The Interstellar Song Contest is the sixth episode of the new season of Doctor Who. It stars Ncuti Gatwa as The Doctor and Varada Sethu as Belinda.
Spoilers ahead!!
General Thoughts on The Interstellar Song Contest
Overall, I think this is a good episode. I don’t love it but it’s not terrible. I like the side characters in it, I liked the casual representation and I loved Miriam Teak-Lee as Cora.
Belinda was particularly relatable in this episode with how Eurovision was the one night she could stay up late so she could see the results. However, I didn’t like how easily Belinda forgave the Doctor later on in the episode and I wished she had gotten angrier.
The return of Susan was something I had hoped would happen for a long time and I was waiting for it to happen since last season. Seeing Carol Ann Ford appearing on screen and calling the Doctor ‘grandfather’ was amazing and I’m so glad she has come back. Hopefully she will return for more than jut a cameo in the finale or next season.
The reveal that the Earth was suddenly destroyed coming from a hologram of Graham Norton was really good, except it was undercut by the fact that we were shown Earth was destroyed at the beginning of the season. I wish they had left it a mystery.
Commentary
This episode being aired before Eurovision’s Grand Final in the UK was a bold move. The messaging was not subtle but I think that might be needed. It was clear criticism of the contest, as well as capitalism.
I do wish that the Doctor got more angry at the corporation that destroyed Hellia. He is understandable angry at Kit, but none of his anger is aimed at the Poppy Honey corporation and I wished there was even just a mention of him deciding to go and do something about it once he’s gotten Belinda home.
The Rani
When Mrs Flood was revealed to be the Rani, I was at first confused on whys he was regenerating, since everyone else seemed to be fine. Then I was annoyed that it was a bigeneration. While I don’t like the change in Mrs Floods character post bigeneration, I am curious what will happen with them.
Overall Thoughts on The Interstellar Song Contest
Overall, this episode was a bit heavy-handed with its messaging, but that isn’t always a bad thing. Even with that, I enjoyed the episode and with how the episode ended, I am eager to watch the two part finale!
And if you wanted to know, my vote would of course go to Dugga Doo.
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Want to read another of my blog posts about Doctor Who? Check out my thoughts on the last episode, The Story and the Engine here.