Story: The Giggle
Written By: Russell T. Davies
Length: 60 Minutes
Year: 2023
The 60th Anniversary trilogy of specials ends has a returning foe, a crazy planet ending plot to undo, and a major twist for the new Doctor. Is it all good? I dunno sort of a mixed bag for me, but I did find it mostly entertaining. But hey, this Doctor Who, things will be weird and you have to take the rough with the smooth. Overall I'd say I enjoyed this, even if personally I have reservations about one specific aspect and what it means for the show.
The Doctor and Donna are back on Earth where everything is going crazy. It turns out everyone in the world now believes themselves to be totally right about everything, no matter what it is. The one responsible for all of this is the Celestial Toymaker, a villain who had only ever appeared once, back in the First Doctor era, but has come to Earth and planted a subliminal message in all screens, one that has been there since the first television test broadcast...and now the entire world is finally fully connected to the world wide web and screens and therefore the message has finally kicked off and everyone has gone nuts. UNIT gets the Doctor and they are currently fighting off the craziness with inhibitors, but it is not possible to get one on everyone in the world due to the nature of everyone being nuts and people on the news declaring those devices as mind control and whatnot. Pretty typical.
The Doctor heads back to the 20s to have his first battle with the Toymaker, a challenge in a card game. The Doctor loses but notes that he won their initial game all those many regenerations ago and therefore they need a best of three. The Toymaker agrees but in 2023. Once there the Toymaker does a little dance then shoots the Doctor with a laser, thus triggering his latest regeneration...but this Regeneration goes differently this time...and it is a bi-greneration, where instead of Ncuti Gatwa just walking off in Tennant's place...they are pulled apart and are now two bodies. This...is something. It's honestly just kind of lame.
I like the Doctor moving forward, but this just feels like an excuse for a Tennant spin-off. They try and make it seems like he is going to slow down and retire and live with Donna...but they give him his own TARDIS and he still sneaks off on adventures once in a while. I guarantee they are trying to quietly set-up this spin-off...but that would really diminish the show proper in my view. I am so tired of nostalgia casting everything, and it would be a shame for Doctor Who to now tread down this path.The show is best when it moves forward and tries new things.Plus...how many times do we need to set up another Tennant Doctor just floating around. He's off in the parallel universe with Rose, and now he is also living a quiet life with Donna and family. I dunno, I just would have found it far more bold to end the Fourteenth Doctor's run mid episode and let the Fifteenth get his moment to shine right off the bat, and defeat the Toymaker on his own. Or maybe the Tennant Doctor sacrificing himself to take the Toymaker down, thus giving this new Doctor even more to
But anyhow, the defeat him together, playing an intense game of catch which the Toymaker loses and his price for the loss is to cease existing in this plane. Oh and he at one point mentioned he had the Master trapped in his gold tooth and that tooth was picked up by someone much like the Saxon Master had his return planted in some ring. I'm sure it will all be returned to at some point.
Gatwa is, right off the bat, a fun new Doctor. I look forward to seeing him in action this Christmas. He seems like a spark the show needs right now. It was fun to see Tennant back in action and all, but I am definitely looking forward to this new era properly kicking off with a new person in the role. If only their popular Doctor back-up plan wasn't waiting in the wings...
Comments
Post a Comment