Posted in: BBC, Disney+, Doctor Who, TV | Tagged: catherine tate, david tennant, Wild Blue Yonder

My Ten Thoughts About Doctor Who: Wild Blue Yonder

I've seen the second of the Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Specials, "Wild Blue Yonder," which didn't so much play to the Easter Eggs.

We've just seen the second of the Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Specials, Wild Blue Yonder, which didn't so much play to the Easter Eggs like The Star Beast as it did double down on the classic Doctor Who formula. A spaceship with robots. Very long corridors to run down. And a mystery at its heart. But there was more to play with…

1. Doctor Who Is Spy Kids Meets Event Horizon

What do you get if you cross Spy Kids with Event Horizon? Why, you get Doctor Who: Wild Blue Yonder. At the very edge of the possible universe, on a spaceship as shiny and bright as the inside of the new TARDIS, with the Doctor and Donna facing their opposite numbers, demons, vampires, and creatures who are taking their form, their memories, their lives. But there's also a shiny red button! It didn't quite live up to the ambitions on the screen, even with the massive Disney budget, but then when has it ever? And the robot was perfect. And the corridors were better than Underworld…

2. Donna Has Changed All Of Time And Space

Popping by Isaac Newton, pre-knighthood, Donna appears to have changed the name of gravity to "mavity" thanks to her North London accent. The Doctor had been unaffected by the change, though he switched to keep up. It does underline the difference between the two; despite the meta crisis, Donna Noble is not a creature of time – the Doctor is. Tom Baker's Doctor climbed up a tree to drop an apple on Newton's head and then had a chat with him after dinner, when Douglas Adams wrote him. Maybe that Doctor could help him get the name straight again?

3. This Is Doctor Who He Is Now

Casting Nathaniel Curtis as Newton, who previously starred in Russell T Davies' It's A Sin, will ruffle the usual boring feathers. As well as the fact that the Fourteenth Doctor finds Newton 'hot' and asks, "Oh, is that who I am now?"Donna's response, "It was never that far from the surface, mate," ensures that 57 writers of Doctor Who slashfic just punched the air.

4. Doctor Who: The Edge Of Destruction II

We have had Doctor Lite episodes, we have had Companion Lite episodes, sometimes to cope with shooting schedules, but this was an Everyone Else Lite episode, which we haven't really seen since The Edge of Destruction, back in the first year of Doctor Who, sixty years ago. Was that intentional for the 60th anniversary? A two-parter in which the Doctor, Ian, Barbara, and Susan stay inside the TARDIS and turn on each other, influenced by an outside force. Which, in a meta fashion, is just what happens here, with a much bigger set. Tinges of Midnight as well… is there any chance the "vampires" could be of the same race that was the unseen threat in Midnight? The Doctor always likes to go up against doubles of himself, from Zygons to the Flesh to Meglos to the Sunmakers…. Not all of them do a spider walk though.

5. We Have Had It With HADS

The Hostile Action Displacement System was originally introduced to get around a fake cliffhanger of the TARDIS being destroyed in the manner of old Republic serials back in 1968 for Patrick Troughton's Doctor in The Krotons. It's only been used sparingly since, but Moffat last grabbed it for Peter Capaldi's Doctor in Cold War a decade ago. It is a bit of a get out, but here it becomes the threat itself.

6. The Arms Of Decay

Doctor Who has established the vampires of old as enemies of the Time Lords, back in Tom Baker's State Of Decay, with the Great Vampires of the Dark Times, as emanations of the Yssgaroth, with everything vampiric stemming from them through the millennia. They could usually keep their arms in order, however. And how many times will BBC trailers use a certain phrase to describe their "jaw dropping spectacles" or the like? The arms also looked a lot more realistic than the sets.

7. The Timeless Child Is Back

The vampire Donna remembers the Doctor's recent history, discovering that he was not Gallifreyan, but something else that formed the basis of The Timeless Child changes to the Doctor's backstory, used to create all Time Lords. And the events of Flux, which saw much of the very universe wiped out, probably led to the very edge that they encounter in this episode. No Restaurant here though, Douglas. For those who wished Chris Chibnall's retcons to be retconned, here Russell T Davies placed them in the heart of the conflict.

8. Oh Captain, My Captain

Everyone demands spinoffs these days, but the story of the Captain, what species she was, why they were out where they were, there is more to be told here. Should Wild Blue Yonder get its own version of Prometheus? Or is that just asking for trouble? Was the Captain's skeletal form their normal state? After all, flesh wouldn't rot in a vacuum… whatever the story is, the Captain had it under control with the robot. The Doctor and Donna didn't so much save the day, as to get in the way of it being saved. And almost were the bad guys themselves. It may also be worth noting that the Doctor usually thinks he way out of  trouble, this time he had to not think his way out of trouble. And failed…

9. Right Said Fred

Bernard Cribbins' appearance was a bit startling, this was filmed shortly before his death, and it's hard not to draw a line between his previous appearances, tonight's, and his passing. But, even seen in a posthumous fashion like this, the joy of the Doctor and Donna matches our own. Also, still right outside Cyberdog, who must be loving the publicity. Worth noting the Doctor's description of Wilf as an old soldier, coupled with the title of the show referencing the TARDIS playing a war song, couched inside something sweet. It all suggests that the Doctor is going to war…

10. The Madness Of Crowds

People in Camden seem to be under attack. But there is no sign of what is attacking them, aside from what's inside their heads. And the heads of whoever was flying that jetplane over Camden. The TARDIS should just materialise around it; it can do that every now and then. It certainly has the space. So is this the Toymaker, treating people like puppets, with UNIT on a war footing?

Doctor Who: Wild Blue Yonder 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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