Lux notes
I love old newsreels
They’re so useful for establishing a specific era quickly
Not many people in the movie theater
It’s notable that the candy girl isn’t selling cigarettes
Queen Elizabeth gets a shout out in the newsreel
I like the projectionist
They’re establishing that all the film is stored ina separate
room
There’s something about the threading of physical film that’s
magical. Love that era of newsreels and cartoons
‘Don’t make me laugh’ is an irritating catch phrase
They did a good job copying that super early animation style
Sinister moonlight
Reflected off a spoon and a poster into the light from the
projector
The moonlight speech is really sinister
The effect of him climbing out of the screen is pretty well
done
I always love the image of the Doctor tinkering underneath
the TARDIS console. And this is a sweet ‘new
friends’ conversation’
It’s refreshing to have a companion who has a normal,
healthy relationship with what sounds like perfectly lovely parents
5/24/25
Didn’t we just do a ‘the one place the TARDIS can’t reach’
plot point last year?
Belinda: Take me back
to your planet… Timelordia…
The Doctor: Oh, I wish it was called that.
It is terribly practical for Belinda to think that the
easiest way to get the TARDIS fixes would be to take it to its manufacturer
The Doctor: But I never asked. What about you? Who’ve you
got? Girlfriend? Boyfriend? Other
friend?
Belinda’s description of her parents is sweet and feels very
real. It’s cool that her mother is in an orchestra
Her saying that she would really, really like to see her
parents again is so sweet
The Doctor: It is a Vortex Indicator. Which I am going to
call a Vindicator, yeah?
It really is a clever idea. They land a binch of places, get
a draw on 5/24/25, and use the data to ohaul themselves home
Belinda very rightly doesn’t want to pass up the chance to
experience 1952 and then remembers that she’s in her jammies
This Doctor considers the clothes to be the fun bit
Wow, Belinda looks great in that dress
The vindicator looks like an electric guitar
Miami, Florida
The Doctor: 4 AM. We got dressed up for no one to see. 1952, that might be wise.
I like how the Doctor is consistently aware of the potential
race issues, but doesn’t kick against them. He’s trying to leave no footprints
Belinda’s musings on Rock Hudson are a very nice variation
on past examples of companions musing on being in the past
OK, The whole Vindicator thing I was expecting to take the
whole episode, but they got it done right away.
That means that there’s nothing really keeping them from leaving other
than the Doctor’s curiosity
They got the county name right as just ‘Dade’ for the period
on the ordinance letter
Dade City isn’t in Dade county, it’s the county seat of
Pasco county, where Miami isn’t.
I like that they are alerted to the problem by the memorial
It would be the Dade sheriff’s department, not police
department.
Belinda very reasonably wants to just leave
Belinda: Oh my God, you actually want to investigate that
spooky old cinema. You’re Scooby Doo.
The Doctor: Honey, I’m Velma.
Getting a coffee would indeed be a risk for them at that
time and place.
They shouldn’t be able to sit at that counter and order coffee
in this time and place. Probably the
waiter is open minded and bored and since it’s 4 am is letting it slide.
Oh, I like your English cinema is not how any American would
phrase that
Tommy Lee
Bend the rules. Ah, OK. He is just open minded
They weren’t sure if Yaz would have counted back in Rosa,
but are sure Belinda does here
*** I’ve toppled worlds. Sometimes I wait for people to
topple the world. Until then, I live in it and I shine.
All 15 people in the audience just disappeared and the
police only searched during the day
The Police Box gave Tommy Lee’s mother hope
Mrs. Lowenstien
Mr. Pye the old projectionist. He keeps playing the movies
to an empty house in a locked up theater
The Doctor: There is literally an old caretaker in a haunted
cinema.
Belinda: Come on Velma.
The Doctor: Okay, Fred.
If all the doors are chained shut, how has Mr. Pye been
eating? Just living on Popcorn and
candy?
I wonder what western they’re showing
It’s an interesting manifestation of courtesy, the Doctor
acknowledging to Mr. Pye that they were infringing on a segregated space. Not
sure how to unpack that.
Belinda: I’m Belinda and this is.. The Doctor… (to The Doctor)
Really? Just The Doctor? Always?
The Doctor: Yeah.
Belinda: Ridiculous.
Sinister tapdancing
Alan Cumming owns a cabaret in MYC. I’ve always wanted to go
Mr. Ring-A-Ding is made entirely of light
The Doctor is giving Mr. Ring-A-Ding the benefit of the
doubt as regards being good or evil
He’s finally twigged to be afraid
Nice callback to the giggle, but I thought that laugh was
specifically the Toymaker, not all gods?
The Harvest Bringer isn’t a real movie
Lux Imperator – The god of light
He has to sing the entire song every time it’s prompted. That’s fun
Mr. Ring-A-Ding needs Pye to show him movies to feed him and
in return brings film footage of his dead wife back
Mr. Pye: One spring day she went to cross the road… And I’ve
been alone ever since.
Dancing with his black and white wife is such a striking
image, I which she hadn’t morphed into full color
Mr. Ring-A-Ding: Darnit, I was so big when I arrived. I should never have learned perspective.
The fifteen people are each trapped on individual frames of
celluloid. Good on Belinda for noticing them
Mr. Ring-A_Ding: I’m a two dimensional character. You can’t
expect backstory
It’s really very cruel, the way Lux is threatening to burn
Mr. Pye’s wife
It was just a random chance combination of light reflecting
with electricity that manifested Lus into Mr. Ring-A-Ding
Lux figured out the Doctor’s previous connections to the
other Gods
‘What have I not done?’
what’s the answer to that mystery
Love the huge old film projectors
I’m not a huge fan of live action shows doing animated
episodes
Belinda: Gosh, I’m all flat. And this waistline is
impossible.
They’re getting more three dimensional as they reveal their feelings
And now they’re live action inserted into a cartoon
Pulling the frames down is a cool visual
And they’re back on the theater stage
Mrs. Lowenstien wouldn’t be that mean, and the Doctor is
totally unimpressed
The Doctor: Seriously? The continuity is terrible. This is
Miami-Dade County (Not for another 45 years it isn’t), and that is the uniform
of the NYPD. Try harder.
I literally just said that if they come out through the
screen into my living room I’m going to have so many questions
Look, it’s Doctor Who fans!
I don’t know how I feel about them confirming that there’s
an outside reality where Doctor Who is just a TV show and the Doctor can get
out into it.
Robyn: Well, I knew that this would happen because it was leaked
online. Hashtag RIP Doctor Who.
I love that The Doctor’s response is just to kick back and
ask what their favorite episode is. And
the fact that they all insist on Blink feels like Russell’s taking a friendly
poke at Steven Moffat
Belinda: What happens is ‘Blink’?
Hassan: It’s the story where you’re not allowed to blink.
Belinda: Well, that sounds like an absolute epic.
Belinda calling them annoying leads to a touching moment of
defense of Doctor Who fans
And then the switch. It’s the Doctor Who fans that aren’t
real, not The Doctor and Belinda
They do have surnames in the credits
Good fans know that the show isn’t about them and that it
can lead to finding your best friends and they don’t have the right to demand
that the show be anything specific
They’re going to stop the celluloid so that the heat from
the projector sets it on fire
LOVE the detail that the film in camera is upside down.
The Doctor’s hand being burned both confirms that this is
the real world AND allows them to show off the magic light regeneration energy
for Lux to get all turned on by
I don’t love that Bi-generation left him with some pocket
energy to hang onto, but it helps as a plot function, so I’ll let it go
The ability to build a body out of light would be appealing
to Mr. Ring-A-Ding
This is a lot like The Doctor fighting the musical notes in
the Devil’s Chord?
He never goes outside.
Not really a satisfying resolution to the ‘What don’t I ever do’
question
The nuclear blast as the ultimate light kind of comes in out
of nowhere and doesn’t really go anywhere
He knows what time it is – e.g. dawn
I like that she knew he smoked because of nicotine fingers.
Mr Ring-A-Ding’s real body is kind of gross
Find me? What does
that mean? Was she encouraging him to kill himself in the attempt to kill Lux?
Sally sunshine… was she a subtle setup for this?
And now he’s back to being just a cartoon because he’s
taking in so much light? That feels like
a little bit of a blind alley
Logan and Tommy Lee are totally doing it, right?
Mr. Ring-A-Ding does the end of 2001
And here are all the people back. Not sure that makes
logical sense, but I’ll take a happy ending
Belinda resolutely facing that they’re both still scared is
a nice moment
And here’s Mrs. Flood. First time we’ve seen her out of
contemporary London
Mid credit break to the Doctor Who fans. I really LOVE they’re
joy at realizing that they still exist.
The Ring-A-Ding song kept reminding me of something and it
was driving me crazy. It’s the Feast of
Fools song from Hunchback of Notre Dame
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