Doctor Who (2023) 2-08: The Reality War - Part 3

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I've reached the second part of the second part of Doctor Who's second season finale! It wasn't my plan to split The Reality War into three parts, though it would've split into two pretty well. The way the episode is structured, the second half kind of works as a separate chapter, and that's the bit I'm covering this time.

Here, have some useful links:

• Wish World
• The Reality War - Part 1
• The Reality War - Part 2
• The Reality War - Part 3 <-- You are here. 

If you'd rather get through life without knowing anything that happens in this episode, or the previous stories leading up to it, I'd suggest that you stop reading now as there will be SPOILERS beyond this point.

Doctor Who (2023) 2-08: The Reality War - Part 2

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I've reached the second part of the second part of Doctor Who's second season finale! It's also the end of the second chapter of Russell T Davies' second era as showrunner, so I'm taking a second to write about it properly.

Here, have some links to help you get around:

• Wish World
• The Reality War - Part 1
• The Reality War - Part 2 <-- You are here.
• The Reality War - Part 3

Beware, SPOILERS ahead.

Doctor Who (2023) 2-08: The Reality War - Part 1

Episode:

892

|

Serial:

319

|

Writer:

Russell T Davies

|

Director:

Alex Sanjiv Pillai

|

Air Date:

31-May-2025

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I've reached the conclusion of Doctor Who season 2. Maybe even the conclusion of Doctor Who entirely! I doubt it, the brand is one of the strongest and most enduring that British television has, though anything can happen these days. We've definitely not getting a Christmas special this year, that much I'm sure of.

I usually try to write this bit before watching the episode so I can be authentically clueless, but I have to mention here that this turned out to be an extra long episode inspiring lots of words, so I'm splitting this review into three parts. This is going to make things confusing, because the episode is already the second part of a two-parter.

These links should help make sense of it:

• Wish World
• The Reality War - Part 1 <-- You are here.
• The Reality War - Part 2
• The Reality War - Part 3 

If you don't know what happens in the story and want to keep it that way, then I'd suggest you avoid reading any further. There will be SPOILERS ahead.

Doctor Who (2005) 1-11: Boom Town (Quick Review)

Episode:

707

|

Serial:

165

|

Writer:

Russell T Davies

|

Director:

Joe Ahearne

|

Air Date:

04-Jun-2005

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm watching another episode of the endless first season of the 2005 Doctor Who revival. 13 episodes, man; it just keeps going and going.

The writer this time was showrunner Russell T Davies himself, back after a three-episode break to land the season personally. Though those three episodes by other writers were Father's Day, The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances, so the bar has been raised a bit.

RTD had actually brought in acclaimed writer Paul Abbott to script this one, but he had his own show, Shameless, and he was ultimately too busy. It would've had an entirely different story so I'm not sure how that would've affected the season finale.

Anyway I'm not talking about the finale right now, because this is only going to contain SPOILERS for this episode and earlier stories. If you're watching for the first time you've got nothing to worry about from me.

Doctor Who (2005) 1-10: The Doctor Dances

Episode:

706

|

Serial:

164

|

Writer:

Steven Moffat

|

Director:

James Hawes

|

Air Date:

28-May-2005

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm back in 2005 writing about the second part of Doctor Who series 1's The Empty Child two-parter.

It's called The Doctor Dances, which has always seemed like a bit of a strange title to me. It's weirdly playful for a Doctor Who story, which are usually called things like The Mysterious Planet or Planet of the Daleks or Dalek Invasion of Earth. Or Earthshock.

Even if you know what happens in it, which I do, it's still weird that the title references dancing. The episode takes place in London during an air raid, but it's not exactly a ballroom blitz. And if you know what 'dancing' refers to in the story... well I bet Steven Moffat and RTD thought it was hilarious that they got away with it.

Alright, everything past this point will be safe for new viewers as long as you've seen everything up to this point. Otherwise, beware of SPOILERS.

Doctor Who (2023) 2-07: Wish World

Episode:

891

|

Serial:

319

|

Writer:

Russell T Davies

|

Director:

Alex Sanjiv Pillai

|

Air Date:

24-May-2025

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm watching an episode called Wish World. I don't know why, but I get the feeling this may stray into fantasy a little bit. That's just the vibe I'm getting.

I'm at episode 7, so this is the halfway point of the season. Actually hang on, Doctor Who seasons are tiny these days, 8 episodes, so I'm already at part 1 of the finale. I suppose you could argue that there are 9 episodes in total, counting last year's Christmas special, though if you include it then something weird happens: it means that 'world' episodes always come in pairs, no exceptions.

Series 1: The End of the World and World War Three.
Series 10: The Pyramid at the End of the World and World Enough and Time.
Season 2: Joy to the World and Wish World.

The classic serial Enemy of the World doesn't have a pair, but it's a six-parter so you've got three pairs of 'world' episodes in that season. The pattern still works!

Here's another coincidence: the episode shares the same director as Joy to the World, Alex Sanjiv Pillai, though it's the big two-part season finale so this time showrunner Russell T Davies was the one who wrote the words. This is what we've been heading for this whole time, May 24th, the beginning of the end. Though hopefully not the end of the series, I don't want it to be cancelled.

There will be SPOILERS below.

Doctor Who (2005) 1-09: The Empty Child

Episode:

705

|

Serial:

164

|

Writer:

Steven Moffat

|

Director:

James Hawes

|

Air Date:

21-May-2005

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm watching The Empty Child, the first part of Steven Moffat's very first story for Doctor Who. Unless you count the Comic Relief skit The Curse of Fatal Death, which I don't. Though I have to admit that it has an amazing cast, with most of them playing the Doctor.

It's probably fair to say that no writer has had more of an influence on modern Doctor Who than its first showrunner, Russell T Davies. He's the Gene Roddenberry of the revival. But Steven Moffat is a close second place and the guy still dominates 'Best Doctor Who Stories Ever' lists. People sometimes include episodes by other writers just for the sake of variety, but up at the top you'll find stories like Blink, Day of the Doctor, Heaven Sent, World Enough and Time, and occasionally The Empty Child.

But I've seen 40 of his stories now, enough to be extremely aware of his idiosyncrasies and tired of his gimmicks, so am I even going to enjoy it this time around? Did I really enjoy it that much to begin with? Keep reading and I'll let you know.

There will be SPOILERS below for The Empty Child and earlier stories, though if you're watching through the series for the first time you'll be fine as I won't mention anything that comes later. Except for all those episode titles I just mentioned.