Discuss the Next Time preview for Turn Left (potential spoilers)

[Pip Madeley]

So what did we all make of the Next Time preview?

Surely that was a giant spider from Metebelis 3 on Rose's back? What else could it have been?

[Dirk Gently]

It looked like a pincer type bug.

[Pip Madeley]

I wonder what that big explosion was all about - any ideas?

[SiHart]

I thought it looked like some kind of mechanical hand...

Si xx

[duncan]

Ever since Donna was told she had something on her back, I have been thinking it was going to be a spider. Whether it's a Metabelis spider or something left over from her scrape with the Empress of Racnoss remains to be seen.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

The Racnoss things didn't sit on people's backs though did they?

[duncan]

The Empress didn't but maybe one of her babies escaped before being 'washed down the plug hole'? Maybe that is a Racnoss trait as a baby, who knows? I'm just speculating out loud. If it is a Spider, I'd probably bet it's a Metebelis Spider. But, Donna was trapped by the Empress of Racnoss and maybe something was put on her back during that time?

[Zbigniev Hamson]

I've thought the Great One was probably coming back since episode 2. But I wouldn't put a bet on it

[duncan]

You could well be right. It was one of my first thoughts when it was first mentioned in episode 2. I'm not going to write off my Racnoss theory completely though.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

And given that the Great One was one of the few things that's ever actually scared the Doctor* and actually killed him the last time they met, that wouldn't bode well








*unless you count Patrick Troughton panicking most weeks.

[Andrew Curnow]

I think you may well be right Duncan - it would make sense to somehow "use" Donna's past history before the end of the series.

I don't know what else to make of that trailer, other than it's presumably going to be a Doctor-lite episode, but using that necessity to make a striking start to the season finale rather than producing an 'oddity' episode.

My other guess would be that the reason Rose can reach our world is because somebody's been tinkering with the void - perhaps in an attempt to release the army of Daleks kept there.

Oh and presumably the bees being absent is a small sign that we're maybe not on 'our' Earth (a bit like in the fourth Hitch-Hiker book).

[duncan]

I've just put Sky + on fast forward and re-watched the end. I paused it at the bit where Donna sees what's on her back and it doesn't look like a spider. It looks somthing like a giant stag beatle. Although to be fair, it's not in shot properly.

[Andrew Curnow]

Maybe it's a Kaled-y type mutant - that would be my guess anyway. Deffo not a straightforward spider anyway.

[duncan]

Maybe after RTD brought the Macra back, it's The Zarbi's turn.

Oh God. I hope I'm wrong.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

Even if it's not actually a spider, it's got to be significant if someone who knows the show's history decides to put some sort of creepy crawly on somebody's back.

[Andrew Curnow]

To the fans maybe, but it might not be narratively significant. That is, I would say that almost certainly nothing in the next episode will have the slightest connection to anything from Metebelis 3 - it's more likely to be just a nod to the fans, I'd guess, in the same way as some of the bits in last year's Christmas special were cribbed from Robots of Death.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

I wouldn't imagine most 'normal' people would have heard of Sontar, or the Macra, any more than they would Metebelis III though, so you never know.

[Andrew Curnow]

Well, yes, that's true. As long as they don't bring back any of the awfully-acted Metebelis humans, I don't mind.

[Pip Madeley]

What, you mean you don't know that Neska is the evil villainess in episode 13?

DOCTOR: I'll stop you Neska, if it's the last thing I do!
NESKA: You shan't, you shan't, you shan't!

[Zbigniev Hamson]

You can't honestly tell me you would rather she hadn't been in Planet of the Spiders. She's the stuff of legend.

[Pip Madeley]

Having taken a closer look at the preview, it does indeed look like some sort of bug. Which is a shame. Ah well.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

Planet of the Woodlice?

[Rob McCow]

It's JOHN BARROWMAN! He's on her BACK!!! OH NOES!!!!

[Dirk Gently]

It looked like a pincer type bug.

Which is what I said. It never looked like a spider.






But hey, don't mind me, I'll just talk to my self....

[Andrew Curnow]

Still, at least if nothing else we now know the answer to the question that has taxed DWM readers for nigh on 25 years - namely, how do you tell a woman, even a woman from another world, that she's going to die? Answer: with as little tact as possible: "None of this was supposed to happen, you're gonna die." Well thanks for that Rose!!!