“Doctor Who” is officially back with a brand-new Doctor and an exciting new companion.
I enjoyed David Tennant’s return to the show as the 14th Doctor in his three 60th anniversary specials with returning showrunner Russell T. Davies. But I think it also reeked of damage control from the drop in viewership from the 13th Doctor’s run — with a big milestone in the 60th, you don’t just go back to a familiar face if the current Doctor is successful.
However, those specials culminated in the introduction of Ncuti Gatwa’s 15th Doctor, whom I loved from his debut sequence in “The Giggle,” which is a rarity. Usually, there’s an awkward transition between Doctors as the lead character goes through drastic personality shifts and the show changes instantly in tone. But that hasn’t been an issue for Gatwa, whose charismatic and energetic iteration of the Time Lord immediately seized my attention and refused to let it go.
That carries over to his first full special, “The Road on Ruby Road,” which sees him get his first new companion in Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson), who is a foster child who is looking for blood relatives through a TV show. Meanwhile, her foster mother is about to foster a baby named Lulubelle for a few days, which she’s excited about, as she has the same birthday as Ruby, who was the only other baby she took in.
However, these coincidences draw the attention of space goblins, who abduct Lulubelle into their rickety spaceship. Ruby gives chase, and is helped by the Doctor, whom she ran into days prior at a pre-Christmas celebration at a club.
The “Goblin Song” ensues — a unique musical number made for the show that has made waves online and the U.K. charts. It’s a song about eating babies, sung by “Janis Goblin,” that is actually a welcome surprise and could have easily been a disaster. “Doctor Who” is not a musical, but the long running show is also free to try whatever it wants.
Expectedly, the Doctor figures out the mechanics of how the goblins harness coincidence as well as their language centered around knots — even if the viewer won’t necessarily be able to connect all the dots — and it works for several emotional payoffs.
One of my favorite things about the 15th Doctor so far is how excited he is to learn and experience new things, which you might think is a rarity for the apparently ageless Time Lord. Gatwa is also very enthusiastic in the special, which rubs off on the viewer.
Ruby is also an interesting companion, feeling like a little sister to the Doctor, who is much older than her and also sees her as a baby. I also connected with her backstory, being a former foster kid, and found it refreshing, especially for a show that grew stale under Chris Chibnall’s watch.
I enjoyed this episode more than Tennant’s 60th specials and I strongly look forward to Gatwa’s first full series. This is easily the best first episode of a new Doctor’s run since David Tennant’s introduction as the 10th Doctor, and I think it’s arguably stronger than that.
If you’re new to “Doctor Who,” this is a perfect place to jump in. This is a fresh start for the show and I have faith in Davies to bring Gatwa’s Doctor to fantastic heights.
“Doctor Who: The Church on Ruby Road” gets a 9/10
InReview: Reviews, Commentary and More 
Leave a comment