Overall I had quite a bit of fun with The Robot Revolution.  Belinda gets a great introduction even if the dynamics around her mystery feel very familiar to Clara.  I love the look of the Robots and their alien world feels very fleshed out and well realized through production.  The story felt a little too simple and over-explained.  I didn't hate the idea of an incel taking over this world and obsessing over Belinda - it wasn't a bad idea for a story - but I definitely didn't need the story to explain itself so explicitly.  By outright saying they were riffing on the incel online phenomenon, I feel like production instantly dated their own episode and it isn't going to age the story well or give it a timeless feel to it.  Still it was a lot of fun overall and definitely left me excited for the rest of the season.  As a companion introduction story it is very, very successful in that regard.

I do also love how Who stories in the RTD2 era feel so big and expansive.  Every story really feels like it has these layers to it.  The Doctor spending all this time on this world building up a revolution gave the setting a lot more weight than it would have as a one-off location otherwise.  I love the implied relationship he had with Sasha 55.  It reminds me of a few plot lines from the Invincible comics, as well as the energy and what I liked about Joy to the World.  Every adventure with the 15th Doctor feels big and significant because we really take our time getting to know our setting and how our main characters are responding to it, which is something that gives each episode a lot of weight and significance to it that feels much more rare in pretty much every other era of Doctor Who - even compared to most Classic Who stories.

astonishingly broken script

Going to go through in bullet points because my thoughts are kind of scattered on this.

1. Immediately confused by the implication that the Doctor killed a bunch of people on life support when he blew the power grid to the hospital.
2. I wish there was more time for us to think that MissBelindaChandra One was utopic before disrupting that perception, even if we know deep down that something has to be wrong for the story to work. The immediacy of a lot of the pacing doesn't give us enough time as an audience to really get to grips with everything and everyone, especially characters that are going to die in two minutes. This is a trend that we saw start in Joy to the World (where we are introduced to side characters less than 10 minutes before their departure) that has been carried on into this series. There's a similar thing with Manny with whom you can tell that they've gone a bit too heavy-handed with the 'Queen Belinda' stuff so early on, to the point where we really didn't need the 'This is all your fault, Queen Belinda' ADRed over during the scene where the base is compromised: the look on his face was enough to convey his hatred to be honest.
3. The AI Generator is a dumb name for an AI Generator, even despite the twist. A lot of the sci-fi-esque names in this are pretty generic and unmemorable, except from the planet name itself being MissBelindaChandra One.
4. I feel like they did a decent job of establishing Belinda's character, she doesn't seem super unique from past companions, but I do prefer her to Ruby already in terms of characterisation, and she does take as much agency as she is afforded early on, which is important. She also reacts semi-realistically to events and revelations. Something feels a bit off about the line delivery but that's nothing we haven't seen in pretty much every episode over the last 7 years. So far this is a pretty good introduction.
5. The pop-culture references don't feel as bad as from what I remember of last year, but 'yass queen' did hurt my soul a bit.
6. Since they said that she is a Queen by name only, I don't understand why they would listen to her when she says not to shoot the rebels, surely they would take her and then also shoot the rebels anyway.
7. Planet of the Incels line made me want to die inside, it was just too much, the implication was quite clear without it.
8. They finally gave him some flaws, yay! And she doesn't like him by the end of the episode. This is a genuinely good jumping off point for the series to come, and I look forward to her challenging him more. And the ending was really ominous.

The TV series continues to be amazing. This might be the best companion introduction that the series has ever seen, expertly establishing what makes Belinda compelling and interesting.

A+. Maybe S.

New who's Pirate Planet.

loved seeing jonny green but i really wish he wasn't an incel... rtd bring back tyler steele

I thought the premise was fun, I generally liked the narrative and the setup of the new companion. There were some interesting dynamics between her and the Doctor that I'm excited to see explored more. I feel like there are similar problems here with many of RTD2's stories where a lot of things are too on the nose or the dialogue feels too much like an older person's attempt at writing a young socially conscious person. Still though, it was pretty fun and not a bad introduction to the new season.

Watched Apr 12th 2025

There's genuinely a lot that could elevate this story above the usual RTD season opener. The premise is an idea that is so 'Doctor Who' that I'm surprised not even comics or Big Finish haven't gotten to it first, the dynamic between The Doctor and Belinda is engaging and leaves me wanting more, and the visuals are a step up from the previous season where I can certainly see the increased budget justified.

Sadly, this is where my praise mostly ends. Much like previous RTD 2 episodes, you can certainly feel the limitations of the 45 minute episode constraint to where things are rushed, particularly in the second half where it becomes especially muddled with characters making decisions seemingly just for the plot to move along. There is little time to dwell on Sasha's death or Belinda's decision to reveal the location of the resistance apart from a few lines. The episode could give good commentary regarding how the promise of generative AI can be used to influence populations or how a critique on incel culture leads to authoritarianism, but fails to properly explore either for the sake of combining both into the twist reveal.

Overall a decent episode, but one I don't plan on consciously going back to apart from a few scenes.

Oh Boi.. Where do I begin with this one?

The Pacing felt quite off, especially the beginning, feels like it’s rushing us into the Story way too much. I enjoyed the Robots, they are fun for this one Episode, but not a Monster I can see or would want to see return. The directing was solid, not outstanding, just kinda okay. Not a big Fan of the Amount of Flashbacks, they felt a bit too crowded here and a few less of them would have been much better.

I do hate to be a Downer, and I am genuinely happy for everybody who had a great Time, there were Things I really enjoyed, but for me this Opener is not doing it. Hopeful for the next Episode regardless, bring it on, Lux 

Honestly pretty fun. It is very fast-paced and my main critique of the story is that it could probably use a little room to breathe (though I think that might defeat the fun a little bit). Belinda Chandra is a pretty good companion and Varada Sethu is very good in the role. I do like the sort of classic sci-fi aesthetics of Missbelindachandra One and the whole "Planet of the Incels" thing is a bit funny. Overall, a pretty good start to the series.

It’s a great start to the season. Belinda is an interesting companion. I didn’t get the “Ruby doesn’t challenge the Doctor” viewpoint but after seeing Belinda do it I see it. The Robots are good. I like that Belinda doesn’t want to be a companion and I’m interested to see how that plays out. Alan is a bit weird when we first meet him but once we learn more about him I disliked him more. The ending was great and unexpected.

So, get this : there's a girl who's been gifted a star by her boyfriend, and this girl goes on, breaks with the boy, becomes a nurse and has annoying roommates (don't we all) until, of course, robots break her door and announce her she's the queen of a planet lit by the star that belongs to her. Except the planet isn't a paradise and the Al Generator is actually directing the robots' actions towards the humans, which means controlling them - although there's a bug : robots can only hear eight words out of nine. Cue to the rebellion and some Doctor-esque timey-wimey stuff. The Al Generator was actually - surprise! - the nurse's boyfriend and a big incel, transported here by accident, who decided to order the robots around like he was in a video game. More timey-wimey stuff, and the nurse doesn't go home.
At this point, we start wondering where the Doctor is. It's The Belinda Episode, I get it : presenting Belinda to the public as the new companion (and we'll get to that in a moment). But I do think the episode lacked Gatwa's presence - and presented the Doctor as a massive creep. I mean, who steals someone's DNA? (the answer is: the Doctor, obviously, but Belinda's concern is valid) Who follows someone at work, steals their adress from workfiles and follows them home?
Let's admit it : Belinda is cute - Varada Sethu is a good actress, interpreting very well Belinda's confusion and her very human reaction of being simply fed up with everyone patronizing her while she's being transported by force in a place she doesn't understand nor wants to be in. She's also kind, conscientious and empathic - all good qualities. She's not a wet towel, either : she actually tells the Doctor no and she speaks for herself. She does show a certain lack of thoughtfulness - really, was setting the sci-fi Roomba to find them the best action to take? She could have... gotten out? - and a rather worrying tendency to take the blame, which, I get it, I do, but if she's to share the TARDIS with the Doctor, the amount of guilt alone will fuel the engines without any problem. But I'm getting out of track here.
Belinda's problem (keeping her cringe ex out of this) is that she's not nearly developed enough. But then, there's a whole season to develop her, so that's absolutely alright! I feel like the Companion Episode works better in the middle of the season, when we've learnt to know them, but there, it's a very personal take.
The other problem of Belinda, of course, is that Russell T. Davies seems to have run out of ideas for his female characters.
Don't get me wrong : she's sweet, and I do hope she'll become her own character, because right know she feels like a strange mix between Martha and Clara, which... I do love both but they've got nothing to do with the new series, you know? The nurse thing is straight Martha, and - come on, you've seen her face in another planet, it screams Clara Oswald everywhere. And we do need new storylines and new characters. I get that it's difficult for a show that old to find new stories, but it shouldn't be some weird mashup of previous characters. (even Ruby, as wonderful as she was, could feel at times like Rose Tyler - which is probably why I liked her so much, now that I come to think of it). Again, this has absolutely nothing to do with Varada Sethu, who was really good both in Boom and The Robot Revolution. It's, as it was in last Christmas' episode, a problem of writing. But there's still hope for the season and for a Belinda they will actually take the time to develop. Because, come on, a companion who doesn't want to be a companion? A kind nurse who is probably sarcastic as heck? She could be an absolute delight.

But let's talk about the episode.
There's so much to say about this episode.
It is rather cringe. I know incel culture is deeply toxic and everything (I'm a girl spending time online and IRL, so, yeah) but, frankly, compared to the elegance Dot and Bubble used in its very concept and its cleverness, The Robot Revolution seems on-the-nose and cringey. You see it coming, your mother sees it coming, your blind and deaf neighbour sees it coming - you know what I mean. It lacks subtlety.
Quite frankly, there's not enough Doctor and, for the little time he has on screen, he manages to be shady, creepy and rather worrying. And not in ye ol' "the Doctor is someting else" way (which, I feel like we're sleeping on an eldritch Doctor) but in a new, "I wouldn't want him to walk with me in a dark street" way. It's so blatantly uncool it's not really funny anymore - like, dude, we just don't steal people's stuff, be it their DNA or their adress.
The Missbelindachandrakinds simply didn't have any personality. Once again, I get it, these people have maybe five minutes of speech - but goddammit, any fanfiction writer knows to give them little mannerisms and ways to make them unique! They are basically "the Interface", "the Wounded" and "the Head of the Rebellion", which is a tad too caricatural. We used to have nuance. (what I'm saying here is - Davies is repeating himself)
So Sasha 55 is important to the Doctor. Yes? But also we don't really know who she is? I'm not asking for her entire backstory, her hopes and dreams - just for a little uniqueness, something that would make her Sasha 55 and not a random character who dies in the first twenty minutes. I feel like that's something we lack in the last episodes.

Look, the episode leaves room for improvement (thank the Lord, because Allan and his treatment are literally the cringiest - what do you mean he got reverted to a foetus and was then crushed by sci-fi Roomba?). The sets are pretty spotless - thanks to this season's budget - and we've got real quality actors. And, of course, the episode itself isn't that bad, it's just not good. I personally want to see where they're taking this. A destroyed Earth seems interesting (and I'll be honest, this dinosaur skeleton in the trailer had me hooked). But I want actual characters.

Till then, I'll be waiting (and watching the seasons I didn't have time for with my brother)
Toodle-pip!
Signing off,
Pandhawk's sister (gotta find myself an alias if I'm keeping up with this review thing)

(Hum, hum, PS from Pandhawk : I give 1 or maybe even 0.5 stars but my sister want to give 2 so I give 2 stars to this story. But so you know.)

This episode is absolutely perfect! To create a strong series opener, especially for Doctor Who, it's essential to include several key elements, such as introducing the companion, their first meeting with the Doctor, and the entry into the TARDIS. This episode accomplishes all of these aspects remarkably well. After watching it twice, I can confidently say that I didn't notice any major flaws until some more dedicated fans pointed them out. The issues mentioned were only minor and wouldn't disrupt the viewing experience. Overall, this episode strikes an ideal balance of mystery, comedy, and action, making it enjoyable for casual viewers.

Really enjoyable introduction to Belinda. I look forward to seeing more of her and I absolutely adore Scoot the polish bot

A great companion introduction!

The Robot Revolution has a simple narrative and a cool use of time travel without necessarily using the TARDIS for it.

It's an episode where the villain himself doesn't make a big difference to the grand scheme of things, but it serves two purposes:

• To slightly adress both the problems with AI, how it lacks real analysis and how simplistic are its interpretation of each task they are given, and the Incel rising and how self-entitled this kind of people are.
• It serves to get Belinda's introduction in motion, setting the ground for us to see her personality and how she deals with her role of companion.

The episode also presents some hooks that will be explored later in the season, such as the relation between Belinda and Mundy Flynn and the constant appearance of Mrs. Flood (What's her deal after all? What's with all the 4th wall breaking? We're about to find out I hope)

Compared to the beginning of season 1 of Ncuti as the Doctor with Space Babies, The Robot Revolution was quite an evolution! Not only is he more comfortable in the role, but the story is more entertaining and well-executed overall.

I can't wait to get to know more about Belinda, she has everything to be a companion that will stay in both my hearts.

Honorable mentions:
- POLISH POLISH ROBOT I LOVE YOU
- So, we get a new Doctor that first has a blonde companion, than a slightly older companion that stays only for a Christmas special (and which I hope becomes a regular later) and than a companion that works in a hospital and is portrayed by an actress who played a different character in the previous season and both these characters are blood related? Hmmmm we're all seeing your patterns, RTD 😆

Now this is the Doctor Who episode I have been waiting for! Instantly better than most of last season for me except for maybe Rogue.

This era for me certainly still struggles with how it writes the more character-driven facets of its stories. For example - Sasha 55 has maybe 4 or 5 lines and dies fairly early on in the episode leading to The Doctor crying over the 6 months that they'd known each other and been working together. Unfortunately, this moment just has no emotional connection to the audience - having the same style of character introduction for Sasha as we had for Anita in Joy to the World would have made this moment so much more powerful and felt that the tears were more meaningful. I also think that the flashbacks to Alan being a bit of a dick at the climax of the episode is a super lazy way of writing that aspect in - would have been much better to have more of that scene in the initial parts of the episode (or peppered in throughout to build towards the ending).

I think the humor on this episode was incredible. Both my boyfriend and I could not stop giggling throughout this episode! The missbelinachantrajokes were well used and not overdone. I have been quoting "polish polish" all week.

By far, the highlight has to be Varada Sethu - I am loving Belinda already. I always felt that the instant best friends dynamic that Ruby and 15 had just didn't work at all - there were several points in the last season where the plot dynamic and emotional tension of the episode was reliant on Ruby trusting the Doctor. And there just wasn't a good reason why she should - he's an alien, they've just met - there really needed to be an exploration of Ruby getting to trust the Doctor that was just missing. Belinda, on the other hand, starts out not trusting the Doctor at all - I can already see the potential for the character arc and character development that is possible this season which I am rather excited about.

Overall, this episode was pretty good, compared to what I was expecting going in. Still some issues with the episode, but I genuinely enjoyed watching this one, which is more than I can say for most of the previous season. I'm keen to see where the rest of this season goes!

Prerequisites: None explicitly needed, although I'd recommend at least Boom to give some context.

The Robot Revolution, while definitively better than Space Babies in just about every respect, is still a fairly mediocre season opener. The performances and visuals are fine enough, if unremarkable, but honestly what I most enjoyed was Belinda herself. She wasn't exactly an example of a masterclass in character-work, but I found her quite refreshing. My biggest critique of Ruby Sunday is that I never felt like she had any conflict whatsoever with the Doctor. It made that Doctor-Companion relationship really boring, and I'm glad that it doesn't appear to be the case here. Other than that, the basic plot is... fine. It's got your standard Mrs. Flood cameo, clunky dialogue, and predictable third act twist that I've come to associate with this era of the show. I know this sounds pretty negative, but I don't hate RTD2. I just think it could (and should) be much better than it currently is.

Belinda was the highlight of the episode. I think the slight bit of conflict with the Doctor really sets her apart. The fact she heard the Doctor do his usual "Oh look at this interesting mystery that I know you won't be able to resist" and she just rejected that, was fantastic. I hope they don't lose this aspect of her character.

As for the actual story, not so great. I think the incel villain would have worked better if he was a bit more built up. What we got was a quick line at the start and then suddenly there he was at the end. This would have fit better in a season where Belinda gets to return to Earth semi-regularly and we see an increasingly hostile boyfriend that she breaks up with, and eventually returns as this character. That'd have hit harder. As for what we got, it just didn't hit because I didn't care about their relationship.

The robots were cool and well designed, especially the polish bot, very cute. The way their weapons worked looked visually scary and reminded me of how Dalek weapons work.

Overall I think this is a pretty stock standard RTD opener, in that it feels more like an episode that belongs mid-season than at the start.

"Timey wimey? What, am I six?"

Eh, super rushed opening, and tonally all over the place. I like Varada Sethu a lot but I don't think this is an ideal opener for a new companion, I don't feel like I know too much about Belinda other than she wants to get home?

The robot story was on the nose, a bit cringe at times, but entertaining enough. The robots have a fun design, and while the plotting is a little convoluted, it just about works.

At least we have a companion who seemingly isn't going to be worshipping the Doctor instantly. That final scene in the tardis was well written nicely.

Overall, it's not a great episode, but a decent enough companion introduction/series opener. The plot itself is a bit on the thin side, relying heavily on the confusing nature of the time fracture to handwave the out-of-order abductions and appearances. This is not an unforgivable sin in and of itself; watching back, there was at least modest foreshadowing for the twist, and a thin plot is understandable given the nature of this as a companion-focused episode. However, it needs to make up for that lack somewhere else; the theming, the character development, emotional beats, etc., and it really didn't quite manage that.

The emotional beats were... there, to an extent, but the biggest one was the death of a woman we'd known for about five minutes (which could not have been more signposted. Survival tip for Doctor Who characters; never overtly say that you're about to start traveling with the Doctor right before doing something immensely dangerous.) Ncuti delivered the impact on the Doctor well, but it really didn't hit very hard. Show don't tell is a rule for a reason.

The thematic elements were a little confused. It seemed to be going for an AI critique before zagging abruptly into commentary on incel culture and toxic controlling behavior. Both of these are real and present issues in the world which deserve coverage, and they certainly do overlap in some notable ways, but the end result was a lack of meaningful commentary on either. Did the AI generator even generate anything? Certainly nothing was mentioned about art, or accuracy, or power levels, or any other common critiques of these generative models. The commentary on incels was clearer, but not exactly deep, and seemed wholly disconnected from the AI bit. In the most generous possible interpretation of the episode, one could suggest that RTD intended to have a message about how generative AI is used by a certain type of powerful, controlling man to shape society to their views, and that the type of coercive control* Alan used represents that in microcosm. A more realistic interpretation is that he wanted to do the big twist of the AL generator.

*Separate critique, but please PLEASE RTD, stop using therapyspeak in your dialogue. "Male-Presenting Time Lords" didn't hit, and neither did this. People don't talk like that irl.

The character moments actually did hit for me. I really enjoy Belinda so far, and I'm eager to see more of her. I was so happy that she called the Doctor out on his charismatic manipulative bs and total lack of regard for boundaries right to his face. Sethu and Gatwa knocked my socks off with that scene, and credit where it's due to RTD for writing it. I appreciate that there's a more contentious dynamic between these two, and I hope that continues throughout the series.

Stylistically, I thought this was a gorgeous episode; I adored the retrofuturistic aesthetic of it all, and the lighting was gorgeous. I did think that the music was perhaps a little over the top in parts, but nothing that majorly damaged my enjoyment of the episode.

The rest:

It's a little insane to me that the Doctor knocked out the power of an entire hospital. They need that power, Doctor. It does really emphasize a theme I'm really picking up on with this incarnation, namely that he's kind of a stalker; he did it to Ruby, too! I do love it, it's a very interesting character flaw, and it's reminiscent of 11's relationship with Amy and Clara as puzzles to be solved. Again, very glad Belinda read him for filth on that.

It's a little f**ked up that they killed the cat. I don't want to make a big deal of it or anything, because they also very much killed a lot of human people in this one, but it's a little f**ked.

Also kind of nuts that they turned the villain into a sperm and an egg. And vacuumed him up. And the Doctor did a little happy dance high kick about it. I'm not entirely mad at it, but also, what??? Surely that's the first time the word 'sperm' has been used in TV Doctor Who, yes? I'm not going to dig through Chakoteya or anything, but I'm still quite confident.

I really loved that they did get sent to psychedelic time hell in this one. Very Pertwee/early Tom Baker aesthetics. I dig it.

Overall, this wasn't a great episode in story terms, but I did enjoy watching it. I probably wouldn't watch it again anytime soon, except for the psychedelic time hell bit which I actually want to see on a loop. 5.75/10

Some really fun visuals, a deeply silly plot that was a pick-and-mix of Current Political TermsTM, and a new companion I'm already fond of. Doctor Who is BACK baybe!

Review #3

Queen Belinda

This episode was pure fun and chaos. I loved it. There are some bits that I think needed to be fleshed out more I feel like we needed to know more of Sasha 55 because I was meant to feel something but I felt nothing. Polish bot is the true star of the episode. Good start to this new season 6/10

I had so much fun with this opener. 15 and Belinda have instant chemistry right from the start and I can’t wait to see their dynamic progress through the season!!

The episode looked absolutely gorgeous and the robots/sets had such cool designs (the polish polish robot was so adorable). The score was also absolutely stunning.

15 continues to be absolutely mesmerising and Ncuti Gatwa always gives 110%. Belinda is an instant FAVOURITE!! Varada Sethu plays her with such realism, wit, kindness and boldness. I love how she’s not afraid to call out the Doctor and challenge him head on. I instantly clicked with her and I am SO EXCITED for more of my favourite show!!!

polish polish!! 🤖

The Robot Revolution is a display, in microcosm, of Doctor Who buckling under the weight of Davies' writing. More-so than the recent finale that was popularly decried on this basis, this is the foremost display of his motifs, models and tendencies working against one another, resulting in an internally-conflicted relay of subsequent whiplashes.

A shred of an idea presents itself in (the admittedly delightfully-named) Missbelindachandra One as "Planet of the incels;" a canvas on which an infantile, toxic boyfriend gets to paint out his fantasies. That being said, how this setting situates itself in that description remains elusive throughout the episode. The misogyny by which Alan is characterised is virtually absent from the world presented to the audience - at best, the titular robots are exclusively masculine-coded, but flashbacks indicate that this was the case before his arrival. The broad strokes of power fantasy and autocracy, instead, are the only representations of incel 'ideology,' as it were; by that logic, one could simply waive off any number of planets in Who, from Skaro to Vortis, as planet of the incels.

Whilst it could be suggested that Davies' critique of incels is limited strictly to the nightmarish romance of being with one - Missbelindachandra One experiencing, as per another grating line, coercive control on a planetary scale - the cold open depicts this romance purely under the lens of awkward comedy. Tonally, this is apt, but perhaps indicates a lack of foresight when the exhausting twist that the AI Generator is, instead, the AL Generator, is played in earnest; as if Davies suddenly realises that his episode did not have a sufficient hook by its end, or that these romances are frightfully real and, in most cases, incredibly damaging. However, the groundwork for this to be portrayed in a sincere, dignified light simply is not present; one could argue that Belinda's fraught concerns that the events which occur on Missbelindachandra One are her responsibility are imitative of said lasting, incredible damage, but the apparent necessity to magnify this dilemma to the scale of sci-fi warfare inevitably paints the grounded, human experience of such as inadequate. With such an unstable foundation as that which is seen in the cold open, it is left mystifying as to whether the twist was always intended, or impromptu; regardless, both options are woefully inconsiderate.

Furthermore, with the premise being ripped straight from the childlike imagination - what young audience member would not want a tacky star certificate to mean they own a planet of their own? - the episode, like much of this era, seems caught between an earnest child audience, and a frantically online one. If Davies intended to have the episode depict incels and their beliefs, in any extent, these two audiences could have been mediated; in the current day, it would be especially helpful for young viewers to be didactically taught about the alt-right, so to prevent boys especially from going down the rancid pipeline. However, as again, there is very little of said beliefs depicted in the setting, further disorienting the episode in regard to whom it is intended for.

What prevents much of these valuable, crucial depictions which the episode needs to operate is the typical modus operandi for Davies' introductory stories for new companions. In the cases of Rose, Smith and Jones, The Runaway Bride and later, more apparently of Partners in Crime, and The Church on Ruby Road, the companion encounters the Doctor as they are pursuing their own narrative, until the companion becomes embroiled in events directly in a typically accidental fashion. Similarly, Belinda is not involved in the six months the Doctor spends on Missbelindachandra One, and whilst this works satisfyingly to the end of Fifteen's revolutionary characterisation (which I richly appreciate, as seen in Boom), the setting is seen toward the end of the robot regime, preventing further representation of it that would accommodate for the prior criticisms. The typical endearment of this narrative model is also depreciated, by the constant motif of destiny which seems to precede Belinda's lifetime on the programme, making any charm of happenstance non-void.

The Robot Revolution is far removed from the sum of its ending twist, which illuminates the runtime preceding it as not considered and internally-conflicted, by matters of audience and the mode in which Davies writes, resulting in a deeply dissatisfying start to the season ahead.

The new season is here, and we get a fun opening! There were a few lines I didn't quite pick up on, but the overall vibe of the episode was a lot of fun. I loved how the robots and the whole world of MBC planet looked like classic retro sci-fi crossed with children's toys. The five of the episode was fun, and the every ninth word being true thing? Pretty great. I did not expect the swerve to be that this was no bog standard evil AI, it was actually Belinda's incel boyfriend from when they were teenagers. It was a fun twist that added good layers to the story, and the whole sequence where the two certificates touch causing chaos with time was as bizarre and unique as the show has ever had. As for Belinda, Varada Sethu turns in a confident debut, and her actually taking the Doctor to task for invading her privacy and checking her DNA was great. (Imagine if Clara knew the Doctor stalked her childhood). Nothing entirely special, but it was a confident premiere. Tons of story threads: Mrs. Flood pops up, MBC world got the star certificate in the past somehow, oh and Earth explodes on May 24th 2025. Set your watches!

(Also, I really loved the robots in both design and their voice. And the polish bot was the cherry on top)

There was no f**king reason to kill the cat.

Last year's Doctor Who opener was a somewhat underwhelming affair. Instead of kicking off Ncuti Gatwa's first season as the Doctor with a bang, Space Babies was a silly and underwhelming beginning to the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby's adventures after The Church On Ruby Road.

Fortunately, The Robot Revolution is a vast improvement, providing an exciting first adventure for Belinda Chandra. The story concerns Belinda being mistaken by robots for their planet's Queen, due to a star certificate from her ex-boyfriend. It's a typically quirky Doctor Who escapade, and moves at a rollickingly fast pace, keeping your attention throughout.

The robots themselves may be very similar to the Emojibots in Smile, but they work well as antagonists who provide enough of a threat to the Doctor and Belinda, without distracting from Belinda's introduction.

Belinda is an excellent addition to the TARDIS team. She is much feistier than Ruby, which makes for a refreshing change. Belinda is the kind of companion who is unafraid to challenge the Doctor, and simply just wants to return home to complete her work shift, rather than traverse the universe. Seeing a companion willing to put the Fifteenth Doctor in his place introduces an interesting new dynamic which should lead to some great drama in the upcoming weeks.

The resolution to this story is a little weak, however. Whilst I like the concept of robots and what at first appears to be an AI misinterpreting the star certificate and believing Belinda to be their Queen, because of how topical it is with the rise of AI, I did find the twist that the AI generator was Belinda's ex Al all along a bit underwhelming. It feels a bit convenient, and makes you wonder how nobody noticed Al was missing when he was taken by the robots. The means in which the Doctor and Belinda are able to stop Belinda's marriage to Al/the AI generator via the star certificate feels a little hand-waver also. Overall, though, The Robot Revolution is an easy 8/10. It's an excellent, fun sci-fi adventure of the Doctor and Belinda versus a robot revolution.

I still have to get used to the fast pacing and I wished the episodes just had more time to develop the ideas, but overall, great introduction to Belinda as the new companion. I just adore her so much that the plot itself wasn't even that crucial to me. I think they had a lot of ideas during the episode and it was a bit messy to put them together BUT the concept is great. The highlight is definitely Belinda and her dynamic with The Doctor. She has the perfect attitude to both have a lovely relationship with him and ground him when things go south. They could've just made the robots inherently evil and yet they blamed everything on Belinda's incel, toxic ex-boyfriend and I love that so, so much. A selfless nurse who stands up for herself, fights back and whose core trait is to take care of others, being so brave yet obviously scared? She's my absolute beloved now. Not a perfect episode but a good opener for the season!! I can't wait to see more of her <3

episodio divertido, pero para nada tonto más allá de la premisa, mejor que space babies por mucho, y con 1 episodio Belinda ya es exponencialmente mejor que Ruby.

ojalá el misterio de temporada llegue a algún lado 🙂‍↕️

A promising start to the series!

While not perfect (what Doctor Who story is? Rhetorical question btw…), The Robot Revolution is a strong start to Series 15.

Varada Sethu instantly shines in her role as Belinda, and she works great with Ncuti. Belinda’s ability to see through the Doctor’s charms and realise that he’s a dangerous person to be around is also a great aspect of characterisation and always something I like to see in a companion. I hope this continues to be explored in the other episodes.

The visuals in this episode were absolutely stunning, particularly the lighting, robots and set designs. I was enjoying just taking it all in most of the time.

The scene where the two diplomas explode was also gorgeous. I LOVE experimental choices like this, and it was also a cool way to explore the Doctor’s abilities as a Time Lord, saving Belinda from also becoming, well, a sperm and an egg 😶.

Like always with RTD’s writing there are some rocky patches. The man tries to tackle a number of current issues and falls flat on pretty much all of them. Coercive control, incels, AI, even eugenics. To me it felt like RTD was just naming things we know are issues, but not actually addressing them much beyond that. I would have liked a more in depth exploration, ie. why is AI generation bad, rather than just inferring it is. Also, as a creative I understand why we should be wary of AI, but I feel like the majority of people don’t, so I’m sure it would’ve just gone over their heads.

On the other hand, I felt like RTD spelled out some things a bit too much. For example, when the Doctor was explaining to Belinda that the robots couldn’t hear every ninth word. We didn’t need a super cut of him saying this spliced together. Have a bit more faith in your audience, Russell! But maybe I’m being hypocritical in saying this 😅

Overall I enjoyed the episode and I’m excited to see what the rest of Series 15 will bring!

I definitely have more good than bad things to say about this. The plot is weird and very timey-wimey, which I love. It was a bit convoluted at times and there are a couple of things left hanging in the air, which I hope will be resolved in later episodes.

The production design was gorgeous, though some shots felt very Marvel CGI heavy.

What makes this episode stand out is Belinda. She is instantly likeable and interesting, has some great moments in her first episode and the idea of a companion that right out rejects the Doctors call to adventure (and is then dragged along anyway) is insanely intriguing. My only complaint about her is that she was so incredibly relaxed about the whole situation, that it almost broke immersion. When she sits in the Robots spaceship after being abducted, she comes off more annoyed then terrified about what's happening, which isn't something any normal person would do. Loved the character beats with her instantly going into nurse mode with the rebels though. That was sweet and really endearing character writing.

No notes on Ncuti. He is just as fun to watch as always.

Overall I'd rate this as one of the stronger season openers and definitely miles ahead of Space Babies.

I have been hesitant going into this series due to my lack of enjoyment of series 14/season 1, but I have gone into it with an open mind, avoiding leaks, trailers and exclusive clips to try and bring my enjoyment back of the show and keep it all fresh.

The Robot Revolution is a weird episode to me, it vaguely reminds me of classic who stories like The Sun Makers, with rebels trying to fight against their oppressors, entering the rebels hideouts, cute robot pets, the companion taking a leading role. It's a staple of Doctor Who and always has been. Although it gives me more of the vibe of RTD's/Benjamin Cooks reimagined, colourised edits of classic who. When watching it it feels like I'm watching a colourised version of 1964 story, The Robot Revolution parts 1-4, edited down into 45ish minutes, cutting out vital pieces of information and only including action sequences and necessary exposition, because the entire episode moves way too fast and with completely random moments, seriously what was with the random cat murder? I know there's a scene out there somewhere on the cutting room floor where Belinda interacts with this cat on the way in from work or in the garden, that actually would've added emotional weight onto this otherwise needless cruelty.

The general idea of the plot works well, but kind of starts to lose me a little in the third act when RTD starts to throw out a bunch of buzzwords and doesn't really expand on it all that much. Alan as a villain does very little for me because his 2 minutes of screentime at the beginning of the episode failed to convey properly that he was an incel, and more so just gave off the vibe of weird nerd who doesn't fully know how to interact with women, not the vibe of 'hates women and wants to control not only them but entire planets'. It's not until the third act when he's revealed as the villain just how controlling he was of Belinda as teens, and I can't help but feel like moving those scenes to the start of the episode probably would've helped the reveal be a bit less jarring.

For me, the best parts of the episode are the small scenes we get of the rebel hideouts, I love the parts of this show where we see small bands of survivors, hiding away trying to figure out how to overthrow their oppressors, and this episode does that really well, but the scenes are too short, and the rebels aren't characterised to their fullest potential. Manny is the rebel with the most lines (he's nice to look at as well), but even he doesn't have much to do rather than sneer and blame Belinda for Sasha 55's death.

Now, talking about Belinda. This isn't Varada's first time on the show, but it is her first as a full time companion and I have to say, I am interested by her. My favourite companions have a bit of 'I don't want to be here' energy to them. Tegan, Barbara and now Belinda all fit this bill, and I am interested to see if she is going to keep this element further into this season or if it's going to be thrown away by the start of the next episode. Following on from the last season, this TARDIS team already feels more grown up and mature. They are no longer giggling schoolchildren besties, but now adults who can have grown up conversations. Belinda chastising the Doctor for scanning her DNA without consent stood out to me as something Ruby wouldn't even have considered to be something that could be problematic, or have called out the Doctor for.

One of my main criticisms of series 14/season 1 was the lack of conflict between the two main characters, which already seems to be solved one episode into series 15, so if they continue along this route then I may potentially like this season a lot more than the previous. But for now, I give The Robot Revolution a 6/10. Enjoyable, but way too fast paced with a messy third act.

A decent opener for the season, much better than Space Babies.

+ The pacing of the first half was great, the second half was a little uneven

+ Belinda was awesome, I can tell I'll like her. Nice to again have a companion stand up to the Doctor

+ I actually quite liked Gatwa's portrayal of the Doctor in this episode. Wasn't a fan of his acting last season, but it was a step up.

- The main enemy was pretty one dimensional, I didn't really like it.

- The every ninth word gimmick was neat till it was pretty much forgotten about.

- this is more of a personal nitpick, but I don't like the wide angle lenses they are using constantly.

- Of course the Doctor must cry at least once per episode 🙃

Overall a promising start, I'm cautiously optimistic. I don't like the 'pantheon' story so I hope there's more episodes like this that don't deal with that.

RTD doesn’t tend to have strong openers and this one is no different, however it is an improvement upon Space Babies. It was a fun watch but not much more than that.

The plot ends up being very surface level, introducing interesting concepts yet not doing all that much with them. The Every-Ninth-Word bit is clever yet not treated as important until the plot needs it. The rebellion against the robots is also incredibly side-lined with which what might have otherwise been interesting to see how they had been fighting. The incel twist didn’t bother me, RTD can be a bit much with his themes but I’ve come to expect that.

It seemed like it was reusing plot elements that had already worked previously and smashing it all together in the hopes that it would read well. It made some parts seem unoriginal and I kept noticing small things that had been done before (i.e. the big hulking robots on Earth searching for extraterrestrial royalty reminded me of The Empty Planet from the Sarah Jane Adventures and their emoticon faces reminded me of Smile, Belinda partially felt like a rehash of Martha in Smith and Jones in the first bit of the episode, the merging of humans with machine was very Cyberman and I was surprised it wasn’t even referenced, etc.).

The cold open is alright. Belinda’s set up works pretty decently, though I feel she isn’t given enough time to live in her normal life until she’s swooped up into the adventure. The introduction episodes to new companions really benefit from having the context of their life on Earth being undercut by aliens and extraterrestrial conflict. Yet here, we learn almost nothing about her relationships with her family or friends and why she would insist to go home outside of her vague disinterest in space-time adventures with the Doctor before she is taken away. But Mrs. Flood’s reappearance was intriguing and it piqued my curiosity on who she will end up to be. Varada Sethu, despite my criticisms of the writing, does an excellent job at presenting Belinda as an interesting and sympathetic character.

Things get a bit messy once they arrive on Missbelindachandra though. The time fracture sequence had some neat cinematography and the planet itself is captured well through SFX prior to that. The ordeal in the throne room bounces between interesting and dragging. However, I am a big fan of PolishBot. I will always be a sucker for a cute little robot. Sasha and her impact is poorly developed. She is given only a brief few lines of context before dying, so it doesn’t have the weight the plot insists it does. We are told as opposed to being shown her relationship to the Doctor, having the Doctor justify the emotional reaction to her death in a way that seems hollow. I wanted to see those six months they spent together or at least more scenes with their dynamic because it is barely explored.

The bunker has some great moments of Belinda being able to show off her medical skills and her learning more about the universe but it’s over too soon. Manny is an incredibly one-note character and his antagonism toward Belinda is completely unearned. It makes no logical sense that he would 1.) blame her for Sasha’s death and 2.) equate her to be as evil as the robots. Belinda is an incredibly passive force in the throne room scenes, she makes no bid to interact with the robots other than to establish information on what has happened and certainly doesn’t seem to favor them in any way. She is supportive of the rebels and is unable to aid them only because she has only just arrived and has zero knowledge of the battle they are fighting beyond the few words the Doctor could slip to her. Indeed, since their rebellion was a pre-planned act, I would assume one might be prepared for the possibility of losing someone. Blaming Belinda ends up being very cheap because aside from being placed in an arbitrary position of power where she has little to no sway in the moments she becomes aware of it, he has no grounds to treat her as an opposing force. This makes Belinda’s plan to give herself over to the robots even more confusing. It doesn’t at all fit with what we had learned of her character so far, the martyrdom feeling less authentic and more out of necessity to the plot. 

As soon as I saw the “AI Generator”, it seemed fairly ‘Wizard of Oz’ to me and I ended up being able to partially predict the twist. The time stream sequence I found to be pretty cool however. The ending is resolved a bit too fast and a bit too inconsequentially, but it’s certainly not awful.

I appreciate Belinda a reluctant companion, immediately rejecting the idea of being a “mystery box” companion. It forces the Doctor to reconsider himself, which is always interesting. She’s incredibly competent and quick-witted, which creates a good dynamic to the Doctor. I am interested to see how her storyline will unfold.

Doctor Who: The Gatwa Years - Series 15, Episode 1

And so, here we go with Series 15 (or Season 41, if you will). A stronger opening compared to Space Babies, I'm already loving Belinda. Can't wait for next week with Lux and the cartoon villain!

The day has finally arrived, after months of waiting, new Doccy Who is here, and let me tell you right now, it doesn't disappoint.

To start off with the positives of the episode, I feel very confident in declaring that the brand-new companion, Miss Belinda Chandra is the star of the episode (pun intended). The energy she brings to the episode is spectacular, she's confused, frustrated, and doesn't want to be here, and she makes her thoughts known! Having a companion willing to push back against the Doctor is important to remind us that not everyone is a willing participant in the Doctor's wacky adventures, and at times the Doctor can (unintentionally or intentionally) stomp over the wants of others. Belinda calling out the Doctor for testing her DNA is such a great moment, while some of us may not care about having our DNA tested, it is privileged medical information and the Doctor had no right to violate that right. Now it's not all fighting and arguing, there are some happy moments as well, it's good to see Belinda and the Doctor bond over their mutual interest in alien anatomy, and the ice just melted away when the Doctor revealed he had two hearts, and Belinda got to listen to the sound of drums I mean a Gallifreyan heartbeat.

Now onto the Doctor, while he plays second fiddle to Belinda in this episode, Ncuti proves once again that he is the 15th Doctor and that he can rock it. While I can't really point to many specifics that stand out to me, since frankly the Doctor isn't the main character of this episode, overall he adds a lot both to the plot and also as a "companion" to Belinda, glad to have you back Ncuti!

The episode gave me plenty to think about in terms of mystery, I was constantly trying to come up with ways that the certificate ended up in the past, how did the robots manage to rebel, and the whole speaking in code every 9 words bit, loved it.

Now, what I'm about to say will either make perfect sense to some of you, or sound utterly deranged, but I think Polish Robot adds so much to this episode, and I cannot explain why. I just love him so much, a precious bean of a character, I want more of him so much.

Now onto things I didn't like, Sasha should have been given more screen time, she was such an interesting character that I was looking forward to seeing more of her in the episode. When she died, I got the distinct impression that RTD wanted me to feel sad, but I was more just unphased, she had good potential, but I felt it was wasted. Following on from this, I also felt as if the rebels didn't add much to the story, singlet guy (whose name I cannot remember) was only there to look cool and create artificial conflict with Belinda, replace him with Sasha and you can kill two birds with one stone.

Overall I would say I enjoyed this episode, while it's not my favourite season opener, it does a fantastic job at starting the season off with a bang, and has officially hyped me up for the rest of the season!

Sometimes you go to Doctor Who for the biting social commentary, the thrills, the horror, the out there sci-fi concepts, the depth to every interaction, how it's building on 60 years of lore.

Sometimes you go to Doctor Who to sit down in front of the telly, throw on an episode, and just have some fun.

The Robot Revolution definitely doesn't do the former of those, but it doesn't need to, it's all in on the latter and works. Is this the best Doctor Who story I've ever watched? No. Is it one that I can absolutely see coming back to, throwing it on when I just want some fun? YES.

A brilliantly fun story that does exactly what I think Doctor Who needed to, backed up by brilliant effects (cosmetic, practical, and CG), a wild premise that's fun from start to end, some spectacular acting, and a cliffhanger that almost has me sad we're not getting a 2 episode premier again.

I thought it was pretty darn fun, and set up the season well. Some things felt a tad meh, but I like the writing, Belinda is really fun, I LOVE seeing Ncuti again, and the visuals were great! Loved the planet it took place on.

It does have the slight issue I've noticed in other 15 episodes where he cries over a character we barely know or have barely seen, BUT, that being said, I like how it led into Belinda's negative reaction to the Doctor wanting to bring her along.

Intrigued as to where the story will go for the rest of the season!

Season Two (Series 15); Episode One - “The Robot Revolution” by Russell T. Davies

Doctor Who doesn’t excite me anymore. I’m sorry, sorry to myself, sorry to the whole fanbase, but I just can’t care anymore. Doctor Who in its new, frankly unnecessary era, is entirely style over substance, a flashy soap opera with the depth of a puddle in a drought that I simply can not find myself excited about. The Robot Revolution was a competent episode with needlessly glorious visuals that felt as if ChatGPT was told to write an episode of Doctor Who, the bare essentials needed for an episode in a trenchcoat masquerading as the first in a new series. I’m not angry, but I am very disappointed.

Average nursing student Belinda Chandra wakes up to find herself queen of a far off planet inexplicably named after her and ruled by a tyrannical AI supercomputer. With her life and freedom at stake, she has to put her chances in the hands of rebel leader the Doctor if she wants to escape.

(CONTAINS SPOILERS)

Alright, sulking out of the way, what did I actually think about The Robot Revolution? Not much, honestly, this is a very hollow episode. But I suppose we still have a pretty face and what a face it is, this episode is one of the best looking of the new era and that is saying something, given the competition. It’s ultra flashy and incredibly impressive to look at, with not one of the many, highly complicated props cheaply made. If I have to give this era some praises, it would be that it looks utterly incredible but looks aren’t everything.

The one place I did find some genuinely interesting depth was in our new companion, Belinda, who does feel to me like a rehash of other companions still but, once again boasts a good performance and instantly likable personality. I don’t think she works quite as well with Ncuti as Gibson did last season but the idea of a companion genuinely not wanting to be in the TARDIS is a fun concept (that has already been done with Tegan but hey-ho). But even so, she seems so superficially likable at times, like with the obvious self-sacrifice attempt that’s just so mundanely trying to get me to like her when the episode was already succeeding.

And you might be saying, “Speechless, it’s just a fun season opener, don’t take it so seriously”. And, I mean, fair enough, our villains are literally called Missbelindachandrabots for christ’s sake but I have some issues with that. There were a few moments I genuinely chuckled, the aforementioned robot naming convention being one of them, but there’s just something missing for me. A single episode like this is perfectly fine - not for me, but not egregious. However, nearly every other episode in this new era is exactly the same; you can’t expect me to not judge any of them because they’re just goofing off.

Especially when the episode keeps on shoving sentimental bullshit in my face every five seconds. Russell seems to have forgotten how to write emotional beats because he keeps making the same mistakes over and over again. Try as you might RTD, you can not get me to care about a character I’ve only known for five minutes. It also doesn’t help that you do this every, single episode in an identical way, making every single moment like this feel so bland and repetitive. He also can’t write drama anymore, a character will just come up to somebody, be antagonistic out of nowhere and then disappear for the rest of the episode and we’re meant to pretend it meant anything. Emotional beats in this new era are equivalent to the “APPLAUSE” signs they put in live studio audiences.

As for the story itself, I find everything so utterly bland here. No interesting ideas, no cool moments, no tension, no pacing, f**kall structure. Russell clearly just looked at those phony buy-a-star scams and went “but what if that was actually real” and then tried to spin a whole episode out of it. You know, for an episode where the big bad is an AI, it’s pretty ironic that it feels like one of the most procedurally generated scripts of the whole show. In addition to this, it moves so weirdly quickly. I checked the time after what felt like ten minutes and I was halfway through. There is no building here, no rise and fall of action: it begins, it goes and it stops with nearly no downtime in between plot beats. Because of this, it gave me no time to care. Not one scene impressed me, the rebel shootout was contrived and barely engaging, the bunker scene felt like a checklist of character interactions and the final scene is a lot of talking and annoying dialogue, with the completely unintimidating Jonny Green robot (Oh yeah, Tyler’s actor show up) having a second “it was the wrong anagram” reveal.

You know what, I actually think Russell’s running out of ideas. The companions are all the same, all the tender moments feel copied and pasted, hell, we even get a rip off Gadget from The Waters of Mars here that just goes to prove that he had exactly four series worth of ideas in him. All of this makes me ask, why is it I don’t care? Why is it I’m just not excited anymore? I mean, last season we got a couple great episodes that felt genuine and had actual, interesting character arcs going on. Am I not at least looking forward to any more of those? Not really, everything in the new Doctor Who is just lacking something, a certain charm that made the original RTD series so endearing. Maybe it’s the fact I find the new Doctor so utterly dull, even if Gatwa is a blast in the role. Maybe it's the fact that every character interaction, every emotional beat, every dramatic moment feels so disingenuous and like it's phoning it in. Maybe it's the constant, patronising attempt to make me feel something towards characters who truly refuse to grow and deepen.

I’m sorry if I’m being a downer but just know that I want to like this, I want to be excited to sit down every Saturday for Doctor Who but I’m being honest here and I have to say that I simply can not care. I’m giving The Robot Revolution a very low score and not because it's particularly incompetent but just because it's such an utterly hollow episode and everything I get out of it, I can find elsewhere. This is truly empty TV.

4/10

Pros:

+ Looks utterly incredible

+ Belinda is easily relatable and likable

+ Had moments of some genuinely fun TV

Cons:

- Incredibly superficial and surface level

- The pacing makes the story feel like a minisode

- Has a huge cast of cardboard cutout characters

- Once again, has forced emotional moments

- Absolutely awful main antagonist

Just like that one episode of Phineas and Ferb

THIS WAS FUCKING BRILLIANT I LOVED IT ANOTHER BANGER

They shouldn't have killed the cat.

Personally, I found this largely very bland and generic. The plot felt like it could have been interesting, with a somewhat unique core concept, but I don't think it was executed that well, and I did find myself starting to feel a little bored at points. Visually it looks excellent, but I also feel it lacks a little in identity (although the timey-wimey sequences were really good). Moreover, there are also some aspects of this story that I felt really could have done with some more explanation or depth, such as the every-ninth-word-thing, some of the time elements, and Sacha 55. However, I loved the hospital sequence near the start, and my first impressions of Belinda, the new companion, are very positive. Furthermore, the brief bit with Mrs Flood was nicely intriguing, and I also liked the musical score.

the worst thing i have ever watched 9/10 i want some of what russell t davies is smoking

The Robot Revolution is a story that succeeds way more at being a companion introduction than an episode in his own right. If Belinda's introduction makes her already a very rounded character, with depicting however briefly her work and home life, and by putting her at odds with the doctor makes for a great dynamic, the same can't be said for the plot proper. There's a lot of good ideas, and the retrofuturistic aesthetic looks really good, making really cartoonish designs come to life and really pop, with very good vfx, especially concerning the weapons and the time fracture scene, it is in service of a story that doesn't take the time it needs. Side characters are barely introduced before being disposed or sidelined. It makes their fate lack impact. The whole story taking the time to establish the (well executed) bootstrap paradox of it all leaves the actual struggles of the missbelindachandrakind an aftertought of the episode which is a complete shame. Same goes for the reveal that feels somewhat preachy and that could have been executed better if done a little more subtly and by trusting the audience a little more to get the message without insisting upon it and getting the time to explore the episode's villain a little more.

Pretty fun opening if you don't take it too seriously, and nice to see Jonny Green on-screen after listening to the Torchwood audio seasons..

My only gripe is the fact it seems to be written as if originally intended for an audio- lots of exposition, when the audience can see what's happening.

But I can't, in good faith, give a Favourite Heart to an episode featuring cat death. 💔

-After thinking on this episode for a few hours, my ratings dropped from a 4 star to a 2.5 star -

Incredibly fun and campy season opener. its primary purpose is introducing us to new companion belinda chandra and it does so wonderfully. she has so many layers to her dynamic with the doctor already and im so excited to see more of her. she feels like a real person with real struggles living in a house share. the story isnt anything incredible but its a good time. if theres one thing thats bugged me its the "tell, dont show". for example, its described as "planet of the incels" when its already incredibly obvious to the viewer that the villain is an incel. it doesnt seem to trust that its audience can figure out the message themselves and has to explain it. a little more faith in the viewer and the social commentary would've hit harder.

also the doctor says yas queen and the villain turns into a sperm and egg then gets vaccumed up. not a criticism its just funny lmao

we are so back

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

“ROBOT REVOLUTION: A SPARKLING SEASON TWO STARTER WITH A BITE BEHIND THE BOUNCE”

Robot Revolution kicks off Series Two with a bang—and more importantly, with confidence. It’s a vibrant, pacey, and charming reintroduction to the Fifteenth Doctor, and it works far better as a premiere than Space Babies ever did. Russell T Davies embraces the whimsical tone but underpins it with genuine emotional depth, sharp visuals, and just enough mystery to keep us hooked.

QUEEN OF THE ROBOTS? WELL, KIND OF…

The plot is as absurd as it is delightful: 21st-century nurse Belinda Chandra is abducted from her home by a gang of excitable robots who believe she’s their long-lost queen, all because of a star certificate gifted to her by an ex-boyfriend over a decade ago. It’s a daft premise, yes—but one played with enough wit and world-building to become something genuinely compelling.

What follows is a sci-fi romp through Missbelindachandraworld (yes, that’s really what they call it), complete with robot cults, civil war, time distortions, and a surprisingly dark twist involving a toxic ex who accidentally triggers a planetary revolution. It’s wild, but it works.

VISUALLY STRIKING, BRIMMING WITH STYLE

Production-wise, this is top-tier Doctor Who. The robots are toylike but expressive, reminiscent of Smile’s emoji-faced bots, with helpful visual icons that flash across their faces depending on mood or function. The environments are stunning—from the gleaming capital of Missbelindachandraville to the gritty tunnels and battle chambers beneath it.

Time distortion effects early on are particularly well done, and the trippy climax pushes the show’s visual language into bold new territory. Add in sharp editing, strong direction, and a killer score, and you’ve got an opener that looks (and sounds) better than ever.

A COMPELLING COMPANION: BELINDA ARRIVES FULLY FORMED

Belinda Chandra is instantly compelling—a nurse with a spine, a sharp tongue, and no patience for the Doctor’s usual nonsense. She calls him out when he oversteps, questions his fascination with her, and even challenges him when he takes her DNA without asking. She’s not starry-eyed; she’s practical, self-possessed, and more Tegan than Rose, which is exactly the right energy for a modern companion.

She’s not swept up in the romance of space-time travel—she just wants to go home. But when pushed into the chaos, she rises to the challenge, making tough calls and holding her ground. This isn’t a passive plus-one. This is someone who speaks for herself—and might just speak against the Doctor when needed.

NUCTI GATWA CONTINUES TO SHINE

Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor continues to dazzle: bouncy, brilliant, and bursting with warmth. There’s an intriguing undercurrent here too—he already knows Belinda’s name when they meet, having heard it from someone else. And when he spots her resemblance to Mundy Flynn from Boom, he starts putting pieces together. There’s clearly more going on here, and it’s nice to see the arc seeded so organically.

SCHWUPS AND SYNCHRONISATION

One of the more quietly clever elements is the timey-wimey gap between Earth and Missbelindachandraworld: only hours pass for Belinda, but six months for the Doctor. It’s described as a “schwup”—a delightfully RTD bit of invented jargon that also gives emotional weight to the Doctor’s waiting. This mismatch sets up an early sense of temporal imbalance that’s sure to pay off later.

THE ROBOT REVOLUTION: FUN, FATAL, AND FELINE-UNFRIENDLY

The robot uprising is amusing at first—complete with a BB-8-like Polish Polish Robot (adorable) and a whole vocabulary quirk where robots can’t hear every ninth word (a great sci-fi idea that becomes a vital plot point). But the comedy quickly turns to tragedy. These robots disintegrate a cat (why is it always the cat?) and wage a brutal war, believing themselves to be righteous.

The cause? A miscommunication sparked by Belinda’s ex-boyfriend, Alan, now a reclusive incel-turned-AI overlord calling himself the AI Generator. It’s a sharp turn into social commentary—Alan is both pathetic and dangerous, a man so obsessed with his own inadequacy that he builds a mythos around it and unleashes war. He’s a chillingly real villain, and the smoke-filled, lightning-crackling chamber he resides in adds an operatic flair to his twisted logic.

SOME TROPES REMAIN… BUT MOSTLY WORK

The twist—that “AI Generator” really stands for “Alan”—is one of those RTD red herrings that’s a little too on-the-nose. It’s not subtle, and viewers will likely clock it well in advance. Still, it fits the tone, and the emotional truth of Alan’s villainy is stronger than the twist itself.

THE WEAK LINKS? A FEW BACKGROUND PLAYERS

Not everything hits equally hard. Supporting characters like Sasha 55 (Evelyn Miller) and Manny (Max Parker) are likable but thinly drawn. Sasha dies before we really get to know her, and Manny’s distrust of Belinda never quite factors meaningfully into the plot. The robot voices, performed by Nick Briggs, are surprisingly fresh despite his ubiquity, but even they mostly serve as comic relief or cannon fodder.

THE FLOOD FACTOR RETURNS

And of course, we get a Mrs Flood sighting—this time as Belinda’s neighbour, watching her abduction from a distance. She breaks the fourth wall again before vanishing, setting up her now-confirmed appearances in every episode. Who is she? Still no idea, but the mystery continues to bubble intriguingly in the background.

A FINAL HOOK FOR THE FUTURE

The closing image is a stunner: the Eiffel Tower floating in space alongside the shattered remains of the Statue of Liberty, hinting at the series arc and the unresolved question—why can’t the Doctor return Belinda to May 24th, 2025? It’s a small, quiet mystery that’s likely to snowball into something massive, and it’s an excellent final sting.

📝VERDICT: 8/10

Robot Revolution is fun, confident, and bursting with imagination. It balances whimsy with emotional heft, introduces a winning new companion in Belinda Chandra, and continues to evolve Fifteen’s personality with warmth and mystery. It’s bold without being brash, clever without being convoluted, and stylish without sacrificing substance. A thrilling start to the season—and the best “Episode One” we’ve had in years.

Great opening episode. Interesting concept. Love Belinda as a character, always great to have someone on board that views the Doctor as an equal. Best and coolest depiction of Blinovitch Limitation Effect I've seen so far. So SO much better than that abomination we got last series. Actually got my hopes up back again for the new series.

“The Robot Revolution” isn’t going to be one of my new favorite episodes, but it was a solid episode and a good way to start the series. Incels are the true antagonists of both Doctor Who and life.

i'm afraid to say it but WE ARE SO BACK. i forgive the uninspired robot design because this was DOCTOR FUCKING WHO!

great opening to the new series, excited to see where it leads us. i do think it repeats a few too many things from previous new who stories though

Polish polish!

This is a pretty enjoyable story. Belinda is instantly likeable; she's a nurse who actually gets to use her skills in the story, she's not star-struck by the Doctor, she has a strong personality and agency. I'm looking forward to seeing more of her.

The story is a little more lackluster. Despite the fast pace, it feels very empty, like very little happened. Some of it is due to not really getting to know the side cast and a lot of the quieter moments being rushed through. It's a very simple and straightforward plot.

I must praise Sasha's actress for her acting. The big smile with the tension in the eyes was extremely poignant. Despite that, I really didn't feel that we had gotten to know her enough for her death to have much impact as a viewer. Lingering on her moment of death and focusing on the Doctor crying (again) felt more like the writer was trying to get me to feel something than giving a beloved character a proper send-off. Despite that, I do realise that it's realistic, considering how much time the Doctor spent with her, and I appreciate that she wasn't immediately forgotten about and her presence was felt throughout the episode.

I like the "twist" at the end. The message is solid, and the execution was pretty good. I will say, however, that I don't love the amount of flashbacks used, and the proposal scene was a little heavy-handed. All I needed was his line in the beginning saying "girls aren't good at maths" for me to know he's a condescending prick.

I especially liked the ending, with Belinda telling the Doctor off for scanning her DNA and believing she's just jump on the opportunity to travel with him after seeing what happened to Sasha. I enjoy this darker side of the Doctor, and I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with it.

Other highlights include the polish robot and the Mrs. Flood cameo.

In general, while this isn't likely to ever be a favourite episode of mine, it does have me excited for the rest of the series, which is all a series opener really needs to do.

Wow that was actually really good,probably my favorite RTD opener since Smith and Jones,I really like Belinda in this episode and the chemistry between her and 15 is amazing.The robots are really cool and the action sequence between them and rebels is great,I think pacing is a bit eh,needed more time but otherwise I really enjoyed this and can't wait for more of the season - 8.5/10

Robot Revolution

He did it, I didn't think it was possible but RTD has written an episode I actually like.

This was such a fun series opener. The music at the beginning of the episode felt really reminiscent of Murray Gold's work on RTD1 which I love. This era so far his music hasn't felt as whimsical, but up to the intro it was very whimsy which I just adore. Belinda was great, I really warmed to her already.

The reviews prepared me for something really ham-fisted and in your face when in actual fact it was well done, and very topical with life at the minute. There were twists, turns, laughs and tears. A really fun opener to the series!

The ending... VERY intriguing!

What a stupid-ass episode, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The Missbelindachandrabots desing was pretty nice, the villain and his demise was hilarious and the whole Doctor-Belinda dynamic felt pretty good. The music in this was also pretty nice. I loved Space Babies when it came out, and this episode shares the same unserious vibes that I love for Doctor Who to have from time-to-time. Overly excited to see Lux next week and excited to see how this whole season unfolds. Fingers crossed it'll be good.

/////////////////////////////// SPOILER SECTION ///////////////////////////////

"Planet of the Incels" LOL, that was funnier than I expected it

The Doctor and Belinda should've taken the "Polish, Polish" robot with them, it was cute as f**k

Red Sonic Setting fans rejoice.

THAT SEQUENCE WITH THE BLEEP IN TIME WAS NUTS, I LOVED THAT

I really enjoyed this! Especially after Space Babies irritated me; this feels like a return to form for openers personally.

The premise is incredibly funny, and I love how it was executed! Gatwa and Sethu are amazing, and I looooove Belinda already! Give me conflict! Give me a companion who doesn't take The Doctor's BS, and calls them out on their gross manipulations! And yes, good give me The Doctor's gross manipulations and address them - something 11's era didn't do enough for me with how he treated Clara.

I loved how this episode looked too; especially the robots and how many trippy sequences we had. The time explosion is literally what I want regenerations to look like again, ala Classic Who.

The twist was VERY silly in all the right ways, and it's great how unsubtle its commentary is. I don't care about subtext if I'm having a good time, which I am! Get those incels OUT OF HERE!!

This all being said.... With how fast paced it all was, it was hard for me to feel emotionally invested in the Sasha 55 plot, despite RTD's repeated attempts to make me. I knew her for all of 2 minutes! Why should I act as if she's emotionally important to me, just because The Doctor cried and everyone told us she ruled??? Tbh this ties into my biggest criticism of the episode: none of the side characters really mattered or got to be characters due to the pace. Also Manny was a little much, huh? At least he's very buff..... 

All in all though I really enjoyed and thought the tone balancing was great (again, unlike Space Babies), so I can't wait for the rest of the series!

Tone, character and biting commentary launch the new season

A steady start possibly foreshadowing a darker season. The Doctor's first adventures with Ruby felt so light they carried no weight. Here, we have robots who vaporize a cat and who very much kill people, including those we name and those the Doctor cares for. These are ultimately little touches given the overall plot, but they give the entire package a much darker feeling.

Belinda is sharp, driven and brave. I feel as though we already know quite a bit about her (despite knowing nothing of her family) and I'm excited to see where she goes in her (presumed) eight episodes. If anything, I would have liked to see more of her life before, especially her doomed relationship with Allen, so that his reappearance later could have hit harder.

In addition to going darker and giving us better defined characters, it also looks like we're thankfully in for a more explicitly political season. We saw a little bit of this spice in the Christmas special with its limited commentary on lockdown. In the Robot Revolution, we have automated villains, but they themselves are not evil. The problem is not the tech. It's the incels designing it, putting their own capricious, misogynist nature into machines which would otherwise be helpful. The reveal that the "AI Generator" is actually just the bad idea of a creepy dude is perfect in this moment.

I have high hopes for this season. Let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go.

Certainly enjoyable, if slightly flawed season opener.

Where it shines is the introduction of a new companion - Belinda shone throughout this, and it is testament to a great performance from Varada Sethu, who performed the character really well. Her moments where she comes into tension and conflict with the Doctor are fantastic, and I think Russell T Davies is delivering on his promise well of a companion who is going to test the Doctor well. The final scene of Belinda and the Doctor in the TARDIS, holding him accountable for his actions, is fantastic. I am a huge fan of Ruby, but this dynamic was missing in the last season. Ncuti Gatwa continues to play the Doctor really well, and bounced off really well with Varada Sethu, and I am excited to see how he is going to continue to develop and inhabit the role of the Doctor.

The story is also visually stunning - the planet is incredibly well realised, with the set work just a wonder to behold. Throughout, I was struck with how beautiful and fantastic it looked. Beyond the sets, the robots and the AL Generator was just so well constructed and designed. A huge hats off to the production crew for realising this so well.

Davies script was also mostly a triumph, some fantastic moments of humour, and wonderful world building. The characters felt authentic and real within this world, with a script that provided some great moments.

Where the story falters, is in how rushed it is. A season opener has a lot of work to do, introducing new characters and setting off the season arc, but this just felt so rushed. Where other openers succeeded was a slower pace to focus on the characters, and take more time in these moments. This never quite realised here - this was a whirlwind from start to finish. The story also, while very well constructed, is quite simple, which while good for a season opener, should have allowed for these moments to be still, and the space to breathe, but was missing throughout.

Overall, certainly an enjoyable episode, and one which I will have a lot of fun revisiting. I am excited to see where this season goes!

Goofy, colourful, forthright, relevant, trippy AF (Peter Hoar COOKED!); this is the Doctor Who I want.