the m0vie blog

The temptation discussing The Giggle will be to start at the end, with the various implications – both cynical and sincere – about the story’s second half.

After all, much of the publicity around The Giggle was built on the promise of shocking revelations. Davies teased that the commentary would be essential listening and recorded a video advising viewers to watch live. The episode certainly delivered on those terms, with a closing few minutes that fans will undoubtedly be unpacking and dissecting for months and years ahead. At the same time, those choices somewhat overshadow the bulk of the episode, which is effectively a good old-fashioned Davies-era finale, albeit with an updated twist.

Both The Star Beast and Wild Blue Yonder suggested that Davies had lost none of his urgency and engagement on returning to Doctor Who. After all, Davies had spent his time away from the series writing charged miniseries like Years and Years or It’s a Sin. Davies’ writing was always angry and vital, and he spent a significant portion of his original run on Doctor Who holding up a mirror to contemporary Britain in the same way that Andrew Cartmel had done before him and Steven Moffat would do after him.

The Giggle begins as a biting piece of social commentary, a Davies-era finale for the modern world. However, like so many earlier Davies-penned finales, the narrative unravels in its race towards the climax. There’s a certain clumsiness and broadness to the story’s resolution, a narrative sleight of hand that neatly sidesteps a lot of the story’s bigger ideas in favour of a more emotionally satisfying resolution. This isn’t a problem. There’s a reason why fans look back fondly on episodes like Doomsday or Journey’s End. Certainly, after the past five years, it’s reassuring to know that Doctor Who has a heart again. Two, even.

There’ll be dancing in the street…

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“Thinkthinkthinkthinkthink”

Of the three specials starring David Tennant and Catherine Tate for the sixtieth anniversary, Wild Blue Yonder was the one that generated the most feverish speculation.

It is easy to understand why this was the case. Wild Blue Yonder was the middle of the three installments, and so lacked both the burden and the import of being either the opener or the finale. It also, in contrast to The Star Beast and The Giggle, filmed largely on sets and greenscreens allowing for the teaser and the coda. The production team had been very secretive about the content of Wild Blue Yonder. While publicity for The Star Beast included the Meep and promotion for The Giggle included the Toymaker, very little of Wild Blue Yonder made it into promotional material.

The issue was compounded by the fact that there had been surprisingly little nostalgic fanservice in the other announcements around the specials. Sure, Tennant and Tate were returning, which was an obvious invocation of the revival’s fourth season. On top of that, both The Star Beast and The Giggle include villains that are recognisable to hardcore fans. However, there were precious few easter eggs tailored to other fans of the revival. There was no announcement of Billie Piper, Matt Smith, Peter Capaldi or anyone else. If the specials were going to include those cameos, Wild Blue Yonder was the place for them.

This makes Wild Blue Yonder all the more surprising. In the end, Wild Blue Yonder is not a collection of returning actors and familiar references. It is something more interesting. It is a solid high-concept episode of Doctor Who, in the tradition of Davies era episodes like The Impossible Planet, The Satan Pit, Midnight and The Waters of Mars. It is an episode that marks the sixtieth anniversary of Doctor Who with more than just allusions to things that audiences recognise. It celebrates the sixtieth anniversary of Doctor Who by simply being Doctor Who.

Corridors of powered.

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