Stranded in space, the Doctor Jodie Whittaker and her new friends find themselves on the planet Desolation – a world of death – and caught in between two participants in a galactic race. Discovering the TARDIS is stranded on the planet, she must make her way through the last part of the race to find her ghost monument, while surviving deep and dark dangers…

During TARDISblend 115, we discuss the great introduction of new characters and some of the classic lines from this episode of Doctor Who, titled “The Ghost Monument.” We also look at the conditions of the planet they find themselves on, and critique the character development of the new companions so far in this season. All this and more on the latest TARDISblend!

Doctor Who
Season 11, Episode 2 “The Ghost Monument”
Directed by Mark Tonderai
Written by Chris Chibnall
Starring Jodie Whittaker, Brady Walsh, Tosin Cole, Mandip Gill, Susan Lynch, Shaun Epzo
BBC America
Air date: October 14, 2018

And now, it continues. The Season 11 premiere of Doctor Who left the Doctor and her new companions floating in empty space. It was both a great visual and a cliffhanger with huge jeopardy. It was so huge in fact, that writers have to resort to some pretty significant gesticulation to hand wave it away. As Douglas Adams wrote in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the chances of being picked up in space by a passing spaceship in the 30 seconds that you can hold a lungful of air are 2^2079460347:1 against. Adams rationalized those odds to some comedic effect using a spaceship with Infinite Improbability Drive. So how does writer Chris Chibnall dig himself out of that hole? We find out in the follow-up episode, 11.2 “The Ghost Monument.”