Live from Master Closet Studios, you’re listening to the only podcast on the internet that has mixed emotions about a Doctor Who story: It’s the Noobs and the Whovian!
My name is Austin and I’m the Whovian and these are my sons Corbin and Tripp and we’re the noobs!
This is the podcast that introduces a whole new generation to Doctor Who by watching an episode each week and discussing it from the perspective of a dad who HASN’T seen it before, and two sons who haven’t.
Welcome to Episode 184 covering Series 13 episode 6 entitled Doctor Who: Flux, Chapter 6 – The Vanquishers
Super-short Recap
This is the one where the doctors save what’s left of the universe by not stopping the bad guys. And the companions do more to save the universe than the doctor.
Production notes
- Story #297f
- Originally aired December 5, 2021 to 3.58 million viewers
- Survivors of the Flux went from 3.82 to 4.72 million consolidated
- Written by: Chibs
- Directed by: Azhur Saleem
Checklist
- Name of the episode spoken in dialogue?
- Basically – “We shall be both vanquishers and…”
- TARDIS
- It’s been at UNIT since 1967, since before they even MET the Doctor
- This means there have been SEVERAL times where there were 2 at UNIT
- This also means that when Three was stranded there with a broken TARDIS, they had a SPARE!
- What is happening in the control room?!
- Cf. the DW logo
- It’s been at UNIT since 1967, since before they even MET the Doctor
Other stuff we noticed
- Obsequious – obedient or attentive to an excessive or servile degree.
- The Lupari ships have matter-generating Flux-repelling shields
Who’s Who?
- What is the Flux? Like seriously. What the heck?
- So it’s primarily anti-matter?
- There’s a MAJOR problem with using the Cybermen and the Daleks to “absorb” the antimatter…
- Or maybe it’s the matter-generating shields? Are they able to throw enough matter at it to disperse it?
- Plus, the Ood made it smaller
- The Sontarans as the ultimate vanquishers
- Who is Prentis/The Grand Serpent?
- He’s a binary demispecies with interbody bioprojection
- Who is Karvanista?
- Was he her companion?
- He’s got a synaptic collider in his brain, if he talks about the Doctor it’ll kill him
- They were very good friends and she just left
- He’s now the last of his kind
- Who is Williamson?
- He gets a major congrats and thanks from the Doctor
- His work may have saved the world or even the universe, but now it’s done.
- Who is Azure?
- They want the destruction of all spatial things
- Talk about power creep! Not only are they going to destroy the universe, they will then rewind it and do it again and again and again.
- Who is Swarm?
- Was their end too Deus Ex Machina?
- Who is Claire?
- She’s back!
- Who is Vinder?
- He’s a little out of shape cuz he’s been sitting for a while. Yeah, like 5,000 cycles or whatever
- Who is Professor Eustacius Jericho?
- I, sir, am Professor Eustacius Jericho, scourge of scoundrels!
- What an awfully big adventure!
- Where do I know this from? Hook?
- Who is Dan Lewis?
- I feel like Dan and Diane’s storyline was a victim of the cut episodes
- Who is Yasmin “Yaz” Khan?
- She was definitely the leader of the group during their separation
- Who is the Doctor?
- She’s a LOT snarkier this series
- Much more confidence, less apologetic than the first 2 series
- She’s MORE of the Doctor this series
- I’m the most stable person I know
- I approach everything with caution. Or abandon, one of the two.
- Her greatest fear is the destruction of other things. She wants things to breathe and live. She wants species to build and grow.
- Life must win.
- But why? Why is what you fight for better than what we will bring?
- She’s got such a crush on herself!
- This is like a cross between 10 meeting 11 and Amy meeting herself
- She had a reckoning with Time
- She dropped the fob watch into the TARDIS
- It’s like Chibs was saying “Here ya go RTD!”
- Time gives her a warning of her impending regeneration, like Ten got from the Ood
- She’s a LOT snarkier this series
Can we talk about how small the universe is?
Classic Who Connections
- Commander Stenek referred to the Rutans. These are the mortal enemies of the Sontarans. We only saw them once with the Fourth Doctor in The Horror of Fang Rock
- Commander Stenek’s message to the universe was very similar to the one the Master gave in Logopolis. In that serial the master said “Peoples of the universe, please attend carefully. The message that follows is vital to the future of you all.”
Overall impressions
- Overall rating out of 10
- Jared – 8 ego massages
- Austin – 5
- Corbin – 5 Rutans
- Tripp – 6 big let downs
- Rating for The Flux
- Austin – 9.5
- Corbin – 7
- Tripp – 8.5
Theories/Wrap up
- Jared – Swarm was a Time Lord or comes from the attempt to give Time Lords regenerations (connected to the Timeless Child storyline).
- Tripp – The doctor and swarm are from the same dimension, but not same race. Dan is somehow important to the division.
- Tigimi is dan. Tigimi has to be sent back in time so dan can grow up in the right time and an angel will send him back in time. The next episode starts with the doctor getting her memories back. She loses and the master and the doctor move on to the next universe leaving the rest behind. Prentis and the master are working together.
- Austin – The Flux is the Nexus that takes you to the Timeless Child’s universe/dimension
- Something’s up with Dan. I think he is a Timelord
- There is a connection between Williamson and Dan, they might be the same person
- The Timeless Child was used to create the Angels just like the Time Lords
- Tigmi is the Timeless Child
- Yaz et. all don’t make it back.
The Game Plan
- Next week, we’re doing a Timey Wimey on a movie I just found called Christmas Do-over. It’s on Prime
- After Series 13, we want to do a Best Of series. We’re going to cover our favorite story from each NuWho Doctor, as well as our favorite Festive special! And by “our” I mean “all of us”. Go to noobsandthewhovian.com/bestof to take the survey and help us pick the very best of NuWho.
- You’ve got to go fill out that survey this week cuz we have to decide by next week what episode we’re covering the following week.
Closing
Noobs and the Whovian is a production of Master Closet Studios, where it’s always smaller on the inside. Your Senior Producer is Austin Reason. Our Audio Engineer is Thing One: Tripp Reason. Our Production Editor is the Other One: Corbin Reason. Special thanks to tardis.fandom.com for the trivia, and to Jared for the Classic Who Connection. Shout outs to Victor and Jared for their Patreon support.
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Until next time, be safe if you can. But always. Be. Amazing.
