Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for Doctor Who season 15, episode 1, “The Robot Revolution.”
Doctor Whois finally back with its highly anticipated fifteenth season, which follows Ncuti Gatwa’s incarnation of the iconic Time Lord as he races to bring a nurse named Belinda Chandra back to planet Earth. This brilliant new member ofDoctor Who’scastwas introduced in the premiere episode “The Robot Revolution”, which tells the story of Belinda’s journey to a faraway planet of which she’s accidentally been made the queen.
After the mixedreviews ofDoctor Who’s previous season,“The Robot Revolution” felt like a much-needed change of pacefor the show. The adventure returned to the classic time travel shenanigans of previous seasons, teasing acomplex time fracture inDoctor Who’s new seasonthat will likely be a running thread throughout the upcoming episodes. The episode also featured plenty of iconic moments that long-time fans will recognize from previous season premieres, such as the new companion entering the TARDIS for the first time.
The Cloister Bells Are Ringing At The End Of Doctor Who Season 15’s Premiere & No One Mentions It
The TARDIS May Be In Serious Trouble This Season
At theend ofDoctor Who’s season 15 premiere, the Doctor fails to bring Belinda Chandra back to current-day Earth as the TARDIS continually “bounces” away from this moment in time.It’s a malfunction that clearly troubles the Doctor, and the ship even activates the Cloister Bells to emphasize the severity of the situation. These bells have been mentioned several times inDoctor Who’s past, always whenever the TARDIS was in serious trouble.
The bells are a kind of emergency alarm for the TARDIS, warning the Doctor that something is affecting it from the outside and it can’t land safely. It was revealed in “Heaven Sent” to be a structure from the Cloisters of Gallifrey, where the sound rang out through the planet whenever there was a threat. TheTARDIS’ Cloister Roomitself was first seen in the television movie and has since been referenced multiple times.
The Cloister Bells Ring So Often, It No Longer Has Any Meaning In Doctor Who
The Bells Should Only Sound In Life-Threatening Emergencies
Previously,Doctor Who’s Cloister Bells have been saved for the most dangerous of situations. These include, for example, the Saxon Master’s transformation of the TARDIS into a Paradox Machine, the Great Intelligence entering the Eleventh Doctor’s timestream, and several more.
The Cloister Bells were first heard in “Logopolis.”
In other words, the Cloister Bells were always supposed to be a huge deal. However, the trope has become so overused in recent seasons ofDoctor Whothat it was barely even acknowledged in “The Robot Revolution”.
