Doctor Who "Wild Blue Yonder" REVIEW
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- Опубликовано: 1 дек 2023
- Lets go into the Wild Blue Yonder with some campy horror as Doctor Who's 2023 David Tennant specials continue.
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I love seeing the difference between Ten and Fourteen, especially in how Fourteen is more physically expressive with Donna. When he kissed her hand in the beginning, then just held her at the end was very different than Ten.
I noticed that! It felt like a combo of 11 and 12 to me when he did that.
Yeah. I also don’t think that Ten would be as open by saying that he would be okay in a million years (or however long it was stated, I’ve already forgotten).
I think when The Doctor was Ten he would have just stayed silent?
Wasn’t it Donna who said something along the lines of ‘Is ‘fine’ Time Lord for ‘not very fine at all?’
Yeah, it’s just interesting seeing the little differences.
The only conversation about Rose being Trans that made me think, UH-OH! Was with my Dad. He's open minded but sometimes slow to adapt...
"I just don't understand why Rose has to be Trans, is that the word? I guess everyone is doing it now so..."
I replied, "She doesn't HAVE to be... But some people are... And this show is for everyone."
"Yeah... You're absolutely right."
It was a relief that it went the way it did!
So glad it went well.
Lol sounds like he knows how that conversation will end and just wants some peace.
Wise man.
Shit, I wish everything could go that well. I'm not out with my parents because I know EXACTLY what my father would say, and it's not good. It makes me feel better that there's people that can still surprise you!
@@UD503J I wish you luck my friend. It can't be easy. My Dad is not a hateful person (excluding Broccoli... Seriously... It's a problem), but he's 70 and let's be real... There has been a LOT to adapt to in the last 30 years. It just takes him a minute.
@@kingboarhog Uh oh....don't let him see the latest news on broccoli on the net. They plan to make broccoli that can deal with warmer climates. Soon it will rule the planet!
I only just realized how much I missed the weirdness and uncertainty of dealing with mysterious alien life forms that just operate differently. Things like the Midnight entity and the Waters of Mars that feel weird and unknown and truly alien. We haven't had those in a while
Also it's kind of crazy to me how Chibnall could show me the Flux on screen and leave no emotional impact, just leave me completely cold and uninterested at just a bunch of stuff happening for the sake of it. Meanhile RTD can have characters merely talk about it and give me the same feelings I got when characters used to reference the Time War back in the day.
It may be partly to do with RTD being better at balancing "What we show the audience" with "HOW we show the audience." Chibnall threw a lot of interesting/freaky/quirky concepts into "Flux" that, more or less, could have made for good stories. But he did so by just dumping them in willy-nilly as plot points to move things along or try to shock viewers. He didn't allow the stories to breathe so we could truly grasp the emotional impact of it all.
The boneless from Flatline came to mind a lot whilst I was watching this one too.
@@jadoubleyou Calling it now, the Flux is gonna be to 14 and 15 what the Time War was to 9, 10, and 11.
@@jadoubleyou Also Chibnall does A LOT of 'telling' instead of 'showing'. He has some good ideas but if you just tell the audience Yaz is a good person that's not going to leave much attachment there (vs. idk something like Donna saying she will burn the earth for her trans daughter shows we should like her.)
I loved the "dopplegangers"just not getting shape.
If you've come from a formless and purely alien part of the world you would know what an arm feels as much as a human would know what a tail feels like.
It hit that feeling of uncanny and knowing that at their worst they were pretty convincing is even scarier.
Oh, when things are gone they still exist! I shoulda known 🤦♀️🤣
This, although from beyond the universe, a world is usually a planet, but yes. Agreed.
Two knees _per leg_ or two knees _total_ was delightfully distressing.
I'm always a little sad when truly strange and alien minds are the baddie. Like I know they said they "heard" the hate, war, and violence from the distant universe but still. Not saying it's a bad episode it's really good and believable enough but still saddened.
@@velaethia6what if those two were outliers of their species, not representative of the whole and we come to find that some have made it to our universe and maybe to Earth and are living in peace among Humans
For the Flux stuff, I think you're right that dealing with it from an emotional character perspective is way better than trying to deal with the convoluted story of it.
This is why the details of the Time War were never explained, and indeed it was implied to kind of be beyond explanation. Good storytelling vs "lore"
Same for the doctors dead name because if it wasn’t a name we would know about it but the doctor would prefer we didn’t
I'd say it felt like Midnight(one of my absolute favorite episodes), now with 100% more Donna. And I'm absolutely here for it. Sorry Blink, you're getting knocked down another notch.
Midnight crossed with my favorite Matt Smith two-parter: Rebel Flesh and Almost People. An excellent combo.
I kinda feel like these Specials are a whole season in three episodes. The splashy and fun reintroduction, the close and claustrophobic mystery, and next up saving the world. Three iconic styles of episodes, no filler.
Midnight was referenced by, I think, WhoCulture's Ellie or Sean, as it being a similar feeling.
@thebitterfig9903 Rebel Flesh! I couldn't remember the title! I also forgot it was a two parter. But yes. A cross between Midnight and the ganger episodes.
Midnight is the first of my top three!!!! 😄😄 I truly thought the clanging would be the Entity come back *and* another reason why this face came back. Dunno how that would have worked though.
@@instantromy Yes! Me too. Although once we got introduced to the gangers from beyond space, I thought they were the Entity since we never found out the ‘true’ appearance of it and it like these new gangers adopted the appearance and mannerisms of other people very quickly.
As for a reason why this face returned. He didn’t have Donna with him when the events of Midnight occurred and it was frankly harrowing for The Doctor. Maybe this face came back out of a subconscious thought that things would have gone better if Donna was there?
Theres something very special about David's ability to express the heaviness being a time lord brings and his burden so i'm glad we got to see him feel the consequence of the last few years even if i didnt particularly enjoy the chibnal era.
"My arms are too long" joins "Are you my mommy?" and "DON'T BLINK" as especially memorable phrases in Doctor Who. An instant classic.
I think the Doctor's bisexuality was hinted at in The Doctor Dances. Thanks for this review, and your enthusiasm.
And "Hey, who turned out the lights?"
The "RTD will wash Chibnall's era away" crowd must be in shambles
Mhm
I'm glad that Davies isn't going to pretend it never happened but will instead try to build up on it and maybe salvage something worthwhile from the mess that was "The Timeless Children" and the Flux arc. Hope he sticks the landing.
@@TheJovian16 I agree, especially in regards to the the Flux. Not necessarily as a season arc but "how do we move on from this tragedy/rebuild our civilisation" is fertile ground for stories.
@@Faction.Paradox Yeah, lingering effects of the Time War were all throughout his first showrunner era, you could easily do something similar with the Flux without making a whole story arc out of it.
X is like that Scene from Scanners, This is my main issue about people taking offence made worse when they pretend to be fans, no most want to see the end of the BBC, hate anything "woke" and content creators do videos that are basically "I HATE IT WHA WHA" that's not content creation is easy ££££
waiting for clicks and likes saying we agree lets all WHA together.
I trust RTD if anyone can sort out the issues Chibnall created he will
I am a lapsed Doctor Who fan, and I wasn't around for either the Timeless Child or Flux. That said, I am very glad that RTD is not choosing to just ignore the events of that era. Especially since it helped establish that despite the familiar face and companion that this isn't just the Tenth Doctor back again.
Also, this is unrelated but I absolutely loved that Donna was able to uncover the fake Doctor because the entity didn't quite understand object permanence yet. Since this something humans tend to pick up around 8 months it helped drive home not only how alien these creatures are but how new the experience of having physical forms is for them.
I think the actors' performances did a lot to sell that, too. They were brilliant!
This was quite a weird one, but I think I vibed with it. It was lovely to get one final moment with Wilf. That did warm my heart.
I hope he's a major character in the third episode.
@@velaethia6 No, sadly Russell confirmed on Instagram that was the only scene Bernard Cribbins was well enough to film. He's mentioned as being safe and sound in the next episode.
I audubly sobbed when I saw Wilf's re-introduction. My roomates had to ask me what was wrong. I loved the entire concept of being at the edge of the Universe, even as the Doctor implies, creating and expanding the Universe as they drift. There are so many ends to time and the universe that the Doctor travels too.
I cried like a little child seeing Wilf, too! Glad I'm not the only one. 😊
The edge bit almost turned me off, it's just so far off how the universe appears to work. I know Doctor Who isn't particularly hard sci fi, maybe I'm stricter on that than I used to be. BUT THEN The Doctor acknowledged this and explained briefly that it would make sense once certain advancements were made.
So many shows where the real science would completely destroy the episode just ignore it entirely. They didn't here. Real science would get in the way of the story here too, so a quick bit of technobabble to briefly explain why it doesn't apply let them get on with things without pissing off people who like to nitpick stuff like this.
So Tennant uses his white privilege to win again
Me too, lol. Rip Bernard
I too love that David mentioned who he has been and the past stories. This is something none of the other doctors talked about. Like why didn't Matt think of Rose and Donna. And showing WILF
He actually did a couple of times … “guilt” and “help RT with her homework” spring to mind! First example the Tardis also showed a hologram of Donna!
@@dmmoctoberIn both his and 12’s era previous companions were references in an incredibly misogynistic way, with the Tardis showing Amy images of all the female companions to ‘prove’ the doctor chose young women because they were attractive, and then that ep ends with Amy sexually assaulting him. Moffat era is… I don’t just dislike it cause I’m not a personal fan of his writing style… it’s very uncomfortable
I loved the scene about the Flux and Timeless Child, I thought David's performance was brilliant. But I'm a fan of 13's era so I'll always be happy to see her stories get referenced.
I adore the general shape and feel of 13's run even if the actual execution rubbed me wrong. Every time there's been a run I didn't like, it's never because of the acting or the characters, it's the story itself. I hope we get loads of 13 crossovers going forward and that she isn't burnt out about the whole thing, much like Eccleston.
I, as a full on arachnophobe, will never forgive them arguing that I should empathize with _giant mutant spiders_ that had already killed and eaten people. Not super-intelligent mutant spiders, not spider-shaped aliens, _literally killer spiders the size of dogs at the small end._
Holy shit you have a fast turnaround on these reviews. Thank you for fulfilling my content lust with such haste. Great episode, from the POV of a horror/thriller fan, I think this is the best of those they have done yet.
5:55 Yeah that does make sense. There’s a point earlier where The Beast Below is called a Tennant story so I thought about it a little more and realized it was probably meant to be The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit (the creature even calls itself “The Beast”)
Much better.
Star Beast felt like RTD was trying too hard and was trying to remember how to ride the bike. This felt like a Doctor Who episode.
Loved the sets, the creepy vibe, the acting and seeing Wilf!
Still have my doubts that RTD can stick the landing, there's a lot to wrap up/explain in an hour, but I at least had fun .
by the way,Like the little United Planets flag
Like the hair. Is that new or have I not been paying attention?
I needed the campy horror after the day I've had, and this episode hit all the right notes for me. Tennant and Tate are better together than ever before. The amount of nuance and subtlety in their performances. Showing how clever Donna is as human Donna. I hope the Doctor and Donna do get to have that talk off-screen, so that the Doctor can share how he's been with someone who really does get him.
I love how they show their affection and friendship for one another even as they're unsure if they are who they seem. And how comforting the Doctor is to her, and how she is to him. It's something I wanted in the Chibnall Era that I had missed. These two are best of friends, and there for each other, and I adore them.
I also loved seeing how they played things just that bit differently when they were the aliens mimicking the Doctor and Donna. I actually figured out Donna wasn't what she seemed before I did the Doctor, because Donna would never just stand there like that, still and barely expressing herself. The Donna-doppleganger hadn't quite gotten her personality yet, whereas the Doctor's doppleganger got his much faster - which makes sense because of how much faster he thinks and moves regularly. The Doctor is always a ball of energy.
I wonder if the whole "mavity" thing might have contributed somehow to the weirdness going on at the end of the episode? Between that and the superstition at the edge of the universe, and knowing who's behind the problem in the next special....
During this whole episode I was like “this is so weird” but by the time it ended I had a huge smile on my face and I’m about to watch it again. This was creepy fun and emotional at the same time, and how often do you see that combination 😂. Weird, crazy, just like DW should be. As for the Timeless Children/Flux inclusion, I’m glad it was acknowledged. In less than a minute, RTD got a more emotional reaction from me about those storylines than Chibnall ever did. He wrote it and Tennant performed it, and it was exactly the right dose, to acknowledge the terrible effect it had on the Doctor, to once again affirm that Donna is a one of a kind friend, the only one he would open up to about it. Like you I was heartbroken when I realized it wasn’t the real Donna.
And finally seeing Bernard Cribbins at the end…my heart broke again. I know he had a long and illustrious career, but I hope that he knew that at the last decade or so of his life, he had acquired even more fans through DW. I feel privileged that he graced my TV screen. May he rest in peace.
I will miss the DoctorDonna so much. But you’re right. This is just the right dose of nostalgia, and soon a new Doctor will arrive to start off the next 60 years. Allons-y!
This had such an Event Horizon vibe.
I really liked “Wild Blue Yonder”. It gave me big “Midnight” vibes. I liked that it was a bottle episode with just Tennant and Tate. Tennant pretending to have a seizure was hilarious! And I really saw the difference between Ten and Fourteen this episode, with the influence of Eleven, Twelve, and Thirteen. I really liked the not-things villain, especially with the way they leaned into body horror, as goofy as it looked sometimes. And I loved the solve of the mystery. I think I still liked “The Star Beast” more. I was just having fun with that episode. The only thing I really can’t understand is what was the point of Fourteen choosing the wrong Donna at first. Unless it was to just add some extra tension, in which case, it feels really cheap and filler-y. Also, I don’t really see the point of the Isaac Newton “mavity” thing and Fourteen saying “gravity” that one time instead. And it was great to see Wilf again. We are getting more of him next special! R.I.P. Bernard Cribbins.
Oh, no, I did like "The Star Beast", but this one is much better. It is great!
The "mavity" thing was a joke. Newton remembered the word "gravity" wrong and wrote it down like that, so all of history remembers it as "mavity" including Donna, except the Doctor of course who knows how the timeline ever so slightly changed. He said "Gravity" at first the realized Donna doesn't know the word and corrected to "mavity". I honestly found the whole thin insanely funny.
It was goofy, but it also had me screaming bc it was just… too uncanny valley
I wasn’t very hot on The Star Beast, but I *loved* this one. Felt very much like something you’d hear in Big Finish, and the way the initial twist is obscured via editing was genius.
Honestly same. "The Star Beast" was on par with "Partners in Crime". This was on par with "Heaven Sent".
@@TheJovian16 the way I thought about it, Star Beast was End of Time Davies, Wild Blue Yonder is Midnight/Waters of Mars Davies.
Fourteen is great. He's got a lot of Ten in him, but also a lot of Thirteen, and I'm here for it. And lord if Tennant isn't having incredible fun with it.
For all the silliness of this episode, the idea of creatures completely without form or even time but that sense Us and everything that makes Us and taking everything negative into themselves was genuinely very creepy, and the scenes where they were almost completely solid and chanting "Think!" genuinely gave me the shivers.
WILF. WILF WILF WILF! I cried so much. I'm gonna cry again next week, because Bernard Cribbins' death is just too recent for me to feel anything but great joy and intense sorrow. Wilf is the best of humanity.
The long arms and big hands, the way the no-things distorted and especially the getting stuck in the hallway, to me visually had strong Gibhli vibes. This is something that always makes me uncomfortable watching it but I do like it at the same time and here as well.
Also, since the Tardis sees past and present and future, she created the ramps in the new interior just for Wilf! That's my headcanon!
I honestly found the scene where the giant Not-Thing Doctor and Donna chase was absolutely terrifying. Like seeing their facial features warp and collapse and twist with rage as they pursued the real Doctor and Donna tripped my sense of the uncanny valley in a similar way, weirdly enough, to internet horror like The Backrooms and The Longest View.
I liked this one. Though they were indeed goofy, I also thought the VFX on the stretchy doppelganger things was quite creepy - some actually strong body horror going on in a way. Although its not scary to me now as an adult, I can imagine my younger self being really unnerved by those things if this episode had come on back in Tennant's original run.
I also did really appreciate the mention of the larger plot points from Chibnall's era. I know a lot of people were frustrated when aspects like the Timeless Child arc weren't concluded by the end of his showrunning tenure, I saw people insist that it would "never" get concluded - I was a _little_ nervous it'd all just get forgotten, but was confident that at some point, a future showrunner would try to tackle some of those things. Granted, all we've had so far is a mention, but its a start, and a lot sooner than I would have expected.
In my experience, Doctor Who seems to roll that way, where writers will go back and examine older plot points. Adric was quite a divisive companion back in his day, but in Jodie's final episode, we got a really bittersweet mention of him between Peter Davidson's Doctor and Tegan. Judging by the trailers, next week we'll be seeing the Toymaker, a character who, outside of the Big Finish audio dramas, hasn't appeared in the main series since 1966. I had no doubt that some of the unfinished ideas of Chibnall's era would be brought back, but I honestly wasn't expecting it for at least another 3 showrunners. Glad RTD isn't throwing it out and I'm interested to see what he does with it.
Some nice low-key Midnight vibes, which I really enjoyed. Always nice to get a small cast, high concept episode.
And totally agree with you about the Flux thing. I'm glad that they're not just dropping it and pretending it never happened - Doctor Who didn't get where it is by doing that - and it definitely made more sense with Tenant giving it a bit of emotional weight. I remember thinking for the Whitaker specials that it seemed like the Flux just had no impact on what came after it, which never made much sense.
Oh, good. Someone else noticed the Midnight vibes, too. XD
Unfortunately, I am prepared that's all we're going to see of Bernard Cribbins, Wilf, this one last time. It was absolutely lovely to see him again and that he was included in the 60th Anniversary Special. I don't want to get my hopes up that we're going to see more than today's replay at the beginning of Special 3, Giggle.
0:24 Oh no! Jessie has been replaced by one of the not-things! 😱😉
I adored this episode. I never watched Timeless Child or Flux because I was so exasperated with the writing, but I still "got" the pain he revealed to NotDonna. And it felt it must have been painful to him to realize that it was NotDonna that he trusted with that pain. And seeing Wilf again, omg, perfect.
I almost cried when I saw Wilf!!! I can't believe that Bernard Cribbins managed to film those scenes before he died! 😍😍
Loved the episode.
I love it when Doctor Who does horror. And since Midnight from s4 is a particular favourite of mine, I thought the whole copying thing was fantastic. A great mix of general suspense and the tension stemming from the Doctor and Donna having to question the identity of their best friend. I really liked the emotional beats, especially when the Doctor started to open up only to see it wasn't Donna he was talking to. Nobody does this desperate screaming shouting sadness like David Tennant lol.
RTD is at it again making something that's incredibly camp and goofy silly one moment just to become creepy/heartfelt/devastating the next moment. Or is just both at the same time. It's what he's best at.
I feel conflicted about the reference to past events. As you said, I'm glad that we got some continuity and not JUST nostalgia, but I'm also not a big fan of a lot of the writing choices that Chibnall made (looking at you Timeless Child).
And of course it was absolutely amazing so see Wilf again. I cried a bit tbh. Apparently it was the only scene Bernard Cribbins was able to shoot. I'm just so glad that he got to be a part of this and that we got to see him as this wonderful character one last time.
It was astounding. The plot, the imagination, the acting, the incredible sets. The bisexual doctor. The nightmarish monsters. The intelligence and bravery of the pilot. The amazing plotting involving the slow robot. It terrified me! I loved it.
As expected i immediately started crying the second i saw Wilf. As someone who was not a fan of Chibnall's run i really liked seeing the Doctor dealing with the consequences of Flux because it just kind of went away before with nothing coming of it. Honestly I'm a little scared for Donna now because this is the second time she nearly died in these specials.
12:47 I think you could explain them not noticing the giant arms with that they were both busy checking out the controls of the spaceship? I think at least that this was RTD's intention there.
Speaking directly to the ending here, where he doesn't immediately recognize the right Donna, I found it pretty interesting that when we 1st meet the no-things, the one copying the Doctor has his mannerisms and what he'd say down a lot better than the Donna copy (which makes sense, his brain had been going going going the whole time and it makes it make sense that Donna wouldn't be able to tell - 14 has been quicker to sappiness than 11 was and he'd just regenerated so the arms comment wouldn't raise questions either), but the Doctor couldn't tell something was off with her even when she was noticeably different (way too quiet for Donna, even when he gave her clear prompts to respond/banter) so I am not really surprised he didn't get the correct Donna initially even though I expected him to have gotten it right. But I can see a foreshadowing to it due to the 1st scene.
It felt like a classic, I loved the suspense. I loved how they tied in the past couple of years. Also, I enjoy your review!
People should learn from this episode. Don't let your expectations ruin something for you.
I don't know how common but idk why you get so hooked on the idea of a cameo fest. People were starting to get a bit ridiculous with what they expected.
Definitely a unusual episode
Not being good at names when you have trans friends is actually great. My friend came out as trans a year ago now and I had honestly forgotten what her dead name was, so being told “hey this is my name now” was a great way to avoid that awkwardness.
I think they didn't notice the arms because they were just slightly too long at first. When fake Donna shows it for the first time, it's not like a huge hand, it's just a bit too far away from her. Then they let them grow gigantic for dramatic effect, to get a reaction, because that's how they learn.
Loved the episode. Tennant and Tate are fantastic together. Loved the concept, and the presentation of un-understanble concepts - like the abscence of form. Really excited for the third special.
how are you getting these out so quickly? The show only finished a couple of hours ago. I loved this new one, especially the way it built up because you realised something weird was going on because the Doctor and Donna were both talking to each other in different rooms at the same time. I feel like I liked the story in this one better, but I also felt it was a shame that really it was just the Doctor and Donna nearly all the way through. Though we *did* get to see Wilf again, which was a pleasant surprise because I was not expecting to see him until the end of the next special. And then I got more feels from watching the "Unleashed" episode (which goes out immediately after the Doctor Who episode on a different channel in the UK) - because they had interviews with Bernard Cribbins in that show, and also RTD and all the other stars talking about how pleased they were to have got him (but it seems only for that scene), and Catherine Tate talking about how for people our age in the UK Cribbins has been a part of all our childhoods. It's so good they did get that scene in there.
She's always the first, except that one time she was so busy with Identiteaze. And everybody was worried that she was OK! I was not, but only because I knew she was busy.
Indeed, if Jessie is not there an hour after the episode ended, there's something very wrong.
Anyway, we love you, Jessie, and we can wait for you. No pressure. 😘😘😘😘
The Beast Below was a Matt Smith episode. Pushing up my nerdy glasses
I think Jessie is likely thinking about Impossible Planet/Satan Pit.
I reckon she's thinking of the Satan Pit but yeah you're right I didn't catch that
Also Moffat
@@jameskilgour387Yeah I think you're right.
Yeah I meant the Satan pit lol
Enjoyed this one more than I did last week. The first of the specials did, as you mention, have a lot of baggage that it had to carry as part of the story and while it was a glorious return to form for Davies and Tennant and Tate (and Murray Gold! I missed the music!) it did suffer a tiny bit because of that. This week was all about the story and the characters and the buildup to the farewell we all know is coming next week.
One thing I'd comment on regarding your excellent review was the bit about the Doctor being unable to stop thinking. Any neurodivergent soul would recognize that bit :) Some days the hardest thing in the world is to shut up the monkey mind when you really need to.
Russell confirmed that Bernard Cribbins was only healthy enough to film one scene. so he won't be in the giggle.
However, The one Scene we got with Wilf was worth every second we got. (Also, Tiktok edits love Wilf, so it was nice seeing those a few hours after the episode aired
I think that these three episodes are the doctor's version of therapy after everything that's happened over the past few years. And of course, no one does that introspective frantic softness than Tennant and no one can get to his hearts, like Donna.
This is starting to get really really good ❤
Disaster for the disaster god!
So the current theory running through my mind at the moment is that the doppelgangers from Wild Blue Yonder are related to the creature from Midnight.
I LOVED this episode, it was most evocative of Midnight for me, and I loved the character work between the Doctor and Donna and the creatures, and even touching on some of the Doctor's trauma and dealing with the aftermath of The Flux and what the Doctor recently learned. And of course, Wilf 😭. My complaint remains that this also feels like a regular Doctor Who episode, not an Anniversary Special, and that a scene or two (like Missy in Season 8) of the Toymaker talk about the game they are playing would have done so much to connect the specials and do more to make it a Celebration of the show and its history.
I also liked that you can tell sometimes bad cgi was intentional on non things like they dont get how skin should look.
It feels deliberate on things that you _know_ can be done completely photorealistically now. Like with the jaw, that was so crudely done that it has to have been on purpose as a deliberate aesthetic.
@@Seal0626 Yep. I take most of bad effect on Doppelgangers as intentional.
If it's intentional, then it's not bad, it's style. It drives me nuts that most people seem to expect/want video to be photorealistic, but that seems boring and less creative to me.
@@voltijuice8576 Doctor Who has part of it's charm in the wonky CGI, I don't need it to be perfect, it loses part of what makes it what it is.
Happy holidays Jessie & here's hoping for the return of Livestreams again including the gaming Livestreams too Jessie. ♥️🎄😢😥😉♥️
Because there has been some many new video games like Spider-Man 2 Jessie & lots of horror video games too to scream through. 😉
I love that the flux is the new time war that now torments the doctor instead.
Sometimes this was nearly ,"Midnight", then suddenly it was Mickey being eaten by a bin, it was absolutely not what I expected. I think I'm good with that. Kinda like that he chose not to dump on Chibnall. I am starting to think that RTD might be a very decent human being.
Every time you said “it’s very Russel T Davies”, Jiggly Caliente saying “it’s very San tropez” played in my head 😂
For much of the episode, I thought the "mavity" gag was too silly, because there's no way Newton wouldn't understand a word with such an obvious Latin origin. But the ending scene, when the Doctor talks about having a bad feeling about invoking a superstition at the edge, made me wonder if it was to prepare us for the idea of large consequences from small mistakes. I'm even wondering if whatever is going on back on Earth will turn out to somehow be an unintended side-effect of the events of this episode.
About the Doctor not recognizing Donna - I don't really think it is the result of being out of sync, so much as him not fully seeing Donna for who she is the entire time they are together - And I really hope they would address it in the third episode or later in the series, because that wasn't the first time, nor the second - that's is actually the third time in this episode where he failed to recognize her,whereas Donna has spotted him over the fake every time (technically in the "salt superstition" scene the Doctor and Donna do recognize each other at the same time, but it is Donna who says "Brainbox" first). When he got into the Tardis he had _it_ check for the length of her arms in order to be sure, and only then did he come back for her.
Why does the mistake have to imply anything negative in the Doctor or their relationship? I thought it showed how scary good the faux-Donna was getting that even the Doctor could be fooled.
Nope on the last one. When he said its arms were too long, that was the face of the oncoming storm. It never checked its own arms when he said that. Just showed its fangs instantly. Reading it as him fake Donna to check, to be sure, is a take that’s not based on what’s on the screen.
Like last week, this was a v good episode; this one will rank up with the other excellent 'creepy'horror' episodes. However, other than the (major) fact it's Tennant/Tate, these really don't feel like the other 'anniversary' specials. (Maybe in time that will feel better to me.) I agree it was interesting how RTD worked in flux and 'the timeless child' threads. Of course, I still hope for a different explanation for the latter than the one we seem left with!
You in a 13th doctor costume is adorable :D
I thought the no-things were quite creepy and was fine with the Isaac Newton opening scene, and Wilf, I salute Bernard Cribbins on his last scenes!
The hair :) it was like it was meant to be!
@@mikaylaeager7942 I typed more, of what I thought of the episode :)
I quite enjoyed this special. It felt like a big back to basic approach in terms of general scale, but by the same token felt a bit bloated with the sheer weight of different twists and hidden details to the mystery. I also liked the uncanny valley aspect to the doppelgangers, drawing out both the Doctor's and Donna's rooted anxieties. The bit about humans being notable for holding contradictory ideas was simply brilliant, too! 9/10 overall.
As much as I adored The Star Beast, I also enjoyed Wild Blue Yonder a bit more and I have very high hopes for The Giggle. I'm sure that Ncuti Gatwa will be a great Doctor, but I can't help thinking that at least his first season will be a little anticlimactic after the so far stellar return of Tennant and Tate.
It had that same creepy cool Cosmic Horror tension feel as "Under the Lake/After the Flood" and "Sleep No More". And that poison light sun planet bus episode. Love these kind of Who episodes.
To paraphrase the Tenth Doctor: "Stop it."
Jessie: "I'm just saying hello."
This ep reminded me immediately of the Midnight ep (being trapped on the shuttle tour on the planet Midnight). One of my all time fave ep. Creepy as all hell too, and I'm HERE FOR IT!!! HERE FOR THIS!!
As for grabbing the wrong Donna, he just grabbed one of them because he was just going to scan her inside. It was a 50 50 chance and he wasted no time.
I’ve missed out on the last few years of Doctor Who, so I have no idea what previous events were being referenced, but I do like it that they are making these specials a continuation of what has gone before, rather than erasing it. This episode overall felt less frantic than the previous one, like it had a lot more room to breathe. I’ve really liked both specials so far.
Loved it. So much to love. Continues the trend of some of the best Doctor Who adventures depriving him of the TARDIS and the Screwdriver and forcing him to rely on his brain. And the sets! Talk about a departure from cramped spaceship hallways! Well, except for when they went in the ducts.
And my God, I sat through all of Chibnall's elaborate Sturm und Drang and it hardly ever gave me much besides fatigue, but somehow one scene of Tennant talking to Tate contextualized it all in a way that made me immediately invested. They just TALKED about it, and it finally WORKS. Talk about flipping "show, don't tell" on its head!
Incidentally, I'd also like to say this puts the lie to the notion that the big, clean new TARDIS can't accommodate emotional character moments. And I'm also appreciative of the fact that we've done away with the extreme closeups, you know, zooming in on an actor so that their entire face fills the screen whenever they're talking. That drove me nuts.
Oh, and Wilf. Bernard Cribbins. My heart.
Chibnall's era felt like a chore to get through. But now I'm finally looking forward to the next episode of Doctor Who.
Campy isn't quite the word I'd have used for it, but it definitely was a delight - Just a real treat to see Tate and Tennant bounce off each other like this - It's like RTD attempted to turn 'Tennant and Tate acting against each other' into an entire episode and succeeded, and lovely to see Cribbins.
I think the episode it most reminded me of - Slow horror with building tension and a lot of dialogue, a problem that plays into this Doctor's flaws as a character, or rather turning what's normally a strength into a weakness - was Midnight (Him being a talker in the case of Midnight, him not being able to let a puzzle lie unsolved here)
(I can't help but wonder if mavity was a leftover from a previous draft, where instead of seeing Donna's reaction to being left behind, we instead see the Doctor work out that Not Donna isn't Donna from her using the word gravity, since she was now pulling her memories from the Doctor since that was who she was with, which if so would likely have involved Tate playing the scene straighter before the Doctor worked it out)
I actually am optimistic of RTD tackling the mystery of where The Doctor is actually from, and what race they actually are. The idea of them being their own greatest mystery is right up Doctor Who's alley
I dropped off from the series early into Joddie's era, I couldn't connect with her as the Doctor, and after watching Broadchurch, I know it probably had more to do with Chibnell's horrendous writing than it did with her performance (she had me in tears in Broadchurch every single time, she was THAT good).The timeless child storyline made such ripples I heard about it even without having watched the episode, and I hated every aspect of it.
The Doctor to me always symbolized this idealistic out of this world hero, galavanting through time and space and time, but always keeping to his core beliefs ("I would NEVER" - from "the Doctor's daughter" for example..), that balance of being magnificent and extraordinary, yet relatable enough that we the audience could relate to him/her as a character has always been, for me, the magic formula of Doctor Who. By making the Doctor such an uber central character in the time-lord society, and spinning the whole lore and mythology on its head Chibnal, in my opinion, stripped Doctor Who of its last remaining "humanity". I was fully ready and equipped to press the "forget" button and go on to live in ignorance, and I believe that if the show had had enough of a break (like the one that occurred between Paul Mcgann's movie and the 2005 revival) they might have gone that rout - but seeing as we didn't get that, and given that Russel T. Davis is not an asshole like Chibnal is, I believe he would never slight and anger the good people who work on the show in this way.
SO. Having said all that, I must say that I smiled in delight when we got that emotional scene with the Doctor, dealing with the aftermath if "The Flux" and "The Timeless Child" - it was such a gut punch to experience, even without any knowledge of the specific events, because RTD is a fucking good writer, and David Tennant is an AMAZING actor that you get the gravity of the emotional baggage just by watching these two work together.
I think I am basically saying - If I have to stomach that middle finger of a story that is "the timeless child", I sure as hell glad it is in the hands of a competent writer like Russel.
Thank you for the video, Jessie!
It is a little ironic how "bottle" episodes are usually made because of low budget. But I love like they are ones used to be character-focused exploration. I also really did love the sense of uneasiness and fear of unknown during this episode. And the concept of alien being taken to its extreme with the Non-Things was really cool!
I really liked it. Not a big splashy intro like last week, or a save-the-world episode, but an excellent example of a claustrophobic mystery. Kind of a cross between Midnight and Rebel Flesh/Almost People.
I loved this episode. I liked last week too but my one complaint was the music was too constantly cinematic. This week had some nice atmospheric music.
Just me or did anyone else hear farscape'esk music in the last sene
What I got was "The Thing" meets "Restaurant at the End of the Universe" via Russel T Davis. That robot was definitely physically modeled on Marvin the Paranoid Android.
The thing with the salt might owe something to the web-comic series Dr McNinja. He uses grains of sand to distract vampires because a Count has got to count. (I highly recommend Dr McNinja.)
My headcanon at the moment is that these monsters are actually the same kinds of creatures as the Midnight entity, but they choose to mimic shapes rather than sounds.
And now that I think of it, part of me also wants to include the boneless from Flatline into that group of "extra-dimensional beings beyond human/timelord comprehension".
Didn't think this was as strong as last weeks but it was a typical Russel.T.Davis story. The end scene broke my heart though. So looking forward to next week's episode.
In the final scene it said ‘cyberbody’ in the background.
honestly the void dwellers were really unsettling to me.
Oh yeah, I really liked it. On one part it was a much more intimate one, with the feel of a bottle episode, which I tend to rather like if the actors can carry it (Which Tennant and Tate of course can). And an effective freaky, horror one at that. But it also give us insight into some more wider aspects in the dialogue, but in a subtle way that still keeps much mystery in a way that RTD tend to do very well. Looking forwards to more!
I really liked this one. Evil versions of the Doctor are my favourite villain anyway and the mystery was very fun. Even just taking away the TARDIS's translation circuit was a very cool way to remove ways they'd normally have solved any issue. My immediate thought was that it felt kind of similar to Midnight in villain concept, but with a faster pace.
I am not really into Doctor Who but usually try to check in when it does something big - except apparently the current stuff can't be viewed online in The Republic of Ireland because Disney bought the rights to it everywhere except Britain and Ireland, but BBC doesn't stream to outside the UK.
Still listening to your take and Council of Geeks take, because you're both really funny content creators with very infectious nerdy happiness.
Infectious nerdy happiness is point on! Love both of them🖖🖖
One of my new favorite Doctor Who episodes. The Isaac Newton intro already made the episode worth it, and then they followed it with a main story that it comparable to Midnight -- and more re-watchable. (Midnight's just too dang terrifying to watch more than once a decade.)
I found it interesting that the trailers portrayed the hallway scene as the Doctor fighting against something, when within the episode itself, they were railing against their own grief.
Ohhh this one was so good, I'm so glad you liked it!
I was so disappointed by The Star Beast that I was as worried about the next episode as I used to get back in the Moffat era, which is saying something, but Wild Blue Yonder blew me away. Joyous.
What if one of these things is the midnight entity, midnight takes place in the future so there could be time for them to drift there, the further into the universe they get the more they're forced to set as something, so they became the midnight entity.
I rewatched The Thing 2011 yesterday. I was reminded of that. Trying to find the imposter. Funny moments and creepy too. I knew something was off the moment The Doctor slid down as Donna moved those items.
I'm conflicted - I've been thinking about watching the 2011 The Thing lately. I grew up with Carpenter's 1982 film and while I know the newer one isn't going to capture much of what I liked about that, it sounded like it was made by people who also loved it.
4:02 couldn’t agree more
I just want to mention, because no one else has, the inclusion of Inuit throat-singing in the closing credits music.
"Let's try something with less budget and contained for the second special. A two-hander."
"Two... hands? You say?
Loved it! My intro to Who as a kid was Hinchcliffe's run with Tom Baker which leaned into the creepy quite a bit. Love my eldritch Who like Gir loves piggy. RTD doesn't always bother with plot logistics, but he has that affinity for the wonder and weirdness unique to this sandbox.
I like to think they didn't notice the long arms because they were kind of avoiding looking at each other in a sort of vulnerability tunnel vision type of way.
Watching the behind the scenes I was surprised how much of that stuff was practical.
The Karens will whine about Isaac Newton. I don't know why that scene was included. I am intrigued by the villains.
Very quick with the review!
It honestly feels the most like Midnight, a Tennant (and Donna) favorite.
Episodes where the doctor's cleverness becomes his weakness and turned against them
This special felt very much like it was channeling a lot of "Event Horizon"s vibes, but with a very heaping helping of comedy dumped on top. I freaking love the horror/comedy mix in this show, and David and Catherine CLEARLY were having SO MUCH FUN with it.
this also really reminded me of the horror aspects of "Midnight"
I loved this episode soo much
Great review!
I love when Doctor Who gets weird, and I think this was the weirdest episode since the one with the frog.
This was so great. That cloister bell is getting a work out with these specials.
Unsettling. Yet great
Very both.
Gotta admit, I cried when I saw Cribbins.
My first thought from the length of the ship and the shape of Jimbo was that this was a B-Ark, and I wonder if it _was_ somehow a little homage to Douglas Adams that I successfully picked up on.
I kinda love how the CGI still looks really obvious and honestly a bit primitive. Like it's a deliberate part of the nostalgia for 2005, because surely it's possible for it to look a whole lot better now? I wonder if it will get any less clunky once Ncuti Gatwa takes over?
The Doctor being unable to not think was _so_ ADHD.
It did feel to me like the horror elements of this episode might have been better if it was a Moffat - for all his faults, he is a master of getting the audience to say "wait, why are there two-" 5 seconds before anyone on screen has the same realisation. A somewhat diluted version of that feeling hit me in the water room, when I had just long enough to think "Hold on, are these scenes out of order? Because we've already seen him walk back into the filing cabinet room and talk to Donna-" before being clobbered with "That's not Donna. Which means _that_ wasn't the Doctor." and later at "Where's your tie?". But the suspense didn't hold, and it didn't build a slow crescendo of dread throughout. It was downright silly at times, which was probably a deliberate choice to not let it get too dark.
Of course, had it been a Moffat episode, the monsters would have turned out to not actually be evil, just fundamentally incompatible with the protagonists, with a third way solution that the audience was carefully misdirected away from but actually makes perfect sense once someone(I nominate Donna) says it out loud.
I loved the deep, emotional conversations they had, albeit with imposters, because with that wibbly line between the real and the fake and who knows what, those conversations didn't feel like a waste of time once the artifice was revealed. Like there are echoes of them that must remain.
Less of a fan of the Doctor having picked up the wrong Donna at the end. That didn't seem to be for anything, except to make the real Donna stare down an approaching explosion.
And again, I wonder - is Cyberdog so prominently placed in the background purely to prove that they really are in Camden, or is it going to be worked into the narrative and maybe herald the Cybermen? Or at least the statues coming to life?