the star beast
i'm going into these specials thinking about how rusty wants to set up this show with firm, known fundamentals so it can avoid another chibnall era, while introducing enough new stuff to make doctor who feel fresh and unpredictable without alienating the audience. my thoughts were "this is a doctor who will want to be nicer to people" and "probably we're gonna get more recurring domestic tardis interiors." this huge, hallway-ful tardis certainly suggests i'm onto something :)
the star beast
i think a firm philosophical underpinning of this new series is gonna be decentering The Great Man at every opportunity. feels like we're seeing a doctor that wants to shed his ego (somewhat) and be a better person to his companions, and not run away from responsibility at all times. considering how much the star beast is "let's show marvel how it's done" i just think it's cool that this is a superhero story about someone who got over his jesus complex
the star beast
feels like maybe we're getting a doctor that actually takes "duty of care" seriously, while also acknowledging that riproaring space adventures are a blast for all and sundry. i'm serious man, this is the doctor's miss frizzle era, i'm calling it
the star beast
14 is the "going door to door to apologize for my 500 year long manic breakdown" doctor. it's astonishing how little angst there actually *is* in this episode. and the only times it sneaks in, it gets immediately undercut! the doctor screaming "why did it have to be this?!" featured so heavily in the trailers, hyping up the Drama of it all... yet in the actual episode the metacrisis gets resolved almost immediately because the doctor never considered what if there was gender magic