Doctor Who: Analysis of Christmas Special ‘The Return of Doctor Mysterio’ Preview Clip
By Leah Tedesco
The newly-released clip from the 2016 Doctor Who Christmas special, ‘The Return of Doctor Mysterio,’ gives us a lot to think about.
Yesterday, we posted an article discussing Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat’s comments regarding the new, lighter tone that we will be seeing in Series Ten — a tone which will begin in the Christmas special, ‘The Return of Doctor Mysterio.’
During the BBC Children in Need special this past Friday, a nearly three minute clip of the special was shown. In it, we saw comedy, witty banter, sleuthing, a superhero, a villain, action, and implied forced medical experimentation.
For reference, the clip can be viewed below:
We finally learn that the “G” on Justin Chatwin’s costume stands for “The Ghost.” So, who is Doctor Mysterio? Is it the Doctor, considering that the show is called Doctor Misterio in Mexico (which inspired the name of the special)? Or are they a villain?
What I was immediately struck with was that this special is reminiscent of Classic Who, particularly the Third Doctor’s time on the show — protagonists poking around, trying to solve a mystery of strange goings-on in a lab, all with a campy feel. For an example of this, back in March we reviewed the Third Doctor’s final serial, ‘The Green Death.’ A detail that specifically stands out is the fact that, in the special, Lucy Fletcher is dressed as a cleaning woman as a disguise, just as the Doctor was in ‘The Green Death.’
The Doctor got a clever jab in with the subversive commentary, “Brains with minds of their own? No one’ll believe that. This is America.”
More from Winter is Coming
- For All Mankind finally gives us information in Episode 405, “Goldilocks”
- Watch a stunning VFX breakdown of The Wheel of Time season 2
- Of course Steve Toussaint (Corlys Velaryon) thinks Eve Best (Rhaenys Targaryen) should rule Westeros
- Confirmed: The Last of Us season 2 will air in 2025
- Final season of Star Trek: Discovery will have “a lot of action, a lot of adventure, a lot of fun”
Moffat has noted that an inspiration for ‘The Return of Doctor Mysterio’ was the superhero genre, namely the character of Clark Kent aka Superman. From the clip, you can see that the special lovingly pokes fun at such tropes. A twitchy, emotionally unstable villain holds a gun on people, and is thwarted by a bulletproof, caped crusader. Comically, he not only offers to hire someone to repair a window that he broke, but also verbalizes his personal, nuanced stance on violence during the process of slamming the baddie into a wall. Like Superman, The Ghost is quite the boy scout.
Speaking of self aware dialogue, there is the line delivered from the Doctor to Nardole, “You don’t need to point out the mistakes. That’s not what you’re for.” This is a nod to Nardole developing from a bumbling lackey in ‘The Husbands of River Song’ to a shrewd sidekick in Series Ten, a topic which we touched on back in August.
Also, there was a teaser trailer released today for the special. It features David Bowie’s ‘Heroes,’ which is a fitting tribute to the person who was such an inspiration to Peter Capaldi.
(Article continues below the next post link.)
Next: There Will Probably Be Less Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey Stuff in Series Eleven