I liked this a lot! But I didn't love it by any means, I'm sad to say. I'd place it above Lucky Day and Robot Revolution in my rankings, but below Lux.

I was cautiously optimistic going into this. Eurovision has become fairly famously propaganda for a certain.... country that helps sponsor it. Banning flags, banning "political messaging" (but always happens to be messaging in a specific direction... curious, eh?), refusing to ban said country despite banning Russia, etc. And thus, despite having complete confidence in Juno Dawson, I feared that the BBC, Disney, and higher ups on the show would make this propaganda.

I am pleased to say that this did an attempt at being critical of Eurovision, and succeeded in many ways but failed in others. The Hellians are very obviously a stand-in for Palestinians, and the Corporation for Israel. Initially I thought this was just going pure anti-capitalism because of, well we'll get to that, but once the ball dropped for me I was so happy. And that ending with Cora! Beautiful stuff! I do hope though this isn't seen as "wow now all prejudice is fixed!" and more just as "people are reminded that these demonised victims of a conflict they did not cause are people too with their own cultures and lives, and deserve love and respect.

Now unfortunately, as I alluded to, I think it failed too. I think by having the villains be Hellian terrorists who want revenge, there's an angle of almost "both siding" this, especially as they don't just revenge solely on the Corporation, but on everyone at large. Is that really fair? Does that not give a lot of the right and the lobby that this episode is trying to criticise some ground to stand on? You can't give it to them, if you concede on even small points, you are opening the gateway for them to push more and more and deny your arguments entirely. I won't say this ruined the episode for me - again, it was more critical of Eurovision happily accepting said sponsor and banishing Palestine entirely than I was expecting - but it did leave a somewhat sour taste in my mouth.

Enough about the politics for now though (WOW DOCTOR WHO MORE LIKE DOCTOR WOKE AM I RIGHT FELLAS????), let's talk about the episode itself.

I had heard going in it was Die Hard meets Eurovision and I am SO glad it was more Die Hard than Eurovision. The plot was fairly light despite a lot going on, but it was fun! Maybe a tad too camp for my liking at points, but still fun! I love the idea of 15 and Belinda getting separated, though I don't think Bel got enough to do (other than continue to be a very good beating heart as all companions should be). I just wish she got some action or got to use her nurse skillset in some way.

Fab performances from the main cast as always, and I'm so glad that darker 15 has been pushed more and more to the forefront! I always love seeing companions scared of The Doctor's rage.

Side performances were fine this time. After the delight that was The Barber and the absolutely realness that was Aliss; the side cast were kinda just... There. Also how convenient is it that The Doctor ran into a nurse and a hologram engineer when he needed to? I wish these skillsets - especially Gary's engineering - were established beforehand because it felt almost like a copout to me.

Overall, the story itself was fine for me. I had a good enough time to give a 4 star, but nothing elevated it for me.

Oh wait. I forgot to talk about the reveals.

I jumped out of my chair when I saw Susan. I famously on the forums am super critical of her not appearing in season 40, so having her appear her - still portrayed by 84 year old Carol Ann Ford, who looks gorgeous for her age btw - made me SO excited and happy! Russell. Do not let the side down. We need her to have a sweet moment with 15. And preferably keep it vague so it doesn't retcon her adventures in the 8DAs <3

The Rani reveal was fine. I think the performances are fun, but I hate bigeneration! Why can't it be gone!! And why did Anita Dobson's Rani suddenly do a 180 personality wise and become subservient? It felt weird. The new Rani has amazing screen presence though and I'm hyped to see what Panjabi can do in the role. Also the reveal felt so weird in that it was just? Very casual? It left me with little impact. Though by having it here I'm hoping it means the two part finale will get plenty of room to breathe.

The everyone is The Rani meme is dead. Long live the everyone is The Rani meme.

4* - a very fun time that I have quite a few issues with, but the strengths of it carry me through those issues

I was intially quite pleased with how this wasn't as camp as I was expecting it to be (the prospect didn't particularly excite me), but instead I got what feels like the complete opposite.

I feel like it's old news to complain about the Doctor being violent, especially when they've outright directly lead to the deaths of people in previous episodes (such as Kerblam, or Dinosaurs on a Spaceship) or even just killed people (Hell Bent). But there was something different about this. Overall I felt like this season's attempt of giving 15 "dark moments", like what he said to Conrad in Lucky Day, have felt... empty? Not necessary, and sort of edgy for the sake of it? But this episode has taken it way too far. The Doctor standing above someone, hearing them scream in pain while shocking them again and again and again. It felt so incredibly wrong. And the attempt to "address" it near the end just was not enough. I felt little remorse from the Doctor, and everyone around him didn't seem to care too much either. "Triggered" is a perfectly fine word, but not for this. This man was torturing someone. This same person who extended their hand out to Davros, responsible for inumerable attrocities, lost the plot and decided to torture this genocide survivor? I mean, what a perfect opportunity, from one genocide survivor to another, to explain a better way of expressing his anger that wouldn't result in Kid doing the same as was done to him. I mean for cyring out loud, the emotion such a scene would draw from Ncuti himself! To come from Ncuti, whose family ran away from the Rwandan genocide; such a moment would feel so impactful. But no. So sorry not sorry, it just made me uncomfortable and it sadly overshadows the rest of the episode for me.

And what's this episode's messaging? Be more like Cora: be ashamed of who you are, hide yourself away, work in a system and for organisations that hate you, because eventually you may get an opportunity to show yourself. Otherwise, if you're angry about these people who caused the genocide of your homeworld then clearly you seek violence and only wish to murder people. What's the reason for this false dichotomy? Show that people can rightly express their anger without killing people! Show protests! It's the right way to feel! All this showed was: if you're angry, you're wrong. I mean, what will happen now? Was the corporation supporting the contest shut down? Or is Cora just going to keep singing at these events? Funded by the genociders of her homeworld? We once saw 12 instigate the downfall of space capitalism, explaining that the results of their actions caused it. But we don't even so much as get a short explanation of any resolution to the tragedy that caused this episode's events in the first place. Well I guess the two extremists were apprehended so job done! Guh-huh. Actually baffling.

On the surface, the very surface, this episode could be fun. It had genuinely funny moments. And the surprises are ones I'm not going to forget. I realise I'm just not touching on much else in this episode such as music, acting etc. But I just can't be bothered simply, this has left a bad taste in my mouth.

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

“THE INTERSTELLAR SONG CONTEST: A DUGGA-DOO DISASTER AND A SHOWSTOPPING SPACE OPERA”

As a die-hard Eurovision fan, it’s hard not to be giddy at the very idea of Doctor Who doing a Eurovision episode. Juno Dawson pens The Interstellar Song Contest as a glittering celebration of Europe’s most fabulous export, but true to Doctor Who form, it quickly pivots from kitschy musical camp to blood-chilling sci-fi horror. The year is 2925. The setting is the vast and glitzy Harmony Arena. The event? The 803rd Interstellar Song Contest, hosted with plastic-fantastic charm by a cryogenically preserved Rylan, who’s been kept in stasis between contests so he remains as perky and polished as ever.

But just as the party’s kicking off, catastrophe strikes. A terrorist attack tears open the side of the space station, sucking thousands—including the Doctor and the TARDIS—out into the void of space. It’s a genuinely horrifying moment, arguably one of the darkest in modern Who, not least because it’s played straight and visually arresting. Yet the impact is slightly dampened by the reveal that nobody actually dies—they're all caught in a mavity field, suspended and retrievable. It’s classic Who logic: daring and terrifying, then quickly softened. Still, the sequence lingers in the mind, a testament to the episode’s boldness.

BELINDA TAKES CENTRE STAGE

With the Doctor out of commission for a sizeable chunk of the story, the spotlight shifts to Belinda, stranded and scared. Varada Sethu shines in what is her most vulnerable performance to date. Alone in a strange and dangerous situation, Belinda forms a bond with Cora, one of the performers and a secretly disguised Hellion. Cora's revelation—that she’s altered her appearance to avoid prejudice against her species—adds a touching layer to the episode's broader themes of identity, acceptance, and cultural suppression.

The Hellions are a persecuted race, their homeworld destroyed, and Cora's music becomes a vehicle for both rebellion and remembrance. It’s a quietly powerful story thread that gives this episode more heart than might be expected from its premise. It’s not subtle, but it’s effective—and when she belts out her final song, a stirring lament for her lost world, it lands with genuine emotional heft.

THE DOCTOR’S RAGE UNLEASHED

Meanwhile, the Doctor gets one of his most outrageous “cool moments” yet: propelling himself back into the station using a confetti cannon. It’s gloriously ridiculous, but made unexpectedly poignant by the brief return of his granddaughter Susan—played by original actress Carole Ann Ford. The surreal vision of Susan encouraging him on is a heart-warming surprise, though it ultimately leads nowhere and left many fans (understandably) speculating in vain about her role in the season’s finale.

Back on the station, the tone takes another dramatic shift. Believing Belinda has been killed, the Doctor descends into one of his most brutal fits of rage in recent memory. His relentless, near-sadistic pursuit and torture of the villainous Kid—played disappointingly flat—shows a frighteningly unrestrained side of the Doctor. It's raw and brilliantly performed by Ncuti Gatwa, echoing his wterrifying fury in Lucky Day. However, the aftermath feels strangely brushed aside. Belinda, rightly disturbed by what she sees, comments on it… and then the show moves swiftly on. It’s a wasted opportunity for deeper character exploration, especially in a season that has been teasing the Doctor’s moral complexity.

A VILLAIN WITH A CAUSE, BUT NOT MUCH CHARISMA

The antagonist, a disillusioned Hellion terrorist planning to unleash a delta wave to kill all three billion viewers, has a potentially compelling motivation: revenge against the Company for destroying his world and society's prejudice against his species. Unfortunately, the performance lacks the intensity or charisma to make the character memorable. It’s a shame, because the villain’s motivations tap into some meaty thematic territory about colonialism, exploitation, and media complicity.

The evil corporation behind the contest, producing “Poppy Honey” at the cost of planetary genocide, is an unsubtle but scathing allegory. It’s hard not to read it as a dig at Eurovision’s real-world sponsorship by Israeli company Moroccan Oil amid the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict. It’s a bold statement embedded in a story that doesn’t shy away from moral grey areas, even if it doesn’t fully commit to exploring them.

A CELEBRATION OF EUROVISION – AND DOCTOR WHO’S LOVE OF THE CAMP AND COSMIC

Juno Dawson’s script is lovingly littered with nods to Eurovision: from the inevitable ABBA reference, to Graham Norton’s role as a savvy commentator who plays a pivotal role in revealing the Earth’s destruction on 24 May 2025. It’s a well-handled use of Norton, who is more than a cameo here, and it’s a pity Terry Wogan didn’t get a similar nod.

Musically, the episode delivers what fans might hope for: a catchy mix of Eurovision pastiche and genuine bangers. Dugga-Doo, a deliberately absurd earworm, is destined to divide fandom (it already has), but its gleeful meme-worthy energy is unmistakable. There’s a dramatic ballad early on, and the final soul-stirring elegy for the Hellion homeworld brings the house down—one of the most powerful musical moments Doctor Who has ever attempted.

And then there’s that charming gay couple in the background, constantly bickering but each contributing crucial skills to help save the day. It’s classic Who—small characters making a big difference—and a joy to watch unfold.

VISUALS, VIBES, AND A SHOCK REVEAL

Visually, the episode is a triumph. The Harmony Arena is lavish, futuristic, and vibrant, one of the best space station sets the show has produced. Combined with slick effects and bold cinematography, this is Doctor Who on a visual high.

There’s also a healthy presence from Mrs Flood, watching silently from the audience, spying on the Doctor with that ever-mysterious air. And in the post-credits sting, she takes centre stage in a jaw-dropping (but oddly flippant) moment as she bi-generates into Archie Panjabi—revealed to be the Rani. It’s a huge moment, bringing back a classic villain fans have clamoured to see return for decades, but it’s undercut by its brevity and comedic tone. Compared to the shock of Missy's reveal, or the gravitas of the Toymaker and Sutekh, this one fizzles more than it pops, though it sets the board for the finale.

THE FINAL NOTE

The episode ends on an ominous note: the cloister bell tolls and the TARDIS explodes—though why, or how, is never explained. It’s a classic Doctor Who cliffhanger: effective in the moment, frustrating in retrospect if not paid off properly.

📝VERDICT: 88/100

The Interstellar Song Contest is a glorious, messy, occasionally brilliant mashup of Eurovision sparkle and Doctor Who sci-fi. It’s part camp homage, part searing critique, part character drama—and not all of it lands. But when it works, it really works: from the horror of the airlock massacre to the heartbreak of Cora’s song, from the Doctor’s terrifying rage to the giddy weirdness of a confetti cannon space rescue.

Juno Dawson’s script is bold and messy, full of conviction and crackling with political and pop-cultural references. Ncuti Gatwa continues to impress, and Varada Sethu steps confidently into the spotlight. While some moments could’ve been deeper and the villain disappoints, this episode still manages to be a standout for sheer ambition, audacity, and audiovisual dazzle.

Season Two (Series 15); Episode Six - “The Interstellar Song Contest” by Juno Dawson

I am finding this season incredibly hard to rate. The Interstellar Song Contest is an episode I am in two minds about because whilst I want to just enjoy it as a fun run around, it’s too caught up in trying not to be. This whole season is like an emotional blind spot, trying to deepen its storylines and messages but clearly not knowing how, because every time it turns to melodrama. If there was an episode this season that needed to be purely fun, it was the Eurovision parody. There are twists, there are turns, there is fun to be had and problems to be explored, let's start the show.

The Doctor and Belinda arrive at the Interstellar Song Contest; but something is very wrong. After a disastrous attack leaves the lives of three trillion people in the balance, the Doctor has to contend with a devastating revenge plot and himself.

(CONTAINS SPOILERS)

So I’ve never watched Eurovision. I know, who’s more qualified to evaluate this episode than I? Because of that, I wasn’t totally bought into any of the homage stuff but luckily, that’s not what all the episode’s about. Unluckily, all the other stuff was exceptionally clumsy. First of all, I can enjoy a fun episode and when this story got going, it was nice, it was fast paced with a nice visual style and some good, classic RTD camp. Once again, amazing set and costume design that repeatedly blew me away with its scale and quality and, you know what, props to RTD2 for having a musical episode with at least passable songs. And stuff like the image of the Doctor flying through space on a confetti cannon is somewhere between bizarre and metal as hell and it really works (would’ve worked better without the marvel-esque “Did I just fly through space on a confetti cannon?” though).

You know what, let’s talk dialogue, because watching this I thought I’d been transported back into the Chibnall Era. No disrespect to Juno Dawson but every character just says exactly what they’re thinking at all times and it is tiresome. This also ties into my biggest problem with this episode: the attempt at political commentary. First of all, I love the sentiment; corporations suck and racism is a ridiculous and vile thing but you can’t change it through violence. Great, love that, but if there’s one thing I can’t stand, it's a bad allegory. This is all so on the nose and hard to take seriously because it’s Orphan 55 levels of just saying s**t to camera.

Didn’t help that this episode did not know what it wanted to be. One second it’s a fun Eurovision parody, the next second it’s Die Hard, then it's an ultra serious political thriller that pushes the Doctor to his limit, then it’s a fun Eurovision parody again. It’s not cohesive and each aspect detracts from the other, losing pretty much all impact. At first, I liked where it was going, the initial attack was masterfully directed and genuinely very tense; I found it especially to be a good subversion of expectations as I didn’t expect anything quite like it from an episode about space Eurovision. But then you hear that nobody’s dead yet and you know they’re all going to be magically fine at the end. Plus, the episode really didn’t keep the tension going, what with its constant genre changes.

I will say that this is by far this season’s best sidecast, with another Slow Horses actor showing up. Kid himself could’ve been a little more explored but what we got was good enough and, whilst they’re basically just convenient plot devices, Gary and Mike were well acted and likable.

Whilst we’re at it, let’s talk about this episode’s conveniences, because there are a lot. The biggest offenders are Mike and Gary magically having the perfect jobs for the situation but there’s also stuff like Kid and Wynn not just wiping out the survivors whilst they had the chance for no reason and Deus ex Susan saving the Doctor from deep space somehow. The actual resolution was fine but I didn’t think the Doctor’s anger was particularly built up; he’s been through worse and been less furious. There have been worse examples of unsatisfying revolutions in RTD’s eras but it’s enough to make the end of the episode not feel earned.

Now, we should probably get onto what will likely be this episode’s claim to fame - it’s twists. First of all, whilst I’m happy she’s returning, Deus ex Susan was done in such a weird, sudden way that it felt more like a jumpscare than a reveal; I mean, that quite literally came out of thin air. As for the Rani, it’s just so utterly predictable and banal. I literally went “yeah, no s**t” when it happened. Also, two seasons of build up and that’s how you’re going to reveal that, randomly in a post-credits scene? Russell’s just become a parody of himself at this point, all of Season Two has basically been a verbatim retreading of the previous one, down to the series arc. However, I’m not going to list these as a negative outright because it really depends on where they go. Yeah, these were awfully constructed reveals uncharacteristic for even RTD but if they go somewhere, I don’t really mind. I really hope they go somewhere.

The Interstellar Song Contest really needed to choose what it wanted to be. A fun run around is alright, and so is a serious political commentary that questions the Doctor’s character, but you can’t just have both, at least not without some masterful tinkering. Its twists are not very turny and its beats are not very surprising, but it’s certainly a fun episode that I can say I enjoyed. Does not change my opinion that I think the script is weak though.

5/10

Pros:

+ Really fun when it wants to be

+ The sidecast felt decently characterised

+ Incredible set and costume design

+ Fantastic direction and cinematography

???

~ The twists really could go either way but aren’t promising as of now

Cons:

- Fails at simple allegory

- Not tonally cohesive

- The dialogue is on the nose and clunky

- Resolved through a series of convenient deus ex machinas

Much of the discussion about this episode is going to be about the big reveals that we get, not one, but two: Carole Ann Ford is back after 42 years as Susan on our tv screens. Mrs. Flood is the Rani (they finally couldn't resist), and she bi-generates which also zero people saw coming. Even without these reveals, I think this episode stands on its own. I am not doubting Juno Dawson again.

The entire atmosphere of the titular song contest is incredibly well-realized and just fun. The episode starts with Rylan walking out of cryogenic suspension asking what year it is and rolling out to do another show. I'm American so I barely know about Eurovision and don't care, but I respect all large events like it that bring people so much joy. This is is summed up perfectly in the interaction where Gary explains to Mike what the contest is about.

Our next storyline is about the fate of Hellia. The only thing missing is the Corporation getting its comeuppance, though we don't meet anybody actually responsible for Hellia's destruction. The scene of the massive crowd of people getting sucked into space was actually terrifying, one of the more unsettling things in show history. In response for Hellia being destroyed, the terrorists want to kill three trillion innocent people. That is obviously a horrific ludicrous response and they are harshly treated by the Doctor. How is killing galaxies of innocent people supposed to hold the Corporation to account? Since we never actually meet this Corporation we can only assume the beautiful final song helps spark a movement against them that isn't about murder. Unlike Kerblam! there is no the 'Corporation is good actually', they are unambiguously evil, but slaughter of innocent trillions in protest is unambiguously evil too.

Centering this episode is just a phenomenal performance by Ncuti Gatwa. He is so excited to be at the song contest, but when he thinks Belinda is dead, we see an angry iciness in him we've never seen before. Belinda is actually horrified, and I think she lets him off the hook way too soon for essentially torturing one of the terrorists for a minute. I think this episode might be some of his best work, and the fact that he sees his granddaughter telling him to stop and keeps going anyway? That's dark.

We're setting up a big whopper of a finale. I suspected Susan had to be back, you couldn't start that plot thread last season and then just drop it. I did not expect Mrs. Flood to be the Rani, but it's funny they finally did it. I really liked the new Rani, but it's a bit sad to see Mrs. Flood just getting ordered around by her now. Does this mean Big Finish can use Siobhan Redmond again?

Overall, I want to commend Juno Dawson for a great episode that has me very excited for this finale.

This is pretty standard fair for a Doctor Who episode. It's fun, but it's far from perfect. While I did come out of this episode having had a pretty good time, a lot of it falls apart a little under scrutiny, and this review will reflect that.

Let's start with the Eurovision concept. This event has never been one I was particularly interested in (though I do have a good amount of knowledge about it on account of a friend of mine loving it), so this episode wasn't one I was really looking forward to. I think the episode succeeded is striking a balance between being exciting for fans of the event without alienating people who don't care for it. I was a little disappointed with the selection of song snippets we got, all of them being very pop-y and only one not being in English (excluding the song at the end, which I'll get to). I would have liked to see rep for one of the countries that always goes for a heavy metal song.

Unfortunately, I don't think this episode really managed to strike a balance between the high energy, fun, campy Eurovision stuff and the darker, more political stuff. It kept bouncing between them, givingme a sort of emotional whiplash. I think it would have worked better if we got the initial shock of everyone getting sucked out into space and then stuck with that vibe until the end.

So let's talk about the darker, more political stuff. I don't know if the writer was trying to write an allegory, but I'd like to give them the benefit of a doubt, because the alternative is ignorance. Unfortunately, the allegory is not a great one to make. Sci-fi racism is always difficult to pull off, and while I appreciate that they didn't try to explain why people don't like the Hellions, their actions and the way the story treats them does exactly what I don't like about scu-fi racism stories.

The villains are flat (because a tragic backstory does not a good villain make). Their motivation is solid - revenge against the corporation that ruined their planet. But by making them take it too far and claim they only do it because they have evil in their heart makes it seem like the story - and the Doctor - is siding with their oppressor. Sure, Cora then goes on to have an emotional song that gets the crowd cheering, but that's not going to fix anything. People who hate Hellions will continue to hate them. Unfortunately, history has shown again and again that oftentimes violence is the best way to cause change. Maybe "acceptable" Hellions like Cora, who have their horns cut and can pass as human (or whatever humanoid species is prolific throughout the galaxy at this point) will be allowed to sing and have rights and whatnot, but ones that are unwilling to conform will continue to deal with prejudice. Or maybe I'm just thinking too hard about this.

Politics aside, I didn't really care for the side characters in this one. They were all extremely one-note. Lynn had no reason to actively save Cora if she hated her, and that thread was never resolved. Mike and Gary were relegated to plot devices, and their introductory squabble was left completely hanging; I think it's possible they were going for a "they remembered why they fell in love in the first place" thing with Gary watching Mike work for the first time, but they didn't continue with that and it's a plot I greatly dislike anyway because it never actually resolves the problem.

Even the stuff I like is tainted. We have another appearance of Catkind, but she's furless and (for some reason) French. The Doctor getting to go dark again and the fear he clearly inspired in everyone but the villain is great, but he talked about it like it was caused by Kid and the "ice [he] put in [his] heart", as if it hasn't been an aspect of his character since forever. Belinda finally got to stand out again, but she has completely lost her dislike for the Doctor - where's the woman who was so offended by him scanning her DNA without consent when he nearly electrocutes a guy to death? Why does she immediately go to hug him after that rather than ripping him a new one?

Then there are the two twists. I'm happy to finally see Susan after all the name-dropping in the last series, but her cameo comes out of nowhere and is incredibly jarring. It's - for lack of a better word - loud. It completely overtakes the episode at some sections.

The Rani reveal made me leap out of my seat and chear and pace across the room. I usually back out of an episode as soon as it ends because I like avoiding the next time trailers, so it was incredibly lucky that I caught a second of this post-credits scene and realised it was still part of the episode. It feels like a really weird choice to put it there. After I calmed down from the hype of my favourite Time Lord appearing on my screen again, I realised what it meant and started feeling dread. Now, my thoughts on this choice could change drastically depending on what actually happens with her during the finale, but I'm very far from optimistic. The Rani has never been interested in world domination or obsessed with the Doctor, and this feels like the way RTD is taking the character, which I'm very much against. The bigeneration was bad enough when the Doctor did it, but this "myth" happening twice in a row is maddening. Mrs. Flood immediately lost all her personality, which makes this reveal even less satisfying than if she had just regenerated normally - and I was so lookingforwardto seeing her take centre stage after so long.

Now come the nitpicks, of which I have two: one, people don't freeze instantly in space. So much of the resolution hinges on this happening which elevates it from a minor niggle to something more groan-worthy. The second is that Cora says she spent "all those years working on this song" and then the song is bad. It's terrible. It's a perfect example of everything I dislike about the genre. Maybe it's a metaphor but it seems to be about love from the few lines we got to hear so I don't think it is. Girl, stick to a language no one understands.

Anyway, my enjoyment of this episode (or lack thereof) is pretty tied to how the finale will end up going. As a standalone, however, the politics are pretty bad (still not as bad as Lucky Day) but it's overall a pretty fun romp, even if my review doesn't show it.

I've been finding it hard to assign this episode a solid rating. On the one hand, I really enjoyed it. I went into it expecting it to just be terrible and, even if it wasn't terrible, I was still not expecting to like it because I didn't think it would have been "for me" as I've never watched Eurovision and couldn't really care less about it. Thankfully, this episode pleasently suprised me, and I felt that it was actually quite an interesting plot with strong characters and (mostly) good pacing. On the other hand, however, I can see that there's some mixed/muddy politics here.

There are other reviews on this site that do a much better job exploring the issues here than I can, but I will try anyway. I really don't like war and violence, so I support the anti-violence message this episode largely gives (although applying this to the real world is, of course, usually much more nuanced), but there's also some messy things with the character of Cora, as working soley within the system is not necessarily a good idea in many cases, and it is important to be able to rebel against problematic systems and institutions, and those that do rebel are painted as villains, which is correct as they try to kill trillions of inocents, but potentially problematic as this is not representative of rebelions as a whole. The episode also seems to suggest that hiding your identity is a good thing, which I also don't necessarily agree with. Moreover, the political commentary doesn't really seem to cleanly end. We don't know what happens to the corporation, or to Hellia, and the Doctor doesn't really make any moves to "fix" the broader situation. On the whole, I think I can see what this episode was going for, but I don't think it quite got there solidly enough, and having it intrinsically tied to Eurovision probably doesn't help. I'm not great with articulating thoughts like this, so I hope all of that made sense and came across cleanly.

Returning to the plot, one reason that I felt that it worked so well was that it was quite simplistic, at its core. I feel that this is in direct contrast to many recent episodes, and I like it. It gives the characters and themes (problematic as they may be) so much more space to breath and be fully explored and, at last in this series, I felt that the episode was quite well paced. The only caviat here is the end, where everything seemed to turn around quite fast and the tone changed a little.

Another criticism that I have of this episode is its treatment of the character of the Doctor. I felt that the level of violence he displays in this episode is in direction contradiction to much of what we know about this character. This could be really interesting, but it just felt so rushed and sudden. There's a line where Belinda says something about the Doctor not being the Doctor (as in, she felt he was acting out of character), and I was completely ready for it to be revealed that the Doctor was a robot or a clone or a hollogram or something but, nope, it was just the Doctor. For an episode that seems to portray an anti-violence message, the Doctor sure is very violent, actually torturing someone, with no consequences. How did they think this was ok!? I feel like they're trying to work up to the Doctor being a bit darker in the finale, but starting this off the episode before just doesn't work. I also felt that the stuff with Susan was a bit out of place, but this doesn't bother me anywhere close to as much.

Then there's the stuff with Mrs Flood or, should I say, the Rani. I haven't really cared about Mrs Flood for any of this era so far, and I still find myself not really caring. There's no enough of it in this episode for me to feel able to judge if it was a good decision. There's also the bigeneration. I'm not really sure what to make of it to be honest.

Finally, I thought that the episode looked great visually. All of the sets looked impecable, and the range of aliens used solely for the background was really good.

Overall, I enjoyed this episode a lot, but its significantly flawed in several ways which, ultimately, brings down my overall ranking of it.

Garbage.

The characters are all cardboard and flat and our main cast is barely 2 dimensional with some of the worst politics we’ve seen while probably well intentioned a Eurovision song saving the day and making all well is incredibly tone deaf when the Hellions are presumably an allegory for Palestine.

The torture scene sticks out as completely out of character for The Doctor even in their darker incarnations let alone Fifteen, I don’t think what Kid did should get that reaction when it was made clear they were all still alive for the time and especially when this is the same man that saved Davros of all people like it just felt unnecessarily cruel like it doesn’t even serve much of a narrative purpose with Belinda who has completely lost any semblance of her character from The Robot Revolution and now exists to be a companion stereotype.

Susan and The Rani are here too I guess in a very jarring way with Susan getting these random flashback things and then that stupid reveal that felt like a dime store YANA reveal especially after all that build up ughh awful stuff.

OK, between this episode and Lucky Day, I'm really struggling to come to grips with the possibility that I might have to start boycotting Doctor Who, because it's tragically clear that the neoliberal/centrist BBC is infecting what used to be a bastion of aggressively radical-leftist programming.

First things first, i get that people can enjoy something at face value based entirely off of the "vibes" of the episode, and yeah, i can't really fault it for being just a really fun, campy romp of an episode, nor can i fault it for pulling off the juxtaposition of going really dark in places pretty well. And the return of Carole Ann-Ford as Susan audibly made me go "OH s**t!" On the surface, it really is an episode that if you shut your brain off and enjoy, you'll get a lot out of it. Unfortunately, sometimes, there are things that are vastly more important than just how well the episode was pulled off from a mindless entertainment perspective.

My primary problem with the episode is that it falls into the same pitfalls as Lucky Day. Sure, Lucky Day tried to make itself seem nuanced in it's takes by pointing a giant finger at the fact that UNIT isn't in any way squeaky clean, but that's how they feel they can justify writing a story that smears anyone who dares to actually hold them to account as a lying grifter who's dangerously out of touch with reality. The Interstellar Song Contest is tragically exactly the same, it wears it's knowledge that the real life Eurovision is complicit in the Palestinian Genocide by way of continuing to platform Israel on it's sleeve (And don't try to imply this episode was written before the genocidal state of Israel became sheer poison, because Eurovision has been under fire from activists for doing this for a lot more years than you might suspect), and makes a suitable allegory in this story as well, with the evil Corporation that sponsors the event having devastated an entire civilization known as the Hellions, and it makes that the forefront of the Villain's motivations for revenge, a traumatized terrorist from that civilization. But ultimately, once again, that's just a way for them to pat themselves on the back for making the "brave" decision to be entirely open about Eurovision's crimes, and using that to make themselves feel justified in painting the villain as a creepy, psychopathic genocider himself who just uses it as an excuse to kill people.

OK, look. I'm well aware that there are people out there like that, but f**king hell, you couldn't have included representation of a protester who isn't a psychopathic monster to show that he's not indicative of the entire movement? And NO, Cora Saint Bavier doesn't f**king count. I'm not ashamed to admit that i absolutely loathed her, because she is the perfect example of what's wrong with this episode. This episode, once again, tries to be nuanced and show that she is indeed a sellout who left her people behind to work with the people who genocided them, and then she goes through this journey where she comes to terms with her heritage, and in the end, she raises awareness of the Corporation's crimes by unashamedly singing a mournful song of her people and trying to turn the tides from inside the system... and it works. All the people in the audience clap and we're left with the message that there is a right way to get justice for the people the Corporation has wronged, and you can do it if you'd simply be willing to put aside your grievances and watch and participate in this inherently flawed system. This resolution can get to f**k.

For one thing, Cora f**king IS a sellout, and no amount of trying to make me sympathize with her as "the good protester" is going to change anything about that. By the end of the episode, she's still choosing to participate in it, and the audience members who clap her bravery like good little fake progressives who like to think they're "#SoWoke" and then turn around and buy £150 worth of H*rry P*tter merch, guess what, they're STILL choosing to give this corrupt, genocidal organization that ravaged her home the time, traffic and money.

And The Doctor! I've thoroughly enjoyed Ncuti's performance in prior episodes, and i was willing to say he was giving Tennant a run for his money, but i hated The Doctor in this episode. I get that attempted genocide is a touchy subject for him, what with his own people, but christ alive, this is a betrayal of The Doctor's character. And i'm not talking about The Doctor's dark nature, New Who loves that s**t and does it to death every opportunity the can, and i've equally loved it when they do, it's just a part of The Doctor. It's because of this that i was really excited when i saw the news story that 15 was going to go really dark in this episode. Then came the actual execution of that scene. The problem i have with The Doctor in this episode is the reason WHY he goes completely apeshit on Kid, that's the part that ruins him here. Yeah, ok, The Doctor might be justified in brutally torturing an attempted genocider, but here's the thing, he's also torturing a genocide survivor, and then he gives special treatment to the Corporation, who are the real genociders. This isn't The Doctor taking a moral stance against genocide, this is The Doctor definitively deciding that one genocide is worse than another, and that, to me, makes him completely irredeemable. It actually makes me miss The Twelfth Doctor, because he would have reserved his anger for Kid, electing that he was just a symptom of this whole genocide business, and absolutely waged war against The Corporation, the actual disease, and anyone who continues to fund or promote it. But, no, as it stands, we now have a Doctor who has definitively taken the side of the Corporation, and brutally and angrily defended it's utterly horrid crimes.

On the whole, this was an episode where the BBC was clearly and cynically trying to get people to watch one of their other programs, and one of their more hard-to-defend ones at that. And, yeah, there are likely going to be a lot of people pointing out that i'm a fool of the highest order for looking for true progressive, socialist, leftist political leanings in a show being pushed by a neoliberal/centrist organization like the BBC, and that there are other episodes in the past that have had iffy politics as well, arguably done even worse than this one, but can you really say that that's a good enough excuse to tell me to switch my brain off and sleepwalk right into any centrist schlock that they try to shove into my face? To not kick up a stink about when they do something I find irredeemably, skin-crawlingly repugnant? To pretend that these issues just don't exist? Would you rather that everyone just lay down and took it, and unintentionally send the message that the BBC can make dangerous mistakes like the one in this episode with absolutely no fear of any kind of pushback? This is why, frankly, I'm starting to become a tad uncomfortable financially and vocally supporting Doctor Who any more.

Oh, and not exactly a criticism of the episode itself, per se, but that ending reveal was the most boring, predictable, uninspired, cliche'd, ill-thought-out conclusion to a story arc that literally every single f**king person and their blind grandmother had already made a half-arsed guess about one and a half year ago.

I really wanted to love this episode, but the "both sides" handling of the political aspects left a bitter taste in my mouth. I'll start out with the positives. I loved how camp the episode was (The Doctor using a confetti cannon to maneuver himself back to the ship was fun), and the fact that there were songs present and that they were actually good. I have much more to say about the negatives. Although the antagonists had valid motivations, destroying the corporation that committed genocide against their people and planet to make profit from stolen natural resources, they were still depicted as mostly one-dimensional terrorists. Obviously their plan to murder three trillion people is horrendous, but the characters and the narrative equate it to the genocide committed by the Corporation (the corporate sponsors of the Interstellar Song Contest) against the Hellions. Although it makes sense to focus more on the acts committed by the main antagonists, the Corporation's crimes are mostly ignored by the characters. Cora is depicted as the "good" Hellion because she protested within the system (again, I think attempting to murder everyone in the universe is awful and I wasn't rooting for the antagonists), but that doesn't detract from how protests that don't attempt to change anything on a systemic level were depicted as superior, and how one song was shown to automatically changing the minds of most people in the audience. Although I love it when the Doctor shows his darker side, the scene of him torturing the kid definitely dragged on a bit too long for it to be in character. For the rest of the season, Belinda hasn't hesitated to criticize the Doctor (which I love), and it felt out of character that she didn't say anything after she saw him torture someone. These last three episodes have been Belinda-lite, which I don't like since she's a very interesting companion in a very short season that I think I would love even more if she had more time on screen. Susan appearing in the Doctor's mind felt a bit out of place. I already saw the leaks about Mrs. Flood being the Rani, but I still don't like the use of bigeneration. That being said, Archie Panjabi is fantastic in the role! I wasn't the biggest fan of it in "The Giggle" but at least it was a one-time thing that made sense since the Doctor went to the end of the universe and certain forces were let in. There was no reason for the Rani to bigenerate. Additionally, Mrs. Flood suddenly becoming subservient when the other version of herself took charge felt out of character.

I don’t think I’m the only one to be thinking of Gaza and other colonized places watching this episode. I think that’s intentional. Helia is very much not Gaza. Nor is it any other specific place and that’s good. Sci-fi and fantasy shouldn’t present us with exact one-to-ones. (In Andor, it is important that Ghorman feels like both France during Nazi occupation and Algeria during French occupation, as Roxana Hadadi wrote in Vulture, because this gets us to deeper truths about power and violence.) But we are asked to think about specifics from our own world because this episode is set at the Interstellar Eurovision.

You have underpowered, marginalized people resorting to terrorism to strike back at the hegemon that ruined their world. Their plan will involve the deaths of innocent civilians. Their target is a live entertainment event. In this light, I wouldn’t blame anyone for thinking of October 7. And if this is meant to be Oct. 7, then of course, the creatives cannot and should not come down on the side of “yeah, that makes sense, do it” however much the episode aims to humanize helions and grapple with their mistreatment.

But here’s where it goes off the rails. Because we are no longer sitting on Oct. 8, pondering the unspeakable violence of the day before. We have seen sustained, indiscriminate violence, justified in Oct. 7’s name, achieve unimaginable death tolls.

By making Helia’s response the outsized response, we have flipped the script. Yes, Helia was burned by capitalist forces. But now the survivors are threatening, effectively, the entire galaxy. We see Helia burning, yes, but we do not see Helians burning. We do not see Helian houses, with entire families inside, reduced to rubble as the song contest promoters cheerfully ask why everyone can’t just get along. While its defenders ask the galaxy not to make it political by mentioning the burning home over there. Violence against Helia is made abstract, while the violence of Helians is made visceral. All those people floating out into space is a horrifying image. We are given no such image of people suffering when it comes to Helia.

Still, there’s more the episode is straining to say here than simply: “You have two options, and you should make change within the system instead of doing a terrorism.” There are shades of gray that could really make this a five-star episode if they were allowed to sit in their ambiguity and discomfort. The Doctor tortures our Helian terrorist. If Helia’s response to their destruction cannot be excused, why is the Doctor’s choice to lash out with violence? If war-crimey violence is not acceptable when a corporation kills your family and you feel alone, why is it acceptable when a terrorist kills your friend and you feel alone? The Doctor should be in handcuffs too. Or neither of them should.

But ultimately, these are the politics of the episode we are given. Not as heinous as Kerblam!, which looks at the camera to say, “Stop complaining about Amazon,” because this episode does want to grapple with the issues it raises. But it ultimately needs a happy, neat ending and isn’t ready to stand in the gray that its subject matter demands.

Episode 6: The Interstellar Song Contest

I miss when doctor who was written by socialists and fundi greens. Not because I think doctor who should be marxist but because these creatives would know better. 70s who would have never got doctor who anywhere near an institution that supports an apartheid fascist state.

I wanted to like this episode more (and I did mostly enjoy the non-political aspects of it!), but the politics ultimately dragged it down for me. Having the plot of "political revolutionary fights back against oppression but they also kill innocent people so they're Evil" is always tone deaf, but considering everything occurring in Palestine over the past few years (and before) and the real Eurovision's refusal to acknowledge it, this struck me as an honestly iresponsible episode to make.

I want Doctor Who to be good and I want to be able to enjoy it in peace but the fact is that something is just deeply wrong here.

This episode had all the makings of being something great and then they completely threw it all away by going in entirely the wrong direction for something like Doctor Who for reasons I can't begin to imagine. I'm not sure how in depth I'm allowed to discuss the political ramifications of this episode safely on here but I feel like you have to be a pretty hateful person to think the Doctor pointlessly torturing Kid as punishment for trying to take revenge for his people and his home planet was acceptable - which the Doctor is actively being a complete hypocrite about by enacting revenge in that moment, not even on behalf of anyone that's actually dead! He's literally wasting time he could be spending getting those people back just to torment a young man for no reason. What were the writers thinking? There are so many times where the Doctor is excessively cruel that make sense and this is not one of those times. Worse still is Belinda's mild reaction to it. What happened to her challenging the Doctor? She doesn't even seem afraid of him which doesn't actually make much sense for her character to me, with the context she's given in that moment and her past experiences and her current situation where she's trapped with the Doctor as her only way home and just... Everything. I can't even wonder what's going through her head because her actions are completely taking me out of it and I can now only wonder what's going through the writers' heads thinking this was a good idea. They really fell off with this one, bad. It feels like a betrayal.

On the bright side the Rani reveal was so satisfying after waiting and theorizing about her for so long. I'm curious to see where we can go with TWO Ranis going forward. The production value was also great visually and the songs weren't completely unbearable this time, so, hey. Credit where it's due. I'm miffed that the Rani and Susan were wasted on such a disappointing episode, but I assume we'll be seeing more of both of them.

Yeah the reveals were amazing, both Susan and the Rani are back!

We see the darkest side of this Doctor yet, which I really liked, although I hope there will be some sort of consequence to his actions in the next episodes. As this is something akin to the 10th Doctor imprisoning the Family of Blood or even the 7th Doctor blowing up Skaro (in terms of acting out of the Doctor oaths, not in terms of scale, obviously). I mean, Kid tried to kill 3 billion people yeah, but he was also victim of genocide (which reminds me of the discourse surrounding Kerblam!) so I hoped there would have been a more nuanced political statement in this episode. I hope the Hellian situation gets another episode so we can tackle these (relevant to our times) topics further and deeper.

Belinda was great here too, she got some really great scenes, especially reacting to the Doctor's madness.

I really liked this one, when Susan appeared I actually screamed hahaha

PS: Just to clarify, I think this episode tackled the political topics much much better than Kerblam! (not hard I know), I just would have liked a deeper commentary on the genocide and the fearmongering surrounding the Hellian people (I'm not expecting Doctor Who to be Andor, although it could work very well, RTD get Tony Gilroy in Season 3 pls). Although what we got was good, I understand this episode is an introduction to the two part finale and it did its job wonderfully!

Lets just sing a sad song and do nothing about the power structures ruining people’s lives. Btw: the oppressed people are the bad guys for being upset about it (and you can’t feel weird about that cause look at all the people we had them kill to make them seem more evil)!

Really didn’t like this one. At all. Susan and the Rani and Graham Norton were very nice surprises, but it doesn’t save the episode at all for me.

Out of all of the Season Two episodes, Interstellar Song Contest was the one I was most apprehensive about. I'm not a fan of Eurovision, I find it too camp and tacky, and I hate that the voting is so political. The idea of a Eurovision-themed Doctor Who episode understandably didn't thrill me. However, as more information about the episode came out, the more curious I became in what the episode entailed, and the result is not only the best episode of Season Two, but the best episode of RTD2 overall.

This episode is ridiculously ambitious. Whilst the claims that the episode contains four songs are stretching it a little as most of them are small snippets with one full number at the end, and it's a shame we still don't have a musical episode of Doctor Who, I still can't believe how much we got in this episode. This is the most expensive Doctor Who has ever been, and the Disney money has never been more evident than it is here. The scope of the Harmony Arena is breathtaking; it's a massive and impressive combination of CGI with what is obviously in reality a much smaller set. Not to mention that the audience and alien competitors are comprised of tons of people in prosthetics. At times, it feels like watching an episode of a big-budget American streaming series on Disney Plus or Netflix.

As much as it captures the camp and cringey feel of Eurovision, the Eurovision theming only really plays a small part in the episode. The main plot is much more like Die Hard, concerning the Doctor fighting against an extra-terrestrial terrorist called Kid whose actions are driven by vengeance against the corporation funding the song contest. For an episode that was being billed as basically being 'the Eurovision one', it's surprisingly dark. Kid's main plan is to kill trillions of people through a delta wave, making him easily one of the biggest threats this Doctor has faced.

It's why I don't find the Fifteenth Doctor's outburst out of place. Kid's scheme is so horrific that I can buy that he would lose it and not only threaten to eject him into space and watch as he freezes to death, but proceed to torture him in the gallery. I love when we get to see this Doctor's darkest moments, as Ncuti Gatwa plays it so well, and it's a reminder of how powerful and dangerous the Doctor can be when he becomes your enemy. As Belinda notes, the Doctor can be both 'the most amazing man' and scary, and he needs his companions like Belinda to hold him back.

Speaking of companions, it's fantastic to see Susan Foreman come back, and played by Carole Ann Ford again. Seeing her come back in this episode was a real shock, and such an excellent moment. I really hope we see her again in a future episode, because there's so much storytelling potential in a proper reunion between the Doctor and Susan, given that he left her and never returned as he promised.

Best of all is the Mrs Flood reveal. Since she was first introduced in The Church On Ruby Road, I have thought she was the Rani, because so much of Anita Dobson's camp and theatrical performance reminds me of Kate O'Mara. To finally have these suspicions confirmed is fantastic, and unlike other fans, I think Anita Dobson has been perfect casting so far. I don't know much about Archie Panjabi as an actor, but she certainly looks the part of the Rani, and seemed promising in the limited screentime she has in the mid-credits scene. The Rani's return has been long overdue though and I'm glad they have finally got the rights issues sorted.

A special mention must be given to Rylan Clark-Neal, who is amazing in this episode. Given that he is mostly known as a TV presenter, I wondered how he would fare in an acting role. Rylan Clark-Neal is a natural thought, and his confusion and shock at seeing the audience be sucked into space really sells the horrific nature of Kid's masterplan. I'm surprised Graham Norton didn't have a larger role as I thought we would hear him providing commentary on the different planets' songs, but he is relegated to a hologram in a museum dedicated to the song contest, which is unexpected, but he does well with the material he is given.

Overall, I'd give Interstellar Song Contest a 10/10. Whilst the claim that it features four songs is a bit of a stretch, it's still an impressively ambitious episode, and unlike The Devil's Chord, it doesn't play it safe. Interstellar Song Contest is a dark episode with a villain who pushes Ncuti Gatwa's Doctor more than any other he has met so far, and is packed with some great surprises that it's sure to be an episode that will be fondly remembered by the fandom for years to come.

i'm still not over the fact that the cliffhanger leading up to the finale was an ominous graham Norton hologram. However Susan reappearance in 2025!!!! my absolute favourite scene from this episode has to be when Belinda was having a full on meltdown whilst the f**kass duggadoo song blasted in the background. absolute peak camp.

Another episode of tasteless, offensive messaging. Coming just two weeks after the mess that was Lucky Day, it’s somewhat concerning. But, in my opinion, Lucky Day’s optic missteps pale in comparison to the inherently anti-resistance messaging that The Interstellar Song Contest is rife with. And no matter when the episode was written, it is nearly impossible to not view it today as a hamfisted allegory to the genocide in Palestine.

Framing individuals who suffer through violent colonization and racism as villains with a cartoonishly evil plan (three trillion people!) is ignorant at best, downright harmful at worst. In this story, resistance is terrorism; and the harmful status quo isn't questioned, it is merely stated. The fact that the Doctor never even condemned the corporation, didn’t try to destroy it, and then at the end sat back down and watched the rest of the contest? Unbelievable. (And the trope of ‘singing a song to make it all better’ was grating and childish.)

I’m all for the Doctor going to dark places, it’s part of what makes them an interesting character. However, the scene of actual physical torture in this episode felt wildly out of the blue. It makes me think back to another time the Doctor resorted to physical torture: in Dalek, the Doctor electrocutes the dalek out of an intense emotional reaction from coming face to face with a species that tried to commit genocide against the Time Lords. That moment was completely earned and, crucially, interrogated by the narrative itself; the Doctor realizes himself by the end of the episode, with Rose’s help. In this episode, the Doctor only stops the torture when Belinda walks in—he feels a sense of shame, I suppose, for showing this side of himself to her, when he’s been busy putting up a ‘travelling with me is fun’ front. But it isn’t really brought up after that? We’ve got people who saw the Doctor—a stranger to them!—literally torture a person then say to him “I’d go anywhere with you.” It makes no sense. There should have been far more reaction to this moment, from the Doctor and every other character in the room.

There’s a lot more to be said about this one, but I’m tapping out here. I don’t care about the Rani, whatever. Susan’s appearance was neat. The visuals were solid. Some individual lines were quite amusing. A few good moments here and there. But, honestly, there’s really nothing to redeem the episode—I don’t think there ever could be.

Seems to be the most divisive of the season so far, it worked for me for the most part. Juno Dawson, you are more than welcome to come back when the runtimes of the episode are a bit longer, or when you're not being bogged down by the series arc. A longer run time would've made the episode's politics a bit clearer, especially The Doctor's stance on his part in it towards the end. The moment is represented as reprehensible and an incorrect response to the complexities of the situation. However, I think it also has the tricky job of balancing the sci-fi of it all with the very real connotations. The response the Doctor has to Kid isn't a planned move, he is angry because he thinks Belinda has died - a trait we know the Doctor has, it's massively present throughout most of his modern incarnations. The drastic number of 3 trillion is also hanging in the balance - absolutely catastrophic stakes. I do think though, this moment (as much as I enjoy it as an isolated character piece) forgets the context it has set up for itself. Kid is a victim of corporate genocide and has been villainised across the universe, I don't agree that torturing him is the correct look for The Doctor, who is also a victim of genocide which we are reminded of in this episode! It's also a shame that we don't see much of a response from Belinda to this moment, I think it would've been very interesting to see her resort back to the hesitations she had at the beginning of the season just after proclaiming how wonderful he is. I like it when heroic figures perform morally reprehensible acts, it creates good drama - as long as there are proper consequences faced, and we just don't get that. By the end, Dawson makes a pretty clear stance on her politics - remarking that genocide is bad, no matter who does it or for what reason and that there should always be a better way to go about things. I would hope that we get to see more of a follow up to the events of this story, The Doctor grappling with his actions, and the corporation facing dire consequences - but I don't think we will. This being the penultimate story of the season before the 2-parter finale put it in a weird spot, where the show tries to say something meaningful but is stalled by Carol Anne-Ford aura farming in the TARDIS and Mrs Flood's bi-generation (are we seriously still doing this??).

The bits that worked for me were really fun and memorable and even though it was a bit muddled, the politics made a stronger stance than they would've in a lesser story. Ncuti and Varada continue to be great and I still think this season is miles beyond where we were last year. Let us just hope it sticks the landing.

Truly awful episode. Very obviously an allegory for the Palestinian genoside and tries to claim both sides are just as bad as each other. If the show had any self-introspection at all it could have been a story about how being anti-violence can lead to you supporting some heinous stuff but no it plays it completely straight. The production design was good and had some entertaining moments however I cannot give any episode that supports ethnic cleansing more than the minimum rating.

I have been so tempted to let 1000+ words flow from me in a review of this episode. But I'm not going to. Because doing so will get entirely into (hopefully) unintended messaging the episode holds upon inspection that is frankly gross, and should not be touched within an episode that is also trying to do a lighthearted campy adventure. That is entirely the fault of the episode by not treating the serious subject matter with the care and nuance that it deserves. But I choose to leave it at this, to not dig into the rot that appears if you extend the analogy of Palestine going on beyond the confines of the message about Eurovision's enabling of genocide. Because that message is an extremely potent one that has brought me to tears both times I've watched.

Whether or not the story of Kid is also supposed to be an analogy is a pit I do not want to dive into to see the ugliness at the bottom, but regardless, the episode's focus on the terrorism of the victims of genocide, rather than on the suffering of the genocide victims themselves is an extremely poor decision at this time in our history. And for the plot to treat the terrorists with so little nuance, with absolutely no sympathy or apologies from the doctor after being tortured by him. Forgiveness and compassion has always been who the doctor is but there is none of it.

I choose to believe that any parallel between that messaging and our real world was an unintentional, misguided decision. And I choose to enjoy this episode for all the otherwise wonderful emotional beats and side characters it has going for it and it's notionally pro-Palestine message. Cora's song was genuinely a gorgeous piece that I'm honestly surprised got past any Zionist censors at the BBC or Disney. This is an episode I could easily rate very highly or very lowly, and I choose to leave it in that limbo so as to not delve into rot.

Hate to be hater, but honestly, what the Hellian was that?!?!!?

I dunno if it was the worst Doctor Who episode I've ever watched in nuwho, but it's definitely between the worst of the worst

What on earth Juno had on her mind writing Kid that way? He's cause is so goddamn legitimate, but no, she had decided going the lazy way and write him as a genocidal terrorist. Like, Poppy Honey wouldn't suffer anything from his plan, since he decided to transmit the rehersal. That company was still gaining a shitload of money, while he was hellbent on commiting genocide of trillions of spectators, of workers, across the galaxy. Honestly, Juno's commentary on the episode just goes on the wrong way in so many levels and the ultra campy tone of the episode just distracts us from the deep flaws on the the script. And don't get me started on the attrotious Rani reveal, that not only was badly executed, but it was badly built upon to.

This shitshow was basically a Kerblam 2, but WAY worse

Honestly, I don't want to see Juno Dawon involved in Doctor Who ever again

Very conflicted writing this review, and it has taken some hours for me to consider and unravel what I think this episode was trying to go for.

First, I think that the fun and camp elements of the episode are handled really well. The setting is brilliant, and the premise works well. Eurovision can be a great bit of fun, and to me, it makes perfect sense to see this play out on such a grand scale. The world is built nicely, and it has markings of something really great and fun. Additionally, its nice to see that they aren't shying away from the darker truths behind Eurovision too, and that they also condemn its sponsors, and it's political stances.

And even when things take a darker turn, I think there's a lot to commend - the tonal changes work well to me. The stark contrast makes it feel even more surreal, and I think there's something fantastic about how strange it feels. There are some absolutely brutal moments in it, which are dark and terrifying.

But its these ideas where I become more conflicted. As soon as we look at Kid's motivation, the politics begin to feel iffy. Particularly, the Doctor's response to this is not handled well. Kid is the victim of a genocide throughout this, and while it's made clear that he should be prevented from committing this terrorist act, the torture he is put through by the Doctor is not properly addressed. The Doctor felt incredibly out of character in his attack there - of course, the Doctor has saved the day, but in this personal torture of the victim of a genocide feels wrong. Here, a lot of the good will for an episode which handled a critique of Eurovision well, is lost.

Furthermore, the interspersed clips of Susan feel very forced in this episode. At this point, its great to see her again, but they took me out of the episode very quickly.

And then we get to the mid-credits scene. And yes, the Rani is back. And its the most rushed introduction ever - this should have been incorporated further into the episode, to give much more breathing space - why was this reveal not in front of The Doctor too? In a split second, the new Rani is introduced and Mrs Flood's identity revealed, and bam - its over as soon as its began. Feeling very tacked on, and incredibly forced.

Disney Who Review #6

The Interstellar Song Contest

I really really loved this episode. As a eurovision fan I've always wanted doctor who x Eurovision but never saw it happening. Then suddenly it happens. I loved the reveal of The Rani and I thought Kid was a great villain. It set up the finale so well and I can't wait to see what happens with Susan. 10/10

WELL .

So first of all, Rani return. I've been in these trenches for 5 years and others have been here far longer, I'd like to congratulate everyone on the one time we've been right about a character being the Rani since 2005.

Beyond that... Jesus Christ. The Interstellar Song Contest is an entertainingly-written episode, with some pretty strong moments.

It also has some godawful politics. I'm not trying to say Doctor Who is never political (objectively untrue statement), nor is it a terrible surprise that the message lands somewhere between "horrifically tone-deaf" and "outright bad" (neither are without precedent). Still, for a story that feels like is was written by someone who understands Israel's links to Eurovision - like with the Poppy Honey/Moroccan Oil parallels - I truly cannot fathom how they ended up at "the Doctor can beat a guy up with no real consequences and have the people who's home was razed to the ground tried singing about it?"

I am being slightly overly harsh with my rating as there is one very, very specific section of this episode that I can't help but hate conceptually so much so that it almost entirely overshadows and drags the story down. Perhaps I'm allergic to fun, I don't know, but the reveal of the Rani made me audibly wince. It is astounding how the show treats such an event so backhandedly- there is no reason it couldn't have been tacked onto the next episode. There's a giant amount of breathing room that's needed for me to accept it, one that simply wasn't provided by the episode itself. Bi-generation being treated as suitably fantastical for the Fourteenth/Fifteenth Doctor, said to be a myth, essentially rewarded to the Doctor as a result of battling the Toymaker- is now casually being thrown at the Rani, of all people? Thank you for dismantling the concept into something almost mundane, I guess. I'm hoping the next episode does something to justify it, but it currently leaves a bitter taste in my mouth for the episode as a whole.

I found this one to be a bit middling, unfortunately. It was a great spectacle, a lot of excellent set pieces, some neat effects, and of course the return of both Susan and the Rani -- but unfortunately, there wasn't a lot of meat to the plot and it ended up delivering quite a reductive message about activism. Did not enjoy that the two sides of the coin were mass murder on the scale of trillions OR singing a song about your destroyed world. I recognize that this length of episode doesn't lend itself well to nuance, but c'mon. The side characters were a bit flat as well, aside from Cora.

On the positives, got a bit of a darker Doctor moment here than we've had for most of Gatwa's run, which I enjoyed. We also got a very camp moment with the confetti cannon, though I would suggest that it didn't need to be quite so lampshaded. The soundtrack was great, as one would hope from a Eurovision-themed episode, and I thought that the various alien designs were done well, too. I can certainly see how this became the most expensive episode of the show, but sadly 'more expensive' doesn't always mean 'better.'

Also, Trion mention! Turlough fans rise up!

I had a great time watching this story - it was camp, it was exciting, there were lore implications, there was a big message behind it.

I think the message was a bit muddled, which is why so many people saw the opposite of what this episode was trying to say, but I believe it was done with good intentions.

Definitely one I will keep revisiting.

J'ai adoré.

Mais le plus gros problème de The Interstellar Song Contest c'est que même si l'épisode est assez brillant et porté par la rage de deux hommes rongés par leur traumatisme il nous faudra quand même plus qu'une seule chanson face aux patrons, aux fafs et leur monde atroce.

Après c'est peut être la limite de Doctor Who au final.

This one is frustrating in so many ways. While I enjoyed it, I thought for every great bit, we got, we followed it up with something really bafflingly. Let’s go through this one step by step, shall we?

One of the biggest Things was the handling of its political Commentary, and I am not sure. While I appreciate that it wasn’t glossed over to be like “Yooo Space EuroVision!! Isn’t that super great!!”, I think the handling of it left me a bit iffy. I think BSCTDrayden's Review described my Thoughts on it the best, so I probably leave it at that (for now at least).

As far as the Story went, I did enjoy it, with one big Drawback. As I said, every time I really started to like the Episode again, there was something to punch me away from it. Like for example, I really liked seeing 15 getting brutal on Kid, it’s interesting to see his Rage, which with this Doctor, we sadly haven’t got that much sadly. Ncuti pulls it off well! But then despite Berlinda seeing this, we never get a Moment with her, where she says “Hey what you did there was overboard”, despite her being shown as a Character that will call out the Doctor in her first Episode. That’s an Aspect with her Character that kinda went lost the further we went, which realizing it makes me quite sad.
On the other Hand, I really enjoyed the Performance that the Actress who played Cora did. There are some Things about her Character which I am not quite sure about and wish was fleshed out more, but sadly didn’t. Still I liked her for the most Part and thought the Bits and Pieces they did with her were interesting. That Song at the End was also actually pretty good! While I understand Disappointment from people expecting more Songs or full Songs, I am actually happy that we didn’t get that, since my Faith in Russel or Gold delivering great Lyrics is on an ultimate Low. Outside of Cora’s Song, I enjoyed the one from those Duggado’s.

There are some great Bits with Berlinda here, for example when she meets Cora and that Producer(?) Guy and starts to feel overwhelm by the Possibility of her being stranded there. While acted perfectly from Varada, I wish we got Moments like this more often. So while I appreciated it here, it didn’t fully win me over.

As far as the Side casts goes, I thought they were decent. I enjoyed Gary and Mike, but they did kinda felt like Character who were mainly there to do Thing A or B later down the line. I liked that we set up a Conflict between the two with their first Scene, but nothing gets done with it? No pay-off. No acknowledgement. Which is a shame, honestly.
As far as costuming, Production Value and Directing goes. I thought all of it was really well done here for the most Part. Some Shots looked wonky, but I can look past that.
And again lots of great Scenes thrown here, I mentioned a few, but there was also the one with 15, who is flying through Space, which I thought was enjoyable.

Now to the Reveals, starting off with Susan. I must admit, after all the teasing we had about her lately (at least in Series 14), I was very cautious and didn’t think we would see her again. So I am very glad to be proven wrong, and it’s still Carol Ann no less! She looks still fabulous, and I am very glad it’s her! How she was used here as a Moral Guide for 15 was interesting, even if it felt a bit ‘out of nowhere’ to me. Now I am very anxious about a possible Return in the Finale, which seems given for various Reasons. I really hope we leave it vague when their last meeting (between Susan & the Doctor), I don’t think you need to clarify: “Oh I haven’t seen you since you were William Hartnell”. Not only because I think the EU really helped her to become an even greater Character (I do like her in the TV Show, but she really got the shortcut compared to other Companions in the early Days), but also because it’s been a while either way. I think you can still do a touching Reunion, but for now that’s all very speculative about a whole other Episode, so we’ll see.

Now to the other big Reveal: The Rani. Oh for ■■■■ sake. Look, I don’t mind the Idea of the Rani coming back. Both Anita and Archie can do a great Job, I am sure. But.. I am not going to lie. I am simply not a Fan whenever RTD tries to do a Finale with a Classic Villain outside the Daleks . I will give him the benefit of the doubt, maybe somehow he will wowe, but will I be holding Hope for that? Eh. And the entire bigenerating Bit too! Look I wasn’t a Fan of it already in the Giggle, but I gave that one a bit of a pass since I thought it was a one time thing but apparently not. It just felt random and unnecessary. Again, I will reserve Judgment when the Finale comes around, but considering my Track Record with RTD Non-Daleks Finale.. yeah I am not sure I will like what we will get.

And I think that’s all for now. There is probably a lot more that I could discuss, and I am sure I might adjust a few Bits here whenever I get around to do it as a ‘proper’ Review, but yeah. While enjoyable, its weaker parts really put it down for me. And the big reveal really didn’t fill me with Excitement like it did for many others.

Juno Dawson promised a mix of Eurovision and Die Hard... and she wasn't lying.

Her scripting here balances a very fine line between acknowledging the joy and comfort that Eurovision brings to its audience (in particular its LGBTQ+ audience), and acknowledging its use as political whitewashing for totalitarian nations. It's along the same lines as a Pete McTighe story in how it tries to present both sides of the issue, except this doesn't hold back or directly point out one or the other as the 'bigger' evil. Cruelty is cruelty, whether it's for corporate gain or misplaced revenge, and the fact that it even pulled the Doctor himself into that spiral is both effective and genuinely scary. That Susan cameo does a lot to apply the groundwork for just how dark he goes here, and while I think it's brushed off a little too quickly, Ncuti absolutely nails it.

From the tension-building to the smaller character beats to the sheer scale of it all (that dome opening had me completely slack-jawed; even Voyage Of The Damned didn't threaten this big of a body count, and that's before the delta wave is introduced... nice Parting Of The Ways reference, by the way), this is really damn good.

And then the mid-credits scene happened.

Now, I unfortunately had the big reveal spoiled for me ahead of time (bloody Twitter trending topics, I swear I'll learn my lesson one of these days), but I was honestly kind of psyched about it. I drew up a little wish list of things I wanted to see return in Season Two, and sure enough, the Rani is on that list. I like her reveal here... but why, oh WHY, did it have to be another bigeneration?! I was willing to work with it in Fourteenth's case, as that was probably the only incarnation of the Doctor that it made any narrative sense for, but here? No dice. It's just irritating and puts a bad taste on the end of what is otherwise a pretty damn good episode. It also makes me a bit worried about the two-part finale, even though I'd been looking forward to it up to this point.

I don’t want to watch a show with characters like this. Doctor Who was supposed to be better than this. It was supposed to be about people who gave a s**t about what was going on around them. Belinda’s personality is completely gone, to the point where I’m genuinely considering whether we'll find out that she’s under some kind of mind control tomorrow. In this episode that’s at least somewhat about corporate involvement in genocide all she seems to care about is The Doctor. I simply don’t buy their relationship here, and if I did I would hate it because it has the effect of making the participants completely uninteresting. I don’t think it’s too much to ask that there be some goddamn character drama, or that the someone who in her first episode was disconcertingly willing to sacrifice herself for strangers and called the Doctor dangerous for testing her DNA without permission would respond to him torturing someone Dr. Gorst style with nothing but a hug and a token note of concern (for him, of course. Caring about that other genocide survivor isn’t relateable enough or something). The politics were bad but in an extremely boring way. Society has moved past the need for Revolutionary With Valid Points Who Then Threatens To Kill A Bunch of People For No Reason.

Honestly, I was looking forward to this episode. I genuinely enjoyed every episode of the season thus far, and was very optimistic about this one. However, I cannot in good conscious give the episode a rating higher than the lowest available option. The actual plot was average at best, with good visuals. The Rani reveal felt thrown in and half-baked, and I'd almost rather they wait until the next episode to do it. Not to mention, the bi-regeneration concept was terrible the first time around, and was supposed to be this 'mythical' event, and has now happened twice. It is just poor writing.

Now, the main issue with the episode is the utter slap-in-the-face it is to genocide victims across the globe. In this episode, The Doctor, completely out of character, tortures a genocide survivor who is grieving with the fact that this injustice has been done to their people. Never in the show has The Doctor deliberately tortured someone, much less someone who was unarmed and grieving, only to receive praise from the companion who watched it happen. It fundamentally misunderstands The Doctor as a character. Not to mention, with the ongoing genocide in Gaza, it is just unacceptable for this to have been allowed to air in the first place. In the episode, the message is that genocide survivors feelings are invalid, and they should pursue unconventional means to achieve their goals, such as singing. As a descendant of survivors of the Armenian Genocide, I watched in horror as my favorite show dumbed down my family's generational trauma to something that can be resolved by simply singing a song, and my comfort character torturing a genocide victim. I cannot even begin to imagine how disgusted any Palestinian person must have felt watching this episode. Personally for me, I think this is the end of my time watching the show. I may finish out the season, just to see if The Doctor faces consequences for his abhorrent actions, but other than that I think I am done. As someone who has watched nearly the entirety of Doctor Who going all the way back to 1963, it pains me to say this. However, if the BBC stands by this story, Doctor Who is no longer the show I love.

The BBC needs to issue a public apology for this episode immediately. The message is disgusting and everyone involved in writing it should be ashamed of themselves.

First review! Yippee!
I genuinely really enjoyed this story, despite its one giant flaw. If you've seen the episode, you know what I'm talking about. But despite that, I had a great time, and the story has become a favorite because of its sheer campness. Dugga doo my beloved. Space Eurovision my beloved.

Much has been written about this highly controversial and contentious episode, which arguably has failed it's audience politically more than any episode since the seminal "Kerblam!" The episode equally succeeds and fails massively: Despite featuring the best looking special effects in Doctor Who history, the surprise return of Susan, and a earth-shattering performance by Ncuti Gatwa, the episode can't overcome it's ridiculous messaging, which is poor storytelling even disregarding it's frankly enormous political implications. It is impossible to ignore the vacuous simplicity of "Kid's" character, a growingly concerning trope in the current age of media of the "activist" going wrong. Kid attempts ultracide in this episode for a reason that doesn't make any sort of legitimate sense -- Does he really think that all of this will fall back on the "Corporation" and not the person who sabotaged the station and attempted to murder uncounted people? From a strict sense of what I can tolerate watching, it's not even the worst part of the episode, an honor which goes to it's hideous post-credit sequence.

However.

And this is a big however. I am being fully serious, and I don't want to seem like I'm doing an ironic bit here.

The episode does in fact have Dugga Doo in it.
Which surely earns it some points.

Eh. Was expecting more from Juno Dawson, since she's written some great expanded media stuff. But this just didn't really work for me.

It feels far too rushed, with too much going on. Exposition is through the roof, and every character just happens to be absolutely perfect to help save the day, it's just so contrived.

A boring villain, and while there's a message there, it's again on the nose.

Rylan was fun!

Also the cameo from a certain character felt like pure fan service and unneeded. Then the reveal of another character just felt so flat and drab? Who cares? Was anyone asking to bring back that villain really?

Roll on the finale I guess?

Desperate to know the lore behind frozen Rylan. In the timeline of this episode, the Earth is destroyed in 2025, so he must have been cryogenically frozen before that point. By whom, for what reason, and with what technology? Is he even a human being? Fingers crossed these get addressed in the next season or the show is truly done for.

So glad I did not see any of the leaks because oh my god Susan! I was very happy to see her again. I share the opinion that the political elements felt a little too muddled to me. The episode itself was a bit underwhelming but I thought the side characters were great, especially the gay couple. I thought Belinda was a little too forgiving about the whole torture thing, I think it would have been really cohesive if after the Doctor’s remark about her liking traveling with him to have that contrast of her being reminded who he can be. And then the Rani! Not a fan of Bigeneration being used again (please let it die RTD) but was not expecting that at all.

Prerequisites: The Robot Revolution, for context for Belinda.

The Interstellar Song Contest is fairly mediocre, but it isn't unwatchable by any means. The premise itself is actually pretty fun, and something the franchise has actually attempted before (on audio format). There are a few things I really liked here. The setting was fun, and I always appreciate it when a Who episode dives into the Doctor's flaws as a character. Done properly, it can make them seem much more fleshed-out, and even build future character arcs. Here, I think the setup was mostly fine, and almost killing three trillion innocents is certainly enough to draw the Doctor's ire. However, I don't think that this episode fully confronts the Doctor with his actions. He certainly has dialogue where he talks about how he "scared himself", but it was barely a moment given to what should honestly be a fair chunk of the episode. Think back to Series 3, where so much of the Family of Blood two-parter is about how the Doctor knows what he's capable of, and desires to avoid it sometimes. Here, there's none of that, and it's disappointing. Add in some pretty iffy political allegories (especially with the actual Eurovision controversy and all), and this episode was never going to rise about 'eh'.

are we serious? i like juno dawson but this is the most out of touch doctor who has been in years.

im interested in the rani stuff for next ep but this episode? are we serious

Honestly I didn't hate this episode, but I don't feel comfortable giving it anything above half a star because of that awful messaging it carries

Yet another Fifteenth Doctor banger. The vibes and messaging for this entire episode are great, the sets are beautiful, and the story is top notch. I really hope that we get more from Juno Dawson.

A+.

WOW. OKAY. I AM STUNNED. 👏👏👏👏

No notes.

I need a lie down. But also WHAT AN EPISODE!!!

That was magnificent- it was silly and camp, and dark and the threat of the world was at stake

This is the Doctor Who I remember but with a significantly higher production value.

Oh RTD, please do not fluff the finale

OH THIS WAS INTERSTELLAR THIS WAS OMG I OMG I NEED TO WATCH IT AGAIN

My half-star goes to the appearance of Graham Norton 🥳

The meme is dead, long live the meme

good episode, good doctor characterisation (yayy when he's evil <3), really bad politics despite the writer being vocally pro-palestine

Pretty good episode. I WAS hoping we'd get like, some spectacular over-the-top moment where the Doctor sings, buuuut I still enjoyed it a lot. And that ENDING THO???

a completely camp mess of an episode! that’s it that’s the review

Doctor Who: The Gatwa Years Series 15 Ep 6

OH MY GIDDY AUNT SUSAN IS BACK! AND SO IS THE RANI! RTD YOU ABSOLUTE MADMAN

Cowardly episode.

So much to unpack! Nice seeing the Doctor’s dark side again, and the reveals were great! Shame that the actual plot of the episode was a little uninspired, and Kid wasn’t more fleshed out.

el episodio, particularmente, no es malo, pero es muy predecible.

ahora bien, la escena a mitad de los créditos es una cátedra de cómo desperdiciar un personaje y una revelación, ni siquiera era necesario introducir una nueva actriz 🙄

WHAT THE F*** DO YOU MEAN IT'S ACTUALLY THE RANI???