Wild Blue Yonder (Doctor Who)

"Wild Blue Yonder" is the second of the 2023 60th anniversary specials of the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who''. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 2 December 2023, and was written by Russell T Davies and directed by Tom Kingsley. David Tennant stars as the Fourteenth Doctor, alongside Catherine Tate as Donna Noble, with Bernard Cribbins posthumously guest starring as Wilfred Mott. The episode is dedicated to Cribbins' memory, following his death in July 2022.

Set directly after the events of " The Star Beast", the episode focuses on the Doctor and Donna being stranded by the TARDIS on an abandoned spaceship at the edge of the universe, where they encounter a pair of bizarre, sadistic shapeshifting duplicates of themselves intent on causing havoc. The episode was watched by 7.14 million viewers and received positive reviews from critics, who praised the performances and visual effects.

Plot

The malfunctioning TARDIS takes the Doctor and Donna across time and space, briefly landing in 1666 where they encounter Isaac Newton, accidentally causing the word "gravity" to be replaced with "mavity". The TARDIS eventually lands on an abandoned spaceship, ejecting the Doctor and Donna and spewing out flames to the tune of " Wild Blue Yonder" before shutting down. To fix the TARDIS, the Doctor leaves his sonic screwdriver in the keyhole, only for both to suddenly disappear after the pair left to investigate the ship. Donna panics over them seemingly being stranded, but the Doctor reassures her, explaining that the TARDIS auto-repair had reactivated the Hostile Action Displacement System, which causes the ship to dematerialize in dangerous circumstances and return once the danger has passed.

The Doctor and Donna investigate the spaceship, discovering they are at the edge of the universe. There are no stars or signs of life, and the only mobile thing is a robot the Doctor nicknames "Jimbo" that is slowly walking down the ship's corridor. A voice occasionally declares various nonsensical words, causing the ship's layout to reconfigure. They split up and get to work on trying to get the ship up and running but encounter strange doppelgängers of each other that lack the concept of size and shape and constantly distort and morph into animalistic versions of themselves self-dubbed "Not-Things". The Doctor and Donna barely escape from giant versions of the Not-Things, deducing that their doppelgängers have also begun taking on their memories and ways of thinking.

After being separated from each other by the ship's constant reconfigurations, the Doctor and Donna both encounter one another in different parts of the ship, unable to tell if the other is a Not-Thing. Donna outwits the Not-Doctor and forces it to reveal itself, but the Not-Donna tricks the Doctor after claiming she knew about the Timeless Child and the Flux via the meta crisis. Eventually, all four meet up again, and the real Doctor and Donna are able to successfully identify each other. The Doctor uses superstition to trick the Not-Things, drawing a line of salt and telling them that they have to stay behind it. They reveal that they come from the darkness beyond the edge of the universe, wanting to escape it and cause chaos. They break past the salt and chase the pair again. The Doctor realizes that the doppelgängers are deliberately frightening them to better understand their way of thinking, and that the ship's captain also knew this and set in motion a series of events so slow that the Not-Things would be unable to understand it.

The Not-Doctor, now almost fully understanding the real Doctor's way of thinking, realizes that the announced phrases were a countdown (rendered as nonsensical words since the TARDIS is not nearby to translate them) and that Jimbo was slowly walking towards a self-destruct button in a final attempt to kill them. The Not-Things race to stop the countdown while the Doctor speeds it up. The TARDIS returns, once again to the tune of 'Wild Blue Yonder' just before the bomb goes off, and the Doctor enters it. He takes the Not-Donna but ejects her after noticing the wrist is too thick and rescues the real Donna just as the ship explodes, killing both Not-Things. The Doctor and Donna collapse, traumatized.

Later, the Doctor expresses regret over invoking a superstition at the edge of the universe, feeling that it triggered something. He asks Donna whether she truly remembers anything from the meta crisis, but she claims not to. The pair return to Camden Market and are greeted by Wilfred Mott, who is overjoyed to see them both, but alludes to a danger in the present day. A riot suddenly starts around them, with a plane nearly crashing nearby.

Production

David Tennant and Catherine Tate both returned to the series as part of the 60th anniversary specials. Tennant stars as the Fourteenth Doctor while Tate reprises her role as Donna Noble. The episode marked the final appearance of Bernard Cribbins as Wilfred Mott, who died in July 2022, shortly after completing filming for the episode; it is dedicated to Cribbins' memory. Additionally, Nathaniel Curtis stars as Isaac Newton. Tom Kingsley directed the episode. In interviews, both Tennant and Davies said that more had been written for Cribbins' Wilfred, but his appearance in the episode was all that he had been able to film, as he became too ill to continue and died shortly thereafter.

Plot and cast details surrounding the episode were deliberately kept secret in the build-up to the episode, with Davies stating that this choice was owed to the uncomplicated premise of the episode, claiming that out of the specials it was "the simplest of the lot." This secrecy led to some fan speculation that the episode would feature cameo appearances of previous incarnations of the Doctor, although that ended up not being the case.

Broadcast and reception

Broadcast

"Wild Blue Yonder" was broadcast on 2 December 2023 as the second of the three 2023 specials, filmed for the 60th anniversary of ''Doctor Who''.

Ratings

"Wild Blue Yonder" was watched by 4.83 million viewers overnight, and an Appreciation Index score of 83. It was the third-most watched programme of the night. The consolidated ratings gave a figure of 7.14 million viewers, ranking the episode as the ninth most watched programme of the week, beaten only by that week's episodes of '' I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!'' and ''Strictly Come Dancing''.

Critical reception

The special received positive reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator website, 100% of 13 critics gave "Wild Blue Yonder" a positive review. The site's consensus reads "'Wild Blue Yonder' gets real weird with the formula, and yet it hits home as classic ''Doctor Who'' with its heartfelt attention paid to the characters."

''The Guardian'''s Martin Belam rated the special a 4/5, describing the acting as "impeccable" and further praising the visual effects.

The casting of Nathaniel Curtis, a half-Indian actor, as Isaac Newton, polarised viewers as " color-blind casting".

Home media

"Wild Blue Yonder", along with the other two specials " The Star Beast" and "The Giggle", were released on home media on 18 December 2023.

In print

A novelisation of the episode, written by Mark Morris, was released as an eBook on 7 December 2023 in paperback on 11 January 2024 as part of the ''Target Collection'' and as an audiobook read by Bonnie Langford on 1 February 2024.

References

External links

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{{Doctor Who episodes by Russell T Davies

Fourteenth Doctor episodes
2023 British television episodes
British television specials
Television episodes set in outer space
Cultural depictions of Isaac Newton
Fiction set in 1666
Doctor Who anniversary specials
Television episodes written by Russell T Davies