Russell T. Davies is fully in charge of Doctor Who at this stage; he’s the showrunner and he also wrote the first episode of this iteration’s second season. There’s certainly a lighthearted, candy-coated feel to the opening episode that seems to lean into the fact that, outside of the UK, the show is streaming on Disney+, with a younger audience than in the past. But will it keep the show’s many, many fans happy?
DOCTOR WHO SEASON 2: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: “17 YEARS AGO.” We see two teenagers looking up at the stars.
The Gist: Back in those heady days of 2008, Belinda Chandra (Varada Sethu) was given a special gift from her boyfriend, Alan Budd (Jonny Green): A certificate saying that he had a star named after her. She seems a bit bewildered by the gift, but appreciates it, though she wishes the certificate didn’t say “Miss Belinda Charna” on it. “Are you married?” is Alan’s snide response to that.
In 2025, Belinda works as an ER nurse at a London hospital, and lives with two roommates in her flat. She still has Alan’s star certificate hanging on her bedroom wall, though. It along with a lot of other things break when two huge robots enter the flat.
Apparently, Belinda is the queen of a planet called Missblindacharna, and the robots are there to take her back to their home. As we see during her hospital shift, there’s someone else looking for her: The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa). He just misses the robots’ rocket taking off with Belinda inside.
The Doctor follows them in the TARDIS, but there’s a time hiccup that ends up separating him from Belinda. By the time Belinda lands on the planet, The Doctor has already been there for six months, serving as the planet’s historian. But what he’s really there to do is help the planet’s humans in their rebellion against robot rule. And why is Belinda there? Because the planet’s ruler, the AI Generator, wants to marry her, with the two of them merging into one. He even holds a copy of the star certificate.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Is there any other show we can compare Doctor Who to besides the various versions of itself from the past sixty-odd years?
Our Take: Despite feeling like the show leans towards a younger audience, this iteration of Doctor Who still works; Gatwa’s enthusiastic, gender-fluid version of The Doctor may not be to everyone’s taste, but his bounciness certainly matches the tone that Davies wants for this version of the series. Watching Gatwa’s Doctor floating through Belinda’s hospital in a kilt, looking for her with some determination, you can just see how much fun Gatwa is injecting into a character that was always quirky but sometimes more serious than he or she should be.
The way Belinda becomes The Doctor’s latest companion feels like a rare feat, though it’s hard to say that it’s never happened before without being an expert in show’s extensive history. What we did like about the story is that the season will have a specific purpose; Belinda isn’t initially interested in hopping through time with The Doctor, as charming as he is. She just wants to go home; she has a shift starting the next morning, after all.
Her curiosity when she’s on Missbelindachandra isn’t with the robots or even the fact that she’s queen, but it’s with the different anatomy the humans on that planet have. She becomes fascinated with The Doctor when he shows her (through an x-ray blanket!) that he has two hearts. She’s blown away by how big the TARDIS is inside. But her ultimate goal is to get back to London, and the fact that there may or may not be a London to get back to, as well as The Doctor’s roundabout efforts to get her there, will be a fun driver of the season’s action.
Sex and Skin: None.
Parting Shot: As The Doctor tells Belinda that they’re bouncing off of some sort of force keeping it from 2025 Earth, we see lots of familiar debris floating in space, including a calendar with the date Belinda left on it.
Sleeper Star: We’ll give this to Jonny Green, for reasons that will become apparent if you watch the episode.
Most Pilot-y Line: Belinda asks The Doctor, “Is that your TARDIS?” when she sees the police box/time machine for the first time. How does she know it’s called a TARDIS?
Our Call: STREAM IT. More than ever, Doctor Who feels like an old-fashioned movie adventure serial geared more towards kids than anyone else. But because of Gatwa’s enthusiastic portrayal of The Doctor, it’s still a pleasure to watch.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
The post Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Doctor Who’ Season 2 On Disney+, Where The Doctor Has To Travel Through Time To Get A New Companion Back To 2025 London appeared first on Decider.
