# The Doctor Who 2023 episodes (spoilers from the start) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [November 24, 2023, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-doctor-who-2023-episodes-spoilers-from-the-start/993650 "2023-11-24T21:37:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2023, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-doctor-who-2023-episodes-spoilers-from-the-start/993650/41 "2023-12-25T23:33:16Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > On the other hand we have a new mystery character in Mrs Flood, who is confirmed in a recurring, developing role. Anita Dobson is the new Bernard Cribbin. Hmmmm. _Rivers_ flood. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2023, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-doctor-who-2023-episodes-spoilers-from-the-start/993650/42 "2023-12-26T02:59:12Z")
I was distracted by how much Ruby Sunday looked like Jordan Hinson. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2023, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-doctor-who-2023-episodes-spoilers-from-the-start/993650/43 "2023-12-26T17:39:30Z")
It was cute. I don’t know if anything about the new Doctor or his companion popped off the screen for me, but it was a fun enough episode. Not groundbreaking, not top level stuff, but passable. I just hope the new Doctor can find a way to shine. The musical moment with him was fun, the rest was just standard stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2023, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-doctor-who-2023-episodes-spoilers-from-the-start/993650/44 "2023-12-26T18:31:17Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > _Rivers_ flood. So does a **stream**. (dun dun duunnn) ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2023, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-doctor-who-2023-episodes-spoilers-from-the-start/993650/45 "2023-12-28T02:10:36Z")
Anyone know why the Doctor said “Tara”? Mother ?(foster, adopted, or other?) Brian ---
**Author:** ![JacobSwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2023, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-doctor-who-2023-episodes-spoilers-from-the-start/993650/46 "2023-12-28T11:50:52Z")
> [@N9IWP](#): > > Anyone know why the Doctor said “Tara”? Mother ?(foster, adopted, or other?) He said Ta-ra. It means goodbye and is mainly a northern/midlands saying with some usage in Wales. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2023, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-doctor-who-2023-episodes-spoilers-from-the-start/993650/47 "2023-12-28T20:46:00Z")
So with mavity and this episode, seems like we’re looking at a theme of history being changed having an effect on the present. I still think that’s a qualitative change for the show, but with this episode, this looks to be something deliberate. Perhaps there’s also an overarching theme of righting past wrongs, with Donna and Tennant’s Doctor both getting some manner of belated happy ending. I wonder if this isn’t going to be subverted at some point—the dangers if meddling with time, changing ‘fixed points’, breaking the laws of time and so on have been prominent themes in the past, which seems ill at ease with just popping back in time to save the TV presenter. So I wonder if there isn’t some sort of reckoning due… Perhaps in the end, the Doctor _is_ the bad luck. More likely, though, this is just storytelling pareidolia. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2023, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-doctor-who-2023-episodes-spoilers-from-the-start/993650/48 "2023-12-28T20:59:50Z")
I definitely feel there is something deeper going on with Ruby’s birth mother. Time traveller? Alien? (though presumably Ruby’s DNA is human) Brian ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2023, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-doctor-who-2023-episodes-spoilers-from-the-start/993650/49 "2023-12-28T21:11:48Z")
> [@N9IWP](#): > > I definitely feel there is something deeper going on with Ruby’s birth mother. Considering how thick that was laid, it’s hard not to think otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2023, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-doctor-who-2023-episodes-spoilers-from-the-start/993650/50 "2023-12-28T21:32:53Z")
Perhaps the obvious guess is that the woman delivering her to the church is Ruby herself, but I’m kinda hoping for something else. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2023, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-doctor-who-2023-episodes-spoilers-from-the-start/993650/51 "2023-12-28T23:29:47Z")
Just saw a “behind the scenes” thing on “The Church on Ruby Road” episode and RTD more or less said that who Ruby’s parents (mother and father) are will be an ongoing thing this season. In between monsters and time travel and lots of running, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2023, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-doctor-who-2023-episodes-spoilers-from-the-start/993650/52 "2023-12-29T10:23:29Z")
We also have the standard unexplained Big Bad Never Previously Mentioned Before But Which Will Suddenly Become Tremendously Important, mentioned by the Toymaker. It’s like all the Doctor’s nicknames that suddenly everyone in the universe knows except the Doctor - sometimes it’s just a little too kludgy to work smoothly. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-doctor-who-2023-episodes-spoilers-from-the-start/993650.md?page=2)