“Space Babies”
Logline
Ruby learns the Doctor’s amazing secrets when he takes her to a Baby Farm in the future that’s being run by babies, but threatened by a bogeyman.
Written by: Russell T. Davies
Directed by: Julie Anne Robinson
“The Devil’s Chord”
Logline
When the Doctor and Ruby meet The Beatles, they discover that the all-powerful Maestro is changing history.
Written by: Russell T. Davies
Directed by: Ben Chessell
This thead is a trial balloon to gauge whether there’s interest in having ongoing “Doctor Who” discussion threads, or perhaps a local community.
“The Devil’s Chord”
All right, it’s hard to make the case that this one was less silly than “Space Babies,” but I enjoyed this one more, largely on the strength of Jinkx Monsson’s delightfully unhinged performance as Maestro, and the fact that I love The Beatles (not that they get a lot to do).
This is one of those high-concept episodes built around an interesting premise (“the world would end if there was no music”) that DW often does really well. I think in this case, they could have done a little more to show the lives of the people in this music-free world, but it worked well enough.
Having Lennon/McCartney finish the Maestro off with the lost chord was blindingly obvious, and extremely perfect.
I’ve got to say, Chris Mason did an amazing job capturing John Lennon’s mannerisms while singing. I happened to watch “Let It Be” the other day, and the guy did his homework. Pour one out for George and Ringo, though - they really didn’t get anything to do.