When we last left the Doctor, another regeneration took place…and he returned to his tenth incarnation.
He did say he didn’t want to go, and now that Doctor is back.
Wait’ll he finds out he’s on Disney Plus now. “What? WHAT??”, indeed.

So, why does he have an old face, while thinking about Donna Noble for the first time since 2010?
It involves a cute little furry creature….who is as evil as they come.
What a way to celebrate 60 years in science fiction.
Usually anniversaries involve more than one Doctor at a time, or old enemies coming back. For the next three weeks, it may be something like that. For now, he’s trying to stop a new threat and avoid a reunion.

SPOILERS BELOW

It begins with the Doctor talking about Donna, and how she absorbed the mind of a Time Lord. He had to wipe her memories or she would die. Since then, she’s married and has a daughter named Rose (Yasmin Finney). Yet she wonders if there’s something missing in her life. It’s as if she’s forgotten something.
She and the Doctor meet (in a way) as she’s carrying boxes for Rose, who sells handmade toys online. Donna doesn’t recognize him, which is good. Then, a spaceship lands on Earth but Donna misses it. It’s revealed she gave away that 160 million dollar lottery prize, but still bought a house. However, she’s jobless after being careless about coffee near a computer.
UNIT is on the scene, looking for any alien threats. They’re led by Shirley Anne Bingham (Ruth Madeley), who gets around in a wheelchair that has more gizmos than 007.She’s the best addition to UNIT since Osgood.

Rose winds up finding the Meep, and it claims monsters are hunting it for its fur. A group of Wrarth is looking for it, and acts as if it’s dangerous. Some UNIT soldiers get involves but only because something has hypnotized them.

Of course, Donna finds out about it, and calls it a furry Martian. Then the Doctor shows up, and tries to hide from her again.
The situation escalates quickly into a gunfight between UNIT and the Wrarth. The Doctor does get Donna and his family out along with the Meep. Meanwhile, Donna just wonders why this is happening to her.

Eventually the Doctor gets to the bottom of this. The Wrarth say the Meep were a calm species until their sun went psychedelic, and drove them to madness. Now, they caused a lot of damage until the one cute Meep with big eyes was left.
Sure enough, the Meep finally reveals its evil self, and plans to leave Earth. However, the rocket’s engines would mean also burning London to a cinder.

So, the Doctor is off, but Donna is right behind. She tells her family “if the Doctor can’t save London…”
Looks like the memories will return no matter what.
As he’s trying to stop the Meep’s ship, Donna insists she help, even if it means the end. They are separated by a pane of glass, but they have the same mission. He hates that it has come to this, but he restores her memories of their times together. As the Time Lord brain is released, it’s like she’s regenerating. She still gathers enough strength to finish the job, flipping the right switches. She calls it the “best 55 seconds of my life.”
Then, she faints, just after she asks him why he got his old face back and figures it’s “to say goodbye”.

Not quite, Donna. She not only recovers, but Rose inherited some of the Time Lord brain to de-hypnotize the UNIT soldiers and finish the job. Also, the toys she makes are actually aliens Donna encountered.
So, the Meep is in the hands of the Wrarth, but it is still interested in the Doctor’s two hearts. It also says it hopes to tell what happened to “the boss”.
Who could that be? We may know this month, next year, or whenever the Meep comes back.
As for Donna and Rose, they explain they can release the rest of the brain. How? “Let it go”, which may be a hint Disney is definitely involved in the show.
So, the Doctor and Donna decide one last trip in the TARDIS, maybe visit Wilfrid Mott, too.
Look, the TARDIS has been doing some self-redecorating:

They’re about to leave when Donna pours coffee on the control panel. So, what’s next?
We won’t wait long to find out.

Some other things:

The chemistry Tennant and Tate have is just great. They haven’t lost a step in 13 years. Tate was more impressive in the way she tried to navigate what’s happening and who that strange man is. What was better is how she regretted giving away 160 million pounds, even if she wanted to be like the Doctor. Hopefully, she’ll get a lot of honors from her decision.

Some may be puzzled about why Mott is still alive offstage even though Bernard Cribbins died in July of 2022. He was actually in the read-throughs before he died. For now, he’s in a cottage funded by UNIT. It will also pay for damages to Donna’s house due to the space battle. It’s expected Cribbins will be honored before the specials end.

About the accident at the end, it didn’t need that much fire in the control room. A lot of sparks would have been enough.
Also, so what if they’re about to head somewhere in time and space? Isn’t that the show?
Oh, and check out this fun fact about the new theme.

Next time, the Doctor and Donna arrive somewhere, but where?

Doctor Who specials air on Disney Plus December 2 and 9, and a new season expected in 2024