Doctor Who Is NEW!: "The Power of the Doctor"

Welcome to Doctor Who Is NEW! as we look upon the work that is  "The Power of the Doctor", the Doctor Who special celebrating the centenary of the BBC and bidding farewell to Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor as well as the swan song of head writer and producer Chris Chibnall!

So was there rejoicing in Whoville? Or despair?

Well....

Let's take a look at that after the break.

Aye! There be spoilers ahead, matey!

In five...

Four...

Three...

Two...

...and ONE! 

And we're off!  

THE POWER OF THE DOCTOR

by Chris Chibnall 

So let's get the bad stuff out of the way first. The plot such as it was nigh incomprehensible as we've come to expect from Chris "MORE BALLS!!" Chibnall.  

The Master working in Russia in 1916 as the mad monk Rasputin and as himself in 2022 is up to sketchy shit involving the Cybermen and the Daleks with some plan or scheme or something to blow up the Earth with our own volcanoes for...

Reasons?

Really, your guess is as good as mine. 

Also the Master has some plan or scheme or something to force the Doctor to regenerate into... the Master? 

Why? I don't know, it's just something to do? 

OK, once you make peace with the idea that this plot isn't going to make sense, there's quite a bit to like about this special.

The opening sequence is a high octane action packed event as the Doctor, Yaz and Dan jump onto a moving space train to save it from attacking Cybermen. Dan gets to play space engineer on a space train which is space cool but Dan nearly got space killed and decides to it's time to get back to his life.  

So Dan is out of the story 10 minutes in. Don't worry, Chibnall has a dozen people to replace him with. 

Classic companions Tegan and Ace are paired up with Kate Stewart at UNIT. 

Vinder is back for... reasons? Hey, it can't hurt to have a Game Of Thrones actor in your Doctor Who special. (And Jacob Anderson is rocking it hard in Interview With A Vampire. More on that in a forthcoming Tuesday TV Touchbase.)   

The Master loves his modern dance music. In 1916, the Master as Rasputin as tricked out a chandelier as disco ball while cavorting around to Boney M's "Rasputin".  

While the Master forces the Doctor to regenerate into himself (and really, do not parse this sequence as it will just make your head hurt), the Doctor is a sort of after life for Time Lords where she meets...

The First Doctor. David Bradley is back in a totally surprise cameo still expertly channeling William Hartnell. And Bradley is not alone.

Also popping up as earlier versions of the Doctor are Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann. Yes, I was squeeing like the fanboy I am and we had to re-run this sequence so Andrea and I could actually hear what was being said. 

Graham returns and teams up with Ace to blow up some Daleks. Ace has improved on her Nitro-9 explosives with Nitro-999! It blows shit up real good. 

So stuff happens, things occur and there are doings that are done! The Cybermen are crushed! The Daleks are defeated! And the Master is vanquished! 

But not before he pushes a button on a doo-hickey and an energy thing zaps the Doctor! 

Alas, 'tis a fatal zap and the Doctor is going regenerate. 

But not before the Doctor and Yaz enjoy one last ice cream cone sitting on top of the TARDIS while in orbit over the Earth. 

But there are things a Time Lord has to do alone (and Mandip Gil isn't going to be in the next season of Doctor Who) so Yaz winds up back in Sheffield... but not quite alone. 

She joins Graham for a meeting of his companion support group. In attendance besides Dan, Tegan and Ace (along with Kate Stewart who is there to recruit help for UNIT) is Jo Grant Jones (Katy Manning), Mel Bush (Bonnie Langford who I recognized from her recent turn in 42nd Street) and one of the first companions, Ian Chesterton (William Russell) who is astonished to hear the Doctor referred to as "she". 

Well, not for long. 

Stepping outside the TARDIS on a cliff by a sea side to feel the sun one last time, the Doctor says to her next incarnation, "Tag! You're it!" and lets the regeneration energy fly. 

And out of the golden glow emerges....

David Tennant?

"What?"

"WHAT?!?!"  

And thus ends "The Power of the Doctor".   

One more time...

"WHAT?!?!" 

OK, whatever the Master is up to with the Daleks and the Cybermen is a muddled mess. Which there is a precedent for that. After 4 decades, I'm still not sure what the Master was up to in "Logopolis", Tom Baker's last turn as the Doctor.  And are we really clear on what the Master is up to in "The End of Time", the 10th Doctor's grand finale?   

But there are so many fun and cool moments interspersed in this muddled mess, it's easy to walk away from the wreakage assuming a good time has been had by all. 

Chris is admittedly an old school Doctor Who fan and "The Power of the Doctor" is his love letter to the classic era.  The unexpected appearances of classic Doctor Who actors like William Russell and Peter Davison and more were delightful surprises to me, a fan of the original series. 

And whatever was all the twisted, convoluted path to getting to the regeneration scene, "The Power of the Doctor" does stick the landing with Jodie Whittaker's final scene, a moment that is a perfect blend of sad and hopeful.  

As for what happens next? 

Well, that will be the subject of another post. 

"These teeth seem familiar!"  

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BLOG BIDNESS

Sorry, no post for Thursday.  We'll be back on Friday.