After 13 long months of waiting, Doctor Who has finally returned to our screens with David Tennant back at the helm of the TARDIS. Former showrunner Russell T Davies, who initially brought the show back from a 16 year hiatus in 2005, is back once again, and it all kicks off with a trio of specials. The first of those, “The Star Beast,” became the first episode of the show to simultaneously premiere on Disney+. Here’s my recap and thoughts on the first of three Doctor Who 60th anniversary specials.
“The Star Beast” begins with an unusual talking to the audience recap of the Doctor and Donna Noble’s (Catherine Tate) prior story. Although, I suppose it was pretty necessary considering the new Disney+ audience and just how much time has passed since those stories initially aired (almost 15 years). After a beautiful new title sequence, the Doctor lands his TARDIS to immediately be greeted by Donna, who as we recall, can’t remember him, or she will die. As a spaceship “crashes” overhead, which Donna oh-so-typically misses, we’re also introduced to Donna’s daughter, Rose (Yasmin Finney).
The Doctor hops in a taxi driven by Donna’s husband Shaun (Karl Collins) to get him towards the crashed spaceship, where he ends up meeting newly introduced UNIT scientific advisor Shirley Anne Bingham (Ruth Madeley). He explains to her just what’s going on with him, and suddenly bumping back into Donna. Destiny is heading for Donna Noble, as the Doctor gets his old face back and somehow bumps into Donna and her family again 15 years later.
Cut back to Donna and Rose, the latter of whom is seen getting bullied by some of her schoolmates for being trans. Actress Yasmin Finney is trans herself, and that is worked into the storyline in some ways that will pay off beautifully later on. Even without her memories of her time spent with the Doctor, Donna proves just how good of a person she is with her protection of Rose. Discovering that the spaceship had an escape pod crash-land nearby, Rose comes across The Meep (voiced by Miriam Margolyes), introduced in a couple of adorable scenes somewhat reminiscent of E.T. Interestingly, this story is based upon a comic from 1980 that actually predates E.T.
Back at the spaceship, a squadron of UNIT soldiers are possessed by something aboard the ship, and begin a search for The Meep, starting an all out battle inside and outside Donna’s house. Whether he likes it or not, the Doctor is forced to interact with Donna and her family in order to get The Meep out safely. Some hilarity and genuine moments happen as Donna’s mother Sylvia desperately tries to avoid Donna remembering the Doctor, as she knows what will happen.
The Doctor eventually gets them all to safety, in some rather ingenious ways, but realizes all may not be as it seems with The Meep. After a funny courtroom-esque scene, we figure out that the attacking bug-shaped Wrarth Warriors are actually on the side of good, and it's The Meep that has possessed the soldiers in a bid to subjugate the galaxy. Margolyes turns her cute performance as The Meep into a villainous one just like that, and the twist is well done – even though fans know that twist is coming.
The seemingly victorious Beep the Meep is getting ready to blast off their spaceship, even though doing so will cause the death of 9 million people in the London area. Thanks to the help of kickass Shirley, showcasing some awesome gadgets and weapons in her wheelchair, the Doctor and gang manage to escape from the possessed UNIT soldiers. The Doctor races aboard the spaceship to try and save the day, and something inside draws Donna to follow – she even calls him the Doctor, which he had not told her, showing that some of her memory is coming back.
Try as he might, the Doctor can’t seem to stop the spaceship from taking off. Donna wants to do whatever she can to save her daughter, family and London, but the Doctor is hesitant to sacrifice his best friend again. After some emotional moments from Tennant, he eventually helps bring back Donna’s memories, and the DoctorDonna (or the Time Lord metacrisis Donna) is once more. She remembers everything, and immediately lambasts the Doctor in typical Donna fashion. The day is saved, but Donna collapses and the Doctor seems to think it's the end for her.
It turns out that when Donna had a child, the metacrisis passed on to her, as a shared inheritance. It's too much power for one person to handle, but with Rose picking up some of the slack, they were both able to survive. Turns out the toys that Rose had made over the years were all references to adventures Donna had with the Doctor, hidden somewhere in her subconscious. Binary, non-binary. Both a callback to the original metacrisis and a reference to Rose being trans. Absolutely brilliant. “We’re binary, and she’s non – because the Doctor is male and female, and neither and more.” What an absolutely beautiful and accepting line.
Beep the Meep is captured and sent to prison but does say that “a creature with two hearts is such a rare thing” and that they’ll have to tell “the Boss” – perhaps teasing the Toymaker? Rose and Donna are still in potential danger, but they figure out that they can just let the metacrisis energy go. A bit of a deus ex machina, but it ultimately works and Donna saying “It’s a shame you’re not a woman anymore, cause she would have understood” pretty much makes it all worth it.
The Doctor then heads back to his TARDIS with the Noble family in tow, deciding to make a quick drop in on Donna’s grandfather Wilf (Bernard Cribbins) – who ultimately does not appear in this episode, but it is teased that we’ll probably get to see him in one of the other two specials. A great treat, considering this would have been the last thing that the late Bernard Cribbins filmed. Donna, with her memories back and metacrisis solved, decides to take one final trip in the TARDIS.
Both the Doctor and Donna are introduced to the brand-new TARDIS interior, perhaps the largest and grandest we’ve ever seen. You can tell David Tenannt’s reaction to the beautiful new interior is completely genuine. But clumsy Donna spills coffee onto the console, sending the TARDIS into some sort of crisis, serving as a cliffhanger into the next story, “Wild Blue Yonder.”
The story of the Doctor and Donna came to such a beautiful, but sad end in 2009. It was always going to be tough to follow that up without ruining what came before. Russell T Davies proves that he hasn’t missed a beat in the 15 years since he last wrote for Doctor Who, providing a beautiful epilogue to the story, while still teasing us with some more mysteries that will be answered in the next two specials. David Tennant and Catherine Tate are also on top form, and it really felt as if they never left and that no time at all had passed. Another standout was Yasmin Finney as Rose, bringing in a truly beautiful and representative character.
As a major Doctor Who fan, I was completely satisfied by “The Star Beast” and can’t wait to see what comes next. Roll on next Saturday!