"It's hard when you're up against a goalkeeper with cybernetically-extendable arms."
IN THIS ONE... The 15th Doctor guests on Match of the Day in the far future.
REVIEW: To call this a 45-second short is being generous, as it's closer to 20 once you get out of the intro music/clips/TARDIS graphics. It's basically like zapping through channels and catching a few seconds of Match of the Day, where the Doctor is acting as a guest commenter, then zapping off when the hologram starts to speak. Yes, hologram. This is clearly set in the future, where Match of the Day (and football) is still a thing, and cybernetics have entered the sport. In fact, all of society, since the host shows signs of cybernization (the make-up effects from Nightmare in Silver. (Please do see Theories.) There's a slim joke, bad CG sets, and no explanation of why the show has the same hosts it does in the present (until The Interstellar Song Contest, perhaps, which includes both defrosted and holographic 21st-Century celebrities).
THEORIES: We might imagine a story between The Giggle and The Church on Ruby Road where the Doctor finds humanity about to become Cybermen - many human cultures tend towards this, just as species tend towards crabdom - and stops the threat. In the course of this story, he infiltrates the global football organization that seems to be at the forefront of this new tech - enhanced sports run wild - and wouldn't you know it, Gary Linekar (the host) is behind it as a new Cyber Planner. And if you think that's dumb, you should see what they did on Disney+ with the actual episodes.
REWATCHABILITY: Low - It's barely anything, but it's a quick viewing.
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