The Power of the Doctor (BBC Centenary Special)

[matthewsee]

TV WEEK (Australia) of October 22-28 2022 has The Power of the Doctor to be shown on Monday October 24 7:30pm (Australian time) on ABC TV Plus as its "What I'm Watching" piece by TV WEEK Senior Writer Helen Vnuk.

Entitled "Doctor Who Centenary Special", Vnuk says:
"The fans of Doctor Who range from mature viewers who remember being terrified by the Daleks on their black-and-white TVs in the 1960s to kids who only know the Doctor as a woman.

This special celebrating the BBC's 100th birthday, promises something for everyone.

It's Jodie Whittaker's last outing as the Doctor and she's facing her deadliest enemies: the Daleks, the Cybermen and the Master (Sacha Dhawan) - all in the one episode! Fortunately, former companions Tegan (Janet Fielding) and Ace (Sophie Aldred) are coming back to lend a hand.

The plot involves 21st century seismologists, a bullet train in a distant galaxy, iconic paintings and Rasputin in 1916 Russia.
But it's no spoiler to say the Doctor will live on."

This is accompanied by a picture of Jodie as the Doctor in a orange soacesuit and the caption, "Jodie Whittaker is the 13th Doctor."

[matthewsee]

BBC Centenary Special and the swansong for Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor.
Written by Chris Chibnall who is also making his swansong as showrunner.
What a thrilling start with a space train being invaded by the CyberMasters (from The Timeless Children) with the Doctor, Yaz and Dan responding to this by going to the train themselves.
The CyberMasters were on the train to get a cargo.
This cargo turns out to be a child which the CyberMasters then used as an energy source.
The cargo child is gradually forgotten about by this viewer and I only got reminded of this child when I saw this a second time.
It had been known beforehand that Sophie Aldred is back as Ace and Janet FIelding back due to this reveal being made in the trailer to this at the end of the previous episode Legend of the Sea Devils.
So it was nice to see Aldred and Fielding's names in the title sequence.
When we first see Ace and Tegan they already know each despite having never met during the run of the classic series and for a brief moment I had thought we would see how they first met.
Surprised after the space train and Dan being brought back home that Dan told the Doctor not to come back for him.
At the space train, Dan came close to death which led him to end his TARDIS travels.
Therefore I was surprised that Dan got himself out this early in the episode and leaving just the Doctor and Yaz on their own.
After Dan's departure, the Doctor gets contacted by a Dalek in the TARDIS.
No doubt that it is not a coincidence the Fifth Doctor got contacted by a Dalek at the near end of Resurrection of the Daleks which was Tegan's swansong as a companion.
Perhaps as a hark back to Tegan's time as a companion was showing two TARDISes due to some trick by the Master.
A similar trick was presented by the Master in Logopolis which was Tegan's debut story.
Also the Master mentioned Tegan's Aunty Vanessa whom he killed in Logopolis.
There is symmetry of having the Master, Tegan and Ace all in this same story.
As I just stated the Master was in Tegan's debut story Logopolis and was also in the last classic story Survival which is also Ace's last televised adventure as a companion.
When the Master first appeared he poses as Rasputin. I suppose that was an idea which was long time in coming.
The Doctor and Yaz are summoned to UNIT HQ by Kate and it is here that the Doctor is reunited with Tegan and Ace with Kate being the one who brought them into all this.
Kate is the Brig's daughter and Tegan and Ace had known the Brig.
For Jemma Redgrave as Kate this is not the first Power episode she has been in as she made her debut as Kate in The Power of Three also written by Chibnall.
We learn from Kate that well known paintings had been removed from public display as they have been defaced by the Master as Rasputin.
Among these paintings is The Scream.
Incidentally The Scream is a key plot point in Dust Breeding, a Big Finish with Ace and the Master. However I believe this is entirely coincidental as Chibnall does not come across as a Big Finish listener and Ace tells the Master in The Power of the Doctor that she last saw him when he was half-cat which refers to Survival and Dust Breeding takes place after Survival.
Earlier Tegan had received a package from the Doctor which was a Cyberman doll.
However the Master revealed that it was he not the Doctor who sent Tegan that doll and it was a trick to get her to take it to UNIT HQ and what a horrifying sight when this Cyberman grew to size.
Not only that the Cyberman was in the form of a Russian doll in that when it opened a lot of Cybermen came out including Ashad although the Master would later reveal that is a clone of Ashad which he made.
Harrowing seeing the Doctor placed in a Dalek casing with the Daleks as well as the Cybermen forming an alliance with the Master.
Quite some music the Master plays.
The Master places the Doctor into a forced regeneration which sees them switching bodies. The now Master Doctor on asking Yaz to be his companion not to make him to ask her twice as he hates to bring her down to size.
Previously the Master says "down to size" in The Timeless Children as he realised he should have said that when cutting down the original Ashad literally down to size.
What a thrilling sight on Ace putting on her old jacket and getting the baseball bat she used to beat up Daleks in Remembrance of the Daleks.
Another call back to Ace of old was her use of Nitro-9.
In reference to the bat Ace says that Beyonce copied all her moves. Somehow it feels disconcerting hearing a classic series companion making this modern day reference. In fact anachronistic is perhaps the right word to describe this.
Meanwhile the Master Doctor as well as 13's jacket wears a combination of outfits from Doctor's past with him wearing 7's question mark jumper, 4's scarf and 5's celery and playing 2's recorder.
Curiously enough Ace who had been with 7 didn't see the Master Doctor in 7's said jumper.
We see the Doctor in the mindscape and what a surprise on seeing David Bradley as the First Doctor, Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor, Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor, Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor and Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor.
Also nice later on when the Thirteenth Doctor created an AI program that allowed Tegan and Ace to be briefly reunited with 5 and 7 respectively. This was neatly done including when 5 mentioned Tegan their old companion Adric.

With Davison's surprise appearance, he, Fielding and Sacha Dhawan (the Master) were all in the same Big Finish, Ghost Walk back in 2018 with Dhawan playing a different character as this was pre-Master for him.
Fourth Doctor Tom Baker was asked to be in The Power of the Doctor but was not available.
Given the Master being Rasputin, ironically the absent Tom Baker had played Rasputin himself in the movie Nicholas and Alexandra (1971).

This is not the first time that Bradley had been in a Doctor Who episode written by Chibnall as he played Solomon in Dinosaurs on a Spaceship.

Impressive on Ace parachuting from UNIT HQ and landing in the TARDIS with her seeing the inside of the TARDIS in a long time.
Graham suddenly turns up and meets Ace.
In fact along with Yaz, the presence of Graham here means that every numbered NuWho Doctor so far has had at least one companion who they travelled with at the start turning up in the respective Doctors' finale.
Ryan isn't here but isn't forgotten when 13 asked Graham where he is with Graham saying he is in Patagonia.

As if there weren't enough Doctors here in comes Fugitive, albeit a hologram of her coming to the rescue and putting 13 back in her body.
Should not be surprised that Fugitive being back for 13's finale.
Given what the Master had worn whilst in 13's body it certainly a lovely sight to see Jodie as well as her own jacket in 7's jumper, 4's scarf and 5's celery!
When Kate was about to go through Cyber conversion I thought she had it but got saved in time by Tegan.
Kate and Tegan then got out of UNIT HQ in time before it collapses and then both get in the TARDIS.
For Kate it was for the first time while Tegan, like Ace, it is the first time in a long time.
13 got her companions to pilot the TARDIS around the console and the Tenth Doctor also did this for his companions in Journey's End.
In fact 13 herself mentioned the effect of this very occurrence from Journey's End in The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos.
The Doctor and Master has one final confrontation with the Master's fate, unsurprisingly, left ambiguous and Yaz rescuing the Doctor.
When the Doctor fully wakes up it is only Yaz with her with the others being sent home.
The end is now coming for 13 and what a lovely moment when 13 and Yaz spent their last moments together on top of the TARDIS having ice cream.
This is the right moment to mention that 13 (from her full debut in The Woman Who Fell To Earth) and Yaz are the first Doctor and companion to start and finish at the same time.
13 decides to go through her regeneration on her own and drops Yaz off.
After being dropped off, Yaz to her surprise sees Dan and Graham together as they never met before.
If not for Ryan's absence we would have seen all of 13's companions together.
Graham mentioned to Yaz about a certain invite and the next moment with Graham talking somewhere I knew at that instant that it was a companions support group!
Not only are Graham, Yaz, Dan, Tegan, Ace and Kate are in this group but also other companions past - people I wasn't expecting to see - that of Jo, Ian and Mel.
Ian was certainly surprised to learn from Dan that the Doctor is a her.
It was on reflection that the atmosphere of this support group felt similar to The Sarah Jane Adventures story The Death of the Doctor which Jo was also in and Bradley as another villain when Sarah Jane at the end checked what became of other companions of the Doctor including the said Ian and Ace.
Afterwards I read that Anneke Wills was invited back as Polly for this support group but was not available.
Other classic series characters who could have been in that group and whose actors are still alive were Benton and Yates but they too weren't there.
13 arrived at a clifftop to meet her end.
Lovely last words from 13 as she says tag to the next person she will become.
In the lead-up to Jodie's finale there was question of who would Jodie turned into either it was David Tennant, who had been announced would be in the 60th anniversary and it was presumed it was him back as the Tenth Doctor or Ncuti Gatwa, the next actor announced to play the Doctor but hadn't played the Doctor before.
In the end Jodie regenerates into Tennant and incidentally both, along with Bradley had worked in Broadchurch created by Chibnall.
Jodie and Tennant were also in the movie St Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold (2009) which I saw and finished around the same time in seeing The Power of the Doctor.
So having been the Tenth Doctor before, Tennant has now become the Fourteenth Doctor and it is Tennant as 14 not 10 who would be in the 60th anniversary specials in 2023.
The newly regenerated Fourteenth Doctor says he knows these teeth and this reflects back to 2005 when the newly regenerated Tenth Doctor says as his first words "New teeth."
What is most surprising about this latest regeneration is that not only did the Doctor's face change but also the clothes!
I definitely share the 14's sentiment on this regeneration with him saying "What" three times which is also how 10 expressed his disbelief.
The end bit with Tennant was no doubt written by returning showrunner Russell T. Davies as he takes over from Chibnall.
Nevertheless it is worthy to note that Chibnall's first Doctor Who episode as a writer was 42, a Tennant episode during RTD's original tenure.
Notwithstanding the Tennant bit was undoubtedly written by RTD, Tennant at the end of The Power of the Doctor marks a bookend to Chibnall's writings on Doctor Who that is if he doesn't write future episode(s) as a former showrunner.
I counted 9 Doctors in this story with Fugitive 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 13, the Master Doctor and 14.
This certainly been a spectacular way to end the Thirteenth Doctor and I definitely wasn't expecting for this to be quite a fanfest with surprise appearances by past Doctors and companions alike.
A lovely sendoff for the loveliness that is Jodie.