Wild Blue Yonder
Story 302, 60th Anniversary Special 2
Doctor: The Fourteenth Doctor
Companions: Donna Noble, Wilfred Mott
We go even further beyond in a story that becomes an immediate classic.
The Review
At last…this is why Doctor Who is incredible. We regrettably went the entire Chibnall era without a true classic episode you could point to and declare that is what the show is about. Demons of the Punjab was incredible, but not necessarily something that only Doctor Who could’ve done. This is (okay maybe Star Trek). Following a hilarious cold open where Isaac Newton discovers ‘mavity’ instead of ‘gravity’ (which is just a joke and isn’t hinting at anything…right?), we land on a massive abandoned spaceship. The TARDIS’ hostile action system kicks in, and it vanishes with the Sonic, leaving the Doctor and Donna to unravel this mystery. It’s a two-hander…and then the penny drops when the two split up and start talking to two people who are very decidedly not the Doctor and Donna. The true villain are these ‘Not Things’ from the edge of the universe, who occasionally turn into revolting body horror. It’s the Other Mother from Coraline, horrifying copies who just can’t quite get the arms right.
The plot is relatively simple once you know it, but watching this story was exhilarating and tense. Many scenes of trying to figure out who was real and who was the copy, and unraveling that the ship was about to self-destruct to prevent these non-things from entering the universe. We get more insight into the Doctor and Donna, Donna’s newfound confidence, and how the Doctor is feeling after the whole Flux thing with half the universe getting eaten and not knowing their origins. I am so happy that RTD is dealing with the fallout from Jodie’s run head on, and not papering it over like it doesn’t exist. That’s one big fear for this era gone. The resolution is thrilling, climatic, with the Doctor almost taking on the wrong Donna. At the very end back on Earth, we get a reunion with a now wheelchair-bound Wilf, and to see Bernard Cribbins still in top form at the end of his life was so bittersweet.
Regardless of what happens in The Giggle, this dynamite episode proved that Doctor Who still has the goods 60 years later. For people wanting more characters and fan service, I get it, but The Power of the Doctor filled that role well enough for me not to be worried here. Also, shout-out to the fun interlude comic preceding this story with the Doctor and Donna careening through history.
10/10: Been too long since I’ve given out a ten. A slimmed down cast in an impossible problem has worked wonders from Midnight to Heaven Sent and even on audio with Scherzo, add Wild Blue Yonder to that canon.
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