The new, refreshed season of Doctor Who was a mixed bag. There were some fantastic episodes like "73 Yards," "The Legend of Ruby Sunday," and "Empire of Death." On the other hand, some of the less impressive installments included "Space Babies" and "The Devil's Chord." In the latter, which featured a cameo from a fictionalized version of The Beatles, showrunner Russell T. Davies reveals that he cut a specific scene.
The 20-second scene in question comes just before the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) defeat Maestro and return the magic of music to the world. In his excitement, the Doctor decides to perform an epic musical number which closes out the episode.
In the original script, however, while the musical outro remains unchanged, Russell T. Davies had the Doctor introduce it, rather than just jumping to the song and dance. "Why explain why you burst into song? Just burst into song!" Davies told SFX. "So I think that scene possibly would've made a lot of people happy. I'm really glad we took it out! It's only 20 seconds of dialogue, it was nothing. I can't think of anything else that we cut."
I think just jumping to the song was a good move that reflected the Doctor's spontaneous nature. With that said, if the BBC ever wants to release an extended cut, I wouldn't be opposed to that either.
Doctor Who boss discusses the mystery of Mrs. Flood
The new season of Doctor Who has continued to tease Mrs. Flood (Anita Dobson), an enigmatic character who seemingly knows everything that occurs in the Doctor's future, and has the ability to break the fourth wall and chat to the audience directly. Mrs. Flood appeared in "The Church on Ruby Road" and returned in the final scene of the season finale. Up to now, the mystery behind her character has not been revealed.
"That hasn’t been explained, and it might never be, frankly," Davies said. "It’s very interesting, within the Doctor Who offices, we know exactly why that happens and yet I’m showing no sign of putting that on screen."
The decision to avoid spilling details is very deliberate. In fact, Davies dropped removed a hint from an early script of "The Star Beast." "There is actually a reason for it that was in a very early draft of The Star Beast. But I see no need to explain it whatsoever."
Doctor Who season 1 is now streaming on Disney+. The series will return for a Christmas Special later this year, with season 2 set for release in 2025.
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