TDP 1366: TV #DoctorWho The Interstellar song contest REVIEW #DisneyWho

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Synopsis[edit][edit source]

After two Hellions hijack the control gallery of the 803rd Interstellar Song Contest and eject the audience into space, the Doctor and Belinda must race to stop them from broadcasting a delta wave to 3 trillion viewers.

Plot[edit][edit source]

In the year 2925, Rylan Clark steps out of cryogenic suspension and onto the stage as the 803rd Interstellar Song Contest begins in the Harmony Arena space station, with the Fifteenth Doctor and Belinda Chandra exiting the TARDIS at the same time in order to take a Vindicator reading. As the reading finishes they turn to the stage, notice where they are, and unanimously decide that they're staying to watch the festivities.

The opening ceremonies include commercials for the contest's sponsor Poppy Honey. Mrs Flood, also in the audience, watches the Doctor and Belinda from afar and is delighted to see that the Vindicator is primed, calling it "the final link". Meanwhile married couple Gary and Mike Gabbastone, having arrived late, bicker over their seats being taken by the Doctor and Belinda.

A Hellion, Kid, storms backstage and seizes control of the production booth along with another Hellion worker, Wynn. The pair detain everyone present and swap over the livestream to the recording of the dress rehearsal in order to keep the outside world from realising anything is wrong. However, the Doctor notices that Rylan (who missed the dress) is present on stage but not on the television feed, and begins fiddling with wiring near his seat.

As the first song plays, Kid disengages the space station safety protocols and evacuates the air in the main area, sending the vast majority of the audience careening out into space, the Doctor and the TARDIS amongst them. Contestant Cora Saint Bavier and her associate Len Kazah are spared when Wynn surreptitiously seals their pod, and Belinda manages to hang on after being thrown against the ceiling of hers, but they are seemingly the only survivors. With the arena "purged", Kid initiates the final phase of his plan, bringing out a device that will generate a delta wave. However, since the mavity shell is still intact, backstage director Nina Maxwell tries to persuade Wynn that they could still save everyone.

Belinda exits the seats and meets up with Cora and Len, who explain to her that the station is in communication lockdown until the scheduled end of the show to prevent manipulation of the betting markets. There's no way for them to call for help. Len finds Hellion script in a nearby terminal and tells Belinda "people say" Hellions have fearsome psychic powers and practise cannibalism, prompting Cora to defend them.

As the Doctor freezes in space, an image bursts into his mind: his granddaughter, Susan. She tells him to go back, to find her. He comes to, grabbing a nearby confetti cannon and propelling himself back to the airlock where Mike and Gary let him in and revive him. The trio talk about how everyone is frozen but not dead, and the mavity was increased by the Doctor, so theoretically everyone is still in range of the station. Scanning through a nearby terminal, the Doctor finds out that the hellions are uploading a delta wave to transmit with the song contest, potentially killing all three trillion viewers across the galaxy. Searching for a caustic hyperlink, they come across a museum dedicated to the song contest's history, complete with holographic Graham Norton.

As Kid notices people interfering with the systems he attempts to contact them, speaking with the Doctor, Belinda's group managing to eavesdrop on their exchanges of threats. Cora sees Wynn in the background and reacts, prompting Len to inquire further. Cora confesses that she's a Hellion who cut her own horns off and says that their peaceful planet was destroyed by the Corporation, makers of PoppyHoney. Kid intends to get revenge on every viewer of the Song Contest, as being complicit in the sponsoring Corporation's crimes. Cora convinces Len to help them stop Kid, but he blames her for lying to him throughout their songwriting partnership and says he will no longer work with her after this crisis is over.

The Doctor appears on the bridge and dismantles the delta wave, distracting Kid with a hologram. He then, frustrated with the level of damage Kid wished to inflict on the galaxy - three trillion deaths, injured him repeatedly, using hard light holograms to inflict pain, only stopping when Belinda and Cora entered the production booth.

The Doctor puts Gary and Mike to work grabbing everyone suspended in the mavity field using hard light and then utilizing Rylan's cryochamber to safely revive them. As the majority of the attendees filter into the main chamber once more, Rylan explains that the contest is obviously null and void, but there's one contestant left that he wants everyone to hear - Cora. Cora tells everyone that she's a hellion, that the Corporation tried to bury her song and story, and sings for the galaxy. Applause echoes and the crowd is moved to tears.

The Doctor and Belinda find the TARDIS in the museum, brought in by contest staff. In their conversation, they mention the earth, prompting the hologram Graham Norton to appear and mention that the earth was destroyed on May the 24th 2025 for unknown reasons, everything used for the song contest were sifted from the wreckage. The pair run back into the TARDIS and with a fully primed Vindicator pilot the TARDIS directly back to when they left. As they do so, however, the Cloister Bell chimes, and the TARDIS groans, an explosion rocking the TARDIS doors off their hinges.

Mrs Flood is the last of the attendees to be brought back aboard the space station, and immediately is concerned as to whether the Doctor is still around. When she learns that he's gone, she begins to regenerate, her double brainstem having frozen, splitting into two, a bi-generation. The new incarnation identifies herself as the Rani, acting dismissive of her earlier incarnation, while Mrs Flood begins to defer to her. Taking the readings of the Vindicator, the new Rani says that she'll bring the Doctor absolute terror, and marches off, her prior self in tow.

Cast[edit][edit source]

• The Doctor - Ncuti Gatwa
• Belinda Chandra - Varada Sethu
• Sabine - Julie Dray
• Rylan Clark - Himself
• Runner - Imogen Kingsley Smith
• Nina Maxwell - Kiruna Stamell
• Wynn Aura-Kin - Iona Anderson
• Mrs Flood - Anita Dobson
• Gary Gabbastone - Charlie Condou
• Mike Gabbastone - Kadiff Kirwan
• Kid - Freddie Fox
• Cora Saint Bavier - Miriam-Teak Lee
• Len Kazah - Akemnji Ndifornyen
• Liz Lizardine - Christina Rotondo
• Graham Norton - Himself
• Jeddy Kine - Abdul Sessay
• Drone Guards - Callum Owen, Harrison Pittard, Adam Bentley, Matthew Doman

And Carole Ann Ford as Susan Foreman
Introducing Archie Panjabi as The Rani

Crew[edit][edit source]