Boom

Woo! Steven Moffat proving once again that he's a fantastic Doctor Who writer! I absolutely loved that this is a bottle episode in the open air. The tension grows and grows via events around the Doctor, causing him to decrease the amount of time left on the landmine. TV Who acknowledging that Time Lords are higher-dimensional beings is also a treat, and it's nice to see the Anglican Marines again.

Seriously, I love this episode... Aside from the flaws. Yes, this is another review on something I like in which I'll spend most of it talking about what prevented me from giving it a higher rating.

Firstly, the casting department screwed up. Splice is played and written as if she is a younger character than the child we see on screen, which is quite jarring. Someone half her age would have done perfectly.

There's also the commentary on religion and belief. Now, I have my beliefs, and I understand that not everyone has those same beliefs, or any. What I don't like is positions which are against religion. Atheism is fine, anti-theism is not. But I would have found it easier to understand, especially as the episode is in the context of a war, if Moffat and the Doctor's opinion on religion if the episode had stuck to it. If you're gonna do a 'religion bad' episode, don't end it with 'Well, religion is bad, but you need it'. Who is this episode for? Most of the world's religions do not say that other people need to follow the religion, and of those that do, most who follow those religions don't recognise this part of them, at least in my experience. And I know nobody who both believes that religion is bad and that people should still be religious.

The first time I saw this it flew by, sometimes on a rewatch episodes are not as good as you remember...

The Doctor and Ruby arrive on a war torn planet, hearing cries the Doctor runs to help, and find himself standing on a landmine. I will admit the Steven Moffat, who wote this story is a writer that I've always enjoyed and rarely does stuff that I don't. In fact I can't think of anything off hand and this is ticks all the boxes.

With the Doctor spending almost the entire time stuck in one place you would think that it would get a little boring but it manages to stay entertaining. Every few minutes another event ramps up the tension.A little girl looking for he Dad, Soliders, getting shot, each complication drawing the detonation the the mine ever closer.

Long time fans will remember the Anglican Marines from a few years ago, so its nice touch to make use of them here.

As with Moffat's previous work there are a one or two little twists heer and there.

So the Doctor cries tears, not for the first time this Doctor's run and I'm finding it a little overdone already.

After a not so great start to the series this is really rather good.

Steven Moffat's return to Doctor Who had left me very excited to watch this episode. He easily produced the best stories of the original Russell T Davies era, and his era as showrunner was also excellent. Boom is the first time in over a decade that Russell T Davies and Steven Moffat have both collaborated within the same era, and the resulting episode really doesn't disappoint.

As the promotional material suggested, Boom really is an excellent Hithcockian tale. The Doctor spends the entire episode stuck on a landmine, and it makes for such a tense watch. The episode brilliantly builds up a sense that the landmine could go off at any moment, and Ncuti Gatwa's performance really elevates the sense of peril.

This is easily Ncuti Gatwa's best portrayal of the Doctor to date. His delivery of Moffat's poetic lines is sublime, as you really feel the sense of the Time Lord's power and authority as he rails against the militaristic system. This Doctor also feels incredibly vulnerable here too as in the previous episodes, reduced to tears whilst stuck on the landmine.

Varada Sethu's appearance is a nice bonus. She does a superb job as Mundy, seeming tough but also caring. It doesn't seem as though Mundy is who she will be playing when she's the companion, which is a shame, as Mundy would make for a great assistant to the Doctor. Speaking of companions, Ruby Sunday getting taken out in the episode was certainly a surprise. Having Ruby seemingly die coupled with the return of the snow was an extremely effective means of raising the tension, and again contributing to the looming sense of danger in Boom. If Ruby isn't safe, then what hope is there for anyone else?

I have a feeling Susan Twist as Ambulance will have put a spanner in the works for a few Susan Twist theories. It's hard to see how she can still be Susan or the Meddling Monk, when the Doctor sees her in this episode, and she's a rogue AI medical machine. Although I suppose it would be a little in character for AI to steal somebody else's likeness, and also for the Doctor not to recognize another Time Lord. I loved the reveal that there was no enemy, though, and that the computer was creating fatalities by killing the injured to make it look as though a war was being fought. An extremely clever Moffatism.

Overall, this episode would be a solid 9/10 for me. A typical Moffat masterpiece, with some shocking twists and scathing political commentary on militarisation and AI. Unfortunately, it doesn't quite land the conclusion, which feels a little too convenient, but despite the ending, this is a Steven Moffat episode that creates a big bang rather than a whimper.

harry im standing on a landmine

HOLY SHIT

❤️96% = Superb! = Essential!

Thworping through time and space, one adventure at a time!

MOFFAT IS BACK WITH A BOOM!

This is the episode that kicks the new season into high gear. Tense, emotional, engaging, and impressive, Boom is a modern classic.

Boom immediately brings us to a planet under warfare, with a creepy ambulance robot attacking people (Susan Twist returning yet again; her playing the ambulance makes the role more effective; her performance makes me think of the Wire from Idiot's Lantern; the ambulance design, meanwhile, resembles the War Machine design from The War Machines).

Steven Moffat builds a tense, character-driven drama as the guest characters confront the Doctor, only to potentially make matters worse. This constantly heightening tension keeps you on the edge of your seat until the end. The fact that the Doctor cannot get directly involved because he has to stand still for the duration of the episode and is at the mercy of the other characters adds to the palpable atmosphere. Moffat then expands on his premise by removing the companion from active play and forcing the guest cast to help save the day. He has taken a key scene from Genesis of the Daleks and turned it into a sci-fi thriller, and there's no problem solving with a sonic screwdriver this time around!

The entire episode's premise is simple but effective, leaning into Moffat's strengths as a writer and making for yet another essential Doctor Who adventure. At the same time, there are some copy-paste Moffatisms here, especially in the themes, characterizations, and resolution, which means that it's not fully as original as you might hope. In many ways, Moffat has taken the Terry Nation route by reusing many of his favourite ideas, but he does so more gracefully.

Even during the constant tension, there are good character moments pertaining to Ruby and her past, as well as the soldiers involved, which adds to the drama and keeps you engaged throughout the ebbs and flows of the adventure.

I like the eventual revelation that the soldiers are fighting themselves and their own technology, designed to kill them just enough to justify buying more weapons for their war—a critique against the weapons industry, blind faith, and capitalism.

Boom immediately forces this fresh TARDIS team into a new situation. The Doctor is unable to move (Ncuti Gatwa is simply perfect as a visibly scared and stressed out Doctor; this is his best performance in the role to date as he showcases amazing emotional range with limited physical movement), and Ruby is forced to solve the situation for the both of them (Millie Gibson is also at her very best, in a more serious performance, showing the fearless side of Ruby). It's somewhat of a pity, though, that Ruby is also out of action for the bulk of the story, even though it adds to the stakes and forces the other characters to step in.

The guest cast is equally well-rounded. Varada Sethu is really good (it’s odd to see her in a guest role here when we know that she will join the TARDIS as a new companion next season). Her little love story with Canto is hardly relevant to the plot, and the father/daughter thing could have been a bit more fleshed out. Susan Twist's portrayal of the rogue ambulance A.I. leaves a strong impression.

The war-torn planet that is the setting of this adventure looks really good and, well, war-torn. Knowing that it’s all one big set, with the occasional use of a Volume-like screen technology, makes it even more impressive.

Boom's tight editing and intimate direction bring us close to the characters and their precarious situations. This approach maintains good tension at all times, despite the relatively limited setting. The episode also has none of the whimsical, fantastical, and lighthearted tone of the previous episodes; it's properly dramatic, explosive, and serious.

Gatwa's energetic performance enhances the final few moments, demonstrating his exceptional ability to shift gears quickly.

RANDOM OBSERVATIONS:

Is it just me, or do the character names Canto and Vater feel like deliberate Star Wars nods? Add to that the fact that guest star Varada Sethu is mostly known for her role in the Star Wars-adjacent series Andor, and you begin thinking that this is some kind of Disney-mandated thing.

The scene in Genesis of the Daleks where the Fourth Doctor steps on a landmine and needs Sarah Jane and Harry to save him reportedly inspired this story.

This story features a militaristic church, which we've seen before during the Matt Smith era. Both The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances and Twice Upon a Time have previously mentioned the Villengard Corporation, which plays a pivotal role in this story.

When Ruby talks about needing to sing in order to help the Doctor, I half expected them to do a big musical number again.

So, that Mundy Sunday joke is such an RTD thing to do; I love it!

Thanks to Moffat, I'll never think of the phrases “kiss kiss” and “sharp scratch” the same way again.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Steven Moffat once again demonstrates why he is such a talented Doctor Who writer: Boom is a contemporary masterpiece and a gripping, dramatic journey that will leave a lasting impression and become a key moment of the Ncuti Gatwa era.

Boom is a very Moffat episode, for better or for worse.

Sometimes, it must be said, for the worse - there were a few times you could have swapped Ruby out for Clara or Amy and would've gotten the same outcome. There was also a few too many concepts and metaphors packed into one episode,  it'd've been nice to get rid of some to let the others breathe

But GOD did it give me brain bees. The concept was fascinating, the execution was mostly very good, and Ncuti Gatwa was incredible. It was tense it was emotional it was a damn good episode

Steven Moffat is a writer whose work I have very mixed opinions on; this is mainly because he often writes stories that are really good but also ones that miss the mark so much that it's painful to sit through - so you can imagine my trepidation when it came to seeing Boom; his first script since 2017 - would it be a masterpiece or flop so hard it'd be laughed at for all time?

Going in, my expectations were low. They were exceeded, but not by much.

This isn't Moffat's best script by any margin, but it's also not his worst. It sits comfortably in the middle, I think, in “meh” territory. As expected, it has Moffat's brand of snarky companion, death fakeout, walls of exposition and an ultimately rushed conclusion - he's predictable in that regard, but it's the new things he brings to the table this time that both tickle my funny bone and rub me the wrong way.

The criticism of religion-based warfare is completely justified - such a thing is never a good idea, especially if said belief system is corrupt in and of itself. Controversial subject matter? Sure. Bound to alienate some viewers? Absolutely. Moffat is well aware of the effect this storyline will have on viewers, but his way of handling the subject does bring up some valid points... it's just hilariously ironic to me that he has the Doctor become preachy about it.

Ruby is well-handled and has some great moments to shine. You can tell Millie Gibson is having a great time with this character and exploring how she reacts to any given situation. I'd argue Ruby is the most realistic depiction of a 21st-century companion since Bill and Moffat clearly understands how to write a character like this well. Some have noted similarities in her dialogue to Clara, and I wonder whether that was intentional or not. It's fun, though.

The love arc feels very haphazard and kinda thrown into the proceedings with little care or thought. The plot just stops so Mundy and the other soldier can awkwardly skirt around the fact that they clearly have the hots for each other. The fact that this subplot is what puts Ruby out of action as well is just irritating.

The attacks on capitalism, while just as valid as the religion-based arguments, took me out of the story a bit. I just felt like Boom was retreading Oxygen's tracks and had nothing different to say about capitalism that hadn't already been said there.

Susan Twist was fantastic as the villain and I'm really curious to see how and where she shows up again. In fact, all the supporting cast were just fun in general, particularly the dad. Speaking of, I can't help but think the story might've been called Kiss Kiss Bang Bang at some point given the dad continuously says “kiss kiss” throughout the proceedings.

I also kinda felt Boom should've been more of a Doctor-lite story given he's out of action for most of the proceedings via standing on the landmine. That being said, the marketing for 73 Yards seems to indicate that it'll be a Doctor-lite adventure so maybe having two back-to-back would be a bad idea, I dunno.

Is this story better than those that preceded it? No. Is it bad? Also no. It's good, but not the cream of the crop. And to all those who are praising this like the king has returned to make Doctor Who good again, remember we've got the rest of the season to go. There may be more episodes queued up that'll blow Boom out of the water. Don't bet the farm on this being the best episode of the season just yet.

A beautiful little small-scale story about love and loss and parenting and ai and capitalism and the horrors of war.
9/10

Season 1 (Series 14); Episode 3 --- "Boom" by Steven Moffat

I would be lying if I said I wasn't excited for this one. Steven Moffat writing under RTD, up to this point, has been a four out of four streak of writing the series' fan favourite episode: The Empty Child is a haunting masterpiece, The Girl in the Fireplace is a beautifully sombre idea box, Blink is, well, it's Blink and Silence in the Library is the distillation of RTD era iconography. With a stellar premise under its belt, an in your face anti-war message and some great worldbuilding, I was prepared for this to be the best of the season and the best of RTD 2 so far. Unfortunately, I'd definitely call it the worst of the Stephen Moffat-RTD episodes, though I don't want to downplay what is still the best of Season One's first three episodes. And the good news is, Moffat's back to traumatising children, though this time not by showing what goes bump in the night but instead by giving ten year olds a 45 minute long heart attack.

Arriving onto a desolate battlefield, the Doctor finds himself stuck on a landmine with a clock ticking towards its explosion. With a planet at stake, the Doctor has to save a world without moving a muscle.

(CONTAINS SPOILERS)

Firstly, this episode is the return to formula I wanted. And when I say formula, I don't mean in a generic sense, I mean in a sense of returning to the original tone and intent of the show. So far, this is the first episode that actually feels like RTD coming back to Who and reviving his era, and it was written by another show runner, which is incredibly ironic. The style, the setting, the direction, the characters all felt straight out of a 2008 episode, something I have been looking for in these stories since the season began. Another massive draw in is Ncuti, who is just f**king phenomenal in this one. He sells his performance so unbelievably well and ended up being my main reason for investment; the 15th Doctor is finally getting some decent characterisation. Moffat being Moffat, he's also injected a great anti-war message into Boom, whilst simultaneously taking digs at Christianity, which is always fun. The message isn't exactly subtle but trying to make an anti-war message subtle is like trying to make an episode of Doctor Who make sense, it's pretty much impossible. The faceless weapon manufacturer feels like this big, imposing force that shadows the whole episode and is frankly more intimidating than Maestro ever was. And, of course, there's that 45 minute heart attack I mentioned. This episode is tense, it keeps you on the edge of your seat for most of its runtime and earns it, especially in the first half with just the Doctor and Ruby. It's easily my favourite episode of Season One tonally but it does beg the question once again who this show is being made for anymore because it feels like a completely different demographic than the last two.

However, the episode is, unfortunately, far from perfect. My main gripe here is that it feels rushed. The fast pace certainly helps with tension but it doesn't help with cohesion. None of the side characters feel developed, there are a number of great moments that are conceptually rich but I am prevented from feeling anything because the characters haven't gotten anything about them I want to know more about or feel interested in, this episode unfortunately continuing this season's problem of not letting there be any quiet, contemplative moments that let the characters grow on you, which is why there's been no original, interesting side casts so far, all three of these episodes have characters that are undeveloped or non-existent. Something else that's rushed is the ending, which causes all that tension to very anti-climatically shuffle to a stop. The power of love saves the day, and unlike The Doctor Dances, it doesn't come with decent enough character work to justify it. It makes the insurmountable threat of Villengard feel incredibly small and every character just seemingly forgets that their loved ones are dead. And speaking of not reacting to death, outside of setting up the climax, why is Splice here? Beyond the wooden child acting, she is just not presented like a ten year old, all her lines are written in an incredibly matter of fact manner and she never really reacts to her father dying horribly because she's, uhh, Christian, I guess.

Boom is not the masterpiece I hoped it would be and feels like it really did need a couple of moments to develop itself more - an air of early draft lingers around it - but it was a welcome return to form and definitely the best out of the first three episodes of Season One.

8/10

Pros:

+ Tonally, feels like we're back in RTD 1 era Who and I couldn't be happier about that

+ Ruby and especially the Doctor are fantastic in this episode

+ Ncuti puts on the performance of a life time (I have never seen anybody more scared)

+ Terrifically written anti-war message

+ Ranging from its synopsis to concept, there are a ton of great ideas in this episode

+ Villengard, at least until the ending, is horrifyingly topical villain that truly feels detestable even without a face to put to the name

Cons:

- Feels incredibly rushed, almost like an early draft

- You don't have enough time to get attached to any of the side cast

- The ending was heavily anti-climactic and felt like it didn't match up with the rest of the episode's bleakness

- The kid's involvement in the episode felt minimal and only really existed to set up a climax that failed anyway

- Ruby has a weirdly small role here and is really just a surrogate so that the Doctor has somebody to say "war is bad!" to and then when besides her shows up, she's taken out of action for the rest of the runtime

Wow, what an episode. It's a shame Moffat said that the Christmas special will probably be his last Doctor Who episode because 'Boom' shows us that he's still got it.

This was nonstop tension, I was on the edge of my seat for the whole thing, it's also so refreshingly unique with the entire episode taking place in one location. This episode will go down as one of the all-time greats in Doctor Who in my opinion, sitting up there with stories like 'Blink'. 15 is already on the way to being one of my favourites.

A brilliant, self-contained story, thoroughly enjoyed this one.

I can't say I cared very much for this one. It's a solid episode for all intents an purposes, but it felt sort of...empty to me. Not much happened and it felt too short and yet had too much fluff. The anti-war anti-AI message was great, if a little heavy-handed.

Splice is a fantastic name but not a particularly interesting character. She didn't seem to grieve at all for her dad, and while I like the "dead but not gone" message it was still a little fast. The poor child acting didn't help. Her dad doing all that to save her was nice, but it's an overdone trope that I don't care for at best. It didn't grate on me too much here, at least.

The romantic subplot between the side characters was cute at first, but by the end was starting to feel a little grating and unnecessary.

The Doctor singing to calm himself down was a nice touch. I also liked his speech about blowing the battlefield to dust; I feel like we don't get reminded that he's an alien often enough. Two hearts doesn't feel that unusual anymore, so reminding us that he's a multidimensional being was great.

Ruby's need to know her next of kin was incredibly annoying on a first viewing, and outright infuriating upon rewatch. Even without knowing her biological mother is an ordinary human woman, her next of kin doesn't have to be biological. However far in the future she must have descendents or descendents of friends or family who, over the generations, would have eventually inherited that status. I could see it being a glitch with the ambulance being unable to find her immediate next of kin, or something that would eventually be revealed to be caused by her dying young due to the Doctor (as so many moder companions do), but that's obviously not the way it was written.

A little bit of pedantry: last episode Ruby has supposedly been travelling with the Doctor for six months, but this was her first alien planet. I also don't love that the Doctor is changing his outfit every episode. For historicals it might make some sense, but I wish he had a more cohesive style like older incarnation.

All in all, a perfectly mediocre episode. I don't have much to complain about, but I also don't have any particularly high praise - other than the phenomenal acting from our two mains, as usual - which I suppose isn't a bad thing.

Wow! This episode was such a return to form after the last two. It managed to consistently maintain a high level of tension that kept me engaged and actually made me scared (even though I know that the Doctor and Ruby will survive) at a few points throughout. I can't wait for the inevitable future Black Archive on this episode and its myriad themes (which other people will be able to analyse much better than me).

A somewhat middling reaction from me. I didn’t really feel this one as much as other Moffat scripts. What should have been suspenseful and tense episode kind of wound up being sort of noisy and crowded affair for me. Really not a fan of the kid character here. Ruby and the Doctor remain outstanding for me, but otherwise, this ranks just above Space Babies in my books.

This episode was the first Ncuti episode this season that I liked so far. Actually, not liked, loved! Everything about this episode, from the side characters, to the Doctor and Ruby, to the plot was absolutely amazing. I, like others, was hesitant about Moffats return and was scared of this story being too "Moffaty" in a bad way. Well, it was extremely "Moffaty" but in the greatest way. Confining the story to one area helped streamline the story greatly unlike the messy plots of Space Babies and TDC. Seeing Ncuti play a more serious and grounded version of the Doctor is much more preferable to the over energetic and over acted Doctor we see in both Space Babies and TDC. Another great part about this episode is the numerous call backs to previous Moffat episodes like fish fingers and custard, Villengard, Anglican Marines, and "the moon and the presidents wife". These references never distract us from the plot and serve as great easter eggs for the devoted fans. Ruby's mystery is also getting more and more interesting with her age being extremely high. Susan Twist also got a much bigger role this time and I'm very interested in what her role in the season ends up being. In conclusion, this episode has gotten me completely back on track with the season after 2 episodes that were, to me, incredibly boring and not entertaining. I'm really excited for 73 Yards and getting more of the mystery unraveled.