Doctor Who: The Power of the Doctor (Jodie Whittaker)

(Amazon UK link)

After the end of Doctor Who series 13 (‘The Flux’) there were three special episodes featuring Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor. I knew that in the final one, ‘The Power of the Doctor’ she would end up regenerating into the 14th Doctor. 

The identity of the 14th Doctor was a well-kept secret before the episode was broadcast in October 2022 as part of the BBC’s centenary celebrations; I knew who was going to be, of course, and was looking forward to seeing him. 

‘The Power of the Doctor’ is longer than usual - almost an hour and a half, the length of a typical film. So it’s not surprising that it was not included in the previous pair of specials, ‘Eve of the Daleks and Legend of the Sea Devils’, which were broadcast earlier that year.

The opening is fast-paced and dramatic. There’s a call for help from a space train, which is being invaded by Cybermen. The Doctor and her companions, Yas (Mandip Gill) and Dan (John Bishop) arrive and undertake a risky rescue, one which leaves Dan a bit disturbed as he’s nearly killed. 

Meanwhile a dalek appears in a hologram, claiming to be disillusioned with the daleks and offering to provide the Doctor with some information that will enable her to destroy the daleks forever. She is naturally suspicious but the dalek appears to be genuine.

At the same time as all this, Kate Stewart (Jemma Redgrave), director of UNIT, puts out an emergency call for help. Several seismologists have disappeared, and some famous paintings around the world have been defaced, showing the face of Rasputin.  Except that it isn’t Rasputin…

With such a powerful and dramatic episode, it’s not surprising that the Doctor’s long-term antagonist The Master appears - Sacha Dhawan does this part very well, turning on the charm when he needs to, but with eyes that betray his real intent. He has a crazy ‘plan’ to destroy earth… and appears to be descending into some form of madness. 

The plot is complex and I’m not sure I grasped more than the basic outline, but it’s extremely well done. I wasn’t sure about a female Doctor when she first appeared, but Jodie Whittaker has proved exceptionally good in the role. I’m already looking forward to re-watching her episodes in future, when we re-watch the entire set (the ‘recent’ ones, that is, from 2005 onwards). 

There are lots of bonuses in this episode, including the return of two of the Doctor’s former companions, although I didn’t recall any of them: I didn’t watch the series at all in the 1980s. There are also images of some of the earlier Doctors in a cleverly done scene; I recognised a couple of them and worked out later who the others were. 

The ending is moving, with some personal conversations that run quite deep. I thought it very well done. We were glad to see that there were two ‘extras’ on the DVD, which we watched afterwards. These discussed some of the making of the episode, and also showed some real friendships that had developed over the course of the previous few years. It’s the end of an era for the main characters, but they clearly had a wonderful time making the show. 

By itself this episode would probably be even more confusing than it was to me anyway. But as part of the ongoing series, this is well worth watching and I would recommend it highly. 

You can read more about this episode, and other reviews of 'The Power of the Doctor' here.

 

  Review copyright 2024 Sue's DVD Reviews