Boom
- Episode aired May 17, 2024
- 45m
Caught in the middle of a devastating war on Kastarion 3, the Doctor is trapped when he steps on a landmine. Can he save himself and Ruby, plus the entire planet - without moving?Caught in the middle of a devastating war on Kastarion 3, the Doctor is trapped when he steps on a landmine. Can he save himself and Ruby, plus the entire planet - without moving?Caught in the middle of a devastating war on Kastarion 3, the Doctor is trapped when he steps on a landmine. Can he save himself and Ruby, plus the entire planet - without moving?
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Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis episode marks Steven Moffat's return to Doctor Who after he left the role of show runner in 2017.
- Quotes
The Doctor: Mundy thinks that she's fighting the Kastarions, what do you think? You figured it out yet? I don't think Mundy's figured it out.
Mundy Flynn: Figured what out?
The Doctor: So this lot, Ruby, they came here, what, six months ago? They set up their defences and fired their warning shots into the air. "Watch out - we come in peace!" Yeah?
Mundy Flynn: We advertised our presence. It's standard procedure.
The Doctor: Did you hear that, Ruby? They advertised their presence. And do you know what that does? Ruby, that activates the Villengard algorithm. The acceptable casualty rate algorithm. Keeps you dying, keeps you buying. Huh? Do you get it? Huh? Do you get it? Do you get...? Do you get it? Do YOU get it? Do you get-get-get it? There's nobody else here. You declared war on an empty planet. There are no Kastarions in the mud, they're not in the fog. There are no Kastarions. Just the algorithm maintaining an acceptable casualty rate in the face of nothing at all. You are fighting your own hardware and it's killing you at just the right amount to keep you buying more. I mean, most armies would notice that they were fighting smoke and shadows, but not this lot, Ruby. You know why? Cos they have faith.
Mundy Flynn: Shut up!
The Doctor: Faith! The magic word that keeps you never having to think for yourself. Just surrender, Mundy. Just stop. And it's all over.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Doctor Who: Unleashed: Boom (2024)
It's a great episode. A nine and a half. I'm giving it a ten because so many people are trying to drag its ratings down because it has a non-white gay actor in the lead. And let's not pretend it's any other reason, because there is no world in which this isn't a stormer of an episode
Set on an alien planet in the middle of a war, the doctor finds himself standing on a land mine as all hell breaks loose around him. How will he save himself, how will he save the people around him, how will he keep his companion safe. That's what we're here to find out over the course of fifty minutes.
It feels like a bottle episode. There aren't many sets. It's all on a soundstage. There aren't many characters. And I'll be honest some of the effects are a bit shonky. But like so many other bottle episodes in Doctor Who, it's extraordinary. Questions of loss, faith, justification for war, exploitation by profiteers, the limits of AI, the ethics of expediency, lost love, found love, the importance of family. It's all here and it's so gripping.
It might not be for the youngest kids. I'd keep this one for maybe 12+c particularly if they're sensitive. It's a proper scary, intimidating, epic one. But for everyone else it's amazing. So far in this season we've had the full range of Who aeathetics - from silly, to operatic, from comedy to darkest wars. This show never stops blowing the bloody doors off what a sci fi show should be and going way way out there in every damn direction. Loved it. Amazing.
- tom-640
- May 17, 2024
Details
- Runtime45 minutes