This week’s episode of Doctor Who has to be one of the biggest episodes of the season. So far, each episode has been the Doctor and his companion trying to pinpoint exactly where Earth has gone and why they can’t get back to it. But in this episode, so much is revealed that it shakes the Doctor Who community. Not only that, but we also get two big guest stars, one from the doctors who passed in one, who likes to talk to celebrities. This episode, titled “The Interstellar Song Contest”, also sees the return of an old enemy from the Doctor’s past and visions of a family long gone.
In This Week’s Adventure of Doctor Who
The Doctor and Belinda land in 2925 at the Harmony Arena in Doctor Who Episode 6, where the Interstellar Song Contest is being held, hosted by Rylan Clark, who co-hosted the ‘Eurovision Song Contest’ in 2023. Both the Doctor and Belinda decide to stick around to watch the show, unaware that the mysterious Mrs. Flood is in the audience watching them from the VIP seats. As the transmission starts, it’s taken over by Wynn Aura-Kin and Kid, a couple of Hellions who are out for revenge.
They replace the regular transmission with a pre-recorded one in order to sabotage the air dome. By doing this, the audience, along with the Doctor and the TARDIS, are sucked into space. Meanwhile, Belinda is saved due to her being inside one of the audience seat boxes along with a few people who were stuck in the hallway, not able to get into the dome. The Doctor, while in space, starts having visions of not only his first companion in the Whoniverse, but someone very important to who he is as a Timelord, his granddaughter, Susan Foreman, telling him not to give up.
The Doctor wakes up and uses a confetti gun to make his way back into the Arena, where he is helped by Mike Gabbastone and his husband, Gary. After being helped by the couple, the Doctor tries to hack into the arena’s system to see what the big plan is. A line of communication is opened between The Doctor and the two Hellion terrorists, where we find out they seek revenge against the Corporation, which sets up the contest for exploiting their planet.
They plan on using a Delta Wave to kill all the viewers of the big show. Of course, the Doctor does not like this and decides to stop Kid and Wynn. With the help of Gary, the Doctor fools Kid with a hologram, but things go too far when the Doctor tortures Kid.
Has he does so, he starts seeing visions of Susan, shocking him over and over. It’s not until Belinda shows up that he returns to his senses. Cora is also revealed to be a Hellion and is shunned by both Kid and Wynn for turning her back on her people. With the help of Mike and Gary, the Doctor is able to return everyone who has been orbiting the station back into the arena and revive them.
The Doctor’s TARDIS is also recovered so that the Doctor and Belinda can continue on their way, but not before learning from a hologram, in the form of talk show host Graham Norton, tells them that the Earth was destroyed on May 24th, 2025, which is the day that Belinda left Earth. They both travel to that date but are greeted with a huge explosion that opens the TARDIS doors. The last person to be saved by Mike and Gary is Mrs. Flood, who is really a Timelord in disguise by the name of the Rani. The Rani is forced to go through a bi-generation that splits her into two.
All Things Revealed
This Doctor Who Episode 6 lets us see who Miss Flood really is, but it also shows that the Doctor is still haunted by his past. We finally get to see the doctor slip a little bit as he tortures the kid and sodas Belinda. By singing this, she also sees a bit of a darkness in him that we are as Doctor Who fans, have already seen. And it goes to show that the doctor will always have this huge shadow in his past.
It was nice to see Carole Ann Ford return as Susan Foreman, the Doctor’s granddaughter, on the screen rather than just an audio drama, but it does beg the question: What does Susan have to do with what’s coming? Where does the Rani fit into this equation? Also, what has the Rani been up to since the end of the Time War? There are only two episodes left in the season, so hopefully all answers will be revealed.
Seeing into the Future
I hope for these last two episodes that the Doctor and Belinda team up with Ruby and the rest of UNIT to save the Earth and put it back exactly where they found it. Of course, since they’re being another time lord is in play, the Doctor and the Rani are going to have to have words. I also hope that the doctor will find some kind of way to find his granddaughter, Susan, and that they both reconcile.
If you’ve ever listened to the Big Finish audio dramas, one of the Doctors in Carnations actually meets up with his granddaughter, coming to find out that she has a son. I highly recommend listening to it. The big question on everyone’s mind is this: Will The Doctor survive the Rani and her terror in Doctor Who?
