Next we have The Star Beast, the first of the three specials and quite a rare episode as it’s a direct adaptation of a Fourth Doctor comic book of the same name from 1980. If you’re familiar with the comic, the episode roughly follows the same plot line where the Doctor gets caught up in a chase as a seemingly harmless creature named Beep the Meep is on the run from the ruthless Warriors of Wrath (pronounced W-rath) and is taken in by a teenager. But then the story pulls a twist where the Wrath Warriors are actually space police and Beep is one of the most evil creatures in the universe and is as cuddly as a boa constrictor. In the comic, the teenager is called Sharon who joins the Doctor for several more comic adventures, which historically makes her the first black companion in Doctor Who of any medium. In the episode however, Beep is taken in by Rose Noble, daughter of the Doctor’s former companion Donna Noble. Which is where Russell’s spin on the story kicks in.

The main crux of the story is that the Doctor has regained the face of his Tenth incarnation and what a co-inky-dink! No sooner does he land in London, he bumps into his former companion Donna Noble, because Russell’s middle name isn’t T, it’s actually Contrive! As explained in the pre credits scene in a very horribly filmed recap of Series 4, Donna’s memories of the Doctor had to be wiped to save her life and if she were to remember the Doctor, her mind will burn and she will die. So it’s pretty unlucky for the Doctor that Donna’s daughter just so happens to find the occupant of a crashed spaceship in her shed that’s hiding from pursuing warriors.

Adaptations of stories from the expanded universe don’t happen often but it’s strange that Russell decided to do so and then merge it alongside his main story of the Doctor reuniting with Donna, the actual Star Beast side of the story ends up suffering as a result. It’s treated mostly as an interchangeable Russell styled wacky runaround. The adaptation Big Finish did in 2019 with Tom Baker was much more enjoyable and funnier than Russell’s attempt.

The big talking point of the story is how Russell undoes Donna’s ending from Series 4 by restoring her memories and having her survive thanks to having a child who shares the Time Lord portion of her mind. I suppose if you’re gonna retcon the ending of Series 4, this is probably the best option for it, though it does suggest that a Time Lord’s mind is equivalent to two humans (one of whom is a teenager) which is yet another moment of stupidity Russell can add to his ever growing list. That being said, I'm sorry but that "male presenting Time Lord" line was utter cringe! Hate to echo certain nutcases on youtube (you know the ones I mean) and yeah I do point and laugh at how they're still milking it to this day, but in the moment it was a terrible line, and as for "letting it go", on top of being absolutely lazy I'm still waiting for Russell to explain why Donna couldn't just do that the first time!

I know most people weren’t happy about this idea to begin with, hate to break it to ya but the ending of Journey’s End was already ruined back in End of Time from 2009. In that episode the Doctor repeated to anyone who’d listen that if Donna were to remember him she would die, we then get the cliffhanger where she starts remembering and does she die? F**k no! She just passes out and the Doctor pulls a random explanation from his a**e because Russell is too big of a coward to follow through on teasing companions dying. He even wrote a deleted scene in Journey’s End of Donna remembering without her dying! So there was no question Russell was gonna completely undo the ending of Journey’s End cos that’s just the kind of writer he is!

Overall it’s not a bad story, being the first episode to follow the Chibnall era, you can just tell right away the difference in acting, directing, energy, sound design and editing that for a long time felt so sloppy and half-arsed under Chibnall. Everything seems to flow in a more organic way, characters actually stop and talk for a few minutes, the music isn't loudly drowning out the dialogue, you can feel how much more competent the production quality is compared to the Chibnall era which moved at a break neck speed, characters spoke in clunky exposition and then just charged off for the rest of the plot and the music was more like clanging mismatched instruments together while the dialogue can barely be heard. But beyond that it’s really more an ok I guess kind of story.