The Star Beast (TV story): Difference between revisions

The Star Beast was the first of the three 60th Anniversary Specials of Doctor Who, broadcast on 25 November 2023 as part of the 60th anniversary, and it was also the first episode in Russell T Davies's return as showrunner. Furthermore, this episode was an adaptation of the 1980 comic strip Doctor Who and the Star Beast ^[+]Loading...["Doctor Who and the Star Beast (comic story)"], and, as such, saw the first onscreen appearance of the popular Doctor Who Magazine antagonist the Meep.

Notably, a year after the Fourteenth Doctor's introduction in The Power of the Doctor ^[+]Loading...["The Power of the Doctor (TV story)"], and after his appearances in the post-regeneration comic story Liberation of the Daleks and the mini-episode Destination: Skaro ^[+]Loading...["Destination: Skaro (TV story)"] for Children in Need, The Star Beast marked the first full onscreen adventure starring David Tennant as the character. The Doctor is shown in this story doubting his own identity, after his recent regeneration gave him the Tenth Doctor's face and body again, the mystery and unknown reason for one of the Doctor's incarnations having the face and body of a previous incarnation became the driving force of the narrative and character arc of the Fourteenth Doctor in the trilogy of specials. The Fourteenth Doctor's sonic screwdriver is also seen for the first time onscreen, along with a new TARDIS control room.

The Star Beast also saw the return of Catherine Tate as Donna Noble, Jacqueline King as Sylvia Noble and Karl Collins as Shaun Temple, thirteen years after their last on-screen appearance in The End of Time ^[+]Loading...["The End of Time (TV story)"]. The special also marked the introduction of Yasmin Finney as Rose Noble, the daughter of Donna and Shaun.

The Star Beast is notable for resolving what had happened to Donna following her last adventure with the Tenth Doctor, with it being revealed that a portion of the Human-Time Lord Meta-Crisis that had led to the creation of the DoctorDonna had transferred from her to her child. The Star Beast not only saw Donna fully regaining her memories of the Doctor, but the end of the DoctorDonna and the release of the Meta-Crisis, now shared between two brains instead of only one.

Synopsis[[edit] | [edit source]]

A spaceship crashes in North London. Not that Donna Noble noticed; she had other things on her mind. Besides, there's no such thing as aliens — right?! But then one turns up in her garden shed: the Meep. Another — the Doctor — barges into her kitchen. By the time a squadron of Wrarth Warriors shows up on her doorstep, the Noble family must face facts: Donna's past is catching up to her. And her mind is about to be blown...^[1]

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

In a cold opening set in the vastness of the universe, the Fourteenth Doctor recaps the adventures he once had with Donna Noble. He notes after she had gained his memories and intelligence during their last adventure, he had to completely wipe her mind of their adventures and of the Doctor himself to save her life, as it put her in danger. Donna on the other hand can't shake the feeling that something is missing in her life, and has reoccurring dreams of events she doesn't realise are her repressed memories. However, there's one thing on the Doctor's mind right now that he can't fully figure out or understand: his face. Why has he regenerated back into a body identical to his tenth incarnation? The Doctor has only one guess: it has something to do with Donna, and maybe the last time they were together wasn't the end of their story like he originally believed.

The Doctor's TARDIS lands in London in 2023, as the Doctor ventures out and strolls down the road. He wanders into a bustle of people before seeing a woman holding a large pile of boxes, which he tries to help with. He helps her with a few and is shocked to discover she's Donna, who still doesn't remember him. Her daughter, Rose Noble, a teenage transgirl, runs up as Donna becomes distracted with her boxes, missing a spaceship crashing down not too far away. Donna and Rose head off right before Donna's husband, Shaun Temple, drives up in his taxi. The Doctor convinces Shaun to take him to the crash, and, as they drive, he pumps Shaun for information on Donna, claiming to be a friend of Nerys's.

The Doctor manages to access the crash site inside the Millson Wagner Steelworks, even as UNIT establish a perimeter around it. He isolates himself inside and begins to analyse the data from the crash as UNIT scientific advisor Shirley Bingham comes up and offers him her readings on the site. He expresses hesitancy to work with UNIT, as he doesn't fully know who he himself is at the moment. He has his old face again and he's not sure what to make of that, or of the fact that he ran into Donna almost immediately after. Soldiers come up and mention that they've found the escape pod to the wreck and are sending a team after it, prompting the Doctor to leave with them. After the Doctor leaves, UNIT manages to unlock the ship and sends a squad of soldiers to secure whatever's inside. As the door opens, tendrils of light flow out into the eyes of the soldiers, leaving them aglow as they turn and walk away.

"Sometimes I think there's something missing. Like I had something lovely, and it's gone".

Meanwhile, Rose and Donna return to their house and three boys on bikes harass Rose by mockingly deadnaming her. Donna is appalled, but Rose tells her to leave it. They come back to see Sylvia, who's cooking dinner. Donna asks Sylvia if she heard anything about the spaceship that everyone's been talking about, which Sylvia, wanting to stop Donna remembering her travels in the TARDIS, resolutely denies. Rose finds a creature as she's taking out the recycling. The creature names itself the Meep and insists that there are "monsters" after it. Rose hides the Meep in her backyard shed, though Donna stumbles in. Donna first mistakes the Meep for a stuffed toy that Rose designed, before prodding it in the eye, realizing that it's alive and panicking. The Meep tries to calm Donna down and Sylvia intervenes, insisting that the entire thing is just a hallucination. The Doctor shows up at their house after UNIT stops nearby, realising that something must have happened, unlocking the door using his sonic screwdriver. The UNIT team with glowing eyes order those who are guarding the escape pod back to the steelworks and begin to search for the Meep.

The Nobles, the Meep, the Doctor and Shaun, who came in not too long after the Doctor, discuss what to do with the Meep, with the Doctor and Sylvia insisting that he should take the Meep away. The Meep explains to them all that the Wrarth Warriors used to hunt Meeps for their fur, and, when the rest of the galaxy put a stop to the practice, they decided to kill the entire species. UNIT soldiers knock at the door, and, as the Doctor answers it, he scrolls up their visors, seeing glowing eyes. The Doctor closes the door on them right as the back entrance is smashed open by two Wrarth Warriors, the UNIT soldiers crashing through the front almost immediately after. The Doctor, the Noble family, and the Meep escape through the attics on the street using the sonic screwdriver to weaken the brick walls between them. The group drives off and stops in a car park.

"I don't need to pretend, for I am The Beep of all The Meeps!".

The Doctor dons a wig and uses his sonic screwdriver to summon two Wrarth Warriors, Zogroth and Zreeg. The Doctor notes how there was no damage done to the taxi and that the fallen UNIT soldiers weren't killed, merely unconscious. The Wrarth Warriors confirm that their weapons apply an anesthetic. They consider the tale of the Meep to be tragic, as they were a species whose sun turned psychedelic and mutated them all into maniacs bent on conquest. The Wrarth Warriors were summoned to stop their conquest. As they all fought to the death, only the Meep remains. The Doctor asks the Meep if they have anything to say in their defence. Instead, the Meep drops its friendly façade, pulls out a weapon and kills both of the Wrarth Warriors as UNIT soldiers, brainwashed by the psychedelic sun, arrive. The Doctor manages to convince the Meep that he and the Noble family are more useful as hostages than dead.

The Meep takes the group back to the steelworks and shows off the ship present there. The Doctor insists that the ship can't be used; It has a Dagger Drive, which means it gets its power for propulsion by stabbing downwards, and it would use the whole of London as fuel. The Meep laughs and orders the group taken aboard the ship. Shirley subdues the soldiers taking them aboard and frees the Doctor and the Nobles, telling him that he needs to get aboard to stop it from taking off and pointing the family towards an exit. As he runs offs, Donna decides to follow him, calling him "Doctor" despite never learning his name, cluing to Sylvia that her memories are coming back. Donna enters the ship after the Doctor, watching him as he darts around, flipping switches and buttons to prevent the take-off as best he can. The Meep lowers a screen from above, splitting the room in two, with the Doctor and Donna caught on the other side as he still tries his best to stop it. Time runs out as the Meep activates the Dagger Drive.

"Too much power for one person, but you had a child, and the metacrisis passed down. A shared inheritance".

The Doctor explains to Donna that time's run out, and that there's only one chance left. Donna insists that he needs to do it, even when he says it would kill her, because it will save her daughter, and the lives of everyone else in London. The Doctor lowers the mental block she has in her head and regeneration energy spills out of her. In a flurry of technobabble, the two set to work on dismantling the ship. The drive fails, and Donna collapses. Soldiers of the Meep storm in to kill the Doctor, but the light drains out of their eyes, and Donna gets back up. Rose, having absorbed aspects of the Doctor's mind when she was born that were unlocked when the mental block fell away, turns off the psychedelic sun emitters.

The Wrarth Warriors show up to arrest the Meep and imprison them for ten thousand years, but, as they part, the Meep teases the Doctor that two hearted species are so rare - someone called "the Boss" will be told about him. The Doctor brushes the threat aside, returning to the issue of Rose and Donna having too much knowledge for any human, it was slowed down but not stopped. Rose and Donna acknowledge this, but say that there's just another way, one men would never understand. They decide to just let the power go.

As he returns to his TARDIS, the Doctor suggests to Donna that they take one last trip to see Wilfred Mott. They enter a fully revamped TARDIS interior that the two of them spend some time goggling over, complete with a coffee machine. The Doctor offers Donna a coffee. She joyfully accepts, but accidently spills it on the TARDIS console, causing it to burst into flames and the TARDIS to take off. The Doctor tells Donna they could end up anywhere in time and space.

Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Doctor - David Tennant
Donna Noble - Catherine Tate
Rose Noble - Yasmin Finney
Shaun Temple - Karl Collins
BBC Reporter - Matt Green
Colonel Chan - Jamie Cho
Shirley Bingham - Ruth Madeley
Lad - Harley McEvilly
Lad - Max Fincham
Sylvia Noble - Jacqueline King
Fudge Merchandani - Dara Lall
The Meep - Cecily Fay
Meep Animatronics - Brian Herring, Phill Woodfine
Wrarth Warrior 1 - Robert Strange
Wrarth Warrior 2 - Stephen Love
Wrarth Warrior 3 - Jordan Benjamin
Wrarth Warrior 4 - Vassili Psaltopoulos
Soldier - Isabella Carey
Major Singh - Ronak Patani
Voice of Zogroth - Ned Porteous
Voice of Zreeg - John Hopkinson
Chief Technician - Anna Martine Freeman
Sergeant - Archie Backhouse
Voice of the Meep - Miriam Margolyes

Uncredited cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

to be added

Crew[[edit] | [edit source]]

Executive Producers Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner and Jane Tranter
with Joel Collins and Phil Collinson


Written by Russell T Davies story by Pat Mills and Dave Gibbons	Produced by Vicki Delow	Directed by Rachel Talalay	Director of Photography Matt Gray BSC	Production Designer Phil Sims	Visual Effects Untold Studios

Make-up Designer Claire Williams	Casting Director Andy Pryor CDG	Music Murray Gold	Costume Designer Pam Downe	Edited by Will Oswald	Special Effects Real SFX
Original theme music by Ron Grainer • Title sequence by Painting Practice & Realtime Visualisation Music orchestrated & conducted by Alastair King • Music mixed by Jake Jackson • Music performed by BBC National Orchestra of Wales The Meep & The Wrarth created by Pat Mills and Dave Gibbons

General production staff

Script department

Script Editor - Scott Handcock

Camera and lighting department

Art department

Costume department

Make-up and prosthetics

Movement

Casting

General post-production staff

Special and visual effects

Sound


Not every person who worked on this adventure was credited. The absence of a credit for a position doesn't necessarily mean the job wasn't required. The information above is based solely on observations of the actual end credits of the episodes as broadcast, and does not relay information from IMDB or other sources.

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

Rose points out that the Doctor assumes the Meep's pronouns, bringing up gender identity.
A UNIT soldier confirms Red Perimeter and commanded to engage Protocols 5 and 50.
TCP is used to clean the Meep's injury.
The Doctor invokes the Shadow Proclamation Protocols 15, P and 6.
Donna thinks her family could have moved to Monte Carlo or Switzerland if she hadn't given away her lottery money.

London[[edit] | [edit source]]

Meat Point and Cyberdog are businesses located in Camden Market.
As Shaun drives the Doctor out of Camden Market, they pass branches of AllSaints and Hob Salons. There is also a sign for an ATM.
According to Rose, London has a population of nine million people.
UNIT has a new headquarters in the City of London, which is a skyscraper higher than the towers in the immediate area such as the Gherkin and 122 Leadenhall Street, and has a helipad.

The Doctor[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Doctor's psychic paper takes time to properly reflect the Doctor's gender in titles, as the change is still recent. When the Doctor attempts the title "Master of Grand Knowledge", it says "Mistress" instead.
The Doctor mentions that, after being "the one in the skinny suit", he was "wear[ing] a bowtie", and then was "a Scotsman" and then "a woman".
The Doctor once found himself on Mars with Geoffrey Chaucer and a robot shark.

The Doctor's sonic screwdriver[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Doctor creates a holographic screen to analyse data about the Meep's ship. He adjusts the dials at the base of the screwdriver to begin the scan.
The Doctor also creates mobile force fields to protect himself, the Meep and the Noble family from both energy and projectile weapon fire.
The Doctor uses the sonic screwdriver to resonate mortar and dislodge bricks to create holes in the walls between the attics of several houses.

Noble family[[edit] | [edit source]]

A woman "obsessed with gonks" who resides in Abu Dhabi is a frequent customer to Rose's toy business.
Rose was born under the deadname of Jason. She named herself after Rose Tyler due to the subconscious memories that she got from the DoctorDonna.
Rose's toy designs are based on Daleks, Weapons-grade Cybermen, Judoon, Ood, Lupari, Adipose, the Beast, Racnoss and the Face of Boe.
Sylvia was cooking a tuna madras for dinner when Shaun returned to his family house.
A photo of Geoff Noble at Donna Noble and Lance Bennett's wedding rests on the mantlepiece in the Nobles' living room.
Wilfred Mott, due to being 94-years-old and unable to use the stairs in their home, is staying in a cottage as "sheltered accommodation". UNIT covers most of the expenses, as Kate Stewart said she would look after the "old soldier".
According to Donna, Rose can't act, as she warns the Doctor against attending her school plays, as she doesn't know how to tell her.

The Meep's ship[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Doctor names the Meep's ship the Delusions of Grandeur, due to the Meep calling it "far beyond [humans'] tiny, grasping minds."
The ship uses Dagger Drive, that gets its energy by stabbing down.
Before launching the Dagger Drive, initialisers are activated, gravity stanchions are brandished and the flight deck is calibrated.
As the Doctor was trying to prevent the Drive from starting, the Meep commands to maximise petrolinks and combustible hyperlines.
After the computer estimates the star-launch time as five minutes, the Meep commands primary ignition signature to be installed and deadlock to be sealed as well the maxifold, where the Doctor and Donna are, to be bisected.
As Donna receives all her memories back, she tripledrives the particle manifesto, oversteps the umbilical feed, vindicates the cyberline and roasts the hyperfeeds. The Doctor then maximises the stressfold links, while Donna channels up the booster drive. After that they inculcate the plexidrones and shatterfry the positrons. By doing so, they reversed the ignition.
Rose shuts down every psychedelic lightwave emanator and transferred any excess power to the brokendrone pre-fixilators after the Meta-Crisis awakens in her.
The Meep threatens to explode the engines of the Meep's ship to rupture Earth and damn everyone to Hell.

Cultural references[[edit] | [edit source]]

Donna snidely refers to the Meep as "Mad Paddington" and selling them for one million quid.
Donna also sarcastically calls Shaun "Bob the Builder" after he corrects the Doctor on the wall being mortar instead of concrete.
After thinking that the Meep was a toy that Rose recently made, an impressed Donna said that she could go on the Sewing Bee.
Various items are seen around the Nobles' home: in their living room, there is a PlayStation 5 controller on the table and a magazine beginning with "TV & Sa-" on one of the sofas, and, in the kitchen, there is a toy spork. The magazine's cover references several networks at its top: Netflix, Prime Video, Now, BBC iPlayer, and Disney+. It also features the presenters Holly Willoughby and Freddie Flintoff from The Game, and actress Claire Danes from The Essex Serpent.

Story notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Star Beast aired one year, one month, and two days after The Power of the Doctor ^[+]Loading...["The Power of the Doctor (TV story)"], marking the longest gap between two consecutive stories since the show's return to television in 2005. It was also the first episode to air on Disney+ internationally. The Disney logo also appeared in the endboard.
The first draft of the script had the Meep revealed as the villain much earlier in the story, as revealed by Russell T Davies in The Official Doctor Who Podcast.
The title card includes a credit for Pat Mills and Dave Gibbons as the writers of the comic story The Star Beast was based on.
The Star Beast marked the first time since the TV Movie that the executive producers had been credited straight after the title sequence.
"The Doctor's Theme" is briefly heard when the Doctor uses his screwdriver. Likewise, a variation of "I Am The Doctor" is heard in this episode.
The middle 8 returned to the end credits, last heard in Survivors of the Flux ^[+]Loading...["Survivors of the Flux (TV story)"].
The German and Latin American Spanish dub credits of The Star Beast on Disney+ credit Gerrit Hamann and Óscar Flores respectively as "Der 10. Doktor" (the Tenth Doctor) rather than the Fourteenth Doctor.
An in-vision commentary was released on BBC iPlayer immediately after The Star Beast, which featured David Tennant, Phil Collinson, and Vicki Delow. It was recorded on 19th April 2023, according to Georgia Tennant's Instagram post, in which Tennant talks about Russell T Davies possibly not being able to do it the next day.^[2]
The Doctor running around the new TARDIS interior wasn't in the script; Rachel Talalay proposed the idea on set.
This episode's premiere broadcast was mentioned alongside the other 60th Anniversary Specials in the non-fiction feature Back in Business published in Doctor Who The Official Annual 2024 on 7 September 2023.
Rachel Talalay had no involvement with filming the pre-titles^[3]^[4], elaborating that the scenes with Donna in the kitchen were "outtakes".^[5]
The Star Beast marked the third time a new version of a previously retired series logo was used on screen, following Doctor Who ^[+]Loading...["Doctor Who (TV story)"] and The Day of the Doctor ^[+]Loading...["The Day of the Doctor (TV story)"], and the first time said logo was used for more than one episode.

Comparison with comic version[[edit] | [edit source]]

Doctor Who and the Star Beast is also a comic strip story by Pat Mills and John Wagner, which featured the Fourth Doctor meeting Sharon Davies after she had been tricked by Beep the Meep, with The Star Beast featuring the Fourteenth Doctor meeting Rose Noble during a reunion with Donna Noble that involves Rose being tricked by the Meep. However, while spirit of the original story remains intact, several changes are made to accommodate the change in location and time period, as well as the characters returning from previous television stories.

To accommodate the runtime of a broadcasted episode, some story points are redacted and condensed, such as the Wrarth Warriors implanting a bomb in the Doctor's stomach, them confusing him for Beep's accomplice, and the Doctor retrieving a companion from space.
While the comic story was set in Blackcastle during 1980, the television story is given a contemporary setting of 2023 and relocated to the city of London.
Fudge Higgins, who was prominent character in the comic story, is replaced by Fudge Merchandani, who only shows up in a few scenes and is otherwise uninvolved in the crux of the story. K9 Mark II is removed from the plot entirely, while UNIT and the Noble family replace the army and Mrs Higgins, respectively.
Due to being a television story, the Meep's inner-dialogue from the comic is removed entirely, thus the Meep's sinister nature is revealed at the same time as when the characters' find out. In a further deviation from the comic story, Wrarth Warriors Zreeg and Zogroth are killed when the Meep is revealed as a criminal, whereas they lived to arrest Beep in the comic.
While Beep only starts speaking English once the Doctor arrives in the comics, the television story has the Meep speak English from his initial meeting with Rose. The Meep also has an injured paw when meeting Rose in an alley, whereas Beep is found bleeding from the side in a shed by Sharon and Fudge in the comic story.
The Doctor gets the Meep away from the Wrarth Warriors in a taxi instead of a local bus.
Rather than over a cup of tea at a kitchen table, the Wrarth Warriors explain the Meep's villainous nature in a mock trial in a car park.
The cause of the Meeps' turn to evil is stated to be their sentient Sun turning psychedelic, whereas it was due to the radiation of the Black Sun in the comic story.
The Meep's ship uses a dagger drive for propulsion, whereas the comic story uses a Black Sun drive, which Beep intends to use for a star jump that would create a black hole on Earth.
Donna and Rose reverse the dagger drive entirely, stranding the Meep on Earth, whereas the comic story has the Doctor letting Beep initiate the star jump after he sabotages it so the action does not destroy Earth and only moves the ship into Earth's orbit.
The Meep is sentenced to 10000 years rather than 3000.
The Meep taunts the Doctor as they are taken into custody, rather than trying to beg for mercy and promising to be good as Beep does to Sharon. Additionally, the Meep cryptically tells the Doctor they will tell "The Boss" about him, whereas the comic depected Beep working alone.

Comparison between BBC and Disney+ versions[[edit] | [edit source]]

There are slight differences between the version broadcast on BBC One and the one shown on Disney+:

The Whoniverse ident was shown at the beginning of the episode on the BBC version. However, on the Disney+ version, the BBC ident was shown.
The Disney ident was shown at the end of the episode on the Disney+ version.
The Executive Producers' credits were shown after the title sequence in the BBC version, however, they were shown in the end credits in the Disney+ version.
In the end board for the BBC version, the Bad Wolf logo was shown on the left and the BBC Studios Productions logo on the right. In the Disney+ version, they were switched.
For the DVD release of this episode, it is shown in its Disney+ form, minus the Disney ident at the end and the BBC ident at the beginning.

Myths[[edit] | [edit source]]

to be added

Filming locations[[edit] | [edit source]]

to be added

Ratings[[edit] | [edit source]]

5.01 million (UK overnight)^[6]
7.61 million (Consolidated)^[6]

Production errors[[edit] | [edit source]]

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.

Two of the Ns in David Tennant's credit in the opening titles do not appear in the first frame that they should be visible, and Catherine Tate's credit is partially visible through the TARDIS as it passes by. This error persists across all three of the 60th Anniversary Specials.
In the shot of the UNIT HQ, the Leadenhall Building can be seen, despite this being the site of the UNIT HQ in The Power of the Doctor ^[+]Loading...["The Power of the Doctor (TV story)"]. The onscreen geography also places the new UNIT HQ in the middle of Leadenhall Street.

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Redacted ^[+]Loading...["Redacted (audio series)"] audio drama AUDIO: Redemption ^[+]Loading...["Redemption (audio story)"] leads directly into The Star Beast, as the characters Cleo Proctor and Apex Costa watch the Meep's star cruiser fly through the skies of Camden Town.^{[nb 1]}
Doctor Who The Official Annual 2024 contained several works of fiction which teased some of the characters in The Star Beast:
- The short story PROSE: We Are Family ^[+]Loading...["We Are Family (short story)"] hinted towards the reunion of the Nobles and the Doctor, and Rose meeting the Meep.
The Doctor adjusts dials on the screwdriver after creating the holographic screen in the steelworks. PROSE: Super Sonic ^[+]Loading...["Super Sonic (feature)"] named these the frequency and intensity dials.
A fourth wall breaking introduction was previously used in TV: Before the Flood ^[+]Loading...["Before the Flood (TV story)"] to explain the nature and workings of a bootstrap paradox.
In the introduction recapping Donna's adventures with the Tenth Doctor, clips include the Doctor and Donna leaving the Library in TV: Forest of the Dead ^[+]Loading...["Forest of the Dead (TV story)"], the Empress of the Racnoss snarling during TV: The Runaway Bride ^[+]Loading...["The Runaway Bride (TV story)"], Donna flying the TARDIS in TV: The Sontaran Stratagem ^[+]Loading...["The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)"], the Shadow Proclamation headquarters from TV: The Stolen Earth ^[+]Loading...["The Stolen Earth (TV story)"], Donna absorbing the regeneration energy from the Tenth Doctor's hand during TV: Journey's End ^[+]Loading...["Journey's End (TV story)"], Donna's wedding to Shaun Temple in TV: The End of Time ^[+]Loading...["The End of Time (TV story)"], Arnold Golightly in his Vespiform body attacking Donna during The Unicorn and the Wasp ^[+]Loading...["The Unicorn and the Wasp (TV story)"], a Pyrovile roaring during TV: The Fires of Pompeii ^[+]Loading...["The Fires of Pompeii (TV story)"], the Adipose nursery ship flying during TV: Partners in Crime ^[+]Loading...["Partners in Crime (TV story)"]. Clips of a Dalek, Sontaran General Staal and the Vashta Nerada also appear, as well as footage of Rose Noble taken from TV: The Giggle ^[+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"].
Donna complains about about a man with goatee who "looked like he'd been stuck in a drainpipe", an apparent allusion to the Master getting repeatedly stuck in the sewers of Castle Tersurus during TV: The Curse of Fatal Death ^[+]Loading...["The Curse of Fatal Death (TV story)"]
Donna continues her habit of managing to miss alien events, as noted in TV: The Runaway Bride ^[+]Loading...["The Runaway Bride"] and The End of Time ^[+]Loading...["The End of Time (TV story)"], when focussing on sorting her shopping rather than paying attention to the falling spaceship.
The psychic paper needs to "catch up" to the Doctor regenerating from a "mistress" to a "master", echoing similar slip ups the Thirteenth Doctor had with her gender identity in TV: The Ghost Monument ^[+]Loading...["The Ghost Monument (TV story)"] and TV: Spyfall ^[+]Loading...["Spyfall (TV story)"].
Donna is still acquainted with Nerys, who first appeared in TV: The Runaway Bride ^[+]Loading...["The Runaway Bride (TV story)"], and Susie Mair, who was mentioned in TV: Journey's End ^[+]Loading...["Journey's End (TV story)"].
Shaun reveals Donna kept her maiden name after their marriage, because she thought "Noble-Temple" sounded "like an old ruin". The Tenth Doctor similarly compared the surname to a "tourists' spot" in TV: The End of Time ^[+]Loading...["The End of Time (TV story)"].
The fate of the lottery ticket gifted by the Doctor at Donna Noble and Shaun Temple's wedding in TV: The End of Time ^[+]Loading...["The End of Time (TV story)"] is discussed.
The Fourteenth Doctor has a new sonic screwdriver; COMIC: Liberation of the Daleks ^[+]Loading...["Liberation of the Daleks (comic story)"] depicted the circumstances in which the old sonic screwdriver got destroyed.
The Doctor recalls that he was UNIT's first scientific advisor, a job the Third Doctor received in TV: Spearhead from Space ^[+]Loading...["Spearhead from Space (TV story)"].
The Fourteenth Doctor gets slapped by Sylvia when she tries to stop Donna seeing his face. He alludes to Jackie Tyler slapping the Ninth Doctor in TV: Aliens of London ^[+]Loading...["Aliens of London (TV story)"] and Francine Jones smacking the Tenth Doctor during the TV: The Lazarus Experiment ^[+]Loading...["The Lazarus Experiment (TV story)"].
Donna has a photo of her with her father, Geoff Noble, from her wedding to Lance Bennett in TV: The Runaway Bride ^[+]Loading...["The Runaway Bride (TV story)"].
The Doctor relates to the Meep identifying as "the definite article", which is also how the Fourth Doctor compared himself in comparison to a doctor in TV: Robot ^[+]Loading...["Robot (TV story)"].
The Doctor says the sonic screwdriver is good at "resonating concrete", a call-back to the Ninth Doctor trying to resonate a concrete wall to escape a room in TV: The Doctor Dances ^[+]Loading...["The Doctor Dances (TV story)"].
The Doctor takes out a barrister's wig from his pocket to conduct a trial, much like the Fourth Doctor did during his trial in TV: The Stones of Blood ^[+]Loading...["The Stones of Blood (TV story)"].
Donna and the Doctor get separated by a glass wall in a similar manner to the Tenth Doctor and Wilfred Mott when Wilf became trapped in a radiation chamber in TV: The End of Time ^[+]Loading...["The End of Time (TV story)"].
The last three words that the Doctor uses to reactivate the DoctorDonna are, "Binary, binary, binary", a reference to the first word Donna fumbled over in TV: Journey's End ^[+]Loading...["Journey's End (TV story)"] as her mind started to overload.
Donna recognises that Rose based some of her toy designs on the aliens she met when traveling with the Doctor; Donna had encountered Adipose in TV: Partners in Crime ^[+]Loading...["Partners in Crime (TV story)"], the Ood in TV: Planet of the Ood ^[+]Loading...["Planet of the Ood (TV story)"] and both the Daleks and Judoon in TV: The Stolen Earth ^[+]Loading...["The Stolen Earth (TV story)"].
Donna once again complains about the TARDIS being "nippy", as she did in TV: Partners in Crime ^[+]Loading...["Partners in Crime (TV story)"]
Donna spilling coffee on the TARDIS console produces a similar reaction to when Iris Wildthyme spilt gin on her own TARDIS's console in AUDIO: Iris Wildthyme and the Panda Invasion ^[+]Loading...["Iris Wildthyme and the Panda Invasion (audio story)"].

Home media releases[[edit] | [edit source]]

DVD and Blu-Ray[[edit] | [edit source]]

This story was released on DVD and Blu-Ray in the United Kingdom on 18 December 2023, along with Wild Blue Yonder ^[+]Loading...["Wild Blue Yonder (TV story)"] and The Giggle ^[+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"]. The Bluray release is encoded to Region B, atypical of BBC releases which usually do not have any kind of region encoding on the disc.

Contents:

Rachel Talalay's Scene Breakdown
Chanya Button's Scene Breakdown
Tom Kingsley's Scene Breakdown
The Star Beast Behind The Scenes
The Fourteenth Doctor Reveal
Wild Blue Yonder Behind The Scenes
The Giggle Behind The Scenes
The Giggle In-vision Commentary
The Star Beast In-vision Commentary
David and Catherine's Flashbacks
Yasmin Finney Introduces Rose Noble
Designing the Fourteenth Doctor
Set Tour with Yasmin Finney
The Star Beast - Behind The Scenes Trailer
Wild Blue Yonder - Behind The Scenes Trailer
The Giggle - Behind The Scenes Trailer
The Cast Introduce the Villains in 'Wild Blue Yonder'
Behind The Scenes Fun with David and Catherine
Video Diary with David Tennant's Stand-in
TARDIS Set Tour with David Tennant and Phil Sims
Ruth Madeley Introduces Shirley Bingham
Neil Patrick Harris Introduces the Toymaker
Becoming the Toymaker
60th Specials Recap with David Tennant

UK DVD cover
UK Blu-ray cover
UK steelbook cover

Digital releases[[edit] | [edit source]]

This story is available on BBC iPlayer in the United Kingdom, in Ultra High-Def (4K). It is also available on Disney+ in other territories.

Gallery[[edit] | [edit source]]

Promotional material[[edit] | [edit source]]

Promotional pictures[[edit] | [edit source]]

Promotional image by Butcher Billy.^[7]

External links[[edit] | [edit source]]

Official The Star Beast page on the Doctor Who website

Footnotes[[edit] | [edit source]]

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

↑ This was confirmed by Juno Dawson in The Star Beast episode of The Official Doctor Who Podcast

References[[edit] | [edit source]]

[7] This was confirmed by Juno Dawson in The Star Beast episode of The Official Doctor Who Podcast

[DWM_597_TSB_preview-1] DWM 597 - Preview of The Star Beast, Page 18

[2] ttps://www.instagram.com/reel/C0CSCPtiySD/

[3] ttps://bleedingcool.com/tv/doctor-who-star-beast-director-didnt-know-about-prologue-till-airing/

[4] ttps://thedoctorwhocompanion.com/2024/02/01/the-star-beast-director-rachel-talalay-had-no-involvement-with-the-doctor-who-pre-titles/

[5] ttps://twitter.com/rtalalay/status/1730617730016084151

[Ratings-6] 6.0 ^6.1 Doctor Who ratings

[8] @bbcdoctorwho on Twitter

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{Title dab away}}
-{{spoiler}}
+{{subpage tabs}}
-{{cleanup|This page being a stub is an understatement.}}
 {{Real world}}
 {{ImageLinkTV}}
 {{Infobox Story SMW
 |name            = ''{{StoryTitle}}''
-|special         = [[2023 specials]]
+|special         = [[60th Anniversary Specials]], Episode 1
+|citation series = ''[[Doctor Who (TV series)|Doctor Who]]'' [[60th Anniversary Specials]]
 |story number    = 301
+|scripturl       = https://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/documents/doctor-who-2023-special-1-the-star-beast-yellow-revisions-310522.pdf
 |epcount         = 1
 |novelisation    = The Star Beast (novelisation)
-|image           = The Star Beast promo image.jpg
+|image           = Stuffed Meepimal.png
 |adapted from    = Doctor Who and the Star Beast (comic story)
 |doctor          = Fourteenth Doctor
 |companions      = [[Donna Noble|Donna]]
-|featuring       = [[Wilfred Mott|Wilf]], [[Sylvia Noble|Sylvia]], [[Shaun Temple|Shaun]], [[Rose Noble|Rose]]
+|featuring       = Rose Noble
-|enemy           =
+|featuring2      = Sylvia Noble
-|setting         = [[London]]
+|featuring3      = Shirley Bingham
+|featuring4      = Shaun Temple
+|featuring5      = The DoctorDonna
+|enemy           = [[The Meep]]
+|setting         = [[21st century London|London]], [[2023]]
 |writer          = Russell T Davies
 |director        = [[Rachel Talalay]]
-|producer        =
+|producer        = [[Vicki Delow]]
-|broadcast date  = November 2023
+|genre           = Science fiction
-|network         = BBC One
+|broadcast date  = 25 November 2023
-|format          =
+|network         = BBC One, Disney+
+|format          = 1x60 minute episode
+|unleashed       = The Star Beast (Unleashed episode)
+|odwp            = The Star Beast (ODWP episode)
 |production code =
 |series          = [[Doctor Who television stories|''Doctor Who'' television stories]]
-|prev            = The Power of the Doctor (TV story)
+|prev            = Destination: Skaro (TV story)
 |next            = Wild Blue Yonder (TV story)
-|bts             =
+|clip            = Donna Meets the Meep! - PREVIEW - The Star Beast - Doctor Who-2
+|clip2           = What if Donna Remembers? - PREVIEW - The Star Beast - Doctor Who
+|bts             = Behind the Scenes - The Star Beast - Doctor Who
 |bts2            =
 |bts3            =
 |trailer         = Teaser Trailer - 60th Anniversary Specials - Doctor Who
 |trailer2        = OFFICIAL TRAILER - Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Specials - Doctor Who
-}}
+|made prev       = The Power of the Doctor (TV story)
-{{TV stub}}
+|made next       = The Giggle (TV story)
-{{dab_page|Star Beast (disambiguation)}}
+}}{{dab page|Star Beast (disambiguation)}}
-'''''The Star Beast''''' will be the first of the three [[2023 specials]] of ''[[Doctor Who (TV series)|Doctor Who]]'', broadcast as part of the [[List of anniversaries|60th anniversary]] celebrations.
+'''''The Star Beast''''' was the first of the three [[60th Anniversary Specials]] of ''[[Doctor Who (TV series)|Doctor Who]]'', broadcast on [[25 November (releases)|25 November]] [[2023 (releases)|2023]] as part of the [[List of anniversaries|60th anniversary]], and it was also the first episode in [[Russell T Davies]]'s return as [[showrunner]]. Furthermore, this episode was an adaptation of the [[1980 (releases)|1980]] comic strip {{cs|Doctor Who and the Star Beast (comic story)}}, and, as such, saw the first onscreen appearance of the popular ''[[Doctor Who Magazine]]'' antagonist [[the Meep]].
+Notably, a year after the [[Fourteenth Doctor]]'s introduction in {{cs|The Power of the Doctor (TV story)}}, and after his appearances in the post-regeneration comic story [[Liberation of the Daleks (comic story)|''Liberation of the Daleks'']] and the [[mini-episode]] {{cs|Destination: Skaro (TV story)}} for ''[[Children in Need]], The Star Beast'' marked the first full onscreen adventure starring [[David Tennant]] as the character. The Doctor is shown in this story doubting  his own identity, after his [[Thirteenth Doctor's regeneration|recent regeneration]] gave him the [[Tenth Doctor]]'s face and body again, the mystery and unknown reason for one of the Doctor's incarnations having the face and body of a previous incarnation became the driving force of the narrative and character arc of the Fourteenth Doctor in the trilogy of specials. The [[Fourteenth Doctor's sonic screwdriver]] is also seen for the first time onscreen, along with a new [[TARDIS control room]].
-It will see the first full onscreen adventure of [[David Tennant]] as the [[Fourteenth Doctor]], the return of [[Catherine Tate]] as [[Donna Noble]], and the first episode of [[Russell T Davies]]'s [[RTD2|second stint]] as [[showrunner]].
+''The Star Beast'' also saw the return of [[Catherine Tate]] as [[Donna Noble]], [[Jacqueline King]] as [[Sylvia Noble]] and [[Karl Collins]] as [[Shaun Temple]], thirteen years after their last on-screen appearance in {{cs|The End of Time (TV story)}}. The special also marked the introduction of [[Yasmin Finney]] as [[Rose Noble]], the daughter of Donna and Shaun.
-This episode is an adaptation of the comic story ''[[Doctor Who and the Star Beast (comic story)|Doctor Who and the Star Beast]]''.
+''The Star Beast'' is notable for resolving what had happened to Donna following her last adventure with the Tenth Doctor, with it being revealed that a portion of the [[Human-Time Lord Meta-Crisis]] that had led to the creation of [[the DoctorDonna]] had transferred from her to her child. ''The Star Beast'' not only saw Donna fully regaining her memories of the Doctor, but the end of the DoctorDonna and the release of the Meta-Crisis, now shared between two brains instead of only one.
 == Synopsis ==
-''to be added''
+A spaceship crashes in [[North London]]. Not that [[Donna Noble]] noticed; she had other things on her mind. Besides, there's no such thing as aliens — right?! But then one turns up in her garden shed: [[the Meep]]. Another — [[Fourteenth Doctor|the Doctor]] — barges into her [[kitchen]]. By the time a squadron of [[Wrarth Warrior]]s shows up on her doorstep, the [[Noble family]] must face facts: Donna's past is catching up to her. And her mind is about to be blown...<ref name="DWM 597 TSB preview">[[DWM 597]] - Preview of ''The Star Beast'', Page 18</ref>
 == Plot ==
-''to be added''
+In a [[cold opening]] set in the vastness of the universe, the [[Fourteenth Doctor]] recaps the adventures he once had with [[Donna Noble]]. He notes after she had [[Human-Time Lord Meta-Crisis|gained his memories and intelligence]] during their [[Planetary Relocation Incident|last adventure]], he had to completely wipe her mind of their adventures and of the Doctor himself to save her life, as it put her in danger. Donna on the other hand can't shake the feeling that something is missing in her life, and has reoccurring dreams of events she doesn't realise are her repressed memories. However, there's one thing on the Doctor's mind right now that he can't fully figure out or understand: his face. Why has he regenerated back into a body identical to his [[Tenth Doctor|tenth incarnation]]? The Doctor has only one guess: it has something to do with Donna, and maybe the last time they were together wasn't the end of their story like he originally believed.
+[[The Doctor's TARDIS]] lands in [[21st century London|London]] in [[2023]], as the Doctor ventures out and strolls down the road. He wanders into a bustle of people before seeing a woman holding a large pile of boxes, which he tries to help with. He helps her with a few and is shocked to discover she's Donna, who still doesn't remember him. Her daughter, [[Rose Noble]], a teenage [[Transgender|trans]]girl, runs up as Donna becomes distracted with her boxes, missing a [[Beep the Meep's neutron drive star cruiser|spaceship]] crashing down not too far away. Donna and Rose head off right before Donna's husband, [[Shaun Temple]], drives up in [[Shaun Temple's taxi cab|his taxi]]. The Doctor convinces Shaun to take him to the crash, and, as they drive, he pumps Shaun for information on Donna, claiming to be a friend of [[Nerys|Nerys's]].
+The Doctor manages to access the crash site inside the [[Millson Wagner Steelworks]], even as [[UNIT United Kingdom|UNIT]] establish a perimeter around it. He isolates himself inside and begins to analyse the data from the crash as UNIT [[scientific advisor]] [[Shirley Bingham]] comes up and offers him her readings on the site. He expresses hesitancy to work with UNIT, as he doesn't fully know who he himself is at the moment. He has his old face again and he's not sure what to make of that, or of the fact that he ran into Donna almost immediately after. Soldiers come up and mention that they've found the escape pod to the wreck and are sending a team after it, prompting the Doctor to leave with them. After the Doctor leaves, UNIT manages to unlock the ship and sends a squad of soldiers to secure whatever's inside. As the door opens, tendrils of light flow out into the eyes of the soldiers, leaving them [[Solar Psychedelia|aglow]] as they turn and walk away.
+[[File:I think there's something missing (TSB).jpg|thumb|left|"Sometimes I think there's something missing. Like I had something lovely, and it's gone".]]
+Meanwhile, Rose and Donna return to [[23 Bachelor Road|their house]] and three boys on bikes harass Rose by mockingly deadnaming her. Donna is appalled, but Rose tells her to leave it. They come back to see [[Sylvia Noble|Sylvia]], who's cooking dinner. Donna asks Sylvia if she heard anything about the spaceship that everyone's been talking about, which Sylvia, wanting to stop Donna remembering her travels in the TARDIS, resolutely denies. Rose finds a creature as she's taking out the recycling. The creature names itself [[the Meep]] and insists that there are "monsters" after it. Rose hides the Meep in her backyard shed, though Donna stumbles in. Donna first mistakes the Meep for a stuffed toy that Rose designed, before prodding it in the eye, realizing that it's alive and panicking. The Meep tries to calm Donna down and Sylvia intervenes, insisting that the entire thing is just a hallucination. The Doctor shows up at their house after UNIT stops nearby, realising that something must have happened, unlocking the door using [[Fourteenth Doctor's sonic screwdriver|his sonic screwdriver]]. The UNIT team with glowing eyes order those who are guarding the escape pod back to the steelworks and begin to search for the Meep.
+The Nobles, the Meep, the Doctor and Shaun, who came in not too long after the Doctor, discuss what to do with the Meep, with the Doctor and Sylvia insisting that he should take the Meep away. The Meep explains to them all that the [[Wrarth Warrior]]s used to hunt [[Meep]]s for their fur, and, when the rest of the galaxy put a stop to the practice, they decided to kill the entire species. UNIT soldiers knock at the door, and, as the Doctor answers it, he scrolls up their visors, seeing glowing eyes. The Doctor closes the door on them right as the back entrance is smashed open by two Wrarth Warriors, the UNIT soldiers crashing through the front almost immediately after. The Doctor, the Noble family, and the Meep escape through the attics on the street using the sonic screwdriver to weaken the brick walls between them. The group drives off and stops in a car park.
+[[File:The Beep of all The Meeps! (TSB).jpg|thumb|right|"I don't need to pretend, for I am The Beep of all The Meeps!".]]
+The Doctor dons a wig and uses his sonic screwdriver to summon two Wrarth Warriors, [[Zogroth]] and [[Zreeg]]. The Doctor notes how there was no damage done to the taxi and that the fallen UNIT soldiers weren't killed, merely unconscious. The Wrarth Warriors confirm that their weapons apply an anesthetic. They consider the tale of the Meep to be tragic, as they were a species whose sun turned [[Psychedelic sun|psychedelic]] and mutated them all into maniacs bent on conquest. The Wrarth Warriors were summoned to stop their conquest. As they all fought to the death, only the Meep remains. The Doctor asks the Meep if they have anything to say in their defence. Instead, the Meep drops its friendly façade, pulls out a weapon and kills both of the Wrarth Warriors as UNIT soldiers, brainwashed by the psychedelic sun, arrive. The Doctor manages to convince the Meep that he and the Noble family are more useful as hostages than dead.
+The Meep takes the group back to the steelworks and shows off the ship present there. The Doctor insists that the ship can't be used; It has a [[Dagger Drive]], which means it gets its power for propulsion by stabbing downwards, and it would use the whole of London as fuel. The Meep laughs and orders the group taken aboard the ship. Shirley subdues the soldiers taking them aboard and frees the Doctor and the Nobles, telling him that he needs to get aboard to stop it from taking off and pointing the family towards an exit. As he runs offs, Donna decides to follow him, calling him "Doctor" despite never learning his name, cluing to Sylvia that her memories are coming back. Donna enters the ship after the Doctor, watching him as he darts around, flipping switches and buttons to prevent the take-off as best he can. The Meep lowers a screen from above, splitting the room in two, with the Doctor and Donna caught on the other side as he still tries his best to stop it. Time runs out as the Meep activates the Dagger Drive.
+[[File:Nonbinary (TSB).jpg|thumb|left|"Too much power for one person, but you had a child, and the metacrisis passed down. A shared inheritance".]]
+The Doctor explains to Donna that time's run out, and that there's only one chance left. Donna insists that he needs to do it, even when he says it would kill her, because it will save her daughter, and the lives of everyone else in London. The Doctor lowers the mental block she has in her head and [[regeneration energy]] spills out of her. In a flurry of technobabble, the two set to work on dismantling the ship. The drive fails, and Donna collapses. Soldiers of the Meep storm in to kill the Doctor, but the light drains out of their eyes, and Donna gets back up. Rose, having absorbed aspects of the Doctor's mind when she was born that were unlocked when the mental block fell away, turns off the psychedelic sun emitters.
+The Wrarth Warriors show up to arrest the Meep and imprison them for [[10000 (number)|ten thousand]] years, but, as they part, the Meep teases the Doctor that two hearted species are so rare - someone called "[[the Boss]]" will be told about him. The Doctor brushes the threat aside, returning to the issue of Rose and Donna having too much knowledge for any human, it was slowed down but not stopped. Rose and Donna acknowledge this, but say that there's just another way, one men would never understand. They decide to [[letting go|just let the power go]].
+As he returns to his TARDIS, the Doctor suggests to Donna that they take one last trip to see [[Wilfred Mott]]. They enter a fully revamped TARDIS interior that the two of them spend some time goggling over, complete with a [[coffee machine]]. The Doctor offers Donna a [[coffee]]. She joyfully accepts, but accidently spills it on the TARDIS console, causing it to burst into flames and the TARDIS to take off. The Doctor tells Donna they could end up anywhere in time and space.
 == Cast ==
@@ Line 51: / Line 84: @@
 * [[Donna Noble]] - [[Catherine Tate]]
 * [[Rose Noble]] - [[Yasmin Finney]]
-* [[Wilfred Mott]] - [[Bernard Cribbins]]
+* [[Shaun Temple]] - [[Karl Collins]]
+* [[BBC Reporter (The Star Beast)|BBC Reporter]] - [[Matt Green]]
+* [[Colonel]] [[Chan (The Star Beast)|Chan]] - [[Jamie Cho]]
+* [[Shirley Bingham]] - [[Ruth Madeley]]
+* [[Lad 1 (The Star Beast)|Lad]] - [[Harley McEvilly]]
+* [[Lad 2 (The Star Beast)|Lad]] - [[Max Fincham]]
 * [[Sylvia Noble]] - [[Jacqueline King]]
-* [[Shaun Temple]] - [[Karl Collins]]
+* [[Fudge Merchandani]] - [[Dara Lall]]
-* [[Beep the Meep]] - TBA
+* [[The Meep]] - [[Cecily Fay]]
-* Voice of [[Beep the Meep]] - [[Miriam Margolyes]]
+* Meep Animatronics - [[Brian Herring]], [[Phill Woodfine]]
-* [[Wrarth Warrior]]s - TBA
+* [[Wrarth Warrior 1 (The Star Beast)|Wrarth Warrior 1]] - [[Robert Strange]]
+* Wrarth Warrior 2 - [[Stephen Love]]
+* [[Wrarth Warrior 3 (The Star Beast)|Wrarth Warrior 3]] - [[Jordan Benjamin]]
+* [[Wrarth Warrior 4 (The Star Beast)|Wrarth Warrior 4]] - [[Vassili Psaltopoulos]]
+* [[Soldier (The Star Beast)|Soldier]] - [[Isabella Carey]]
+* [[Major]] [[Shervan Singh|Singh]] - [[Ronak Patani]]
+* Voice of [[Zogroth]] - [[Ned Porteous]]
+* Voice of [[Zreeg]] - [[John Hopkinson]]
+* [[Chief Technician (The Star Beast)|Chief Technician]] - [[Anna Martine Freeman]]
+* [[Sergeant (The Star Beast)|Sergeant]] - [[Archie Backhouse]]
+* Voice of the Meep - [[Miriam Margolyes]]
 === Uncredited cast ===
@@ Line 62: / Line 110: @@
 == Crew ==
-{{Wales crew|ExecutiveProd=Russell T Davies|ExecutiveProd3=Jane Tranter|ExecutiveProd2=Julie Gardner|ExecutiveProd4=Phil Collinson|ExecutiveProd5=Joel Collins|Writer=Russell T Davies|Producer=Vicki Delow|Director=Rachel Talalay|DOP=Matt Gray BSC|ProductionDesigner=Philip Sims|Make-upDesigner=Steve Smith|CastingDirector=Andy Pryor CDG|Music=Murray Gold|CostumeDesigner=Pam Downe|OriginalTheme=Ron Grainer|CoProducer=Ellen Marsh|ProductionManager=Delmi Thomas|ScriptEditor=Scott Handcock}}
+{{Wales crew
+|Writer=Russell T Davies
+|StoryBy=Pat Mills
+|StoryBy2=Dave Gibbons
+|ExecutiveProd=Russell T Davies
+|ExecutiveProd2=Julie Gardner
+|ExecutiveProd3=Jane Tranter
+|ExecutiveProd4=Joel Collins
+|ExecutiveProd5=Phil Collinson
+|Producer=Vicki Delow
+|Director=Rachel Talalay
+|MeepAnimatronics=Brian Herring
+|MeepAnimatronics2=Phill Woodfine
+|Stunt=Ben Ashley
+|Stunt2=Elizabeth Donker Curtius
+|Stunt3=Gary Grundy
+|Stunt4=Gary Hoptrough
+|Stunt5=George Harris
+|Stunt6=George Surrey
+|Stunt7=Jack Jagodka
+|Stunt8=Jake Osborn
+|Stunt9=James Grogan
+|Stunt10=Joel Conlan
+|Stunt11=Kim McGarrity
+|Stunt12=Marlow Warrington-Mattei
+|Stunt13=Matt Sherren
+|Stunt14=Paul Bailey
+|Stunt15=Renato Gjini
+|Stunt16=Rob Jarman
+|Stunt17=Ross Upton
+|Stunt18=Sarah Lochlan
+|Stunt19=Steve Whitley
+|Stunt20=Tom Hatt
+|StuntCoOrdinator=Derek Lea
+|CreatureChoreo=Paul Kasey
+|DialectCoach=Marilyn Le Conte
+|1stAD=Scott Bates
+|2ndAD=Lauren Pate
+|Crowd2ndAD=Charlie Campbell
+|3rdAD=Jennifer Day
+|FloorRunner=Jac Lewis
+|FloorRunner2=George Cheetham
+|FloorRunner3=Helen Langford
+|SAWFloorRunner=Saad Mohamed
+|SAWBaseRunner=Jamal Price
+|StandIn=George Cheetham
+|StandIn2=Helen Langford
+|ProductionManager=Delmi Thomas
+|ProductionCoOrdinator=Sandra Cosfeld
+|AsstProductionCoOrdinator=Liam Hobbs
+|ProductionSecretary=Florence Trott
+|ProductionSecretary2=Chris Harkus
+|TravelAccommodationSecretary=Adam Byard
+|ProductionOfficeRunner=Danilo Van-Der Nguyen
+|ProductionOfficeRunner2=Lisa Elena Williams
+|DirectorsAssistant=Daniella Wilson
+|CreativeCoOrdinator=Fabia Sinigaglia
+|ExecutiveAsstTo1=Dee Brooker
+|AssistedExec1a=Jane Tranter
+|ExecutiveAsstTo2=Kaleigh O'Boyle
+|AssistedExec2a=Julie Gardner
+|ExecutiveAsstTo3=Joshua M.G. Thomas
+|AssistedExec3a=Russell T Davies
+|AssistedExec3b=Phil Collinson
+|AssistedExec3c=Joel Collins
+|LocationManager=Daniel Wellstead
+|LocationManager2=Hollie Voice
+|LocationManager3=Darren Pratt
+|AssistantLocationManager=Alex Moore
+|UnitManager=Kyle Yates
+|UnitManager2=Paul Milligan
+|AssistantUnitManager=Tom Chalkley
+|LocationAssistant=Shuaib Said
+|LocationAssistant2=Victoria Louise Jolliffe
+|StudioManager=Richard Balshaw
+|1stAsstAccountant=Greg Robinson
+|APAsstAccountant=Devon Anscombe
+|AsstAccountantPayroll=Aimee Bond
+|AsstAccountantPayroll2=Laura Gardner
+|Cashier=Joseff Thomas
+|CameraOperator=Martin Stephens
+|FocusPuller=Martin Payne
+|FocusPuller2=Jonathan Vidgen
+|ClapperLoader=Sophie Hardcastle
+|ClapperLoader2=Sarah Macleod
+|CameraTrainee=Elesha Pederson
+|CameraTrainee2=Kudzai Dzokamushure
+|DigitalImagingTechnician=Nick Everett
+|DataManager=David Buckley
+|KeyGrip=Bobby Williams
+|Grip=Ken Hodgson
+|GripTrainee=Alexander Jones
+|GripTrainee2=Rhys Jones
+|SAWEntryLevelGripTrainee=Emily Badger-Knight
+|ScriptSupervisor=Lucy Dews
+|SAWEntryLevelScriptSupervisor=Ines Mayorga
+|1stAssistantSound=James Bowen
+|2ndAssistantSound=Angharad Evans
+|LightingGaffer=Paul Jarvis
+|RiggingGaffer=Pete Chester
+|BestBoy=Chris Kiley
+|LightingRigger=Paul Davies
+|DeskOperator=Alan Tippetts
+|RiggingDeskOperator=Pete Davies
+|Electrician=Scott Smallwood
+|Electrician2=Andrew Truckle
+|Electrician3=Andy Green
+|Electrician4=Sion Davies
+|SupervisingArtDirector=Robyn Paiba
+|SeniorArtDirector=Crissy Howes
+|SeniorArtDirector2=Gareth Cousins
+|SeniorArtDirector3=David Weare
+|ArtDirector=Jon Horsham
+|ArtDirector2=Kartik Kundan Nagar
+|ArtDirector3=Hattie Gent
+|PropArtDirector=Michael van Kesteren
+|AssistantArtDirector=Hakan Yoruk
+|AssistantArtDirector2=Eleri Lloyd
+|StandbyArtDirector=Ifan Lewis Lewis
+|SetDecorator=Kate Guyan
+|AsstSetDecorator=Josie Martin
+|AsstSetDecorator2=Verity Scott
+|ProductionBuyer=Helen O'Leary
+|ActionPropsBuyer=Tara Lily Johnston
+|AssistantBuyer=Taymar Lee
+|AssistantBuyer2=Camilla Blair
+|PettyCashBuyer=Billie Blue Williams
+|PettyCashBuyer2=Lois Drage
+|Draughtsperson=Matt Sanders
+|JuniorDraughtsperson=Lucia Heseltine
+|JuniorDraughtsperson2=Ella Farndon
+|JuniorDraughtsperson3=Katja Allen-Kormylo
+|ArtDeptCoOrdinator=Jason Davies-Redgrave
+|ArtDeptAssistant=Sam Hanson
+|StoryboardArtist=Mike Collins
+|StoryboardArtist2=Adam Pescott
+|PropMaster=Nick Thomas
+|PropsChargehand=Stuart Rankmore
+|StandbyProps=Phill Bull
+|StandbyProps2=Jonathan Barclay
+|PropHand=Declan Petryna
+|PropHand2=Atiff Tahir
+|PropHand3=Calvin Evans
+|PropHand4=Ingo Hans
+|PropHand5=John Thomas
+|PropHand6=Joseph Craig
+|PropHand7=Ieuan Parker
+|PropHand8=Ifan Ramage
+|PracticalElectrician=Phillip Jones
+|Storeman=Charlie Malik
+|TraineeStoreman=Kristan McDonald
+|PropDriver=Mark Herbert
+|StandbyPainter=Jessie Thomas
+|GraphicDesigner=Stephen Fielding
+|AsstGraphicDesigner=Sophie Cowdrey
+|GraphicsAsst=Aled Llyr Griffiths
+|PropModellerHOD=Barry Jones
+|Modeller=Grant Humberstone
+|Modeller2=Paul Mazonas
+|Modeller3=Stephanie Howell
+|Modeller4=Penny Howarth
+|Modeller5=Valma Hiblen
+|FabricationBuyer=Hester Haslett-Venus
+|Rigging=Shadow Scaffolding
+|StandbyRigger=Alex Herbert
+|StandbyRigger2=Michael Boulton
+|Construction=4Wood
+|ProjectManager=James Thorne
+|ConstructionManager=Brian Jones
+|ConstructionManager2=Steve Jackson
+|HODScenicArtist=Neil Morris
+|HODSculptor=Pete Mitchell
+|ConstructionBuyerCoordinator=Lottie Ashley
+|Fabricator=Konstantinos Grigoriadis
+|StandbyCarpenter=Will Pope
+|HODScenic=Jody Raynes
+|SpecialEffects=Real SFX
+|SFXSupervisor=Danny Hargreaves
+|SFXAsstPrepSupervisor=Arran Glassar
+|SFXFloorSupervisor=Tom Vincent
+|AsstCostumeDesigner=Ros Marshall
+|CostumeDesignAsst=Rosalie Tyack
+|CostumeSupervisor=Laura Baker
+|CostumeCoOrdinator=Charlotte Godfrey
+|PrincipalCostumeStandby=Kitty Carin-Boyd
+|PrincipalCostumeStandby2=Leila Headon
+|CrowdCostume=Nadia Cucinella
+|CostumeArtist=Heather Waterton
+|CostumeMaker=Issy Lawrence
+|CostumeMaker2=Jessica Hardy
+|CostumeMaker3=Hannah Carey
+|CostumeTrainee=Lizzie Doody
+|CostumeTrainee2=Sammy-Jo Webb-Edwards
+|HairMake-upSupervisor=Clarice Gill
+|SeniorHairMake-upArtist=Juliet Ireland
+|SeniorHairMake-upArtist2=Sarah Davies
+|PersonalMake-upArtistTo1a=Stevie Smith
+|Made-upActor1=David Tennant
+|JuniorHairMake-upArtist=Stuart Cheadle
+|JuniorHairMake-upArtist2=Kate Rawsthorne
+|TraineeHairMake-upArtist=Sammy Vanstone
+|CreatureFX=Millennium FX
+|CreatureFXDesigner=Neill Gorton
+|CreatureFXSupervisor=Rob Mayor
+|CreatureFXSupervisor2=Kate Walshe
+|ProjectCoordinator=Sharna Rothwell
+|ProjectCoordinator2=Rachel Gatt
+|SupervisingSculptor=Chris Goodman
+|AnimatronicEngineer=Adam Keenan
+|CreatureFXTechnician=Darren Robinson
+|CreatureFXTechnician2=Loren Clark
+|CreatureFXTechnician3=Natasha Jiggins
+|CreatureFXTechnician4=Camille Delattre
+|CreatureFXTechnician5=Samantha DiGiuseppe
+|CreatureFXTechnician6=Anthony Davies
+|CreatureFXTechnician7=Trudy Mostyn Mortimer
+|AdminMillenniumFX=Martina Skokova
+|TransportManager=Julian Binning
+|UnitDriver=Paul Watkins
+|UnitDriver2=Jolyon Davey
+|UnitDriver3=Steve Darwent
+|UnitDriver4=Richard Hunt
+|UnitDriver5=Haider Shahab
+|HODHealthSafetyMedicalCovid=John Fillingham
+|AsstSafetyManager=Terry Davies
+|CovidCoOrdinator=Leah Corcoran
+|CovidAssistant=Ilona Tigere
+|Medic=Gareth Silcox
+|Medic2=Laura Hinton
+|Medic3=Robert Fillingham
+|Medic4=Todd Daly
+|Medic5=Andy Raynor
+|Catering=Antonio's TV and Film Catering
+|Facilities=AP Transport c/o Bob Gurney and Richard Gurney
+|CastingAssociate=Ri McDaid-Wren
+|CastingAssistant=Ray Böhm
+|1stAsstEditor=Emily Lawrence
+|1stAsstEditor2=Lucy Harris
+|2ndAsstEditor=Joseph Keirle
+|AssemblyEditor=Hayley Williams
+|VFXEditor=Matt Nathan
+|VFXEditorTrainee=Catrin Rees
+|VFXTempEditor=Alastair Gray
+|PostProdSupervisor=Liv Duffin
+|AudioPostProduction=Bang Post Production
+|SoundDesigner=Rob Ireland
+|DialogueADREditor=Matthew Cox
+|CrowdADR=Wild ADR
+|FoleyArtist=Gareth Rhys Jones
+|FoleyEditor=Nathan Palmer
+|FoleyMixer=Jamie Talbutt
+|VFXSupervisor=Dan May
+|VFXSupervisor2=Tom Raynor
+|VFXOnSetSupervisor=Sean Varney
+|VFXOnSetSupervisor2=Daniel Roberts
+|VFXLineProducer=Liam Tully
+|VFXCoOrdinator=Siân Reynish
+|VFXCoOrdinator2=Livvy Edwards
+|DataWrangler=Hattie Williams
+|DataWrangler2=Benjamin-Martyn Wheeler
+|VFXAssistant=Sarah-Hoor Aboubakar
+|ConceptArtist=Nandor Moldovan
+|VisualEffects=Untold Studios
+|OnlineEditor=Christine Kelly
+|OnlineEditor2=Geraint Pari Huws
+|MusicPerformedBy=BBC National Orchestra of Wales
+|MusicOrchestratedAndConductedBy=Alastair King
+|MusicMixedBy=Jake Jackson
+|OriginalTheme=Ron Grainer
+|TitleSequence=Painting Practice & Realtime Visualisation
+|Character1a=The Meep
+|Character1b=Wrarth Warrior{{!}}The Wrarth
+|CharCreatedBy1a=Pat Mills
+|CharCreatedBy1b=Dave Gibbons
+|CoProducer=Ellen Marsh
+|ScriptEditor=Scott Handcock
+|Colourist=Gareth Spensley
+|VFXProducer=Will Cohen
+|PostProdProducer=Ceres Doyle
+|SupervisingLocationManager=Iwan Roberts
+|SoundRecordist=Alex Thompson (sound recordist)
+|DubbingMixer=Paul McFadden
+|CastingDirector=Andy Pryor CDG
+|Music=Murray Gold
+|Editor=Will Oswald
+|DOP=Matt Gray BSC
+|ProductionDesigner=Phil Sims
+|CostumeDesigner=Pam Downe
+|Make-upDesigner=Claire Williams
+|FinancialController=Dyfed Thomas
+|LineProducer=Mark Devlin
+|ProductionExec=Steffan Morris
+|HeadOfProduction=Alex Protherough
+|ProductionExecBBCStudios=John Hamer
+|ExecutiveProdForTheBBC=Rebecca Ferguson
+|CommissioningEditorBBC=Lindsay Salt
+}}
+== Worldbuilding ==
+* Rose points out that the Doctor assumes the Meep's pronouns, bringing up [[gender identity]].
+* A UNIT soldier confirms [[Red Perimeter]] and commanded to engage Protocols [[Protocol 5|5]] and [[Protocol 50|50]].
+* [[TCP]] is used to clean the Meep's injury.
+* The Doctor invokes the [[Shadow Proclamation]] Protocols 15, P and 6.
+* Donna thinks her family could have moved to [[Monte Carlo]] or [[Switzerland]] if she hadn't given away her lottery money.
+=== London ===
+* [[Meat Point]] and [[Cyberdog]] are businesses located in Camden Market.
+* As Shaun drives the Doctor out of Camden Market, they pass branches of [[AllSaints]] and [[Hob Salons]]. There is also a sign for an [[ATM]].
+* According to Rose, London has a [[population]] of [[9000000 (number)|nine million]] people.
+* UNIT has [[UNIT HQ, City of London|a new headquarters]] in the [[City of London]], which is a [[skyscraper]] higher than the towers in the immediate area such as [[the Gherkin]] and [[122 Leadenhall Street]], and has a [[helipad]].
+=== The Doctor ===
+* [[The Doctor's psychic paper]] takes time to properly reflect the Doctor's gender in titles, as the change is still recent. When the Doctor attempts the title "Master of Grand Knowledge", it says "Mistress" instead.
+* The Doctor mentions that, after being "[[Tenth Doctor|the one in the skinny suit]]", he was "[[Eleventh Doctor|wear[ing] a bowtie]]", and then was "[[Twelfth Doctor|a Scotsman]]" and then "[[Thirteenth Doctor|a woman]]".
+* The Doctor once found himself on [[Mars]] with [[Geoffrey Chaucer]] and a [[robot shark]].
+=== The Doctor's sonic screwdriver ===
+* The Doctor creates a [[holographic]] screen to analyse data about the Meep's ship. He adjusts [[Frequency and intensity dial|the dials]] at the base of the screwdriver to begin the scan.
+* The Doctor also creates mobile [[force field]]s to protect himself, the Meep and the Noble family from both energy and projectile weapon fire.
+* The Doctor uses the sonic screwdriver to resonate [[mortar]] and dislodge bricks to create holes in the walls between the attics of several houses.
+=== Noble family ===
+* [[Woman (The Star Beast)|A woman]] "[[obsession|obsessed]] with [[gonk]]s" who resides in [[Abu Dhabi]] is a frequent customer to Rose's toy business.
+* Rose was born under the deadname of Jason. She named herself after [[Rose Tyler]] due to the subconscious memories that she got from the DoctorDonna.
+* Rose's toy designs are based on [[Dalek]]s, [[Weapons-grade Cybermen]], [[Judoon]], [[Ood]], [[Lupari]], [[Adipose]], [[The Beast (The Impossible Planet)|the Beast]], [[Racnoss]] and the [[Face of Boe]].
+* Sylvia was cooking a [[tuna madras]] for dinner when Shaun returned to [[Nobles' home (The Star Beast)|his family house]].
+* A photo of [[Geoff Noble]] at [[Donna Noble and Lance Bennett's wedding]] rests on the mantlepiece in the Nobles' living room.
+* [[Wilfred Mott]], due to being [[94 (number)|94]]-years-old and unable to use the stairs in their home, is staying in [[Cottage (The Star Beast)|a cottage]] as "sheltered accommodation". UNIT covers most of the expenses, as [[Kate Stewart]] said she would look after the "old [[soldier]]".
+* According to Donna, Rose can't act, as she warns the Doctor against attending her school plays, as she doesn't know how to tell her.
+=== The Meep's ship ===
+* The Doctor names [[Beep the Meep's neutron drive star cruiser|the Meep's ship]] the ''Delusions of Grandeur'', due to the Meep calling it "far beyond [humans'] tiny, grasping minds."
+* The ship uses [[Dagger Drive]], that gets its energy by stabbing down.
+* Before launching the Dagger Drive, [[initialiser]]s are activated, [[gravity stanchion]]s are brandished and the [[flight deck]] is calibrated.
+* As the Doctor was trying to prevent the Drive from starting, the Meep commands to maximise [[petrolink]]s and [[combustible hyperline]]s.
+* After the computer estimates the [[star-launch]] time as five minutes, the Meep commands [[primary ignition signature]] to be installed and [[deadlock]] to be sealed as well the [[maxifold]], where the Doctor and Donna are, to be bisected.
+* As Donna receives all her memories back, she tripledrives the [[particle manifesto]], oversteps the [[umbilical feed]], vindicates the [[cyberline]] and roasts the [[hyperfeed]]s. The Doctor then maximises the [[stressfold link]]s, while Donna channels up the [[booster drive]]. After that they inculcate the [[plexidrone]]s and shatterfry the [[positron]]s. By doing so, they reversed the [[ignition]].
+* Rose shuts down every [[psychedelic lightwave emanator]] and transferred any excess power to the [[brokendrone pre-fixilator]]s after the Meta-Crisis awakens in her.
+* The Meep threatens to explode the [[engine]]s of the Meep's ship to [[rupture]] Earth and damn everyone to [[Hell]].
+=== Cultural references ===
+* Donna snidely refers to [[the Meep]] as "[[Madness|Mad]] [[Paddington Bear|Paddington]]" and selling them for [[1000000 (number)|one million]] [[quid]].
+* Donna also sarcastically calls Shaun "[[Bob the Builder]]" after he corrects the Doctor on the wall being mortar instead of [[concrete]].
+* After thinking that the Meep was a toy that Rose recently made, an impressed Donna said that she could go on the ''[[Sewing Bee]]''.
+* Various items are seen around the Nobles' home: in their living room, there is a [[PlayStation 5]] controller on the table and a [[magazine]] beginning with "''[[TV & Satellite Week (in-universe)|TV & Sa]]''-" on one of the [[sofa]]s, and, in the kitchen, there is a [[Forky|toy spork]]. The magazine's cover references several networks at its top: [[Netflix]], [[Prime Video (in-universe)|Prime Video]], [[Now (network)|Now]], [[BBC iPlayer (in-universe)|BBC iPlayer]], and [[Disney+ (in-universe)|Disney+]]. It also features the presenters [[Holly Willoughby]] and [[Freddie Flintoff]] from ''[[The Game (TV series)|The Game]]'', and actress [[Claire Danes]] from ''[[The Essex Serpent]]''.
+== Story notes ==
+* ''The Star Beast'' aired one year, one month, and two days after {{cs|The Power of the Doctor (TV story)}}, marking the longest gap between two consecutive stories since the show's return to television in [[2005 (releases)|2005]]. It was also the first episode to air on [[Disney+]] internationally. The Disney logo also appeared in the endboard.
+* The first draft of the script had the Meep revealed as the villain much earlier in the story, as revealed by [[Russell T Davies]] in ''[[The Official Doctor Who Podcast]]''.
+* The title card includes a credit for [[Pat Mills]] and [[Dave Gibbons]] as the writers of the comic story ''The Star Beast'' was based on.
+* ''The Star Beast'' marked the first time since [[Doctor Who (TV story)|the TV Movie]] that the executive producers had been credited straight after the title sequence.
+* "[[The Doctor's Theme]]" is briefly heard when the Doctor uses his screwdriver. Likewise, a variation of "[[I Am The Doctor (Gold soundtrack)|I Am The Doctor]]" is heard in this episode.
+* The middle 8 returned to the end credits, last heard in {{cs|Survivors of the Flux (TV story)}}.
+* The German and Latin American Spanish dub credits of ''The Star Beast'' on Disney+ credit Gerrit Hamann and Óscar Flores respectively as ''"Der 10. Doktor"'' (the Tenth Doctor) rather than the [[Fourteenth Doctor]].
+* An [[in-vision commentary]] was released on [[BBC iPlayer]] immediately after ''The Star Beast'', which featured [[David Tennant]], [[Phil Collinson]], and [[Vicki Delow]]. It was recorded on 19th April 2023, according to [[Georgia Tennant]]'s [[Instagram]] post, in which Tennant talks about [[Russell T Davies]] possibly not being able to do it the next day.<ref>https://www.instagram.com/reel/C0CSCPtiySD/</ref>
+* The Doctor running around the new TARDIS interior wasn't in the script; [[Rachel Talalay]] proposed the idea on set.
+* This episode's premiere broadcast was mentioned alongside the other [[60th Anniversary Specials]] in the non-fiction feature ''[[Back in Business (feature)|Back in Business]]'' published in ''[[Doctor Who The Official Annual 2024]]'' on [[7 September (releases)|7 September]] 2023.
+* [[Rachel Talalay]] had no involvement with filming the [[cold opening|pre-titles]]<ref>https://bleedingcool.com/tv/doctor-who-star-beast-director-didnt-know-about-prologue-till-airing/</ref><ref>https://thedoctorwhocompanion.com/2024/02/01/the-star-beast-director-rachel-talalay-had-no-involvement-with-the-doctor-who-pre-titles/</ref>, elaborating that the scenes with Donna in the kitchen were "outtakes".<ref>https://twitter.com/rtalalay/status/1730617730016084151</ref>
+* ''The Star Beast'' marked the third time a new version of a [[Doctor Who logo|previously retired series logo]] was used on screen, following {{Cite source|Doctor Who (TV story)}} and {{Cite source|The Day of the Doctor (TV story)}}, and the first time said logo was used for more than one episode.
+=== Comparison with comic version ===
+''[[Doctor Who and the Star Beast (comic story)|Doctor Who and the Star Beast]]'' is also a comic strip story by [[Pat Mills]] and [[John Wagner]], which featured the [[Fourth Doctor]] meeting [[Sharon Davies]] after she had been tricked by [[Beep the Meep]], with ''The Star Beast'' featuring the [[Fourteenth Doctor]] meeting [[Rose Noble]] during a reunion with [[Donna Noble]] that involves Rose being tricked by the Meep. However, while spirit of the original story remains intact, several changes are made to accommodate the change in location and time period, as well as the characters returning from previous television stories.
+* To accommodate the runtime of a broadcasted episode, some story points are redacted and condensed, such as the Wrarth Warriors implanting a bomb in the Doctor's stomach, them confusing him for Beep's accomplice, and the Doctor retrieving a companion from space.
+* While the comic story was set in [[Blackcastle]] during [[1980]], the television story is given a contemporary setting of [[2023]] and relocated to the city of [[London]].
+* [[Fudge Higgins]], who was prominent character in the comic story, is replaced by [[Fudge Merchandani]], who only shows up in a few scenes and is otherwise uninvolved in the crux of the story. [[K9 Mark II]] is removed from the plot entirely, while [[UNIT]] and the Noble family replace the army and [[Higgins (Doctor Who and the Star Beast)|Mrs Higgins]], respectively.
+* Due to being a television story, the Meep's inner-dialogue from the comic is removed entirely, thus the Meep's sinister nature is revealed  at the same time as when the characters' find out. In a further deviation from the comic story, [[Wrarth Warrior]]s [[Zreeg]] and [[Zogroth]] are killed when the Meep is revealed as a criminal, whereas they lived to arrest Beep in the comic.
+* While Beep only starts speaking English once the Doctor arrives in the comics, the television story has the Meep speak English from his initial meeting with Rose. The Meep also has an injured paw when meeting Rose in an alley, whereas Beep is found bleeding from the side in a shed by Sharon and Fudge in the comic story.
+* The Doctor gets the Meep away from the Wrarth Warriors in a taxi instead of a local bus.
+* Rather than over a cup of tea at a kitchen table, the Wrarth Warriors explain the Meep's villainous nature in a mock trial in a car park.
+* The cause of the Meeps' turn to evil is stated to be their [[Psychedelic Sun|sentient Sun turning psychedelic]], whereas it was due to the radiation of the [[Black Sun (The Star Beast)|Black Sun]] in the comic story.
+* The Meep's ship uses a dagger drive for propulsion, whereas the comic story uses a Black Sun drive, which Beep intends to use for a [[star jump]] that would create a black hole on Earth.
+* Donna and Rose reverse the dagger drive entirely, stranding the Meep on Earth, whereas the comic story has the Doctor letting Beep initiate the star jump after he sabotages it so the action does not destroy Earth and only moves the ship into Earth's orbit.
+* The Meep is sentenced to [[10000 (number)|10000]] years rather than [[3000 (number)|3000]].
+* The Meep taunts the Doctor as they are taken into custody, rather than trying to beg for mercy and promising to be good as Beep does to Sharon. Additionally, the Meep cryptically tells the Doctor they will tell "[[The Boss]]" about him, whereas the comic depected Beep working alone.
+=== Comparison between BBC and Disney+ versions ===
+There are slight differences between the version broadcast on [[BBC One]] and the one shown on [[Disney+]]:
+* The [[Whoniverse ident|''Whoniverse'' ident]] was shown at the beginning of the episode on the [[BBC]] version. However, on the Disney+ version, the [[BBC ident]] was shown.
+* The [[Disney]] ident was shown at the end of the episode on the Disney+ version.
+* The [[Executive Producer]]s' credits were shown after the [[title sequence]] in the BBC version, however, they were shown in the [[end credits]] in the Disney+ version.
+* In the end board for the BBC version, the [[Bad Wolf]] logo was shown on the left and the [[BBC Studios Productions]] logo on the right. In the Disney+ version, they were switched.
+* For the DVD release of this episode, it is shown in its Disney+ form, minus the Disney ident at the end and the BBC ident at the beginning.
+=== Myths ===
 ''to be added''
-== Worldbuilding ==
+=== Filming locations ===
 ''to be added''
-== Notes ==
+=== Ratings ===
-* This story's upcoming debut was mentioned alongside the other [[2023 specials]] in the non-fiction feature ''[[Back in Business (feature)|Back in Business]]'' published in ''[[Doctor Who The Official Annual 2024]]'' on [[7 September (releases)|7 September]] 2023.
+* 5.01 million (UK overnight)<ref name="Ratings">[https://guide.doctorwhonews.net/info.php?detail=ratings&start=0&type=date&order= Doctor Who ratings]</ref>
+* 7.61 million (Consolidated)<ref name="Ratings" />
+=== Production errors ===
+{{discontinuity}}
+* Two of the Ns in David Tennant's credit in the opening titles do not appear in the first frame that they should be visible, and Catherine Tate's credit is partially visible through the TARDIS as it passes by. This error persists across all three of the 60th Anniversary Specials.
+* In the shot of the [[UNIT HQ, City of London|UNIT HQ]], the [[Leadenhall Building]] can be seen, despite this being the site of the [[UNIT HQ (The Power of the Doctor)|UNIT HQ]] in {{cs|The Power of the Doctor (TV story)}}. The onscreen geography also places the new UNIT HQ in the middle of [[Leadenhall Street]].
 == Continuity ==
+* The {{cs|Redacted (audio series)}} audio drama [[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Redemption (audio story)}} leads directly into ''The Star Beast'', as the characters [[Cleo Proctor]] and [[Apex Costa]] watch [[Beep the Meep's neutron drive star cruiser|the Meep's star cruiser]] fly through the skies of [[Camden Town]].{{Note|This was confirmed by [[Juno Dawson]] in ''[[The Star Beast (TODWP episode)|The Star Beast]]'' episode of ''[[The Official Doctor Who Podcast]]''}}
 * ''[[Doctor Who The Official Annual 2024]]'' contained several works of fiction which teased some of the characters in ''The Star Beast'':
-** The short story ''[[We Are Family (short story)|We Are Family]]'' hinted towards the reunion of [[Noble family|the Nobles]] and the Doctor, and Rose meeting the Meep.
+** The short story [[PROSE]]: {{cs|We Are Family (short story)}} hinted towards the reunion of [[Noble family|the Nobles]] and the Doctor, and Rose meeting the Meep.
+* The Doctor adjusts dials on the screwdriver after creating the holographic screen in the steelworks. [[PROSE]]: {{cs|Super Sonic (feature)}} named these the [[frequency and intensity dial]]s.
+* A [[fourth wall]] breaking introduction was previously used in [[TV]]: {{cs|Before the Flood (TV story)}} to explain the nature and workings of a [[bootstrap paradox]].
+* In the introduction recapping Donna's adventures with the [[Tenth Doctor]], clips include the Doctor and Donna leaving [[the Library]] in [[TV]]: {{cs|Forest of the Dead (TV story)}}, the [[Empress of the Racnoss (Empire of the Racnoss)|Empress of the Racnoss]] snarling during [[TV]]: {{cs|The Runaway Bride (TV story)}}, Donna flying the TARDIS in [[TV]]: {{cs|The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)}}, the [[Shadow Proclamation (location)|Shadow Proclamation headquarters]] from [[TV]]: {{cs|The Stolen Earth (TV story)}}, Donna absorbing the [[regeneration energy]] from the [[Tenth Doctor's hand]] during [[TV]]: {{cs|Journey's End (TV story)}}, Donna's wedding to [[Shaun Temple]] in [[TV]]: {{cs|The End of Time (TV story)}}, [[Arnold Golightly]] in his [[Vespiform]] body attacking Donna during {{cs|The Unicorn and the Wasp (TV story)}}, a [[Pyrovile]] roaring during [[TV]]: {{cs|The Fires of Pompeii (TV story)}}, the [[Adipose]] [[nursery ship]] flying during [[TV]]: {{cs|Partners in Crime (TV story)}}. Clips of a [[Dalek]], [[Sontaran]] [[General]] [[Staal]] and the [[Vashta Nerada]] also appear, as well as footage of [[Rose Noble]] taken from [[TV]]: {{cs|The Giggle (TV story)}}.
+* Donna complains about about a man with [[goatee]] who "looked like he'd been stuck in a drainpipe", an apparent allusion to [[The Master (The Curse of Fatal Death)|the Master]] getting repeatedly stuck in the [[sewers]] of [[Castle Tersurus]] during [[TV]]: {{cs|The Curse of Fatal Death (TV story)}}
+* Donna continues her habit of managing to miss alien events, as noted in [[TV]]: {{cs|The Runaway Bride}} and {{cs|The End of Time (TV story)}}, when focussing on sorting her shopping rather than paying attention to the falling spaceship.
+* The [[psychic paper]] needs to "catch up" to the Doctor regenerating from a "mistress" to a "master", echoing similar slip ups the [[Thirteenth Doctor]] had with her gender identity in [[TV]]: {{cs|The Ghost Monument (TV story)}} and [[TV]]: {{cs|Spyfall (TV story)}}.
+* Donna is still acquainted with [[Nerys]], who first appeared in [[TV]]: {{cs|The Runaway Bride (TV story)}}, and [[Susie Mair]], who was mentioned in [[TV]]: {{cs|Journey's End (TV story)}}.
+* Shaun reveals Donna kept her maiden name after their marriage, because she thought "Noble-Temple" sounded "like an old ruin". The [[Tenth Doctor]] similarly compared the surname to a "tourists' spot" in [[TV]]: {{cs|The End of Time (TV story)}}.
+* The fate of the [[lottery ticket]] gifted by the Doctor at [[Donna Noble and Shaun Temple's wedding]] in [[TV]]: {{cs|The End of Time (TV story)}} is discussed.
+* The [[Fourteenth Doctor]] has [[Fourteenth Doctor's sonic screwdriver|a new sonic screwdriver]]; [[COMIC]]: {{cs|Liberation of the Daleks (comic story)}} depicted the circumstances in which [[Thirteenth Doctor's sonic screwdriver|the old sonic screwdriver]] got destroyed.
+* The Doctor recalls that he was UNIT's first [[scientific advisor]], a job the [[Third Doctor]] received in [[TV]]: {{cs|Spearhead from Space (TV story)}}.
+* The Fourteenth Doctor gets slapped by Sylvia when she tries to stop Donna seeing his face. He alludes to [[Jackie Tyler]] slapping the [[Ninth Doctor]] in [[TV]]: {{cs|Aliens of London (TV story)}} and [[Francine Jones]] smacking the [[Tenth Doctor]] during the [[TV]]: {{cs|The Lazarus Experiment (TV story)}}.
+* Donna has a photo of her with her father, [[Geoff Noble]], from her wedding to [[Lance Bennett]] in [[TV]]: {{cs|The Runaway Bride (TV story)}}.
+* The Doctor relates to the Meep identifying as "the definite article", which is also how the [[Fourth Doctor]] compared himself in comparison to a [[doctor]] in [[TV]]: {{cs|Robot (TV story)}}.
+* The Doctor says the sonic screwdriver is good at "resonating concrete", a call-back to the [[Ninth Doctor]] trying to resonate a concrete wall to escape a room in [[TV]]: {{cs|The Doctor Dances (TV story)}}.
+* The Doctor takes out a [[barrister's wig]] from his pocket to conduct a trial, much like the Fourth Doctor did during [[The Doctor's trial (The Stones of Blood)|his trial]] in [[TV]]: {{cs|The Stones of Blood (TV story)}}.
+* Donna and the Doctor get separated by a glass wall in a similar manner to the Tenth Doctor and [[Wilfred Mott]] when Wilf became trapped in a radiation chamber in [[TV]]: {{cs|The End of Time (TV story)}}.
+* The last three words that the Doctor uses to reactivate [[the DoctorDonna]] are, ''"Binary, binary, binary"'', a reference to the first word Donna fumbled over in [[TV]]: {{cs|Journey's End (TV story)}} as her mind started to overload.
+* Donna recognises that Rose based some of her toy designs on the aliens she met when traveling with the Doctor; Donna had encountered [[Adipose]] in [[TV]]: {{cs|Partners in Crime (TV story)}}, the [[Ood]] in [[TV]]: {{cs|Planet of the Ood (TV story)}} and both the [[Dalek]]s and [[Judoon]] in [[TV]]: {{cs|The Stolen Earth (TV story)}}.
+* Donna once again complains about the TARDIS being "nippy", as she did in [[TV]]: {{cs|Partners in Crime (TV story)}}
+* Donna spilling [[coffee]] on the TARDIS console produces a similar reaction to when [[Iris Wildthyme]] spilt [[gin]] on her [[Celestial Omnibus|own TARDIS]]'s console in [[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Iris Wildthyme and the Panda Invasion (audio story)}}.
 == Home media releases ==
-''to be added''
+=== DVD and Blu-Ray ===
+This story was released on [[DVD]] and [[Blu-Ray]] in the [[United Kingdom]] on [[18 December (releases)|18 December]] [[2023 (releases)|2023]], along with {{cs|Wild Blue Yonder (TV story)}} and {{cs|The Giggle (TV story)}}. The Bluray release is encoded to Region B, atypical of BBC releases which usually do not have any kind of region encoding on the disc.
+Contents:
+* [[Rachel Talalay]]'s Scene Breakdown
+* [[Chanya Button]]'s Scene Breakdown
+* [[Tom Kingsley]]'s Scene Breakdown
+* ''[[The Star Beast Behind The Scenes]]''
+* The [[Fourteenth Doctor]] Reveal
+* ''[[Wild Blue Yonder Behind The Scenes]]''
+* ''[[The Giggle Behind The Scenes]]''
+* ''The Giggle'' [[In-vision Commentary]]
+* ''The Star Beast'' In-vision Commentary
+* [[David Tennant|David]] and [[Catherine Tate|Catherine]]'s Flashbacks
+* [[Yasmin Finney]] Introduces [[Rose Noble]]
+* Designing the Fourteenth Doctor
+* Set Tour with Yasmin Finney
+* ''The Star Beast'' - Behind The Scenes Trailer
+* ''Wild Blue Yonder'' - Behind The Scenes Trailer
+* ''The Giggle'' - Behind The Scenes Trailer
+* The Cast Introduce the Villains in {{'}}''Wild Blue Yonder''{{'}}
+* Behind The Scenes Fun with David and Catherine
+* Video Diary with David Tennant's [[George Cheetham|Stand-in]]
+* [[The Doctor's TARDIS|TARDIS]] Set Tour with David Tennant and [[Phil Sims]]
+* [[Ruth Madeley]] Introduces [[Shirley Bingham]]
+* [[Neil Patrick Harris]] Introduces [[the Toymaker]]
+* Becoming the Toymaker
+* [[60th Anniversary Specials|60th Specials]] Recap with David Tennant
+<gallery position="center" captionalign="center" hideaddbutton="true">
+Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Specials UK DVD.jpg|UK DVD cover
+Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Specials UK Blu-ray.jpg|UK Blu-ray cover
+Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Specials UK Steelbook.jpg|UK steelbook cover
+</gallery>
+=== Digital releases ===
+This story is available on [[BBC iPlayer]] in the United Kingdom, in Ultra High-Def (4K). It is also available on [[Disney+]] in other territories.
+==Gallery==
+===Promotional material===
+====Promotional pictures====
+<gallery position="center" captionalign="center" widths="250">
+Butcher Billy The Star Beast.jpg|Promotional image by [[Butcher Billy]].<ref>[https://twitter.com/bbcdoctorwho/status/1729107778130628666 @bbcdoctorwho on Twitter]</ref>
+</gallery>
-== Gallery ==
+==External links==
-''to be added''
+{{bbc.co.uk|m001sx3h}}
-== Footnotes ==
+==Footnotes==
-=== Notes ===
+===Notes===
-{{notelist}}
+{{Notelist}}
-=== Sources ===
+===References===
 {{reflist}}
+{{DWTV}}
 {{Beep the Meep sources}}
 {{TitleSort}}
-[[Category:2023 specials]]
+[[Category:60th Anniversary Specials]]
 [[Category:Beep the Meep sources]]
+[[Category:Sources set in 2023]]
+[[Category:UNIT television stories]]
+[[Category:Stories set in London]]
+[[Category:Stories set in Camden]]
+[[Category:Adaptations of comic stories]]
+[[fr:The Star Beast (TV)]]
+[[he:חיית הכוכבים (סיפור טלוויזיה)]]

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The Star Beast (TV story): Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 01:03, 22 October 2024

Synopsis[[edit] | [edit source]]

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

Uncredited cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

Crew[[edit] | [edit source]]

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

London[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Doctor[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Doctor's sonic screwdriver[[edit] | [edit source]]

Noble family[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Meep's ship[[edit] | [edit source]]

Cultural references[[edit] | [edit source]]

Story notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

Comparison with comic version[[edit] | [edit source]]

Comparison between BBC and Disney+ versions[[edit] | [edit source]]

Myths[[edit] | [edit source]]

Filming locations[[edit] | [edit source]]

Ratings[[edit] | [edit source]]

Production errors[[edit] | [edit source]]

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