The Star Beast (TV story): Difference between revisions
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== Plot == | == Plot == | ||
The TARDIS lands on | The TARDIS lands in London in 2023, as [[Fourteenth Doctor|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 [[Donna Noble]], who doesn't remember him. Her daughter, [[Rose Noble]], runs up as Donna becomes distracted with her boxes, missing the spaceship that crashes to earth not too far away. Donna and Rose head off right before [[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, claiming to be a friend of [[Nerys]]'. | ||
The Doctor manages to access the crash site inside the steelworks even as [[UNIT]] has established a perimeter around it. He isolates himself inside and begins to analyze the data from the crash as [[Shirley Anne Bingham]] comes up and offers him her readings on the site. He expresses hesitancy to work with UNIT - he doesn't fully know who he 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 Noble 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 [[stellar psychedelia|aglow]] as they turn and walk away. | |||
Meanwhile Rose and Donna return to their house and to [[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 resolutely denies. Rose finds [[Beep the Meep|a creature]] as she's taking out the recycling. The creature names itself The Meep and insists that there are others after it, "monsters". Rose hides the Meep in her backyard shed though Donna stumbles in. Donna first mistakes the Meep for a stuffed toy 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 Meep doesn't exist. The Doctor shows up at their house after UNIT stops nearby, realizing 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. 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 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. | |||
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 confirm, their weapons apply an anesthetic. They consider the tale of the meep to be tragic, 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 fight to the death, only this last one remains, their leader, the worst of them all, Beep. The Doctor asks the Meep if they have anything to say in their defense. Instead, the Meep 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 Beep the Meep that they're more useful as hostages than dead. | |||
Beep 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]], it gets its power for propulsion by stabbing downwards, it would use the whole of London as fuel. Beep laughs and orders the group taken aboard the ship. | |||
''Meep, meep''! | ''Meep, meep''! | ||
Revision as of 00:18, 26 November 2023
This page being a stub is an understatement.
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- You may wish to consult
Star Beast (disambiguation)for other, similarly-named pages.
The Star Beast was the first of the three 2023 specials of Doctor Who, broadcast on 25 November 2023[1] as part of the 60th anniversary celebrations.
It saw 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 second stint as showrunner.
This episode is an adaptation of the comic story Doctor Who and the Star Beast.
Synopsis
A spaceship crashes in North London. Not that Donna Noble (Tate) 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 (voiced by Margolyes). Another — the Doctor (Tennant) — 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...[2]
Plot
The 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 Donna Noble, who doesn't remember him. Her daughter, Rose Noble, runs up as Donna becomes distracted with her boxes, missing the spaceship that crashes to earth not too far away. Donna and Rose head off right before 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, claiming to be a friend of Nerys'.
The Doctor manages to access the crash site inside the steelworks even as UNIT has established a perimeter around it. He isolates himself inside and begins to analyze the data from the crash as Shirley Anne Bingham comes up and offers him her readings on the site. He expresses hesitancy to work with UNIT - he doesn't fully know who he 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 Noble 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.
Meanwhile Rose and Donna return to their house and to Sylvia who's cooking dinner. Donna asks Sylvia if she heard anything about the spaceship that everyone's been talking about, which Sylvia resolutely denies. Rose finds a creature as she's taking out the recycling. The creature names itself The Meep and insists that there are others after it, "monsters". Rose hides the Meep in her backyard shed though Donna stumbles in. Donna first mistakes the Meep for a stuffed toy 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 Meep doesn't exist. The Doctor shows up at their house after UNIT stops nearby, realizing 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. 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 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.
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 confirm, their weapons apply an anesthetic. They consider the tale of the meep to be tragic, 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 fight to the death, only this last one remains, their leader, the worst of them all, Beep. The Doctor asks the Meep if they have anything to say in their defense. Instead, the Meep 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 Beep the Meep that they're more useful as hostages than dead.
Beep 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, it gets its power for propulsion by stabbing downwards, it would use the whole of London as fuel. Beep laughs and orders the group taken aboard the ship.
Meep, meep!
Cast
- Fourteenth Doctor[3] - David Tennant[4][5][6]
- Donna Noble - Catherine Tate[4][5][6]
- Rose Noble - Yasmin Finney[7][5][6]
- Sylvia Noble - Jacqueline King[8][5][6]
- Shaun Temple - Karl Collins[8][5][6]
- Shirley Anne Bingham - Ruth Madeley[5][6]
- The Meep - Cecily Fay
- Voice of the Meep - Miriam Margolyes[5][9][6]
- Wrarth Warriors[5]
- Major Singh - Ronak Patani[11][6]
- Colonel Chan - Jamie Hayden[12][6]
- Fudge Merchandani - Dara Lall[13][14][6]
- BBC reporter - Matt Green[6]
- Chief technician - Anna Martine Freeman[6]
- Sergeant - Archie Backhouse[6]
- Soldier - Isabella Carey[6]
- Lad - Harley McEvilly[6]
- Lad - Max Fincham[6]
Uncredited cast
to be added
Crew
| Executive Producers Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner and Jane Tranter with Phil Collinson and Joel Collins |
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| 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
- Rose Noble's toy designs appear to be based on a Dalek, a Cyberman of the Cyberiad, a Judoon, an Ood, an Adipose, and a Lupari.
- The psychic paper takes time to properly reflect the Doctor's gender in titles; especially if the change was recent. When the Doctor attempts the title "Master", it says "Mistress" instead.
- Wilfred Mott, due to being ninety-four years old and is unable to use the stairs in their home, has to stay in a cottage as "sheltered accommodation".
- Rose Noble was born under the dead name of Jason.
more to be added
Notes
- This story's upcoming debut was mentioned alongside the other 2023 specials in the non-fiction feature Back in Business published in Doctor Who The Official Annual 2024 on 7 September 2023.
- The preview of the episode released in DWM 597 revealed the casting of Jamie Hayden and Dara Lall, a short teaser of the plot, and a snippet of dialogue between the Fourteenth Doctor and Shirley Anne Bingham.
- This marks the first appearance of the Fourteenth Doctor's sonic screwdriver on television.
- The episode's title card includes a credit for Pat Mills and Dave Gibbons as the writers of the comic story it was based on.
- This story aired one year, one month, and two days after The Power of the Doctor [+]Loading...["The Power of the Doctor"], marking the longest gap between two consecutive stories since the show's return to TV in 2005.
Comparison with comic version
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 a Meep.
Myths
to be added
Filming locations
to be added
Production errors
to be added
Influences
to be added
Continuity
- Although not explicit at the time of release, the Redacted audio drama 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.
- 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 [+]Loading...["We Are Family (short story)"] hinted towards the reunion of the Nobles and the Doctor, and Rose meeting the Meep.
- The Doctor mentions "wearing a bowtie", being "a Scotsman". and "a woman" in his last three incarnations.
- Bingham briefly mistakes the Fourteenth Doctor for the Tenth, referencing his involvement with UNIT in The Sontaran Stratagem [+]Loading...["The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)"], etc.
- The TARDIS surprises the Doctor with a new console room, which it had previously done in The Eleventh Hour [+]Loading...["The Eleventh Hour"] and The Ghost Monument [+]Loading...["The Ghost Monument"].
- The Doctor carries a Barrister's Wig and conducts a trial like his fourth incarnation in The Stones of Blood [+]Loading...["The Stones of Blood (TV story)"].
Home media releases
to be added
Gallery
to be added
External links
- Official The Star Beast page on the Doctor Who website
Footnotes
- ↑ @bbcpress on twitter.com
- ↑ DWM 597 - Preview of The Star Beast, Page 18
- ↑ https://www.doctorwho.tv/news-and-features/david-tennant-is-the-fourteenth-doctor
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 https://www.doctorwho.tv/news-and-features/david-tennant-catherine-tate-return
- ↑ 6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 6.10 6.11 6.12 6.13 6.14 6.15 6.16 6.17 https://cultbox.co.uk/news/headlines/doctor-who-the-star-beast-full-cast-list
- ↑ https://www.doctorwho.tv/news-and-features/yasmin-finney-joins-doctor-who-cast
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 https://cultbox.co.uk/news/headlines/unit-activity-spotted-at-doctor-who-filming-near-wembley-stadium
- ↑ https://www.doctorwho.tv/news-and-features/miriam-margolyes-joins-doctor-who
- ↑ https://twitter.com/ruther2/status/1713911118165414272?s=46&t=n1ymF6URs9Fk5Zw8aOt81A
- ↑ https://cultbox.co.uk/news/headlines/doctor-who-showrunner-reveals-new-60th-anniversary-trailer-clues
- ↑ https://cultbox.co.uk/news/headlines/doctor-who-60th-anniversary-new-cast-member-discovered
- ↑ https://cultbox.co.uk/news/headlines/doctor-who-60th-anniversary-specials-casting-news
- ↑ https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/sci-fi/doctor-who-60th-anniversary-further-cast-newsupdate/
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