Balfe has a load of high visibility (audibility?) credits to his name, dating back to his time as an assistant to Hans Zimmer. The standout title for me is another Bad Wolf production, His dark materials, but YMMV — it's a long list of movies, video games and TV shows he has scored.

I think it's interesting that Murray Gold wasn't chosen to do the honours, as he has with most of NuWho and at least parts of its Torchwood and Sarah Jane adventures spinoffs. It certainly indicates that the show may have a different flavour than the main show.

Just thought I'd leave this here before the season finale and the #RIPDoctorWho that will surely take on a life of its own when more people realise the show isn't coming back immediately.

From Disney+'s press package released ahead of this season — my emphasis:

Doctor Who remains one of the most watched programmes on iPlayer and was a top 5 series on Disney+ globally every week it aired, as well as being the BBC’s top drama for under 35’s this year making it one of the biggest programmes for the demographic across all streamers and broadcasters.

Doctor Who  has a variety of licensees and partnerships spanning comics and collectibles, audiobooks, podcasts and magazines. Since 2012, over 17 million Sonic Screwdrivers and action figures, 19 million DVDs and over one million tickets for Doctor Who live events have sold globally.

That last paragraph underlines what Steven Mof

A special edition of Doctor Who: Unleashed, hosted by Steffan Powell, celebrating the last twenty years since Doctor Who returned titled '20 Years in Wales' features cast and creatives that have played a part in bringing the show back.

The special episode of Doctor Who: Unleashed, '20 Years in Wales,' will air on BBC Three, BBC iPlayer and BBC Wales on 7 June 2025, 7pm.

Happy ascension day to those who celebrate!

Archie Panjabi, Anita Dobson and Millie Gibson tease what's going to happen in the Doctor Who Season Two finale episode 'The Reality War'

The CultBox staff has collated another compendium of statements from assorted sources to give us an overview of what might plausibly be coming to our screens on Saturday.

While the stars are doing a good job of focusing away from the actual storyline (that's why they earn the big bucks 😄), the released screenshots seem to indicate a showdown between the "reawakened" UNIT staff and the Rani?

Finally, some more or less unsourced tidbits:

• The Bone place is described as the endoskeleton of a beast.
• The runtime of The Reality War is 1 hour, 6 minutes.
• A teaser trailer for The War Between the Land and the Sea will drop after transmission.

I'll definitely be looking out for that spinoff preview!

• This is a real good one: pretty good pacing, pretty good visuals, pretty good score. It's the total package!
• Lousy title, though.
• Apparently, Beatles music was cheaper in the 80s.
• The little girl who gets plugged into the Dalek machine is great. She's got my vote for next Davros.
• The Hand of Omega (that's OH-migga, mind you) macguffin is pretty deftly handled. It's a piece of machinery Omega used when he created the power source. No need for an overly long explanation of....gestures at the other two serials.
• The Doctor hid the Hand of Omega on Earth in 1963, and guarded it for less than a month before taking off for several lifetimes. That...tracks.
• That Mike fellow is a handsome twerp.
• "I never really wanted to hurt anybody. It's just you have to protect your own, keep the outsiders out just that your own people can have a fair chance." Jeeze, when did Doctor Who get so woke?
• The Doctor waffles a lot on the Dalek-killing issue. Mostly, he seems fine with it

I just waded into Doctor Who reddit for some tasty speculation after watching "Wish world", and I really hope the people buying into [edit: recasting rumours] will be proven wrong by Saturday. Posting this as testimony that this was an actual thing people believed.

I also hope Lemmy spoiler tags work as intended in the wider Fediverse... [Edit: turns out this was a rubbish time to learn that they do, in fact, not]

• I was enjoying this one quite a bit early on, but it turns into a bit of a slog as it goes.
• I'm a big advocate of the restoration of Gallifrey, but...yeesh. Less is more.
• A lot of the energy is sucked out of the story by the layering of pointless mysteries. Does it matter if Omega's identity is revealed much, much sooner? Not really. Ditto for "who's the traitor on the High Council?" But I suppose they have a runtime to fill.
• It's amusing to watch Colin Baker run around trying to hasten the Doctor's regeneration. Conflict of interest!
• Omega has a TARDIS now? Okay...
• Omega (that's OH-meguh) has a rather more subdued personality this time around, which is kind of a shame. A little eccentricity might have spiced things up a bit.
• The Ergon, described as one of Omega's less successful attempts at psychosynthesis, looks kind of familiar...

![The Ergon, a bird-like creature that appears to be made of bone, not unlike the bone palace and giant creatures seen in "Wish World

Battle rages across the skies as the Unholy Trinity unleash their deadly ambition. The Doctor, Belinda and Ruby have to risk everything in the quest to save one innocent life.

But also, the very first spoken line:

<details class="spoiler"><summary></summary>

"Omega — with his body I can build a new Gallifrey!"

Called it! Schrödinger's Gallifrey pendulum is swinging back to "alive"...

</details>

• I swear I saw bits and pieces of old Doctor Who reruns when I was growing up, and I have vague memories of the Third Doctor and Bessie - vague enough that I would never be able to actually identify an episode that I've seen before.
• Jo is sort of blandly competent in this, without standing out in any way. The Brigadier is at his most buffoonish.
• It's a shame William Hartnell's health prevented him from playing a larger role in the story, but you do what you can with what you have.
• The "telepathic conference" effect (if you can call it an effect) was charmingly effective.
• I also rather liked the blobby creatures, and whatever they used to dress the sets in the antimatter universe. That translucent red stuff has a visceral quality that enhances the overall...shoddiness.
• Nice quarry, too.
• Now, on to Omega. There's "over the top," and then there's this guy. He's an old-school supervillain at his core, with shades of Doctor Doom (and I'm not just talking about the mask).