‘THE POWER OF THE DOCTOR’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

The End of the Thirteenth Doctor with Yaz, Dan, Tegan, Ace et al

Welcome to the BBC Centenary Special of ‘Doctor Who’! 🙂

Since checking out ‘The Power of the Doctor’ on BBC TV and BBC iPlayer back in October 2022, I’ve had my Blu-ray covers of the story signed by many of the stars who appeared in the special. This is from meeting them at conventions, ranging from London to Sheffield to Swansea to Scarborough to London again and Bury.

I’ve had my ‘Power of the Doctor’ Blu-ray covers signed by Jodie Whittaker, Sophie Aldred, Janet Fielding, Jemma Redgrave, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann, Jo Martin, Katy Manning and Bonnie Langford. I’m pleased I’ve had my Blu-ray covers signed by these people and I’m so glad to have met them at conventions.

At the time of watching ‘The Power of the Doctor’ in 2022, I was writing my ‘Doctor Who’ 60th anniversary special for 2023 called ‘The Thirteen+ Doctors’. I believe from watching ‘The Power of the Doctor’, I became inspired in terms of writing the rest of my three-part 60th anniversary special.

‘The Power of the Doctor’ is the last episode of the Jodie Whittaker/Chris Chibnall era as well as the BBC Centenary Special of ‘Doctor Who’. I’d been looking forward to seeing this special ‘Doctor Who’ story on TV. I won’t deny that I’d been feeling anxious about whether I would like this special or not.

Thankfully, ‘The Power of the Doctor’ turned out to be better than I expected. It feels like it’s a worthy conclusion to an era of ‘Doctor Who’ that I’ve enjoyed a lot since 2018. It’s a shame the Jodie Whittaker/Chris Chibnall era came to an end, and I feel that more could have been told with this era.

---

WilliamsFan92: Hi, Tim. It’s also sad that we live in an age where people watch TV shows, movies and other things just to trash them. There’s even hate going around towards the upcoming Russell T. Davies 2 era. The same kind that the Chris Chibnall era received.

Tim Bradley: Yeah, it’s sad that’s still happening today, but I wouldn’t worry too much about it, WF92. I know I have my reservations about what I call ‘the neo-RTD era’, but I’m hoping I’ll enjoy it and I hope to have an open mind about it in whether it’ll be good or not.

WilliamsFan92: Well, I was caught in the crossfire of the hate towards the Chibnall era a few years ago. I was on a forum once and most of the people on there would just throw abuse about Chris Chibnall and Jodie Whittaker, which they claimed was just ‘light criticism’, amongst abuse towards other people. They even suspended my account without giving me a reason why. Looking back though, they did me a favour.

Tim Bradley: Exactly. And there are people out there who’ve had a change of heart about Jodie Whittaker’s era of ‘Doctor Who’. Take Timelord007 for example. He was against Jodie Whittaker’s casting, but since then, he’s enjoyed her era very much.

Timelord007: Absolutely! And I love ‘The Power of the Doctor’. Overall, it’s a fitting conclusion to the Thirteenth Doctor era. Loved the regeneration; some nice callbacks to past companions; and Ace and Tegan were fantastic. Thoroughly enjoyed it. And please give Paul McGann his own series, he’s awesome.

Tim Bradley: See? I’m pleased Timelord enjoyed Jodie’s era and that ‘The Power of the Doctor’ proved to be the satisfying payoff as the finale to that era.

WilliamsFan92: I can’t dispute that, Tim. In fact, ‘The Power of the Doctor’ has become one of my favourite stories in the TV programme.

Timelord007: I admit to being wrong about Jodie’s casting. She did a remarkable job in the role and ‘The Power of the Doctor’ is a very strong story to conclude her era on.

---

I hope one day that Jodie Whittaker will be able to reprise her role as the Thirteenth Doctor in the Big Finish audios of ‘Doctor Who’. I’m very lucky to have met her at conventions, including three at London, Birmingham and London again. I didn’t anticipate I would meet Jodie at three conventions. 🙂

The ‘London Comic Con Winter’ I attended in November 2022 had both Jodie Whittaker and David Tennant there, and they were both in ‘The Power of the Doctor’. Jodie Whittaker is definitely one of my favourite Doctors. I will cherish fond memories of her, both now and in future years to come. 🙂

‘The Power of the Doctor’ by Chris Chibnall ended up being a fun episode, featuring lots of nods to the past as well as focusing on Jodie Whittaker’s exit as the Doctor. This shouldn’t be a surprise, since this is the BBC Centenary Special of ‘Doctor Who’, and I’m very pleased that the nods to the past were featured throughout.

My Dad told me he was able to follow this 90-minute special, as my parents and I saw it on BBC One at 7.30pm on the 23rd of October 2022. To hear him say that was very reassuring. ‘The Power of the Doctor’ is also better as a Doctor’s swansong than ‘The Time of the Doctor’ and ‘Twice Upon a Time’.

With that said, it can’t be denied there are issues concerning how the special is presented, even at 90 minutes. These are relatively minor issues in the grand scheme of things, but it’d be hard to ignore them in reviewing this special. Hopefully they should be clear as I outline them in this review.

For now, let’s start with how this special begins, shall we? ‘The Power of the Doctor’ begins with an opening scene where Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor, Mandip Gill as Yaz and John Bishop as Dan are rescuing a space-train from a Cybermen attack. For an opening sequence, this was exciting to watch.

It was also exciting to see the Cybermen making an appearance in this ‘Doctor Who’ special. These happen to be the CyberMasters from ‘Ascension of the Cybermen’/’The Timeless Children’, since they can regenerate after being killed. 😮 I truly wish we could have seen more of these Cybermen. 🙂

The reason for the Cybermen’s attack on the space-train is to acquire a special cargo, which happens to be a young child, played by Neo-Rae Gardner. The young child happens to be a Qurunx, a consciousness shield which the Master uses for his plans against the Doctor on Earth and its second moon (more later).

I must admit, it took several rewatches to understand the link the Qurunx had between Earth in 1916 and a second moon in Earth’s orbit. That’s mainly because the child actor playing the Qurunx doesn’t have any lines to say. He also doesn’t act much in the story, especially when he’s chained up. 😐

This story also features Joe Sims as Deputy Marshall Arnhost – Are you sure he’s not Mark Seven from the ‘Dalek Universe’ audio stories with David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor? – and Sanchia McCormack as Train Marshal Halaz. Joe Sims worked with Jodie Whittaker before in ‘Broadchurch’. 🙂

After the adventure in rescuing the space-train, the Doctor returns Dan home to Liverpool and… this is where we say goodbye to him. Yeah, I’m not kidding. Dan doesn’t appear much in the special. He’s there for the opening sequence and we don’t see him again until the closing scenes of this special. 😐

I won’t deny it, I was a tad disappointed that John Bishop didn’t appear much in this special, especially since this is Jodie Whittaker’s final ‘Doctor Who’ story. Maybe John Bishop had another commitment at the time, but it would have been good if he stuck around long enough to help the Doctor and Yaz.

Full disclosure: I’ve written more scenes featuring the Thirteenth Doctor, Yaz and Dan in ‘The Thirteen+ Doctors’ compared to how much screentime Dan has in ‘The Power of the Doctor’. Then again, my epic three-part 60th anniversary special does take place before ‘The Power of the Doctor’.

Anyway, the Doctor receives a message from a Dalek who wants to help her. It was intriguing to see a Dalek genuinely helping the Doctor in the special before it got exterminated by the other Daleks. It’s rare to see a good Dalek appear in ‘Doctor Who’. I wonder if there’s any more like it out there. 🙂

Naturally, the Doctor is distrustful of the good Dalek when it infiltrates her TARDIS. I wonder if the Doctor forgot about Rusty the Dalek from ‘Into the Dalek’ and ‘Twice Upon a Time’. Then again, I don’t think you could entirely trust Rusty from watching those ‘Doctor Who’ stories, so there you go.

Soon, the Doctor and Yaz visit the aforementioned second moon in Earth’s orbit. Hmm. I wonder if the Vok from ‘Beast Wars’ are involved in the second moon’s creation. Apparently, Wolfie had ‘Transformers’ vibes too, thinking that the cyber-planet was a neon-blue Unicorn from the 1986 film. 😀

But yes, this happens to be a cyber-conversion planet, which is utilised in the Master’s plan when connecting it to Earth in 1916 whilst using the Qurunx. The Doctor and Yaz don’t receive a warm welcome from the CyberMasters and the Cyber Warriors. They’re shot at as they return to the TARDIS.

In the TARDIS, the Doctor is summoned by Jemma Redgrave as Kate Stewart to the new U.N.I.T. HQ in London in the year 2022. It was nice to see Kate again. I’ve included her in ‘The Thirteen+ Doctors’ too. I’m really pleased that she got to meet the Doctor again, following on from meeting her in ‘Flux’.

Over the years, we’ve seen how Kate has grown in being the face of U.N.I.T., taking over from her father – Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. I’m pleased with how Jemma Redgrave has played the character so far, in the Eleventh, Twelfth and Thirteenth Doctor eras as well as the Big Finish audios.

The Doctor and Yaz meet up with Kate at the new U.N.I.T. HQ in London. And this is where Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor gets to reunite with… Janet Fielding as Tegan and Sophie Aldred as Ace. Yeah, even for me as a ‘Doctor Who’ fan, it was terrific to see these two. I’m thrilled by their return here. 🙂

It was interesting to see how Jodie’s Doctor met up with Tegan and Ace after all these years since they last travelled with their Doctors in the TARDIS. It was also intriguing to uncover what points in their lives Tegan and Ace were at in their post-travels in this special. And this is also where it gets very confusing.

Now, as I’ve clearly established in other reviews, ‘Doctor Who’ continuity does tend to get all over the place, especially concerning where companions’ adventures in the TARDIS fit in from various forms of media. As well as the TV show itself, there are the audios, comics, books, short stories, etc.

And here, it seems Chris Chibnall chose to ignore what had been established in the audios, comics, books and short stories, and just stuck to what’s in the TV show (more or less). I know I keep bragging on this issue every time it comes up, especially in ‘The Haunting of Villa Diodati’ with Mary Shelley. 😐

But here, it’s pretty evident. Regarding Ace, this is presumably the Ace running A Charitable Earth after the Doctor, established by Russell T. Davies in ‘The Sarah Jane Adventures’ story ‘Death of the Doctor’. But there have been other stories since then, including the book story ‘At Childhood’s End’.

A book story where Ace should have met the Thirteenth Doctor, Graham, Ryan and Yaz already at this point. Yet, ‘The Power of the Doctor’ seems to ignore that story and it looks like Ace has met the Thirteenth Doctor for the first time. This is frustrating, as ‘At Childhood’s End’ is quite a recent story.

Now to ‘At Childhood’s End’s credit, the issue of multiple timelines for Ace is addressed in that story. There’s even a reference to Ace and the Seventh Doctor falling out with each other from that story in ‘The Power of the Doctor’. So, I’m happy that ‘At Childhood’s End’ is at least referenced in one respect.

But it’s sad when ‘The Power of the Doctor’ as well as the Chris Chibnall era overall can’t be brave enough to refer to other ‘Doctor Who’ stories in book, audio and comic form to establish the wider ‘Doctor Who’ continuity. Even the multiverse theory from ‘Flux’ doesn’t get a mention in this special.

At ‘Regenerations 2023’, I asked Sophie if ‘The Power of the Doctor’ cancelled ‘At Childhood’s End’ at all, and interestingly, she said, “No, it didn’t”, especially concerning the multiple timelines for Ace. I’m glad I gave Sophie an updated version of Ace’s timeline when I saw her at the Swansea convention.

And now we come to Tegan. This is interesting, as Tegan said to Ace that she hadn’t seen the Doctor for nearly four decades. Um, what about the time when she met the Sixth Doctor in ‘A Fix with Sontarans’ (though the continuity of that mini-story is debatable)? And what about ‘The Gathering’?

The story where the Fifth Doctor reunited with Tegan on her 46th birthday? Did she forget the events of those stories? Granted, there could be some ground for that, considering the Doctor could have found a cure for Tegan’s tumour in that story. Maybe it erased her memories of ‘The Gathering’.

Also, does this story take place before or after ‘Farewell, Sarah Jane’? My guess is ‘before’, as there’s no mention of Nyssa living with Tegan, as established in that short story. Or perhaps Chris Chibnall forgot that story was ever made. Or perhaps ‘Farewell, Sarah Jane’ never occurred in this timeline. 😐

Mind you, things have changed a bit since ‘The Power of the Doctor’ was transmitted on BBC TV. We’ve had ‘The Passenger’ Season 20 Blu-ray box set trailer with Tegan and Nyssa as well as the ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ BBC iPlayer spin-off series, though that’s something for us to talk about another time.

And yes, it would have been nice if Sarah Sutton as Nyssa guest starred in ‘The Power of the Doctor’. How come Ace and Tegan got to appear in ‘The Power of the Doctor’, and Nyssa didn’t? I feel that Nyssa is one of the Cinderellas of ‘Doctor Who’, as she often does get overlooked as a companion. 😦

By the way, it’s interesting Tegan had two husbands in her lifetime. Is one of them Michael Tanaka from ‘The Gathering’ and the other William Haybourne from the Short Trip story ‘Good Companions’? Also, who’s this adopted son Tegan mentioned? I never thought of Tegan as a mother.

Incidentally, Wolfie has suggested to me that the continuity issues featured in the Jodie Whittaker/Chris Chibnall era could have been caused by the disruptive forces of the Flux. That Space and Time could have taken quite a battering. Thus, what is true is true now, but it wasn’t pre-‘Flux’.

This could be similar to the multiple ‘Shada’s situation, circa ‘The Five Doctors’. It’s an interesting theory and one I wouldn’t dismiss entirely. It would explain a lot about why Ace can’t remember ‘At Childhood’s End’ and why the Thirteenth Doctor can’t remember meeting Mary Shelley as the Eighth Doctor.

---

Wolfie: It looks to become a hot-button topic shortly. The Children in Need special for 2023 called ‘Destination: Skaro’ posits that the Fourteenth Doctor kickstarted the naming of the Daleks. By accidental paradox. Rather than Davros discovering the Dal word for ‘Gods’ (‘Dalek’) in The Book of Predictions for himself. I think the idea of multiverses and continuity clashes is about to become very important in streamed ‘Doctor Who’.

---

Back to the story, the Doctor comes up against Sacha Dhawan as the Master. I was pleased to see Sacha Dhawan back as the Master in this story, especially for Jodie Whittaker’s swansong. It was tense and gripping to see what plan the Master had for the Doctor, especially when he captured her.

In this story, the Master forces the Doctor to regenerate, and he ends up in the Doctor’s body. I don’t know if this is crazier than turning the world into John Simm or not, but it was quite frightening to see Sacha Dhawan in Jodie Whittaker’s clothes in his attempt to erase the Doctor from existence.

And then the Master as the Doctor dons pieces of the other Doctors’ costumes. 😀 This includes Sylvester McCoy’s pullover, Tom Baker’s scarf, one of David Tennant’s ties, Peter Capaldi’s trousers and Peter Davison’s celery stick. He dons Jodie Whittaker’s grey coat over the other Doctors’ garb. 😀

And the Master plays Patrick Troughton’s recorder whilst waiting for Yaz to return to him via the TARDIS on a distant planetoid. It was eerie and disturbing to see Sacha’s Master dressing up as the Doctor. Hearing him play Patrick Troughton’s recorder in the TV story felt enjoyably wrong indeed. 🙂

Sacha Dhawan’s Master is intimidating, especially when he breaks out of a prison cell at U.N.I.T. HQ. I enjoyed the scenes where he taunts Tegan and Ace, especially as he recalls killing Tegan’s Aunt Vanessa in ‘Logopolis’ and he scorns Ace by calling her ‘Dorothy’ and saying the Doctor ‘ditched’ her.

And then there’s…

---

Timelord007: Alright, have you locked Tim in his room so he can’t get out of this one?

WilliamsFan92: Yes, Timelord. I used my sonic screwdriver and locked the doors.

Timelord007: Good, good. He won’t be able to escape easily from this.

Tim Bradley: Err, Timelord; WF92, what are you doing?

Timelord007: Just making sure you don’t back out of talking about what I call an infamous scene in ‘The Power of the Doctor’, Tim.

Tim Bradley: Timelord, I was going to talk about this scene anyway. There’s no need to go to all this trouble.

Timelord007: You can’t be too careful.

WilliamsFan92: Yeah. You can’t ru-ru-run out of this one, Tim.

Timelord007: (realises; groans) Argh, I see what you did there, WF92. Bad boy, bad boy.

WilliamsFan92: (laughs) Sorry, I couldn’t resist.

Tim groans and returns to the review.

WilliamsFan92: Let’s see if he survives this.

Timelord007: Will he survive this?

---

(sighs) … Alright. Let’s talk about the Master/‘Rasputin’ scene.

If it wasn’t for this scene, I wouldn’t be more aware of Boney M and their music as well as their ‘Rasputin’ song. This is a scene that has become memorable, especially on YouTube. There are many videos on YouTube featuring the Master dancing to ‘Rasputin’, including a ‘Doctor Who Sings’ video. 😀

Originally, I felt the Master dancing to the ‘Rasputin’ song might be a bit too much in the special, but it does echo the Master playing ‘Voodoo Child’ in ‘The Sound of Drums’. And clearly, Sacha Dhawan is having fun when he’s being the Master dressed up as Rasputin – a real historical person in 1916. 🙂

The thing that sells this scene and makes it hilarious is the Cyberman and the Dalek looking at each other and going, “What the heck is he doing?” when watching the Master dance to ‘Rasputin’. It’s an enjoyable moment. I agree the reason the Master dressed as Rasputin in 1916 is to dance to that song.

Although, I wonder if the Master replaced Rasputin and became the actual Rasputin in real Earth history. It’s not properly established in the BBC Centenary Special, but it’s food for thought. I would need to check out the other ‘Doctor Who’ stories featuring Grigori Rasputin to be certain of the theory. 🙂

Either way, both ‘Doctor Who’ and Boney M have been good in providing a history lesson concerning Rasputin and what his role was in Russia in 1916. Whatever opinions you may have about Chris Chibnall’s era, he does likes to include history lessons, which I believe are very beneficial for viewers.

---

Timelord007: I’m not usually a fan of historical stories, but credit where credit’s due, I thought Chibnall’s era did them very well, both in casting, production and storytelling.

Tim Bradley: And there have been better scenes with the Master than the ‘Rasputin’ one.

WilliamsFan92: I mean, it’s pretty tame compared to how the Master was portrayed in ‘Time-Flight’.

Timelord007: Or ‘The TV Movie’ where he became a snake-like creature. Bizarre.

---

This story also features Richard Dempsey (who played Peter Pevensie in the BBC’s ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ TV series) as Tsar Nicholas II. And there’s Anna Andresen as the Empress Alexandra, the wife of Tsar Nicholas II and the Tsarina of Russia in 1916. These two appear in only one scene of the story. 😀

It was great to see the Daleks again in this special as well as the Cybermen, both voiced by Nicholas Briggs. Barnaby Edwards and Nicholas Pegg also return as Dalek operators in this special ‘Doctor Who’ story. It’s fascinating how the Daleks became involved with the eruptions of volcanos on Earth.

It’s not been that long since the Daleks appeared in ‘Doctor Who’ as they were in the 2022 New Year’s Day Special called ‘Eve of the Daleks’ – two TV stories before ‘The Power of the Daleks’. Then again, it’s so good to have the Daleks, Cybermen and the Master in Jodie Whittaker’s swansong story.

I’m surprised the Daleks and the Cybermen didn’t backstab the Master whilst teaming up with him in his plan to capture the Doctor. Had ‘The Power of the Doctor’ been a two-parter instead of a one-part story, maybe Chris Chibnall could have accommodated that aspect of the story to be told on TV.

This special also features the return of Patrick O’Kane as Ashad, the Lone Cybermen, who previously appeared in ‘The Haunting of Villa Diodati’ and ‘Ascension of the Cybermen’/’The Timeless Children’. I can’t say much about Ashad, apart from that this happens to be a clone of him, which is interesting.

Ashad’s role in ‘The Power of the Doctor’ is essentially to be the leader of the Cybermen when they attack U.N.I.T. HQ. It was disturbing when the Russian doll version of the Cyberman that Tegan carried with her became full-sized and it unleashed an army of Cybermen, including Ashad, to attack.

It was terrifying when Kate Stewart got captured by Ashad and she was almost converted into a Cyberman. I hoped that Kate wouldn’t be converted, as she’s become an essential member in the ‘Doctor Who’ family. Thankfully, Tegan managed to save Kate in the end, which is a huge relief indeed.

By the way, YES! AT LAST!!! The Cybermen have found a way to resist being killed by gold in this ‘Doctor Who’ story. Sorry, Ace; sorry, Tegan. It’s a pity the gold bullets you used didn’t work, but YES! AT LAST!!! The Cybermen can now resist gold! I’m glad, since the gold weakness thing was stupid.

And of course, we have surprise guests in this special story. When Jodie’s Doctor is on the threshold of regeneration, she meets the Guardians of the Edge, who happen to be previous Doctors. I’m very pleased that this ‘Doctor Who’ special accommodated these actors’ return for the BBC Centenary. 🙂

The returning Doctors include David Bradley as the First Doctor, Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor, Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor, Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor and Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor. It was so lovely to see these actors interacting with Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor. 🙂

It was a nice surprise for me as a ‘Doctor Who’ fan to see David, Colin, Peter, Paul and Sylvester in Jodie’s final story as the Doctor, and they help her with finding a way to thwart the Master in his deadly plans. Chris Chibnall fulfilled that wish I had of wanting to see classic Doctors in ‘Doctor Who’ again. 🙂

Even though this is the BBC Centenary Special and Jodie Whittaker’s swansong, this could have easily been the 59th anniversary special of ‘Doctor Who’, especially with the inclusion of past Doctors like David Bradley, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann making an appearance.

This also includes David Tennant’s appearance at the story’s end to lead into the 60th anniversary specials. As established, watching ‘The Power of the Doctor’ helped me with writing ‘The Thirteen+ Doctors’ – before and after seeing it. I’m glad it did, as it’s a worthy celebration in featuring past Doctors. 🙂

I’m disappointed that Tom Baker didn’t make an appearance in this ‘Doctor Who’ special. Chris Chibnall had invited Tom to appear in ‘The Power of the Doctor’, but he was unavailable at the time, which is a great shame. I do appreciate that the production team tried to get him back for this story.

To be fair though, Tom Baker previously appeared in ‘The Day of the Doctor’, so I suppose he already made his comeback in the new TV series, and it was Colin, Peter, Paul and Sylvester’s turn to be in ‘The Power of the Doctor’. It still would have been nice to have seen Tom in this ‘Doctor Who’ story.

It also would’ve been nice to have seen Christopher Eccleston, Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi’s Doctors in the special. Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee are bound to be tricky (though Jon Culshaw would be good for Jon Pertwee). David Tennant… well, we’ll get onto him in a short while. 🙂

Jo Martin also returns as the Fugitive Doctor in this ‘Doctor Who’ story. It makes sense, considering she’s a Doctor that was created in the Jodie Whittaker/Chris Chibnall era, appearing in ‘Fugitive of the Judoon’, ‘The Timeless Children’ and ‘Flux’. So, it was nice to see her return in Jodie’s swansong.

I liked it when the Master became angry and ordered the Cybermen to shoot the Fugitive Doctor before she turned out to be a hologram. The Fugitive Doctor also helps Yaz with reversing the forced regeneration and turning the Master back into the Thirteenth Doctor, which is a huge relief indeed.

The scenes where Tegan reunites with Peter Davison’s Fifth Doctor and Ace reunites with Sylvester McCoy’s Seventh Doctor via holograms are more favourites of mine. It was also good to see some reconciliations, especially as Tegan and Ace didn’t part well on very good terms with their Doctors. 🙂

It was also good to see Bradley Walsh back as Graham O’Brien in this ‘Doctor Who’ special. Ironically, ‘The Power of the Doctor’ was transmitted at the same time as Season 2 of ‘The Larkins’ on ITV. Both Bradley Walsh and Peter Davison were in ‘The Power of the Doctor’ and ‘The Larkins’. 🙂

A shame that Tosin Cole didn’t make a return appearance as Ryan Sinclair in this ‘Doctor Who’ special, but I’m glad Graham was able to make a comeback. I enjoyed his scenes with Ace in the special and it was lovely to see him with Dan, as they made their way to a companions’ get-together.

It was good to see Jacob Anderson back as Vinder in this special ‘Doctor Who’ story. I did wonder whether it would have been good to also include Bel from ‘Flux’ too, as well as have an update on how Vinder, Bel and their kid have been. The kid could have ended up being the Doctor in the series.

I did wonder whether the Qurunx child the Cybermen captured from the space-train at the story’s beginning was Vinder and Bel’s kid all this time and whether it was the Doctor as the Timeless Child. I wonder if Chris Chibnall meant to include that aspect in the story, but didn’t have time to write it in.

It’s a shame that Kate and Tegan had to blow up the new U.N.I.T. HQ London with the Cybermen entombed inside. The Doctor is easily impressed though when she comes to pick them up. I found it funny when Tegan pushed her way into the TARDIS without the Doctor’s consent. At least Kate was invited.

Thankfully, the Doctor and her friends, Yaz, Graham, Tegan, Ace, Vinder and Kate manage to thwart the Master’s plans when they end up on the cyber-planet. The Doctor uses the Master’s TARDIS to dematerialise the cyber-planet from 1916 to 2022, and she freezes the erupting volcanoes in 2022. 🙂

Vinder manages to return home in his spaceship through a wormhole and the Doctor helps the Qurunx to escape by persuading it to channel its energies into the cyber-planet to destroy it. Unfortunately, the Master turns up on the cyber-planet and soon wounds the Doctor in the process.

I know that this story is meant to indicate that this is the end of Sacha Dhawan’s Master in ‘Doctor Who’, and it probably is. But somehow, I can’t help feel that this isn’t the definite end of the Master. Somehow, I’m certain Russell T. Davies is going to bring back the Master at some point in the TV series.

In the meantime, I hope Sacha Dhawan does well as the Master in his upcoming Big Finish audio series called ‘Call Me Master’ as well as Jo Martin as the Fugitive Doctor in her Big Finish audio series. The prospect of Thirteenth Doctor era audio stories by Big Finish seems to be very promising.

Surprisingly, not much was explored in terms of Yaz’s feelings for the Doctor in this special, as opposed to what was established in ‘Eve of the Daleks’ and ‘Legend of the Sea Devils’. I expected it to come up, since a big deal of it had been made of the Doctor-Yaz relationship in the previous stories.

Then again, I suppose it’s for the best that it wasn’t explored further in this special ‘Doctor Who’ story. Had ‘The Power of the Doctor’ been a two-parter instead of a 90-minute special, I guess more time could have been spent on the Thirteenth Doctor and Yaz exploring their feelings for each other.

As is, with so much to cram into a 90-minute special as ‘The Power of the Doctor’, it’s to be explored for another ocassion. I did sort-of touch upon Yaz’s feelings for the Doctor in ‘The Thirteen+ Doctors’ and this was while I was writing up the story before and after I watched ‘The Power of the Doctor’ on TV.

I did like the farewell scene between the Thirteenth Doctor and Yaz, when they’re sitting together atop the TARDIS and eating ice creams before they parted company, as the Doctor takes Yaz back home to Earth. It’s so clear Jodie Whittaker and Mandip Gill enjoyed being in each other’s company.

With Yaz parting company with the Doctor, it’s clear that this is meant to be Mandip Gill’s final appearance as Yaz in ‘Doctor Who’. I wonder if Yaz will ever meet the Doctor, especially when she insisted on not saying goodbye to the Doctor whilst they were sitting atop the TARDIS above Earth. 😐

Once Yaz gets dropped off on Earth by the Doctor, she meets up with Graham and Dan who are on their way to something. Apparently, Yaz didn’t get her invite. 😀 I wonder how Graham and Dan met up with each other. I take it that this is the first time Graham and Dan have met in ‘Doctor Who’.

And of course, this special ‘Doctor Who’ story features guest cameos of William Russell as Ian, Katy Manning as Jo and Bonnie Langford as Mel, when they, Graham, Yaz, Dan, Kate, Tegan and Ace meet up in a support group of many former companions of the Doctor, and this is at the story’s conclusion.

It was lovely to see Ian, Jo and Mel as well as Graham, Yaz, Dan, Kate, Tegan and Ace in the companion support group at the story’s end. Mind you, Mel, whilst it really is good to see you in the special, what the heck are you doing on Earth?! Shouldn’t you be with Sabalom Glitz or something?!!

I know there have been Big Finish audios featuring Mel with the Seventh Doctor and Ace since her departure in ‘Dragonfire’, but I’m curious as to how she’s on Earth at all. Ah well, hopefully Russell T. Davies can explain how Mel happens to be on Earth when we get to his neo-era of the new TV show.

I was hoping that Sarah Sutton as Nyssa would have been among the companions who appeared in the support group at the story’s end, but sadly that didn’t happen. Not to worry though. Nyssa and Billy do get to meet the Thirteenth Doctor in ‘The Thirteen+ Doctors’. I enjoyed writing those scenes. 🙂

And I’m sure the Thirteenth Doctor never forgot Billy Walker whilst travelling in the TARDIS. 😀 As well as reuniting with Nyssa and Billy in ‘The Thirteen+ Doctors’, she met them briefly with the Fifth Doctor in ‘The Prime Factor’. I’d like to write a Thirteenth Doctor, Nyssa and Billy series someday. 😀

In the original script for ‘The Power of the Doctor’. It seems that Jackie Tyler, Martha Jones or Ryan Sinclair was meant to appear in this story and via a laptop screen. I’m not sure how Jackie would have appeared in this story, since she’s stuck in Pete’s World. Also, shouldn’t it be Rose Tyler instead?

Apparently, Anneke Wills had been invited to return as Polly in ‘The Power of the Doctor’, but she was sadly unavailable. She later remarked in a ‘Radio Times’ interview that she heard the scene was quite brief and was glad to stay out of it and did her ‘brambles’ instead. A pity Polly didn’t appear in this story.

Whilst Jodie Whittaker isn’t in the companion support group scene as the Doctor, behind-the-scenes, it’s nice she met up with the companions – classic and new – and had a photo with them. It must have been great for Jodie to meet up with William Russell, Katy Manning, Bonnie Langford, etc.

Incidentally, this isn’t the first time that a companion support group has been done in ‘Doctor Who’. It’s been in one of the ‘Doctor Who’ comic stories and it’s in a Divergent Wordsmiths story called ‘Friends of the Doctor’ by AFJ Kernow and Alan Camlann (Wolfie). What an amazing coincidence?! 😀

Here’s what AFJ Kernow and Wolfie have to say about ‘Friends of the Doctor’ and how it connects to ‘The Power of the Doctor’.

---

AFJ Kernow: ‘Friends of the Doctor’ began with a request from our Chief Editor, Alan Camlann, for an idea for a Christmas story. Two ideas sprung into my head. One, ‘Friends of the Doctor’ where Sarah Jane organises a social gathering for anyone who wants to chat about their time with the Doctor.  And two, the U.N.I.T. Christmas party set after the events of Season 8 in the classic TV series entitled ‘The Uninvited Guests’. Firstly, I sat down and worked out who could attend the meetup. This was roughly based on a combination of the real lives of the actors and where I imagined the characters were in 2010. 

Wolfie: It’s a tougher brief than one might expect. The author has to pull together not just a variety of personalities, but take their familiar viewpoints and weather them a bit. Time, for better or worse, has to have happened for each of them. I think Tony did a splendid job brainstorming where everyone was emotionally, as well as historically.

AFJ Kernow: The story is set just before Christmas after the events of Series 4 of ‘The Sarah Jane Adventures’. I wanted to include a companion from each era who was likely to be on Earth. The aim was to chat about the joys and challenges of travelling with the Doctor.

Wolfie: And explore the culture clash between ‘Doctor Who’ of varying decades. Something we’re finding more and more pertinent as ‘Tales of the TARDIS‘ are told and Blu-ray minisodes are made.

AFJ Kernow: The plan for the U.N.I.T. Christmas party was written over a sleepless night in November. I decided to use the Impyra, a race of mischievous aliens who I had created for an unpublished story. It was great fun writing for the U.N.I.T. team relaxing after a perilous year defending the Earth.

Wolfie: Just the kind of cosy story I was looking for, really. It sits quite nicely on the virtual shelf alongside efforts from Iain McLaughlin for Christmas and J.A. Prentice for Halloween. I have an enormous soft spot for the Third Doctor’s U.N.I.T. era. As wide as Axos. That wonderful family of Jon Pertwee, Katy Manning, Roger Delgado, Nicholas Courtney, and others.

AFJ Kernow: I enjoyed writing for the Third Doctor too, and focused on his simmering resentment at still being stuck on Earth. While at the same time leaning into his growing appreciation of the U.N.I.T. staff.

Wolfie: There’s a wonderful opportunity in this incarnation to explore his wanderlust. A suspicion I had was that the Third Doctor was long under the impression that he, too, would be forcibly regenerated at the end of his imprisonment. As his predecessor had when his exile began. Hence, it’s lovely that this incarnation, more than any other, was the one who remembered to stop and smell the roses. Or was it daisies?

AFJ Kernow: I sent Alan Camlann a final draft and in their usual fashion, they sprinkled magic over the story. Alan added more detail and lovely descriptive passages to my prosaic prose. Alan also suggested intertwining the two story threads. From initial idea to final publication in just over a month.

Wolfie: Tony’s rather excellent like that. We accomplished similar miracles with ‘The Ghosts of Peladon’ and, more broadly, as part of the editing team for ‘A Sparkle of Doctors’. It is a consistent delight to be working with him. Our creative brains are very simpatico. Much like the two threads here. Doctor and companions, considering their lives both in the moment and after the fact.

AFJ Kernow: I watched ‘The Power of the Doctor’ a year later and I could not believe it when Graham said to Ace, “Graham, friend of the Doctor.” Then you could have knocked me down with a feather when Graham, Yaz and Dan went and met others who’d travelled with the Doctor. I was delighted to see them all, particularly William Russell as Ian Chesterton.

Wolfie: Dear, sweet and noble Ian. I make an effort in stories featuring Ian and Barbara to ensure in editing that both characters are given an equal voice, as it was in the TV series. In hindsight, it was lovely to be able to write Jacqueline Hill into that set-up in absentia. It was a reminder – a striking reminder – that each medium of ‘Doctor Who’ has its own virtues. It was, and still is, astonishing to have ‘Friends of the Doctor’ pseudo-canonised in the way that it was.

AFJ Kernow: It is very strange how writers can have similar ideas at exactly the same time. Pure serendipity!  I would have had Jo carry on running the group online after Sarah’s death with help from the others. Then have Graham and Ryan appear midway through a meeting to tell them about their Doctor. “Sorry, me train was late. Couldn’t miss this.” The only reason Graham didn’t appear in ‘Friends’ was because the story was set in 2010.

---

Thank you, both, for sharing your insight and thoughts in connecting your story ‘Friends of the Doctor’ to ‘The Power of the Doctor’. Much appreciated. 🙂

And thus, after all the exciting things that have happened in ‘The Power of the Doctor’, we have the Thirteenth Doctor’s regeneration scene. I like how Jodie Whittaker’s regeneration scene is handled, especially when she takes the TARDIS to a seaside cliff and goes outside to regenerate in the open. 🙂

At least she didn’t stay inside the TARDIS and blow up the TARDIS interior whilst regenerating, as before on previous occasions in the new TV series like in ‘The End of Time’ and ‘Twice Upon a Time’. 😀 The seaside cliff happens to be Durdle Door in Dorset, which was nice to see in the special story.

Apparently, the usage of the Durdle Door location caused a controversy between the landmark owners, Lulworth Estate, and the BBC, following the episode’s broadcast. Despite the controversy, no actual filming took place at the location, as the regeneration scene was filmed on a green screen.

This does put me in mind of the underground tube train controversy which occurred in ‘The Web of Fear’, where London Transport complained the ‘Doctor Who’ production team were filming in their tube trains, whereas in fact, they were filming on a studio set. 😀 Anyway, Jodie’s regeneration scene:

That’s right! Jodie Whittaker has regenerated not into Ncuti Gatwa… but into David Tennant. Huh! What?! How come Jodie Whittaker regenerated into David Tennant? Shouldn’t it be Ncuti Gatwa next? I’m sure all will be answered by Russell T. Davies in the upcoming 60th anniversary specials. 😀

Mind you, the Doctor changed clothes in the process of regeneration. That’s not how regeneration works!!! Jodie Whittaker’s regeneration into David Tennant is weird, especially with the changing of clothes. Seriously, what? I’ve never known this to happen before in ‘Doctor Who’. 😐

The DVD/Blu-ray special features for ‘The Power of the Doctor’ are as follows. There are two behind-the-scenes featurettes on ‘The Power of the Doctor’ featuring cast and crew interviews, including ‘The Power of the Doctor – Behind the Scenes’ and ‘Farewell Jodie and Mandip’. There’s also an audio commentary on ‘The Power of the Doctor’ with Jodie Whittaker, Mandip Gill and writer/executive producer Chris Chibnall.

‘The Power of the Doctor’ has been a rewarding and very satisfying ‘Doctor Who’ special to conclude the Jodie Whittaker/Chris Chibnall era on. I found it worthwhile and way better than what I expected it to be. All my anxiety that had led up to the special had been dispelled once I came to the end of it.

Yes, there are continuity issues concerning some of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ characters I’ve grown to love in the TV series, including Ace and Tegan. I’m sure there’s more to come in terms of how ‘Doctor Who’ continuity is handled across the TV series as well as books, comics, short stories, etc. 😐

But quite frankly, that sums up the Jodie Whittaker/Chris Chibnall era of ‘Doctor Who’ era overall. Before it began, I didn’t know what to expect when it came to checking out each episode of a ‘Doctor Who’ era with a female incarnation of the Doctor. The first official woman to play her, in fact.

I didn’t expect to find myself loving Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor all the way through from beginning to end. I know people have reservations about Jodie’s era in general as well as her performances as the Doctor in general, but, for me, I’ve found Jodie’s era to be one of my favourites.

Not only did this ‘Doctor Who’ era excite me as ‘Doctor Who’ eras should, but it also challenged my perception of what the show should be, and in a very positive way. Rather than diminishing my love for ‘Doctor Who’, it has allowed me to embrace it in a way that I didn’t really expect that it would. 🙂

Yes, the issues regarding certain continuities and how certain ‘Doctor Who’ stories in various forms, spanning across the TV series, the Big Finish audios, the books and the comics not matching up are evident. I can’t help be frustrated by that, especially as a dedicated ‘Doctor Who’ fan over the years.

But on reflection, that doesn’t worry me too much, as ‘Doctor Who’ is a show that keeps changing and evolving. I find that every time I come across a new era of ‘Doctor Who’, it always has something intriguing to say. Whether you agree with each era or not is down entirely to your perception of it. 🙂

I’m glad I’ve experienced the Jodie Whittaker era from 2018 to 2022. Watching it has restored my faith in the show compared to when I experienced the Matt Smith/Peter Capaldi eras run by Steven Moffat, which I found underwhelming. I know people won’t agree with me there, but it’s how I feel.

I’m also lucky to have met Jodie Whittaker thrice at conventions. To have met Jodie, one of my favourite Doctors and one of the recent incarnations, thrice at conventions really says something about how much I love her era. It emphasises how much of a deal it has meant to me over the years.

Whether you’re a fan of the Jodie Whittaker/Chris Chibnall era or not is entirely up to you. Me personally, I know I’m going to go away filled with happy memories of Jodie’s era of ‘Doctor Who’. And I’m pretty sure there’ll be plenty of opportunities to revisit Jodie’s era in many shapes and forms.

I can’t deny the flaws that the Jodie Whittaker/Chris Chibnall era has in general, but I’ve enjoyed the era so much. I look back on it with very fond memories. This is especially when I’m checking out TV adventures like ‘Kerblam!’, ‘Spyfall’, all six episodes of ‘Flux’ and of course ‘The Power of the Doctor’.

Well, that’s all folks. 😀 Let’s check out the 60th anniversary specials of ‘Doctor Who’ next! 🙂

‘The Power of the Doctor’ rating – 9/10

---

The previous story For the Fugitive Doctor was ‘Armageddon’s Touch’ (DVW) For the First Doctor was ‘Armageddon’s Touch’ (DVW) For Ian was ‘Susan’s War’ (Audio) For Jo was ‘Protectors of Time’ (Audio) For Tegan was ‘The Gathering’ (Audio) For the Fifth Doctor was ‘Circular Time: Winter’ (Audio) For the Sixth Doctor was ‘The Sixth Doctor: The Last Adventure’ (Audio)  For Mel was ’24 Carat’ (Blu-ray) For the Seventh Doctor was ‘The TV Movie’ (TV) For Ace was ‘The Red List’ (TW) (Audio) For the Eighth Doctor was ‘The Night of the Doctor’ (TV) For the Thirteenth Doctor was ‘The Everlasting Summer’ (Comic) For Graham was ‘The Thirteen+ Doctors’   For Yaz was ‘The Everlasting Summer’ (Comic) For Dan was ‘The Everlasting Summer’ (Comic) For the Master was ‘Ascension of the Cybermen’/’The Timeless Children’ (TV)	The next story For the Fugitive Doctor is ‘Lungbarrow’ (Book) For the First Doctor is ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ (TV) For Ian is ‘Farewell, Sarah Jane’ (SJA) (Webcast) For Jo is ‘Farewell, Sarah Jane’ (SJA) (Webcast) For Tegan is ‘The Passenger’ (Blu-ray) For the Fifth Doctor is ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ (TV) For the Sixth Doctor is ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ (TV) For Mel is ‘The Giggle’ (TV) For the Seventh Doctor is ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ (TV) For Ace is ‘Quantum of Axos’ (Audio)  For the Fourteenth Doctor is ‘Liberation of the Daleks’ (Comic) For the Master is ‘The Giggle’ (TV)
Return to The Fugitive Doctor’s Timeline
Return to The First Doctor’s Timeline
Return to Ian’s Timeline
Return to Jo’s Timeline
Return to Tegan’s Timeline
Return to The Fifth Doctor’s Timeline
Return to The Sixth Doctor’s Timeline
Return to Mel’s Timeline
Return to The Seventh Doctor’s Timeline
Return to Ace’s Timeline
Return to The Eighth Doctor’s Timeline
Return to The Thirteenth Doctor’s Timeline
Return to Graham’s Timeline
Return to Yaz’s Timeline
Return to Dan’s Timeline
Return to The Fourteenth Doctor’s Timeline
Return to The Master’s Timeline
Return to The Doctors’ Timelines Index
Return to The Companions’ Timelines Index
Return to The Monsters’ Timelines Index
Return to Doctor Who Timelines
Return to Doctor Who
Return to Sci-Fi