'Doctor Who' Season 14 review: Disney+'s relaunch doesn't skimp on the madcap fun

Previously on Doctor Who: A mysterious alien time-traveler landed in a junkyard in 1963. With a little help from human friends, monstrous enemies, and fellow Time Lord frenemies, he reinvented himself. Sometimes he went so far as to change face, and eventually gender.

Now, nearly 61 years and more than 15 Doctors later, the show has completely reinvented itself for the Gen Z age — and yet in some ways finds itself closer to those 1963 roots than ever.

Season 14 centers on the Fifteenth Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and his mysterious foundling friend, Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson). It’s been three years since the last full season of Doctor Who; that was “Flux,” a season-long arc from then-showrunner Chris Chibnall that remains baffling and underwhelming, even at this distance. Since then, we’ve had seven specials starring three Doctors (Jodie Whittaker, David Tennant returning for the show’s three 60th anniversary specials, and Gatwa literally bursting out of Tennant’s body in the last of them, “The Giggle”). Now, to make up for those long waits between specials, we’re getting two episodes at once.

Russell T Davies returns with Season 14.

“Space Babies” and “The Devil’s Chord” are both written by returning showrunner triumphant, Russell T Davies. If you are familiar with his work the Christopher Eccleston and Tennant eras of the revived show (2005 to 2010), then you already know what to expect from the tone. Strong emotional beats are set to the bold orchestral music of Murray Gold, who returns alongside Davies. There are accessible sci-fi ideas and homages (Baby farms run by babies! Stepping on a butterfly and changing history — a literal butterfly effect!). The focus is on family, fun, and plots that move at a brisk clip before your brain has a chance to unpick them. The season-arc mystery of Ruby’s parentage feels fresh, and yet it hews closely to the template set by the “Bad Wolf” arc of that first season starring Eccleston in 2005. Davies seems keen to make a political statement for the post-Roe age in “Space Babies,” but renders it subtle enough for dinnertime viewing.

While old-school fans will find familiar tropes from the classic show — “Space Babies” sees a monster chasing the Doctor and his companion down a dimly lit corridor for approximately the billionth time in Doctor Who — other more controversial moments are sure to make some Whovians seethe. If you hated the Goblin song in the Christmas special “The Church on Ruby Road, you may want to steel yourself for “The Devil’s Chord.” But if you fondly remember the 2007 Tennant episode “Gridlock,” which features an entire world full of characters communing over a heartstring-tugging melody at their lowest ebb in the middle of the story, then you will hear its echo here too.

Davies is hyper-aware that this is, and has always been, a franchise that is both fun and scary for kids. The main story of “Space Babies,” which kicks in after about ten compelling minutes of time travel and exposition, feels like Davies’ proving his bona fides to a Pixar-loving audience by mashing up the end of WALL-E with the “toddlers can talk” trope seen in movies like Baby Geniuses. Your mileage may vary, but the moving baby mouths seem natural and did not fall into uncanny valley territory for this reviewer; director Julie Anne Robinson has wisely chosen not to linger on those shots. Still, the whole concept might not have worked but for Gatwa and Gibson embracing it with exuberant energy. Gatwa in particular is GIF-ready here — expect to see him looped everywhere on social media this summer, arms raised, crying “Space babies!” or “Push the button!”

Starting with the holiday special “The Church on Ruby Road,” Gatwa is astonishingly confident in the role right out of the gate. Other actors took a few episodes to find their Doctor. Gatwa has a lock on him immediately. This is a Doctor who looks fabulously fashionable on the outside, changing outfits a couple of times per episode, but has not neglected to do the work on the inside. He still has the wisdom of a being who’s lived for many thousands of years, but in this incarnation there is also a sense of righteousness and a devotion to feeling everything he can feel. His trauma is immense, as is his loneliness. In both of the premiere episodes, he digs deep into it, coming up with cathartic tears and tunes direct from his two hearts.

The campy glee of these two stories show Davies making the kind of Doctor Who he always wanted to make, full of music and laughter, almost tipping it over the edge into full-blown comedy. What might surprise fans and newcomers alike is the scale of his ambition — more than enough to match the Disney money now being thrown at him in this joint production. (BBC viewers, relax; there are still plenty of references that only Brits will get.)

For example, Davies is keen to play with the fourth wall in a way that feels both cheeky and chilling. “The Church on Ruby Road” ended with a character named Mrs. Flood (Anita Dobson) looking directly at camera and winking. Davies literally doubles down on that here, as two characters wink at the camera. The notion that some characters are powerful enough to see us, the audience, can send a delicious tingle down the spine when used sparingly.

Jinkx Monsoon vs. The Beatles.

Jinkx Monsoon as The Maestro in “Doctor Who.”

Davies’ ambition comes across most clearly in “The Devil’s Chord.” The episode is reaching for something profound about the human soul and its need for music. It is ridiculously rewatchable, thanks largely to two-time RuPaul’s Drag Race winner Jinkx Monsoon. She offers a star turn as the all-powerful music-stealing Maestro, leaving bits of chewed scenery everywhere. Monsoon radiates menace like Cruella de Vil turned to 11, making it easy to believe the Maestro is a member of a mysterious “Pantheon” of god-like creatures. Unintentionally, the Maestro manages to outshine the not-very-lookalike actors playing the Beatles, who enter the story when Ruby wants to visit the making of their first album in 1963.

Yes, 1963. This choice of setting, which harkens back to the beginning of Doctor Who’s run, seems deliberate. Ncuti’s Doctor mentions that his earlier self (the First Doctor, played by William Hartnell) is living across London at this time, casually namedropping his granddaughter Susan. This naturally blows Ruby’s mind, and also brings up the question of whether Susan survived the genocide of the Time Lords seen in the Chibnall era.

That’s not the only reference sure to make longterm fans gape. In the same episode, Davies pays homage to a beloved 1975 story for Tom Baker’s Doctor, “Pyramids of Mars,” by lifting a key scene and doing it better, with 21st century effects. It might look like pandering to those fans if it didn’t serve the story. Ruby needs to understand the long-term disastrous effects of a world without music, the Maestro needs to explain their evil plot, and it all works so well that the lifted scene simply looks like a great artist stealing.

Everything old is new again.

The monster of “Space Babies” lurks in the shadows.

That seems to be emblematic of the new season. Davies is using the best bits of the show, building to something knotty and fascinating involving babies, families, and the Doctor and Ruby’s foundling statuses. A seasoned storyteller, he is constructing this arc slowly and confidently. Same goes for the introduction of the Pantheon, which ties back to a mention of creatures let into our universe by the Toymaker (Neil Patrick Harris) in “The Giggle.”

We’ll get to what that means in later stories. For now, here’s what you need to know: Doctor Who is new again. It feels fresh and invigorated with a song in its heart(s), literally and metaphorically. It’s speaking to a new generation of fans without forgetting the old ones. The time has come for you to decide. Are you on the TARDIS, or are you off the TARDIS?

How to watch: Doctor Who streams Friday, May 10 at 7:00 p.m. ET on Disney+, where available, and simultaneously on May 11 at midnight on BBC iPlayer in the UK.