The 60th Anniversary of Doctor Who saw the return of many old familiar faces, David Tennant returned as the Doctor, marking the first time an actor has played two incarnations of the Doctor. Joining him on screen was Tennant's last companion, and my personal favorite from his time as the Tenth Doctor, Catherine Tate as Donna Noble, who gets to have her original tragic ending undone. We also get a little bit of Wilf (which was lovely) as well as all the other supporting family members of Donna, her husband and mother. Plus UNIT returns along with Kate Stewart, and even Mel Bush. Don't really care about Mel that much honestly. Behind the scenes, RTD and basically everyone who helped him produce the show during his original run also came back to the show after over a decade originally stepping down from the show. It's maybe the only way the show could keep going was to go back to those who revived it in the first place. Because during both the Moffat and Chibnall eras, no one really showed promise for being the "next big thing" to run the show. Chibnall felt almost out of left field as a choice to replace Moff, but really there was no one that made sense at all. Chibnall at least had both written for the show, been proven a successful writer and showrunner for Broadchurch, and had showrun within the world of Doctor Who by running the first two years of Torchwood.
But Chibnall's era had been hurt by ratings that went down and a critical lambasting that I personally think was over the top. His big storyline of the "Timeless Child" was absolute nonsense, sure, but if you look at individual episodes? There is still a lot of fun in there. His plan to exit after three years, and years in which COVID really threw a spanner in the works, meant that the BBC needed to find someone to replace him...and there were no obvious candidates within Chibnall's pool of writers. So when RTD had e-mailed about the possibility of returning, with both Tennant and Tate in hand, I am sure the BBC was over the moon for something as exciting as that to promote for the 60th Anniversary.
The specials themselves are all solid. Personally, my favorite was "Wild Blue Yonder," as the show has basically been in "special episode" mode since the finale to Series 12. We had that big finale, followed by a New Years special, the Flux mini-series which was basically all big episodes, then the 3 specials leading to Whitaker's exit...now 3 more specials. I am tired of the "big episodes" to be honest. I just want smaller fun and light adventures. "Wild Blue Yonder" was the one that felt the most like that to me. Both "The Star Beast" and "The Giggle" were fun too, but they were over the top fun, which you need for a "special," and personally I just look forward to the show taking things down a notch. A two hander with the Doctor and Donna on a quiet spaceship with no one but evil doppelgangers to contend with? Yes please.
As I said in my review for "The Giggle," I am not entirely on board with the Fourteenth Doctor just lingering out there waiting for a spin-off call. I am absolutely looking forward to Ncuti Gatwa taking over the TARDIS, as his Doctor so far seems light and fun and fresh, and the trailer for Christmas looks promising. These specials were fun, maybe just what the show needed to get people back on board after so many grumped and/or fled due to either the casting of (gasp) a lady, or their dislike for Chibnall's writing, having the team those grumps likely loved from the 2005-2009 back was sure to put eyes on the screen. And the ratings were good. Seemed to have worked. If Tennant could bring them back, I hope Gatwa keeps them around. He looks fun, and I really don't want there to be any nonsense that makes Tennant return again, because nostalgia is exhausting and I want new Doctors, not just the old ones over and over again. Especially as Tennant seems to be the one they always want to bring back. Don't get me wrong, he is still my favorite Doctor, but the show can't keep trudging up the past.
NEXT TIME: The Fifteenth is Here!
Comments
Post a Comment