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The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)

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The Legend of Ruby Sunday
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The Legend of Ruby Sunday was the seventh episode of Season 1 of Doctor Who.[1]

Synopsis

The same woman keeps appearing in the Doctor and Ruby's adventures. UNIT knows her as Susan Triad, head of S Triad Technology. Could she be the Doctor's long-lost granddaughter? And just who is Ruby's mysterious mother? As UNIT investigates both angles, an ancient evil stirs...

Plot

In 2024, the TARDIS lands in UNIT Tower, the Doctor and Ruby stepping out to greet everyone assembled. Rose Noble, Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, and two new faces, Morris Gibbons, UNIT scientific advisor, and Harriet, head of the archive. The Doctor asks the assembled group for their help, wherever he lands a woman appears. Be her an ambulance, a communications officer, or 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 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 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 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 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 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, 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 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 the memory of a time machine?"

The hooded woman stays there until the past Doctor returns, the current Doctor noting that his memory of this event has changed, perhaps time has as well. As the woman turns and points towards him, the Doctor doesn't know what she means. He doesn't know what she's pointing at. Chidozie moves in the direction the woman is pointing, thinking that it might not be the Doctor she's pointing at. He passes behind the time window's TARDIS, unable to find anything, and the hooded woman walks away, vanishing.

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 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.

Cast

Crew

General production staff

Script department

Camera and lighting department

Art department

Costume department

Make-up and prosthetics

Movement

Casting

General post-production staff

Special and visual effects

Sound



Not every person who worked on this adventure was credited. The absence of a credit for a position doesn't necessarily mean the job wasn't required. The information above is based solely on observations of the actual end credits of the episodes as broadcast, and does not relay information from IMDB or other sources.
          

This episode was produced with the support of incentives for the Irish film industry provided by the Government of Ireland.


Worldbuilding

  • Harriet also mentions a threefold deity of malice, mischief, and misery.
  • Harriet mentions the existence of gods of skin, shame, and secrets.

Notes

Myths

to be added

Filming locations

to be added

Ratings

to be added

Production errors

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.

to be added

Continuity

Home media releases

to be added

Gallery

Main article: The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)/Gallery

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 @bbcdoctorwho (2024-05-31). THE LEGEND OF RUBY SUNDAY
    Writer: Russell T Davies
    Director: Jamie Donoughue
    #DoctorWho    . Archived from the original on 2024-05-29.
  2. ↑ DWM 584
  3. ↑ DWM 592
  4. ↑ Morgan Jeffery (2024-04-30). Doctor Who boss says finale contains scenes he's been planning for 50 years. RadioTimes.com. Archived from the original on 2024-04-30.
  5. ↑ David Craig (2024-05-22). Doctor Who's final 2 episodes of season 14 to be screened in UK cinemas. RadioTimes.com. Archived from the original on 2024-05-22.
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