Theory 1312 (Story & Engine 7)

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Hello, chickens.

This is the fabulous Adam Richard, and I have a theory.

Oh, hey, chickens, we're back in the story and the engine.

We are in Who Dis Part 2.

We can't even really call it Who Dis anymore, can we?

Because it's like, I know it's still technically part of Disney,

but they have abandoned ship.

I mean, we've still got a Christmas special to come.

Hopefully it'll be Christmas next Thursday.

Let's have Christmas in July.

I can't be bothered by it until Christmas.

Anyway, the story in the engine, we're

onto massive, massive, I shouldn't really

sing because I've only got one, one level of voice.

That's massive, miss.

See, no, hi.

I can't do the hi.

That's not good.

I've upset a dog.

That's massive, missive.

The story and the engine.

Matt says, it's a bit like giving away

the ending at the beginning when I say that this episode

is one of my favorites of this season.

Definitely up there as a favorite of New Who,

and potentially one of my favorites of all time.

Wow.

Cos Matt is not backwards in coming forwards

with his backwards view.

I'm sorry about that.

I don't mean that.

But yeah, always happy to just go.

Now I didn't like it.

No good.

And I'm upsetting for all these reasons,

disappointing for all these reasons.

So that is a big wrap from the off.

Matt says, I remember when watching this

for the first time being utterly captivated.

So in a bit of a departure for the missives,

stand by for a wave of positivity.

Oh, Matt, they're not all negative.

It's just, you know, you have a pulsante for, you know,

skating put down.

And also, double spaces after a stop, like seriously, boom,

boom, boom, boom.

I love it.

Matt says, it's so different from anything

we've seen on the show before, despite still, essentially,

coming down to the core of Dr.

who being people facing a bad thing

and the doctor being needed to sort it all out.

From the very off, the animation style used

in the opening scenes is that little bit different

to what we'd used to.

It's a beautiful look to it that in a weird way

sets the store for the episode

and tells us what we're going to get here

is a little bit different to the norm,

especially how it then bleeds into the opening credits.

Yeah, that is a fascinating thing when you watch it back.

I don't know if you've seen online,

there's the story that is the story of when I'm

I met the doctor for the first time when he was young

and the doctor saved the village from, you know,

drowning, whatever was happening there.

I know there was a drought or someone was blocking up the,

I can't remember what it was.

The doctor saved them all anyway, because he's amazing.

And anyway, and that all kind of like goes up on the screen

and you know all their stories are kind of weirdly animated

up on the screen and stuff, which is beautiful.

And then the opening sequence is on that screen

kind of in a way saying all of these are stories

and this itself is a story.

I recently saw the bride exclamation mark.

It's called one at the end.

The Maggie Gillen Hall film with Chessie Buckley

and Christian Bail as Frankenstein

or as it's several times Frankenstein, lovely Brad

from the Patreon took me with his magical movie card.

I don't know if he's got a magical movie card,

just whips up tickets from nowhere.

Anyway, there is a framing sequence in that where

it's kind of posited that Mary Shelley is creating this tale

from beyond the grave.

And I kind of love that sort of thing

where it's like, this is a story you are in a story

and whatever happens, don't forget it's a story.

It's also something that is a refrain

from Stephen King's dark tower.

And yeah, just reminding us that while we're engaged

in something, it is essentially a story.

So while it kind of invalidates the need for this podcast.

I have theories about the story.

We could just ultimately go, yeah, but it's all a story.

It doesn't matter that that one doesn't hook up with that story

because they're all just stories.

And we should just be happy that we have the stories.

I do love that as a starting point for this episode.

It's kind of, and I feel like we've gotten it a lot.

And I know I've been complaining a little bit over these last few months

about where was all that fourth wall stuff going.

And if the only reason for the fourth wall stuff to exist

was to remind us that this is a show

made by people, stories that have been told

from the mind of different people over the last seven decades.

Oh my god, it is weird to think of it as seven decades, isn't it?

Yeah, that it is, it's like the stories, the stories, the stories.

And it's kind of fun to remind ourselves that we don't have to explain

how the opening titles of the TV show end up in the painting on the wall

because it's TV show.

And we know it's a TV show because we're watching a TV show.

Here we are Stuart Hall decoding and coding all that malaki.

You know, I can make anything boring.

I've made Doctor Who into Beef jerking now.

Anyway, I did love that.

It's kind of cute.

Matt says, we're then thrown headlong into the setting.

And for once, there's a reason for the time and place

the Doctor has arrived in, where in Lagos for a haircut,

I mean, it couldn't be more Doctor Who if it tried in terms of the quirkiness of setup.

But it's actually much deeper than that and beautifully so.

This incarnation of the Doctor has returned to Lagos to visit an old friend of his

and really underlines how comfortable and at home he feels in this time and place

simply down to this regeneration's race.

We even get a taste of the subtle tones of shootings,

Nigerian accent coming to the fore.

And it's absolutely gorgeous to hear.

It's a shame this wasn't just a standard part of this Doctor.

Much like the gentle Scottish lute of the seventh Doctor

or the northern twang of the ninth.

Race and racism have been a theme in Doctor Who dating back to the very early years.

Sometimes subtly, sometimes or overtly, but it's rarely affected the Doctor directly.

For 63 years, we've been used to the Doctor being an outsider

who somehow fits in everywhere he goes.

But this time around, he's an outsider who struggles to fit in more than ever before.

Sadly, down to the archaic and outdated attitudes of so many

that appear to once more be gaining traction in our everyday lives.

So this is something when I was thinking about what James said in the previous episode

and now reading this from Matt.

I wonder if that is why the Doctor spends so much time on Earth

because maybe for him, the closest he feels to, you know, normality

is hanging around with humans.

Even though the Doctor himself is not human,

on the outside, he's taken for human.

And so rather than spend a lot of time with, you know, other creatures,

like maybe the sensorines or alpha centauri,

or those kind of creatures throughout the galaxy that the Doctor can spend time with,

like hanging around with humans is like, oh, no one's going to ask me any questions.

Like no one's going to say, oh, come you got four or two arms and two legs.

Instead of like weird pinces on the end of some hoses and wearing a shawker.

Yeah, like I feel like that is.

And so this time, because the Doctor is now in this body,

somewhere like this feels more comfortable.

Whereas before, it's always been hanging around in England

because, you know, he's mostly hanging around in England.

You know, you're allowed to be a bit more eccentric in England.

Like in America, it'd be frowned upon to be that wakadoodle.

Like, you know, John Perthway would not be entirely welcome in the US, I imagine.

But, you know, in the UK, it's like, oh, yes, he's just dressed like old mate from Department S.

So, yeah, I don't know, I feel like it's, you know, we're retconning basically,

which is what we do in this podcast a lot when I have a theory.

So, yeah, maybe that's why the Doctor has spent so much time around humans.

A, we know production-wise story-wise, we know it's because it's cheaper

and having to make all those aliens all the time.

But, by, on this note, with this particular Doctor feeling more comfortable in this environment,

maybe that's what the Doctor has been doing on Earth all this time.

Anyway, more from Matt's Massive Missed Next.

Hey, it's Howie Mandel and I'm inviting you to witness history as me.

And my Howie do it gaming team take on Gilly DeKing and wallow $267 million gaming

in an epic global gaming league video game showdown, four rounds, multiple games, one winner,

plus a halftime performance by multi-platonomartis, Trabi McCoy.

Watch all the action and see who wins and advances to the championship match against NIO right now

at globalgaming league.com. That's globalgaming league.com. Everybody games.

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