Bonkers. Absolutely Bonkers. It's Insane. I Love It. - Doctor Who: Wild Blue Yonder (2023) - REVIEW

22:10 - "why didn't the not things destroy the robot in the past 3 years?..." Because they only figured out what the robot was doing when the Doctor and Donna were behind the glass. The whole idea was that the robot moved so slowly that the Not Things didn't understand what its purpose was, so they had no reason to destroy it before

Jimbo: What’s my mission? Captain: I need to walk incredibly slow down the ship’s hallway where years later you’ll activate the self destruct button. Jimbo: That’s it? I won’t enjoy it. Captain: Yeah, well that’s life. Jimbo: Life? Don’t talk to me about life.

I can’t believe Long Dennis was foreshadowing this for years

The scene where Not-Donna reveals her long arm was genuinely amazing. The way it's shot with the barrier between Donna and her hand makes you think maybe it's a trick with mirrors or some clever editing, then we see a practical, comically large hand flop to the floor. Bizarre and wonderful.

The reading of the Not-Things as an allegory for AI generative technology is bloody genius

Honestly WBY feels like one of those super high concept big finish stories that we can finally make in live action

I absolutely love Wild Blue Yonder. A beautiful character study with amazing performances, mostly great visual effects, great mystery and suspense leading to an incredible third act and is easily the best of the anniversary specials. I consider it to be Russell T Davies’s Heaven Sent. I know that sounds like a stretch even for me especially since Heaven Sent is still my favourite episode but something about Wild Blue Yonder really stood out to me in a similar charm that Heaven Sent did or even Midnight, Blink, Waters of Mars, The Girl Who Waited and many other abstract themed Doctor Who stories. It’s awesome and hope it will be remembered as a modern classic years to come. PS: Loved the Marvin the Paranoid Android jokes with Jimbo. I’m surprised you didn’t make an Attack on Titan joke with the giant Doctor and Donna Not Things or haven’t you watched enough of it to make a reference.

to be honest, I like the fact that the Doctor used the TARDIS to confirm that he had picked the duplicate. Last time he had trusted his instincts with the Not-Things, and believed that one of them was the real Donna, it opened a very raw emotional nerve and mocked him for it, so after that point, while he still tried to figure it out on his own with the Mrs Bean question, he is taking no chances

I really loved this episode. Not sure why the not-things would want to destroy the robot. They don't understand what it is until the Doctor works it out.

5:17 That's not so much a continuity error, as an opportunity for Big Finish. Coming soon, the exciting audio-adventure "The Doctor Takes his Hands out of his Pockets"

The best part is rewatching the scenes where you don't know who's who and noticing the subtle differences which distinguish the not-things from the Doctor and Donna

I want to say the TARDIS was using the song as a warning, rather than the cloister bell which is very vague aside from the fact that there in fact is danger present

I don't agree with you about the wish of seeing the Thirteenth Doctor bursting in tears, cries and screams because that would have been totally detached from her character. Her was an incarnation of suppressed emotions, so introverted to keep distance from the people she cared about. So much so, she constantly wore a facade in order to keep them at a "safe distance" while, at the same time, having them "close" to her; an incarnation who lost her previous selves confidence, being incapable to reacquire it. She was a mystery to her own friends, because she intended it to be so; no risk of attachment on a deep level, no fear of "being discovered". We had glimpses of that, when she was alone with the Master; for her kind of characterisation, that was enough.

Isn't it great if "fans" doesn't leak or marketing spills all the beans and people already decide weather or not they're going to like something before it even airs? I miss those days.

This episode is what justifed Tennant and Tate coming back, in my opinion. I mean no disrespect to any other actor to have played these roles, but this is the type of episode you can only make with a pair as legendary as these. The scene where the Doctor monologues about the Tardis was brilliant. The Timeless Child was a LOT of baggage for RTD to inherit, and he just got it. He understood it, and gave us a perfect reintroduction of that concept using the Tardis as a metaphor. And when the Flux theme played during the Flux conversation... is it possible to feel nostalgia for something that only released 2 years ago? This episode was genuinely phenomenal. My favourite episode since 'The Haunting of Villa Diodati' and probably the best one since 'Heaven Sent'. When you have 4 specials in a row, almost all set on earth, you need something to actually introduce the main format and concept of the show to new viewers. They need to show that they really do mean "Anywhere in Time and Space". Going from meeting Isaac Newton to a spaceship in distress at the edge of the universe, that's certainly the best way to do it.

Tennant's 14th doctor talking about The Flux is one of my favorite scenes from ANY Doctor. It's perfect, no notes.

I've watched, read & listened to more Doctor Who than any sane parson ever should, so the show still being able to make me say "I've never experienced a Who story like that before" is a testament to RTD's writing & the infinite malleability of the format.

I’m glad you brought up Hartnell here, because the episode really did remind me of something like the first half of The Sensorites. I feel like the Classic Era would have gotten a six episode serial out of this story.

19:15 Even just giving them long razor teeth that still appear to fit in their mouths would be terrifying. I mean, it worked for Prisoner Zero when they were in disguise. By the way, as terrifying a concept as the Not-Things are, I can only view their casual dialogue about their lack of understanding of humanoid anatomy as pure comedy. Also, I couldn’t help but notice how casually you said “mavitas”.

I’ve always wondered what a Junji Ito drawing would look like in real life. Never thought I’d get the answer from a Doctor Who episode.