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This post contains spoilers for Doctor Who: The Star Beast
The first Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Special may have brought back David Tennant and Catherine Tate, and even adapted a comic book story from 1980. But make no mistake, the special takes the Doctor into new territory, at least in the United States.
The first special “The Star Beast” dropped on its usual home at the BBC in the UK, but it debuted on Disney+ for the rest of the world. The same will be true of the next two specials, “Wild Blue Yonder” and “The Giggle,” preparing the way for the show’s fourteenth season since the 2004 reboot, which will air eight episodes across 2024.
The Story Thus Far
As the Doctor himself puts it in the most recent Children in Need special, he was this brilliant woman and now he’s back wearing an old face. In more complicated terms, the Thirteenth Doctor, portrayed by Jodie Whittaker, regenerated at the end of last year’s special The Power of the Doctor. But instead of becoming Ncuti Gatwa, the Fourteenth Doctor took a familiar form, that of his tenth incarnation played by Tennant.
“The Star Beast” doesn’t explain why the Doctor looks like Tennant again. Instead, the story, written by returning show runner Russell T Davies, is more concerned with reuniting the Doctor with former companion Donna Noble (Tate). When we last left Donna at the end of the season four finale “Journey’s End,” she had taken in the Doctor’s regeneration energy and combined with Time Lord energy, it transformed her into the DoctorDonna. While that transformation allowed her to save the world from Dalek invasion, it also threatened to destroy her human brain. Thus, the Doctor had to wipe all of memory of their adventures from her mind, as the recollection could kill her.
And yet, when the Doctor, once again wearing the face and spiky hair of David Tennant, encounters Donna on a London street in “The Star Beast,” her brain does not explode. Nor does it explode when the duo battle the evil Beep the Meep and the aliens come to apprehend it. Instead, Donna has passed the excessive Time Lord energy to her non-binary child Rose (Yasmin Finney), allowing her to access her power without danger, and then for the two of them to choose to let it go.
When Is Wild Blue Yonder Available in the US?
American viewers can see the second Doctor Who special “Wild Blue Yonder” on Disney+. The special will appear on the streaming service at 1:30 pm EST on December 2, 2023. It will be followed by the third and final anniversary special “The Giggle” on December 9, 2023.
In the UK, “Wild Blue Yonder” airs on the same day at 6.30 pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer, after which it’ll be followed by its own episode of Doctor Who: Unleashed, an in-episode commentary available to watch on BBC iPlayer, and a new instalment of The Official Doctor Who Podcast.
What is Wild Blue Yonder About?
In contrast to “The Star Beast,” Russell T. Davies isn’t dropping many hints about “Wild Blue Yonder.” As previously reported, Davies told Doctor Who Magazine that he wanted to “protect this one” and “try to reveal nothing about it.” However, in that same article, Davies did admit that he wanted to make use of working with Tennant and Tate again. “[T]his was a chance to focus on them,” he explained; “to see where The Doctor and Donna have been, what they think, what they’re like in extreme circumstances, how they react to each other now. And it’s glorious.”
The teaser for “Wild Blue Yonder” shown after “The Star Beast” backs this up, showing the Doctor and Donna in a cramped, empty facility. Although the Doctor does find life sign readings, he and Donna respond with horror at some off-screen threat. “Who are they?” asks Donna.
Although Donna had a relatively short run as companion, she did run into most of the Doctor’s big bads, which means she knows a lot about the people trying to kill him. If she’s confused by the threat, we viewers likely will be too, which only builds into “the Boss” conspiracy that Meep the Beep mentioned at the end of “The Star Beast.”
We won’t know for sure until “Wild Blue Yonder” comes to screens later this week!
Doctor Who: 60th Anniversary Special: Wild Blue Yonder streams on Disney+ in the US and non-UK regions on December 2, 2023.
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