I liked this one a lot, even if it had its issues. Sure, it was a big step toward fantasy — but I think the expanded definition of “technology” made it work in a Who setting. The goblin song was fun, but RTD shouldn’t quit his day job to write more song lyrics (ugh, I feel a “Twist at the end” coming up).
Ncuti Gatwa is amazing as the Doctor, simply a natural ball of charm and sass. Millie Gibson is great, too and I think Ruby had a passable introduction here by way of her “three queens up in the sky” family. I totally fell for the generational dynamic with Ruby, Cherry and Carla, and wanted to get to know them better. The following season was a bit of a letdown in that department.
For a soft reboot/entry level for new viewers I think “Church on Ruby Road” was successful. It dropped hints to the Doctor’s history while also paving the way for new subjects and genre mashups. The “genre flip” into fantasy really isn’t as dramatic as RTD announced it to be; Doctor Who was always balancing all speculative genres. I just hope there is a good payoff to the Mrs Flood setup.
I do wish we had had a few more minutes to the episode so the tenderer character moments could land. It all felt a bit frantic, rushing from beat to beat. That too became a bit of a recurring issue as season 1 aired, but let that lie for another retrospective…
They’re fun lyrics, it’s a novelty song! The whole “Baby we eat, eat with our teeth” piece is hilarious, and like you say, the Doctor and Ruby joining in was unexpectedly well done. I enjoyed that the main singer, apparently, is called “Janis Goblin”. So deliciously dumb 😄
I liked this one a lot, even if it had its issues. Sure, it was a big step toward fantasy — but I think the expanded definition of “technology” made it work in a Who setting. The goblin song was fun, but RTD shouldn’t quit his day job to write more song lyrics (ugh, I feel a “Twist at the end” coming up).
Ncuti Gatwa is amazing as the Doctor, simply a natural ball of charm and sass. Millie Gibson is great, too and I think Ruby had a passable introduction here by way of her “three queens up in the sky” family. I totally fell for the generational dynamic with Ruby, Cherry and Carla, and wanted to get to know them better. The following season was a bit of a letdown in that department.
For a soft reboot/entry level for new viewers I think “Church on Ruby Road” was successful. It dropped hints to the Doctor’s history while also paving the way for new subjects and genre mashups. The “genre flip” into fantasy really isn’t as dramatic as RTD announced it to be; Doctor Who was always balancing all speculative genres. I just hope there is a good payoff to the Mrs Flood setup.
I do wish we had had a few more minutes to the episode so the tenderer character moments could land. It all felt a bit frantic, rushing from beat to beat. That too became a bit of a recurring issue as season 1 aired, but let that lie for another retrospective…
For some reason, I’ve been mentally giving all the credit/blame to Murray Gold, but of course RTD would have done the lyrics.
There is one bit that lives rent-free in my head - it works surprisingly well as long as you remember that poor Ruby is improvising:
They’re fun lyrics, it’s a novelty song! The whole “Baby we eat, eat with our teeth” piece is hilarious, and like you say, the Doctor and Ruby joining in was unexpectedly well done. I enjoyed that the main singer, apparently, is called “Janis Goblin”. So deliciously dumb 😄