Recap of ‘Wild Blue Yonder’ (Spoiler Free):
The second of the 60th anniversary Doctor Who specials ‘Wild Blue Yonder’, written by Russell T Davies, sees Donna and the Doctor on another adventure together as they travel through space and time to a seemingly vacant spaceship in the middle of nowhere. Quickly things take a turn though as the Tardis, damaged by some coffee spilt by Donna, resets and in the process switches on an alarm that in the presence of danger sends it off until the danger disappears. The Doctor and Donna are then faced with the very real possibility of being trapped in this mysterious spaceship, alone with one solitary, slow robot. Quickly though they face the foe at hand, which is more familiar than either of them expect.
Review of ‘Wild Blue Yonder’ (Spoiler Free):
Doctor Who ‘Wild Blue Yonder’ (Source: Disney+)
‘Wild Blue Yonder’ attempts to recapture the terror that is often present in Doctor Who episodes, and though it doesn’t quite achieve the heights of ‘Blink’, it still largely recaptures the magic yet again of this classic pairing of Donna and the Doctor. The episode starts with a laugh as the pair run into (literally) the tree is said to inspire Isaac Newton, and in the process they inadvertently create the word ‘Mavity’ into Newton’s head instead of Gravity, a fun running gag throughout the episode. Likewise there’s a nice shoutout to the potential queerness of the Doctor, a tip of the hat to fans no doubt. Quickly though levity falls at the wayside as the pair dive into the meat of the matter, with the audience quickly clued into the grave danger at hand as we see the pair are being watched.
Without delving into the mysterious foes nature quite yet (we’ll save that for the spoiler section below), it was interesting to see Davies choose the direction he did with the enemy. For one, the foe prompted the now 14th Doctor to have some introspection with their own previous iteration, played by Jodie Whittaker, and specifically the ramifications of The Flux. Likewise it felt like the foe’s penchant for violence and war also threw back to the 10th Doctor, Tennant’s original version, and their own aversion to violence. Perhaps for Davies it was an opportunity to revisit what he liked, and maybe what he wanted to change, about these characters. Ultimately it was thoughtful, and it was certainly entertaining, Davies successful run with the first two specials.
Spoiler Discussion of ‘Wild Blue Yonder’:
Ultimately it seems Davies wanted to use the foe, mysteriously unnamed, to purposefully resemble Donna and the Doctor as a method of self-interrogation. The Doctor seemed to be most affected by this, as he’s had lifetimes upon lifetimes full of adventure but also regret. Donna too though however through her confrontation with “herself” also portrayed the complexity of humans and humanity, as she embodied conflicting thoughts simultaneously of her own intelligence and worth, something no doubt we can all relate to. Though I perhaps expected a visually scarier villain, I don’t know if there’s much scarier than looking ourselves in the mirror and really taking oneself to task for good and for bad, and that’s just what Davies did here.
Lastly I want to say how special it was to see Bernard Cribbins reprising his role, however briefly, as Wilfred Mott. Cribbins was an integral component of what made Donna’s era so special, and as this aired after Cribbins passing it’s especially impactful to see him once more.
