When Doctor Who was in its early stages of pre-production way back in 1963, one of the proposals for the first ever tale was entitled ‘Nothing at the End of the Lane’. 60 years on, in the latest episode, we encountered No-Things at the end of creation.
This was the big mystery episode out of the three produced for the 60th anniversary, the one which had been shrouded in such a veil of secrecy. Part of the fun in the build up to the broadcast of ‘Wild Blue Yonder’ was seeing fandom tie itself in knots, coming up with increasingly wilder theories about what the content of the story would be. If you listened to all the rumours, this was the one where the Doctor and Donna would end up landing inside another TARDIS. Or the Doctor’s granddaughter Susan would return. Or evil versions of earlier Doctors – played by Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi – would be the baddies. Or we would end up getting our first glimpse of Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson.
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Instead, Russell T. Davies confounded all our expectations, and turned left. It would have been so easy just to litter the episode with lots of crowd-pleasing fan service, all because of the diamond jubilee. What he did, however, was deliver a dark, bizarre, disturbing piece, which ended up being grand and epic in its scale, as well as confining and claustrophobic too. Because that’s the astonishing thing about people from our planet: we can believe two completely different things at exactly the same time. Davies also managed to have us go in completely blind, putting together all of the puzzle pieces at the same time as the Doctor and Donna, and what a thrilling and terrifying concept that was.
Following on from the controversy which Davies must have known would arise from some of the elements of ‘The Star Beast’, he has managed to double down here, and give that hornets’ nest a darned good kicking, stirring up yet more ire amongst certain elements of fandom. From portraying the ethnicity of an actual historical figure in such a manner that it challenged convention, to casting the Doctor’s sexuality as being fluid and genderqueer, and picking up those threads of continuity and series mythology which had been laid down in previous episodes by the last showrunner, Chris Chibnall. You definitely have to give Davies a big hand. Which is what he also gave us in return.
The pre-titles sequence was pure, unalloyed fun, Tennant and Tate being on such good form, making Davies’ banter-filled dialogue just sing. Even in that short scene alone, it makes you realise what a winning partnership and genuine dynamic the pair have, and while we are only one episode away from the debut of Gatwa as the fifteenth face of the Time Lord, you have to secretly wish that it could be pushed back a bit longer, so we can enjoy some more of the Doctor and Donna. It really is easy to see why the programme was right at an apex of its popular acclaim when they were last together in the TARDIS, and what a real shame it will be to see them leave us again so soon.
According to the Red Dwarf episode ‘Balance of Power’, Jean Paul Sartre said that Hell was being locked forever in a room with your friends. Russell T. Davies showed us the only thing worse is being locked in a room with yourself. The old saying about being your own worst enemy was never so true as it is here, with the Doctor and Donna both having to desperately try and outwit themselves. Seeing Tennant and Tate having to give a darker, scarier performance, and managing to pull it off with ease, meant that one could hardly notice the limited number of characters and cast, and it gave them a chance to spread their acting wings and play something quite different from what we have become used to seeing.
Whilst physically resembling the tenth incarnation, what we get with this newest embodiment of the Doctor is somebody who is far more emotionally open, ready to confront the pain which dwells deep within, and also express more freely how they feel. Bravo to Davies for not overlooking or ignoring the events of the Flux storyline, or the ‘Timeless Child’ arc, and showing us how much these recent events have wounded the Doctor. This is not the Time Lord that Tennant played before, and this definitely comes through in his portrayal of the role, with all the developments adding extra colours to Tennant’s palette for him to use, along with the sharper and spikier bits having been smoothed off.
For an anniversary special, you might expect a light, frothy affair, perhaps much more in keeping with the tone of ‘The Star Beast’, which was a knockabout romp. Bless Davies for giving us some variety here, with ‘Wild Blue Yonder’ veering into what could be akin to Junji Ito-style body horror, and an intimate character study of our two main characters. Dipping into his bag of tricks, Davies has ended up semi-revisiting an earlier work, as ‘Wild Blue Yonder’ feels a little like ‘Midnight’ redux, and while this take is presented to us as a two-hander (in more ways than one), the level of intensity feels pitched a few notches lower, as the Doctor is far less out of control and helpless than he was there.
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There are, however, a few niggling points which prevent the episode from getting top marks, as it would seem that even with Disney money, the production team’s reach sometimes still exceeds their grasp in the VFX stakes. Some of the shots of the spaceship’s interior felt too unreal at points, with the green screen work appearing to be rather more obvious than the StageCraft system used in the likes of The Mandalorian. The CGI versions of the Doctor and Donna’s doppelgängers in various stages of transformation also fell some way short of the mark at times, and seemed to be far more ridiculous than terrifying. However, what would Doctor Who be without the occasional shonky visuals?
Perhaps another fitting tribute to the programme’s history was giving this episode one of the biggest ever corridors for our heroes to have to run up and down. However, definitely the best gift of them all was the touching return of the late Bernard Cribbins as the beloved Wilfred Mott for a sadly all-too-brief cameo. This was truly a moment above all others to pack a real emotional wallop, and despite his only having a couple of minutes’ of screen time, it felt like the completion of a very long journey, and wrapping up unfinished business. If reports are to be believed, this was the only material that Cribbins was able to film before his passing in July 2022, so his appearance here is even more poignant.
And so we find ourselves on the precipice of bidding another farewell to Tennant and Tate, as next Saturday evening, he’s a-comin’…
