DOCTOR WHO | S14 Ep.8 "Empire of Death" | REACTION

A classic era rewatch would be rewarding, because one of you is now in OUR position and the other isn't. The urge to spoil is overwhelming!

The spoon thing vs the rope - He needed something 'real' to give the tv from the time window... A repair? A power boost? Wasn't clear to me, but since everything in the remembered TARDIS was a memory rather than real, he wasn't able to use things from there for it.

Tales Of The TARDIS supposedly exists because of this episode. RTD felt late on that there wasn't enough to celebrate the 60th & so they quickly came up with an idea to use this set again 👏

Very interesting that at the readthrough during Ruby & Louise's reunion there were flakes of snow in the coffee shop that didn't appear in the episode ❄️ - Source: "Ruby's Reunion: From Script To Screen | Behind The Scenes | Empire Of Death | Doctor Who" on the official YouTube channel

There were a couple of moments early on when Ruby stood up to the Doctor (when she rebelled against him telling her to go back with the space babies and leave him alone, and in Boom when she refused to throw the icky flesh-stick thingy to him), but you're right - we didn't see that side of her again after that.

In Doctor Who the ordinary person is the most important person in the universe. All of us are ordinary and special at the same time and changing the universe and making it better for everyone around us. Ruby's mum is really important because she gave birth to her and now she's part of her family. Love this Thank you Marie-Clare and your boyfriend for doing this for us. Been with you since last year

For some reason, I had a lot to say about this video! You're under no obligation to read this all, but whether you do or not, it's nice to get all my thoughts out. - The Memory TARDIS was indeed reused in Tales of the TARDIS. Which, due to wibbly wobbly timey wimey, came out before the episode the set was originally built for! RTD basically realised they weren't doing a ton of stuff for the 60th anniversary that was celebrating the older aspects of the show, and figured "hey, we've got this amazing set, let's see if we can use it". Which they did! - There's not a ton of fan art from this episode, but there's a LOT of memes with Sutekh clinging on to the TARDIS. They're all hilarious. - Sutekh wasn't afraid of Ruby's mum, he was just curious. He's travelled on the TARDIS for hundreds of years, he's destroyed the universe, and this is literally the only question he doesn't know the answer to. So, like any fan of Big Finish, he won't rest until he's found out the answer to this unexplained thing, no matter how long it takes. - The spoon is about getting something REAL, rather than something created by the Memory TARDIS. If any old memory would have sufficed, he could have just pulled out McCoy's old spoons and played a little ditty with them, but he needed actual real metal (something Ncuti said in a clearly ADR'd line to try and explain it). - Speaking of McCoy, he'd have killed Sutekh without even blinking an eye. Most classic Doctors would, frankly (heck, even Eccleston would). It's only the modern ones that act like they're not killers, and it's a stance that I can understand, even if I don't like it. You're a Doctor - sometimes the only cure is to amputate. - Ruby IS in the next series (that's been confirmed), but I suspect it's only sporadically. - My theory with Mrs Flood is that she's the God of Stories. And she REALLY likes The Doctor's story - who wouldn't? We do! - Again with the pacing - if the Doctor screaming into the void had been the end of last episode, and then this episode had started with the Doctor searching what remains of the universe for some metal, I think that would have been much, much stronger. - This episode gets a 7/10 from me, and it's one of my least favourite of the season along with Space Babies. Every other episode is at least an 8 because they have solid ideas, even if I'm not entirely sold on the execution. - Ncuti is amazing, but my only real criticism of him is how often he cries. Not the fact that he cries at all - that's fine - but he seems to do so at everything, and it loses its impact as a result. It's nice to see a male actor be so in touch with his feelings, but from a narrative point of view... - Millie Gibson was fantastic, but her character fell a little flat because she was so buddy-buddy with the Doctor. The only time she really argued with him is in Boom, with her ignoring him and handing him the tube. As you say, we needed more of that sort of thing. - I have many issues with the companions during the 13th Doctor's era, the main one is that, because there's three of them, there's often very little for all of them to do, and the one who does the least is poor old Ryan... despite Tosin Cole's best efforts. The idea of giving the Doctor a "Fam" is a nice idea, but it's tough to actually write for in 45 minute episodes, and Chris Chibnell really didn't manage it. I'd say it's his biggest problem with his run on the show. - I'd be amazed if there's no return of Susan. All that teasing for nothing would leave us with really big blue balls. - There's Classic Who, Nu Who and now Disney Who. I hate using that term, but it's the most accurate! - 7.5/10 for the season is entirely fair. It's what I'd give it, frankly. - The Vashta Nerada has returned a couple of times on spin-off media. There's been 3 audio adventures with them (including one with Eccleston!) and one episode of the Adventure Games featured them. I kind of like them being a one-off TV villain, to be honest - they're kinda limited in what they can do. - With 13 and Yaz, I think they only realised the chemistry between the two actors towards the end of Series 12, by which point there wasn't much of a chance to write it into the show. Real missed opportunity, as you say. - When you said Adam's name, I thought you were talking about the failed companion from Eccleston's run. But no! This Adam is WAY better. He's great once he gets going! Would love to see a ramble about Doctor Who from you two. And more info about your bedroom job, please! :p - Can't wait to see your reaction to Pyramids of Mars!

You two are great together ❤

I have heard the suggestion that instead of the Sutekh reveal being the end of the previous episode have the end of Legend of Ruby Sunday being the Doctor screaming into dying universe. Then Empire of Death starting with The Doctor seeing the woman, the spoon scene. That way get more of an idea of the time passing from the Doctor screaming and the spoon scene.

I would definitely be up for you and Adam watching Classic Who together, though I appreciate it could be a logistical challenge! As for this episode, the visuals were great, and the apocalyptic scenes in the early part of the episode conveyed Sutekh’s power effectively. Ncuti gave his best performance so far, and the farewell scene with Ruby at the end was quite touching, even if it didn’t feel fully earned given the relative lack of time they have spent together (incidentally, I agree that Ruby has been too bland and generic to count as one of the great companions, though she is good in this story). Mrs Flood also continues to intrigue - it hasn’t occurred to me when watching, but others have astutely pointed out that she is wearing clothes previously sported by companions, the white cloak being a notable example. On the negative side, it was clear from early on that RTD had raised the stakes so high that he had boxed himself in and would have to hit the big Moffaty reset button - consequently, the deaths of the UNIT gang left me cold, as I was already 99.9% certain that they would be brought to life again. Sutekh was defeated too easily, given how effectively his power and threat had previously been conveyed, and RTD’s attempts at whimsy with the whistle, the leash and the spoon felt overly contrived and annoying. The big Ruby’s mum reveal was also underwhelming, if not entirely surprising given we were told in Space Babies that Ruby was completely human. However, I don’t buy that Sutekh would have been so interested in Louise just because he couldn’t see her face, and I agree with MC's observation about the cloak -why would a teenager in 2004 be wearing such a thing? Was she a fan of the Scottish Widows ads? I also find it hard to believe that Sutekh could have clung to the TARDIS for so many years without being noticed, or that some of the situations the TARDIS has found itself in wouldn’t have tested his ability to hold on, but we’ll just have to let that go, I guess...

40:45 - ROFL! That's a good solid relationship there: When the bloke knows his place in the scheme of things, and he's sanguine with it. =:o]

A lot of people are upset. On first viewing it has a lot going on to like and you can ignore the holes in it that you could drive a moped through. I don't much care for the idea that Sutekh has just been hanging around on the off-chance for millennia or that he could be taken out this easily. And he probably hasn't been. But the biggest flaw remains the intrigue around Ruby's mother. Having said all that, this is the first half of a two-part series and another mystery remains: Anita Dobson's cosplay.

The companion is the audience surrogate and it is best to have a companion during regeneration and dealing with a different Doctor

Always enjoy your reactions!

RTD released a little video after the release of Empire of Death, explaining that there was more to come regarding the nystery of Ruby and her family. We don't really have an explanation for the snow that kept following Ruby. I think the Doctor was just guessing that the spooky hooded figure (who may or may not be Ruby's mother) was standing in the street pointing. The idea that she was pointing at the street sign doesn't even really make sense.

I am not a Catherine Tate fan but love Donna and she is definitely my favourite companion

Just wanna say, I'm championing the term "Wolf Who" to refer to the new era. The creative direction is really much more driven by Bad Wolf than it is by Disney.

I might have missed it Marie-Claire, but what was your reaction to Pertwee's Burgers!? 🍔

I thought it was an interesting episode Marie Claire. I was born in 1971 so I grew up on Tom Baker and Peter Davison those clips with Tom and Sarah were nice I never thought they would bring suthek back. Hopefully they bring back the kyrnoid or the axos back.

I'm one of the ones who felt underwhelmed by this episode. It felt like a LOT of build-up to Sutekh and not enough pay-off... though I put that largely down to the pacing, which has felt way too rushed this entire season. An extra 5 minutes per episode to let scenes breathe would have done the world of good. Or, hell, maybe a couple more episodes like Rogue that are fun without being super big EVENT episodes. If even the next series helps flesh things out further, it won't undo the issues this one has. One note: the intelligent rope (aka: Sutekh's lead) is the rope from the Goblin Ship. The episode did a bad job of establishing that, but knowing WHAT the rope is explains why Sutekh didn't just tear it off or whatever.