Dr Who: The Star Beast

[Richard]

I have just watched it, and found it to be fun, well-paced, funny in parts, and just what I was hoping it would be.

I liked the plot twist in the middle.

My only gripe is that the new version of the theme tune is almost unrecognisable.

[IndigoPrime]

I don't mind the intro theme. It's OK, despite being the usual RTD Hollywood bombast. It certainly sounds better than the pure orchestral version that we'd all previously been able to watch. But that outro/credits arrangement is just dire. (Well, it's the mix more than anything. That raspy grinding rhythmic instrument doesn't work at all and is the most prominent sound.)

[Colin YNWA]

Have to say the boy child hated it. As we settled down to way he exclaimed "What is that? that's nothing like the proper theme!". He was disgusted. I just huckered down waiting for Murray Gold's inevitable assault on my earnodes.

[Leigh S]

If the Star Beast is anything to go by, RTD2 is going to be very much like RTD1

It reminded me why RTD Who is so mhuch better than Chibnalls - he understands that character is shown through dialogue and action not "how doess that make you feel?" conversations.  Theres a bounce to it Who hasnt had for years

It also reminded me why I fell out with RTD1. He has absolutely no interest in tidying up any plot points - loosy goosey catchy meepy.  Just a minute or two devoted to the plot nd beefing up some of the connective tissue (the Doctor realising the Meep was a risk, the Meep - or reining in destruction - the giant fiery blasts across London just reverse themselves - any chance of RTD explaining the curent state of the post Flux universe were obviously very optimistic!

He also has the devil in him - the Trans angle was handled really well, until it wasnt.  The Doctor cant understand "letting go" because he is "male presenting"? Really? Way to undo the good work up til then in fitting the theme into the story.  When you have Gallifrey Gals, Council of Geeks and MR TARDIS himself raising their eyebrows in unison with the Nerdrotics of this world, you may have just given in to your button pushing impulse a little too far! 

So, it seems RTD will be picking up where he left off, which was to be honest me cheering him out the door.  I'm sure there will be some good individual episodes, but RTDs wilful "plot is for M**g-M**gs" will likely just grate on me, sadly.

Oh, and I do think the best Star Beast material was the stuff cut out - the Wrarth Warriors sitting down for tea and cake was prime RTD you would have thought, but again, the plot is stretched as thin as it can be to fit around the Doctor/Donna stuff

[Proudhuff]

An anniversary Dr Who special? Based on comic by Pat Mills and Dave Gibbons...? And there's no thread for it? Jeez... they'll come round and take your geek cards away, folks!

Anyway... I enjoyed that. A whisker short of an hour, and zips along at a decent pace. Meep, the spaceship, the Wrarth, are rendered with remarkable fidelity to Gibbons' original designs and the plot maintains the broad strokes of Mills' story.

I suspect a big part of the success (or not) for the viewer will be how one takes (or not) to Catherine Tate. I've never particularly cared for her, but I always liked Donna as a companion, not least because it finally took out the unwelcome romance aspect between the Doctor and his companion, so I really enjoyed seeing Tennant and Tate back.

I'm sure there are gammon all over the internet losing their shit about the non-binary/transgender representation in the story but, hey, I'm OK with that. 

It was great fun, and I'm very much looking forward to next week's special.

This^^^ with the caveat that the music was annoying as feck!! really don't need emoting music to tell me its exciting or sad!