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TARDIS Guide

Overview

First aired

Saturday, November 25, 2023

Directed by

Rachel Talalay

Runtime

57 minutes

Time Travel

Present

Story Arc (Potential Spoilers!)

Doctor-Donna

Inventory (Potential Spoilers!)

Psychic Paper, Sonic Screwdriver

Location (Potential Spoilers!)

Earth, England, London

UK Viewers

7.61 million

Appreciation Index

84.3

Synopsis

The Doctor is caught in a fight to the death as a spaceship crash-lands in London. But as the battle wreaks havoc, destiny is converging on the Doctor’s old friend, Donna.

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Reviews

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21 reviews

This review contains spoilers!

The first half of the special is super solid. It’s a solid adaptation of the original comic with some good character dynamics, especially with Donna’s memory and the Doctor’s reappearance. However, as soon as the Meep gets revealed as evil is when things go downhill for me. The pacing gets a little off and the writing gets a bit handwave-y. I thought the stuff concerning Rose and transness was a bit clumsy, however well-meaning it was. It could’ve benefited from an actual trans writer. And the “letting it go” felt like a major cop out for me but I get why they did it. But I do appreciate the return to the old dynamic between the Doctor and Donna.


InterstellarCas

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Really quite decent, until it isn't. RTD forgot how to write like 30 minutes in, must've got distracted


GodofRealEstate

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very fun episode, strong return to form. Catherine Tate and David Tennant still have such an insane amount of chemistry it’s absolutely brilliant to see the duo back together


kawaii2234

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This review contains spoilers!

I have nothing critical to add because this brought me back to when I first started watching Doctor Who except now I am older but yes I will still ugly sob for The Doctor and Donna!!! I feel like The Doctor openly saying how much he loves Donna and Wilf is because of his time as Jodie, which I quite enjoy. Everything about Rose made my heart soar. More of this please. We need so much more of this.


zachbot3000

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Some clunky dialogue and lines throughout, which take me out of the moment. But generally, lots to love. Tennant and Tate always have a fantastic chemistry, and they feel like they've never been away, in a fun and exciting story. The Meep is interesting villain, and the work on the Meep, Wrarth Warriors and special effects are brilliant.

Some script revisions to amend the dialogue would have been beneficial, just to try and fix some distracting moments.


joeymapes21

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Statistics

AVG. Rating1,201 members
3.37 / 5

Member Statistics

Watched

1811

Favourited

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Reviewed

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Saved

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Skipped

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Quotes

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DOCTOR: Once upon a time… Once upon a Time Lord, I had a best friend, and her name was Donna Noble. A Time Lord and a human, and we travelled the stars together.

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Transcript + Script

[Prologue]

(Split between the Doctor somewhere, Donna in her kitchen, and the closing scenes of Journey's End.)

DOCTOR: Once upon a time… Once upon a Time Lord, I had a best friend, and her name was Donna Noble. A Time Lord and a human, and we travelled the stars together.
DONNA: Sometimes I have dreams about impossible things. I dream of creatures and adventures and faraway skies. But none of it's true.
DOCTOR: Donna saved the entire universe by taking the power of the Time Lords into her mind, at a terrible cost.
DONNA: Binary, binary, binary, binary…
DOCTOR: She had to forget everything she ever knew.
DOCTOR: Goodbye.
DONNA: No. No, no…
DOCTOR: She had to forget me.
DONNA: Please, no. No! No!
DOCTOR: Because if Donna ever remembers me, she will die.
DONNA: And now I've got a nice life, with a nice fella and a nice house, and the most beautiful daughter in the world. But I just think something's missing.
DOCTOR: I can never see Donna again.
DONNA: Now the days are drawing in, I keep having more and more dreams. Like something's getting closer.
DOCTOR: But now this face has come back. Why?
DONNA: It's like a storm in the air, about to break.
DOCTOR: I think the story hasn't ended yet.

[Camden Lock]

(The TARDIS materialises just along from Cyberdog clothing store, the Doctor steps out and saunters away to the market, where someone is carrying a huge pile of boxes.)


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