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rivertalesien · 6 months

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"The one with the skinny suit. Then I wore a bow tie, then I was a Scotsman, then a woman."

"And now you've got your face back."

And now. You've got. Your face back.

Well, if that doesn't sum it all up.

Yeah, I had a look. Can't talk without knowing, right? Spoilers ahead for The Star Beast.

The episode starts with a really truly I-can't-believe-they-thought-this-was-necessary Disney-friendly opening that explains The Doctor and Donna's connection, as if the show didn't exist before it aired on their service. That's what it's saying now: this is the only important information you need. Whatever came before is irrelevant. You won't be seeing it on this streaming service anyway.

Bringing up Donna Noble, right after leaving Yaz behind with the regeneration, calling her "My best friend in the whole wide world" is...ouch. That hurts. As if nothing that went on before or anyone they knew or cared about (as 13) was even a thing. It won't be for the Disney audience and all the kids tuning in for the first time and they know it.

13 is already an aberration, like Missy. A reboot experiment that will be easy to ignore. Now, we're back on track!

The Doctor has got HIS face back! And everybody's funny! We can laugh again!

Alright, no need to rub it in, Space Man. It really is a shame how 13's era was so dry (lesson-heavy, even) but so much more expansive with story ideas, while 10's period was full of humor and pure silliness that doesn't stick around in the memory very long. Some irony there I think.

Now the rough bit. Going to do it like a bandage and just tear it off because it's starting to itch:

For an episode that lays on the trans-positivity, it hits a sticky spot (and this is more meta than the meta crisis, so take with a pinch of something salty): can we talk about 13, or would that be a kind of dead-naming? The answer should be obvious, right, but there's an awkward and unspoken (and probably not deliberate) juxtaposition of 13 with Rose: we're reminded she deserves love and respect and how her bullies dead-naming her is shit, so the show completely erasing any references to 13 (the one time the Doctor visibly transitioned into a woman) in the same episode, is...um, well, I said awkward already. Are we supposed to just leave 13 in the past as something that wasn't true to who the Doctor really is? The Doctor regenerating into an old self, in their old clothes, even with a completely different sonic, no glimpse of 13's Tardis? Same performance? No sense of who they were before? Not even an acknowledgement of the clothes regenerating? We can call it convenience for Disney's sake, but it feels like what the Master called it: erasure.

I believe Davies, living in the midst of Terf Country, wants to do right by the queer community and stick it to anyone who believes we are less or should not exist and that is awesome. But he also led this...what, misogynistic? erasure of 13 (something deeply misogynistic fans of the show who never wanted a woman in the role in the first place are happy about, and fuck them) and if his walk doesn't follow his talk? Sorry, but we've been here before.

And it's not like the Doctor is particularly bothered with having the old face back (Rose would probably be horrified if such a thing happened to her), and Donna later bringing up "if you were still a woman" at the end is...more messiness. I mean, we know the Doctor regenerates, but this is different: we've gone backward, male-presenting-only. The first (and second) female Doctor is followed by two more men. Because there hasn't been enough of that particular image. No negative message intended, right, but there's one all the same and it's...messy. It's awkward. I hope they know it and I hope there is some proper acknowledgment before we get to the next regeneration. Just not counting on it.

Speaking of Donna and messy, she can go from adoring her daughter, willing to defend her to the death, to calling the Meep a "ferret from Mars" and insinuating they could sell it...and that was before she knew the Meep wasn't exactly a cuddly furry. Just underlines her previous conversation with her mom about failures in language (and tolerance) as being, well, really something straight white folks really need to work on.

Among other things.

The episode is filled with "lessons" on pronouns and disability (who is the lesson for? Disney audiences?): "don't make me the problem" is a great point, but then begs the question: why didn't they just put up a ramp to the ship? Answer: no opportunity to teach...and that kind of gets thrown out when everyone has to climb a ladder...and later, when there's an elevator in the building...missed that. Oh well. "Confused but got the spirit" is there and maybe a little OTT, but there's also the part where RTD is setting up what to expect as we move into Gatwa's era and Disney had better be on board. They're not known for hanging on to overtly queer shows (DW has got to be a big investment for them, though, so here's hoping they just keep making it queerer and weirder and let Disney stew in their discomfort).

And it's got all of RTD's signature silliness and an emotional 10 showboat moment (how is this "14?" Again, there's no difference in the performance at all) and I bet everyone who started watching in 2006 is just trembling all over that the Good Old Days are back (let's face it: people just like Tennant and Tate as a duo. They're great. Some are also ageist and chauvinist dicks about 12 and 13, so, again, fuck them).

And destiny is a thing. And reversing catastrophic geological damage with a few switches is a thing. No stakes, just the old fun, for old time's sake.

No pun intended.

Only with more explosions and shoot-outs (and a sonic doing decidedly non-sonic stuff): Marvel fans will love this. Blue Beetle fans? Probably not so much.

This show has always fed off of its own nostalgia, even if each regeneration means moving on to something different. But the same. Kind of. Now they've got Disney money and while I don't feel this is a full reset, kicking off from where 10 and Donna left off (again, as if nothing happened between now and then and no one else was around who mattered), is...well, if destiny is a thing and this show was always heading in Disney's direction, I guess no other Doctors needed to have happened after Tennant.

It doesn't exactly setup Gatwa for success, is what I'm saying.

"Why did this face come back? To say goodbye."

The Doctor does that. A LOT.

"Binary...non-binary" is a choice here and it adds to that earlier stickiness: Rose *choosing* her name, her very existence even, isn't about her being trans, it's about her being a result of the meta-crisis. Interesting.

The "The Doctor is male and female and neither" is also kind of hilarious given the earlier point that there is now no evidence of 13: not her clothes, not her sonic, not her Tardis. In prior regenerations, the Tardis changes due to damage from the regeneration energy. That didn't happen with 13. The previous sonic always shows up, too, until it breaks. So...well, it's beating a dead horse now, isn't it? Good for the goose, but the gander is something else. It's kind of a "do as I say not as I do" kind of thing.

Not even Donna bringing up how The Doctor was a woman for a hot second, not even the "male-presenting" Doctor suddenly "not understanding" (because the Doctor, in their male body, no matter the circumstances, cannot understand any of this and wait...did the show imply The Doctor is *not* non-binary? What?), makes this any less messy.

Yeah, this is important right now. How are you going to be this earnest with the Lesson about Representation (which would be kind of glorious otherwise, especially on Disney), and just gloss over the visual erasure of 13 and all the baggage that comes with that?

"Do something completely new and have some friends."

I hope Yaz is somewhere, with her support group of former companions, rolling her eyes and working on her affirmations.

#doctor who #the star beast #just some thoughts #feel free to ignore #the 13th doctor #this is still ten to me #and I wonder if they got someone other than RTD if they would have made three specials with Jo Martin instead #because all of this feels like a lot of missed opportunities #jodie whittaker #13th doctor #10th doctor

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