Retrospective Discussion | Doctor Who | Special: "The Star Beast"
Retrospective Discussion | Doctor Who | Special: "The Star Beast"
Written by: Russell T Davies
Directed by: Rachel Talalay
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I think this is probably the weakest of the Tennant specials - RTD seems to enjoy starting new Doctors with relatively lightweight, farcical instalments. I think that makes sense, as it probably helps the exposition go down, but they remain my least favourite flavour of Who.
I remember reading that Beep the Meep was some kind of legacy character, but avoided spoilers. Nonetheless, I didn't find the big betrayal very surprising.
Resolving the meta-crisis in the first special did surprise me, but it was probably a good decision.
Regarding "The Boss" - do we think that's a mystery for another day? It doesn't really make sense for it to be Sutekh...
Yeah, it wasn't a great episode beyond the nostalgic kick of seeing Tennant, Tate and Jacqueline King back together — but boy, did they snap back into their roles!
Miriam Margolyes voicing the Meep was pretty good, especially when she let rip in the last part. I feel like she was underused but also maybe this was the right amount of screeching for any episode 😄 Take note, Daleks!
I did think the metacrisis solution got handed to us like an ELI5 rather than allowing us to realise it along with the characters. It wasn't a terrible idea, just very clunkily delivered.
The Meep's boss, though... Yeah, that has to tie in with Rogue's "new boss", right? It looks like RTD has very deliberately seeded lots of mysteries for future seasons; despite some online fans' wishes they won't all connect in one resolution.
So yeah, >!Mrs Flood will not be the boss and also Susan!< ...
Thinking about "The Boss" a little more...
The full context of the line is that the Meep is saying that two-hearted aliens are very rare, and that's why they'll be interested in the Doctor.
Is this a "collector" situation? Is it Kivas Fajo, thus cementing DW as Star Trek canon?
Or very specific intergalactic organ trafficking criteria? But I'll grant you, any theory aligning Star Trek and Doctor Who is valid in my book.