Doctor Who returns in the special, “The Star Beast”, this time on Disney+, but all too familiar in the form of the Tenth Doctor, now the Fourteenth Doctor! Doctor Who is a long running sci-fi program that aired on the Beeb from 1963 to 1989. The loss of actor, William Hartnell, led to the clever device that the Doctor regenerated into the Second Doctor, Patrick Troughton.
I recall the Fourth Doctor, Tom Baker, when the series aired on PBS. I was fortunate to met the Fifth Doctor, Peter Davidson, at Gen Con in 2013. The Seventh Doctor was played by Sylvester McCoy who also played Radagast in The Hobbit films. The anamoly was the Doctor Who (1996) movie that starred Paul McGann and aired on Fox. Out of the Time Vortex, the show returned courtesty of executive producer, Russell T Davies. There was a new direction for the Ninth Doctor in “Rose” (2005).
The Doctor was played by Christopher Eccleston who also starred as Malekith in Thor: The Dark World (2013). Doctor Who was known for cheap effects and wild villains including Martians and Abominable Snowmen. The show guided by Davies had improved effects, imaginative villains like the Slitheen or Raxacoricofallapatorian, and nods to the classic episodes.
The Tenth Doctor regenerated into the likeness of David Tennant and the show reached the height of its popularity. “The End of Time” (2009-2010) finished Tennant and Davies time in the Tardis. It shifted into other Doctors, but also seemed to move way from the show’s history and my interest. The regeneration cycle of the Time Lords was only twelve, but we have already seen the Master defy the regenerations. The Doctor was given a new regeneration cycle in “The Time of the Doctor” (2013).
Jodie Whittaker played the Thirteenth Doctor, the first female Doctor, though we have seen the First Doctor’s granddaughter, Susan (Carole Ann Ford), and Romana (Lalla Ward). The Doctor faced her previous forms; First, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth in “The Power of the Doctor” (2022). The Thirteenth Doctor was struck by The Master’s energy beam and later regenerated into the form of the Tenth Doctor!
On the 60th anniversary, there is the return of Davies and also Tennant! We get an introduction of the Fourteenth Doctor in his suit next to a cosmic backdrop. He starts, “Once upon a Time Lord…” He discusses Donna Noble (Catherine Tate), his friend, fellow Tardis passengers are called Companions. Tate, comedian and star of The Catherine Tate Show, appeared in “Doomsday” (2006) and became a series regular. We see Donna with her laptop talking about her “dream of impossible things.”
In “Journey’s End” (2008), Donna saved the universe by taking the knowledge of the Doctor’s cloen, she became the Doctor Donna. Part human and part Time Lord, but the Doctor needed to wipe her memory fo their adventures or she would die! Donna eventually marries and has a daughter, but feels something is missing. She says she has more dreams as if something is coming closer. This moves closer into our two characters.
The Doctor says, “I think the story hasn’t ended yet.” A great intro that possibly gets new viewers up to speed. Then, we get the show’s opening with the Tardis spinning through the Time Vortex. The story, always first in British shows, is by Davies from a story by Pat Mills and Dave Gibbons. This stunned me. It is based on the comic that ran in Doctor Who Magazine starting with issue #19 (1980). This starred the Fourth Doctor and was reprinted in the Marvel comic, Doctor Who #1 (1984).
We see London at sunset, at an alley, the Tardis materializes. The chameleon circuit of the Tardis malfunctioned so it is trapped as a familiar blue police box. I once saw the police box on a random English street in 2009! There is the groaning sound of its materialization and thump. The Doctor opens the door and walks into the street.
It is directed by Rachel Talalay who also directed episodes of season eight with Peter Capaldi, the Twelfth Doctor, and also episodes across several other seasons. Capaldo played the Thinker in The Suicide Squad (2021). The Doctor walks cheerfully into streets filled with holiday celebration. This always gives me pause with the Christmas specials, something always goes horribly wrong. He sees someone awkwardly carrying packages and rushes over to help.
The Doctor takes away some packages revealing Donna! She thanks him and he replaces the boxes! He takes back an armload of packages and then she calls for Rose! The name is familiar since she also was a Companion, Rose Tyler (Billie Piper). Finally, her daughter, Rose (Yasmin Finney) walks up to help. Finney starred in the teen romance show, Heartstopper, that is on Netflix. She was buying a bag of eyes for her online business.
The Doctor is about to introduce himself to Rose, but there is an explosion as a fiery streak races across the sky! Donna is too distracted while everyone else watches the phenomenon! The Doctor identifies it as a spaceship. Rose tells her mother, but Donna says she is worse than her grandad, this is Wilfred (Bernard Cribbins) who is a Companion of the Doctor. The ship crashes as Donna has happily stacked her packages. She calls The Doctor, “skinny man”, and cautions him about his tight suit, funny!
A man in taxi car also shouts Rose’ name, The Doctor tries to get him to drive him to the crash site. He says that is his daughter and wife, this is Shaun Temple (Karl Collins). The actor had a cameo part in this year’s The Flash. The Doctor shows him the i.d. of Grand Master of the Knowledge to show his authority, but Shaun corrects him that it reads, “Grand Mistress”! The psychic paper is used by The Doctor for any identity, but of course needs an update to his male form! Funny!
He has Shaun drive with his catchphrase, “Allons-yi!”, French for “Let’s go”! On the ride, he says Donna kept the Noble name, the same with Rose, and he doesn’t care, Shaun says, “I’ve got the best two girls in the world.” Shaun is the perfect man for Donna since he doesn’t try to change her and loves her. The Doctor brings up about winning the lottery, before he left Donna, he gave her the winning ticket, £166 million! Shaun says they bought a house, but she gave it all away to charity!
A BBC reporter notes the crash landing at the Millson Wagner Steelworks factory. He is taken away by U.N.I.T. soldiers. U.N.I.T. is the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce that was introduced in “The Invasion” (1968) with the Second Doctor. It works with any alien threats and worked with The Doctor many times. The area is secured by Colonel Chan (Jamie Hayden). The Doctor enters a fence using his sonic screwdriver.
This is his handy device that can open locks and have a Swiss Army knife of electronic uses. He enters the building and finds an upright ship being extinguished by U.N.I.T. soldiers. The Doctor overhears a woman talking with Colonel Chan. This is a science advisor (Ruth Madeley), who uses a wheelchair. She says that the ship parked in the building and didn’t crash. On the London street, some boys bully Rose calling her Jason, a transphobic joke, Donna tells her to ignore them.
At home, Donna tells her mother, Sylvia (Jacqueline King) that she lost her job. King appeared with Tate in her eps. A very critical and fearful mother. Rose asks her grandmother if she saw the ship, but she denies it. Donna tells her daughter that she would burn down the world for her. Rose takes out a box as Donna talks with Sylvia. Then, she brings up spaceships like Gramps, Wilfred. Donna wonders why he talked about aliens and then he stopped and then she forgot everything.
Rose takes out the box to the rubbish bin when a neighbor boy, Fudge (Dara Lall) says that the ship sent out an escape pod. He runs off to see it and finds out that the pod has an open hatch! She runs to get her cellphone and then hears a clatter in the alley. She finds that it is a furry alien with a Tarsier-like face saying, “Meep meep.” This is voiced by Miriam Margoyles who was Professor Sprout in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011).
DOCTOR WHO - - “The Star Beast” - - CATHERINE TATE, YASMIN FINNEY - - Alistair Heap/BBC Studios/ Bad Wolf/ Disney.
It says it is being hunted by others. Fudge is on his phone talking about aliens when he sees two tall, bug-like aliens with reddish eyes! The Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to form a screen to scan the ship. He is greeted by the science advisor and tells her that the ship is a “double-bladed dagger drive.” Also that that there are two sets of aliens at war. She introduces herself as Shirley Anne Bingham, UNIT Scientific Advisor 56. He says he is Scientific Advisor Number One!
Shirley recognizes The Doctor and he says he doesn’t know himself. He says he wore a bow tie, then was a Scotsman, and then a woman! The Doctor brings up Donna and says if she remembers him, she will die. Then, he covers over the night’s events and that things are converging on Donna! The Doctor uses the sonic screwdriver to slip into the back of a truck and waves goodbye to Shirley. Colonel Chan reports to Shirley that a signal was found from the ship.
There are stairs up to it and Shirley sends him on, the soldiers climb the steps, and are about to access the ship. The door opens and a energy reaches into the eyes of the soldiers! They turn in unison and close the visors over their eyes. Rose runs with a knapsack to her workshop, a garden shed, next to the house. The Meep is looking at her stuffies and wants them to be its friend. Rose says that they are toys. The Meep says it wants to go home and Rose says she feels she’s from a different planet.
They hear Donna and Rose tells The Meep to hide. Donna notices the Meep, identical to E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), love it! The Doctor leaves the truck as U.N.I.T. soldiers deploy. He hears Donna and heads to the house. Donna is stunned at the Meep and Sylvia hears The Doctor banging on the door. She angrily tells him about Donna dying. The Meep clings to Donna’s leg. The Doctor says he is cute and uses the sonic screwdriver to enter the house. Sylvia punches him! She shouts that it is all not real, then Shaun arrives!
Colonel Chan heads to the escape pod site guarded by Major Singh (Ronak Patani). He sends his squad back to the factory and then reports about the Meep. The Doctor is bandaging the Meep’s hand. Donna says the “mad Paddington” could be sold for a million quid, always funny! The Doctor asks about Wilfred and Donna says he’s not with them anymore. He mourns Wilfred, but Donna says he’s in sheltered accomodations. Shaun explains that there was an offer to house him by U.N.I.T. The Doctor says that he will send the Meep home and Rose takes offense at his gender label. He asks the Meep about its pronoun to which it answers to The Meep.
It explains the Wrarth Warriors are hunting the Meep for their fur. The Doctor says the Meep is a “fashion victim”, kinda funny. It says that it breaks its hearts and The Doctor is amazed it also has two hearts like Gallifreyans. U.N.I.T. soldiers knock at the door, The Doctor answers and uses the sonic screwdriver to see their glowing eye, he closes the door. Then, the wall explodes as the Wrarth Warriors invade! A family caught between aliens and possessed soldiers! Of course, there is a Whovian twist to all of it with the fate of London and Donna Noble at stake! The Doctor Who Special 1 is a wild start with still the question of why the Fourteenth Doctor looks like the Tenth!
Five+ Sonic Screwdrivers out of Five!
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