We are now here at the main event after weeks of waiting the very first of three brand new specials for Doctor Who have finally started airing. With all three episodes set to air over the next few weeks and while I most likely won't be covering all three episodes as and when they air I really will try to watch all three of then and so then join me as I give you SPOILER FILLED review of the episode that sees classic faces return and new faces debut with the episode in question being called simply just "The Star Beast" enjoy.
The plot of this episode is when the newly regenerated fourteenth doctor lands on earth he finds himself drawn back into the life of Donna Noble and right in the middle of a tg war between to warring alien races. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in al honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad but that's also the issue as it's not all that good either which is a shame as we know for a fact that writer and returning producer ad showrunner Russell T Davies can turn in some really good plotlines for Doctor Who when he really wants to and yet here he just really doesn't do it at all for some reason but this episode plot is very entertaining and as well as being really very engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at last.
Starring in this episode is David Tennant as The Doctor , Catherine Tate as Donna Noble and Yasmin Finney as Rose Noble. Also starring in this episode is Karl Collins as Shaun Temple , Matt Green as A BBC Reporter , Jamie Cho as Colonel Chan , Ruth Madeley as Shirley Bingham , Jacqueline King as Sylvia Noble , Ronak Patani as Major Singh , Ned Porteous as The Voice Of Zogroth , John Hopkinson as The Voice Voice Of Zreeg , Cecily Fay as The Meep and Miriam Margolyes as The Voice Of The Meep.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt bout the actual acting that's actual;y featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. With both David and Catherine turning in some really good performances with them both just slipping back in to characters so easily that it was like they had just finished playing their characters just last series with the rest of the actors also turning in some fairly solid performances as well with the acting in this episode being helped by this episodes script as while the plot is fairly average at best the script itself gives the cast alot to work with interms of what their respective characters personalities even are.
Doing the CGI for this episode is Untold Studios and the legends and the greats that are currently over at Real SFX. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about thew actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty good with this episodes CGI being movie quality good with it being really obvious to see where alot of the budget for these episodes went to as when you look at episodes from eve just a year or two ago they don't have better CGI then what were getting now in these specials with this episode being a very good example of that.
SPOILERS START HERE!!!!!!!!!!
This episode not only take it name from but is also adapted from the comic book of the exact name with the comic strip appearing in Doctor Who Magazine. With the original comic strip appearing from February to April 1980 and being written by Pat Mills and John Wagner both of whom get referenced in the episode with a steel factory being named after the duo and while I haven't read the original comic strip and can there not tell you if this episode is faithful to the original comic strip or not I can say that it is great that Doctor Who is adapting more of the comic strip stories as there is a wealth of material out there that could possibly make for good episodes or even mini episodes.
With the return of the Noble family that does mean that we get the return of the comedy that only they can bring. With there quick witted comedy being welcome return in this episode as this episode really does feel lie that it's the calm before the storm with the family getting alot of quick jokes in here and there all of which feel like jokes that they would do and all of which landed as they were that funny of a joke and while yes we do get confirmation that Rose is a transgender character they don't really hit you over the head with it with it only really being brought three times in the whole episode and while her character isn't as fully developed as sh could have been there is the markings of a truly character in there.
While we knew for a fact that we were getting a new Doctor Who theme and intro what we didn't really know for sure was if we were getting a new TARDIS interior. Well that's exactly what we got with this new TARDIS interior looking really good with it being a more bigger version of the first doctors TARDIS interior with the round things making a return only now they serve a purpose as being the main light source for the walls of the console room and there being multiple floors all connected by various ramp ways which does open itself up to more complex shots in the console room and while this new design is as good or as alien as say the first interior for the Eleventh Doctor for example it is still a really nice looking interior that looks really massive and it helps that this interior does have somewhat of an alien feel to it as well.
Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly fifty seven minuets and eight seconds. Which is a solid running time for this episode to have as it does have alot of things to set up and it wouldn't be able to do any of that and still a good story but on the flip side of that is the fact that despite this episode having a longer running time the characters still don't get any kind of character of development which might be because these are special episodes being released weekly and so it could be that these characters could development over the next two episodes it is something that could have happened in this episode as the episode had more then enough time to give them some development and some fleshing out and I will admit that this episode really does ave some really good pacing to it.
So now then as this is an action show that means that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. With this episodes really being helped by the budget for all three specials as it allowed the team to really up the scale in terms of action as instead of the action mostly taking place in a quarry the best action set piece in this whole episode takes place in a fully populated London street with the team really getting ambitious with just how big the action in this episode really gets and that really does help the action in this episode feel alot bigger then the action in most of the episodes of this show in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
SPOILERS END HERE!!!!!!!!!!
Overall while, it is great to see Doctor Who and to have new Doctor Who content thus far these sixtieth anniversary specials aren't of to a good start with this episode not being as good as it could have or perhaps even should have been in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very episode in this very review and as such that means that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 7 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from the official Doctor Who fandom wiki page and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from these very episodes that I used in this very review being Google Images simply just due to the fact that alot of the images that are on Google Images are all really fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.