Adam Kendrick’s series of articles revealing what members of the Oxford Doctor Who Society thought of Series 15 continues with our responses to Lux.

Belinda’s first trip in the TARDIS, in which she and the Doctor investigate a cinema in 1950s Miami and confront a real-life cartoon character, narrowly became not just the highest-rated episode of Series 15, but the Fifteenth Doctor’s highest-rated episode overall. In fact, all but one respondent rated Lux at least a 7, with three members of the society awarded it the highest maximum score of 10, proclaiming it as “superb!”, “An absolute triumph!”, and “the best story of the season”. Multiple reviews praised the episode’s originality and ambition, the audacious destruction of the fourth wall, and the many ways which it played with the medium of television – “how do you come back from the Doctor finding out he’s a fictional character from BBC’s Doctor Who?” asked one member. In particular, the episode’s production was praised for successfully transforming 2020s Penarth into 1950s Miami and for its “sensational” use of animation and visual effects (“Doctor Who using its Disney budget for good”).

The episode’s antagonist, Mr Ring-a-Ding, a cartoon character from the 1930s who comes alive after becoming possessed by Lux, the God of Light, received near-unanimous praise from our members. He was considered to be “a delight” and “a wonderful villain”, while Alan Cumming’s performance was described as “spectacular”. Even his final scene, in which Lux happily ascends and becomes one with the universe, was praised for being “unexpectedly quite moving”. The main criticism came from one member who argued that Lux’s nature as a god was undermined by his quick defeat and that the story would’ve played out identically without the Pantheon aspects. The episode’s “obvious” solution (i.e. using film stock to blow a hole in the wall and feed Lux sunlight) wasn’t actually that obvious while watching – indeed, Mr Ring-a-Ding’s catchphrase “Don’t make me laugh!” initially convinced some members that he would be defeated by laughter!

While Lux was considered to be “incredibly fun”, “provocative”, and “barmy”, it wasn’t beyond reproach: the scenes in which the Doctor and Belinda ended up in the living room of three Doctor Who fans proved to be particularly controversial amongst the society. One member dismissed the entire section as “atrocious” and felt that it portrayed Whovians as “annoying, unhealthy, and obsessive”. Another member thought it was uninsightful and “did not say anything interesting about fandom”. Others felt that this segment lasted too long and “brought the episode to a halt”, and that the fans’ farewell scene “only had an emotional presence because we’re fans ourselves”. Outside of this section, one member expressed their disappointment that the show had already dropped the pretence of Belinda being a reluctant companion to the Doctor. Another member wished there had been a longer build-up of tension by exploring the empty theatre and the emotional impact of the fifteen audience members who had disappeared, while another felt that “we spent too little time with any of the guest characters to feel for them.”

The society gave Lux an average rating of 8.09 (out of 11 responses). How would The Well fare?