An Hour of Who a Day: September 25: "The Star Beast"

September 25: "The Star Beast"

And now here we are, 25 November 2023, 40 years to the day after The Five Doctors aired (and two days after the actual anniversary), for the first of three 60th Anniversary specials. And, somewhat unusually, this anniversary actually marks the start of a brand-new production team. Well, sort of. Chibnall has left as showrunner, and in his place Russell T Davies has returned, along with some old friends, such as Phil Collinson and Julie Gardner behind-the-scenes, Rachel Talalay directing, Murray Gold back to do the music, and, most obviously, David Tennant and Catherine Tate in front of the camera, at least for a short while. (And I'd love to learn the story one day about just how and why Davies came back. Did he suggest it? Did the BBC suggest it?) So a new-old cast and crew and, befitting the show's diamond anniversary, the return of the diamond logo from 1974-1979. Oh! But there is one big difference: Disney has acquired the worldwide rights to broadcast the show on their streaming service in exchange for providing some extra money for the show's production, meaning things can look a bit more expensive than they had.

Not that you'd know it from the opening scene, mind. Presumably they want to catch people up quickly, but the "story so far" stuff, with the Doctor and Donna each talking directly to the camera, not only feels awfully clunky but also looks a bit cheap: it's very clear that David Tennant is standing in front of a greenscreen, for instance. Fortunately, however, this proves to be the exception; once that's over we launch into the brand-new title sequence (sort of reminiscent of the first Matt Smith sequence, combined with the "vortex travelling" effect from Whittaker's time), with a new theme tune arrangment (I like the piano, but I don't know that I care for the grunting/huffing sounds), and then we get a lovely crane shot to start the episode proper. It takes no time at all for the fourteenth Doctor to encounter Donna again, with a bit of fun comedy, but for now, at least, Donna doesn't remember the Doctor. However, this still sets up one of the main threads of "The Star Beast": Davies is finally going to deal with the ramifications of the DoctorDonna from the end of series 4, and which he sidestepped in The End of Time.

But lest you think this anniversary is only going to deal with more recent Who history (Whostory? No, no, pretend I never said that), there's a subtler return to the past here: "The Star Beast" is an adaptation of a Doctor Who Weekly comic strip from 1980 with the fourth Doctor. Obviously a number of the details have changed, but the basic thrust of the story, with the Meep being pursued by the Wrarth Warriors, is the same. It's a story that translates very well to the screen, with lots of action and a great twist. And the design of both the Meep and the Wrarth is impressively close to their comic counterparts. There's a behind-the-scenes video of original creators Pat Mills and John Wagner pleased with the finished products, and justifiably so.

Davies does a great job of weaving these two plotlines together, as the Doctor keeps finding himself drawn ever closer to Donna and her family, from the initial encounter with Donna and her daughter Rose to taking a cab being driven by Donna's husband Shaun. However, they do a good job of balancing the potential tragedy with more comedic moments. The interactions with the Doctor and Shaun are wonderful -- I really like the moment where the Doctor claims he's a Grand Master of the Knowledge. "That says Grand Mistress," Shaun replies, looking at the Doctor's psychic paper. "Oh, catch up," the Doctor grumbles, smacking the paper against the cab. And the stuff where the Doctor knows things about Donna because he claims he's friends with Nerys is also great fun. Then there are the protestations of Sylvia that there are no such things as aliens and spaceships, becoming increasingly desperate as evidence to the contrary appears in the Noble household. Or the way the Doctor thinks Wilf has died, before being informed he's simply in sheltered accomodation because he's 94. It's such a joy to watch and it reminds you just how good a writer Davies is.

And we should also take a moment to talk about Rose, Donna's daughter, who's shown to be trans. It's a good move to both increase trans visibility on TV and to do so in a way that doesn't make a big deal of it but equally doesn't minimize it. It's handled very well, and Yasmin Finney is wonderful as Rose, being likable and real. Here she's just more or less an ordinary teenage girl (at least until the end of the episode), which goes a long way toward showing us that trans people are just that -- people, just as much as cisgender people are, and nothing to be fearful of or hateful toward. More like this, please.

I also love the interactions with the Doctor and Shirley Anne Bingham, UNIT's current scientific advisor. Shirley is supremely self-assured but not in an unlikable way, and she and the Doctor have a delightfully spiky-yet-respectful rapport right off the bat. I also like the way neither is particularly surprised by the other: no "who are you" or other complications, which also makes Shirley seem very perceptive. The Doctor also seems very comfortable talking to her, giving us some exposition along the way:

SHIRLEY: You got your old face back?
DOCTOR: Yep.
SHIRLEY: But why?
DOCTOR: Well, that's what I'm worried about. Because I've got this friend called Donna Noble, and she was my best friend in the whole wide universe. ... But Donna took the mind of a Time Lord into her head. I had to wipe her memory to save her life. If she ever remembers me, she will die. So what happens next? I get this face back and the TARDIS lands right next to her. I turn around, there's her husband, then a spaceship crashes right in front of her. It's like she's drawing us in.
SHIRLEY: What, she's making it happen?
DOCTOR: No, she's got no idea. She's so ordinary, she's brilliant. She's got this beautiful daughter. She's happy. Is she? And now the universe is turning around her again. I don't believe in destiny, but if destiny exists, then it is heading for Donna Noble right now.

(from The Doctor Who Transcripts - The Star Beast)

The Wrarth prepare to take the Meep away. ("The Star Beast") ©BBC

But where "The Star Beast" really excels is in the energy it has. There's a vitality present that was perhaps a bit lacking during the last season, despite all the rushing around. Perhaps it's because the story is straightforward enough to follow and the stakes are more relatable. We're not dealing with the fate of the entire universe or the opaque machinations of the Ravagers or trying to follow the Master's latest incredibly convoluted plan. Instead we're focused on the fate of one person (all right, and eventually the entirety of London, but even when that happens it seems secondary to Donna), and an easy-to-follow storyline. That's not to say the story is simplistic or anything like that; the big twist that the cute cuddly Meep is actually evil and vicious is handled deftly, neither coming out of nowhere nor telegraphed way too soon. In fact, while people familiar with the original story knew the twist ahead of time (it is a pretty well-known story in terms of Doctor Who comics), that in no way lessens its impact. This is a story that is easy enough to follow but still respects its audience, trusting they'll put the pieces together at the right moment without needing to throw a bunch of extra stuff at them to distract them.

And of course, while the Meep is turning evil, Donna is slowly remembering the Doctor. This is where Davies really ties the two plot threads together, putting the Doctor in an impossible position where he can save London but at the cost of Donna's life. "All that coincidence was heading here, to save London from burning," the Doctor says. "Because you and I can stop this ship. Together. But it will kill you." David Tennant gives a tour de force performance here, wracked with grief but knowing he has no choice, while Catherine Tate more than holds her own, pleading with him to sacrifice her one life for the millions of other lives in London, including her daughter's. And so the Doctor unlocks Donna's mind, allowing her to become the DoctorDonna once more, so that she can stop the Meep. (And interestingly, Murray Gold quotes the eleventh Doctor's theme ("I am the Doctor") during this sequence, rather than one of the series 4 themes.) But this is an anniversary story, a celebration, so it would be churlish to start on a tragic note -- which means that Donna in fact survives, having passed part of the metacrisis energy on to her daughter. Is it a bit of a cop-out? Maybe (and the way they hand-wave it away at the end -- "We choose to let it go" -- doesn't help their case much), but I find I don't mind. It's nice to have Donna back, ready to travel with the Doctor one final time, and able to step inside the TARDIS once more.

Now since we have a new incarnation of the Doctor and a new production team, we also get a brand-new console room. This one is a bit of a throwback to the 20th-century model, only scaled up. It's gleaming white (but with color-changing mood lighting as needed) but with multiple levels and ramps for the Doctor to gleefully run around. There's something nice about having the old white look back; it's visually striking and it's a good contrast to the thirteenth Doctor's moodily-lit crystal console room. Plus the sheer size comes across here in a way that was never quite true of the previous version. And the roundels are back! This is a good blend of old and new, perfect for the 60th anniversary and beyond. Even if Donna also immediately blows the place up by accidentally spilling coffee in the console -- but that's a story for next time.

"The Star Beast" is one of those stories that is so much fun that even when it doesn't completely hold up, the end result is more than enough to power through any lesser moments. It's a joy to see David Tennant back as the Doctor and Catherine Tate back as Donna, even if it's only for a short while, and not just as a nostalgia exercise but instead as the next chapter in the story. Ultimately this first special is a celebration of the things that people love about the show: a fun adventure with enough pathos to keep the viewer engaged. "The Star Beast" feels like both a look back and a declaration of how things will be going forward. It strikes the perfect balance between the two, and it demonstrates that even after 60 years there's still plenty of life in the show.