Previously, we saw the return of Doctor Who in what I consider a solid opening to the  60th anniversary specials. This episode follows on from that, taking us into deep space as The Doctor and Donna crash-land the Tardis onto a derelict spaceship. But despite its unoccupied state, danger lurks in the silence. It’s a good premise, but we’ll be getting into some issues with the episode and what I loved below.

*Spoilers start here*

I want to talk about the story first. This story is a retread of the “Midnight” episode of Tennant’s original run, with otherworldly, unknowable creatures stealing memories and forms slowly from the Doctor and Donna in an enclosed and isolated spaceship without a means of escape. These new unnamed monsters turn into corrupted and demonic versions of the two characters and chase them around. Throughout the episode, they get more and more knowledge from our main characters, goading them into opening more of their minds up to them, eventually hoping to take their place, steal the Tardis, and wreak havoc on the universe. Supposedly, they’re from outside the edge of the universe, so they hate ours. Like the Grinch looking in on the whos, having fun at Christmas without them.

What this means is we get 50 minutes of David Tennant and Catherine Tate having conversations with… David Tennant and Catherine Tate. Showing us what it’s actually like playing Among Us with two people. Straight away, we can tell from the green-screened spaceship and the very compact and easy-to-put-together corridors that this episode was probably produced in less time than a typical episode? The sound mixing was a little crazy, with music sometimes blaring over conversations or Tennant mumbling science babble a little bit too quiet to hear. Honestly, they’re both amazing actors and can convincingly carry the show by themselves, even with terrifying CGI body morphing on their evil duplicates. But the fact that they have to do it like this, with this little cast and crew, makes this episode feel like a filler episode.

That’s not to say that this episode was a bad one; I personally really enjoyed the evil doppelgangers aspect, to the point where I was trying to guess which was real and which was fake through every encounter. In fact, there was even a fun bit where the Doctor used a superstitious idea about monsters not being able to cross salt to trick the copies temporarily. Using the essence of what they are to wonder, maybe, just maybe, they would explode from surprise sodium contact. It was a super clever segment, which honestly made me respect the writing, and even later on, they imply that doing something like that near the edge of the universe might just cause some sort of ripple effect. Superstition can become reality, and so the lesson here is, don’t throw your black cat into deep space. I got it, Doctor Who; I see you.

Let’s talk about the action; there’s a fair bit of running in this one. We get to see Doctor and Donna getting chased by crazy inflating Doctor and Donna. At one point, they inflate into a monstrous, corridor-spanning pile of faces and body parts that just might be a tiny bit absolutely terrifying.

Then, after things get kind of confusing as the show turns the actors into a cup and ball shuffle game, round and round they go, where’s the real one and where’s the fake? Nobody knows if we’re following the fakes or the real ones. It’s this sort of misdirection that really makes you pay attention to their speech, trying desperately not to let the episode fool you… oh wait, they’re talking about something called “The flux”. Whoops, I skipped that season; I just started assuming that the Donna that knew about it was reading the script, so she was probably evil. And I was right! I felt so clever.

So, after a little bit of research, I learned that this was the fallout of a previous storyline and addressed the emotional impact. Which is great because it means the show isn’t burying its head in the sand. There was a considerable amount of audience dislike for the writing direction of the last few seasons. Addressing it is undoubtedly a good thing and shows confidence. As far as I’m concerned, even the worst plot points can boomerang right back around to being of great use to the narrative with a skilled showrunner (which Russel T Davies definitely is).

Finally, at the end of the episode, the Doctor accelerates the ship’s self-destruct sequence, exploding the two doppelgangers. This allows for rescue by Tardis since they’re about to perish. The Doctor, in a rare goof, rescues the wrong Donna and has to eject them and save the real Donna, who almost dies in a fiery inferno.

The Doctor being fallible is a very human quality to the character that I feel gives stakes to the episode. His look of disdain when he realises and undoes his mistake is more disappointment in himself and I loved to see it. This entire episode had brief moments of the Doctor telling Donna he doesn’t know everything. Establishing this is a very good balance. You need weakness in a character to introduce stakes, and this episode definitely had them.

At the end of this episode they land back in London and we get to see beloved Bernard Cribbins as Wilf, one last time. It’s not clear if he’ll be in next week’s episode, but a tribute to the actor who passed away ends the episode. Cribbins was the only additional cast member in the episode, and he deserved to be in the spotlight. He was a treasured part of the cast in many incarnations of Doctor Who, and will be missed dearly. As a British man, this guy was essentially everybody’s Grandad who watched the show, and we love the guy.

*Spoilers end here*

So, in conclusion, we’re looking at an episode that was meant to establish a status quo. How the Doctor is feeling, his relationship with Donna being far more human for both of them without the meta crisis, and the lead into a finale for the three episodes that make up the 60th anniversary special.

The flaws here were that the sound mixing was a bit off, the somewhat rushed nature of the episode, and the lack of additional cast, coupled with slightly confusing dialogue. What this told me is that certain episodes will have more care than others, which is nothing new for Doctor Who, but it’s a bit sad to know that production value might be split between episodes. I think every episode should show respect for the viewing experience.

The strengths are in the actors, the clever events that happened within the episode, and the mystery of the villains. The villains, still not named, join those of “Midnight”, who represent the unknown present, a threat different from, say, the Daleks ever-present ideological hostility. It’s the mystery that brings intrigue.

My opinion is that the show has been shown a tremendous amount of care since its move to Bad Wolf Studios, and experiments like this episode need to happen, but its production definitely has some kinks that need to be ironed out before the show returns fully as a British television staple worthy of its historic mantle.