#Doctor Who: Wild Blue Yonder 2023 60th Anniversary Special

[bookthorns]

DECEMBER 2023 WRAP UP | christmas, the hunger games, doctor who + dinosaurs!

aaaaa Continue reading Untitled

[lovelyinspiration1463]

Wild Blue Yonder, in summary:

Fourteen: Just don't think. If we don't think, they can't copy us.

Donna: Right. No thinking.

Fourteen:

Donna:

Fourteen: ...

Fourteen: HaNg oN a MinUtE! *starts thinking rapidly*

Donna: Doctor, you had one job!

[muchemovies]

may 10/2024: with FOUR hours to go until Ncuti & Millie crash into their first full series, i'm mini-marathoning THE STAR BEAST WILD BLUE YONDER THE GIGGLE THE CHURCH ON RUBY ROAD

[davidtennantedits]

David Tennant as Fourteenth Doctor DOCTOR WHO: 60th Anniversary Specials (2023) "Wild Blue Yonder"

[tennant]

David Tennant as Fourteenth Doctor DOCTOR WHO (2005-) 60th Anniversary Specials: "Wild Blue Yonder" (2023)

[catabasis]

Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Specials (2023)

The Star Beast (November 25)

Wild Blue Yonder (December 2)

The Giggle (December 9)

[mndvx]

I hope you get to know him. DOCTOR WHO – WILD BLUE YONDER (2 December 2023 – 60th Anniversary Specials) ››› Catherine Tate as Donna Noble ››› David Tennant as "The Doctor"

[ghost-bison]

Doctor Who: 1x08 The Satan Pit (2006) / 60th anniversary special 2/3 Wild Blue Yonder (2023)

I frankly love that parallel. One scene taken out of each of the two RTD eras.

First there's the colour palettes. You can see that they're polar opposites. RTD era1 was warm all the time as talked about in this post (which I love dearly, I keep referencing it in my posts), and then we have RTD era2, which has a more modern-looking, colder palette for science fiction.

But it's also a directing choice for the mood I think, cause on the one hand, we have Rose who, we all know, would even give up on seeing her mum again if it meant she got to spend the rest of her life with the Doctor (quite like Donna back in series 4 actually, who was very prompt to say she was going to travel with Ten forever). On the other hand we have Donna in 2023 who's now got a daughter and a husband and who hadn't even planned on doing a trip with the Doctor in the first place, let alone at the edge of the universe. I mean, they were just supposed to go see Wilfred! On one side we have Ten who's slowly recovering from the trauma of the Time War and falling in love for the first time in a while and re-learning that he deserves to be loved, too. On the other side we have Fourteen who, just as Donna put it, is "staggering", and as Fifteen said, is "running on fumes". He's got FOUR regenerations worth of trauma on Ten who was already struggling as it was with one (since the Time War I mean. Maybe two if we count Nine, cause who knows what he's been through between his regeneration and meeting Rose). Fourteen went through losing Rose, Donna, Amy, Rory, River, Clara, Bill, and he went through Pandorica, billions of years imprisoned by the Time Lords in his own personal hell, finding out about the Timeless Child, etc... and now, on top of everything, he's got to deal face to face with the guilt of what he did to Donna as she's been given back to him. Anyway, it's dark, when you think about it. No wonder the colours are so much colder in Wild Blue Yonder.

Then there's the music. In The Satan Pit, the soundtrack, The Impossible Planet, has a mystical quality to it. It's slightly creepy (I mean, it IS an episode about Satan), but it's mostly mysterious. Ten and Rose are only 500 years away from home. But in Wild Blue Yonder, Fourteen and Donna are 100 TRILLION YEARS away from home. The soundtrack from that scene, The Edge of Creation, isn't just mysterious, it's eerie and ethereal and perfectly encompasses what it would feel like to stand somewhere so impossibly alien it has become supernatural (if you can't tell I am obsessed with that track and episode lmao).

I love the contrast between Rose and Donna and the questions they ask. Rose's question is cute, she's like "I've seen it in films, is that it?", it stems from a place of curiosity, like she doesn't really realize the deep shit that they're in. She's just a kid. Whereas Donna's question, it stems from a place of dread: "Where's the light?". It almost has a "The Licked Hand" quality to it (if you don't know that story: the girl is scared, she puts her hand under the bed, her dog licks it. She goes into the bathroom, finds her dog dead in the tub, and written in its blood are the words 'humans can lick too').

Then, finally, there's the order in which things have been done: in The Satan Pit, Rose remarks they're "a long way from home". Ten takes a long look at her, and seeing that she seems a bit scared, he explains to her how long it would take to get home. In Wild Blue Yonder, Fourteen first explains to Donna how long it would take to get home, and only THEN, he takes a long look at her, and finally Donna says "that's my family, over there". It parallels Rose's sentence in the sense that they both talk about home and how far away it is, but they use different words for it with a different meaning behind. Donna is more specific on what she'll be returning to when it's over (her family), whereas Rose, who isn't as grounded as her, just says "home" (which, for her, probably just means the place she grew up). I also love the contrast between Rose's "a long way" and Donna's "over there". The first implies foreign, the second implies close enough to see. What's interesting about this bit is Donna is further away from home than Rose is, geographically speaking. But for Rose, Home is actually the Doctor, just him, so she has no problem saying she's "a long way from home" since she doesn't mean it in the same way Donna would. So for Donna, when she says "over there", it's because the Home she's talking about is closer to her heart, and she's probably trying to reassure herself that she'll see her family again (I used to do something like that when I was in primary school, I'd travel all the way back to my house in my head to kiss my parents on the cheek because I was so homesick).

So that's that I guess

[doctorkinktraveller]

Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Specials

1. The Star Beast - 25th November 2023

2. Wild Blue Yonder - 2nd December 2023 [contains a connection to the Flux and Timeless Children]

3. The Giggle - 9th December 2023

[buttherainbowhasabeard]

Unpopular Opinion: David Tennant Should Never Have Returned To Doctor Who

When a teary eyed David Tennant as The Doctor uttered the words “I don’t want to go” in his 2010 generation scene, it was a heartbreaking moment for fans. Saying goodbye to such a universally loved incarnation would be hard, but this was Doctor Who. Change was inevitable, and often, exciting.

So when the BBC announced that Tennant would be returning to the iconic role 15 years on, as part of a series of 60th anniversary specials, I was sceptical. 

It looked like I was the only one though, as the internet erupted with anticipation and jubilation. I, however, thought the 14th Doctor reveal was a huge distraction that disrespected both the outgoing and the incoming actors.

Don’t get me wrong, Tennant is one of my favourite modern Doctor’s. His mid 2000s run as the 10th Doctor was funny, frightening, heartfelt and unforgettable. He had some of the best companions and villains, and some of the smartest and most compelling stories. But all good things come to an end, and now his emotional first exit felt a bit hollow. 

His return really took the shine off Jodie Whittaker’s finale. Yes, her years as the 13th Doctor were responsible for some of the worst Doctor Who storylines in recent memory. But this was hardly her fault, and instead of enjoying her last moments as The Doctor and reflecting on the good bits (the first female Doctor in the show’s history), fans were shouting at their screens for her to hurry up and regenerate so their favourite could return. It was almost like the show was doing a reset and hoping we’d forget about her.

It also meant that the now 15th Doctor (Ncuti Gawta, the first gay, black Doctor in the show’s history) had to wait a little longer to make his debut, which seemed on-the-nose too. 

The BBC were making it crystal clear who they thought their most popular Doctor was. Tennant has had more screen time than any other modern era Doctor, and now he’s the only one still alive and kicking post regeneration across all eras. Haven’t they ever heard of 'jumping the shark' or having too much of a good thing?!

He had four consecutive seasons from 2005-2008, with a fake regeneration at the end of Series 4 that saw him get cloned and live happily ever after with Rose Tyler on parallel earth. From 2008-2010 he travelled sans companion in a series of specials, before reluctantly regenerating into Matt Smith. In 2013, he made an appearance alongside Smith in the 50th anniversary special.

And now in 2023, he’s done three extra episodes alongside Catherine Tate reprising her role as his much loved Series 4 companion Donna Noble. These specials ended with him bi-generating (one Tennant Doctor, one Gatwa Doctor - don’t ask!) and continuing on as The Doctor, complete with his own TARDIS. He will, he says, stay put on earth to let Gatwa go off and have his own adventures. How generous of him! 

Firstly, Tennant’s latest run didn’t feel like a 60th anniversary either. Instead it felt like a very late follow up and conclusion (or even an alternative ending) to Series 4, so the opportunity to include other cameos and celebrate the show’s rich history was lost.

In ‘The Star Beast’, the monstrous Meep really just provided a reason for The Doctor to see Donna again. In ‘Wild Blue Yonder’, The Doctor and Donna fought creepy doppelgängers of themselves (again, talk about self-indulgent!), and in ‘The Giggle’, Neil Patrick Harris’ promising Celestial Toymaker did little more than put on a funny accent and do a funny dance.

Sure, it had some fun and heartfelt moments. I'm glad the DoctorDonna Human-Time Lord metacrisis has been resolved. The Doctor's tender moments with Donna were nice. His two redheaded companions (Donna and Mel) holding his hands as he "regenerated" was touching. Even Tennant and Gatwa's interactions were surprisingly sweet. However, the whole jaunt just felt like an excuse to reunite Tennant and Tate and capitalise on their lingering popularity. Which leads me to my second point… 

No other actor has been able to continue on as The Doctor, so the fact that this is the first exception to the rule shows that the studio is very obviously playing favourites. They are keeping Tennant’s sprightly sneaker wearing, pin stripe suited spaceman up their sleeves to roll out whenever they please. If the ratings plummet, they can bring Tennant back. If the fans want it, they can bring Tennant back. If Tennant wants it, they can bring Tennant back. Does anyone else smell a spin-off?

Thirdly, I don’t buy the idea that The Doctor can be - and wants to be - domesticated at all. Despite everyone telling him that he needs to stop and slow down, he has never once done so. In every incarnation, he/she is an energetic, chaotic and forever on-the-go entity that can’t stand waiting or having to sit idly by.

So, all of a sudden we're expected to believe that he’s going to stay with Donna and her family and just hang out on earth like a regular human? I doubt it. He even said it himself to Rose in Season 2, when trying to justify why he can’t settle down. "You can spend the rest of your life with me. But I can't spend the rest of mine with you." If bi-generation had have happened to Peter Capaldi’s 12th Doctor, I might have accepted it better because he said he wanted to rest. It would’ve made more sense there.

And lastly, but probably most importantly, everyone loves a bit of nostalgia, but bringing beloved characters back from the dead to get ratings up again isn’t a good enough reason. In reality, it just reeks of lazy writing or a lack of creativity, and in turn, a lack of closure. The whole point and poignancy of a show like Doctor Who is that The Doctor must change and move on, as we, the audience, have to move on.

When someone plays The Doctor, they do it for a limited time but they leave a lasting legacy. Having Tennant on standby undermines that. I want the writers to invest in their new actors and have faith in their new adventures instead of having earlier models waiting in the wings.

So for me, the best thing about these three specials and the finale wasn’t that Tennant didn't have to say goodbye this time. It was that Gatwa finally got to say hello...

[denimbex1986]

'...“Wild Blue Yonder,” Doctor Who (Second 60th Anniversary Special)

This standout hour allows David Tennant and Catherine Tate both to shine — as The Doctor and Donna Noble and the Not-Things looking like them. After Donna spilled coffee into the TARDIS console, the two end up at the edge of the universe, stranded after the H.A.D.S. (Hostile Action Displacement System) switches back on and the TARDIS flees imminent danger. Not only is it The Doctor and Donna at their best — the banter, her making fun of his “Allons-y” — and without the concern of her mind burning up, but there’s time for emotional moments from each as well.

Following “The Star Beast,” Tennant continues to play the devastating rage and quiet heartbreak of The Doctor’s losses (then, the thought of losing Donna as he had to activate the Time Lord memories dormant inside her, and this time, because of Not-Donna bringing up that Gallifrey isn’t his home and the Flux). And Tate brilliantly brings across the anguish and acceptance of her character facing her likely death, when The Doctor at first takes the wrong Donna on board the TARDIS upon its return just as the spaceship they landed on is about to explode to destroy the Not-Things. He, of course, returns in time, but both are visibly haunted by the experience after.

There is time for a couple light-hearted moments, particularly when it comes to the two meeting (Sir — spoilers!) Isaac Newton (Nathaniel Curtis), whom they later agree was hot, and the change of “gravity” to “mavity” that sticks after he mishears them. And of course Bernard Cribbins’ last scene as Donna’s granddad, Wilf, and his joy at seeing not only The Doctor (and that particular face) but also Donna with her memories back, is as welcome as it is bittersweet.

“Every Day,” Good Omens (Season 2 Episode 6)

What better way to cap off a devilishly good season than with a romantic, exciting, and heartbreaking finale? Neil Gaiman‘s Good Omens gathers angels from Heaven, demons from Hell, and mortals from Whickber Street in Aziraphale’s (Michael Sheen) bookshop, and not only does the truth about Gabriel’s (Jon Hamm) amnesia come out, but it also ends with an angel and a demon running off together… just not the ones we expect (though we didn’t hate it!). Sadly, Aziraphale and Crowley’s (David Tennant) emotional conversation and kiss (one of the best scenes of the series, with terrific performances from Sheen and Tennant) as well as a promotion from Heaven has them ending the season apart rather than as an “us.”

Also, after failed rom-com attempts from Aziraphale and Crowley to play matchmaker for Maggie (Maggie Service) and Nina (Nina Sosanya), the women don’t get together — a healthy decision on the coffee shop owner’s part, given her previous relationship, and a swerve from what might be expected.

The episode does everything a good finale should: wraps up some loose ends and leaves off on a cliffhanger that has us begging for the third season ASAP...'

[tygerbug]

DOCTOR WHO: Wild Blue Yonder (2023): The second of three specials for Doctor Who's 60th anniversary, featuring David Tennant and Catherine Tate returning to the roles they played in 2008 (and thereabouts). It's already clear that this is a return to form (and/or format) for the long-running sci-fi series, and that three specials with these returning actors isn't really enough. We're going to be left wanting more. But I'm glad we're getting these; it's a proper celebration of when the revived series was at the height of its popularity. It feels like a regular episode, and it feels like Doctor Who at its regular best. Lightning in a bottle episode.

Before this one aired, very little was known about it, apart from photos of Tennant and Tate aboard a spaceship. The plot to other specials had leaked, but the plot here was unknown and the cast had been redacted, leading to two lines of speculation. One was that there's nothing to know, and this would be a simplified "bottle episode" focusing on Tennant and Tate only. That's an unusual choice when you only have three specials with Tennant, and are flush with Disney money. A "bottle episode" is usually only done to save money. The other theory was that this is a proper 60th Anniversary Special with other returning actors who needed to be kept a secret. (Russell T Davies says in the "making of" that he was tempted to bring back the First Doctor, William Hartnell.)

Ten years ago, the fiftieth anniversary special "Day of the Doctor" was criticized for only bringing back David Tennant and focusing on the past eight years of the series only. This is a little unfair in retrospect, since Billie Piper, Tom Baker and Paul McGann also returned, and the other Doctors are at least represented by archive footage and special effects. (There were also a few cameos in the "Adventure In Space In Time" docudrama.) But the lack of actual new material with Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy was parodied at the time in a comedy minisode, The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot.

More recently, the final Jodie Whittaker episode, "Power of the Doctor," managed a lot more cameos by returning actors. There was also, this year, the "Tales of the Tardis" miniseries, featuring brief segments with returning actors. Too brief, without time for an actual story, offering only brief emotional reunions under emotional music.

As it turns out, "Wild Blue Yonder" is indeed a "bottle episode," although not a cheap-looking one. All that Disney money is used on lots of greenscreen and CGI environments, plus lots of practical spaceship corridor sets and a practical robot puppet. The cinematography's still a bit murky but the spaceship locations look great. This is perhaps not the right decision when you're making a 60th Anniversary Special, but it's exactly the right decision when you have three episodes with these actors and want them to feel like proper Doctor Who. This one feels a lot like the acclaimed 2008 episode "Midnight," where Donna was absent and The Doctor was aboard a train, contending with a malevolent force who was mimicking him. (The heavy use of green screen, and the three-eyed robot, and some of the story beats, also feel like one of the worse Fourth Doctor stories, Underworld.)

This sort of story brings out something nasty in Russell T Davies, and in David Tennant. This is a creepy episode, with a foreboding soundscape and unnerving performances. And that's great for Doctor Who. The show is remembering that it's a horror show, and serves up some unusual CGI and practical effects as well.

During the more sentimental scenes in a Russell T Davies Doctor Who, or during something like Tales of the Tardis, you could be forgiven for wondering whether Doctor Who has forgotten how to be scary, or to let a story breathe like in the "classic" episodes. This episode should allay those fears. It's mostly about letting David Tennant and Catherine Tate do their thing as actors, plus some showy effects and production design to use up that Disney money.

Somehow, Davies also finds time to piss off the quote unquote "fans" who complain that Doctor Who has gone "woke." For a start, there's a jokey opener with Sir Isaac Newton, who is not white here. (It plays out a bit like the Destination Skaro sketch a few weeks ago.) Russell, if you want to include more diversity in a historical storyline, you know there were lots of people of color in the past who you could highlight, right? Rather than doing something silly like this? Anyway, it results in a running gag (which has already caught on among fans), and in the Doctor and Donna starting to discuss how gay the Doctor might be (and has been), before the plot intervenes. (There's a running theme here about how the events of the Chibnall and Moffat eras have affected The Doctor, and about how this Doctor might be different from the Tenth that we knew.)

One must wonder if Davies is doing this purposely to generate some publicity and headlines in the alt-right press, pissing off a few of the worst people in the world to get people talking about the show. Especially since, with a black Doctor coming in, played by Ncuti Gatwa, the Youtube N*zis would be mad about the series anyway. Then again, Davies was always like this and it's not a break from his usual writing style to get him writing jokes like this.

But there's something else too. Davies takes a few moments to point out that the events of Chris Chibnall's Doctor Who did happen - The Flux and the Timeless Child - and that The Doctor has PTSD about them. This is really throwing a bone to the previous showrunner in a way that Chibnall did not do. I am convinced that Chibnall did not watch the last few series of Steven Moffat's Doctor Who, resulting in sloppy continuity. Davies makes it clear that he has watched Chibnall's Who, and that the major storylines (which went unresolved at the time) are still a going concern and a part of who The Doctor is now. (The Doctor being a woman recently has already been referenced several times, and is part of how the character is now interpreted.)

When the series was revived in 2005, Davies wrote The Doctor as someone haunted by the Time War between Gallifrey and the Daleks, which resulted in Gallifrey being wiped out from the universe (something undone in the 50th Anniversary special, perhaps unbeknownst to Chibnall). The Doctor was haunted by what he did, and it brought a sense of mystery back to the character, and hinted at a dark side which had been lost over the years. Davies is now using the Chibnall episodes for this purpose, which is really clever, considering that for many viewers these episodes were a lot of sound and fury signifying very little. The events of Flux, and the Cyber-Gallifrey situation, didn't really "register." Using them as backstory which haunts The Doctor is a nice touch.

The late Bernard Cribbins also turns up, in what is presumably his final Doctor Who appearance. If there's no further footage of dear Bernard, this will be a minor continuity problem, as it seems to lead directly into next week's special. But it's nice that the appearance isn't just a sentimental reunion, and that Bernard's last scene is a Doctor Who cliffhanger.

I am a little concerned that these specials haven't left much empty space to suggest that this Doctor and Donna were travelling together in stories we didn't see, to be filled in by the likes of Big Finish. But oh well.

Next week: The Giggle, involving Neil Patrick Harris as The Toymaker, originally played in 1966 by Michael Gough. While that story is mostly lost now (the final episode remains), the character's return was teased at the time, and even planned during Colin Baker's truncated tenure in the 80s. This villain is a real match for the Doctor and expectations are high.

UNIT is involved, including Kate Stewart, Shirley Anne Bingham (from the Star Beast) and returning 80s companion Bonnie Langford - a welcome sight. It's been the status quo for awhile that our returning UNIT characters are all women. I know it's hard to replace Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, and that attempts to do so have fallen flat, even back in the 70s. It's tough to get that balance of an old-fashioned military man, whom the Doctor can befriend and rely on, but also be at odds with. And we presumably won't be seeing John Barrowman and Noel Clarke again. But I feel like they ought to make an attempt. (I'm reminded that Mark Gatiss had a go at this in Capaldi's last episode.)

What's interesting, at least so far, is that this 60th Anniversary hasn't been a Five Doctors type situation, with cameos from returning actors and lots of references to old material, except in the sense of bringing back Tennant and Tate, and some lesser-known enemies from the 60s and 80s. The third special may buck that trend, but I get the sense that these specials are celebrating Doctor Who's past by simply being good Doctor Who stories, in someting like the 2008 format. I've appreciated that, so far, they've been worth of Tennant and Tate's talents. If it's just three episodes they're making use of that time. It almost feels like a full year's series.

Oh, and the promo for next week teases the next Doctor Who, Ncuti Gatwa.

[karamelpunch]

Doctor Who Unleashed

2023 Specials

0. 60th Anniversary Specials - Children in Need HD 1. 60th Anniversary Specials - The Star Beast HD 2. 60th Anniversary Specials - Wild Blue Yonder HD 3. 60th Anniversary Specials - The Giggle HD 4. Christmas Special - The Church on Ruby Road HD

Season 1

1.01 - Space Babies HD 1.02 - The Devils Chord HD 1.03 - Boom HD 1.04 - 73 Yards HD 1.05 - Dot and Bubble HD 1.06 - Rogue HD 1.07 - The Legend of Ruby Sunday HD 1.08 - Empire of Death HD 1.09 - Unseen HD

Docto Who Video Commentaries

01. The Star Beast HD 02. The Giggle HD 03. The Church on Ruby Road HD 04. Boom HD 05. Empire of Death HD

[georgelthomas]

Book Review: Doctor Who: Wild Blue Yonder by Mark Morris

Book Review: Doctor Who: Wild Blue Yonder by Mark Morris #ReaderCommunity #ReadingCommunity #BookCommunity #Reading #Books #BookReview #Review #DoctorWho #60thAnniversary #WildBlueYonder #DonnaNoble #Anniversary #BBC #Novelisation #Novelization

Hi everyone! How are you all? Today is Friday, and it’s time for another review. Today, I am reviewing the novelisation of the second of Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary specials, Doctor Who: Wild Blue Yonder, by Mark Morris. Doctor Who: Wild Blue Yonder was first published in ebook format in December 2023 and in paperback in January 2024 by BBC Books and runs 176 pages. The PlotThis second…

[davidtennantedits]

David Tennant in Doctor Who 2008-2010 Specials' The End of Time Part II (2010) Doctor Who 60th Anniversary's Wild Blue Yonder (2023)

[tennant]

David Tennant as Not-Thing!Fourteenth Doctor DOCTOR WHO (2005—) 60th Anniversary Specials: Wild Blue Yonder (2023)