Why The TARDIS Can’t Take Belinda Home In Doctor Who Season 15, Episode 1

Warning: Spoilers ahead for Doctor Who season 15, episode 1, “The Robot Revolution.”Varada Sethu’s Belinda Chandra makes it very clear to the Fifteenth Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) in Doctor Who‘s season 15 opener that she has no interest in becoming his next traveling companion, but the TARDIS seems to have its own agenda by forcing the two characters together for longer. I think Belinda’s resistance to seeing all of space of time could make her one of Doctor Who‘s best companions, especially with her long journey home forming such a compelling basis for Doctor Who season 15’s story.

Right at the end of Doctor Who season 15, episode 1, “The Robot Revolution,” the Doctor struggles to pilot the TARDIS, as the blue box keeps “bouncing off” the date of Belinda’s departure from Earth. The episode doesn’t directly reveal the reason for the TARDIS’ navigational issues, but it’s pretty easy to glean at least part of the explanation from context clues that drift into the shot in the final seconds.

The TARDIS Can’t Land On Earth Because Earth Has Been Destroyed

The remaining rubble proves Earth has been obliterated, not just moved

Although the TARDIS eventually makes it to where Earth should be, there’s little more than various pieces of rubble and detritus floating through space. The scenario begins relatively ambiguously, but recognizable Earth landmarks, like the Eiffel Tower, start to reveal themselves among the rubble. So, it would appear that the planet was obliterated at some point after Belinda was taken away by the Robots at the start of the episode.

The Earth has vanished in Doctor Who before, as in the season 4 finale. However, rather than it being moved elsewhere like it has been in the past, that isn’t what’s happened this time. The Earth isn’t just gone but can be identified as destroyed because of what has been left behind. So, it’s understandable why the TARDIS wouldn’t land on the human homeworld, during this time – it’s because there’s nothing left to land on.

The TARDIS Might Know Belinda Is The Key To Saving Earth

The Doctor’s blue box sometimes has information it doesn’t share with the Time Lord

It’s easy to forget that the TARDIS is a sentient being. Its motivations mostly line up with the Doctor’s, but the Time Lord isn’t always aware of what the TARDIS knows and why it acts the way it does. With the TARDIS unable to verbally communicate, it often needs to get its point across in other ways. By refusing to take Belinda home to her native time, the TARDIS could be trying to tell the Doctor that Sethu’s new Doctor Who character is pivotal to saving Earth and that returning her to die with the others is a bad idea.

Doctor Who

5/10

Release Date

December 25, 2023

Directors

Douglas Camfield, David Maloney, Christopher Barry, Michael E. Briant, Barry Letts, Michael Ferguson, Richard Martin, Peter Moffatt, Pennant Roberts, Lennie Mayne, Chris Clough, Ron Jones, Paddy Russell, Paul Bernard, Michael Hayes, Timothy Combe, Morris Barry, Gerald Blake, Graeme Harper, Waris Hussein, Rodney Bennett, Mervyn Pinfield, Hugh David, John Gorrie

Writers

Russell T. Davies, Dave Gibbons, Kate Herron, Steven Moffat

Franchise(s)

Doctor Who