The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story): Difference between revisions

|image                = The Legend of Ruby Sunday teaser.jpg

|featuring            =  

|setting              =  

|director              = [[Jamie Donoghue]]

In [[2024]], [[The Doctor's TARDIS|the TARDIS]] lands in [[UNIT HQ, City of London|UNIT Tower]], the [[Fifteenth Doctor|Doctor]] and [[Ruby Sunday|Ruby]] stepping out to greet everyone assembled. [[Rose Noble]], [[Kate Stewart|Kate Lethbridge-Stewart]], and two new faces, [[Morris Gibbons]], UNIT scientific advisor, and [[Harriet Arbinger|Harriet]], head of the archive. The Doctor asks the assembled group for their help, wherever he lands a woman appears. Be her an [[Villengard Automated Ambulance Unit|ambulance]], a [[Gina Scalzi|communications officer]], or [[Penny Pepper-Bean|someone’s mother]], she just keeps showing up. The group immediately tabs over to a feed of the woman practising a speech, they’ve already been keeping tabs on her. [[Susan Triad]], owner of [[S Triad Technology]], who plans on giving her tech away for free later today. The Doctor points out that "S Triad" is an anagram for [[TARDIS]], and those assembled explain that this is part of why they’ve been keeping an eye on her. Ruby also points out that "Susan" is the name of the Doctor’s [[Susan Foreman|granddaughter]]. As the group discusses the issue, the solution of the Doctor just going to meet with Susan Triad is floated, he'd recognize her if it was his granddaughter, but everything lining up does suggest a decent likelihood of a trap.

The assembled group moves on - the Doctor discusses another mystery woman, Ruby’s mother. He can’t go back to the night when Ruby was left on the church’s doorstep, he was already there, and [[First Law of Time|he can’t cross his own timeline]]. This night in particular is so volatile that it’s dangerous, whenever Ruby and the Doctor even discuss it, [[Snow (The Church on Ruby Road)|snow]] tends to fall. Harriet thinks they’re overcomplicating the issue, this was 2004, [[CCTV]] existed. There was a camera nearby. Ruby has the video tape, she and her [[Carla Sunday|grandmother]] asked for it years back, but you can’t see anything on it. Morris suggests that due to UNIT’s technology they could sharpen the image and maybe see something new. Ruby and Rose head back to Ruby’s flat to get the tape.

As Ruby and Rose collect the video tape, [[Carla Sunday]] resolves to come with them back to UNIT tower, to make sure that Ruby is kept safe. She has Mrs. [[Flood (The Church on Ruby Road)|Flood]] come to watch over Cherry Sunday in her absence, who's happy to help. As Mrs. Flood is left alone with Cherry, Flood warns Cherry to be careful - a storm is coming in, [[The One Who Waits|he]] waits no more.

Susan Triad continues to rehearse her speech, nervous for the delivery in 90 minutes. [[Melanie Bush]], who [[UNIT]] has snuck onto set as a consultant, manages to get a DNA sample from her and drives it back to UNIT HQ. The Doctor is thrilled to have Mel arrive, and his enthusiasm doesn't take much of a dent from the DNA sample she's brought back coming in as human, as almost immediately after Ruby and Rose return, Carla in tow. The Doctor decides not just to upscale the resolution on the [[VHS]], but to use it in a [[time window]] to actually view that night in its entirety.

Heading down to the time window and meeting [[Colonel]] [[Winston Chidozie]], who manages the security for the time window, they have Morris wire the VHS up to the window. Ruby joins the Doctor in the middle of the window's space, and she describes to him the story of how she was found. [[Snow (The Church on Ruby Road)|Snow]] falls, even before the window starts. The machine whirs to life, and a hologram of [[Christmas Eve]], [[2004]] appears, the [[Carol of the Bells]] echoing. Kate is astonished to see the window performing as well as it is, but the Doctor says that they're giving it memory - time is memory, memory is time. A hooded figure, Ruby's mother, appears, and walks towards them. But as they try to peek under her hood the window stutters and she surges past them. The TARDIS arrives, the Doctor arrives, to save Ruby as he did in the past, running off to the church. But the Doctor notices, standing next to Ruby, that the TARDIS in the time window is almost solid. He muses - "if time is memory, and memory is time, then what is [[Remembered TARDIS|the memory of a time machine]]?"

The Doctor and the TARDIS leave as well, leaving behind them a swirling mass of particulates, Colonel Chidozie nowhere to be found. They call and call for Chidozie, unable to contact him. Carla identifies the roil of dust and debris as [[Sutekh|The Beast]], in fear. Eventually their calls reach Chidozie and he says he's lost, in hell, an old entity has been waiting for ages. The window breaks, the roil vanishes, and Chidozie's body appears, caked with sand. The Doctor resolves - it's time to go meet Susan Triad.

Mel introduces the Doctor to Triad, and he tries to talk to her, but she's so busy, what she really wants is sleep, can never have enough sleep with the dreams she has. The Doctor asks her over and over about the dreams she has - if they match with the people he's met on her travels. She's dragged away for her speech, but it's clear that these questions resonated with her.

The Doctor and Mel receive a call from Kate - the roiling mass from before has ingrained itself onto the VHS when it wasn't there before, not only that, they've determined that there's something in its centre, the TARDIS. It was there on that night on Ruby Road a second time, 20 meters to the north, with this mass swirling around it. As they talk, a groan emanates from the TARDIS in UNIT HQ, prompting Kate to wonder whether the swirling mass is still present around the TARDIS - they just can't see it. As non-essential people are evacuated from the room, the TARDIS is scanned, and a life form is determined to be surrounding the TARDIS. The Doctor stays on Triad, his gut insisting that she's part of this, but he orders Ruby be taken back to the time window as UNIT prepares for confrontation with whatever's around the TARDIS.

As Triad gives her speech, she hears a voice, disorienting her. She begins to go off script. She talks more and more about her bad dreams, her visions. In UNIT HQ, Harriet begins chanting, ranting, offering a prayer. Her full name? Harriet Arbinger - A Harbinger for a god yet again. Harriet lists off God after God in a pantheon, but she is the harbinger for none of them. She is the harbinger for the "mother and father and other of them all". [[Sutekh]].

The roil turns visible and collapses, the God appearing, a beast curled around the TARDIS. Triad's face has turned into a skull, bringing the gift of his death to all she comes into contact with. And the time window whirs back to life once more, Ruby finding herself in a world of white, calling out to the hooded woman as she walks closer.

* [[Colonel]] [[Christofer Ibrahim|Ibrahim]] - [[Alexander Devrient]]

* Colonel [[Winston Chidozie|Chidozie]] - [[Tachia Newall]]

* [[Corporal]] [[Alice Sullivan]] - [[Jasmine Bayes]]<ref name="Cast">{{Cite_web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0020ccf|title=Doctor Who, Season 1, The Legend of Ruby Sunday|website name=bbc.co.uk|publisher=[[BBC]]|archiveurl=https://archive.ph/0TxoI|archivedate=2024-06-05}}</ref>

''to be added''

* Harriet Arbinger recites names from [[the Pantheon]]: [[the Toymaker]], god of [[game]]s; [[the Trickster]], god of [[trap]]s; [[Maestro]], god of [[music]]; [[Reprobate (god)|Reprobate]], god of [[spite]]; the [[Mara]], god of [[beast]]s; [[Incensor (god)|Incensor]], god of [[disaster]]; [[Doubt (god)|Doubt]] and [[Dread (god)|Dread]], children of Incensor; and [[Sutekh]], the parent of all other gods.  

== Notes ==

** This scene was ultimately not in the episode.

* On [[22 May (production)|22 May]], UK cinematic screenings of this episode and ''[[Empire of Death (TV story)|Empire of Death]]'' were announced for the night of [[21 June (releases)|21]] and [[22 June (releases)|22 June]], with tickets going on sale on [[23 May (production)|23 May]].<ref name="Cinema">{{cite_web|url=https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/sci-fi/doctor-who-season-14-finale-cinema-screening-newsupdate/|title=Doctor Who's final 2 episodes of season 14 to be screened in UK cinemas|author=David Craig|date of source=2024-05-22|website name=RadioTimes.com|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20240522183625/https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/sci-fi/doctor-who-season-14-finale-cinema-screening-newsupdate/|archivedate=2024-05-22}}</ref>

* This episode marks the return of [[Sutekh]] to televised ''Doctor Who'' for the first time since {{cs|Pyramids of Mars (TV story)}} in 1975, an absence of 49 years.

''to be added''