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Nothing is accidental. Here’s our breakdown of Doctor Who Season 1's fifth episode - Dot and Bubble!
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00:00Hello hello everyone it is Sean Verrick here for Who Culture. I hope you're doing well. If you
00:04aren't give me a cuddle. We are going to go through all of the easter eggs now and details
00:09from Dot and Bubble and I think it's safe to say this episode has got people talking. I hope you've
00:15watched our ups and downs video that was released the other day. So what we're going to do straight
00:19away is jump straight into number 21 which is right from the off we're introduced to the Dot
00:24and Bubble concept with the citizens of fine time including Lindy's close friends revolving
00:28around her head in a giant colorful bubble. You can see dozens and dozens of faces floating by
00:33and while you might have thought that some of these faces were computer generated in some way
00:38they're actually all real people. 30 supporting actors were dolled up with multiple different
00:42costumes and hairstyles so they look like different characters. They were then given different prompts
00:46and props and lines all to create the illusion of every screen containing a unique character.
00:52And then in number 20 Lindy notices that one of her close friends Jimbo is missing. If that name
00:57rings a bell that's because it's one of Russell T. Davis go-to names whenever he has a random side
01:02character in one of his episodes. Think about season one the episode the end of the world the
01:06ninth doctor dubs one of his spider droids on the platform Jimbo. Jimbo is also the name of one of
01:11the
01:11workers at Adipose Industries who apparently keeps the printer well stocked. Jackie Tider also mentioned
01:16someone called Jimbo in the end of time part two who was supposed to give her and Rose a lift
01:20and most
01:21recently Wild Blue Yonder saw the 14th doctor and Donna label the slow moving white robot on the
01:27Jimbo. Hello Jimbo! It's basically good old Jimbo he's been with RTD and Doctor Who from the very
01:33beginning. Number 19 we're going to stick with the bubble and the overall concept for this episode.
01:39This is an idea that's been percolating in Russell T. Davis mind for a very long time. We went into
01:44this
01:44on the ups and downs. He originally pitched the concept of visible Twitter to Stephen Moffat in April
01:502010 during the launch of season 5. Matt Smith's first series as the 11th doctor. This means that
01:54dot and bubble could have actually been an 11th doctor story which is interesting when you consider
01:59the fine time citizens attitude towards the 15th doctor specifically. The reason it wasn't made back
02:03then is simply because it was too expensive and with the floating CGI bubbles on screen for most of
02:07the runtime yeah that makes perfect sense in my head. Number 18 so while the idea of dot and bubble
02:13actually predates Black Mirror which started in 2011 Russell T. Davis has called this episode
02:19Doctor Who's clearer step into Black Mirror territory. Black Mirror of course is an anthology show
02:23which mostly depicts futuristic dystopias and some bloody scary sci-fi technology tackling relevant
02:28societal and political issues in an allegorical manner. Try saying that 10 times fast. One of the
02:34clearest comparisons to dot and bubble is the Black Mirror episode Nosedive which revolves around a
02:39society where everyone is addicted to their phones and they can give people a rating out of
02:42five stars. The higher your overall rating the better you'll be able to live. Everyone in that world
02:47is heartless underneath their shiny social media exteriors which certainly rings true of the
02:51citizens of fine time as well which we particularly find out toward the end. Number 17 Lindy finally
02:58gets out of bed and we get a walk through her apartment. So there's bright pastel colours everywhere
03:02and quirky furnishings bring this world to life beautifully but the cleverest detail is actually
03:06the amount of circles that are subtly hidden around the place. Every single window is circular as
03:11are Lindy's light fittings, rug, bathroom, mirror and some of the shapes in her wall art. Aside from fitting in
03:16with the offbeat design of the episode this subtlety plays into the idea that these people are literally
03:21trapped in their own bubbles. The world around them is circular, it is an echo chamber. Less subtle
03:27is the giant Simpsons movie dome surrounding fine time but listen sometimes Russell D Davis likes to go
03:32for the obvious farting politicians approach. Do you know what I mean like...
03:35Number 16 then and Lindy enters her bathroom and we meet arguably one of the greatest characters in fiction
03:40Doctor P. Doctor P is played by actor Max Boast and this isn't actually his first connection to Doctor Who...
03:47sort of. Boast features in a few episodes of Sex Education alongside Shooty Gatwa where he played a character
03:51called Tom Baker which is of course also the name of the man who played the fourth Doctor.
03:56Number 15. After the title sequence we get an establishing shot of fine time complete with a weatherman
04:00explaining that there's something wrong with the weather satellites. The reason he says this is because the weather in
04:05Wales during January when the exterior scenes was shot was expected to be bleak and windy and surprise surprise
04:10it was and so because fine time is supposed to be this perfect sunny utopia the line about a problem
04:17with the weather satellites was used to explain why it was windy and dull. Not gonna lie we've got a
04:23little bit of trouble with the weather satellites. Number 14 and we're gonna stick with that establishing
04:28shot for a second and all of the buildings we can see this skyline have been added in post-production
04:33to make fine time seem more futuristic. According to the director Dylan Holmes Williams the aim here was to
04:38make fine time look Blade Runner-y. And if you go back and look at some of the cityscapes in
04:43Ridley
04:43Scott's original 1982 Blade Runner complete with their giant holographic people beamed onto the walls
04:48you can absolutely see the comparison. Number 13 and Lindy arrives at her office for a hard day's work.
04:54Well a day's work. Well work. On the desk in front of her is an interface of some kind and
05:00I'm sure it's
05:00no coincidence this interface looks exactly like the common shape of a video game controller. To me this
05:06suggests that they're either doing essentially meaningless work that they're just playing a game
05:10they're messing around or they're just not really doing anything important almost as if it's some
05:15sort of distraction technique. Number 12 Lindy lowers her bubble at Ruby's instructions and we get our
05:21first gloriously disgusting full view shot of one of the space slugs. RIP Bertie Lester we hardly knew
05:26you. As revealed in the behind the scenes material these space slugs do actually have a name they're called
05:32Mantraps while Russell D. Davis also refers to them as things in the Doctor Who magazine. Mantraps is
05:37quite an apt name in more ways than one not only do they eat humans but the physical on-set
05:42version
05:43of the creature actually had three fully grown men inside of it operating it imagine that for a bizarre
05:48day of work. The name Mantrap of course is also tied into Star Trek which we know Russell D. Davis
05:54is a
05:54big fan of the Mantrap which featured a monster that sucked the salt out of people's blood the salt of
06:00vampire if you were is the first ever televised episode of Star Trek the original series fun and
06:07of course The Thing is one of the scariest sci-fi movies ever made. Number 11 throughout this episode
06:14we see Lindy being a lot more hostile towards the Doctor than she is towards Ruby asking if the
06:19Mantraps are something to do with him saying that he's going to be disciplined when all this is over
06:23and many more instances these all hint towards that final moment where Lindy is revealed to be a
06:28massive racist and this was also hinted in some of the costuming too. Lindy is wearing a blue top
06:34while the Doctor says bright orange and blue and orange also just so happen to be directly contrasting
06:39colours. Number 10 Lindy says that all the fine timers do is work for two hours a day and then
06:44party
06:44and Ruby quips back it's like Love Island the planet. Love Island is obviously an incredibly popular
06:49British reality show where a group of conventionally very hot people live together on an island for a bit
06:54and that's it that's the show. It is like bubblegum for the eyes. In Doctor Who Unleashed
07:00Russell T Davies also describes fine time as Love Island for the rich so Love Island was clearly on
07:05his mind when he was devising Dot and Bubble and at number nine it's time for this week's twist watch.
07:11For those who still aren't aware of what's going on here Susan Twist is the name of an actress who
07:15has
07:16had seven completely different roles since Doctor Who returned last year. She played Isaac Newton's mate
07:22Mrs Meridrew in Wild Blue Yonder, the woman in the pub in the church on Ruby Road, the comms officer
07:26in Space Babies, a tea lady in The Devil's Chord, the ambulance interface in Boom, the hiker in 73 yards
07:33and now Lindy's mother Penny Pepperbean. Tantalizingly this is the first time both the Doctor and Ruby have
07:40fully recognized her. Now that they're aware of this mystery too I wouldn't be surprised if there was
07:44a confrontation between them and Twist's character in Rogue. Let us know your theories on this one as it
07:49develops. Not long to wait until we find out the truth which is also a scary thing to say because
07:53we're more than halfway through the season. At number eight Lindy convenes an urgent meeting of
07:57all her remaining friends by using the command Priority One. Like Jimbo this is another one of
08:03those words or phrases that's popped up in the show a few times before. In the series three finale
08:07Last of the Time Lords also written by Russell T Davies Professor Docherty accesses the Priority One
08:11communications network when she's ratting out Martha Jones to the Master. Then in Day of the Doctor Kate
08:16Stewart mentions Priority One when she's asking for access to the Black Archive. Priority One.
08:22I'm going to need access to the Black Archive. Priority One was also the name of a distress signal
08:27in the Doctor Who Star Trek crossover comic Assimilation. Number seven another reused word or
08:32phrase this time a number number 55. The Doctor informs Lindy that her escape conduit has an access
08:38point on Plaza 55 and this seems to be one of Russell's go-to numbers because he's used it multiple
08:43times
08:44already in this era. In the Star Beast the Doctor and Donna both say that she has only 55 seconds
08:48to
08:48live after the Doctor activates the Metacrisis and in the Giggle the Galvanic Bean platform is locked
08:53at level 55. Earlier in Dot and Bubble Lindy also says that her t-shirt is a classic design from
09:01the year
09:025-5. Why 55? Who knows? Number six sees Lindy bumping into Ricky September and one of the first things
09:09he does is grab her hand to lead her away from the slugs. The grabbing of a companion's hand is
09:13a
09:13very Doctor-esque move that we've seen a lot over the years. It's the Doctor taking charge,
09:19commanding the situation and often leading their companions away from danger. I think this was
09:23done intentionally on Russell D. Davis's part to make Ricky seem like the most Doctor-esque character
09:28possible. He's brave, he's level-headed, he's smart and constantly reassuring and protective of Lindy.
09:34He fills the role we typically expect of the Doctor. The reason this is important is that it shows how
09:38accepting Lindy is of a white Doctor in stark contrast to her treatment of the 15th Doctor at
09:45the end of the episode. Number five, Lindy and Ricky go through a door that takes them down to the
09:50underground tunnels and on that door is a symbol that bears a striking resemblance to the iconic
09:55PlayStation triangle button even down to the exact same green colour. I'm not really sure what this
09:59symbol means in the context of fine time. This door leads them down that the arrow is pointing up.
10:04Like we mentioned earlier with the video game controller on Lindy's desk it could play into
10:09the idea of how the fine timers treat everything as fun and games or it could just be a cool
10:13shape.
10:14Number four sees the Doctor describing Lindy's dot as an anti-grav device and this is more interesting
10:18than it first seems. What happened to Mavity, Doctor? Now sure this could be an oversight from Russell
10:25T. Davis but let's not forget that the Doctor still remembers the original word for Mavity. He even
10:29says Gravity in Wild Blue Yonder before quickly correcting himself when Donna notices. What's more
10:38interesting is that Ruby doesn't seem to notice though to be fair she is slightly concerned about
10:42the impending murderous dot at this time. Number three, one of the big twists in the episode is that
10:48the dots are evil. Shock, horror, ah who saw that coming? This leads to a sequence where Ricky September
10:53fends off Lindy's dot with a metal pipe and the way he holds the pipe in certain moments is very
10:58evocative of
10:59the sequence in Star Wars A New Hope where Luke undergoes lightsaber training by fending off a
11:03small floating dot. Number two, at the end of the episode we finally meet the Doctor in the flesh
11:08and he's wearing that bright orange jumper complete with a 10th Doctor-esque long coat.
11:12This was actually the very first 15th Doctor costume that was revealed all the way back in
11:15December of 2022. At the time we all assumed it would be his main costume. How wrong we were,
11:21that fashionable rogue. The Doctor also wore this costume during an early scene of the church on Ruby
11:25Road and hopefully we see more of this look in the future. It might just be his best costume yet.
11:31Number one, as the Doctor watches the fine timers sail away, Murray Gold's fantastic score cranks up and
11:36we can hear what sounds like a little snippet of the long song, you know the 11th Doctor's
11:40regeneration theme, merging into a dark rendition of the 15th Doctor's theme. Murray Gold of course was
11:45the composer on Doctor Who between 2005 and 2017 and often reuses motifs and themes to add more depth to
11:51certain scenes. In Space Babies for example, Snippets of Gold's Gallifrey theme plays when the Doctor
11:55talks about being the last of the Time Lords, we also heard this in Wild Blue Yonder. So if this
12:00is
12:00a reprise of the long song, that's something Gold would definitely do, if nothing else to get nerds
12:05like us excited about an iconic piece of Doctor Who music. And that is everything for our list today,
12:11so much to go through in each of these episodes. I want to say a big massive thank you to
12:15Ellie who
12:16contributed to this and to Danny as well who put together so much of this, you are both legends.
12:21Keep things wibbly wobbly until I'm talking to you again and I will see you soon. Thanks very much.
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