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When I heard that Donna (Catherine Tate) was also returning, I was intrigued to know how this was possible. The last time we saw Donna, her memory was altered so she would not remember any of her travels with the Doctor. The alternative was for her to die…
Jodie Whittaker’s 13th Doctor regenerated into David Tennant’s 14th Doctor at the end of the 2022 specials, which we watched in May. I know this was a surprise when it was first broadcast, since Ncuti Gatwa had been announced as the next Doctor. But since we are not in the UK, we had to wait for the DVDs. So we knew this would happen.
The 60th Anniversary set contains three DVDs. Each one holds one episode of about an hour, plus a lot of feature ‘specials’. We watched one per week; we didn’t manage all the extra features, but very much appreciated the insights into the production of the show that we saw in the first ones on each disc.
The Star Beast
The first episode, ‘The Star Beast’, sees the 14th Doctor landing in the UK in the 21st century, only to come across Donna. He tries to hide from her, not wanting to trigger any memories, but inevitably they end up in her house after a spaceship crashes nearby. Years have passed since he last saw her, and she now has a husband and teenage daughter Rose. Rose is clearly very bright, and creative. She meets an alien called The Meep, who reminded me a bit of ET at first…
It’s an exciting story with plenty of twists and turns. There’s fast action at times, but to my surprise I followed the story without problems. In some of the previous episodes, I found the storylines confusing, and had to turn away at some of the shooting scenes. But ‘The Star Beast’ held me captivated, and felt as if it had more of an interesting story than some of the recent series.
I also loved the way that David Tennant, who is such a great actor, seemed to be channelling some of the quirks and energy that Jodie Whittaker portrayed in her incarnation.
Wild Blue Yonder
The second episode, ‘Wild Blue Yonder’, sees the tardis out of control, taking the Doctor and Donna to the edge of the universe and then abandoning them in what is apparently an empty spaceship. There’s a cute, if rather rusty robot, taking very slow steps in a long corridor. The Doctor tries to figure out what is going on, and it’s quickly clear that there are imperfect copies of both The Doctor and Donna in scenes that are both amusing and rather creepy.
In contrast to the first episode of specials, The Doctor and Donna (and their copies) are the only characters involved and the entire story takes place inside the unknown spaceship. It was fascinating learning how it was created on the first of the features on this DVD. Once again, this is a tense episode, but, as with the first one, I had no trouble following it. I appreciated the asides and conversations that happened, as well as the story itself.
At the end of the second episode, the tardis manages to return to the UK. They are met by a very frail Wilf, Donna’s grandfather, in what turned out to be the actor Bernard Cribbins’ last appearance. He assures them that the rest of Donna’s family are safe, and asks for help as the world seems to be ending…
The Giggle
The third and final 2023 special, ‘The Giggle’, follows on from that. Life is in chaos because everybody suddenly thinks they are right about everything. Drivers stop obeying traffic laws, pedestrians believe they have the right to walk down the street, people say exactly what they think and want without any filters. Alongside this, we’re taken back to 1925 where a young man buys a puppet from a strange shopkeeper with a fake German accent, who is clearly not who he appears to be. Neil Patrick Harris is superb as The Toymaker, and plays a major part in this episode.
Once again this is an episode with a lot of story; there’s a bit of history involving John Logie Baird and the beginnings of television and a clever plot that, while rather far-fetched, was also straightforward enough for me to follow it. And at the end, while I was sure that Ncuti Gatwa would eventually appear, I was surprised - and pleased - to find that even the regeneration had a twist.
I expected to like these three episodes because of David Tennant and Catherine Tate, and they certainly provided superb leads. It was an unexpected bonus to have such good and memorable stories. They are excellent anniversary specials and I’m so pleased that we finally managed to see them.
We have now caught up, as far as is possible, since the next series is still being broadcast. And ‘The Giggle’ ends with an entirely satisfactory scene which, for me, made it feel almost as if this was the end. I know it isn’t, and that we will, no doubt, continue to acquire further DVDs of Doctor Who. But we’ve decided that, before we do, we’ll re-watch all the ‘new’ series from 2005 onwards. That’s 150 episodes in all, so if we only watch one per week it will take us three years.
The 60th Anniversary DVD set is excellent, one of my favourites so far. Each episode is complete in itself, but with so much backstory referred to that it would be very confusing to anyone who has not seen at least some of the earlier episodes involving the Tenth Doctor and Donna.
Definitely recommended to anyone who is a fan of Doctor Who.
Review copyright 2024 Sue's DVD Reviews
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