22:10 - "why didn't the not things destroy the robot in the past 3 years?..." Because they only figured out what the robot was doing when the Doctor and Donna were behind the glass. The whole idea was that the robot moved so slowly that the Not Things didn't understand what its purpose was, so they had no reason to destroy it before
@@tTaseric yes, they did not know about the concept of self destruct, before the doctor figured it out for them. also the walls and stuff were shifting at the same time, not only to convert the ship into a bomb, but likely to distract from the robot, so it is not the only thing taking a step. its like the shawshank redemption, with the guy using thunder, to cover up him hitting the pipe.
Jimbo: What’s my mission? Captain: I need to walk incredibly slow down the ship’s hallway where years later you’ll activate the self destruct button. Jimbo: That’s it? I won’t enjoy it. Captain: Yeah, well that’s life. Jimbo: Life? Don’t talk to me about life.
The scene where Not-Donna reveals her long arm was genuinely amazing. The way it's shot with the barrier between Donna and her hand makes you think maybe it's a trick with mirrors or some clever editing, then we see a practical, comically large hand flop to the floor. Bizarre and wonderful.
I absolutely love Wild Blue Yonder. A beautiful character study with amazing performances, mostly great visual effects, great mystery and suspense leading to an incredible third act and is easily the best of the anniversary specials. I consider it to be Russell T Davies’s Heaven Sent. I know that sounds like a stretch even for me especially since Heaven Sent is still my favourite episode but something about Wild Blue Yonder really stood out to me in a similar charm that Heaven Sent did or even Midnight, Blink, Waters of Mars, The Girl Who Waited and many other abstract themed Doctor Who stories. It’s awesome and hope it will be remembered as a modern classic years to come. PS: Loved the Marvin the Paranoid Android jokes with Jimbo. I’m surprised you didn’t make an Attack on Titan joke with the giant Doctor and Donna Not Things or haven’t you watched enough of it to make a reference.
That's an interesting comparison. Heaven Sent had a different atmosphere to me: more poetic, tragic, gloomy. Wild Blue Yonder more exciting, creepy. But I can see the parallels. I think the dynamic of the solo Doctor vs the Doctor and Donna also greatly contributes to the different feeling.
to be honest, I like the fact that the Doctor used the TARDIS to confirm that he had picked the duplicate. Last time he had trusted his instincts with the Not-Things, and believed that one of them was the real Donna, it opened a very raw emotional nerve and mocked him for it, so after that point, while he still tried to figure it out on his own with the Mrs Bean question, he is taking no chances
I want to say the TARDIS was using the song as a warning, rather than the cloister bell which is very vague aside from the fact that there in fact is danger present
I don't agree with you about the wish of seeing the Thirteenth Doctor bursting in tears, cries and screams because that would have been totally detached from her character. Her was an incarnation of suppressed emotions, so introverted to keep distance from the people she cared about. So much so, she constantly wore a facade in order to keep them at a "safe distance" while, at the same time, having them "close" to her; an incarnation who lost her previous selves confidence, being incapable to reacquire it. She was a mystery to her own friends, because she intended it to be so; no risk of attachment on a deep level, no fear of "being discovered". We had glimpses of that, when she was alone with the Master; for her kind of characterisation, that was enough.
5:17 That's not so much a continuity error, as an opportunity for Big Finish. Coming soon, the exciting audio-adventure "The Doctor Takes his Hands out of his Pockets"
This episode is what justifed Tennant and Tate coming back, in my opinion. I mean no disrespect to any other actor to have played these roles, but this is the type of episode you can only make with a pair as legendary as these. The scene where the Doctor monologues about the Tardis was brilliant. The Timeless Child was a LOT of baggage for RTD to inherit, and he just got it. He understood it, and gave us a perfect reintroduction of that concept using the Tardis as a metaphor. And when the Flux theme played during the Flux conversation... is it possible to feel nostalgia for something that only released 2 years ago? This episode was genuinely phenomenal. My favourite episode since 'The Haunting of Villa Diodati' and probably the best one since 'Heaven Sent'. When you have 4 specials in a row, almost all set on earth, you need something to actually introduce the main format and concept of the show to new viewers. They need to show that they really do mean "Anywhere in Time and Space". Going from meeting Isaac Newton to a spaceship in distress at the edge of the universe, that's certainly the best way to do it.
I really loved this episode. Not sure why the not-things would want to destroy the robot. They don't understand what it is until the Doctor works it out.
I wrote a similar response. These not-things don't understand basic concepts until an intelligence considers them as well. They can register the robot from a trash can. They don't understand object permanence, so what would destroying something even mean to them? They may not even have forms to do so. They have a potential to do basically anything, but need some thought to replicate or imitate to even get started.
I've watched, read & listened to more Doctor Who than any sane parson ever should, so the show still being able to make me say "I've never experienced a Who story like that before" is a testament to RTD's writing & the infinite malleability of the format.
19:15 Even just giving them long razor teeth that still appear to fit in their mouths would be terrifying. I mean, it worked for Prisoner Zero when they were in disguise. By the way, as terrifying a concept as the Not-Things are, I can only view their casual dialogue about their lack of understanding of humanoid anatomy as pure comedy. Also, I couldn’t help but notice how casually you said “mavitas”.
The best part is rewatching the scenes where you don't know who's who and noticing the subtle differences which distinguish the not-things from the Doctor and Donna
Isn't it great if "fans" doesn't leak or marketing spills all the beans and people already decide weather or not they're going to like something before it even airs? I miss those days.
I’m glad you brought up Hartnell here, because the episode really did remind me of something like the first half of The Sensorites. I feel like the Classic Era would have gotten a six episode serial out of this story.
I watched a reconstruction of The Wheel in Space recently and it first episode reminded me a lot of WBY. It only stars 2 and Jamie, and its set on an empty spaceship with a small robot
Something a lot of people miss is what the Doctor says about the TARDIS (having a city built around it etc.) is a metaphor for the Timeless Child and The Doctor's relationship to the Time Lords.
Awesome, thank you! I adored this episode and this is a great analysis of what makes it work so well. In case there are no more livestreams before then, I'll take this opportunity to wish a peaceful and joyous Christmas to you, MrTARDIS, to Yaz, and to any of my fellow viewers who happen to see this. Wherever you are and whatever your plans, may you all have a very happy festive season 🎄❤️.
Two things I like to note, 1: I laughed at the chase scene cause of the silly CG effect involving the double Doctor and Donna, Yeah seriously that's the funniest part in my opinion, And 2: Seeing the late great Bernand Cribbins on screen one last time before he passed away after filming was completed... It just warms my heart and made me want to give him a hug, Just like the 14th Doctor did at the end of the episode.
Part of me feels like it would be a cool concept that the Doctor knew which Donna was the wrong one but wanted a full scan of one of the Not Things for the TARDIS data base so he tricked the Not Thing into thinking he was the one that was tricked.
You know that meme of Anton Ego from Ratatouille being instantly transported back to his childhood by tasting the dish prepared for him? These 3 episodes did that for me. And this one particularly sent me to the Midnight times. Good review, Trilbee!
Donna's constant translating of the numbers was probably to keep the audience on track for the final two numbers, which are both important. The Tardis actually translating one, but not zero because it's gone, is important. The final defeated "Zero." from Donna wouldn't have hit as hard if she hadn't been counting down before. The Not-Things suddenly changing shape at the end was likely just them understanding that there's no point being a perfect copy if they die. If your theory about the Not-Things being a single entity that just copies however many people are on the ship is true, then it wouldn't matter if the Not-Doctor isn't a perfect copy. The Not-Donna can remain locked into shape. But yeah, I did feel that it felt cheap but I think any other way to slow the Doctor down would have been cheaper. As for the robot, they didn't understand it. For all they knew, that robot was going to bring the ship back to the universe, or was vital to keeping the ship functioning. When you're at the edge of the universe with no hope, they couldn't take that chance.
The best of the specials, and as you said it's not even close. But while I'm excited to see more stories like this, I am understandably worried, because ik most of it will probably be more akin to The Star Beast and The Giggle, both have great ideas and basis for episodes but suffer a fair bit from trying to do too much at once and emotional beats getting so close to hitting, but just not
I like the interpretation that the no-things are a metaphor for AI art and it seems pretty sound. Except: I'm not sure anymore about the timeline of how AI art was received and when the "sixth finger"-mistake was started to get noted by people? Was this before or after the special was written and shot? Either way, initially I was a bit sad about the lack of cameos in this story, but I quickly got over it during transmission. Because what we got instead was one of RTD's finest episodes!
I like to think that the "wrong arm length was an attempt to bait out a response from the fake Donna (if it was there). The Doctor doesn't know these things, at least not in his tenth incarnation (the which-one-is-real shenanigans with Day of the Doctor springs to mind), and if it was an attempt at it then it was 100% successful.
This reminded me more of Flatline than Midnight but I think didn't have as good as a build up of either it was still great and a fresh and fun story - especially after The Star Beast which didn't quite hit the mark for me or my boyfriend who is new to Who. Both of us thought this was a really great episode. It would have been great to have Rose come along to be honest to let her have some relevant appearances and character and still have Donna fight to save her.
I wonder if the AI analogy works with the ties because of those Big Finish AI artwork that just couldn't manage to make ties work. Is it a bow tie, cravat or neck tie? Yes.
Doctor who teaches us that humans should not keep evolving because eventually someone will figure the Universe out and won't be able to handle it well and species will war and war til nothing is left... Doctor Who, for me, shows me that stuff that we imagine comes up in our minds for a reason and it could be our imagination could be the key to uncovering the universe. Its weird to feel alone with my thought process because while people think about stories and art, I look at the "why" of shows and look deeper into the meaning of every detail within shows and movies and even music.. we have the answers to the meaning of life we just don't have the mental or emotional capacity to speak it into existence. Thats why people get scared of the unknown. I love lore because it shows us that what if of what we could be if this stuff was real...
22:43 Why is the TARDIS playing "The Wild Blue Yonder"? Well, it might be a reference to Apollo 15, which played that song and streamed it to Earth as the lunar module blasted off from the Moon in 1971. God knows what that has to do with Doctor Who, but at least it's a spacey-wacey reference.
Good review of Wild Blue Yonder! I will admit that when I first saw this story it felt like a story Steven Moffat would write as showrunner. I think David Tennant and Catherine Tate did great as both the good guys and bad guys.
Why would The TARDIS play 'Wild Blue Yonder' upon its re-materialisation? I think it's because the Doctor's Ghost Monument has always had a sense of humour attached and that comes back into memory of how cheeky, playful and whimsical she was in The Doctor's Wife when finding herself in a humanoid body and amping that up to 11 around...well, the Eleventh Doctor. If it wasn't for how shell-shocked 14 and Donna were I bet she'd have expected them to shout "You took you time!" before they get in.
I love the fact you say Isaac Newton was such a fun cameo then move on to the rest of the episode. AS IT LITERALLY WAS THAT! Like people getting mad over him are just "WHAT" - 10th doctor.
Just had a thought, would you put the third act of Wild Blue Yonder in your top 50 revived era moments list or at least give it an honourable mention given how terrific it is?
For me dispite being a good episode being so secretive probably did hurt how people may view it in the the end cause there wasn’t anything about it the warranted it being so secretive and even Russell has stated that he regrets how secretive he kept it I can understand not showing wilf in the marketing and we have the overall problem of these specials not feeling like an anniversary celebration but more like a celebration of season 4 and making power of the doctor feel more like the anniversary celebration
I don't see why or how that impact's people's enjoyment after the fact. Factor in that the vast majority of audiences are not following news and sneak peaks of things like this, it becomes even more irrelevant.
It would be great if the Doctor had realised Not-Donna's arm was too long at the end by eye. Would that be a kind of deus ex machina power? Maybe. But you seem to not like the TARDIS working it out so the Doctor working it out seems like the better option. It's not out of the question that he can do things like that!
The Doctor being able to measure a human's wrist at a glance being 0.8 mm off is preposterous under any circumstances. At least with a computer it makes more logical sense, but is emotionally/narratively unsatisfying. The humor question test was sufficient enough of a resolution; it was even set up briefly in the beginning and works better.
I love the interpretation of the episode as an allegory for the entertainment industry. I agree with nearly everything except the AI point. Generative AI only ‘steals and copies’ in the same way as a human draftsperson does. It’s just a beginning draftsperson right now, who interprets direction more literally and with less synthesis than an expert. Next year we’ll probably see journeyman level invention and synthesis in AI art (we already do in AI materials science). We already have several proven ideas for getting to that level of capability. That said, I’m talking deliberately about draftspeople not art directors. Most art is collaborative. What we’re doing is lowering the barrier to entry for the scale and quality of art that can only currently be made by ‘big names’ who have reached a point in their careers where they can employ large teams. That’s historically favoured people from the upper classes, so there is an opportunity here to make that much more egalitarian as long as we don’t chase policies that will limit generative AI use to the rich and well-connected. We need to start talking about different ways to incentivise and reward creativity than the copyright system that was designed for physical books. It’s no longer fit for purpose. Sorry, turned into a soapbox but I feel very passionately that we’re having the wrong conversations about this right now and ultimately it just favours entrenched interests.
In the spirit of hbomberguy, I should probably give at least a reading list if you want to learn more about these ideas: - ‘Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things’ by George Lakoff is the book that properly kickstarted a lot of the ideas behind modern cognitivism. It introduces three important ideas: one of embodiment as the basic way we construct our understanding of the world, second of conceptual metaphor being the fundamental operation behind complex cognition, and finally idealised cognitive models as how we map between the fuzzy world of concepts and the crisp world of choosing specific words. I consider this book a must read for anyone interested in people, and people-oriented solutions or people problems. A frequent collaborator of mine (a former fine artist) thinks of this book as a must read for artists too. - ‘The Literary Mind’ by Mark Turner is short and sweet but takes conceptual metaphor and extends it to a fuller theory of conceptual blending. He uses this to show how complex creativity can arise using just that one operation. Also by Turner is ‘The Artful Mind’ which goes into more depth. - ‘Daydreaming in Humans and Machines’ by Erik T Muller is the book that moved my academic path from linguistics to AI while at secondary school back in the 90s. While it’s symbolic AI rather than neural networks based, it is still relevant to understand how and why creativity is important in AI systems. It shows how starting from concrete observed examples you can iteratively generalise them and combine them (like with blending) to develop novel ideas and solutions.
So again those were nitpicks, so they dont need addressing. Buttttt. The not things even if they were corporeal while on the space ship would have no real reason to destroy the robot. They dont know its a part of anything. It cajt be devoured or copied or used, to them its jist another fixture. As for Donna. I think it works to illustrate how much shes panicking.
@@JimThePerson not for a while. But since the story is so early on in Troughton's era, it means it will be one of the first stories covered in a future marathon.
I can't help but wonder if there's an earlier draft of the script where instead of lingering on Donna in the corridor, and the audience finding out the Doctor got the wrong Donna that way, we follow that sequence from the Doctor's perspective, and Not Donna using the word Gravity rather than Mavity (since she's now only pulling knowledge from the Doctor) is what tips the Doctor off that he's gotten the wrong one. When you instead have the audience clued in that the Doctor got it wrong you don't need to put a clue in for the Doctor to work out and the TARDIS can tell him instead - it moves from being a mystery to suspense, and not doing that loses the beautifully acted scene from Tate at the bomb going off, but... That's not a criticism - either of the ending nor the Mavity stuff - just... Something I've been wondering. Anyway, really enjoyed that episode, it was my favourite of the three and hope that Gatwa and Gibson get acting opportunities like this during S14.
Very insightful review and I loved your input into the episode. good ep but i don't get why the captain couldn't have blown up the ship themselves straight away, or why they set the ship as a bomb slowly to stop the not things from figuring out when it wouldn't have been possible without copying someone, and as no one was there they wouldn't figure out
Good questions. We don't know all the details and have to do some guesswork. We have to assume the ship is very advanced, even for a spacefaring civilization. Reaching the edge of the universe is a huge task. We can compare time travel in Doctor Who: several species have time travel technology, but it's not as good as Time Lord technology. I would safely assume the spaceship is designed not to explode, but it can change shape and form to some degree as needed (who knows the extent or purpose though?), so it has to be made to become a bomb, and it seems this can happen very quickly, but it's not instantaneous. The Not-Things are as clever as whoever their opponent and can match them, but it's revealed they need time to develop and copy; faster thoughts speed up this process. Slow thoughts don't: the idea is they come from a place without time or change, in a void of stasis; to become like something of the universe, they need to move, think, and live in it, so speed makes this happen. So, any plan as you come up with it will be realized by the Not-Thing as you form it:, simultaneously, unless you can someone do some zen mind trick of being very slow and deliberate and calm. Even then, they'll eventually work out what you're doing and stop you somehow some way and they have the ability to do things you can't. They could slip through any size space, or move more quickly than you physically could if they needed to. Maybe it's possible to beat them some other way, but this is the approach that worked in the end. Even then, the Captain killed herself to not take chances. The Captain also must have the fear that someday someone else will find that ship and be a victim to the Not-Things. She can't risk the entire universe succumbing to them. Maybe they theorized if the ship was gone, they'd give up on it as a method of moving into the universe, and make their way slowly into another way, so keeping the ship around for now would keep them at bay until her plan is executed. Maybe once she was dead, the process could have worked in real time without needing to be slow. The Captain at least thought that was too risky (they could be wrong, but probably not). I agree that without something to copy, the Not-Things wouldn't have anything to work with. The robot's simplicity was key to the plan, but maybe that operating at normal speed would be enough for them to copy.
I’d be happy to live under Josh snares and crispy pro there the best and Josh might enslave us to find the lost doctor who episodes but at least that’s a cause worth living for
I liked it but rather it was a different kind of special,, This was part of the 60th anniversary special, I kept looking for more, Thought Donna left on the ship was going to be it, it would have been a shock moment for dr who. They should have gone for it, Or more celebrations fan service things, Seeing Bernard at the end was good touch, Episode as a whole it needed more
My issue was that this was suppose to be a 60th Anniversary special for Doctor Who and there's literally no connection to any other Doctor besides Jodie's. The monsters don't even take on the appearences of previous Doctors or companions either, it's just 14th and Donna. The fake out "Oh is Donna gonna die?" ruined the episode for me. It made me realize that there were no stakes of death anymore in NuWho and even if you did die, there'd be some kind of loophole. E.x. Bill getting to travel as her consiousness. We'll never get a death like Adric's or a surprise abandonment like Tegan's departure.
Exactly it was like they were a celebration of season 4 of the revival while also hammering home we are with Disney now with all the mcu references like the unit headquarters looking like avengers tower the winter soldier style activation for the doctor Donna within Donna the 2 Loki style fake out deaths the ultron like robot helping run unit it but it is possible the “death” that was teased could have been a metaphorical one as the death of the revival as we know it cause Russell this time around doesn’t seem as concerned about bridge gapping the eras like he was in 2005 like with nonsense statements like every doctor has bi-generated at some point in their lives and having them stated the doctor hasn’t stopped to just live ignores the ending of the husbands of river song where he spent on day with river that lasted 24 years and his exile on earth in the early 70’s where he literally couldn’t travel in the tardis
Loved Wild, Blue Yonder. Loved this review. The AI parallel of yours is brilliant; it makes so much sense in hindsight now. I agree that the Not-Things would mimic the number of people who arrived; it likely was one with just the Captain. We have to consider the idea of numbers or quantity is foreign to them. They speak as if they're two creatures because they're mimicking two creatures. We have no idea if they're are multiple Not-Things out there in the Void, or if it's just one idea translated into two here (I believe the latter, but it's all theory). I also have to agree that the Doctor using the TARDIS to solve which Donna is real is a cop-out. The preceding humor question worked so much better as a resolution, but was ruined to provide a twist and an excuse to do an admittedly cool trick of using the interior TARDIS ramp. Sometimes less is more; sometimes, writers get too clever for their own good (Moffat). This is neither an argument for or against the pansexuality of the Doctor, but just agreeing with a friend that someone is hot is not in itself a confirmation of sexuality. A heterosexual man can agree with a heterosexual woman that some man is hot. It's also doesn't rule out pansexuality. I'm a cishet guy with a female friend who thinks Jason Momoa is hot; I can agree with her that he's a hot guy without really thinking about it or feeling it, but I can recognize that fact. I personally think every Doctor's incarnation's sexual orientation could be potentially different; as an overall character, the Doctor might be pansexual, but some incarnations might be heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, asexual (factor the Doctor's ability to change gender and gets even more complex). The possibilities are limitless. ---- The Not-Things didn't destroy the robot because it never occurred to them. It's too primitive to read: the robot is a tool, not some sentient being. The Not-Things doesn't even understand object permanence (evidenced with the Doctor's tie), so they probably don't even understand destroying something or being destroyed themselves. And it seems everything they gained from copying the Captain vanished with the Captain's Death, and they had to restart anew with the Doctor and Donna. Everything told to us about the history of the ship is exposition from the Doctor figuring it out and his Not-Thing counterpart mirroring those realization; this implies they don't know what happened before either. They reverted to formless things and had to start fresh with the Doctor and Donna. In the unseen prologue, the Captain's Not-Thing would have gone through similar trials with the Captain. It would have to learn what matter, size, shape, form, color, etc. are in the events that happened. The Captain couldn't be aware of their presence and need to formulate a plan until they did; how else would they be perceived? So, if they learned any of those things, then why don't they know it right away with this story? Because they basically reset. The story implies an eventual completion: the goal of the Not-Things. When they reach that, they're self-sufficient. They can exist independently (it's why Not-Donna can escape on the TARDIS and leave the real Donna behind). It can be inferred, but not proven, that without fully copying something, they simply stop existing as we understand the concept. The reason it's 20 minutes into the story before they appear is likely they spent all that time just to become the very basic, simpleton versions that start their appearance off. It took them that length of the story just to babble incoherently and form rough imitations. The Not-Things are so unlike any living thing, they don't have intelligence in the same sense; they're not on the same spectrum that an ant and a human would share. They can't observe or learn by traditional methods. They don't have organs, so they don't see or hear or touch or smell or feel. They're undefined: all we know is they can replicate more qualities of a living thing in proximity to thoughts, the more thoughts the better, so faster thinking, the quicker they change.
Loved the review, gonna need so much more time with this one. Hadn't actually humoured the AI angle but its undoubtedly there I think the core of the episodes message is genius, cynical and a bit egocentric...so it sucks that it's so good.
correction: the Doctor being queer has been a thing since the 8th Doctor novels from back in the 90's (thanks to the Doctor kissing Fitz and rizzing up Alan Turning). I do think Petwee described the Doctor as ace but my headcanon is orientation varies between incarnations
Integrating queer themes is much more effective when they aren't made to sound like the sole focus. I don't want a queer story, just a good story and if queerness is included, fine. Try to make it normal.
22:10 - "why didn't the not things destroy the robot in the past 3 years?..."
Because they only figured out what the robot was doing when the Doctor and Donna were behind the glass. The whole idea was that the robot moved so slowly that the Not Things didn't understand what its purpose was, so they had no reason to destroy it before
Yep, and for all they knew, the robot could have been preparing the ship to return to the universe. They couldn't take the risk to destroy it.
@@tTaseric yes, they did not know about the concept of self destruct, before the doctor figured it out for them. also the walls and stuff were shifting at the same time, not only to convert the ship into a bomb, but likely to distract from the robot, so it is not the only thing taking a step. its like the shawshank redemption, with the guy using thunder, to cover up him hitting the pipe.
Jimbo: What’s my mission?
Captain: I need to walk incredibly slow down the ship’s hallway where years later you’ll activate the self destruct button.
Jimbo: That’s it? I won’t enjoy it.
Captain: Yeah, well that’s life.
Jimbo: Life? Don’t talk to me about life.
I love this...
Brain half the size of a planet….
The scene where Not-Donna reveals her long arm was genuinely amazing. The way it's shot with the barrier between Donna and her hand makes you think maybe it's a trick with mirrors or some clever editing, then we see a practical, comically large hand flop to the floor. Bizarre and wonderful.
I can’t believe Long Dennis was foreshadowing this for years
Here we go!!
Spons has a cameo in Ncuti's first finale
Spinndly Johnny as evolved gaming wire @@Faction.Paradox
Donna got the wetty Betty by turning into a puddle
Caddicarus reference ftw.
The reading of the Not-Things as an allegory for AI generative technology is bloody genius
I absolutely love Wild Blue Yonder. A beautiful character study with amazing performances, mostly great visual effects, great mystery and suspense leading to an incredible third act and is easily the best of the anniversary specials. I consider it to be Russell T Davies’s Heaven Sent. I know that sounds like a stretch even for me especially since Heaven Sent is still my favourite episode but something about Wild Blue Yonder really stood out to me in a similar charm that Heaven Sent did or even Midnight, Blink, Waters of Mars, The Girl Who Waited and many other abstract themed Doctor Who stories. It’s awesome and hope it will be remembered as a modern classic years to come.
PS: Loved the Marvin the Paranoid Android jokes with Jimbo. I’m surprised you didn’t make an Attack on Titan joke with the giant Doctor and Donna Not Things or haven’t you watched enough of it to make a reference.
That's an interesting comparison. Heaven Sent had a different atmosphere to me: more poetic, tragic, gloomy. Wild Blue Yonder more exciting, creepy. But I can see the parallels. I think the dynamic of the solo Doctor vs the Doctor and Donna also greatly contributes to the different feeling.
to be honest, I like the fact that the Doctor used the TARDIS to confirm that he had picked the duplicate. Last time he had trusted his instincts with the Not-Things, and believed that one of them was the real Donna, it opened a very raw emotional nerve and mocked him for it, so after that point, while he still tried to figure it out on his own with the Mrs Bean question, he is taking no chances
Honestly WBY feels like one of those super high concept big finish stories that we can finally make in live action
I want to say the TARDIS was using the song as a warning, rather than the cloister bell which is very vague aside from the fact that there in fact is danger present
I don't agree with you about the wish of seeing the Thirteenth Doctor bursting in tears, cries and screams because that would have been totally detached from her character.
Her was an incarnation of suppressed emotions, so introverted to keep distance from the people she cared about.
So much so, she constantly wore a facade in order to keep them at a "safe distance" while, at the same time, having them "close" to her; an incarnation who lost her previous selves confidence, being incapable to reacquire it.
She was a mystery to her own friends, because she intended it to be so; no risk of attachment on a deep level, no fear of "being discovered".
We had glimpses of that, when she was alone with the Master; for her kind of characterisation, that was enough.
5:17 That's not so much a continuity error, as an opportunity for Big Finish. Coming soon, the exciting audio-adventure "The Doctor Takes his Hands out of his Pockets"
This episode is what justifed Tennant and Tate coming back, in my opinion. I mean no disrespect to any other actor to have played these roles, but this is the type of episode you can only make with a pair as legendary as these.
The scene where the Doctor monologues about the Tardis was brilliant. The Timeless Child was a LOT of baggage for RTD to inherit, and he just got it. He understood it, and gave us a perfect reintroduction of that concept using the Tardis as a metaphor. And when the Flux theme played during the Flux conversation... is it possible to feel nostalgia for something that only released 2 years ago?
This episode was genuinely phenomenal. My favourite episode since 'The Haunting of Villa Diodati' and probably the best one since 'Heaven Sent'. When you have 4 specials in a row, almost all set on earth, you need something to actually introduce the main format and concept of the show to new viewers. They need to show that they really do mean "Anywhere in Time and Space". Going from meeting Isaac Newton to a spaceship in distress at the edge of the universe, that's certainly the best way to do it.
I really loved this episode. Not sure why the not-things would want to destroy the robot. They don't understand what it is until the Doctor works it out.
I wrote a similar response. These not-things don't understand basic concepts until an intelligence considers them as well. They can register the robot from a trash can. They don't understand object permanence, so what would destroying something even mean to them? They may not even have forms to do so. They have a potential to do basically anything, but need some thought to replicate or imitate to even get started.
I've watched, read & listened to more Doctor Who than any sane parson ever should, so the show still being able to make me say "I've never experienced a Who story like that before" is a testament to RTD's writing & the infinite malleability of the format.
19:15
Even just giving them long razor teeth that still appear to fit in their mouths would be terrifying. I mean, it worked for Prisoner Zero when they were in disguise.
By the way, as terrifying a concept as the Not-Things are, I can only view their casual dialogue about their lack of understanding of humanoid anatomy as pure comedy.
Also, I couldn’t help but notice how casually you said “mavitas”.
The best part is rewatching the scenes where you don't know who's who and noticing the subtle differences which distinguish the not-things from the Doctor and Donna
Isn't it great if "fans" doesn't leak or marketing spills all the beans and people already decide weather or not they're going to like something before it even airs? I miss those days.
Tennant's 14th doctor talking about The Flux is one of my favorite scenes from ANY Doctor. It's perfect, no notes.
1:09
Big Finish: Write that down! WRITE THAT DOWN!
I’m glad you brought up Hartnell here, because the episode really did remind me of something like the first half of The Sensorites. I feel like the Classic Era would have gotten a six episode serial out of this story.
I watched a reconstruction of The Wheel in Space recently and it first episode reminded me a lot of WBY. It only stars 2 and Jamie, and its set on an empty spaceship with a small robot
Something a lot of people miss is what the Doctor says about the TARDIS (having a city built around it etc.) is a metaphor for the Timeless Child and The Doctor's relationship to the Time Lords.
Awesome, thank you! I adored this episode and this is a great analysis of what makes it work so well.
In case there are no more livestreams before then, I'll take this opportunity to wish a peaceful and joyous Christmas to you, MrTARDIS, to Yaz, and to any of my fellow viewers who happen to see this. Wherever you are and whatever your plans, may you all have a very happy festive season 🎄❤️.
Two things I like to note, 1: I laughed at the chase scene cause of the silly CG effect involving the double Doctor and Donna, Yeah seriously that's the funniest part in my opinion, And 2: Seeing the late great Bernand Cribbins on screen one last time before he passed away after filming was completed... It just warms my heart and made me want to give him a hug, Just like the 14th Doctor did at the end of the episode.
I’ve always wondered what a Junji Ito drawing would look like in real life. Never thought I’d get the answer from a Doctor Who episode.
Part of me feels like it would be a cool concept that the Doctor knew which Donna was the wrong one but wanted a full scan of one of the Not Things for the TARDIS data base so he tricked the Not Thing into thinking he was the one that was tricked.
You know that meme of Anton Ego from Ratatouille being instantly transported back to his childhood by tasting the dish prepared for him?
These 3 episodes did that for me. And this one particularly sent me to the Midnight times.
Good review, Trilbee!
Donna's constant translating of the numbers was probably to keep the audience on track for the final two numbers, which are both important. The Tardis actually translating one, but not zero because it's gone, is important. The final defeated "Zero." from Donna wouldn't have hit as hard if she hadn't been counting down before.
The Not-Things suddenly changing shape at the end was likely just them understanding that there's no point being a perfect copy if they die. If your theory about the Not-Things being a single entity that just copies however many people are on the ship is true, then it wouldn't matter if the Not-Doctor isn't a perfect copy. The Not-Donna can remain locked into shape. But yeah, I did feel that it felt cheap but I think any other way to slow the Doctor down would have been cheaper.
As for the robot, they didn't understand it. For all they knew, that robot was going to bring the ship back to the universe, or was vital to keeping the ship functioning. When you're at the edge of the universe with no hope, they couldn't take that chance.
Wild Blue Yonder: There are 2 imposters *among us.*
The best of the specials, and as you said it's not even close. But while I'm excited to see more stories like this, I am understandably worried, because ik most of it will probably be more akin to The Star Beast and The Giggle, both have great ideas and basis for episodes but suffer a fair bit from trying to do too much at once and emotional beats getting so close to hitting, but just not
I like the interpretation that the no-things are a metaphor for AI art and it seems pretty sound. Except: I'm not sure anymore about the timeline of how AI art was received and when the "sixth finger"-mistake was started to get noted by people? Was this before or after the special was written and shot?
Either way, initially I was a bit sad about the lack of cameos in this story, but I quickly got over it during transmission. Because what we got instead was one of RTD's finest episodes!
I, for one, welcome Josh Snares and Crispypro as our new overlords.
Damn dude you didn’t have to go that hard with the Waters of Mars comparison 😭🌟
I like to think that the "wrong arm length was an attempt to bait out a response from the fake Donna (if it was there). The Doctor doesn't know these things, at least not in his tenth incarnation (the which-one-is-real shenanigans with Day of the Doctor springs to mind), and if it was an attempt at it then it was 100% successful.
Will, this review was a riot. Good job!
5:51 right? People are freaking out going “oh RTD made the Doctor gay” 10, was always bisexual. He flirted with Shakespeare lmao
Tbf that was also rtd
Heton Park Eccleston is Dalek 9 but with much more distain for the creatures who destroyed his home.
*Jimbo:* What is my purpose?
*Captain:* Walk down a corridor REALLY slowly and press a button.
...
*Jimbo:* Oh my god...
TENNANT is such a good actor 14 has more in depth character acting than 10 subtle
7:50
At war with AusWhoFan keeper of the big finish
Awesome episode, great review
There is the fact that none of this would have happened if the Doc and Donna hadn't been there in the first place, what was the Doctors wife thinking?
"such intense mavitas" nice one haha
This reminded me more of Flatline than Midnight but I think didn't have as good as a build up of either it was still great and a fresh and fun story - especially after The Star Beast which didn't quite hit the mark for me or my boyfriend who is new to Who. Both of us thought this was a really great episode. It would have been great to have Rose come along to be honest to let her have some relevant appearances and character and still have Donna fight to save her.
I wonder if the AI analogy works with the ties because of those Big Finish AI artwork that just couldn't manage to make ties work.
Is it a bow tie, cravat or neck tie? Yes.
4:40 Oh hey - a black actor playing the Doctor in the 1980s. ☺️
Doctor who teaches us that humans should not keep evolving because eventually someone will figure the Universe out and won't be able to handle it well and species will war and war til nothing is left...
Doctor Who, for me, shows me that stuff that we imagine comes up in our minds for a reason and it could be our imagination could be the key to uncovering the universe. Its weird to feel alone with my thought process because while people think about stories and art, I look at the "why" of shows and look deeper into the meaning of every detail within shows and movies and even music.. we have the answers to the meaning of life we just don't have the mental or emotional capacity to speak it into existence. Thats why people get scared of the unknown. I love lore because it shows us that what if of what we could be if this stuff was real...
officially you have been my favorite reviewer of this episode!
22:43 Why is the TARDIS playing "The Wild Blue Yonder"? Well, it might be a reference to Apollo 15, which played that song and streamed it to Earth as the lunar module blasted off from the Moon in 1971. God knows what that has to do with Doctor Who, but at least it's a spacey-wacey reference.
7:43 Having recently seen Mad Max: Fury Road, I want a Doctor Who/Mad Max crossover now! Which Doctor would be perfect for that though? 🤔
4th Doctor
I have to say the 3rd Doctor. Vehicles plus Venusian Aikido.
Nice work Mr T.
I appease the almighty RUclips algorithm by offering my respects for Bernard Cribbins.
Good review of Wild Blue Yonder! I will admit that when I first saw this story it felt like a story Steven Moffat would write as showrunner. I think David Tennant and Catherine Tate did great as both the good guys and bad guys.
Woohhhhhhooooo another video ya!!!!
I like Wild Blue Yonder
Why would The TARDIS play 'Wild Blue Yonder' upon its re-materialisation? I think it's because the Doctor's Ghost Monument has always had a sense of humour attached and that comes back into memory of how cheeky, playful and whimsical she was in The Doctor's Wife when finding herself in a humanoid body and amping that up to 11 around...well, the Eleventh Doctor. If it wasn't for how shell-shocked 14 and Donna were I bet she'd have expected them to shout "You took you time!" before they get in.
I love the fact you say Isaac Newton was such a fun cameo then move on to the rest of the episode. AS IT LITERALLY WAS THAT! Like people getting mad over him are just "WHAT" - 10th doctor.
Oh god that Mavitas gag caught me fully offguard
Just had a thought, would you put the third act of Wild Blue Yonder in your top 50 revived era moments list or at least give it an honourable mention given how terrific it is?
You see Matt Smith Peter Capaldi Jodie 10th in the 14th haven't found the 9th Yet
For me dispite being a good episode being so secretive probably did hurt how people may view it in the the end cause there wasn’t anything about it the warranted it being so secretive and even Russell has stated that he regrets how secretive he kept it I can understand not showing wilf in the marketing and we have the overall problem of these specials not feeling like an anniversary celebration but more like a celebration of season 4 and making power of the doctor feel more like the anniversary celebration
I don't see why or how that impact's people's enjoyment after the fact. Factor in that the vast majority of audiences are not following news and sneak peaks of things like this, it becomes even more irrelevant.
It would be great if the Doctor had realised Not-Donna's arm was too long at the end by eye. Would that be a kind of deus ex machina power? Maybe. But you seem to not like the TARDIS working it out so the Doctor working it out seems like the better option. It's not out of the question that he can do things like that!
The Doctor being able to measure a human's wrist at a glance being 0.8 mm off is preposterous under any circumstances. At least with a computer it makes more logical sense, but is emotionally/narratively unsatisfying. The humor question test was sufficient enough of a resolution; it was even set up briefly in the beginning and works better.
@@dirrdevil yeah
I love the interpretation of the episode as an allegory for the entertainment industry. I agree with nearly everything except the AI point. Generative AI only ‘steals and copies’ in the same way as a human draftsperson does. It’s just a beginning draftsperson right now, who interprets direction more literally and with less synthesis than an expert. Next year we’ll probably see journeyman level invention and synthesis in AI art (we already do in AI materials science). We already have several proven ideas for getting to that level of capability.
That said, I’m talking deliberately about draftspeople not art directors. Most art is collaborative. What we’re doing is lowering the barrier to entry for the scale and quality of art that can only currently be made by ‘big names’ who have reached a point in their careers where they can employ large teams. That’s historically favoured people from the upper classes, so there is an opportunity here to make that much more egalitarian as long as we don’t chase policies that will limit generative AI use to the rich and well-connected. We need to start talking about different ways to incentivise and reward creativity than the copyright system that was designed for physical books. It’s no longer fit for purpose.
Sorry, turned into a soapbox but I feel very passionately that we’re having the wrong conversations about this right now and ultimately it just favours entrenched interests.
In the spirit of hbomberguy, I should probably give at least a reading list if you want to learn more about these ideas:
- ‘Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things’ by George Lakoff is the book that properly kickstarted a lot of the ideas behind modern cognitivism. It introduces three important ideas: one of embodiment as the basic way we construct our understanding of the world, second of conceptual metaphor being the fundamental operation behind complex cognition, and finally idealised cognitive models as how we map between the fuzzy world of concepts and the crisp world of choosing specific words. I consider this book a must read for anyone interested in people, and people-oriented solutions or people problems. A frequent collaborator of mine (a former fine artist) thinks of this book as a must read for artists too.
- ‘The Literary Mind’ by Mark Turner is short and sweet but takes conceptual metaphor and extends it to a fuller theory of conceptual blending. He uses this to show how complex creativity can arise using just that one operation. Also by Turner is ‘The Artful Mind’ which goes into more depth.
- ‘Daydreaming in Humans and Machines’ by Erik T Muller is the book that moved my academic path from linguistics to AI while at secondary school back in the 90s. While it’s symbolic AI rather than neural networks based, it is still relevant to understand how and why creativity is important in AI systems. It shows how starting from concrete observed examples you can iteratively generalise them and combine them (like with blending) to develop novel ideas and solutions.
So again those were nitpicks, so they dont need addressing.
Buttttt. The not things even if they were corporeal while on the space ship would have no real reason to destroy the robot. They dont know its a part of anything. It cajt be devoured or copied or used, to them its jist another fixture.
As for Donna. I think it works to illustrate how much shes panicking.
Had The underwater menace animation been delayed?
The website said it would come out in November, but it hasn’t.
It has come out. I unboxed the Steelbook a while ago.
@@MrTARDIS are you going to do a review?
@@JimThePerson not for a while. But since the story is so early on in Troughton's era, it means it will be one of the first stories covered in a future marathon.
How fortuitous! I rewatched this ep last night 😮➕♥️♥️
I can't help but wonder if there's an earlier draft of the script where instead of lingering on Donna in the corridor, and the audience finding out the Doctor got the wrong Donna that way, we follow that sequence from the Doctor's perspective, and Not Donna using the word Gravity rather than Mavity (since she's now only pulling knowledge from the Doctor) is what tips the Doctor off that he's gotten the wrong one. When you instead have the audience clued in that the Doctor got it wrong you don't need to put a clue in for the Doctor to work out and the TARDIS can tell him instead - it moves from being a mystery to suspense, and not doing that loses the beautifully acted scene from Tate at the bomb going off, but...
That's not a criticism - either of the ending nor the Mavity stuff - just... Something I've been wondering.
Anyway, really enjoyed that episode, it was my favourite of the three and hope that Gatwa and Gibson get acting opportunities like this during S14.
Very insightful review and I loved your input into the episode.
good ep but i don't get why the captain couldn't have blown up the ship themselves straight away, or why they set the ship as a bomb slowly to stop the not things from figuring out when it wouldn't have been possible without copying someone, and as no one was there they wouldn't figure out
Good questions. We don't know all the details and have to do some guesswork.
We have to assume the ship is very advanced, even for a spacefaring civilization. Reaching the edge of the universe is a huge task. We can compare time travel in Doctor Who: several species have time travel technology, but it's not as good as Time Lord technology.
I would safely assume the spaceship is designed not to explode, but it can change shape and form to some degree as needed (who knows the extent or purpose though?), so it has to be made to become a bomb, and it seems this can happen very quickly, but it's not instantaneous.
The Not-Things are as clever as whoever their opponent and can match them, but it's revealed they need time to develop and copy; faster thoughts speed up this process. Slow thoughts don't: the idea is they come from a place without time or change, in a void of stasis; to become like something of the universe, they need to move, think, and live in it, so speed makes this happen.
So, any plan as you come up with it will be realized by the Not-Thing as you form it:, simultaneously, unless you can someone do some zen mind trick of being very slow and deliberate and calm. Even then, they'll eventually work out what you're doing and stop you somehow some way and they have the ability to do things you can't. They could slip through any size space, or move more quickly than you physically could if they needed to. Maybe it's possible to beat them some other way, but this is the approach that worked in the end. Even then, the Captain killed herself to not take chances.
The Captain also must have the fear that someday someone else will find that ship and be a victim to the Not-Things. She can't risk the entire universe succumbing to them. Maybe they theorized if the ship was gone, they'd give up on it as a method of moving into the universe, and make their way slowly into another way, so keeping the ship around for now would keep them at bay until her plan is executed.
Maybe once she was dead, the process could have worked in real time without needing to be slow. The Captain at least thought that was too risky (they could be wrong, but probably not). I agree that without something to copy, the Not-Things wouldn't have anything to work with. The robot's simplicity was key to the plan, but maybe that operating at normal speed would be enough for them to copy.
I’d be happy to live under Josh snares and crispy pro there the best and Josh might enslave us to find the lost doctor who episodes but at least that’s a cause worth living for
I liked it but rather it was a different kind of special,,
This was part of the 60th anniversary special,
I kept looking for more,
Thought Donna left on the ship was going to be it, it would have been a shock moment for dr who.
They should have gone for it,
Or more celebrations fan service things,
Seeing Bernard at the end was good touch,
Episode as a whole it needed more
Great stuff as always.
My issue was that this was suppose to be a 60th Anniversary special for Doctor Who and there's literally no connection to any other Doctor besides Jodie's. The monsters don't even take on the appearences of previous Doctors or companions either, it's just 14th and Donna.
The fake out "Oh is Donna gonna die?" ruined the episode for me. It made me realize that there were no stakes of death anymore in NuWho and even if you did die, there'd be some kind of loophole. E.x. Bill getting to travel as her consiousness. We'll never get a death like Adric's or a surprise abandonment like Tegan's departure.
Exactly it was like they were a celebration of season 4 of the revival while also hammering home we are with Disney now with all the mcu references like the unit headquarters looking like avengers tower the winter soldier style activation for the doctor Donna within Donna the 2 Loki style fake out deaths the ultron like robot helping run unit it but it is possible the “death” that was teased could have been a metaphorical one as the death of the revival as we know it cause Russell this time around doesn’t seem as concerned about bridge gapping the eras like he was in 2005 like with nonsense statements like every doctor has bi-generated at some point in their lives and having them stated the doctor hasn’t stopped to just live ignores the ending of the husbands of river song where he spent on day with river that lasted 24 years and his exile on earth in the early 70’s where he literally couldn’t travel in the tardis
Loved Wild, Blue Yonder. Loved this review. The AI parallel of yours is brilliant; it makes so much sense in hindsight now.
I agree that the Not-Things would mimic the number of people who arrived; it likely was one with just the Captain. We have to consider the idea of numbers or quantity is foreign to them. They speak as if they're two creatures because they're mimicking two creatures. We have no idea if they're are multiple Not-Things out there in the Void, or if it's just one idea translated into two here (I believe the latter, but it's all theory).
I also have to agree that the Doctor using the TARDIS to solve which Donna is real is a cop-out. The preceding humor question worked so much better as a resolution, but was ruined to provide a twist and an excuse to do an admittedly cool trick of using the interior TARDIS ramp. Sometimes less is more; sometimes, writers get too clever for their own good (Moffat).
This is neither an argument for or against the pansexuality of the Doctor, but just agreeing with a friend that someone is hot is not in itself a confirmation of sexuality. A heterosexual man can agree with a heterosexual woman that some man is hot. It's also doesn't rule out pansexuality. I'm a cishet guy with a female friend who thinks Jason Momoa is hot; I can agree with her that he's a hot guy without really thinking about it or feeling it, but I can recognize that fact.
I personally think every Doctor's incarnation's sexual orientation could be potentially different; as an overall character, the Doctor might be pansexual, but some incarnations might be heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, asexual (factor the Doctor's ability to change gender and gets even more complex). The possibilities are limitless.
----
The Not-Things didn't destroy the robot because it never occurred to them. It's too primitive to read: the robot is a tool, not some sentient being. The Not-Things doesn't even understand object permanence (evidenced with the Doctor's tie), so they probably don't even understand destroying something or being destroyed themselves.
And it seems everything they gained from copying the Captain vanished with the Captain's Death, and they had to restart anew with the Doctor and Donna. Everything told to us about the history of the ship is exposition from the Doctor figuring it out and his Not-Thing counterpart mirroring those realization; this implies they don't know what happened before either. They reverted to formless things and had to start fresh with the Doctor and Donna.
In the unseen prologue, the Captain's Not-Thing would have gone through similar trials with the Captain. It would have to learn what matter, size, shape, form, color, etc. are in the events that happened. The Captain couldn't be aware of their presence and need to formulate a plan until they did; how else would they be perceived? So, if they learned any of those things, then why don't they know it right away with this story? Because they basically reset.
The story implies an eventual completion: the goal of the Not-Things. When they reach that, they're self-sufficient. They can exist independently (it's why Not-Donna can escape on the TARDIS and leave the real Donna behind). It can be inferred, but not proven, that without fully copying something, they simply stop existing as we understand the concept. The reason it's 20 minutes into the story before they appear is likely they spent all that time just to become the very basic, simpleton versions that start their appearance off. It took them that length of the story just to babble incoherently and form rough imitations.
The Not-Things are so unlike any living thing, they don't have intelligence in the same sense; they're not on the same spectrum that an ant and a human would share. They can't observe or learn by traditional methods. They don't have organs, so they don't see or hear or touch or smell or feel. They're undefined: all we know is they can replicate more qualities of a living thing in proximity to thoughts, the more thoughts the better, so faster thinking, the quicker they change.
Can I also point out that just because the Doc thinks Newton was hot doesn't mean he's pansexual? I mean he is, but not because of that line.
Still a great episode, still don’t love it as an anniversary episode
Imagine this with Adric Nyssa and Tegan yikes
For the record, I am so done with the "mavity" gag.
I loved the script, but the effects ruined it for me
DW is historically notable for bad sfx
Loved the review, gonna need so much more time with this one. Hadn't actually humoured the AI angle but its undoubtedly there
I think the core of the episodes message is genius, cynical and a bit egocentric...so it sucks that it's so good.
The message is a bit egocentric? The hell does that even mean??
correction: the Doctor being queer has been a thing since the 8th Doctor novels from back in the 90's (thanks to the Doctor kissing Fitz and rizzing up Alan Turning). I do think Petwee described the Doctor as ace but my headcanon is orientation varies between incarnations
Integrating queer themes is much more effective when they aren't made to sound like the sole focus. I don't want a queer story, just a good story and if queerness is included, fine. Try to make it normal.
God if modern day Doctor Who will be all that survives of the human race, then that will be a sad day indeed for other alien species.
"2 New Doctors"- Nope 1 and an unwelcome return of the worst.
Wrong
This felt like a waste of anniversary special and just filler. Plus, it felt a little boring
Got an ad for “The Church On Ruby Road”, aka the Doctor Who 2023 Christmas Special, before watching this. Most. Fitting. Ad. Ever 😅