Doctor Who (2023) 2-06: The Interstellar Song Contest

Episode:

890

|

Serial:

318

|

Writer:

Juno Dawson

|

Director:

Ben A. Williams

|

Air Date:

17-May-2025

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This week on Grumpy Miserable Cynical Reviews, I'm hating on the latest episode of Doctor Who season 2! Okay to be honest I'm writing this bit before watching the episode, so I have no idea whether I'll like it or not. But the season really hasn't been working for me so far and The Interstellar Song Contest is the story I've been dreading the most this year.

I haven't seen any trailers, I don't know what happens in it, but I have zero interest in Eurovision so the premise has no appeal to me and all the references are going to fly over my head. And if The Devil's Chord is a harbinger of what's to come, then the soundtrack is going to be an assault on my ears. I'm going to have to leave the room and listen to the rain again.

Okay, there are going to be SPOILERS below for the episode and stories that came before it. I couldn't spoil anything that comes later if I wanted to though, as I haven't got a clue.

Doctor Who (2023) 2-05: The Story & the Engine

Episode:

889

|

Serial:

317

|

Writer:

Inua Ellams

|

Director:

Makalla McPherson

|

Air Date:

10-May-2025

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing about The Story & the Engine, the latest episode of Doctor Who.

It was put together by black writer Inua Ellams and black director Makalla McPherson, and I'm bringing this up because this may be the first time in Doctor Who history that the writer, director and Doctor have all been black. Though if you change 'Doctor' to 'one of the regular cast', then Rosa was first.

This is one of the episodes I've been most curious about this season. Partly because the middle three episodes were the best ones last time, partly because of all the new people involved. I think it's easier to get enthusiastic about seeing new names on an established TV series, as it's like a safety net. Whatever this is, it's going to be Doctor Who, and I typically like Doctor Who!

There's apparently a prequel story this time. Not a video like in the olden days, it's text on the website. But I generally skip the prequels unless everyone's yelling at me to stop what I'm doing and check them out right now (like with Day of the Doctor), so I have not seen it.

There will be SPOILERS past this point (and also SPIDERS) so if you haven't seen the episode yet you might want to go do that first (unless you don't like spiders).

Doctor Who (2023) 2-04: Lucky Day

Episode:

888

|

Serial:

316

|

Writer:

Pete McTighe

|

Director:

Peter Hoar

|

Air Date:

03-May-2025

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, all I do is write about Doctor Who, constantly. This time it's the episode Lucky Day, from season 2. Or series 15, if that's how you're counting them. 41 is also an option.

I know something about this episode already (or someone, to be precise), because it was given away on the title reveal video... and in the thumbnail on iPlayer, but I'll not mention who because this bit up here is a spoiler-free zone.

I'll spoil something about Pete McTighe's previous Doctor Who episodes though: I didn't like them. Well that's not entirely true, as I thought Praxeus was harmless enough, it just fell short of what I expect from this series. And Kerblam! was actually pretty decent, except for the morally dubious resolution. Though both episodes were from the Chris Chibnall era, which could be a bit ethically wonky at times, so maybe this will be different. I do know that he's done a lot of work for the DVDs and Blu-ray collections, so his Doctor Who cred seems high.

This review will upload SPOILERS into your brain through your eyes if you aren't already aware what happens in the episode.

Doctor Who (2023) 2-03: The Well

Episode:

887

|

Serial:

315

|

Writer:

Russell T Davies & Sharma Angel-Walfall

|

Director:

Amanda Brotchie

|

Air Date:

26-Apr-2025

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, it's another brand new episode of Doctor Who, called The Well. Not the most interesting or memorable title in the world, but at least it's straightforward. Years of excessive Doctor Who reviewing has left me able to type Praxeus, Tsuranga Conundrum and Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos off the top of my head, but I always have to stop and check afterwards that I spelled them right. Not a concern this time.

Okay, Russell T Davis is back writing for the third story in a row, Amanda Brotchie is back directing (because both this and Lux were produced in the same block), but this time Sharma Angel-Walfall is also credited as a writer. That's a new name that I have not heard of. Probably not one I'll need to remember for future episodes, considering how rarely Who writers return for another story these days, but who knows. I hope she's good at writing!

There will be SPOILERS below, for this episode and perhaps earlier episodes too.

Doctor Who (2023) 2-02: Lux

Episode:

886

|

Serial:

314

|

Writer:

Russell T Davies

|

Director:

Amanda Brotchie

|

Air Date:

19-Apr-2025

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm watching the second episode of the second season of Russell T Davies' second lap of Doctor Who, and it's written by the man himself. Here's some trivia for you: Lux has the shortest title in Doctor Who's long history... almost. 42 has it beat. But second shortest is still impressive.

We've got a new director on this one, Amanda Brotchie. So that's some additional trivia. I don't know anything about them to be honest, I don't really know anything about this episode yet either. Well, except for one thing that I won't spoil here.

But it does have me worried that this is going to be this season's The Devil Chord. The one where the show just has fun at the expense of any shreds of reality it still has left. I just get that feeling that RTD has moved beyond stressing about plausibility. In fact he's even been cutting explanations out of the script as who cares about how the magic works in a fantasy show for kids? Turn you brain off, enjoy the ride, and under no circumstances try to analyse the episode scene by scene for the internet.

There will be SPOILERS below as I'm going to write the next bit after watching the episode!

Doctor Who (2023) 2-01: The Robot Revolution

Episode:

885

|

Serial:

313

|

Writer:

Russell T Davies

|

Director:

Peter Hoar

|

Air Date:

12-Apr-2025

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing about Doctor Who again. This time it's the first episode of the latest season: The Robot Revolution.

Hasn't classic Doctor Who used that title already? Hang on, no I must be thinking of The Robots of Death. Or maybe just Robot. I guess robots rebelled a lot back in the day. Speaking of ancient episodes, they brought the director of series 6's A Good Man Goes to War back for this one. Doctor Who directors typically direct a block of two episodes and sometimes another block next season, and then they're done. It's rare for a director to return years later like this. I think Graham Harper might hold the record with 21 years between 6th Doctor story Revelation of the Daleks and 10th Doctor story Rise of the Cybermen, but Peter Hoar is now in second place with 14 years. That's about the same amount of time that showrunner Russell T Davies disappeared for!

I wish I could say that the second coming of RTD has been my kind of thing, but so far it's been hit and miss, and stories like The Church on Ruby Road and Joy to the World have me feeling like it's not a series for me anymore. Starting season 1 with Space Babies should've been a clue that they were showing me the door and inviting the next group of fans in.

Just please let this be better than Space Babies, please let this be better than Space Babies...

There will be SPOILERS below and probably some earlier episodes as well if my thoughts go in that direction.

Star Trek: Section 31

Writer:

Craig Sweeny

|

Director:

Olatunde Osunsanmi

|

Release Date:

2025

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing about Section 31, the most critically panned Star Trek movie ever made. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier had a good run, but it's finally been dethroned. In fact, its review scores haves been giving Borderlands and Rebel Moon a run for their money, and I'm kind of not mad about that.

I've been biased against the movie from the day it was announced, because I strongly dislike the idea that Section 31 is necessary for Star Trek's utopian Federation to exist. Though I keep hearing that the film's actually about a team of fun misfits on a tame Mission: Impossible adventure, and I guess that's certainly one thing you can do with the dark conspiracy corrupting Starfleet's soul.

The film has already disappointed me by not having the bold magenta and yellow logo from the trailer. I didn't particularly love it, but it looked better than this.

Anyway, I'm going to share some of my thoughts underneath screencaps and I promise you this won't drag on for five pages like my Phantom Menace review. It will contain SPOILERS however, for this and earlier Trek stories featuring Georgiou and Section 31.