Doctor Who: the 60th anniversary specials

 The specials of the 60th anniversary certainly had a twist, as it was not Jodie Whittaker that stepped out of the Tardis, but none other then David Tennant himself, the 10th Doctor, as she regenerated back into him at the end of her final season.

 

Yet, he comes out stating "why this face", so what is going on in this three part specials series, each running for about an hour?

 

Compromising of three episodes titled The Star Beast, Wild Blue Yonder and The Giggle, with not only David Tennant returning, but also Catherine Tate as Donna and Russel T. Davies as the show's writer!

 

Following his regeneration, the 14th Doctor lands in London where he comes across Donna Noble, her mind erased from ever meeting him all the way back in the episodeJourney's End from 2008.  He also meets her teenage daughter Rose and husband Shawn Temple.  When a spaceship crashes, he goes to the site and meets with UNIT and thier scientist Shirley Anne Bingham, and the Doctor believes the events of his reincarnation in this form and meeting Donna are connected in a way.  

 

Rose finds an escape pod near their home, meeting a furry cute creature called The Meep, hiding it but Donna discovers it.  The Doctor arrives and they learn of The Meep that it is being hunted by bug-like Wrarth Warriors.  When possessed UNIT soldiers and the Wrarth start fighting, the Doctor notices the aliens not using lethal force, and confronts them with the Meep.  This reveals the true nature of the furry beast, killing the Wrarth and being the one controlling the soldiers.  As the Meep threatens to destroy London, the Doctor is forced to reawaken Donna's memories, as with Rose's birth she had passed on a part of the meta-crisis energy into her.  More Wrarth arrive, taking the Meep into custody, and Donna goes on a last trip with the Doctor, though by spilling coffee on the TARDIS console causes it to malfunction, landing in Isaac's Newton garden accidentally causing an event he would name "gravity".

 

The TARDIS flies off to a spaceship on the edge of the universe, and vanishes while the Doctor and Donna explore the corridors.  They find an old robot slowly walking through the main corridor, as the rest of the ship periodically reconfigures itself.  They encounter dopplegangers of themselves, who lacking the concept of size and shape call themselves the Not-Things.  

 

The Doctor and Donna realize these slowly take their thoughts and forms to become copies, making it hard to tell each other apart, and the Doctor tries superstition with a line of salt to keep them back.  He realises the ship's captain killed himself to prevent these beings copying him and taking control of the ship, and set in motion a trap, a low speed self destruct with the robot being the trigger.  Just as the vessel would be destroyed, the TARDIS reappears, allowing them to escape, though the Doctor regrets the fact he invoked superstition at the edge of the universe.  They meet with Donna's grandfather just as a riot starts and a plane crashes near Candem Garden.

 

The Doctor and Donna are taken the UNIT headquarters, as the world's population has become violent.  He is reunited with Shirley, head of UNIT Kate Lethbridge-Stewart and his former (Sixth and Seventh) companion Melanie Bush.  The Doctor determines the cause is the recording of a giggle from the doll Stooky Bill back in 1925 and embedded in every television signal ever since.  Travelling back to that era, they learn it is the Toymaker that sold the doll, and he traps the two in his domain.  He plays humanity for a never-ending game of debate in which everyone thinks they are absolutely correct in their beliefs.  The Doctor and the Toymaker play a game of cards, the latter winning but the Doctor stating they are now tied due to him winning their last encounter.  

Returning to the present day, the Toymaker resolves to have one final game with him, attacking UNIT before taking control of the galvanic cannon, mortally injuring the Doctor, triggering his regeneration.  However, the Doctor splits in two incarnations due to the mythical "bi-generation", and as such introducing the 15th Doctor to the audience as well, Ncuti Gatwa.

 

Both Doctors work together, beating the Toymaker in a game of catch and banishing him from existence.  Aboard the TARDIS, the 15th Doctor advises his predecessor that he needs to recover from the extensive trauma's he has been through, and that he looks like the 10th die to being emotionally exhausted and subconsciously recognised the need.  She invites him to instead stay with her family instead of travelling constantly, the 15th creating a second TARDIS as his reward for beating the Toymaker, the 14th settling down while the 15th continues to travel the universe...

 

And so the series of specials made for the 60th anniversary ended, great stuff and truly an adventure through time and space, while reconnecting with the 60s as well.  This bridges the gap between the relaunch all the way back with Christopher Eccleston and the generation of Doctor Who viewers before that, which ended with Paul McGrath.

 

Really worth the watch!