The season finale of Doctor Who opens with a woman (Phyllis Logan) telling her companion, Delph (Percelle Ascott), that this planet is the place for his training. She has trained him for 17 years. It seems like religious training. He clasps his hands and closes his eyes, his eyes burn with energy, and he forms rocks together before the power fades. The woman sees something and stops the ceremony. Then, we get the title, “3,407 years later”, the Doctor has detected nine distress signals from the same planet. It is Ranskoor Av Kolos which the Doctor translates as “The Disintegrator of the Soul”, I love the goofy space words that really makes me think of aliens. She says the planet is generating “violent, psychotropic waves” that may make them violent, she gives “neuro-balancers” that will keep Team Tardis safe. The Doctor targets a ship and lands the Tardis on it. It seems empty, but there is a man with a pistol. The Doctor introduces everyone. She steadily approaches him, he doesn’t know if there are others, and sends the team to look around the ship. He can’t remember his name! The battle seems to have wiped his memory.
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DOCTOR WHO -- “The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos” -- Ben Blackall/BBC.
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The man thinks the Doctor just arrived and she offers him a neuro-balancer. Yaz has found a list of the crew on a console. The Doctor checks it and finds the ship is perfectly fine. The man says his name is Paltraki (Mark Addy). Addy might be recognized as Robert Baratheon in Game of Thrones, possibly Hercules in Atlantis from the Beeb, but I first took nonie of him in A Knight’s Tale (2001). The woman demands Paltracky return because of the Creator. It is the Tzim-Sha! I knew these guys would show up again. He says that Paltraki has taken something and wants it back in exchange for his crew. One of them, Umsang (Jan Le), pleads for him to stay away and then screams in pain. Team Tardis discusses if it is the same Tzim-Sha that they encountered in the first episode, “The Woman Who Fell to Earth.” Paltraki says that he has recovered an object and the Doctor sees that it is a white crystal. She scans it with her sonic screwdriver. Ryan finds a device that the Doctor says they can retrace Paltraki’s steps. Graham says, “We have unfinished business with that monster.” The Doctor finds she can lift the crystal. They head outside, a quarry planet, with several ships. Graham talks to the Doctor and wants to kill the Tzim-Sha. He realizes that his vengeance for Grace changes his relationship with the Doctor, but Graham wants Tzim-Sha dead!
They continue to another graveyard of starships. Paltraki says that through the mist is a floating tower. The Doctor takes equipment she took from Paltraki’s ship; trackers to be placed on their necks, grenades, and a bomb in a hand-held device. Paltraki and Yaz are to find his original mission, Graham and Ryan are to find the crew, the Doctor is going to find Tzim-Sha with the crystal. She uses her sonic screwdriver on the crystal. Everyone is assembled and she uses her sonic screwdriver and they are teleported inside the tower. Graham thinks Grace would want him to kill the Tzim-Sha and they face SniperBots that blast each other apart. They were the threat from episode two, “The Ghost Monument”. The Doctor faces the woman who wants the object pointing a rifle at her. She says there are explosive devices attached to the crystal. The woman says her name is Andinio of the Ux. The Doctor wants Tzim-Sha to see her face. He wants Andinio to bring her to him. Paltraki says his first name is Preston and he comes from Steble. He says he was part of the last fleet sent by the Congress of the Nine Planets. Paltraki blasts the sniper bots. He reaches a room with Yaz, there are five mineral samples, he says they fought their way there. Graham and Ryan are startled by one fo the crew and sees the others. Ryan finds more prisoners.
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DOCTOR WHO -- “The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos” -- Ben Blackall/BBC.
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The Doctor sees Tzim-Sha and shows her new coat. Tzim-Sha says to Andinio to “ready him.” He takes off his mask. Tzim-Sha has emerged on the planet and has taken knowledge from all of the people. He wants revenge. Graham argues with Ryan and he wants Graham to not take his revenge. Tzim-Sha says the Doctor made him a god. Yaz reports to the Doctor as Andinio enters. She sees Delph who pleads with her not to continue, his eyes flash again. Tzim-Sha says the tower is the weapon. The Doctor runs. She reaches the crystal chamber. Paltraki says that there are five planets in the crystals. She communicates with Tzim-Sha that he is breaking every law of the universe. The Doctor says the technology to bring the planets in the same place is unstable. Earth is his target. The beam from the tower strikes the Earth! Ryan has freed the prisoners which angers Tzim-Sha who rips off the cables to go after them. Paltraki goes to help with the prisoners. The SniperBots break through the door, but Paltraki blasts them! The Doctor sees the Ux, if they are disconnected they might die, she realizes with the Yaz that they can use neuro-balancers on them! They remove their neuro-balancers making them vulnerable to the planet. Graham stays behind and promises to rejoin Ryan. She uses the sonic screwdriver to block the signal and save the Earth.
The Doctor explains the truth to Andinio and that they are the creators. The crystals are beginning to crack. The door opens and Graham sets off the charge. He says that the Ux can return the planets. The Doctor activates her sonic screwdriver and the Tardis arrives. Tzim-Sha faces Graham who aims his rifle. The Doctor takes the neuro-balancers back and claps to activate the Tardis. She calls for the Ux and puts the telepathic circuits of the Tardis to bring the planets back! Graham deactivates the rifle and the Tzim-Sha uses his power. Ryan has his rifle and Graham shoots Tzim-Sha in the foot! Good work!, Graham O’Brien, hero of the universe! Some people may think a hero is a Transformer or a superhero, but the true hero is a man from Sheffield! Yaz has Andinio attached and Delph has the telepathic circuits of the Tardis both are in pain as the Tardis sends the planets back. The circuits explode and Yaz runs from it. Both Ux fall. Graham has placed Tzim-Sha in the stasis chamber and tells him to remember one name, “Grace.” Hard core. The Doctor and the others are joined by Ryan and Graham. The Ux say that the tower is sealed. Paltraki says that he wants to finish his mission. Delph wants to join him. Andinio asks the Doctor where she will go, she doesn’t know, but leaves with her fam. She leaves words with the Ux, "None of us know for sure what's out there. That's why we keep looking. Keep your faith. The universe will surprise you. Constantly", and enters the Tardis. I love this season of Doctor Who, if I had to choose only one season of Doctor Who to exist, it will be this one!
Five Sonic Screwdrivers out of Five!
#DoctorWho, #TheBattleofRanskoorAvKolos, #MarkAddy, #PhyllisLogan
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