A TV special for the show’s 60th Anniversary

Considering that over a decade ago this site used to basically be a Doctor Who blog, it’s safe to say that I have fallen off the wagon a bit with the franchise. I definitely need to go back and see what I have missed during the Chris Chibnall era, but truthfully the last few seasons were not my favorites by any stretch of the imagination. I won’t slag the franchise off or anything because even at it’s very worst, Doctor Who is an awesome show, but I’m happy to see some familiar faces back in front and behind the camera for the 60th anniversary.

In 2005, Russell T. Davies resurrected a franchise that the BBC seemed somewhat ashamed of a decade later and ushered in a new era of fandom that built to a mighty crescendo during the 50th anniversary celebration a decade ago. Ten years on, the franchise has lost a bit of clout and is in definite need of a refresh, but I feel like we’re back in safe hands. A comfy blanket of nostalgia has been pulled over Doctor Who, and I’m all for it.

“The Doctor is caught in a fight to the death as a spaceship crash-lands on London. But as the battle wreaks havoc, destiny is converging on the Doctor’s old friend, Donna.”

So, Russell T. Davies is back and his hand-picked choice for the new Doctor, Ncuti Gatwa, won’t grace our screens until Christmas Day this year. In the meantime, what better way to celebrate the franchise than to bring back easily the most popular actor to play The Doctor in the modern era – David Tennant. Tennant, who famously played the titular character from 2005-2010, is paired up with his most popular companion Donna Noble, as played by Catherine Tate.

While the method for bringing Donna back is honestly a bit “fan-wanky” considering it was established that she’d die if she remembered her past with The Doctor in any way, but that’s par for the course for things like this. Any Doctor Who anniversary special, usually consisting of multiple iterations of The Doctor, generally has a wacky and often contrived way to have everyone together, so fans nitpicking this should honestly choose their battles more wisely and just enjoy what we have.

With Russell T. Davies back, David Tennant back, and Catherine Tate back, what else makes this seemingly random episode about a cute alien being persecuted by giant grasshoppers worthy of being a BIG ANNIVERSARY EPISODE. This episode establishes the theme for this season well: this mini-series strives to go into obscure territory and bring back forgotten and overlooked characters and monsters from the past and celebrate them. We already know that Neil Patrick Harris will be playing the Celestial Toymaker in an upcoming episode, a character from way back in 1963, and most may not realize it but the aliens featured in The Star Beast are also established in the Doctor Who canon.

Originally a 1980 comic strip by Pat Mills, John Wagner, and Dave Gibbons, The Star Beast told the story of a pitiful creature called Beep the Meep that was running from a race of oppressive grasshopper-like aliens called Wrarth Warriors. Beep the Meep hides out with some kids until its true intentions are revealed. Largely, aside from the inclusion of a different Doctor, new side-characters, and modern sets, this TV version of The Star Beast is pretty true to the source material. I honestly did not immediately realize what was happening because my only real exposure to the character was a 2002 Big Finish audio drama called The Ratings War, which I have sadly not reviewed as of yet. Once I realized the pitiful creature on my screen was Beep the Meep, I was impressed.

The Star Beast is not nearly as cinematic as something like The Day of the Doctor, the 50th anniversary special, which is fine. By virtue of having a series of episodes as a special versus one big film, these specials are structured far more like TV episodes and have comparable budgets in that wheelhouse. I honestly wish I could have had the opportunity to watch this in cinemas like the 50th, a moment that I absolutely treasured as a Doctor Who fan, but the ease of just tuning into Disney+ and having it there ready to enjoy has its upsides as well. I can’t help but be a tad underwhelmed by the BBC’s handling of this anniversary versus the one ten years ago, which seemed to have far more content involved spanning months leading up to the actual special. Perhaps I need to venture out to the sort of Doctor Who forums I left years ago, largely due to toxic in-fighting, and see if my assumptions are incorrect.

I mentioned before about this being a bit of “comfort Doctor Who”, which helped me enjoy it far more than a lot of the episodes in years. It was a return to the family-friendly adventure side of the show that has been largely pushed aside for moody melodrama in recent iterations. If you are a lapsed fan and enjoyed the first few seasons of this show, let’s say 2005-2008ish, you will likely be happy to watch this. It is tonally very much Russell T. Davies and reminded me of why I loved those first few years of the show so much. Some of the CGI is a bit janky and the ending was somewhat clouded by clunky dialogue that I’m sure has already enraged the more trollish side of the fandom. Nothing is perfect, and by and large, this was as close to peak Russell T. Davies as one can get.

Overall, I really enjoyed The Star Beast and can’t wait to see what comes next in this mini-series. Aside from watching the trailer and knowing about The Toymaker, I am somewhat in the dark about the rest of these episodes which is honestly refreshing. I used to get onto forums and spoil myself for the new seasons before the episodes even aired, and not doing that likely made me enjoy this even more than what I expected. If you are a lapsed fan and want to jump back into Doctor Who, you won’t find a much better time to do so than now. Gone are the confusing over-produced plots of the last few seasons, replaced by the fun I used to have with the show in the past.