Doctor Who Recap: Anniversary Special No. 2 Brings Double Trouble — Grade It!
Hayden Mears
Contributor
David Tennant and Catherine Tate one again got lost in space-time in Wild Blue Yonder, an hour of television brimming with all the mystery and humor we’ve come to expect from Russell T Davies-scripted Doctor Who.
First, a very quick recap of last week’s The Star Beast to jog your memory: The Doctor and Donna Noble are rocketing through time and space in a broken TARDIS. They had just defeated the Meep and eagerly boarded the TARDIS before it malfunctioned. Donna, having blue-balled her own cosmic doom by sharing Time Lord energy with her daughter Rose, is fierce, quippy, and every bit the feisty foil to Tennant’s erratic, spacey, mostly relaxed Doctor.
Special 2: Wild Blue Yonder kicks off in 17th-Century England, where a chipper Isaac Newton settles under a tree for some afternoon reading. As an apple tumbles from the branches and clocks Newton, the TARDIS crashes into the tree. The Doctor pokes his spiky-haired head out of the smoking time machine and asks Newton what year it is. A shocked Newton answers: “1666.”
They leave Newton to grapple with what he just witnessed, proceeding to “park” the TARDIS elsewhere. An angry jet of flame forces them out of the TARDIS and into what appears to be a spaceship. We’re treated to some fun Donna/Doctor banter (“I think a non-sonic screwdriver is called a screwdriver!”) as the Doctor attaches the sonic screwdriver to the busted TARDIS to begin repairing it. Before they can properly inspect their surroundings, the TARDIS abruptly vanishes. The Doctor says their only hope is its built-in HADS (Hostile Action Displacement System), which enables the TARDIS to flee from danger. The Doctor had disabled it years ago, but the TARDIS’ self-rebuild switched it back on.
They proceed into a vast hallway, finding no other signs of “life” aside from a rusty three-eyed robot. It isn’t until the Doctor pilots the spacecraft through a starless cosmos that he understands where they are: the edge of the universe.
He and Donna return to the empty hallway and begin exploring. As they get a measure of their surroundings, they talk. It’s a harmless, seemingly unimportant conversation — mostly a protracted lament interspersed with the same odd, repeated statement from the Doctor: “My arms are too long.”
The scene changes slightly. Donna and the Doctor seem to be in a different room, having a similarly innocuous exchange before Donna repeats, “My arms are too long.” The Doctor realizes this isn’t his Donna, and immediately starts shouting. The real Donna, having figured out the Doctor she’s with isn’t her Doctor, bolts. The real Doctor and Donna regroup in the hallway, but their copies, now enormous, grotesque monstrosities, arrive and loudly pursue them.
They escape their rampaging copies but are separated again. They quickly reunite, but something is off. They start interrogating each other, watching closely for any hint of deception. The Doctor realizes that the copies are becoming more and more like them by reading their thoughts. Their goal, he guesses, is to become clones so convincing that they can fool the TARDIS into rescuing them instead of the real Doctor and Donna. This culminates with a startling revelation: the ship is a bomb, and the robot in the never-ending hallway is the trigger.
A desperate race to the trigger ensues, with the Doctor and Donna copies gaining a significant lead. Donna and the Doctor manage to catch up to the imposters, buying enough time for the countdown to end and, as the Doctor phrases it, the hostile action to end. The TARDIS reappears, and the Doctor and Donna escape the ship as it explodes, incinerating their copies and avoiding yet another catastrophe.
Wild Blue Yonder then leaves us on a reunion and a cliffhanger: Donna and the Doctor arrive back in London, where they meet up with Wilf (the late Bernard Cribbins, who got a memorial card during the end credits) moments before chaos erupts in the streets. A commercial plane crashes into the city, and the closing credits roll.
Is the Toymaker (Neil Patrick Harris) gearing up for his grand entrance?
What did you think of Special 2: Wild Blue Yonder? Readers last week gave Special 1 an average grade of “A-“….
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Absolutely marvelous! This is why Russell T. Davies should be locked contractually obligated to write every episode of Dr. Who. ;)
Everyone involved deserves every available award. A total tour-de-force for David Tennant and Catherine Tate. Can’t wait for Part Three!
I agree. His return has brought some fun back to “Doctor Who.” Looking forward to next week’s special, including the Christmas special.
This one reminded me a lot of Midnight which is hands down my favorite episode of modern Who. It doesn’t quite hit the same peak but what it does do is remind why the Doctor and Donna were such a great duo. In fact, I got sad towards the end because we only have the one special left. But the third one with the return of Wilf AND the Celestial Toymaker is sure to send us out with a bang.
My mistake. Looks like that was all we got of Wilf before Bernard Cribbins sadly passed away. RIP, good sir.
At least, we get a proper goodbye with both Wilf &Cribbins.
I’m also looking forward to Ncuti Gatwa’s first full episode as the Doctor on Christrmas.
I realy enjoyed the fact that it wasn’t obvious which Doctor and which Donna were the copies and which were the actual people.
And it was so enjoyable seeing Bernard Cribbins at the end of the special!
Rose is not a daughter. That is not how biology works.
Always has to be one in the bunch with the unnecessary comment.
And David Tenant isn’t really a time travelling Doctor from Gallifrey… that’s not how physics works. Being a son or a daughter isn’t about biology, it’s about emotion. She feels like a woman, therefore she IS a woman. Just let people be whoever they want to be. There’s enough hate in the world without us creating more in places it doesn’t need to be.
Good on ya Steve…exactly the sentiment that we all need to embrace. To quote the Doctor ~ “Love, in all its forms, is the most powerful weapon we have. Because love is a form of hope. And like hope, love abides. In the face of everything”
Yes, good on ya.
Daughter is not a biological term but rather a title like Time Lord
You really hated science at school.
And it seems you were not alone.
Or maybe you should post an actual argument next time.
How could you reasonably argue with somebody who thinks that “daughter” is not the biological term for female offspring but a title like “time lord” or “proconsul”?
With all due respect – Heather probably disliked science at school and decided to replace it with ideology. As I said, you cannot argue with that.
PS
If “Rose” (and the actress portraying her) defines herself as a woman, so be it. I have no argument with that. It his her decision and I am fine with that. But “daughter” still is a biological term
I think you missed the point. Nobody is arguing biology is bad, people are arguing that biology is not determinate factor as it negates other logical factors. Daughter IS a biological term. HOWEVER, it is also legally speaking a title. For instance, if someone were to adopt a child or use fertility treatments, legally speaking, that is their son or daughter. So, are you going to argue that a couple who conceived a daughter through fertility treatments don’t have a daughter even though they gave birth to her but are biologically not related to her?
Let’s be real here, I doubt you know much about biology. If you did, you would know that biology does not dictate gender identity. Do I really need to go into the whole chromosomal disorders and variation discussion?
And you’re not a man – little pathetic transphobe
Rose is a male who identifies as a female, they are referred to as daughter because their choice is being respected to address them as female, it’s not a biological reference.
You’re not alone, Walter. Just want to let you know in this world there are still others who believe biology shouldn’t be trumped by feelings.
It felt a bit like Bridgerton in the beginning.
Yes, it did. And it was very funny.
Didnt realize nature was trolling the comments today. Speak for yourself. You dont get to decide who Rose is. ROSE does
Isaac newton is not white now?
wtf
the episode is getting an awful doing in UK for changing a well known historical figure skin colour
as people are pointing out rightly, if they travelled back in time and changed Rosa Parks skin colour and use Sci fi as some short of bs “defence” there would be war
And Van Gogh wasn’t a Scotsman with two ears. This isn’t a biography. It’s science fiction and in was a story about their version of Newton formulating the theory of mavity. All in good fun!
Why can’t we just enjoy something & let it go at that?
Agreed. I had to stop and look it up before I even continued. Literally giant unavoidable proof that they’re doing “diversity for diversity’s sake” and not with any actual thought behind it. #doublestandards
They just changed history from gravity to mavity in their universe and then Donna forgot the word gravity pretty much right away and that’s what you worry about: the logic of Sir Issacs not being lily white?
My mom & I are going to watch the second special tomorrow. Looking forward to it.
That was awful. Some of the worst CGI I’ve seen in a long time. The story was bad. These specials are so very disappointing to me.
Dr Who is brilliant David Tennant and Catherine Tate work together really well
I’ve seen clips of this special & it’s like Tennant & Tare never left. Really looking forward to to seeing the special today on Disney + with my mom today.
Like I said before, it’s like Tennant & Tate never left. Same with Davies. My mom & I are enjoying the specials so far. We are also looking forward to next season with Ncuti Gatwa.
I gave it a C. I can’t believe noone anywhere has said how much it felt like a ripoff of The Thing. And the excessive unrealistic CGI brought back the days of ’70s fake-looking sets. I did think the Isaac Newton/Mavity stuff was funny, and seeing Wilf again was sweet. It was sad to read that’s all we were going to get. Anyway, really looking forward to next week and hope DT goes out with a bang (and maybe a past Doctor cameo or two).
the show has had a habit of taking from horror genres, going back to the 70s
There’s at least a small chance that he briefly regenerates into Matt Smith next week, right? On his way to Fifteen? Please? Haha.
10 and 11 are still my favorite Doctors. I would LOVE to see Matt Smith pop up in some form for the 60th anniversary. I think the 50th anniversary was better than the 60th is turning out to be. But, I am still enjoying these specials.
I can’t wait for this special & next week. Bear in mind that the 4th special is Ncuti Gatwa’s first full episode as the Doctor & it airs Christmas Day.
It briefly made me creeped out to be home alone and the Doctor was mysterious and emotionally closed off, yep, good times are here again lol. Give it an A!
Watched the special with my mom today on Disney Plus. We loved it
Yes, clearly got horror vibes with this one.
I also love how they didn’t ignore the big revelations from last season about who the Doctor is.