DID IT SUCK? | Doctor Who [THE STAR BEAST REVIEW]
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- čas přidán 30. 11. 2023
- Russell T Davies has returned as showrunner. The Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Specials kick off with some old friends and new enemies in "The Star Beast". Today, Harry embarks on a journey to see if it lived up to the hype.
Big shout to Jordo for making this video's thumbnail!
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After a needless amount of time, this video has finally made it to CZcams. The copyright system on this website has reached an all-time low. I had to re-render and re-upload this video 11 times, and even then I couldn't get it monetised. It is still in the appeal process, all because a 7 second clip where I talk about the new title sequence. I highly implore you to join my Patreon page as this is the only sure-fire way of this video being financially viable. I spent 45 hours making this video, only to have the copyright system spit it back in my face 11 times.
I'm also looking forward to reading your feedback on the inclusion of the green screen. It's definitely not perfect, I'm literally using a green sheet of material that has creases and a ring light (hence the stuttery brown you see coming out of my neck from time to time) I hope that with increased Patreon support I can invest in a decent fold-away green screen and a dual lighting kit to improve my set up.
If you want to support the work I do: www.patreon.com/harrysmovingmedia
I thought you was done with youtube for now cause you had a teaching job and moving away?
Ridiculous gender and non-binary rubbish
You want to blame Disney for something they have no real part in?
I think a few people have had issues because of the title sequence. It seems the BBC tried to stop any footage from Wild Blue Yonder and the Giggle releasing early and they’ve fed the entire episodes into their copyright bot, including the intro and credits sequences which also appear in The Star Beast.
I could spot that rose is a biological male. That chin 😂
The most unbelievable thing in this episode is a public sector worker getting a bonus
Didn't see it myself. But read other reviews. Seems like it's gone the same way as other BBC productions. All about the Woke Message. Politicised again.
@@davidcritchley3509🤓
2015 called they want their wokeness back!
I really don't understand the "let it go" thing. The Doctor has sacrificed his friends, family, his entire planet, and his life multiple times over to help people. Donna was even upset in the episode that she gave away all her money to charity because that's what the Doctor would do. Sooo.. what does it mean? Did they throw in some misandry in the episode just because or is there some other meaning I'm not getting?
There letting go of the energy, that the only meaning.
@@TiredMoonRabbit And the Doctor couldn't understand that "as a male presenting time lord"... why?
Capaldi’s last words were literally “Doctor, I let you go” that shows that the character has developed and he’s not as vain as he used to be. It was just a needless jab.
@@dan79600 he could and probably did, that was just donna and by extention her daughter do a classic noble rib twards him. She didn't exactly want to take in the energy and after finding out that her daughter took half of it, it would make sense that they could let it go. The line delivery was bad though.
@@H2E47 done by Donna's daughter who's mother is the queen of needless jabs.
Rose was supposed to be 15? I just assumed that she was in her 20's or so, and any references to school were about college.
Well, we last saw Donna in 2008. 15 years ago... Knowing that "No rule exists anymore" it's RTD did not play with the concept here.
15 at most, given Silva says the metacrisis/her amnesia was 15 years ago, but given there was no sign of a baby or Donna being pregnant at The End Of Time, Rose could be younger.
They talked about her being in school a bunch of times, and they mentioned that it has been 15 years since she lost her memory so shes 15 max, and being any younger is even more ridiculous
Yeah. It's normal to transition 15 year olds now. That's the message.
Should be 2009, based on the timeline of the first four seasons, plus specials, technically...@@edmundthespiffing2920
The whole "metacrisis passed down" thing would work and is an interesting idea but, at the same time, it feels like a massive cop out that they could just "let go". How can you "let go" of a Time Lord mind?? It would've been better if Donna died at the end of the specials due to being unable to fix the metacrisis or something along those lines.
I'm hoping this is just a bumpy start and RTD is just getting his stride back.
That wasnt a bumpy start,this episode was intended the way it was done from the second it was planned
When people show you who they are, at what point do you believe them?
honestly, i would buy it if it were just a little bit more complicated. the way it was used to solve the huge problem of DONNA DYING felt very cheap, to be honest. the undeserved jab at the doctor for being a man also didn’t help.
Letting go of Time Lord energy isn't actually a new idea, didn't 10 do almost the exact same thing when he regen'd back into himself during the S4 finale? He just dispensed the energy from himself into his hand. It's a similar idea to the way Donna and Rose dispense of it from one another here really.
@@primitivepainter6761 They released it into mid air...10 needed something having his genes to dispel it into...
I loved the part in Jodie Whittaker's era where Graham told the Female-presenting time lord that he was scared about his cancer coming back and she gave him the greatest advice to just let it go!
and when the man who decided to murder innocent spiders then went on to offer the DALEK race help in defeating humanity, the 13th doctor just decided to let him go, let it go!
oh wait, she actually did that for the second one... oof
Chibnall era haters stop using the same scenes against the era challenge: impossible. And when it comes to Robertson there was nothing she could really do in that situation.
@@friendlyotaku9525Chibnall era has fans? Waaaaat? I can’t believe anyone would defend that waffle
@@TheMightyMidget People actually like things?! WHAT?! I know, shocking that people actually like and enjoy things!
@@friendlyotaku9525I think that people using the same scenes to criticise media will generally say more about those scenes than the people criticising them
@@patient24602 but then they ignore all the great things. It's just something I've noticed.
For me, the episode had an ending that felt completely extended for no reason. Why not just explain that the shared metacrisis would slowly disappear with time as the energy couldn't stay in them both as it had split and was unstable, so we can have a few episodes of donna being up to speed with the doctor and then she can retire at the end of it and enjoy the rest of her life after maybe a bit of tension about whether she'd be okay or not after it left her.
Instead they had to take a hit at the doctor for being a male presenting timelord? Like, huh? He was literally a woman 6 hours ago.
And the thing that bothered me the most was the whole "Binary, Non Binary" thing. Like... She's a transgender woman, she's binary, she's a woman, she's not non binary... Why was that even a thing they had to mention???
because its shared between 3 people its "non binary" or thats how I took it
A lot of the end of that episode was forced and convoluted for no reason. Like Donna "fainting" even though she was perfectly fine? Had me engaged in the first half, lost me in the second half, and I got more upset when I found out that the reason why davros wasn't in his chair during the short that released before the episode was because Davies had a problem with an evil disabled person on screen... like what? Have we gotten to the point where it's not ok to portray people of certain backgrounds as villains especially in the case where their evil has nothing to do with their background? It's not like davros is evil because he is in a wheelchair, he's evil because he is a eugenicist.
@@surplusofdads7996How did you interpret it that way? Donna, the Doctor, and Rose literally say "because the Doctor is male and female, and neither" making it explicitly about gender.
Rose being non-binary despite being a transwomen is nonesensical since being trans implies you identify and present yourself as the opposite gender, being non-binary contradicts that since it doesn't identify as male or female or follows gender norms, the fact Rose is both things strongly suggests cognitive dissonance.
Non-Binary: a gender identity and an umbrella term for people whose identity falls outside the gender binary. Some people do not identify wholly or at all with the gender they were assigned at birth - some people have no gender at all. The term non-binary comes under the trans umbrella.
Honestly the very end with the letting it go bit was the only bit that irritated me cause it felt unnecessary. You could have just had the meta crisis passing down be the solution that saves Donna. And it felt like a jab that wasn't needed. Other than that at least there were actual characters, at least there was chemistry between them, I always figured this would be the weakest of the specials anyway. Wild blue Yonder is the big one I'm looking forward too
Definitely has a "ok so let's just get to the good part" type energy to it production.
"Honestly the very end with the letting it go bit was the only bit that irritated me cause it felt unnecessary. You could have just had the meta crisis passing down be the solution that saves Donna."
YES!!! I've said this before in another discussion. It was a perfect solution! But they had to go and distort it with a bad joke!
EXACTLY! it felt so, so unnecessary! having the metacrisis pass down and split was a very good explanation to avoid donna’s death. if they had dwelled just a little bit more on the plushies rose was making, and showed them to the audience for a bit longer, i believe that revelation would have been even more interesting. it would have given the audience more time to try to connect the dots.
maybe that was just me though? i didn’t pay much attention to the plushies.
Actually having its effects shared and halved by having a child I thought was clever solution for the metacrisis problem. It could have just been left at that and/or if there was a need to then remove it from Donna (so there isn't a Doctor like being roaming around on Earth), it would at least have given the Doctor time to figure out a solution in the next two episodes so by the end Donna (and Rose) are restored, sans metacrisis but with memories intact to carry on their family lives as the Doctor mooches off in the Tardis again (or possibly sacrifices himself so that this can be achieved).
Point being, it was a good plot device but taken too far and ended up with a literal hand waving it away by shaking it off. Seemed a bit uneccesary.
Thoughts on Wild blue yonder?
I honestly dislike the new sonic, just feels way too overpowered and was just used to get out of sticky situations
Its a sonic screwdriver as in manipulating soundwaves. Sound cannot create light for projections and especially not a laser shield. I know its sci fi but come on its literally going against science lol
I predict the doctor losing it is going to be a common trend
Rose having plushies of a Cyberman and The Beast doesn't make sense since Donna never met either of them, unless Big Finish decides to take advantage of this, i don't see why these were added
There's also one of Karvanista , so its supposed to be aliens that the Doctor knows about, right up until the present point. I guess its supposed to suggest there is still some link to the Doctor's current memories but it would make more sense just to make it be the memories Donna has of the Doctor up until the point they parted.
@hotdog1214 it's even worse now after watching Wild Blue Yonder where Donna says she only found out about the adventures of 11, 12 and 13 after she became the DoctorDonna a second time but can't comprehend these memories likening it to looking into a furnace
@@maldon3659 Yeah, it is a touch confusing as I had thought it would be that Donnas memories that returned would only be of those she had while with the Doctor but it seems its going for some sort of shared memory link thing with the Doctor, including current memories when she is Doctor-Donna.
I'm not convinced she was being truthful about not knowing, I'm suspicious that she was just being kind and trying to get the Doctor to open up instead... we shall see, possibly.
Short answer: yes.
Long answer: Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees!!
I do agree with Donna. Rose can’t act. Her accent was all over the place in the 2nd half of the episode. What the hell was going on?
Fr I see so many people saying Yasmin delivered a great performance and I’m over here wondering whether I was too harsh on Yaz and Ryan’s actors for their stiff acting.
His accent*
@@Longshanks1690 No you definitely weren't
That cracked me up it was like they were breaking the 4th wall with that comment
@@neko7606 That wouldn’t have helped since Rose doesn’t act like a person. She was written to be “the trans character,” not a character in her own right, so no amount of surface level changes would fix the problems with her writing.
The seeds of destruction are sown within the message.
I love how angry this episode has made you creepy bigots who tried to invade this fanbase. Go away, you're not welcome.
@@PlatinumAltaria and that's an example of the kind of thought processes used to divide a community. Try CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) some time might help.
@@GuyTheAnimated You're literally pretending that there is a conspiracy to spread a "message" that you can't even define a single aspect of... because there are brown people on the telly. I think I'll be ok.
As a trans person, i found the scene invlobing donna and her mum to be well written, but the others were just unecessary and made me cringe. Felt like they were all put in there for reprisentation bonus points
Two huge mysteries that were built up- the return of tennant's face and curing the metacrisis- were just thrown away
the funny thing is that because this is from an old comic the rick and morty bug things ripped off dr. who originally
I really don’t think Rick & Morty’s creators were aware of some semi-obscure Dr Who comic. It’s more that just making bugs big is a pretty common trope in SciFi for designing alien races.
@@Longshanks1690was
That green screen will forever be the first image of this new era
Not me thinking Rose was like a freshmen in college 😂
Exactly! I thought she was playing 18/19 years old and that would have worked…but passing for 15 is taking the proverbial.
7:04 they don’t exactly leave it in limbo whether or not Sylvia lives with them as it’s heavily implied that she let herself in
I think Donna actually says “I should never have given you a set of keys” or something like it.
Which is really fucking weird since they want to emphasise they’re just able to get by since giving away the lottery money. Isn’t an easy way to show that having the whole family live together?
I missed Harrys vids.
I thought the episode was incredibly mid.
My dad who watched it with me called it babyish
Why did Rose assume The Doctor was a man?
Because transpeople don't actually obey their own pronoun rules they insist everyone else follow.
@@berserkasaurusrex4233 Go to therapy.
She didn't, she specifically said "male presenting" lol
"Donna Noble is descending" is a reference to earlier in the episode when she says "I will descend" if anyone threatens Rose. Rose is threatened, so she descends.
It's still a strange thing to say. To decend means to fall, which seems like an ineffective way to protect your family. "If anyone tries to hurt you, I will fall" is basically what she said. Super bizarre.
@@HOTD108_ I thought it was maybe some 21st Century lingo that I'd missed out on. You're right its a baffling thing to say - twice no less.
Unless its supposed to be akin to "I'll come down on them like a tonne of bricks?" but RTD used descend instead? Its definitely a weird one, and I'm still not getting it. 🤷♀🤷♀
@@HOTD108_to “descend upon someone or something” is not an uncommon phrase. In example; “A swarm of bees descended on our picnic.” Synonyms include:
attack
assault
raid
invade
swoop
pounce
assail
arrive
come in force
arrive in hordes
The phrasing and use of the word is definitely appropriate for Donna’s scenes.
@@HOTD108_ by "descend" I think she's almost using the analogy of some kind of angelic spirit or something "descending" from heaven to protect Rose. "Descend" does _not_ necessarily mean "to fall"; it's more general than that, more like "to come/go down" (from some high place, eg heaven). Said jokingly, I think it fits Donna's character.
Nice to see someone giving a balanced look at this episode.
I tried to watch the podcast, but all they did was praise it to death, which might have made me dislike the episode more.
Perhaps someone has already mentioned it, and if so, I apologize for the repetition. If you go back to the 11th Doctor ep “The Doctor’s Wife” ( I think it is), there’s a scene where Rory and Amy have to open a lock-telepathically. And the combination to the lock is a series of words. But you can’t just say the words, you have to feel the words, envision them, concentrate on them. That’s what I recognized 14 as doing to unlock Donna’s memories. Why those specific words, I have no idea.
That's a really good point. Though the words are surely mostly just random, like sleeper activation words usually are.
I was trying to keep track of the words he used in the hope there would be an Easter egg amongst them
I actually couldn’t laughing at the intro to this video, seeing Harry put himself in David’s position only made me laugh more
It felt quite rushed as well. The fact the Doctor bumps into Donna 30 seconds into the episode and then the spaceship crashed pretty much immediately afterwards is really rushed imo. I know Davies had to set all of this up for the next episodes but I don't think that was the right way to do it.
While I understand repeating a "Partners in crime"-esque setup would have felt recycled, it was a much better and more comedic way of bringing the characters back together imo.
Thanks for giving such a balanced review Harry. It's nice to see a sensible opinion, rather than some others online approaching the episode like it's all good or all bad.
I would’ve liked it more if the coincidence had some time to build like in Partners in Crime. Like The Doctor lands, and sees the spaceship on his own. Not meeting Donna yet, but maybe he still meets Shaun in the Taxi on his way, it could even be left so he doesn’t immediately recognize him. Meanwhile, Rose stumbles across the Meep. The Doctor leaves the parked ship with the Unit truck and tracks the Meep down. Thereby finding Rose & by extension Donna. It’s a similar premise that doesn’t really miss many beats, but I think it paces Donna and the Doctor’s reunion better and in such a way that we can see their paths converging in real time, much like we did with Partners in Crime.
I agree, the Doctor running into Donna immediately after landing in London was very abrupt. From the trailers, I thought he would meet Rose first.
Well, they had to rush those little miner details, in order that they could spend half the episode drumming it in to the audience that Rose is "gorgeous" and the linchpin of the entire plot.
The let it go bit is what ruined the whole thing for me. It could have been done so much better. We know the meta crisis Donna had more imagination than the doctor maybe a mata crisis Rose come have come up with a solution to bring Donna back that wasn't a Disney musical number.
For better or for worse, RTD has made Doctor Who more accessible to the modern audience, and I feel like the Star Beast is one of the most emblematic of that. Fun? Sure! Somewhat thoughtless, though? Absolutely. To me, it feels like if Russel tried to pull from Steven Moffat and tried to do an "everybody lives"-esque ending but didn't understand how to get there.
Fun fact: Rose isn't actually technically the first canonically trans character in mainline Doctor Who - there's also Cassandra, who once lived in Earth as a "little boy".
I mean, Rose is probably better representation, but y'know
I cant remember Cassandra so i would say thats probably better representation as the whole point of transitioning is to be treater as the gender you changed to. Not being type cast as a trans character.
@@charg1nmalaz0r51 Getting typecast is definitely a problem, yeah, but on the other hand, I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with having a trans-centric storyline, as long as that's not the character's only personality trait
That seems far more like Cassandra was just bullshitting as the whole point about her is that she’s so completely fake while pretending to be the most authentic and pure human alive.
Or maybe that she was just a tomboy, that’s far more plausible for a script written in 2005 when no one had ever heard of a Trans person before.
@@Longshanks1690 ??? are you schizophrenic or something?
@@WiloPolis03 But thats what we have and is the main problem with this type of writing. Roses entire defining trait is that she is trans. It has no bearing on the plot (all that is important is Donna has a child to share the meta crisis). They literally cast a trans woman, to play a transwoman, so they could include as many trans issues as they could and had her entire characters traits, story, dialogue just to be about being trans. She is deadnamed, which transitions to dialogue of the grandparent mis gendering, to meeting the meep and talking about feeling alien too and not being accepted, to correcting the doctor about pronouns, to being glorified for being nonbinary(despite being trans but thats another issue lol), to then talking down to the doctor because hes male presenting, to then finally being me. She has no character outside of being trans. In fact the only dialogue we get from her that isnt trans related is about her making toys to help her family through financial difficulty. Why people think this is good representation is beyond me
11:07 Yeah, I'd probably have been ok with that instead of the Doctor being corrected by a child.
Doctor: I'll have him...
Meep: The
Doctor: Sorry.
Meep: I am THE Meep.
Doctor: Ok. Give me 5 minutes and the Meep and I shall be out of your hair.
Yeah. I think having a scene where someone stumbles with pronouns is a neat idea because that just happens sometimes but it shouldnt have too much attention put on it.
Especially considering not-Rose called the doctor "him" earlier. Almost like you don't have to actually ask people their pronouns, because it's an obnoxious tone policing tactic nobody does in real life outside of social media and media.
@@sonicfan1693 well they already had that scene previously with the grandparent, it was too much to keep going with it
The acting really shocked me. Tennant and Tate seem to be playing a Comic Relief sketch of their former characters. Am told Yasmin Finney was great in Heartstoppers, and if so she was having one Hell of an off day here and was very wooden. The rest of the cast seemed unable to do anything but overact with gurning facial expressions.
The script was silly and didn't make a great deal of sense, but that's been the case often in Who and we handwave it. As for the social message..regardless of whether we agree with it or disagree, it was as subtle as one of those little lectures He-Man used to give at the end of each cartoon where he rammed home the episode's moral message. It's delivery was antagonistic and borderline outright insulting, I don't believe it will change the minds of anyone not already of that viewpoint.
Regardless of the controversy (and the least likable people from each side are already at each others throats..), I don't think it can be called objectively a good episode.
Totally agree
i honestly forgot how fun you made your reviews compared to the other doctor who youtubers i watch. Thank you for standing out and entertaining me
I feel like this is the most honest review/breakdown I’ve seen and I’ve watched a lot of them now… or I just finally found one that agreed with all my thoughts. I also scored it a 5/10 & felt it too was a rocky start. Too much cringe - I swear RTD used to be better at weaving the progressive themes in without repeating himself so many times in an episode & generally in a more subtle way.
9 years? Wow I was watching your reviews of series 8. Looking forward to a 10 yr celebration. Big Fan Harry
way too forgiving score. Missed the wilfred heart felt pain the doctor had hearing he was gone, only to make fun of the doctor thinking he was dead when 'no longer with us' is widspread code for passed away. Major disrespecting bernard cribbins name just to make a non sensical joke at the doctors expens. The aiming at solders with a fixed angle wheelchair gun. The shields made of sound somehow was more stupid than you made it out to be. The doctor taking time to explain the sonic screw driver vibrating concrete, something we all knew it could do, while not giving us a made up reason the shields worked. The coffee breaking the tardis when in tennants run he litualy hit it with a mallet to get it to work. 2.5/10 at the most
I dont think the Wilf scene was meant to be disrespectful. If anything I assume it might have been written in after the actor died as a tribute of sorts. Either way the scene in my eyes was more a tribute than anything else and the joke isnt that nonsensical. The doctor didnt know while the others did know and they probs didnt even think about the potential meaning of the phrase they used.
@@sonicfan1693 If it was meant as a tribute, they'd have cut the meanspirited joke and left the Doctor's words as a eulogy to stand on their own, instead of undercutting them instantly.
I feel like an idiot when i admit the trailer for this episode actually gave me hope that it might be good
Ginger - I TOTALLY agree. David's credibility took a big hit. Omg, watching him getting chastised about a fluffy alien's pronouns was MAJOR CRINGE
It really is pretty bad when you sit and think about it for a minute
@thedude4k The Doctor is over 1,000 years old and has been both male and female - BUT only in 2023 he gets yelled at by a trans kid (supposedly 15yo) with the character development of a cactus 🌵 plant? Ugh. I pray the 2nd episode isn't worse
@@jasonwillett2126yelled at? Is that what you think yelling sounds like? Do you live in a fucking library or something?
14:59 is just a reference to earlier in the episode when she said she would descend due to rose’s bullies, also it’s just a turn of phrase, no need to single it out
Concur. And don't understand why the Doctor uses the Sonic to create force shields (?) when normally he would just summon the Tardis back. It worked OK for 12 on Skaro (most dangerous place imaginable) in The Witch's Familiar, so why not here? Looks like anything can be impossible now as well.
the string of words could be the mind conditioning words used to unlock her memories when The Doctor erased it. same idea in Marvel where the Winter Soldier was activated when a string of words were used on Bucky.
Apparently my thoughts on Doctor Who have somehow synced with yours! Interested to see that I wasn't the only one having these impressions and also didn't notice the score that much either D:
The face is a real give away.
As a writer, I can understand the need to express messages of political, sexual nature etc as the one the 60th Anniversary has done, especially when you have such an enormous audience. But there's a thing called "Subtly", whereby a writer expresses a meaning or message without shining a spotlight on it. They often have a good backbone i.e. the story, characters, plot which is the main drive (Not the message).
When the story is strong and the focus, you can accept the message or ignore it (Depending on how well it's portrayed). I know Doctor Who has always been political (I like to think of Doctor Who: The Sunmakers as a standout example within DW) but the politics in this are far too in your face, they have also been there for quite some time in every other medium, so seeing it again (when everyone wants "Escapism"), is rather annoying.
They have fallen for the drive to "change the world"... in a family orientated sci-fi, drama program viewed by a diminished audience. I'm not saying don't convey messages of a political nature, but keep it simple and not too in your face.
THANK YOU FINALLY SOMEONE GETS IT!
The words are supposed to be meaningless in a sense. They are trigger words to reactivate the meta crisis. Their randomness is to make sure their is no chance of someone accidently reactivating her in conversation.
1:19am in Australia but i guess i cant go to bed yet 😔 Time to watch Harrys review
Welcome back, Harry my lad! I'm glad you decided to return to the working formula, cause gosh dang it, I missed you man. I used to fall asleep to your doctor who reviews, so I'm glad my spiteful asmr has finally returned. Cheers mate.
Mr Castle!! I was excited when I saw your video, I subscribed right away. You are one of, if not, the best reviewer of Dr Who on youtube. Keep it up :)
I hate that they deleted a 15 year old plot in 5 minutes. The impact of the end of series 4 is gone now. The Doctor didn't need to wipe her memory, Donna just needed to let go. So far these specials are a bit cringe, it's making me scared for the new season next year when originally I was excited.
Loved the video! Not sure the facecam stuff really adds anything except extra editing time, but I'm not complaining
R.I.P Doctor Who 1963 - 2017
It was a good run, wasn't it?
Nah there were a few highlights in the Chibnall era and the Star Beast is a great episode that unfortunately flubbed it’s ending a little. Wild Blue Yonder looks set to be an incredible episode.
@@Sparx632 Highlights? In the Chibnall era? Star Beast a great episode?
God the standards have dropped massively haven't they
Oh do grow up hon.....
@@michaelparkinsonsfreeparkerpen Yes because if you don’t spend all day going “waa this is woke” you can learn to enjoy things. I’m not by any means acting like the Chibnall years weren’t subpar but there were decent episodes, like Kerblam or Nicola Tesla’s Night of Terror and Power of the Doctor.
And yeah Star Beast is a great episode, it’s funny, charming, contains good messages in the same way episodes from Series 1-4 did and it’s great to see Tennant and Tate back at it again. Only problem is the ending is a bit lazy and has some weird lines. If you think a few negatives or “wokeness” stop something that was about 80% RTD goodness being a great episode then you’re focusing too much on them, which means you must live a very pessimistic and depressing life.
First one of these videos I've just skipped to the end. This episode was painful to watch and I don't want to re-live the anger I felt watching my favourite doctor and companion being dragged through the mud.
Wild Blue Yonder is the episode that will prove Doctor Who is back on form, and The Church On Ruby Road is gonna be the one that proves it can survive this change, as Ncuti and Millie will be in the Tardis.
Special 2 airs tonight and I'm excited but sceptical. If it's great I have no doubt Special 3 The Giggle will be fantastic too, but if it's as mixed as The Star Beast I'm definitely worried about the future of Doctor Who, that not even David and Catherine can save the inconsistent writing
that clip of gollum spitting had me cackling way harder and way longer than it should have
After so many months of hype, buildup and anticipation, this episode was very… ok!
David and Catherine were seamless in returning to their roles, obviously, same with Jacqueline King as Sylvia and even Shaun's actor, for the little he was given. UNIT wheelchair lady was cool, albeit kinda OP Imao. I also like the new UNIT uniforms but I do miss the berets. The new TARDIS is also breathtaking, I just love it.
But the writing for the general story was just very weak, and the sonic screwdriver has become insanely OP, you cannot just magic
forcefields to get out of a fight. The meep was actually a neat twist villain but the bit wore off after the first scene and it quickly grew tiresome. The directing/action was... fine, but nothing to write home about. The resolution for the metacrisis was insanely contrived, and every time Rose opened her mouth I wanted to die of unbearable cringe. Also, why was Sylvia the only person reacting normally to the prospect of Donna’s death? The Doctor just did not seem to care that he could be causing Donna to remember despite stressing the possibility earlier so what gives? Very strange decisions all around.
It was decent and I liked it well enough overall but for the first 60th special, it could have been a helluva lot better and if RTD’s name wasn’t on it, I don’t think most people would be able tell it wasn’t a Chibnall era episode.
I'm getting a deja Vu feeling. I think it's a time slip
Hmm, yes I actually noted during the episode, how come the Doctor is spending so much time around Donna and seems fine with it, also it doesn't trigger her memories as he first tells the UNIT science advisor it would? I suppose its a balancing act from a writing perspective, otherwise we'd have very little time with the Tennant Tate duo onscreen together if the Doctor had to avoid Donna the whole . But from a narrative aspect its odd as he made such a big deal about it twice in the episode.
I agree, overall it was ok, not bad not great enough that I'm revved up by it but it was a decent episode of Doctor Who, although if I'm honest, not quite as special as I was hoping for a 'Special'. I'm keeping an open mind that it has to be watched as a trilogy to feel its truly an anniversary special.
@@hotdog1214 As soon as she saw the meep her memories should have come flooding back like we saw in end of time.
This was better than the actual episode
As a non binary, the nonbinary portion of this episode had me straight up kackling from the cringe
I feel like the intentions are always good, but as they're not trans or non- binary themselves they can't fully grasp how to implement that stuff into shows/films properly? that isn't a dig at RTD or any of the shows producers, I just feel like it'll always be a mix of good and bad representation throughout them, but I'd much rather have that as apposed to none
So do we now include every single condition in every single character on every show now?! When can we just have normal people like in everyday life! I admit characters can have traits etc but do we need to LGBTQ in every single show? And pushing the agenda is just going too far FFS! So trans are less than 1% of society, if we pander to you then we have to pander to everyone, therefore every ailment should be included in character development and we should have characters with vitiligo, going bald with alopecia, getting crippled with spina bifida, cleft lip and a club foot!! Where is it going to stop?! Isn’t it more respectful to include characters that are LGBTQ in a story and not ram down our throats that they are being mis gendered by everybody (and maliciously too instead of mistakenly), harassed and assaulted everywhere but just living a normal life and being ok with that! We all feel compassion for the difficulties trans go through but not everyone hates you and many want you to have a happier life but it’s like you won’t let your victim status go and dwell in the misery of victimhood eternally just to proclaim yourself better than everyone else!
You don’t seem to understand that the rest of society is tired of the narrative and are waiting for you to start to assimilate into society! Pls stop making it all about you. Everyone has a difficult life but we don’t whinge about it 😂
@@thearmchairjournalist566
> Isn’t it more respectful to include characters that are LGBTQ in a story and not ram down our throats that they are being mis gendered by everybody (and maliciously too instead of mistakenly),
Eeh no it wouldn't be more respectful because that actually happens and this is what the lived experiences of trans people are. Again, you couldn't just make a movie featuring a black character in the US in the 1950th and not mention racial segregation.
@@kissmyaft Seems a little bit insane to compare the experiences of trans people in the west to the horrors of being a black person during segregation.
The sonic screwdriver didn’t change with the Doctor as in the comic liberation of the Daleks 14 was still using 13s sonic screwdriver until it got destroyed by the Daleks, Twice.
After a year off screen and the hype that was the old band getting back together it just fell flat almost instantly. The terrible cgi intro just took my excitement away straight away. The new logo is meh and title sequence is too short.
Meep was fun when it was pretending.
Wrarth warriors looked tacky.
Unit was underplayed.
Noble family was great.
Tennant great as always.
Sonic making shields is questionable.
Non binary stuff was just cringe. Simple as that. Could’ve been done better.
Tardis looks great but feels so empty. Especially now that we’ve gone back to just one companion .
the plushies in the shed scene with the meep are also references btw
Tbf the intro was probably cut short for this one only because of the recap so we will see if it’s the full thing tomorrow
I think the Doctor was floating in a green screen because they didn't want to spoil the TARDIS interior - otherwise I imagine he would have been in a more diegetic background like Donna.
I think it would have worked better if they used some kind of combination of flashbacks within the narrative itself in a way it doesn't interrupt the story. When Captain Pike was introduced in Star Trek Discovery, they used a series of images from the pilot as a flashback to where he had been before.
I genuinely feel like the sonic being a big over powered is because of the toy maker as he is making sure the doctor and Donna survive long enough so he can meet them
I mean over the years especially Morden Who. The Doctor get shots a lot of times. So I guess Sonic being slightly upgraded to make shield makes a lot more sense. Maybe Tardis add this feature because The Doctor being extremely reckless in Morden Era of Dr Who. He died a lot of times too in the time loop to add on more. Tardis is like “Okay, you keep dying many times now. Here’s the extra shield feature I added for you so you don’t getting shot at”
@@tsuaririndoku that’s quite a good theory
Perhaps they can add a caveat like maybe the sonic needs to be recharged frequently so that it isn't too OP.
@@kaiserbill25 yeah so that it isn’t the main plot device for the episodes
The ship firing from 4 directions and causing the earth to crack is literally ripped directly from Stranger Things.
Yes I was thinking that
I feel like the "descending" line is a callback to the Library where Donna Noble is saved. She says it in the same way
i love how angry your eyebrows looked when you said you loved the title sequence
I’m with you on the breathing at the end. I couldn’t believe it when I heard it as it ruined the music.
I think the "let it go" line sparks an interesting question. Obviousy it was meant as a joke but it also clearly irritated some people and it certainlyy jarred me which isnt always a bad thing.The issue i take with it though is not that it clearly bruised thousands of male egos across the country, but that these kinds of comments play into gendered stereotypes which negatively impact both men and women. Assigning "good traits" to one gender over another can create an expectation that people occupying that gender roll MUST adhere to it, meanwhile people of the opposite roll may be less inclined to adopt that trait because its seen as unfitting (this had actually been observed in the GDR for example). Im not accusing RTD of singlehandedly perpetuating gendered stereotypes but I think theres an interesting conversation to be had around what is "punching up" and what simply affirms stereotypes which harm people on all sides of the paradigm.
It's extremely funny that you're trying to claim men are the egotistical ones in this situation.
Totally agree. I'm so done with this. Why can't people 'let go' of gender stereotypes??? If we were more flexible about what both genders behave like maybe there would be less confusion for young people over gender
OMG that smeegul was PERFECT expression of our reactions
edit: is it only me, or did it seem like parody at the end? i still can't process it.
A 5 is generous in my opinion, this would have been a 3 to me
The definat article quote was from robot, tom bakers first episode. He said he was THE Doctor, the definat article
That’s being generous.
Omg he's back Ive missed you also could you pls do review in seprete playlist of classic story's instead of individual episodes pls
Yasmin Finney was 18 when they filmed this episode, so only barely an adult. Rose is supposed to be 15, but I have to wonder if making her 16 or 17 was out of the question, as Yasmin looks more her age compared. to someone like Tom Holland who still passed for someone 4-5 years younger at the age of 18/19 in his early MCU appearances. Plus, I have to wonder if Rose would be as far along in her transition at 15 as she appeared.
Excellent review and analysis. This may be the fairest review I have seen so far, steering clear of the hyperbole on both sides, and accurately pointing out the good and bad. Great job!
Here here
Still, you must admit that the bad was pretty damn bad.
the thing for me about it was how is it something u could even let go? the bad wolf energy ok the doctor told her to let it go, thats all og rose needed to do, but this felt different remember what donna said once she became half doctor, she said "it was a two way biological meta crisis" since it changed the second 10th doctor's biology to have only 1 heart i assumed donna's biology changed too, making it be something thats now hard wired into your system that you cant get rid off. did anyone else think of it that way when they would watch that episode?
The doctor took the time vortex from rose and it killed him causing him to regenerate, the writing is even worse than what you suggested.
Its an rtd ending allow it
I dont eat food with mold in it. I dont watch tv with rot in it. This episode was rotten to its core. What a waste
Watching this video reminded me how much I missed watching this channel. I used to watch these videos all the time back when I used to watch doctor who
17:51 Tennant's expression is so (unintentionally?) hilarious here. It says everything that needs to be said.
He just looks so miserable and over it, which totally reflects my own feeling at this scene but I cannot figure out why it was performed or directed this way 🤷♂️
I figured the breathing heard during the end credits was a “rhythm” track left in by mistake. Hopefully we hear that changed.
The Star Beast probably got bad at the end because of Disney. I knew that they shouldn't made that deal and also because the BBC doesn't care about the show, it is sad.
12:26
It made me think of the Deathly Hallows when Harry fights Nagini and a hole is blasted into the house next door.
Did it suck. This was a flaming dumpster fire, a massive joke at our expense.
My take on the "let it go" part felt more like Donna being able to let go of the opportunity to travel the stars with the Doctor. She couldn't do that in Journey's End because she didn't have anything she could go back home to. She had a dysfunctional relationship with her mother, and Wilf encouraged her to go out there. She believed that she found a true purpose with the Doctor, and going back home means she will become nothing again
However, now that she has a family, a loving husband and daughter, and a much more improved relationship with Silvia it seems, she has a reason to want to go home now. She can let go of all the magical wonders of the universe in favour of living a happy life with her family
That's not what it was saying or implying. Rose said that letting it go was something a male presenting time lord wouldn't understand. Pretty much saying males have too much ego to understand something like letting go of a power like that.
i think that's a great take, one that i think i'll headcannon. However it could've been communicated a lot better in the episode. For example instead of them being women the reason why they could let it go, it was being human with something to come back to, and not a time lord constantly seeking adenture
@@kbg12ila My point still stands, but I do agree that it was a poor line that kinda feels dodgy. Still, I hardly think Rose is actually gonna sincerely mean that
@@roowco1 That's true honestly yeah, just remove "male-presenting" and just leave it as "Something a Time Lord will never understand"
@@reecer0503 She did though, if anything the actresses true believes screamed through that scene. She was giving the doctor smug and dirty looks every sentence she delivered lol and thats literally word for word the explanation given. If anything you comment is excusing the bad intentions from the writing and trying to justify it with an explanation that is not there
Doesn't those words together sounds like a Tardis password for an inner program?
The words for her awakening I got Sparrow for Sally Sparrow, and Dance for The Doctor Dances? The rest idk and even those might be a stretch. The Donna Noble is Descending thing is because of what she said earlier to Rose about Descending if Rose was in danger.
14:33 I don't think the lines themselves mean anything, they're just an assortment of words for 14 to test whether Doctor Donna is back in the room. A bit like he does in Midnight. It just so happens that "binary" is the word that Donna can match, which is where she froze up in S4 and also is relevant with Rose later on
They could be the equivalent to a passcode. He imparted a string of words which would not likely be said in combination naturally to avoid accidental activation.
Harry when talking about shooting scenes recycled shots are a very good time save. its never a budget problem (cause Disney) it will be a time constraint in filming schedule. just wanted to kindly inform you.
yeah that's what I was thinking too.
Recycled shots like the kid looking out his window are just extremely lazy. No two ways about it
@@LukeJarrett1 that's just standard in a lot of productions.
@@friendlyotaku9525 if we’re going to have repeat shots, let’s make sure they’re not during a scene where the ground magically zips itself back up, because people will notice
Surely the trigger words are what Donna said before the memory wipe in Journey's End?
19:01 LMFAO! was perfect
Why did they need to let it go if it wasn’t harming them 😂😂😂
I can't wait to find out what you're gonna think about the ending of the 60th Anniversary, cause there was a leak about it a while ago, that will rival the Timeless Child in controversy, if it's not gonna be even more controversial! The leak was all correct about the Star Beast, and already bits and pieces about the 2023 Christmas Special are also being found correct, so with each passing day, the likelihood of The Leak being real is getting stronger!
wtf, how the hell did you not know? there was practically a sign around his neck
As someone who never watch a Jodie Era Episode, this one was so so much worse than anything in Capaldi's episode. The Meta Crisis resolution was very stupid at best, offensive at worse, they established she was a trans woman, not non-binary so saying shes both / either is not actually what she wants to be.
5:00 wait wait wait whaat, I did not noticed that this was the reference
It's OK for Donna to age-shame the Doc because he's male and therefore fair game. Can you imagine the faux outrage of the snowlflake lynch mob if HE did that to HER? This would be called "hate crime" if the hater/victim were reversed. And before anyone says "punching up", tell me, when you can insult someone who cannot insult you, who is in the position of power?
In most scenarios, people getting pronouns wrong usually results in nobody saying anything - whether they're the misgendered individual or not. Correcting someone who misgenders you or someone else is a huge social risk, and most of us would rather accept the hurt of being misgendered than risk escalation.
Mr. Yuk stickers all over this one
Re: the string of random words...
Psychic conditioning/memory blocks/ hypnosis are typically shown as having keywords, or certain images, to activate and deactivate the mental state.
See: The Machurian Candidate or Captain America: Winter Soldier.
This story is heavily based on a comic book story from 1980. The Meep being evil is well-known to old Who fans (well...those who also dive in to expanded media, anyway).
0:40 help me im jarred
She has missiles on her wheelchair but not a camera feed of what the soldiers see. When gathering information would be the most essential thing about fighting aliens. Yup...
The green screen looked like you where sitting in Donas lap ...lol 😊
Beep the Meep is actually from a couple of older Doctor Who comic books, and it's personality is basically on-point. The only iffy part regarding it's attitude is that "The Star Beast" obviously renders those comics non-canon since The Doctor and The Meep don't know each other here.
or maybe the comics happen... in the future :o
@@harrykitchener5597 Since it's the 4th Doctor and he doesn't recognise the Meep in the comic either (and the plot is pretty similar) I'm going to guess no.