enjoyed up until the scene in the pub when we realise they’re mocking ruby. That was when I twisted my face and raised an eyebrow. Found it pointless. The characters I don’t really care for or have any connection with. When rubys mum ran away I actually wasn’t that bothered by it. It was made watchable by the fact ncuti gatwa was hardly in it. When he was in it I found him unconvincing and annoying.
Acting from Millie Gibson wasn’t amazing, considering she had little to work with.
It needs cancelling and a reset for several years time. I haven’t seen any new Doctor Who for years, and this certainly wasn’t doctor who either. If it wasn’t called doctor who you wouldn’t have believed it was Doctor Who. It’s very much lost its identity and next weeks doesn’t look good either. Such a shame. One day doctor who will come back…
Andy R
May 26th, 2024 - 11:47amProblem being the head writer and writing almost all of the season is that there is no one to tell you – nice idea but makes no sense. Ruby lived her life with ‘the 73 yard woman’ always being there. She stops the prime minister from starting world war 3.. and then we re-set everything at the end. So ruby doesn’t stop wotld war 3 as the Doctor mentions it. Dr who keeps doing ‘bobby ewing from Dallas’ stories where everything was just a dream or an alternative timestream and it doesn’t work. If they want to do that, do a ‘what if’ season but don’t cheat the viewers with few answers and a poor twist ending. If i was a causal viewer i wouldn’t tune in again based on that.
Obi-Jiff Kenobi
May 26th, 2024 - 8:48amOh good grief. For me, this was one of the worst, most nonsensical stories ever – and I’ve seen Time And The Rani!
As Dalek Eye Stalk says, RTD had a great idea, but that’s all this was: an idea that didn’t go anywhere. If the writer and the showrunner weren’t the same person, this script would have been sent back for extensive re-writes.
Bicky
May 25th, 2024 - 10:25pmGreat episode- watched it twice to understand the story more
Dalek Eye Stalk
May 25th, 2024 - 9:31pmThat episode was a mess. The tone of it shifted all over the place. I mean, what on earth was ‘future’ Ruby saying to people to make them run away? Why did it have to be 73 yards? Why didn’t time reset back with the Doctor when Ruby achieved her mission to defeat Gwilliam, and what did ‘future’ Ruby say to him to make him run? “You’ve left the Gas on luv”?
A totally odd episode. With no pay off. RTD had a great idea, and didn’t know how to resolve it satisfactorily.
DDD
May 25th, 2024 - 7:23amAfter all of RTD’s pontificating about diversity and inclusion, etc etc why were all the men in the supporting cast in the future segments including Rubys future boyfriends tall dark and handsome?
76 Totter’s Lane
May 25th, 2024 - 2:29amThat was a brilliant episode! Siân Phillips wasn’t in it as much as I thought she’d be, though.
Tom Williams
May 25th, 2024 - 12:48amUnusual episode tonight and a surprise finally the most off a guest appearance enjoyed this episode the most so far now