DOCTOR WHO 60TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL # 1

November 26, 2023

DOCTOR WHO 60TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL # 1 - THE STAR BEAST (2023)

WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD - DO NOT READ UNTIL YOU'VE WATCHED THE EPISODE !!!

DIRECTED by Rachel Talalay.

WRITTEN by Russell T. Davies based on the comic strip "Doctor Who and the Star Beast" by Pat Mills and Dave Gibbons.

STARRING - David Tennant as The Doctor, Catherine Tate as Donna Noble, Yasmin Finney as Rose Temple-Noble, Karl Collins as Shaun Temple, Jacqueline King as Sylvia Noble, Ruth Madeley as Shirley Anne Bingham, Cecily Fay as The Meep, Miriam Margolyes as The Meep (Voice), Dara Lall as Fudge Merchandi, Stephen Love, Robert Strange, Jordan Benjamin and Vassili Psaltopoulos as The Wrarth Warriors, Ned Porteous as Zogroth (voice), John Hopkinson as Zreeg (voice).

PLOT - Fifteen years ago (Earth time) the Doctor had to wipe the memories of his companion Donna Noble to save her life. Donna returned to live with her family but if she ever begins to remember her time with the Doctor her mind will burn and she will die.

It is the present day and the Doctor has recently regenerated once more - only this time things are different. Instead of having a completely new face and body the fourteenth incarnation of The Doctor is wearing an old face, that of his Tenth incarnation - the incarnation that once travelled with Donna Noble.

Landing on Earth in the city of London, The Doctor almost immediately runs into Donna and her daughter Rose. Straight after this the Doctor and Rose witness a spaceship crash in broad daylight in front of the shocked citizens of London.

Rose finds and befriends the spacecraft's occupant - a tiny, cute and seemingly defenceless alien called the Meep. The Meep is being pursued by a band of alien creatures known as The Wrath Warriors. However - all is not as it seems, the Meep is hiding a deadly secret and appearances can be deceptive...

Very soon the Doctor, Donna and her family are drawn into the crossfire in a battle between possessed UNIT troops and the Wrath Warriors. The city of London is in deadly peril and to make matters worse Donna's memory is starting to return...

DIALOUGE - The Wrarth Warriors - "It is the Meep we seek !"

PERFORMANCES - In Doctor Who's 50th anniversary special "The Day of The Doctor" fans where treated to a surprise scene at the end of the story where Matt Smith's eleventh Doctor encounters an elderly man known as the Curator. This mysterious character was played by the fourth Doctor himself Tom Baker. It is HEAVILY implied that the Curator is a far off future incarnation of the Doctor wearing an old face ("I never forget a face" says the eleventh Doctor. "I know you don't" replies the Curator "and in years to come you might find yourself revisiting a few...but just the old favourites...").

It would seem that we are now witnessing the first time that this happens to the Doctor because David Tennant is back in the role that made him a household name playing a "new/old" Doctor. But is he any different to what he was 15 years ago ? Is this truly a new incarnation that can stand on his own as an individual take on the character or is it more of the same ?

The answer is of course...it's a bit of both. As returning showrunner and writer Russell T. Davies has pointed out - you don't get David Tennant back to play his most famous role only to have him act completely differently, what would be the point ? With that in mind all the familiar mannerisms and quirks that were part of Tennant's performance as the tenth Doctor are all present and correct for his take on the fourteenth Doctor - he still fizzes with energy, he's still just as charismatic, he's still prone to flying into a rage when things aren't going so well and he still has the catchphrase "Alonsy !"

However, this time he's older. Not just the actor himself (Tennant was in his 30's first time round, he's now in his 50's - in fact he's only 3 years younger than William Hartnell was when he played the Doctor), the Doctor himself is also a LOT older (thousands of years older in fact), since the last time he wore this face he's been Matt Smith, Peter Capaldi and Jodie Whittaker.

This sense of age and difference does come through in Tennant's new performance - his Doctor doesn't seem quite as headstrong as he was before. You can also see hints of his most recent incarnations coming through - there's a scene where he describes his love for Donna and he seems shocked that he now uses the word "love" more freely than he previously would have - this is clearly an echo of his Jodie Whittaker incarnation who was a lot more emotionally open than previous Doctors have been. He also seems to have inherited some of the weariness that Capaldi's Doctor had in his later stories. These differences are subtle but they are there in this new version of Tennant's Doctor if you want to look for them, which is one of the things that makes this unprecedented return so enthralling to watch.

Either way - it's great to have him back and as much as I'm looking forward to Ncuti Gatwa's fifteenth Doctor, part of me can't help wishing that Tennant was staying for longer than just three episodes. It would have been nice to have had a full series of him before he goes off again at least.

Another returnee is Catherine Tate as Donna Noble. Donna was always one of the most popular companions of the revived series. She was bolshy and loud but with a heart and soul and had great chemistry with Tennant, so it made sense to bring her back - plus there was a lot of unfinished business with her character that needed closure.

As with Tennant's Doctor all the familiar Donna-isms are still there and also as with the Doctor we see a more mature take on the character. Donna is 15 years older and wiser. She's now a mother to a trans daughter and is busy looking out for Rose who is adjusting to life as a female. She's fiercely protective of her child which seems to give her character more focus than she had before. Previously she'd get angry at more trivial things whereas now her anger is more directed towards looking out for her daughter. Tate is just as good as she ever was. I've never been a fan of her comedy show but I always liked her as Donna Noble, as with Tennant it's good to have her back and she still gets all the best lines.

A quick word about the rest of the cast. Yasmin Finney was good as Rose but I didn't think the character got enough to do. She's got potential to be a really solid and interesting character but we only saw flashes of that here, hopefully she'll be developed further if she shows up again as she definitely shows some promise.

Jacqueline King reprises her role as Donna's mum Sylvia. She was always a bit scornful and disappointed in her daughter last time round. Thankfully age seems to have mellowed her a little and her character is a lot more relatable this time.

We also get Ruth Madeley as UNIT's new scientific advisor - Shirley Anne Bingham. She shares some insightful scenes with Tennant and seems to be building up a firm friendship with the Doctor. She's slated to return as an ongoing character in Ncuti Gatwa's era so it'll be interesting to see how this new friendship develops. I also like her rocket fireing wheelchair - clearly UNIT has it's own version of James Bond's Q department hanging around somewhere...

Finally we get Miriam Margolyes as the voice of the Meep who veers from being cute and sacharine sweet to OTT camp villiany effortlessly. Great fun.

SFX - From this episode going forward Doctor Who is streaming on the Disney + channel as well as being shown on BBC 1. Disney has thrown a bit of spare change the beeb's way and that little cash injection certainly shows. Doctor Who has literally never looked so good. From it's stunning new title sequence where we see the TARDIS blasting through space and time to the newly designed gigantic and beautiful TARDIS console room - EVERYTHING is now a visual feast.

The alien designs are great too. The Meep is adorably cute (at least to begin with)...

Don't be fooled by that sweet little face though...as deep down the Meep is a rageing psychopath. When his true nature is revealed his features subtly change to reflect this...

Also great are the Wrarth Warriors. They're a vicious looking bunch but they actually turn out to be the good guys...

I also like the possesed UNIT troops, it's a simple effect but glowing eyes always work well in Sci-fi...

VIOLENCE - Not a lot to speak of really. The Meep wastes a couple of Wrath Warriors with his laser but thats about it.

RATING - The Star Beast marks a real return to form for Doctor Who just in time for it's 60th anniversary. It's full of great ideas, energy and fun. It's got a lovely nostalgic feel to it and it evokes those mid 00's glory days effortlessly. It honestly feels like RTD, Tennant and Tate have never been away - they slip back into it so easily.

This is a fairly light hearted romp, there's no real high stakes here. I do prefer my Who to be perhaps a little darker than this but it's heart is certainly in the right place and it's enthusiasm is infectious. You can't help but be drawn in by it all.

I'm going to give this 4 and a half little Meeps out of 5. This was good but I still think the best is yet to come. Next week - I'll be reviewing special # 2 - The Wild Blue Yonder...where it's been promised things start to get a little creepier...

ART - The Star Beast was based on a Doctor Who comic strip that was originally published by Marvel Comics in 1979. Here are a few images from the original by way of comparison to what we got on TV last night...