Wild Blue Yonder will be the second of the three 2023 specials of Doctor Who, broadcast on 2 December 2023[1] as part of the 60th anniversary celebrations.
Synopsis
The TARDIS takes the Doctor and Donna on a journey to a faraway, mysterious place and abandons them in the middle of Hostile Action.[2]
Plot
The Doctor and Donna pilot the TARDIS to land on a tree in 1666. Isaac Newton was sitting beneath it and he sees them. They confess their regards about the gravity of the situation and depart.
The TARDIS then lands in a spaceship, somewhere unknown. They take a look around when the TARDIS dematerialises as a result of the HADS (known as the HADS system to irritate Mr. Rattigan). Thus, the pair walk down a very long corridor where they find a robot they call Jimbo, just like the Ninth Doctor said of the robot spider in The End of the World and who was also mentioned in Partners in Crime and The End of Time. The Doctor realises they are in a spaceship that is on the edge of the universe, 100 trillion years from everything else - not even starlight has yet promulgated a distance great enough to reach them.
As the Doctor and Donna chat, they each complain in separate rooms to the other that their arms are too long. It transpires that some unknown creature has taken both of their forms separately, misjudging the arm length. The Doctor and Donna run away from these creatures, taking use of a motor flying vehicle. The creatures grow ginormous and grab the vehicle, but they stumble over one another and end up in a cluttered heap, blocking off much of the corridor. The Doctor and Donna attempt to reason with the creature heap briefly, before realising it is beginning to untangle itself.
They hurry to a vent but are separated on a detachable climbing wall. Thus the Doctor and his companion walk around, finding the other who they each work out to be the creature in an impersonation. They meet and run behind a large glass door, the creatures trapped on the other side. They find the captain of the ship, who killed herself previously in order to feel a maximum sense of adrenaline. The Doctor realises (at the same time as the creatures) that the ship is slowly counting down to an explosion. Now they know, all four run after the robot Jimbo - the Doctor and Donna to let it explode the ship; the creatures to stop the explosion from occurring (akin to an un-explosion of The Hand of Fear).
The robot presses a red button and explodes the ship. The TARDIS materialises as a result of the Hostile Action having been entirely displaced and the Doctor runs aboard. Kicking on the ground to gain momentum, he rushes towards the two Donnas, who each claim to be the real one. He ascertains which is real and takes her aboard, leaving the other to die, who complains of her fate.
The Doctor then rematerialises the TARDIS near this real Donna, throwing the fake one out, just in time to save her and leave as the ship explodes.
After a chat in the console room, the Doctor and Donna emerge from the TARDIS, back near the alley from which they took off at the end of the previous episode. Wilfred Mott is there to greet them, sitting in a wheelchair. It turns out that there is some unknown offensive action occurring in the scene, with people fighting and bashing away - what caused this and how can the Doctor and Donna put it right?
Cast
- The Doctor - David Tennant
- Donna Noble - Catherine Tate
- Isaac Newton - Nathaniel Curtis
- Wilfred Mott - Bernard Cribbins
- Mrs Merridew - Susan Twist[3]
- Jimbo - TBA
Uncredited cast
to be added
Crew
to be added
Worldbuilding
- The Doctor once spent three years in orbit because the HADS prevented him from landing anywhere.
- Isaac Newton misheard Donna make a joke about gravity, instead naming it "Mavity". This may become a running gag.
Notes
- Unlike the other two 2023 specials, The Star Beast and The Giggle, the marketing of Wild Blue Yonder was kept incredibly vague and told very little about the plot. The BBC wished to maintain the surprises of the story and Russell T Davies wanted one of the specials to be a complete mystery.[2] According to director Tom Kingsley, the secrecy had naught to do with "any surprise returning actors or villains", but because "we thought you might find it fun to watch it without knowing what's going to happen next".[4]
- 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 this episode released in DWM 597 revealed a teaser of the plot and a snippet of dialogue between the Doctor and Donna.[2]
- It also revealed a cast list consisting of Tennant, Tate, and three other names that had all been replaced with a "[REDACTED]". These were later revealed to be Nathaniel Curtis, Susan Twist, and Bernard Cribbins.
- The title of the episode was named after the song "Wild Blue Yonder".[2]
- David Tennant called this special "unlike any Doctor Who episode ever", referring to the specials as a whole as "Russell [T Davies] off the leash".[5]
- This will be the second story to stream exclusively on Disney+ outside of the United Kingdom.
- According to an advertisement on the BBC, the robot featured in promotional materials is named "Jimbo".[6]
- In Doctor Who Magazine Issue 597, Davies teased five words that would play a part in the special: Southampton, vegetable, bean, starlight, and Flux. He also revealed that the history of both the Flux and the Timeless Child would be "dealt with very slightly in this episode".[7]
- This episode was dedicated to the memory of Bernard Cribbins, who passed away over a year before transmission.
- This episode features only three cast members, one of the fewest in the programme's history, tied with Heaven Sent.
Myths
- Matt Smith, Peter Capaldi and Jodie Whittaker will return as the Eleventh, Twelfth and Thirteenth Doctors, or as their Guardians of the Edge forms.[source needed]
- Alternatively, Matt Smith will return to play a new incarnation of the Master, potentially disguising himself as the Eleventh Doctor to fool the Fourteenth in some fashion.[source needed]
- John Simm will return as the Saxon Master.[source needed]
- Karen Gillan will return as Amy Pond[source needed]
- The Wirrn will return.[source needed]
- David Tennant will play the Tenth Doctor again.[source needed]
- Ncuti Gatwa's Fifteenth Doctor will make an early debut in this episode.[source needed]
- More specifically, he will appear alongside Millie Gibson's Ruby Sunday, marking the first Multi-Doctor story told from the perspective of a former incarnation.[source needed]
- Carole Ann Ford will return as Susan Foreman.[source needed]
- The name of actor Susan Twist[3] was used on the BBC website as a subtle teaser for Susan's return.[source needed]
Filming locations
to be added
Production errors
to be added
Influences
to be added
Continuity
As per Forum:Non-valid Continuity sections, categories, and prefixes#Continuity sections, thid section needs to be written from an out-of-universe perspective.
- The Doctor and Donna are stranded due to the HADS activating. (TV: Cold War, The Magician's Apprentice, The Witch's Familiar)
- The Doctor licks a substance to determine its properties. (TV: The Christmas Invasion, The Idiot's Lantern, Planet of the Dead, The Eleventh Hour, Day of the Moon, It Takes You Away)
- On learning that he and Donna have arrived in 1666, the Doctor advices Isaac Newton to avoid London. (TV: The Visitation)
Home media releases
DVD and Blu-ray releases
This episode, along with The Star Beast [+]Loading...["The Star Beast (TV story)"] and The Giggle [+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"], was released on Region 2 DVD, and Region B Blu-ray and steelbook on 18 December 2023.[8]
UK 2 DVD cover
UK Blu-ray cover
UK steelbook cover
Gallery
- Main article: /Gallery
Footnotes
Notes
References
- ↑ @bbcdoctorwho on twitter.com
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 DWM 597 - Preview of Wild Blue Yonder, Page 20
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Wild Blue Yonder on bbc.co.uk
- ↑ @kingsley_tom on twitter.com
- ↑ David Tennant’s Doctor Who Return ‘Is Unlike Any Episode Ever’ on empireonline.com
- ↑ carlinjack1 on twitter.com
- ↑ Doctor Who's second 60th anniversary special will have Flux connection on RadioTimes.com
- ↑ Doctor Who 60th Anniversary specials available to pre-order on Steelbook, DVD and Blu-ray on doctorwho.tv