TV Review: Doctor Who- The Star Beast

 

Good goodness me, Russell T Davies, David Tennant and Catherine Tate are back, Back, BACK!! Like some multi- million selling band that split for a while they have reformed for a limited time only kickstarting a period that someone amusingly dubbed RTD2 which is just something we all wish we’d thought of, right? This opening episode of a Tennant trilogy doesn’t even have to be that good really. It just has to exist and people are happy before they’ve seen a second of it. I know I am. Yet I’m also a little puzzled. What can this team do that they didn’t do thirteen or more years back? Subsequent showrunners and many other programmes have tried their best to match the sheer brio which RTD1 gave Doctor Who yet none have quite been able to match the thrills, spectacle, emotion and character. So just like that great old band getting back together again for a victory lap do our triumphant trio focus on that illustrious past or try out some new material?

 

Lots of spoilers after the break…

 

To be honest `The Star Beast` doesn’t rock the boat too much being a sturdy, solid slice of modern Doctor Who. Everything you would expect is present especially the banter between the characters, the contemporary setting playing host to aliens and the familial aspects that ground even the most unlikely events.  In the RTD opening episode tradition it doesn’t have too detailed a plot because the emphasis is on re-introducing us to the situation and characters. When the recently regenerated Doctor, for the first time wearing the face of a previous incarnation, lands on Earth and bumps into a clueless as usual Donna straight away he realises there is unfinished business. Destiny is once again knocking on Donna Noble’s door.

Moments later a spaceship crashes, UNIT are all over it and Donna’s daughter meets the alien that escaped from it though things are not quite what they seem. Plus- what will happen to Donna if she does remember the Doctor? And that’s enough really because it is always a joy to watch David Tennant and Catherine Tate themselves clearly having fun with this lively material. The chemistry is right back as soon as they meet and despite the potentially tragic undertones of Donna remembering her adventures, they manage to treat it as lightly as possible. The way out of this seemingly lethal situation has been staring us in the face the whole episode and is niftily wrapped up in present day themes of gender self-identity.  This could feel forced but it’s done with a light touch.

David Tennant plays the episode with perhaps a little less abandon as he is a different Doctor technically but he and Catherine Tate are such a good team. This is her episode really, she manages to be silly, slapstick and yet sincere and occasionally serious. She is so versatile as a performer she can manage the range of emotions Donna has in this episode so well. Yasmin Finney playing Donna’s trans daughter Rose is a serene presence and a good counterpart to the more manic Doctor and Donna. Another new character is Shirley Ann Bingham played by Ruth Madeley who proudly reveals she is UNIT’S fifty sixth scientific advisor which is some turnover for a job. She has a weaponised wheelchair which is one of those ideas you see and wish you’d thought of. Plus it is great to welcome back Jacqueline King as Donna’s feisty mother. In another time line the Nobles would be a great sitcom family. Just getting back into the bustle of their lives is a joy.

The suburban setting with space battles taking place next to ordinary houses, crashing spaceship, a story twist half way and something that starts to split London’s streets into lava fuelled crevices are typical RTD scenarios drawn from big screen movies showing the same scale of ambition as ever. What has clearly changed though is the amount of money being spent on the production. I’d hazard a guess this is the most expensive episode yet because it certainly looks it. Everything goes just that bit bigger notably the large scale battle in the Noble’s street as the tall Wrarth warriors take on the now considerably more resourced UNIT. Remember when Seventies UNIT was literally just a unit with about six troops? Now there’s trucks full of them touting the latest high tech weapons. Rachel Talalay directs this busy traffic with finesse including some impressive aerial angles.

Beep the Meep, the beloved `Doctor Who Weekly` comic strip creation whom you imaged would be fully digitally generated is actually mostly a real life costume with a range of expressions to boot. Has a creature ever gone from looking as cute as its initial appearance to being as scary as it’s real countenance with sharp teeth and manic eyes? The Meep (that’s the pronoun) is a great creation and has risen from the pages impressively and that also owes much to the vocal talents of Miriam Margolyes who really gets into the spirit of things. Her evil Meep is deliciously bad and I kept expecting a swear word or two!

We also get a new TARDIS console, well I was going to call it a room, but it’s a freaking gallery! The biggest yet, it mimics the plainer white walled originals albeit on a grand scale with walkways aplenty. Unlike the last TARDIS set it has space to breath and plenty of places for characters to go. It’s interesting that they’ve gone back to the less mechanical concept; this is more abstract and mysterious. All of the modern day TARDISs have shown their workings if you like from the `grown` coral room to Peter Capaldi’s Star Trek looking one and beyond. This is, apart from the console, a massive space with lots of roundels.

Different people like different periods of the programme and for me one of the best times was the 2005-10 iteration so I’m pleased to have that energy, that joi de vivre back. It sounds likely that the other two Specials are more unusual and experimental but hopefully there’s always going to be space for episodes like `The Star Beast` which is just a big bag of fun!