Following last week’s jam-packed episode bursting with returning characters and ambitious plotlines, this second episode commemorating Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary is a slightly more relaxed affair.
Without the reintroduction of several key figures to contend with, Wild Blue Yonder has more room to breathe, and feels significantly less frenetic as a result. David Tennant and Catherine Tate completely settle back into their roles in an episode that could have been ripped directly from their 2008 heyday.
Though this week’s offering may not balance as many moving parts as The Star Beast, it is this more restrained set-up that provides a framework for truly compelling performances and raised stakes. Where last week’s special was focused on reintroducing these characters, this episode is, in Davies’ own words “designed to push them as far as they can go.”
A picturesque cold open with Nathaniel Curtis’ Isaac Newton sets a very different tone than the main body of the episode, providing a moment of levity and establishing a humorous bit that recurs throughout.
That this moment was used to further reinforce last week’s suggestion of The Doctor as existing beyond cisgender and heterosexual norms is also welcome. Davies continues to deliver diverse representation in his characters and canonises what many fans have considered subtext for much of the show’s history. As Donna remarks, it was never that far from the surface.
Thereafter, The Doctor and Donna find themselves stranded on a cavernous spaceship, stalked by twisted doppelgangers also played by Tennant and Tate (with the assistance of body doubles). In presenting these corrupted versions of his protagonists, Davies interrogates their conception of themselves and each other.
With the plot and casting details of this special kept firmly under wraps, speculation was rife as to who or what might appear. Given the reduced scale of the episode, it could easily have fallen flat in the eyes of those who anticipated a parade of cameos and callbacks to the show’s 60-year history.
Rather, it is the intimate and simplistic nature of the story that not only seamlessly progresses the narrative but allows Tennant and Tate deeper exploration of their characters not only as we last saw them in the late noughties, but their experiences since, and how this impacts not just them but their relationship to one another.
Davies manages to imbue The Doctor with greater interiority regarding the events of the show’s previous era in a single scene than Chris Chibnall managed in five years. Finally, our protagonist has feelings about the decimation of half the universe!
The elegant writing and authentic performances are further empowered by excellent visuals. The episode’s aesthetics and set design (with the exception of a slightly dodgy CGI corridor) are equally as rich as the story’s other components.
The mix of practical and CGI effects used to create the ‘not-things’ conveys the Lovecraftian anatomy of the creatures exquisitely, alternating between slapstick and grotesque in a matter of seconds, at once camp and horrific. What sells the eldritch dread of the creatures more than any effect, though, are the stellar performances by Tennant and Tate.
Davies astutely takes advantage of the chemistry the pair have become known for using it to drive the episode; their deep affection for each other is weaponised against them by these facsimile creatures.
As the episode progresses it seems at once to compress and race forwards; the space feels smaller as the story gathers momentum. Davies does an excellent job of gradually ratcheting up feelings of tension and unease (though tempered by brief injections of humour) until they explode into an exhilarating climax.
Donna being left behind on the ship as it detonates was the standout scene of the episode. Tate perfectly sells the terror of the moment and made me genuinely believe I might be about to witness perhaps one of the cruellest endings for a character in the show’s history.
Luckily for Davies the real Donna was rescued before I had time to sharpen my pitchfork. However, with this being the second last-minute escape from her final curtain over the course of the specials, it’s difficult to banish the feeling she may be living on borrowed time. Nonetheless, for now she lives to fight another day.
Upon the travellers’ arrival back on Earth, there is, in fact, one returning character waiting to greet them: Donna’s beloved grandfather Wilfred Mott, played by late national treasure Bernard Cribbins.
Although it’s a shame that this is Cribbins’s final appearance in Who, it is a touching moment that brims with genuine warmth between all on-screen. Perhaps not the send-off such a treasured character deserves, it is one that feels fitting nonetheless, as he embraces his granddaughter and her best friend.
Two of three specials in, and Davies, as well as Tate, Tennant and all involved, continue to surpass themselves. I look forward with great excitement to the final special, and warn Davies that should anything happen to Donna, he will be dealt with.