After a needless amount of time, this video has finally made it to KZfaq. The copyright system on this website has reached an all-time low. I had to re-render and re-upload this video 11 times, and even then I couldn't get it monetised. It is still in the appeal process, all because a 7 second clip where I talk about the new title sequence. I highly implore you to join my Patreon page as this is the only sure-fire way of this video being financially viable. I spent 45 hours making this video, only to have the copyright system spit it back in my face 11 times. I'm also looking forward to reading your feedback on the inclusion of the green screen. It's definitely not perfect, I'm literally using a green sheet of material that has creases and a ring light (hence the stuttery brown you see coming out of my neck from time to time) I hope that with increased Patreon support I can invest in a decent fold-away green screen and a dual lighting kit to improve my set up. If you want to support the work I do: www.patreon.com/harrysmovingmedia

The most unbelievable thing in this episode is a public sector worker getting a bonus

I really don't understand the "let it go" thing. The Doctor has sacrificed his friends, family, his entire planet, and his life multiple times over to help people. Donna was even upset in the episode that she gave away all her money to charity because that's what the Doctor would do. Sooo.. what does it mean? Did they throw in some misandry in the episode just because or is there some other meaning I'm not getting?

Rose was supposed to be 15? I just assumed that she was in her 20's or so, and any references to school were about college.

The whole "metacrisis passed down" thing would work and is an interesting idea but, at the same time, it feels like a massive cop out that they could just "let go". How can you "let go" of a Time Lord mind?? It would've been better if Donna died at the end of the specials due to being unable to fix the metacrisis or something along those lines. I'm hoping this is just a bumpy start and RTD is just getting his stride back.

I loved the part in Jodie Whittaker's era where Graham told the Female-presenting time lord that he was scared about his cancer coming back and she gave him the greatest advice to just let it go! and when the man who decided to murder innocent spiders then went on to offer the DALEK race help in defeating humanity, the 13th doctor just decided to let him go, let it go! oh wait, she actually did that for the second one... oof

For me, the episode had an ending that felt completely extended for no reason. Why not just explain that the shared metacrisis would slowly disappear with time as the energy couldn't stay in them both as it had split and was unstable, so we can have a few episodes of donna being up to speed with the doctor and then she can retire at the end of it and enjoy the rest of her life after maybe a bit of tension about whether she'd be okay or not after it left her. Instead they had to take a hit at the doctor for being a male presenting timelord? Like, huh? He was literally a woman 6 hours ago. And the thing that bothered me the most was the whole "Binary, Non Binary" thing. Like... She's a transgender woman, she's binary, she's a woman, she's not non binary... Why was that even a thing they had to mention???

Honestly the very end with the letting it go bit was the only bit that irritated me cause it felt unnecessary. You could have just had the meta crisis passing down be the solution that saves Donna. And it felt like a jab that wasn't needed. Other than that at least there were actual characters, at least there was chemistry between them, I always figured this would be the weakest of the specials anyway. Wild blue Yonder is the big one I'm looking forward too

Rose having plushies of a Cyberman and The Beast doesn't make sense since Donna never met either of them, unless Big Finish decides to take advantage of this, i don't see why these were added

I do agree with Donna. Rose can’t act. Her accent was all over the place in the 2nd half of the episode. What the hell was going on?

I honestly dislike the new sonic, just feels way too overpowered and was just used to get out of sticky situations

Two huge mysteries that were built up- the return of tennant's face and curing the metacrisis- were just thrown away

Short answer: yes. Long answer: Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees!!

the funny thing is that because this is from an old comic the rick and morty bug things ripped off dr. who originally

7:04 they don’t exactly leave it in limbo whether or not Sylvia lives with them as it’s heavily implied that she let herself in

Not me thinking Rose was like a freshmen in college 😂

I missed Harrys vids. I thought the episode was incredibly mid. My dad who watched it with me called it babyish

"Donna Noble is descending" is a reference to earlier in the episode when she says "I will descend" if anyone threatens Rose. Rose is threatened, so she descends.

That green screen will forever be the first image of this new era

It felt quite rushed as well. The fact the Doctor bumps into Donna 30 seconds into the episode and then the spaceship crashed pretty much immediately afterwards is really rushed imo. I know Davies had to set all of this up for the next episodes but I don't think that was the right way to do it. While I understand repeating a "Partners in crime"-esque setup would have felt recycled, it was a much better and more comedic way of bringing the characters back together imo. Thanks for giving such a balanced review Harry. It's nice to see a sensible opinion, rather than some others online approaching the episode like it's all good or all bad.

The seeds of destruction are sown within the message.

Perhaps someone has already mentioned it, and if so, I apologize for the repetition. If you go back to the 11th Doctor ep “The Doctor’s Wife” ( I think it is), there’s a scene where Rory and Amy have to open a lock-telepathically. And the combination to the lock is a series of words. But you can’t just say the words, you have to feel the words, envision them, concentrate on them. That’s what I recognized 14 as doing to unlock Donna’s memories. Why those specific words, I have no idea.

As a trans person, i found the scene invlobing donna and her mum to be well written, but the others were just unecessary and made me cringe. Felt like they were all put in there for reprisentation bonus points

I actually couldn’t laughing at the intro to this video, seeing Harry put himself in David’s position only made me laugh more

Nice to see someone giving a balanced look at this episode. I tried to watch the podcast, but all they did was praise it to death, which might have made me dislike the episode more.

11:07 Yeah, I'd probably have been ok with that instead of the Doctor being corrected by a child. Doctor: I'll have him... Meep: The Doctor: Sorry. Meep: I am THE Meep. Doctor: Ok. Give me 5 minutes and the Meep and I shall be out of your hair.

i honestly forgot how fun you made your reviews compared to the other doctor who youtubers i watch. Thank you for standing out and entertaining me

Why did Rose assume The Doctor was a man?

The acting really shocked me. Tennant and Tate seem to be playing a Comic Relief sketch of their former characters. Am told Yasmin Finney was great in Heartstoppers, and if so she was having one Hell of an off day here and was very wooden. The rest of the cast seemed unable to do anything but overact with gurning facial expressions. The script was silly and didn't make a great deal of sense, but that's been the case often in Who and we handwave it. As for the social message..regardless of whether we agree with it or disagree, it was as subtle as one of those little lectures He-Man used to give at the end of each cartoon where he rammed home the episode's moral message. It's delivery was antagonistic and borderline outright insulting, I don't believe it will change the minds of anyone not already of that viewpoint. Regardless of the controversy (and the least likable people from each side are already at each others throats..), I don't think it can be called objectively a good episode.

9 years? Wow I was watching your reviews of series 8. Looking forward to a 10 yr celebration. Big Fan Harry

Concur. And don't understand why the Doctor uses the Sonic to create force shields (?) when normally he would just summon the Tardis back. It worked OK for 12 on Skaro (most dangerous place imaginable) in The Witch's Familiar, so why not here? Looks like anything can be impossible now as well.

The let it go bit is what ruined the whole thing for me. It could have been done so much better. We know the meta crisis Donna had more imagination than the doctor maybe a mata crisis Rose come have come up with a solution to bring Donna back that wasn't a Disney musical number.

I think the Doctor was floating in a green screen because they didn't want to spoil the TARDIS interior - otherwise I imagine he would have been in a more diegetic background like Donna.

Fun fact: Rose isn't actually technically the first canonically trans character in mainline Doctor Who - there's also Cassandra, who once lived in Earth as a "little boy". I mean, Rose is probably better representation, but y'know

I feel like this is the most honest review/breakdown I’ve seen and I’ve watched a lot of them now… or I just finally found one that agreed with all my thoughts. I also scored it a 5/10 & felt it too was a rocky start. Too much cringe - I swear RTD used to be better at weaving the progressive themes in without repeating himself so many times in an episode & generally in a more subtle way.

Apparently my thoughts on Doctor Who have somehow synced with yours! Interested to see that I wasn't the only one having these impressions and also didn't notice the score that much either D:

the string of words could be the mind conditioning words used to unlock her memories when The Doctor erased it. same idea in Marvel where the Winter Soldier was activated when a string of words were used on Bucky.

As a writer, I can understand the need to express messages of political, sexual nature etc as the one the 60th Anniversary has done, especially when you have such an enormous audience. But there's a thing called "Subtly", whereby a writer expresses a meaning or message without shining a spotlight on it. They often have a good backbone i.e. the story, characters, plot which is the main drive (Not the message). When the story is strong and the focus, you can accept the message or ignore it (Depending on how well it's portrayed). I know Doctor Who has always been political (I like to think of Doctor Who: The Sunmakers as a standout example within DW) but the politics in this are far too in your face, they have also been there for quite some time in every other medium, so seeing it again (when everyone wants "Escapism"), is rather annoying. They have fallen for the drive to "change the world"... in a family orientated sci-fi, drama program viewed by a diminished audience. I'm not saying don't convey messages of a political nature, but keep it simple and not too in your face.

14:59 is just a reference to earlier in the episode when she said she would descend due to rose’s bullies, also it’s just a turn of phrase, no need to single it out

The words are supposed to be meaningless in a sense. They are trigger words to reactivate the meta crisis. Their randomness is to make sure their is no chance of someone accidently reactivating her in conversation.

Wild Blue Yonder is the episode that will prove Doctor Who is back on form, and The Church On Ruby Road is gonna be the one that proves it can survive this change, as Ncuti and Millie will be in the Tardis. Special 2 airs tonight and I'm excited but sceptical. If it's great I have no doubt Special 3 The Giggle will be fantastic too, but if it's as mixed as The Star Beast I'm definitely worried about the future of Doctor Who, that not even David and Catherine can save the inconsistent writing

way too forgiving score. Missed the wilfred heart felt pain the doctor had hearing he was gone, only to make fun of the doctor thinking he was dead when 'no longer with us' is widspread code for passed away. Major disrespecting bernard cribbins name just to make a non sensical joke at the doctors expens. The aiming at solders with a fixed angle wheelchair gun. The shields made of sound somehow was more stupid than you made it out to be. The doctor taking time to explain the sonic screw driver vibrating concrete, something we all knew it could do, while not giving us a made up reason the shields worked. The coffee breaking the tardis when in tennants run he litualy hit it with a mallet to get it to work. 2.5/10 at the most

I feel like an idiot when i admit the trailer for this episode actually gave me hope that it might be good

I think the "let it go" line sparks an interesting question. Obviousy it was meant as a joke but it also clearly irritated some people and it certainlyy jarred me which isnt always a bad thing.The issue i take with it though is not that it clearly bruised thousands of male egos across the country, but that these kinds of comments play into gendered stereotypes which negatively impact both men and women. Assigning "good traits" to one gender over another can create an expectation that people occupying that gender roll MUST adhere to it, meanwhile people of the opposite roll may be less inclined to adopt that trait because its seen as unfitting (this had actually been observed in the GDR for example). Im not accusing RTD of singlehandedly perpetuating gendered stereotypes but I think theres an interesting conversation to be had around what is "punching up" and what simply affirms stereotypes which harm people on all sides of the paradigm.

1:19am in Australia but i guess i cant go to bed yet 😔 Time to watch Harrys review

Loved the video! Not sure the facecam stuff really adds anything except extra editing time, but I'm not complaining

Mr Castle!! I was excited when I saw your video, I subscribed right away. You are one of, if not, the best reviewer of Dr Who on youtube. Keep it up :)

Welcome back, Harry my lad! I'm glad you decided to return to the working formula, cause gosh dang it, I missed you man. I used to fall asleep to your doctor who reviews, so I'm glad my spiteful asmr has finally returned. Cheers mate.

Tbf the intro was probably cut short for this one only because of the recap so we will see if it’s the full thing tomorrow

The ship firing from 4 directions and causing the earth to crack is literally ripped directly from Stranger Things.

The sonic screwdriver didn’t change with the Doctor as in the comic liberation of the Daleks 14 was still using 13s sonic screwdriver until it got destroyed by the Daleks, Twice.

Harry when talking about shooting scenes recycled shots are a very good time save. its never a budget problem (cause Disney) it will be a time constraint in filming schedule. just wanted to kindly inform you.

I feel like the "descending" line is a callback to the Library where Donna Noble is saved. She says it in the same way

Yasmin Finney was 18 when they filmed this episode, so only barely an adult. Rose is supposed to be 15, but I have to wonder if making her 16 or 17 was out of the question, as Yasmin looks more her age compared. to someone like Tom Holland who still passed for someone 4-5 years younger at the age of 18/19 in his early MCU appearances. Plus, I have to wonder if Rose would be as far along in her transition at 15 as she appeared.

I’m with you on the breathing at the end. I couldn’t believe it when I heard it as it ruined the music.

After so many months of hype, buildup and anticipation, this episode was very… ok! David and Catherine were seamless in returning to their roles, obviously, same with Jacqueline King as Sylvia and even Shaun's actor, for the little he was given. UNIT wheelchair lady was cool, albeit kinda OP Imao. I also like the new UNIT uniforms but I do miss the berets. The new TARDIS is also breathtaking, I just love it. But the writing for the general story was just very weak, and the sonic screwdriver has become insanely OP, you cannot just magic forcefields to get out of a fight. The meep was actually a neat twist villain but the bit wore off after the first scene and it quickly grew tiresome. The directing/action was... fine, but nothing to write home about. The resolution for the metacrisis was insanely contrived, and every time Rose opened her mouth I wanted to die of unbearable cringe. Also, why was Sylvia the only person reacting normally to the prospect of Donna’s death? The Doctor just did not seem to care that he could be causing Donna to remember despite stressing the possibility earlier so what gives? Very strange decisions all around. It was decent and I liked it well enough overall but for the first 60th special, it could have been a helluva lot better and if RTD’s name wasn’t on it, I don’t think most people would be able tell it wasn’t a Chibnall era episode.

Watching this video reminded me how much I missed watching this channel. I used to watch these videos all the time back when I used to watch doctor who

I genuinely feel like the sonic being a big over powered is because of the toy maker as he is making sure the doctor and Donna survive long enough so he can meet them

Excellent review and analysis. This may be the fairest review I have seen so far, steering clear of the hyperbole on both sides, and accurately pointing out the good and bad. Great job!

R.I.P Doctor Who 1963 - 2017

OMG that smeegul was PERFECT expression of our reactions edit: is it only me, or did it seem like parody at the end? i still can't process it.

wtf, how the hell did you not know? there was practically a sign around his neck

i love how angry your eyebrows looked when you said you loved the title sequence

Omg he's back Ive missed you also could you pls do review in seprete playlist of classic story's instead of individual episodes pls

that clip of gollum spitting had me cackling way harder and way longer than it should have

the thing for me about it was how is it something u could even let go? the bad wolf energy ok the doctor told her to let it go, thats all og rose needed to do, but this felt different remember what donna said once she became half doctor, she said "it was a two way biological meta crisis" since it changed the second 10th doctor's biology to have only 1 heart i assumed donna's biology changed too, making it be something thats now hard wired into your system that you cant get rid off. did anyone else think of it that way when they would watch that episode?

the plushies in the shed scene with the meep are also references btw

My take on the "let it go" part felt more like Donna being able to let go of the opportunity to travel the stars with the Doctor. She couldn't do that in Journey's End because she didn't have anything she could go back home to. She had a dysfunctional relationship with her mother, and Wilf encouraged her to go out there. She believed that she found a true purpose with the Doctor, and going back home means she will become nothing again However, now that she has a family, a loving husband and daughter, and a much more improved relationship with Silvia it seems, she has a reason to want to go home now. She can let go of all the magical wonders of the universe in favour of living a happy life with her family

The face is a real give away.

This was better than the actual episode

I’m pretty sure I saw somewhere that the word are trigger words, but apart from binary I have no idea what the significance to Donna/meta crisis is. Only thing I really didn’t like about this episode was how they resolved the meta crisis (and the fact the woman who plays Rose just isn’t very good at acting). If they spread out the resolution to a few more episodes, maybe it would be better?? It just feel like a slap in the face because the audience/ the doctor went through all that heartbreak when Donna could’ve just let it go?

First one of these videos I've just skipped to the end. This episode was painful to watch and I don't want to re-live the anger I felt watching my favourite doctor and companion being dragged through the mud.

I hate that they deleted a 15 year old plot in 5 minutes. The impact of the end of series 4 is gone now. The Doctor didn't need to wipe her memory, Donna just needed to let go. So far these specials are a bit cringe, it's making me scared for the new season next year when originally I was excited.

Doesn't those words together sounds like a Tardis password for an inner program?

She has missiles on her wheelchair but not a camera feed of what the soldiers see. When gathering information would be the most essential thing about fighting aliens. Yup...

14:33 I don't think the lines themselves mean anything, they're just an assortment of words for 14 to test whether Doctor Donna is back in the room. A bit like he does in Midnight. It just so happens that "binary" is the word that Donna can match, which is where she froze up in S4 and also is relevant with Rose later on

The words for her awakening I got Sparrow for Sally Sparrow, and Dance for The Doctor Dances? The rest idk and even those might be a stretch. The Donna Noble is Descending thing is because of what she said earlier to Rose about Descending if Rose was in danger.

The definat article quote was from robot, tom bakers first episode. He said he was THE Doctor, the definat article

Good to have you back Harry. Thought you were a little strong going in, but you totally justified everything and had me on side by the end. Haven’t been as excited to see your next review since the capaldi season (that’s not a comment on your work btw). Looking forward to your next one

The Star Beast probably got bad at the end because of Disney. I knew that they shouldn't made that deal and also because the BBC doesn't care about the show, it is sad.

Surely the trigger words are what Donna said before the memory wipe in Journey's End?

The green screen looked like you where sitting in Donas lap ...lol 😊

"my fear of the disney dealership was apparently well founded" except disney has no creative rights. it only has distribution rights

Beep the Meep is actually from a couple of older Doctor Who comic books, and it's personality is basically on-point. The only iffy part regarding it's attitude is that "The Star Beast" obviously renders those comics non-canon since The Doctor and The Meep don't know each other here.

A 5 is generous in my opinion, this would have been a 3 to me

I figured the breathing heard during the end credits was a “rhythm” track left in by mistake. Hopefully we hear that changed.

I love Donna's husband so much, he just rolls with it - even with Sylvia's Tuna Madras which sounds...questionable 😅

Dude............... Have you ever played Dragon Age -Awakening? You are spot on for the "Tranquil" in the Mage Tower.

After a year off screen and the hype that was the old band getting back together it just fell flat almost instantly. The terrible cgi intro just took my excitement away straight away. The new logo is meh and title sequence is too short. Meep was fun when it was pretending. Wrarth warriors looked tacky. Unit was underplayed. Noble family was great. Tennant great as always. Sonic making shields is questionable. Non binary stuff was just cringe. Simple as that. Could’ve been done better. Tardis looks great but feels so empty. Especially now that we’ve gone back to just one companion .

I think the entire point of the words were to be as random as possible to ensure that no one could randomly stumble upon the code and cause the meta crisis to start again, they had no meaning or rhyme or reason on purpose

12:26 It made me think of the Deathly Hallows when Harry fights Nagini and a hole is blasted into the house next door.

I can't wait to find out what you're gonna think about the ending of the 60th Anniversary, cause there was a leak about it a while ago, that will rival the Timeless Child in controversy, if it's not gonna be even more controversial! The leak was all correct about the Star Beast, and already bits and pieces about the 2023 Christmas Special are also being found correct, so with each passing day, the likelihood of The Leak being real is getting stronger!

17:51 Tennant's expression is so (unintentionally?) hilarious here. It says everything that needs to be said.

It's refreshing to see someone who doesn't just blindly love this ep. I wanted to love it so much but there was just so much clunky, cringey writing it made it really hard to get immersed.

Harry' the words donna says before she remembers are the words she said while breaking before admiting shes knowing whats happening before she gets her memory wiped

14:56 I can't tell if you're being facetious lol but this is in reference to when she tells Rose that she will "descend" to protect her

Why did they need to let it go if it wasn’t harming them 😂😂😂

Can't say I disagree with your faults of the episode. I gave it a 7 myself, but I'm also easy to please. Glad to have you back doing these reviews!

Classic who is amazing, so I do recommend it, but it is a dedication. I grew up watching it. My mom had episodes on VHS she recorded off the TV of her favorites. Doctors 3, 4, and 5

The words that the doctor says to dona are from journey’s end when the time lord energy starts to consume her