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Notes on - Doctor Who: Empire of Death

 

Empire of Death notes

Sutekh’s dust of death

Convenient that it takes out everybody but the Doctor and Ruby

Why did I think that Harriet had died?

So how many operatives does Sutekh have?

I like that Morris’ segue has guns

They’re doing a nice job of re-establishing the multiple threats

Ibrahim:  The bullets turn to dust, ma’am

Kate: Oh, one day.

I’m not moved by the death of the Vlinx

Kate:  I have to believe that birds will sing again.  There will be birds.

OK, that’s why they had to separate Doctor and Mel at the TV studio, Ruby over at the time window and Carla escorted out.  They’re spacing out the drama kills

We already know they have to do a reset button.  They can’t pretend otherwise

Love that Mel has a scooter.

All the chaos CGI is really well done

Mrs. Flood: Do you believe in the power of prayer?

Cherry: I most certainly do.

Mrs. Flood: The tell your maker I will come to storm down his gates of gold and seize his kingdom in my true name.

Does Mrs. Flood really believe that this is the end for real as she and Cherry die?

It’s actually kind of sweet that she holds Cherry as they dissolve

*** I had such plans

They’re still really building up that they don’t know why they can’t see Ruby’s mother

And the remembered T ARDIS in the Time Window is a memory TARDIS a la Tales of the TARDIS, but that only really tracks if you’ve seen that series

I mean.. they’re sort of explaining it, but it still only really works if you’ve seen TOTT

So Sutekh can pilot the TARDIS from the outside?  Ok, I guess.

Is Sutekh really the greatest monster he’s ever fought?

Nice clip of Lis Sladen

Brief recap of Pyramids of Mars for the uninitiated

See, they DID mean for that to be Sutehk’s death at the time.

Are they confirming that Sutekh grabbed onto the TARDIS at that time, or did he grab it at some unspecified point?  I think the latter

OK, that totally justifies the change in the lore to who Sutekh is.  That actually makes total sense.

Nice little visual of Sutekh turning the TARDIS around so that the entry is blockedby his belly

Sutekh is one of those ‘take a moment to explain everything’ baddies

Here’s confirmation of what Susan Triad is

He was there for Mindwarp, Paradise Towers, City of Death, the TV movie. One I don’t recognize, I think that’s Daleks in Manhattan, A town called Mercy.

OK, so every single Susan Triad is a separate new creation kind of mentally linked.  How many of them must there be

And every one is now spitting out death sand on all those different worlds

The Doctor:  And why… am I still alive?

Very good question.  Why ISN’T Sutekh killing him

Doubt makes you feel alive

Awww, Mel seeing the 6th Doctor’s coat!

Ruby:  Wait, does this thing work?  Can it fly?

The Doctor: No idea.

And there’s the death dust destroying the entire world

Drawer full of sonic screwdrivers

Fun use of old show props.

Good thing there’s a remembered fire extinguisher

Still, fun usage of the TOTT set

Setting up the intelligent rope matching the intelligent glove.  We’ll be using those again later in the episode, clearly

Ah, OK, this TARDIS only exists as long as the time window isn’t shut down, and the Doctor stole a bit from the time window to keep them from doing that.  While the screen works, the remembered TARDIS stays together.

Every landing the TARDIS would throw out a perception filter of 66.6666 meters – 73 yards.  Somehow Ruby got mixed up in that and that’s what that whole episode was about.  OK.

The Doctor:  Funny things happen at 73 yards

The perception field made every Susan Triad real and fitting into the environment.  But there’s only one on Earth, because with every new landing she would be reborn stronger.  Which is why the 2024 Susan Triad was so powerful

Every single planet from every story has a Susan Triad destroying it right now

Wait, now he’s saying the earth is dying in multiple timezones

The Doctor:  Every world that I ever stood upon.  All dead.

Mel’s not wrong.  There has to be plenty of places he hasn’t been.

They’re glossing that over

The Doctor: I did this.

Ruby: You did not.

Man, Ncuti can emote

Sutekh has won and is bored.  One thing keeps living despite him.  Ah, he’s obsessed with knowing the answer to who Ruby’s mom is.  He’s fanboying.

The Doctor and co are roaming around the ravaged carcasses of the destroyed worlds

It’s nice that she’s willing to share her Chaffee

So there are some small remnants of various civilizations

Baby Brindle Dee

All the names are being forgotten.  Actual facts are dying in the death wave

They had an opera house

Why does the Doctor need metal

This character is just named ‘Kind Woman’

I like the way she smiles when she remembers her husband was tall

Is the spoon a Sylvester McCoy reference?

The Doctor:  I might save the universe with this spoon

Kind Woman: That would be nice.

Awww.  The baby is really dead and she forgot.  That’s tragic

The Death Wave travels down the family man.  Who is this man that told her all these interesting facts?  Is that going to be relevant?

The death wave effect is done well

Oh, ok, everything else in here is just a sustained memory.  They needed a bit of metal because it’s real to hold things together.  That could have been explained better

Ruby:  I never really understood.  What was all that Egyptian stuff?

The Doctor: Cultural appropriation

The memory window screen is responding to Ruby’s question

Mel’s losing memories.  Significant

Sutekh’s obsessed with figuring out who Ruby’s mother is?  That’s sketchy

Nice subtle skull effect on Mel

Roger ap Gwilliam – making everyone take DNA testing.  But wouldn’t Sutekh know that?

Mel is curiously interested in the question of Ruby’s mother

Random Whistle.  That’ll come in handy

When did the Doctor land in 2046?  Did we just not see that adventure?  Makes sense that that would cause 2046 to be a closed off shell space

Nice creepy big empty hall

OK, it was in an unseen adventure.  OK.

That looks a LOT like the oval office

This means Ruby didn’t achieve anything in 73 yards regarding overthrowing Roger ap Gwilliam.  Just a divergent time pocket

You can see the Doctor noticing that Mel has changed

2004 snow and carol of the bells bleeding through

It’s nice that after all these years they’re giving Bonnie Langford good stuff to work with

Dead Sutekh Mel is very creepy

So Ruby’s mom is only important because Sutekh’s obsessed with finding out what the mystery is all about.  Very fanboy

We still believe that the name is significant at this point

Ruby:  Maybe this is for you… You great big God of nothing.

There’s no real reason for a whistle to do this to the TARDIS.  I mean, it just about works, but there’s no logic to it.

Fun image of them dragging Sutekh through the vortex

So he’s forced to bring death to death, ie making everything alive and undone.  That’s not terrible as reset buttons go

Aw, they remember time window guy.  And Carla, Cherry and Mrs. Flood

Mrs. Flood seems to be sharing a genuine moment of joy with Cherry, so she can’t be a total sociopath

SO much fan service in the names of planets being returned to life

And now The Doctor has to become a monster.  By killing Sutekh.  Justified, but still hardcore

Sutekh wins in a way because he’s forced The Doctor to commit murder

Nice that Susan Triad gets to still be who she is

UNIT hires all the side characters, don’t they

I just don’t care about the Vlinx

Louise Alison Miller.  A completely ordinary person.  She’s a nurse.  And did the right thing giving Ruby up for adoption.  Why couldn’t Davina find her I wonder?

I love that her mom is just an ordinary person.  She mattered because she mattered to Ruby and the Doctor.  No other reason.

She wasn’t really naming Ruby if no one was there to see it, was she?

They should have left it there.  Ruby should leave her alone.

Louise is putting this all together very quickly

They’re dragging out this ending way too long.  Was this a late addition?

Cherry:  There is no hatred in this house, darling.

I don’t like that they’re calling Louise her real mum

This is a nice goodbye scene.

They keep bringing up Susan

Mrs. Flood continues to break the fourth wall.  And now the Doctor’s story ends in absolute terror.

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