First off, let’s talk about that theme song! Darker, with more bass, and filled with images of the galaxy, the new opening credits to Doctor Who might be the best yet! And that was just there to set up an incredible journey for the Doctor and her new “best friend” gang in the season’s second episode, “The Ghost Monument.”
The Doctor found her TARDIS, and that’s all that really matters. Finding themselves in a race to help save families, The Doctor, Graham, Ryan, and Yaz are thrust onto a desolate planet (literally known only as “Desolation”) and have to find a way to survive in order to get the Doctor to the TARDIS. The race is the Rally of the Twelve Galaxies, set forth by an alien named Ilin, in which the winner finds glory, while the loser is made to live out the rest of their days on that very planet with no food or water.
Final remaining racers Epzo and Angstrom find the Doctor and her friends lost in space and facing certain doom, rescuing them if only because they thought doing so was part of the race. Basically, it was an episode of the Doctor proving herself to her companions—typical trope the show goes through whenever the new Doctor has finally found who they are themselves—and the Doctor trying to get to her TARDIS.
“Come to daddy. I mean mummy. I mean, I really need you right now,” she says. When the Doctor doesn’t have the TARDIS, something just doesn’t feel right, and this episode was a bit of a return to familiarity. So for Jodie Whittaker’s thirteenth Doctor to finally walk through those front doors? It felt like the Doctor was finally complete.
“My beautiful ghost monument,” she says (thanks to the episode’s plot) and, for the first time this season, we get to hear the whir of the TARDIS as the Doctor finally gets to see her faithful companion.
Our beautiful Ghost Monument. #DoctorWho pic.twitter.com/eJJSR53KRX
— #DoctorWho on BBCA is Ready for Sundays at 8pm (@DoctorWho_BBCA) October 15, 2018
With a completely redone exterior and interior, this TARDIS is just like this Doctor herself: something we’ve never seen before. She has a new placard on the outside, a wonderful little foyer when you walk into the TARDIS, and most importantly, a little crystal TARDIS in the inside that spins around—oh, and also a biscuit maker.
The dynamic of the new series became a little more concrete this episode by showing how the best friend gang is going to function. Ryan and Graham are still trying to work on their relationship, Yaz is typically at the side of the Doctor and helping her in whatever way she can, and the four of them as a group are just a great example of what makes this show special.
Four unlikely people are traveling throughout time and space together, and we can’t wait to see where their journey takes us next!
(image: BBC)
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