The Doctor and Donna Noble are back in a series of three special episodes for the 60th anniversary of Doctor Who. Before the begging of a new era at the end of 2023 with the fifteenth Doctor who will be played by Ncuti Gatwa, the fans will surely feel nostalgic.
“The Star beast”, the first episode of the trilogy, is available since November 25, 2023 on Disney +. In this episode, the Doctor finds himself in the middle of a battle after a spaceship crashes in London. This event brings him straight to one of his former companions, Donna Noble. Their reunion seems to be inevitable, as if pushed by destiny.
It is therefore no coincidence that the Fourteenth Doctor wears the face of the Tenth.
Donna Noble, a complex destiny
Journey's End marks the final episode of season 4 in which Donna Noble is the Doctor's companion. In this episode we discover the tragic destiny of the character. As the Tenth Doctor redirects his regenerative energy to his severed hand, Donna touches his hand and absorbs some of his DNA. She obtains all the knowledge of a time lord and she becomes a human time lord. With this knowledge she saves the planet from the Daleks with the Doctor. However, biologically, it is impossible to be human and a Time Lord at the same time. The knowledge is dangerously overwhelming Donna. In order to save her the doctor decides to delete all the memories they have together. Donna must not remember the Tardis or the doctor, otherwise the Time Lord's knowledge can be activated and kill her.
However, in the star beast, Donna and the Doctor meet again for new adventures. How is it possible ?
The Stellar creature, an electric first episode
Years after the end of season 13, Russell T Davies (one of the writers of Doctor Who) offers a special episode which very quickly brings the fans back into the universe of the series. Indeed, as soon as he lands in London, the fourteenth Doctor meets Donna who has no memory of him. Shortly after, a spaceship crashing in the capital alerts the Doctor. He decides to investigate the crash alone. However, everything does not go as planned, since while trying to save a Meep, Donna and her family find themselves in the middle of the war between the soldiers of UNIT, the Wrarth Warriors.
The chemistry that already existed between the doctor and Donna has not disappeared over time. The duo's dialogues are fluid and are embellished with a touch of humor which makes the exchanges interesting. Seeing the pair again, we have the impression of going back to years earlier, when David Tennant played the Tenth Doctor.
In this episode it is also possible to discover Rose Noble, (played by Yasmin Finney), the daughter of Donna and Shaun. With her, Doctor Who brings the notion of genre to the front. Indeed, Rose is a trans character, who did not feel like she belonged. Her character allows us to question the binary and the importance of pronouns. This is not the first time that the notion of genre is highlighted in the series, since the time lords themselves do not have a defined genre. Remember, there were female and male doctors in the series. As the Fourteenth Doctor points out: “the Doctor is male and female and neither and much more.” If some fans thought that was "cringe", others praised the approach.
The bonus of this episode is the number of references that we can find such as the name of Rose Noble which refers to one of the doctor's former companions (Rose Tyler). The fourteenth Doctor also says one of the cult phrases of the tenth “Allons-y". It's enough to make more than one smile.
New season also means new Tardis and new supersonic screwdriver. Very early in the episode, we discover the new features of the screwdriver, and there's no denying it, it's awesome! (It's somewhat similar to Iron Man's technology). The Tardis iss different from anything we've ever seen, and it really looks bigger on the inside than on the outside. From the doctor's huge smile, we can believe that he is very happy to come back to his ship. Moreover, some fans think that David Tennant did not really have to play this scene, because, as a Doctor Who fan, he must have been genuinely happy to be in the Tardis once again. Regardless, it was a truly heartwarming scene.
Between moving references, old characters returning, captivating fights and catchy music, this episode satisfied more than one person.
What do you think of this episode?
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