The following contains spoilers for the episode. Please watch it before reading.
Doctor Who returns to television screens today for the first of the long-awaited 60
th anniversary specials, “The Star Beast,” directed by
Who alum Rachel Talalay. Newly regenerated with an old face, David Tennant reprises the title role, along with Catherine Tate as Donna Noble. Russel T. Davies also returns as showrunner.
When we last left Donna back in 2008, she accidentally took in a blast of regeneration energy that had been stored in the Doctor’s hand that overloaded her human brain with Time Lord knowledge. The Doctor was able to section off that part of her and keep her alive, at the cost of having to wipe all of her memories of the two of them. The special, which picks up fifteen years later, does a decent job of recapping what you might have missed, although in a somewhat stilted way having the two characters literally explaining it to the viewer. However, after the new opening credits, it jumps right into the fun.