When Maestro takes control of the TARDIS with their piano, they are not playing the Doctor Who theme distorted but the Saxon theme!! The subtitles clearly indicate this as "playing the Saxon theme off-key"!

Calling it: The Timeless Child arc will complete to show the Doctor is a lost member of the Pantheon, perhaps Lord Temporum

My theory is that it might not actually be Ruby's mother who left her at the church but the Trickster, the hood, the black clock and the high heeled boots. Trickster could probably disguise himself. Plus the finger point when the 'memory changed'

Honestly, I don't think any character introduction could make me more hyped than THE TRICKSTER! Like seriously, if RTD brings him back for the two-part finale I'm gonna lose my mind, one of the coolest villains to grace (ironic) the Doctor Who universe - and he was introduced over a DECADE AGO!

If Susan comes back and was the reoccurring actress, it will literally be a Susan Twist at the end. There is always one, after all. My theory is that the Doctor is locked in a show of some kind, and he knows it: there have been fourth wall breaks in the main episodes (as distinct from, say, 12 explaining the Bootstrap Paradox outside the episode) plus the Doctor's comment in this episode about having thought a piece of music was non diegetic, i.e. hearable only to the audience. That makes sense only if he knows he is in a show and is able to hear things that characters should not be able to hear. Maybe that will be the Trickster's doing?

Surely Ruby playing the piano on the roof is a reference to The Beatles' famous rooftop concert.

I think it’s possible the Doctor is in the Land of Fiction in a story called “The Legend of Ruby Sunday” and has begun to realize it and started planning an escape.

13:27 for the record, when Maestro starts playing the piano, the Disney Plus subtitles say “plays the Saxon theme off key”.

Unless i missed it - YOU MISSED AN EASTER EGG! When the mystro mentiones that she needs power to comand the "song of the Sphears" this is a reference (to the surprisingly NOW CANNON!) Dr who at the orchestra in which the 10th doctor breaks the 4th wall and gives the audiance/orchestra the "Song of the Sphears" aka the sound of the universe.

Also, when they were dancing on Abby Road on the end, with their umbrellas, I got vibes of the Singing in the Rain, especially in the way they were dancing.

I honestly thought that Maestro's last outfit was a reference to Paul McCartney's outfit on the Sergeant Peppers album, but the Toymaker reference makes sense too

Ellie and all, has anyone else noticed that the Tardis hasn't been making much noise when travelling. Do you think 15 final took the Hand-brake off 😂.

Is it just me or did the melody of 'There's Always A Twist At The End' seem very reminiscent of the melody of the Giggle?

I've also noticed that the Doctor still hasn't actually seen Susan Twist, in this episode she turns her back when he turns round to get the teas

The song Ruby sings under Maestro’s control before it switches to Carol of the Bells sounds eerily similar to the Trickster’s theme from SJA. I think there’s a strong possibility we’ll see the Trickster in Doctor Who finally.

The chord John and Paul played to banish Maestro sounded a lot like the chord at the end of A Day In The Life.

So The Twist was a song by Chubby Checker in the 1960s and it had a dance to go along with it. Tarantino was definitely using that dance too, but Checker invented and popularized it. That was a long time ago and I guess lost to the ages soon. 😅 It was during my mom's time tho so you made me feel kinda ancient today lol I really enjoy all your content tho, doing an analysis on such a timeframe must be a crunch ❤

Honestly Murray Gold featuring in the show as himself is so meta.

I actually noticed that when Ruby got dragged on the floor by the music notes, that gave me vibes in The Sarah Jane Adventures Series 2 episode Enemy Of The Bane when Sarah Jane got dragged on the floor by The Bane, in that part it was when Sarah Jane, Rani, Rani's Mum and Mrs Wormwood were running out of a old factory unit

Ellie, you missed one? What about Harbinger right at the end, peeking through the door, and not being affected by the music magic?

I think Ruby is the doctors great grand daughter. The doctor was a member of the pantheon as the embodiment of life hence regeneration. The one who waits is death and possibly the father of ruby. Being a daughter of a god Ruby has some power like memory or reality hence the snow coming through. Possibly the doctor opted to leave the pantheon at the cost of their memories in order to experience life rather than consume his element like the other gods seem to do.

I'm starting a new drinking game, every time they mention Susan in these videos take a shot. You'll be passed out in no time flat

Phew! You made it through the first week/double feature marathon just in time! Well done WhoCulture team!

The Wicked Lady plot reminds me of the Woman Who Lived episode in the series when 12 met Ashilder again when she was acting as a highway man or something like that

Tim Drake and Harbinger feel like DC Comics Easter Eggs

You said that Big is underrated, but in the US it is considered a classic. The toy store they went into F.A.O. Swartz even has a super long line tourists to wait n order to dance on the piano like in the movie.

Honestly if you listen closely to the distorted Dr Who theme it kinda sounds like the Saxon Theme and even the subtitles say The Saxon Theme but some say Distorted Dr Who theme

There also is a screech from the beginning of the Goblin song twice in the final music number.

I'm so impressed. 90% of this stuff flies over my head 😂

There's a moment when they go back to 1963 where the TARDIS makes a strange noise and Ruby asks if it's broken and the Doctor then says "No, that's something else." I think that's going to link up to S.TRIAD personally. :)

The doctor looking back at the Tardis before changing his mind caught my eye. I felt I missed something there.

For number 23, I think that when the Toymaker appeared, I just imagine all of his "children" climb out of an imaginary floor in an imaginary plain and held until fit properly, like they just go out of the plain to fight the doctor

Marina Sirtis was in the 1983 remake of Wicked Lady

Me on my hands and knees begging RTD to bring the Trickster back cause it would be so cool and now is the best time to do so. Also Doctor and Ruby travelling back to modern just to see everything destroyed is also very reminiscent of a scene in the Sarah Jane Adventures. Where Sarah Jane and Luke had gone back in time to the 50s and then came back to modern day to find it all destroyed by the Trickster.

Missed the reference to Music of the Spheres from Doctor Who at the Proms. This is worth a watch with Devil’s Chord in mind and that the Graske was working for the Trickster. At the 30:28 minute mark, we get this exchange: The sound of a nuclear winter, the purest music of all. Aeolian tones. Music without the need for people. And every song that goes unsung feeds me. I get stronger and stronger until I can reach out and steal the Music of the Spheres! Then the universe will stop turning.

I’m not 100% certain about this, but here we go - in the scene where the piano is being winched up to the roof, the Doctor speak s to one of the workmen, and addresses him as ‘Billy’; given this is an episode that features the Beatles, and a piano being played on the roof, I wondered if this was a reference to Billy Preston, who played with The Beatles on the famous rooftop concert, and was the only musician to be given a credit on a Beatles single (“Get Back”). Given that music has, effectively, died, it’s quite possible that Preston would be a workman instead of a musician.

11:52 it could also be a reference to the SJA story, the temptation of Sarah Jane, since its a similar shot, same colour palette and both destructions were caused by a god-like being (Maestro and The Trickster). Also could potentially be a small hint of The Tricksters return

One thing i think is worth mentioning which you didn't talk ab in the vid, is the sonic in this episode. For whatever rsn i have not seen anyone comment on the fact its suddenly red. My theory behind this is that its a timeline error, in that perhaps this episode is actually set later on in the events of the Doctor and Ruby's adventures. This makes sense since as we know 6 months has randomly passed between ep 1 and 2 plus i cant see them doing such a big change to the sonic for no reason, there must be something story related! Plus considering all the timey wimey shenanigans weve seen already I wouldn't be surprised if they did put all the episodes this season purpousfully out of order and perhpas a story later in the season will lead to a chnage in sonic which then allows us to distinguish the time each episode was set. Or I'm rlly overthinking it and the sonic will just have a new colour to fit every episode or something 😂

Susan Twist making a reference to a character that impersonates a highway robber - Ashildr (ME) also spent time as a highway robber. Just a thought. Not necessarily a good one (I did not care for the character). When the Doctor mentions that he's currently "over there", he does leave out the fact that he was also at Coal Hill School dealing with a few Daleks (Remembrance of the Daleks). No one seems to be talking about that. Maestro's final costume also resembles the costumes worn by the Beatles for Sgt. Pepper. Topical. This episode was just packed with references. I'm sure I missed several. Well done, guys. P.S. I had a thought during the vid: we're heading toward the revelation that Ruby is The One Who Waits. I hope not. It's just a bit too on the nose.

Big is underrated? It was a very popular movie back in the 1980s, and one of my favorites from my teen years. It's the movie that really launched Tom Hanks' career.

I was disappointed that you didn't catch the significance of the chord that John and Paul finally put together that defeated The Maestro. It was the very same chord that ends their song "A Day In The Life," which was sustained on the original recording and reputedly ended in an ultrasonic note dogs could hear.

I was rewatching the giggle today and found it interesting how The Toymaker also talks about the one who waits as someone who he would never play a game with

I do hope Jinkx remembered to brush and floss after chewing all that scenery

On DWM it was explained that the third costume for Maestro was inspired to the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper Lonely Heart's Club Band.

When maestro uses the tuning fork to end the silence from the sonic, they say “sound and vision” and look over their shoulder, in a way that looks a lot like the David Bowie album “Low” (of which sound and vision was the lead single) just a fun Easter egg

The tardis only goes off its rocker when the saxon theme because its got ptsd of when it was cnabalised into a paradox machine

One easter egg you missed, was Harbenger reappeared again just when he came out the door after the devils cord

I'm only fairly sure this is a reference, but when Susan Twist's tea lady is talking about the actress from The Twisted Lady, she says something about how she always liked her because she was Statuesque. This might very well have been a reference to the movie "To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar" where the character Vida Boheme says something very similar about Julie. Especially since this was an episode featuring an iconic drag queen and "To Wong Foo" is an iconic drag movie.

As soon as I saw the scene of destroyed london I immediately thought of the second trickster story of SJA where it shows a very similar shit of a destroyed London (both of which are rtd story’s)

The other thing that happens in 1925, as shown in the Giggle, is the invention of television. This is a TV show and it keeps breaking the 4th wall, recognising itself as a TV show. Salt at the edge of the universe wasn’t the inciting incident. It was the invention of television. Perhaps not just television, but the media industry. The thing that sucks the joy out of creativity.

Missed: Maestro’s finger rings. 3 placed to look. 1. In beginning rings r big and sparkly, 2. When trying to find Doctor snd Ruby she hits her large deep blue ring with her tuning fork as the Toymaker did in Classic DW, 3. Maestro end scene rings r now simple gold bands with gold spheres like planets.

I'm convinced this episode exists within its own separate cannon

If you watch the episode with subtitles, the moment you referred to as the the distorted Dr Who theme is actually titled "Saxon." I'm assuming that's a reference to Harold Saxon and also why the TARDIS begins to malfunction since we know the Master cannibalized the TARDIS to make a paradox machine.

Another reference to the Trickster was nearly at the end of the episode in the scene where Maestro had Ruby caught in some music. They ask her to sing. And when she does, it sounds like she's actually singing the Trickster's theme.

THANKS for this, Ellie!!!!!

I know people dont like the friday midnight release but i love it! The work week im always busy and so time goes by so quick and before Saturdays felt so long waitint for the release. Now after all my busy week its out straight away!

I was just happy to see Johannes & Jinkx Monsoon was fantastic loved all the easter eggs & call backs

Crazy that you guys mentioned the Trickster while showing Ruby floating in The Devil’s Chord, because the sound design used when that happens is the exact same sound that plays whenever the Trickster appears.

I think RTD has been paying attention to videos like this one. He knows channels like these are going to uncover all these connections. Great video as always Ellie!

I think the theme that plays just before you hear the song hidden deep inside rubys soul, you hear a similar theme to the tricksters theme from Sarah Jane Adventures, or the theme that played when the box that makes you remember timelines was on screen.

Susan Twist said she was Margaret Lockwood in The Wicked Lady and Margaret Lockwood played Barbara Worth and Susan Foreman's teacher and fellow TARDIS companion was called Barbara Wright. Barbara's friend in The Wicked Lady was called Caroline and Susan Foreman was played by Carol Anne Ford. I'm probably reaching but thought I'd point it out.

With the distorted Doctor Who opening theme being Saxon's theme, when the Doctor says the only thing he can do is have the TARDIS go back to 1963, I like to think that's a reference to The Sound of Drums, where the Doctor made the TARDIS only capable of travelling between the year one hundred trillion and the last place the TARDIS landed. In both, the TARDIS went back to the last place it landed.

I'm hoping the Guardians will be back, perhaps the Old One and The One Who Waits are White and Black Guardians, that could be fun. I hope the Trickster comes back, but as a one off like the Maestro, not for a big bad.

Maestro dose say Music of the Spheres. Music of the Spheres was an interactive mini-episode made especially for Doctor Who Prom 2008 at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

And still I remember an old British silent short film, where a guy jumped on the crosswalk and made music out of it, involving a policeman, playing music on his cuffs and helmet. I wonder if it was a Monty Pithon thing.

Also, the tune for the musical number at the end is to the tune of the Giggle.

fun fact, I believe there was actually a (very similar) scene where they go back to the 'present' only to find it a wasteland, in the 11th Doctor adventure game with amy. the first one, with the daleks. I loved those games :)

I really like your hair! ☺ Also, James Marsters' character in Torchwood had a somewhat similar jacket

if i'm not mistaken, the chord played by john and paul on the abbey road piano, is the one at the end of a day in the life...

Hell yes you confirmed my theory I posted on your comments the other day about the pantheon thank you!! I couldn’t find out anything if it was the same pantheon that’s made me so happy thank you Ellie:)

This episode had my favorite line so far from Ncuti's Doctor: "I thought it was non-diagetic!" Also, I thought the ending "twist" took the curse off of having a musical number in Doctor Who. I was a bit worried. So far, RTD2 is staying on the edge but not jumping off it.

Has everyone forgot about Clara jumping in the doctors time line and now is through the doctors life what if Susan twist or miss flood is maybe Clara??

Do you remember the guy in the 4th Doctor's The Pirate Planet who ketp hollering "Mr. Fibuli!!" and stuff like "By All The Skydemons Of Rathtar!!" or whatever? That who Maestro reminded me of. Very over-the-top.

"Said by the 10th Doctor quite often" What, once? The 11th and War Doctor also said it but once. It's just an iconic phrase from an iconic Who episode that introduced iconic villains. Ok strictly speaking twice because the same footage was used twice in the episode. Also the I don't know necessarily that the Doctor Who theme tune exists in universe so much but if you look at it each it it's heard, it's generally heard the same way, the four chords of the theme, he will knock four times, the beat that the Archangel network beams into people's heads, and the drumming in the Master's head, which is all the same thing, the heartbeat of a Timelord which is confirmed in the End of Time (can't remember which part) but it's what's used to pull Gallifrey through to Earth once the Master turns the human race into the Master race.

3:42 The VW and the van in shot are both also the same vehicles, in the same places, with the same 1968 number plates, as the cover from Abbey Road. Sadly that means they're six years too early for the stated date of the episode.

You completely overlooked the mention of THE MUSIC OF THE SPHERES, which is a special Adventure of Tennant's Tenth Doctor at the Proms in 2007, with the Graske on the loose

Did you notice the, at least, three song references in Maestro's speech back in "present time"? "Feeds me" exactly pronounced like the plant do in Little shop of horrors movie; "Reach out" pronounced quite similar to "Reach out and touch faith" in Depeche Mode's Personal Jesus; and last Maestro also says "Music of the Spheres", like the name of Coldplay's album!

Great breakdown, Guys. Bring the Lovin!

You forgot to mention that coming out of the opening credits Ruby and the Doctor are listening to the Doctor Who Theme Tune on the Juke Box. Speaking of Meta, Doctor Who has appeared on Strictly.

It looks like Murray Gold is wearing hidden Mickey cuff links in his cameo.

It also sounded like the Master' theme (double heart beat)

The Toymaker and Maestro both wore marching band uniforms, which are loosely based on 1800s military uniforms. The guy in the original Toymaker story was wearing more of a toy soldier uniform.

In the musical number. There was reference to the goblin song too as that was playing on tiny bits of it too. So maybe the goblins will return aswell

What the twist dance move from Pulp Fiction reminded me of is lonelyisland's The Creep

You missed that the melody "There's Always a Twist in the End" contains the giggle.

I really do hope the trickster comes back. Loved watching SJA whilst growing up and within the past year I have learnt about the plans for Series 5 involving the Trickster and I do believe he should come back.

Loved this episode a good start to introduce the toymakers legion and the bar can only get higher

I found it funny in this video how who culture made it so he said i live over there and pointed at the destroyed galifrey, and Ruby sounded shocked, and he just casually said I live over there in the destroyed galifrey

In the subtitles, it said that the Maestro played the Saxon theme in the present. Just another nod to the four knocks

My guess is that the spaceship adventure from Wild Blue Yonder happened in 1925 Earth Time.

I can see RTD setting up Susan to come back for the 63rd or 64th Anniversary of DW. 63rd because DW came out in 1963 obviously. But I can also see it being set up for the 64th Anniversary because Susan was left behind snd given the "I'll be back" speech in 1964

What if Susan Twists character is The One Who Waits? I mean she does seem to be hanging around a lot in the Doctors timeline. But in that regard she's a bit like Clara during her Impossible Girl phase.

actually, the maestro didn't play a distorted version of the Doctor Who theme. The Doctor Who theme has six notes, two sets of three, in the main tune. they played eight notes, two sets of four. The Maestro played the Master's theme.

5:42 Barbara in the Wicked Lady first started impersonating because she lost her Ruby brooch in a game against her sister and decides to steal it back by impersonating a highwayman. I think Susan Twist is a godlike being who "lost" her daughter Ruby in a game, and is now following her around trying to "steal" her back since the Toymaker has been imprisoned and no longer able to enforce the rules of fair play (the same way the maestro was able to run rampant) I think this makes Ruby a god (or demi-god) possibly of memory, but unaware of her powers so only able to trigger things like snow and subtle changes in memories here and there when something is said or happens in reference to her mother

The Maestro outfit also looks like The Beetles outfits from Sgt Pepper

I wonder if the Pantheon of Discord are all actually members of the Doctor's Family that became warped into monsters by a yet unknown entity.

I am loving all these Easter Eggs being explained

Someone else may have said this, but the Doctor's comment "there's always a Twist at the end," and the Twist dance scene might be another Susan Twist callout. Or not...

when they sing "There's always a twist at the end" it's in the same tune as the giggle. getting higher until the word twist and then going lower. you should rewatch it and listen out for it

Curious if there was any thoughts on the tattoo on the neck. It’s very musical vaguely reminds me of the crow tattoo on Me.