Posted in: BBC, Comics, Current News, Disney+, Doctor Who, Marvel, streaming, TV | Tagged: catherine tate, Dave Gibbons, david tennant, doctor who, Doctor Who Star Beast, Matt Green, Miriam Margoyles, Pat Mills

Doctor Who 60th Anniversary: My 14 Thoughts About "The Star Beast"

Last night, I watched the new Doctor Who: The Star Beast, forty-three years after the seven-year-old me read the original comic.

Last night, I watched the new Doctor Who: The Star Beast by Russell T Davies, forty-three years after the seven-year-old me read the original in Doctor Who Weekly. It may have been less twisty-turny and not as political as the original, but at its heart, it was pretty much identical. Pretty much. And as ever, I've been asked to share a few thoughts… and expanded "Ten Thoughts" to "Fourteen Thoughts" in honour of the Tenth Doctor returning for the Fourteenth. Screencaps from BBC iPlayer ahead. And just a heads-up – all the images you see (unless otherwise noted) are screencaps from the episode…

1. Doctor Who TARDIS Surfing

Doctor Who is definitely playing up its Ultra High Definition transmission now, though maybe the David Tennant green screen introd could have been less high-def and less obvious as a result. The new intro, full of added twiddly dee flourishes, and people singing, breathing and huffing around in the outro, brings the clatter. The visual begins with a focus on the blue light, spinning around it as the TARDIS enters the time vortex and then… surfs the Time Vortex? Is that archon spray? Hang fourteen!

2. Where Is John Wagner Anyway?

So yes, The Star Beast is based on the Marvel UK Doctor Who Weekly comic published in 1980, and we talked about that a lot yesterday. But why no mention of the co-writer credit for John Wagner? Well, Pat Mills says, "Even though they were under absolutely no obligation to do so, Bad Wolf very generously paid Dave Gibbons and myself for the return of The Star Beast. In fact, they also offered to pay John Wagner, too, as both our names were on the comic writer credits. But John declined as he explained he had not co-written The Star Beast or been involved with the story." At the time, Mills and Wagner often shared credits to stories for continuity's sake, even if only one or the other had written them. They are the Lennon and McCartney of comics.

In the following Doctor Who Unleashed, Russell T Davies eulogises the original comic book, and saying he would have done it in his original run if he'd had the budget. Disney money goes a long way, it seems, even to Mills and Gibbons' pockets. And they came to the set as well, so see the Meep, the Meep's ship and the Wrarth Warriors realised pretty much exactly as Dave Gibbons drew them.

David Tennant turned full fan boy as well.

3. Doctor Who Vs E.T.

It's also worth noting that The Star Beast was published two years before E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial came out.

With stuffed Dalek, Judoon, Adipose, Cyberman, Ood, and more… and no, I didn't get this first time around. Excellent references. Talking of which…

4. Yes, Cyberdog Is A Real Place

It's not a K9 reference. I mean, it probably is a K9 reference. But Cyberdog is a genuine place in Camden, a rave-based clothing store. Famed for its arts, fashion, and music scene, it's more of a tourist trap these days. But it's a very nice tourist trap. And it has a great comic book store as well, Mega-City Comics, who I presume will be making a lot of this. Get the boat along the canals from Maida Vale for the best way to see it.

I just probably wouldn't do my Christmas shopping there. Not only is this serious serving up a nostalgic kick with Catherine Tate as Donna Noble and the Fourteenth Doctor looking like the Tenth, it also brings Doctor Who back to London families, with memories of the Powell Estate.

After all, he keeps getting hit by their mothers.

5. The District 9 Of The Doctor

One of the main twists of the original Star Beast story, preserved here, is that we believe the Wrarth Warriors are the bad guys, and Beep The Meep is the good definitive article, purely from their looks and demeanour. It's a classic Pat Mills twist (other than being eaten by a dinosaur) that plays upon how we perceive the world via our own prejudices. And even the characters, who are very aware of prejudice in the story, are fooled by it. Rose is keen to point out that the Doctor uses pronouns willy-nilly but doesn't consider that the alien she rescued may have other motivations. It's a Doctor Who-common lesson of not judging aliens by human prejudices over what is cute and what is a monster, but it accidentally trips over the Trumpian prejudice that all alien immigrants are murdering criminals on the run. Probably not what they intended, but they did the same thing 18 years ago in The Unquiet Dead. Of course, this also may mean that Doctor Who is encouraging suspicion about immigrants, so as a result, we just all cancel Russell T Davies for…

…sorry Miriam. Moving on.

6. A New Doctor Who Sonic Screwdriver Does… Stuff

So the new Sonic Screwdriver does new… stuff. Firstly, there is always the suggestion that this hologram is just what the Sonic always shows the Doctor in his mind's eye.

But that goes away with UNIT Science Advisor in the same scene. It may look more Disney money swishy, but if you think about it, projecting an image into space for manual manipulation is less advanced than electronic telepathy. Oh, and it does more…

It creates force shields and can crumble bricks and mortar, which would have been very handy during the fiftieth anniversary episode to escape the Tower. But what happened to the old Screwdriver? Well, it's not just Doctor Who Magazine comic strips from the eighties that are being referenced here, but the most recent story, Liberation Of The Daleks, recently collected in book form, is set immediately before. In which the Daleks destroy his sonic screwdriver.

He rebuilds it, and so they do it again.

This then leads directly into the TARDIS malfunctioning and heading to Skaro, as we saw in the Children In Need episode…

Somewhere between then and now, the Doctor gets a new sonic. That can do more… is this more manipulation from the Celestial Toy Maker? Still, more on that to come.

7. Wiggy!

It with the first episode of the new Doctor Who in 2005 that saw the Doctor first mention the Shadow Proclamations as some kind of intergalactic legal order. We would later learn that the Shadow Proclamation was an actual place.

This is a judges wig, common in British courts. Yes, we still use them. But it's not the only time he's donned a wig, and I don't mean as William Hartnell or Paul McGann.

The Doctor, as a legal practitioner, does seem at odds with his usual way of doing business. Usually, he's just blagging it. But he is certainly prepared if he's carrying one around with him. Pockets with Time Lord technology, perhaps?

8. Gender Agenda

The Doctor returns with a new face and a new gender. And he's still thinking about it…

…talking about it…

… and being lectured to about it.

Given the mystery of the choice of his new face – and the clothing that came with it – it looks like this is something the Celestial Toymaker will be talking about family soon. More on him in a minute as well.

9. The Day Of The Doctor's Pronouns

If you want that to be the Doctor declaring themselves non-binary, you can. Miriam Margoyles, who voiced Beep The Meep, had her own epiphany about pronoun use recently. On The Graham Norton Show, her natural habitat, she told Graham "I was very keen on grammar. So when people started talking about 'them' instead of 'he/she' I thought, 'What the f-ck? It's clear, it's grammar, it's the structure of language." But she talked to non-binary, transmasculine actor Zoe Terakes, who uses they/he pronouns, who told her, "What does it matter to you? If you can make somebody happy by calling them they instead of he or she, why not do it?" "And I thought, that's right, it doesn't matter about grammar!"

Here, we have Rose Noble, played by Yasmin Finney, who saves the day, just as Donna did, by sharing the burden of responsibility. With Russell T Davies taking her final words as the Doctor-Donna, "binary binary binary," and playing them brilliantly. Not intended then, but works wonderfully now, akin to Douglas Adams reusing "ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha" in the Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy location of Earth, with the plural zones reinterpreted to being vulnerable to multiverse blips. Though, of course, with Russell T Davies, it gets more personal and emotional.

The Power Of Non-Binary makes as much sense as RTD's various Power Of Love endings, but it is much more fun and hugely satisfying. But when talking about gender…

…. the idea that women can just "let it go" in a way that men cannot? Um… no. Just no.

10. Does Donna Noble Have A Certain Taste In Men?

This was Donna Noble's first intended husband, Lance Bennett, played by Don Gilet.

She actually married Shaun Temple, played by Karl Collins, as he did a decade ago.

It has been previously noted by fansthat Donna Noble may have a certain preference in men. She may not, of course, but it might explain why when she talks to Shawn about going off with the Doctor…

… he's not bovvered.

However, the Fifteenth Doctor, might his lack of reticence change?

11. New Look TARDIS

What if the original TARDIS interior was the Apple Store? Or the ship on WALL-E? Or something out of Star Trek? All sorts of descriptions for the new look Disney-bought TARDIS interior

Lots of running around and plenty of parkour possibilities, but talking of Star Trek, the moment the coffee arrived…

… you knew this was going to be Chekhov's Coffee. Now, what would you like with a nice cuppa?

12. Jam On Toast

Okay, so I have been asked about this. "Jammy?"

Cheekily lucky. Getting something in a very undeserved fashion, but nevertheless, very cool in the acquisition. Also see "ooh, you jammy git," "jammy dodger," or indeed "jam on toast," all referring to fruit preserve, what the Americans call jelly, a sweet treat that you absolutely did nothing to get, but there you are, with the remains spread round your face.

13. The Return Of UNIT

Shirley Anne Bingham, played by Ruth Madeley, is UNIT's scientific advisor number 56. The Doctor was the first. Others, in TV, prose, and audio, have included Elizabeth Klein, Iris, Dr Louise Rix, Colonel Emily Chaudhry, Malcolm Taylor, and Petronella Osgood, have all been appointed to this role… including at one point The Master… but it does indicate that UNIT is back. Shawn Noble talks about them having that place in the centre of London. Which appears to be this fictional building added to London's skyline in the opening scenes…

The other question might be if UNIT can fit her wheelchair with guns and missiles, how about something that could float? Haven't Torchwood got some Dalek tech they could nick?

14. The Celestial Toymaker is Coming

Someone is manipulating things. Bringing the Doctor and Donna Noble back together. Making the Doctor look like Ten again, putting them in the same place, wearing new clothes… and not just Russell T Davies. After all, Beep The Meep has a boss. And Neil Patrick Harris will be playing The Toymaker to come… is he The Meep's direct superior?

Unless it's Matt Green, comedian, TikTokker, formerly a member and President of Cambridge University's Footlights alongside Richard Ayoade, John Oliver with John Finnemore as his vice president, and co-creator of the ABC half-a-season sitcom Roommates. Any word if UNIT let him go afterward?

Doctor Who: The Star Beast is available on the iPlayer in the UK and on Disney+ in the rest of the world – apart from the Republic Of Ireland, who are out of luck.

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