Doctor Who Is NEW!: Lux

 

Welcome to Doctor Who Is NEW! where I post about the latest new episode of Doctor Who.

The new season moves onward as the Doctor and Belinda wind up in Miami, Fl of 1952  confronted by a movie theater haunted by the ghosts of the disappeared and most animated antagonist. 

There may be spoilers, honey! 

Lux

by Russell T Davies 

Belinda Chandra is really insistent on getting back home which is the planet Earth on May 24, 2025.  

The Doctor insists he really is trying to her back home but the TARDIS keeps bouncing off of planet Earth on May 24, 2025.  

The Doctor rigs up some tech that he says will get her to planet Earth on May 24, 2025 but he has to land somewhere to make it work.

That somewhere is Miami FL in 1952.  

Where there's a mystery to be solved. 

Belinda accuses the Doctor of being Scooby Doo.

"I'm Velma, honey!" the Doctor retorts and we're off to races.  

Well, with some caution.  

We've got two people of color poking in the southern United States in 1952 with segregated diners and movie theaters.   

15 people vanished within the movie house one night 3 months ago.

The culprit is a 1930's era cartoon called Mr. Ring A Ding who has come to life. 

Mr. Ring A Ding is Lux Imperator, another of the pantheon of chaos gods like the Toymaker and the Maestro.  

The Doctor and Belinda are transformed into cartoons but regain their 3-D forms by remembering stuff that makes them sad.  But they are still stuck in Lux's world of film and wind up clambering into a world where...

Doctor Who is a TV show.  

Fans Lizzie, Hasan and Robyn bring the Doctor and Belinda up to speed that in their world, the Doctor is a character in a TV show.  And insist their favorite episode is "Blink".   

Ncuti Gatwa and Varada Sethu make a great combo.  Varada's Belinda feels like a fully realized person and not just a character serving a plot point.  Her reluctance to be on an adventure but her own inate empathy for those in need and a very human curiousity are well balanced.  

I do not want to oversell "Lux" but I really would like to see it again sooner rather than later. It was scary, exciting and a lot of fun. 

Next Sunday:  More Doctor Who Is NEW!