![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Doctor Who: The Star Beast
In which our Welsh Overlord is back, and it's great fun to behold.
No matter where you stand on the subject of RTD, I think it's pretty safe to say 99% of the fandom was hoping for a fixit re: Donna's fate as soon as Catherine Tate was announced as returning for the specials, and a joyeous fixit is exactly what we got. Along with getting to know and like Donna's husband and daughter, which was important in several regards, not least because it gives Donna a completely non-angsty reason to not continue travelling with the Doctor once the specials are over. But also because this way, they don't feel pasteded on in the way they did in End of Time but like real people whom Donna has build a good life for herself with. And, of course, Rose Noble ("she chose the name herself") offers good old Rusty a chance to kill several birds with one stone: provide a very RTD explanation as to why returning her memories doesn't in the end kill Donna, but why she still would have died back at Journey's End if the Doctor hadn't taken said memories, and make a stand in the current climate where transgender people are reviled not just by the usual suspects but even by those in the gay community who want to take the T from LGTB, especially in the UK. Not to mention the kind of fanboys whose complaints about the Chibnall era could be summed up as "DW went woke!" (as with similar complaints about Star Trek, one always wonders quite which show they were watching before). Non binaryness saving the day was great! (And earned the earlier joke re: the Meep, the Doctor and the definite article.)
The story itself - based on a Fourth Doctor era comic I haven't read - was pretty standard DW, including the subversion of the cute looking Meep being vile and the scary looking aliens being the good guys, but you know, I appreciated that after all the universe saving in the last few specials, the stakes weren't galactic in this case. Saving the population of London was enough, and also led to the serious scene in an episode where the dominant tone was whimsy, of the Doctor having to return Donna's memories without having any reason to believe at this point she would not die, and Donna this time around getting to make that choice. Which leads me to Donna's overall characterisation, which I loved. We got the whole scale from obliviousness to fierce protectivness to not taking any crap to deciding to help, not just because her own loved ones are among those in danger but for everyone else, because Donna is a good person even without her memories and will make that choice. And the Tate 'n Tennant bff chemistry is still magic, both when she doesn't know him and later when she does. The Doctor still remembering how Donna prefers her coffee and stuff like the name of her frenemy Nerys (after what was for him an uncountable number of years, what with Twelve's stint in the confession dial and Eleven's centuries on the Christmas planet) underlines what he says about how he kept thinking of her, and his asking about Wilf, the (wrong) assumption Wilf died and the joyful discovery no, he's alive and just not able to live in a house with stairs anymore put me right on the emotional pendulum with him, which it would have even without knowing in rl Bernhard Cribbins is no longer with us. (But, I hear, did film some scenes before he passed, so I'm assuming the Doctor and Donna will be able to make good of their intention of visiting Wilf before Fifteen's arrival.)
Among the trio of RTD companion mothers in his initial run - Rose's, Martha's and Donna's - Sylvia Noble was certainly the one whose constant criticisms of her daughter was shown to have done active harm to her. Without intending this; Sylvia was not Mother Gothel. But unfortunately, this is a dynamic that can develop, and does need to change, and so I was glad that the episode made it clear it did change without retconning it as never having happened. (Donna's remark re: being so proud of Rose etc. did feel pointed, for example.) Sylvia here is frantically trying to protect her daughter from what she was told would kill her, and she's supportive of her granddaughter while not entirely up to date on the vocabulary, which feels real to me and as a continuation of the person she was who did make a turn for the better.
Other than Donna's new and old family and the Meep, the episode introduces us to UNIT's latest scientific advisor, Shirley. Whose being in a wheelchair is dealt with very matter of factly, i.e. it's a part of her but not her personality or reason to be in the story, and it did not escape my notice that when we finally get to see the latest look of the TARDIS inside, it doesn't have stairs but these curvy ramps, so I very much hope Shirley will get a trip in the TARDIS later on. So far, she's clever, likeable and develops a good rapport with the Doctor without being awestruck. With all the Kate Stewart mentions, I guess the ground is laid for UNIT playing a part in either the remaining specials or Fifteen's first season or both, and I think it's a good idea to give us another UNIT character (in addition to Kate) to be invested in who gets along with the Doctor but by necessity won't always share his opinion.
The Doctor, Donna and Shirley all ask at different points in the episode "why this face?", so I expect the in-universe answer will be more than Donna's suggestion when she thinks she's dying (i.e.to say goodbye to her). I mean, it's RTD, so expect the eventual answer will probably not make logical but will make emotional sense. While I look very much forward to meeting the Fifteenth Doctor, right now I can't say I regret the chance to get the canon fixit for Donna with a David Tennant shaped Doctor, because, as I said: they are just such a great combination together, and even Donna's preliminary ending in the fourth season finale aside, I always regretted we only got a single season with the two of them as Team TARDIS.
Lastly: the new TARDIS interior with its white octagons but wide space is what I fancy the TARDIS might have looked like decades ago if the BBC would have had the money. And the Doctor and Donna taking so much joy in it was irresistable. Bring on the next special!
No matter where you stand on the subject of RTD, I think it's pretty safe to say 99% of the fandom was hoping for a fixit re: Donna's fate as soon as Catherine Tate was announced as returning for the specials, and a joyeous fixit is exactly what we got. Along with getting to know and like Donna's husband and daughter, which was important in several regards, not least because it gives Donna a completely non-angsty reason to not continue travelling with the Doctor once the specials are over. But also because this way, they don't feel pasteded on in the way they did in End of Time but like real people whom Donna has build a good life for herself with. And, of course, Rose Noble ("she chose the name herself") offers good old Rusty a chance to kill several birds with one stone: provide a very RTD explanation as to why returning her memories doesn't in the end kill Donna, but why she still would have died back at Journey's End if the Doctor hadn't taken said memories, and make a stand in the current climate where transgender people are reviled not just by the usual suspects but even by those in the gay community who want to take the T from LGTB, especially in the UK. Not to mention the kind of fanboys whose complaints about the Chibnall era could be summed up as "DW went woke!" (as with similar complaints about Star Trek, one always wonders quite which show they were watching before). Non binaryness saving the day was great! (And earned the earlier joke re: the Meep, the Doctor and the definite article.)
The story itself - based on a Fourth Doctor era comic I haven't read - was pretty standard DW, including the subversion of the cute looking Meep being vile and the scary looking aliens being the good guys, but you know, I appreciated that after all the universe saving in the last few specials, the stakes weren't galactic in this case. Saving the population of London was enough, and also led to the serious scene in an episode where the dominant tone was whimsy, of the Doctor having to return Donna's memories without having any reason to believe at this point she would not die, and Donna this time around getting to make that choice. Which leads me to Donna's overall characterisation, which I loved. We got the whole scale from obliviousness to fierce protectivness to not taking any crap to deciding to help, not just because her own loved ones are among those in danger but for everyone else, because Donna is a good person even without her memories and will make that choice. And the Tate 'n Tennant bff chemistry is still magic, both when she doesn't know him and later when she does. The Doctor still remembering how Donna prefers her coffee and stuff like the name of her frenemy Nerys (after what was for him an uncountable number of years, what with Twelve's stint in the confession dial and Eleven's centuries on the Christmas planet) underlines what he says about how he kept thinking of her, and his asking about Wilf, the (wrong) assumption Wilf died and the joyful discovery no, he's alive and just not able to live in a house with stairs anymore put me right on the emotional pendulum with him, which it would have even without knowing in rl Bernhard Cribbins is no longer with us. (But, I hear, did film some scenes before he passed, so I'm assuming the Doctor and Donna will be able to make good of their intention of visiting Wilf before Fifteen's arrival.)
Among the trio of RTD companion mothers in his initial run - Rose's, Martha's and Donna's - Sylvia Noble was certainly the one whose constant criticisms of her daughter was shown to have done active harm to her. Without intending this; Sylvia was not Mother Gothel. But unfortunately, this is a dynamic that can develop, and does need to change, and so I was glad that the episode made it clear it did change without retconning it as never having happened. (Donna's remark re: being so proud of Rose etc. did feel pointed, for example.) Sylvia here is frantically trying to protect her daughter from what she was told would kill her, and she's supportive of her granddaughter while not entirely up to date on the vocabulary, which feels real to me and as a continuation of the person she was who did make a turn for the better.
Other than Donna's new and old family and the Meep, the episode introduces us to UNIT's latest scientific advisor, Shirley. Whose being in a wheelchair is dealt with very matter of factly, i.e. it's a part of her but not her personality or reason to be in the story, and it did not escape my notice that when we finally get to see the latest look of the TARDIS inside, it doesn't have stairs but these curvy ramps, so I very much hope Shirley will get a trip in the TARDIS later on. So far, she's clever, likeable and develops a good rapport with the Doctor without being awestruck. With all the Kate Stewart mentions, I guess the ground is laid for UNIT playing a part in either the remaining specials or Fifteen's first season or both, and I think it's a good idea to give us another UNIT character (in addition to Kate) to be invested in who gets along with the Doctor but by necessity won't always share his opinion.
The Doctor, Donna and Shirley all ask at different points in the episode "why this face?", so I expect the in-universe answer will be more than Donna's suggestion when she thinks she's dying (i.e.to say goodbye to her). I mean, it's RTD, so expect the eventual answer will probably not make logical but will make emotional sense. While I look very much forward to meeting the Fifteenth Doctor, right now I can't say I regret the chance to get the canon fixit for Donna with a David Tennant shaped Doctor, because, as I said: they are just such a great combination together, and even Donna's preliminary ending in the fourth season finale aside, I always regretted we only got a single season with the two of them as Team TARDIS.
Lastly: the new TARDIS interior with its white octagons but wide space is what I fancy the TARDIS might have looked like decades ago if the BBC would have had the money. And the Doctor and Donna taking so much joy in it was irresistable. Bring on the next special!
no subject
But, be that as it may, having her make the choice to say no and having it actually being respected this time was meaningful and huge. Whatever the motivations were, I'm deeply grateful for that result.
but it would have been worth it to have the revelation that Rose 2.0 was part-Time Lord interrupted by Sylvia leaning into shot with some brisk Gallifreyan technobabble.
That would have made even less sense, somehow, but it would have been hilarious!
no subject