14.2: Wild Blue Yonder

In which our arms are too long.

Broadcast/Watched: December 2023

“Are you Donna...?” Alternatively, “Oh, this is therapeutic” *punches self in the face*.

Well, this is more like it. Firstly, it looks expensive. The TARDIS actually landing in an apple tree (the 1978 version of this was an offhand joke; now we actually see it). The credits which, yes, okay, they were there last week but I didn’t notice. The massive, massive spaceship, with bits that move. You can see the money on screen

Secondly, it’s a scary, high concept puzzle box story of the sort I’m an absolute sucker for, the kind of thing Moffat used to write in the first RTD era. It’s obviously a conceptual sequel to Midnight – possibly literally even the same species; a formless thing that needs to copy to exist. But it works on a second watch too, because it’s not just twist, there are also loads of great performance bits, character stuff and even emotion in there, too.

And it is so, so unsettling. The eldritch horror of the slightly wrong copies. The terrifying giant versions of the regulars. The bit where they get tangled together and block the corridor. Donna melting and the Doctor as this weird spider creature thing. Even the moments where Donna drops to the floor to count the salt, or when the Doctor – the real Doctor – just screams helplessly and starts kicking the wall. I can’t remember the last time Who felt this weird.

I love the space-y, awe-filled score – this also feels like one of the thread of “space is SCARY” stories that the modern show sometimes throws at us (The Impossible Planet, Waters of Mars, Oxygen, etc). The spaceship outside the universe reminds me of the concept of Hindmost, from Lance Parkin’s 35th anniversary novel The Infinite Doctors.

I was momentarily disappointed before broadcast, when everyone involved started going “Shit shit our ultra-secret publicity strategy means everyone’s expecting surprise guest stars”. Literally all the clips we’d seen were from the first nine minutes of the episode, and for about 10 seconds I got over excited by the presence of an actress literally named “Susan Twist” because, if ever we were getting the Doctor’s granddaughter Susan back, possibly fighting some Daleks, this had to be it. Carole Anne Ford’s not gonna be around forever. (Oh hang on that casting is a deliberate troll isn’t it?) In the event, though, I loved that we just got a proper, uncomplicated Tennant and Donna episode. I also love that Jimbo the robot was the only image we had from the episode and he barely does anything, while also doing the most important thing in the story.

I’m not entirely sure I understand why the destruction had to happen slowly – sure, slowing your thoughts down keeps the monsters from copying you, but once the captain is dead why does that still matter? Also there is no way is it gonna take three years for that robot to walk down that corridor. But, these are nitpicks. This was the first “f*ck yeah, Doctor Who”-level story, the sort that makes me think “Wow I didn’t know it could do THAT” since, what, Fugitive? That was slightly ruined by the failure to do anything with it though, so... Demons of the Punjab? World/Falls? It’s been years, whatever it is. We are so back.

Other things:

• I rewatched it on iPlayer, and it feels like they fixed the soundmix that stopped me hearing bits of the dialogue on the first go? Or maybe my ears are cleaner now. Very weird that the show is now split into three chunks (20th century, 2005-22, 2023-), mind.

• So, the Newton casting... I don’t care that he’s brown. He is, indeed, very hot, the bastard. But it does feel a bit odd to have a weird comedy prologue on a scary episode. Is this another note from Disney? Anyway: last week was a repeat of a 1980 comic, this time it’s a realisation of a one liner from 1978.

• “I once spent three years in orbit...” The HADS bit is annoying, but much less annoying than the last time they were used.

• How many episodes have that sense of building dread as the motor of the plot? (It’s a whole 23 minutes before the script shows its hand.) The only one I can think of is Earthshock 1. Arguably Androzani, or Inferno, perhaps?

• There are some lovely design touches – Donna in an orange room, Tennant in a blue one, hot and cold, the dominant colours of the RTD1 and Moffat/Smith eras respectively. There’s an R2D2 look to bits of spaceship. Slightly in awe that Doctor Who looks like *this* now.

• For the second week running we get a conversation between characters separated by plexiglass.

• Assorted random character observations. The cast in this are in their early 50s, barely younger than William Hartnell in 1963 (he would have been 57 I think?). The Doctor has three doubles (acting, beast, contortionist). I love him tasting something to check if it’s dangerous. Why does the Doctor only have one sonic anyway? The last time we saw Donna drive was Turn Left. The moment when she just stands watching the fireball head towards her waiting for death is incredible.

• Oh, and 14 fancies men. Cool.

• I was surprised at the references to the Timeless Children, Flux and Gallifrey having got complicated – I sort of assumed this stuff would be quietly put away. Now I feel like maybe the plan is to use the events of the previous era as the equivalent of the Time War: a source of angst , a way of giving the immortal trickster god lead a recognisable emotional life.

• “I never thought I’d see you again after all these years...” It’s such a shame we only got one scene of Wilf, but I’m so glad we did that I genuinely screamed when I saw him, scaring the hell out of the dog. The only other time I recall doing that was when my beloved texted me to ask if I was excited about the RTD news, and that was how I found out he was coming back.

• I have never previously encountered the song Wild Blue Younder and do not entirely understand its thematic resonance.

• On the official podcast, RTD asks the hosts to name the equine species the captain. I’m a bit disappointed because I thought it might be a Jell, a native of the planet Jelledge, the only planet in the entire Whoniverse to be named after me, and this rules it out. 

• All that chat about whether the ramps in the TARDIS were so that Ruth Madeley could go in there, and it turns out they’re just to tip evil Donna out. LOL.

• WTF is with the “mavity” joke and is this going anywhere.