Doctor Who: The Star Beast Review - 9 Ups And 3 Downs

12. DOWN - The Cold Open

It pains us to start this list with a down, but unfortunately the very first moments of this special were, frankly… a bit weird.

We’re aware that a lot of viewers weren’t watching the show in 2008, and that casual fans of the show might not be able to recall the trauma of Journey’s End off the top of their head, but the style of this recap did not gel at all with the style of the show.

Starting with both the Doctor and Donna delivering expository monologues direct to camera was an interesting choice, and we can’t help but feel that this would've been better as a pure voiceover, or maybe even a montage of clips like the beginning of Twice Upon a Time.

And that full-length green screen shot of Tennant standing in front of a space screensaver like he’s Brian Cox doing a PowerPoint presentation… what on Earth were they thinking?!

Not the best first impression.