Doctor Who Returns in The Star Beast
Showrunner Russell T Davies Returns with Something to Say
(Some minor spoilers for The Star Beast in this article.)
Doctor Who is back after its longest hiatus since the gap between the cancellation of the original series and the beginning of Nu-Who in 2005. With an influx of money from Disney, now the sole distributor of the show outside of the U.K., we got to see the vision of returning showrunner Russell T Davies in all its chaotic glory last Saturday.
With the return of former Who leads Catherine Tate and David Tennant, who first appeared together in the 2006 Who story The Runaway Bride, it seemed appropriate to look at this… matrimonially.
Something Old
Doctor Who is celebrating its Sixtieth Anniversary this year, but, ironically, this new broad distribution scheme through Disney+ means that, for quite a few people, this is their first encounter with Britain’s famous Time Lord. Which is why it is interesting that RTD (Davies) packed this particular episode with so much nostalgic fan service.
The obvious return of Tate and Tennant as the much beloved “Doctor and Donna” team is an obvious place to start. Arguably the most popular combination of Doctor and Companion since the show’s revival, neither have appeared on the show for fifteen years. Nevertheless, it is clear that the old chemistry still works and much of what is delightful about the episode is carried by the two actors.
Also returning is UNIT (United Nations Intelligence Taskforce), a paramilitary organization that originated in the late ’60s during the Second Doctor’s era, but is mostly identified with Jon Pertwee’s Third Doctor who spent much of his time as the organization’s scientific advisor.
Oh, and there’s this wig thing:
Something New
Doctor Who is the most progressive science fiction series in television history and RTD is showing no signs of shying away from the issues of today. This story is about trans rights and visibility.
It is not a rollicking space drama with political messaging moments shoved in; it literally uses the fact that Donna’s daughter Rose (Yasmin Finney) is trans as a plot point upon which the whole story pivots. Some of the most powerful moments of the episode center on Rose navigating her way through a world in which she endures bullies verbally assaulting her in the street, her mother describing the lengths at which she would go to protect her (“I would burn down the world for you, darling. Anyone has a go, I will be there and I will descend.”) and Rose’s apotheosis when her full identity — partially repressed due to some earlier Doctor/Donna shenanigans — is unleashed (“After all these years, I’m finally me!”).
Something Borrowed
What’s borrowed? Well, the plot. An arcane pull, the episode’s overarching story is culled from an ’80s Doctor Who comic also called The Star Beast. Written by 2000AD stalwarts Pat Mills and John Wagner and illustrated by Dave “Watchmen” Gibbons, the comic’s beats are pretty well followed by the episode until the demands of the modern characters’ personal arcs require a different solution to the crisis.
The story of Beep the Meep and the Wrarth Warriors holds up surprisingly well in this retelling, though the new third act could’ve used some tightening up and a little less of “The Doctor’s Sonic Screwdriver is a magic wand.”
Something Blue
The new TARDIS!
For Doctor Who’s first 26 years the interior of his ship, the TARDIS, was white with big roundels in the walls. (Well, there was that one year where The Fourth Doctor’s TARDIS was all wood paneling, but we don’t talk about that.) Then, in 1996, a made-for-television movie starring Paul McGann as The Eighth Doctor started a war of escalation with each subsequent Doctor’s TARDIS becoming grander and grander. By the time of The Thirteenth Doctor, it looked more like the Castle of Saruman than a time and space ship.
So, it is with great relief that The Fourteenth Doctor’s TARDIS returns to a lovely blueish-white with roundels scheme. (Things I’m grateful for this year… monochrome-ish TARDIS!)
I Now Pronounce You…
So how was it? Uneven, to be sure. The episode had maybe a few too many elements to fit together without some awkwardness. Some long-term and seemingly dire character issues got brushed away a little too easily. Did I mention the Sonic Screwdriver is too powerful these days? All of these things are true.
But, true to form, Russell T Davies and his team swung for the fences. They did not come at this trying to make a gentle and genteel re-introduction to the show and its characters. This is a show that would rather make big messy statements than milquetoast pretty programs which can be easily tied up with a bow.
And that’s the joy of spending time with The Doctor. It’s going to be big and full of ideas. It’s going to try things. It’s going to laugh at itself. It’s going to stumble. And, like in The Star Beast, there are likely to be a few moments where it grabs you and shows us how the world could be a little bit better if we want it to be.
Welcome back, RTD.
For more cool Doctor Who stuff on Boardwalk Times:
Be sure to follow Boardwalk Times for more coverage of The Walt Disney Company.
Support Boardwalk Times on Ko-Fi.
Support Boardwalk Times by visiting Boardwalk Store:
If you like this article. Subscribe to our free newsletter Boardwalk Times: Stories from the Seashore, a monthly dose of Disney and its businesses.
Kelly McCubbin is a columnist for Boardwalk Times