Written by Randy Allain
‘Wild Blue Yonder,’ the second Doctor Who 60th Anniversary special starring David Tennant and Catherine Tate was shrouded in mystery, but this review aims to sort out the the twists and turns, so please be warned that there are spoilers ahead
Off we go, into the wild blue yonder!
Russell T. Davies made a point of keeping viewers in the dark leading up to the latest Doctor Who special, and after a quick detour to pelt Sir (well, not yet…spoilers) Isaac Newton with apples and accidentally rename the force of gravity (We still don’t fully understand the mavity of this situation), the episode strands The Doctor and Donna Noble on a derelict spaceship at the edge of the universe, beyond the reach of the nearest starlight.
Overall, the episode delivers on this dark premise with some of the most unsettling rising tension we’ve felt since “Midnight,” the clear spiritual companion to this episode. For starters, the TARDIS activates the Hostile Action Displacement System and evacuates the spaceship along with Fourteen’s new, overpowered sonic screwdriver. Our companions haven’t just lost their means of escape, they’ve lost their shortcut to easy translation, making the mysterious words kicking in over the PA system particularly unsettling.
Starting here, the episode pits The Doctor and Donna against a pair of dark facsimiles. What are they exactly? Well, according to the doppelgangers, they “came from the nothing” – they are “not things.” It turns out these “not things” are scanning and analyzing our companions in an attempt to become perfect copies. How do they do this? By inspiring fear and quick-thinking. In the end, we get a classic Doctor Who explanation: the trick to defeating these entities is to move slowly. Those ominous words we are hearing? That slow, old (cute) robot? They are all part of a plan the captain of the ship set in motion three years ago to destroy the ship before the entities could learn how to stop it.
On one hand, the execution is masterful. Every time we get the most humanoid and deceptive versions of the doppelgangers, Tennant and Tate shine. They both manage to play subtly twisted versions of themselves, whether it’s speaking just a little too bluntly without full emotional intelligence, holding an empty facial expression one beat too long, or slipping into an unnatural crouch. At times, we get cues from the score, like ominous tones playing over an otherwise endearing line of dialogue from The Doctor about Wilfred Mott: “Such a nice man. I’d love to see him again.” Of course, every time the facade drops, we also get incredible menace from our actors. Tennant, in particular, musters up all of the sinister energy he can, glaring at us in a way we haven’t seen since his turn as Killgrave in Marvel’s Jessica Jones. However we feel about the episode, it’s hard not to feel chills as Tennant defines what drives these dark entities: “the things we felt, they shaped us, carrying across the dark. We could hear your lives of war, and blood and fury and hate;” Tate seethes with equal intensity when her dark copy belittles the brighter side of humanity: “Love letters don’t travel very far…and neither do your lies!”
On the other hand, the visual effects choices used to sell the villains are more of a mixed bag. At their best, the effects evoke an Everything Everywhere All at Once sort-of insanity (disproportionate, dragging limbs, for instance). At other times, the slapstick feels a little forced and unnecessary next to the incredible performances. Some gags, like the gnarly fangs, Donna striking a massive hand with a stick, or Fourteen transmogrifying into a four-legged creature undercut the high stakes of the episode.
To be fair, it’s also worth noting that the long digital hallway full of twisting tiles and mechanical pistons creates a beautiful and engaging atmosphere . Let’s hand it to the visual effects artists for that one!
There is an added bonus in the form of a strong connection to an all-time great episode: “Midnight.” In that episode, The Doctor falls victim to a mysterious, non-corporeal entity that seems to build strength through copying the passengers on a stranded train. It’s one of the greatest and most horrifying episodes of Doctor Who, because it is one of the only times that The Doctor fails to save the day. In the end, it takes the selfless sacrifice of a train hostess to save Ten from being thrown overboard. His memory of that terror and helplessness is palpable throughout this special, particularly when he is kicking an air vent grate in desperate frustration, and later, when he nearly abandons Donna by mistake. Russell T. Davies would be smart to find more ways to capitalize on this mystery moving forward.
It’s also worth noting that some of the horror in this episode might stem from our cultural anxieties surrounding artificial intelligence. All of the messy proportions (my arms are too long), and wonky eyes evoke the sort of visual soup we are accustomed to seeing from AI art generators. Even the motivation for the doppelgangers reeks of AI; they are copying humanity, but picking up on our worst tendencies. Just think of all the stories we’ve seen about AI chat bots shifting so quickly into hate speech and misogyny.
However viewers feel about the central storyline, ‘Wild Blue Yonder’ also delivers on the fun we want from the reunion of The Doctor and Donna. Tennant cranks up the quirkiness. Every line delivery in the opening moments feels like wordplay. He hits us with some playful, faux chivalry (your car, m’lady), and even performs a fakeout death after sampling some alien computer goop. Donna, of course, fires plenty of return shots: “Allons-as-idiots-say-y!” Tennant’s best comedic moment might be a very unconvincing “nope” after Fourteen’s propensity for problem-solving allows the “not things” to figure out the “slow” plan that is about to destroy them. Ultimately, our companions keep things fun even in the face of a pair of creeping doppelgangers. If we had to sum up the episode in one line, it might be The Doctor’s retort to the evil nothings: “I think you’ll find that we’re quite something.” They sure are.
After all sorts of speculation about guest stars we might get to see in this episode, we get the only appearance that really matters: Bernard Cribbins as Wilfred “Wilf” Mott. After hurting us with a twisted Wilf reference from an evil entity early in the episode, we finally get to see our heart-on-his-sleeve, favorite grandad. When The Doctor and Donna return home, he is sitting and waiting with full love and devotion. He even breaks down into his signature emotional vulnerability and melts our hearts with a beautiful and memorable line at the sight of The Doctor: “That lovely face. It’s like springtime.” If this is the last we see of Wilf, it would be hard to ask for a more perfect final statement.
We also explore some personal and emotional growth from The Doctor. He is still asking questions about his identity and emotions (Isaac Newton was so hot), but most importantly, we see that he is grappling with how much he wants to share about what he has been through since the last time he saw Donna. She’s been without The Doctor for fifteen years, but he has seen the collapse and destruction of Gallifrey, spent a few billion years in a psychological prison (Heaven Sent), and seen half of the universe devastated by the Flux (Jodie Whittaker hive, rise up!)…just to name a few traumas. Amidst the darkness, we feel some hope on this front in the form of a lot of physical closeness between our companions. We get some lovely hugs and linked arms that make it feel like these two are likely to find a healthy path forward.
One critique of ‘Wild Blue Yonder’ might be, why would the TARDIS drop our heroes on this ship when we ultimately learn that the destruction of the “not things” had already been ensured by the sacrifice of the ship’s captain? It seems that the answer might be an emotional one – perhaps opening up to Donna for real will be a crucial step in defeating whatever evil awaits next week in the third Doctor Who 60th Anniversary special: “The Giggle.”
We have a lot to think about before next week, but most importantly, we have to ask ourselves: are we ready to say goodbye to The Doctor and Donna once again?
