Time for a celebration, but this Disney Doctor Who falls a bit flat

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TELEVISION
DOCTOR WHO – THE STAR BEAST
Streaming on Disney+
** ½ stars

This review contains spoilers

David Tennant as The Doctor and Catherine Tate as Donna Noble in Doctor Who.Credit: BBC, Disney+

The 60th anniversary of British science fiction series Doctor Who has been a glorious TV festival.

There was the orchestral concert featuring the revamped theme music, new vignettes of classic era companions (some now in their 80s) back in the Tardis reminiscing, plus countless interviews and photoshoots. And, incredibly, there is also a spectacular colourised version of the program’s second adventure from 1963, which introduced the gravel-voiced Daleks, the Doctor’s enduring enemies, which helps explain why we are still here today avidly watching.

All for a modest TV show that first screened in black and white for kids and their parents the day after US president John F Kennedy was assassinated.

Now those kids are grandparents and the world has changed immeasurably since 1963. So has television (the BBC dumped the ABC as broadcast partners and teamed up with Disney+ for a bigger budget and the hope of conquering America).

But somehow the Doctor always seems to end up fending off aliens that just happen to invade contemporary Britain. So it was a shame that all the anniversary hoopla turned out to be more enjoyable than The Star Beast, the first of the three 60th anniversary specials, which fell a little flat.

The zany 14th Doctor (a shock return for the popular David Tennant, who played the 10th Doctor), lands in London and just happens to bump into his loudmouth former companion Donna Noble (Catherine Tate), whom he cannot ever meet because if she ever remembered their former life it would fry her brain. It’s sci-fi drama, folks.

But for some reason, Donna doesn’t remember him, so thus they engage in their trademark big energy banter, but not really with each other, so much as past each other.

And right on cue a spaceship crashes in London.

“I don’t believe in destiny, but if destiny exists it is heading for Donna Noble,” the Doctor voices during an all too rare quiet moment of discussion with a great new character, UNIT scientific adviser Shirley Bingham (Ruth Madeley), a worthy addition to the series’ pantheon of strong female characters.

Meeting the Meep, voiced by Miriam Margolyes.Credit: BBC, Disney+

Then Donna’s daughter Rose (the program’s first major trans character, played by Yasmin Finney) finds a cute alien when putting out the rubbish.

Enter the Meep (voiced by Miriam Margolyes), an adorable furry alien with massive eyes and a resemblance to Baby Yoda. Kids will love it, while older fans will fear it represents the Disneyfication of Doctor Who.

The bug-eyed Wrarth warriors arrive to kidnap the Meep, and the production throws money at the screen during a lengthy suburban gun battle which the old Doctor Who could never afford, and which reveals the Wrarth to be some of the worst shots in the history of televised science fiction.

And it is at this point that returning executive producer Russell T Davies, back after producing acclaimed dramas Years and Years and It’s a Sin, neatly twists the whole plot on its head.

Which is very satisfying, but only temporarily. Then Davies has to spend Disney’s money on elaborate action sequences, resolve Donna’s brain burnout, defeat the baddies, pay homage to 60 years of Who, satisfy Disney executives and captivate first-time viewers in Toledo, Ohio.

Creatively, it’s a tough mission. And while fans will love the return of Donna and the Doctor, they will be frustrated that they pair can’t resume their trademark partnership due to various complicated plot points.

In the end there is a lot of rushed resolution, which provides explanation but feels dramatically unsatisfying.

Still, Doctor Who is most definitely back after a poor few years when Jodie Whittaker starred as the Doctor but never really seemed to gel with the character.

But there are times when the exuberance veers off into silliness. Such as when the Doctor enters his redecorated Tardis, as spectacular as the Las Vegas Sphere, and runs around whooping like a cosplay fanboy at a convention.

There are two more anniversary specials to go before we meet Rwandan-Scottish actor Ncuti Gatwa as the 15th Doctor in the Christmas specials.

So I will join other reviewers in noting that it does feel like the best is yet to come.

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