Doctor Who: The Star Beast Review - 9 Ups And 3 Downs
7. DOWN - So Much To Cover, So Little Time
This was always going to be tough to cram into 60 minutes, but we think maybe The Star Beast could've done with just a little extra runtime.
The pace of the episode is a little too breathless, reuniting Fourteen with Donna so quickly that we barely have time to process what’s happening, and the first portion of the story doesn’t spend quite enough time on Beep for us to feel entirely betrayed when the mask is dropped later on. The episode also suffers from a rushed pace towards its climax (which we’ll get to later).
If a longer runtime wasn’t an option, a couple of minutes could've been reallocated here and there – fix that cold open, save the TARDIS scene for next week, and cut out the almost entirely unneeded presence of UNIT (though we did enjoy Ruth Madeley’s new character and her missile-firing wheelchair).
We’re hoping that with a lot of heavy lifting being done this week, the next two specials will have more room to breathe and time to spend on the central plot.