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Episode Discussion | Doctor Who | 1x04 "73 Yards"

Logline

Landing on the Welsh coast, the Doctor and Ruby embark on the strangest journey of their lives. In a rain-lashed pub, the locals sit in fear of ancient legends coming to life.

Written by: Russell T Davies

Directed by: Dylan Holmes Williams

4
4 comments

  • It's like an avant-garde version of Turn Left, with the concept taken so much further, it reaches the edge of the universe, loops around, and comes all the way back down to Earth.

    Did the episode ever explain why everyone runs away in horror, quits their job, and starts avoiding Ruby when they talk to that old woman, including trained UNIT agents? Maybe we weren't meant to know.

    I also found it amusing to think about how little happens in the prime timeline. The ultimate result of this entire alternate life is that Ruby has a weird, but brief, supernatural experience, the Doctor narrowly stops himself from breaking a fairy circle, and they both have a normal day in Wales.

    • It’s like an avant-garde version of Turn Left, with the concept taken so much further,

      I had nearly the exact same thought - a classic RTD "Doctor Lite" episode, but put together so much better than they were during his original run.

      It's a complete mood piece, and I'm sure there are people who didn't connect with it, but I think they nailed it.

      Maybe we weren’t meant to know.

      Yup. This new swerve into the supernatural means that the old days of half-assed "aliens did it" explanations are over, and we can probably expect more "it's inexplicable" endings. Again, that's probably not going to sit well with everyone.

      I do wonder if there will be longer-term implications for Ruby's ongoing story arc - they did a good job of weaving the snow into the story without offering any suggestion of what it all means.

  • I really don't know what to make of this episode. It was very creepy, and had time travel, but I don't really know what it means. Is there a moral here? Is it literally just "don't mess with sacred monuments you find on a walk in the countryside"?

    And yes, as said above, if it was Ruby all along (somehow?) what made people scared?

    Still, not a bad episode, but somehow a bit unsatisfying.