The Sonic Screwdriver
Fans of Doctor Who (2005) frequently complain about the plots of many stories’ overreliance upon the sonic screwdriver. That is not new to Doctor Who (2005), it was an issue many had with the earlier incarnation of the show.
I agree with this. Some episodes rely too heavily on the sonic, and Star Beast is a classic example. The Doctor uses his sonic to erect portable force fields capable of deflecting projectiles. It looks amazing. I suspect Davies put this in to show us that now that Doctor Who streams on Disney Plus, he has a much larger budget to work with. However, it made the Doctor’s problems far too easy to get out of.
He then uses it to smash through a brick wall with great ease. It is a sonic screwdriver. I would have expected it to knock down a weaker brick wall. It seems it was too easy in this case. Did I miss something? His sonic screwdriver makes it too easy for him to get out of pickles.
What is the issue? Such use of the sonic allows the Doctor to resolve difficult situations too simply. The Doctor is not usually the sort to use force shields or ray guns to blast his way out of a situation this easily. He uses his brain to think of more tricky and cunning solutions.
Giving him a sonic capable of too readily solving such problems robs us of the opportunity to see him solve such issues using his intelligence. Instead, we got to see him use brute force and gadgets. Watching that is nowhere near as engrossing!
But I suppose Davies was short on time! Maybe if he had paced Star Beast better and made it a little longer, that would not have been an issue!
Pacing
Star Beast’s pacing is a little all over the place. A lot of exciting things happen rapidly at the start. The start throws a lot at you, and many exciting things happen very early. That is typical for a Davies episode. Right after the information-packing introduction, things happen at a rapid pace. Things escalate too rapidly, and the first few scenes are rushed and have too much going on.
They rapidly helped escalate the tension in the episode. As is often the case, Davies is frequently eager to rush into the thick of the action. Juggling rapidly escalating events, it becomes crucial to establish character motivation and dialogue. And this rarely works as well as he might intend.
I do not see why he could not have made the episode ten or twenty minutes longer. It seems he forced himself into the constraints of one hour. And the pacing suffered for it.
For instance, I felt we could have spent a little longer on the Meep and the Wrath Warriors chasing it. But that was not to be. Star Beast seems determined to give us flashy action scenes and moments with Donna and her family rather than to allow us time to understand these characters. A little more time could have addressed this issue.
Pacing issues are business as usual for Davies. He has always had issues with pacing, unfortunately. It appears Davies has learned little about pacing since his last tenure as showrunner on Doctor Who.
Acting And Characters
The 14th Doctor, played by David Tennent. What is not to like about this? The Tenth Doctor is my second favorite incarnation of the Doctor (after the Eleventh). And a large part of that is how well Tennent played the Tenth Doctor.
Tennant plays a version of the Doctor who is like, but not the same, as our beloved Tenth Doctor. And he plays him about as well as ever. While I have some reservations about the 14th Doctor, I have no reservations about Tennant’s ability to play the character. He is as brilliant as always.
Did we need to see a rehash of the Tenth Doctor? I am not entirely convinced. It was fun. But the show cannot seem to let him go. Nor, for that matter, can it seem to let Donna go.
Yes, this is the 14th Doctor, not the Tenth. But let us not fool ourselves. It is also partially about reliving the glory of the days of the Tenth Doctor. Something I have mixed thoughts about revisiting.
Catherine Tate steps up and plays Donna about as well as ever. Donna and the Doctor have great chemistry. It is almost as great as I remember it. I have reservations about getting the team back together. But Tate and Tennant still know how to work well together, and it is a delight to see them here again.
Unfortunately, I cannot say the same of Yasmin Finney. Her acting as Rose was very uninteresting. I do not know if it was her acting, the direction, the character, or both, but I could not get into it. I have nothing against her as a person. Her acting did not resonate with me. Perhaps your mileage may vary.
The Meep was interesting enough. I found his annoying preaching distracting. It took me right out of the story for a moment. Was it meant to be humorous? I do not think so. It seems preachy and out of place with the rest of the scene. It strikes me as out of character for the Meep. However, overall, I found the Meep amusing enough.
The Wrath Warriors were standard, two-dimensional Doctor Who fair, lacking much substance. They served their purpose and nothing more. I suspect that more effort might have made them a little more interesting. Why not give it a try?
The UNIT scientist Shirley Bingham is fine, even if her role was relatively predictable. There was not much to her character, and I think Davies could have given her more to do. Given how little the story used her, Davies should have replaced most of her scenes with scenes with the established leader of UNIT, Kath Lethbridger-Stewart.
Conclusion
What can I say? If this had been a standard Doctor Who episode, I would probably have considered it somewhat better than average. It had pacing issues. But it was exciting. Star Beast had many fascinating moments. It was great to see Donna again. It was great to see David Tennant play someone like the Tenth Doctor again.
The ending was problematic, and elements of the resolution made little sense. Similar to the episode itself, its ending propels you towards the next special. It was entertaining and got you to the next Doctor Who special.
The special was fun, quirky, exciting, nostalgia-bait. It is also occasionally preachy, sometimes hypocritical, has some ill-conceived ideas and pacing issues, and suffers from various other problems. So, it was a typical Russell Davies episode of Doctor Who.
It would have made a perfectly serviceable standard Doctor Who episode. It is not as impressive as a Doctor Who special. As a special, I have to say it was a little disappointing. However, it is not terrible.
Tune in next month, when I review the next special, Doctor Who: Wild Blue Yonder!