Last week, I said that Disney’s semi-takeover of Doctor Who had already made the show a little weird. Having just watched the first of the 60th Anniversary specials, “The Star Beast,” I can confirm that it is indeed weird, but in a good way. More than that, it’s got two ample hearts and a mighty obscene gesture for anyone who thought the show was ready to move backward to appease bigots and regressives.
The Doctor (David Tennant) lands in present day London because of course he does. The Time Lord is wearing his old face (Tenth Doctor/Meta Crisis Ten) after regenerating in “The Power of The Doctor.” Without meaning to, he stumbles on his old companion Donna (Catherine Tate), whose memory he had to wipe in Series 4 because she had absorbed too much space knowledge and it would have killed her. Ever since, The Doctor has stayed away to avoid triggering her memory.
Naturally, a spaceship crashed and another alien walks right into Donna’s home, endangering her, her family, and the whole city. And away we go!
Let’s start with this “new” Doctor.” At this point, Tennant has played The Doctor in three separate incarnations. Anyone who caught the last season of Good Omens has seen how easily Tennant slips back into the manic jester persona he pioneered during his time in the Tardis. Most fans would have been delighted to simply have the old boy back.
That’s not what we get here, and the show is much stronger for it. The Fourteenth Doctor is definitely his own person, while also being a creation of his predecessor. This Doctor says I love you, checks on fallen soldiers, and is less quick with grand pronouncements. The kindness and humanity of the Thirteenth Doctor is present like a bright shadow on his actions. This is both a wonderful thematic element and a double middle finger to the misogynists that whinged throughout the entire tenure of Jodie Whittaker.
And just in case that point was too subtle for some, returning showrunner Russel T Davies doubled down. Donna has given birth since she was last on the Tardis to a child going by Rose. Rose is non-binary, and a natural genetic inheritor of some of that toxic space magic. Not only is the character a classic plucky companion (played with grace and joy by Yasmin Finney), she becomes something of a living avatar of The Doctor’s complicated body presentation history.
Doctor Who has always been a bastion to the trans community. The lore of regeneration and the ability to rewrite identity into something more appropriate for new challenges obviously resonates to trans people. Here in “The Star Beast,” that legacy is tackled unashamedly and with a daring swagger worthy of The Doctors themselves. Speaking as a non-binary person, I’ve never felt more seen by a television show, and it was like finally coming home. I cried. A lot.
Everything about the show felt fresh. Part of that is The Mouse’s money, which is on display in every frame. However, there seems to be an attempt to find the core of the show again. It’s impossible to dissect the villain without spoilers, but I can say that they appear as a perfect middle ground between the gritty monsters of the Whittaker era and the classic rubber monsters of the 1980s and back.
There’s an intentional hokiness there that I think comes from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I don’t believe that The Meep or The Wrarth would have ever made it to screen without shows like WandaVision and Loki that were willing to be ridiculous on purpose rather than as a result of low budgets. Even with the jank, the villain was hide-behind-the-couch terrifying. The best Doctor Who bad guys are like hippos: goofy, until they open their mouths. “The Star Beast” knows this and runs with it.
While watching, I noticed how much tighter the episode was than any in recent memory. Despite being an hour, it flew by in one breathless sprint. There were plenty of dynamic, quiet moments, but almost no filler. Even the prologue to get new viewers up to speed didn’t drag all that much.
Davies famously captured lighting in a bottle in 2005 when the first of the new series, “Rose,” was released. “The Star Beast” has much of the same vibe. There is some definite space between the last regeneration and this adventure, and the tension is allowed to build slowly. As a soft reboot, it could hardly be better.
The years following the 50th Anniversary have been uneven. Both Whittaker and her predecessor, Peter Capaldi were phenomenal Doctors with bright moments, but the show seemed to lose focus. It became daring but gimmicky, celebratory of the past while also using it as a crutch. Most of all, it was usually a little too self-conscious and too intent on being taken seriously.
“The Star Beast” isn’t serious. It wants to talk very earnestly about how trans girls can use space magic to stop monsters and heal a lonely god’s heart. That sort of madness has been very sorely missed.
Now streaming on Disney+.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2023.
