✅81% = Great! = Strongly recommended!

Thworping through time and space, one adventure at a time! This time: a forgotten comic strip brought to life, everything looks so expensive and it's all binary!

I'm a bit divided on the new title sequence; the 3D effect looks great, the title animation looks cheap, the sequence is too short, and the music is a bit messy as well.

The Star Beast gets going effectively, blending RTD’s familiar sense of lighthearted adventure, humor, and family drama, and getting the character introductions and story set-up out of the way effectively during the first act.

This story very effortlessly continues from where we left off at the end of Series 4, as if there had never been 15 years of stories in the meantime. David Tennant springs back to the scene with infectious and childlike energy, feeling more like a super spy or comic book hero than ever before, and Catherine Tate hasn't lost any of her charm and sass as Donna.

Adapted from a classic DWM comic strip from 1980, this adaptation is fairly faithful to the original plot, though modernized. As this is a 60th anniversary special, there isn't much of a celebratory feel to the story, other than the fairly formulaic take on the plot and UNIT's appearance in a central role.

The major twist surrounding the Meep was no surprise to me, since I am familiar with the original story. I do find the twist coming a bit too early because we’ve barely met the Meep before it turns out to be the real villain here. The twist itself is a fairly generic one, too.

The climax is a wonderful moment of the Doctor and Donna working together to save the day and resolve the metacrisis plot strand in the process (in a fairly clever and emotional way, I might add). It’s a bit of a campy moment, though, and it's weird how the cracks created by the Meep’s spaceship just suddenly disappear afterwards, but it still kind of works. The entire binary/non-binary thing is a very RTD way to resolve a plot, and it is inherently modern, even if it can feel slightly on the nose.

Jacqueline King is back as Donna’s mom, Sylvia, and I love her overprotective role here, while Karl Collins as Donna’s husband, Shaun, brings some comedy flair to the story. Newcomer Yasmin Finney as Rose Noble is already a well-defined character and feels very RTD in characterization, though her performance can be a bit one-note.

Fudge, a character from the original comic story, appears here, but he has no real role to play, and the actor portraying him is annoying. And after an impressive turn as companion Hebe Harrison in Big Finish’s Sixth Doctor Adventures earlier this year, Ruth Madeley’s live-action debut as UNIT scientific advisor nr. 56, Shirley Anne Bingham, is slightly underwhelming, though I like the potential hidden within her character.

Miriam Margolyes is amazing as the voice of the Meep, and she sounds like she had a lot of fun doing it. She is the most delightful cast member here. The Meep itself is an impressive visual feat, combining an actor in a real monster costume with seamless CGI.

The Wrath Warriors are also here, but they simply pop up in the first act and don't play into the plot much.

Visually, The Star Beast shows the prowess of this new era, with bigger, bolder, and more cinematic visuals that are up to par with modern standards. Returning director Rachel Talalay is the right woman to helm this impressively big opening special. Murray Gold’s music reuses familiar cues but feels emotional and epic at given moments.

The new TARDIS set is humongous, and I love how it harks back to the classic-era TARDISes, even if it's a bit empty right now. The new sonic is a nice combo of old designs as well, and I quite like the new visualisations and features it comes packed with, as that adds to the feel of the sonic at the Doctors important tool (and a wand!).

The Star Beast injects new energy, confidence, and a sense of adventure into Doctor Who, and its breakneck pace can feel slightly overwhelming, particularly if you're new to the show. The added budget does make for more exciting action scenes, though, which is great, and you should never feel bored by this adventure.