THE DOCTOR IS A KEN DOLL! (HE'S AN ACTION FIGURE; HE'S NOT A DOLL!)

2023 proved to be a big year for Ncuti Gatwa.  His role as Eric in ‘Sex Education’ came to an end after 4 seasons and 32 episodes; he was in the mega-hit summer blockbuster of “Barbie” as one of the five central Kens; and with the last episode of the 60th anniversary trilogy celebration of ‘Doctor Who’, he made his debut as the Fifteenth Incarnation of the Time Lord.

There were a lot of Kens in Barbieland, but five central ones – Ryan Gosling as the main Ken, with Gatwa, Simu Liu, Scott Evans, and Kingsley-Adir as his main companeros, with John Cena making a cameo appearance as the Ken of the Merfolk.  Because there were so many Kens, he didn’t really stand out from the other citizens of Kendom until nearly the end – he had a sweet reunion with his Barbie, who was played by his ‘Sex Education’ co-star, Emma Mackey, who looked like she could be Margot Robbie’s brunette sister.

O’Bservation – I was floored to find while writing this post that another of their ‘Sex Education’ co-stars (Connor Swindells) was also in “Barbie”.  He played lowly Mattel office drone Aaron, a far cry from his closeted homosexual school bully in the Britcom.

I would not be surprised if “Barbie” experiences a renewed surge at the box office on re-release, once Whovians who previously had no interest in seeing the movie about a doll learn that the latest Doctor is in the cast….