THE DOCTOR WHO 60TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIALS (2023)

As far back as I can remember, Doctor Who was practically the genesis of my dedication to fiction. The Eccleston/Tennant era was an epic streak of brilliant storytelling and direction and whilst the Smith/Capaldi era was significantly weaker writing-wise, it was still very strong in its own right, largely through the consistency of the respective actors chosen for the role. Then came the Whitaker era and.. less said about that the better. But it seems hopes are dashed for regeneration into better times, as teased by the return of Tennant, Catherine Tate as the companion and Russel T Davis as lead writer. What we get instead are the sins of the Chris Chibnall era damaged
but rebuilt in the dark space

Whilst most were excited purely at the prospect of Tennant back in the role in an unexpected move to revisit an old incarnation, the prospect I was most keen for was the return of T Davies as lead writer. Despite his recent comments over Davros being ableist, I was hopeful for his knack for spectacle and character dynamics to bring the show back from the depths. Sprinkles of that gleamed through in the first special, THE STAR BEAST. A wonderful action sequence takes place, elevated by a decent set-up that may have been deterred by awful acting from newcomers, but we’ll get to that in a bit. What elevates that aspect is the returning cast from the Tennant era. The returning lead seems to slip back into the role along with Catherine Tate as they still seem fresh in their mannerisms and their chemistry still has its flare. So, despite these small deterrents, I was hopeful that this may be the start of the show coming back to life. And then a sharp turn occurred and the episode fell back into the depths of Chris Chibnall’s sacking of Troy era where on-the-nose dialogue of highly liberal commentary swings in, along with the typical subjecting of an iconic and beloved hero to lecturing from his co-stars as if he’s old fashioned and of limited intellect. It seemed bizarrely authoritarian from Davies who had always come across as innovative as he did pragmatic in his writing and now exists purely to follow the unfortunate trend of disparaging the white male protagonist.

The following special is a slight improvement but is in poor taste due to it being a bottle episode. It really illustrates the lack of scope in T Davies’ vision upon his return. I’m not the biggest fan of the 50th anniversary but Stephen Moffat delivered on the granting the fan base satisfying and inspiring visuals of all the incarnations flying in to save the day. And that was achieved in one episode. What we have here are three episodes where one had mid-level stakes and one that takes off in a different direction. The excess use of CGI and a half-Asian Isaac Newton are just additions to this bizarreness. Fans have also expressed their frustration at the reaffirmation of the much-reviled The Timeless Child plot twist that changed the Doctor’s origins.

The final special, THE GIGGLE, ironically exposes the current vision of Doctor Who as a flat-out joke that refuses to take its stakes seriously. I first caught the climax of the episode and found myself thoroughly disappointed that the man who once gave us the Daleks battling the Cybermen resorts to three men passing a ball around as the showdown of a 60th-anniversary celebration. Neil Patrick Harris summons as much cosmic power to carry the episode on his back and his charisma makes for an entertaining, if not Master-derivative, villain. The rest is deterred by reshuffles to the original lore presented through aggressively unsubtle political rhetoric. I cannot emphasise enough how aggravating Davies makes these references to our real-world struggles or past controversies, as if the episodes grind to a halt every time they barge in and I feel my fingernails dig into my armchair.

As for the regeneration, I’m a fan of Ncuti Gatwa and it’s always premature to gather opinions on an actor at the point of their introduction as the new Doctor; lord knows I wasn’t a fan of Capaldi when he first entered and now he’s my third favourite. What I hate is that they continuously point out how old and decrepit Tennant’s version is and thus have him, despite a Tardis of his own to use, settle down with Donna Noble. It feels very hypocritical that one is forcefully retired whilst the new version, the older one, gets the chance to roam across the stars as if he’s the better version. It also ruins Tennant’s (new) incarnation as we’re now expected to accept he will be forever chillaxing with the Noble family during the next set of Earth threats. Furthermore, it deprives Gatwa of any intrigue because his Doctor seems already assured of who he is, void of the baggage that made the Doctor as a character interesting, like the regret and the trauma. Once again, Disney is at large with their ironic whitewashing of compelling stories and protagonists from IPs that have been around for ages and dictating to us that this is the improved phase. Whatever it may be, Doctor Who, the once holder of wonder and excitement is sapped dry and I cannot find myself coming back for more.