Doctor Who: The Star Beast’s meta-crisis explained

Doctor Who’s meta-crisis concept features prominently in the franchise’s first 60th anniversary special, “The Star Beast.” So what is a meta-crisis, and how is it resolved in the special?

This is just one of the big questions raised by “The Star Beast.” Another is why the Fourteenth Doctor (David Tennant) regenerated with the same face as his tenth incarnation.

There’s also the mystery of who or what drew the Doctor and his former companion Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) back together. Could classic Doctor Who villain the Toymaker (Neil Patrick Harris) be behind it?

Time (and the remaining Doctor 60th anniversary specials) will tell when it comes to these headscratchers, however, everything we need to know about the meta-crisis is covered in “The Star Beast.” So read on and get fully up to speed!

Doctor Who: The Star Beast’s meta-crisis explained

A meta-crisis is what happens when a Time Lord and someone from another species create a hybrid being. In the case of the meta-crisis seen in “The Star-Beast,” this involved Donna absorbing the Doctor’s mind into her own while also creating a half-human Doctor clone, as depicted in 2010’s “Journey’s End.”

The downside of the “DoctorDonna” meta-crisis is that a human brain is no match for the near-limitless capacity of a Time Lord’s, forcing the Doctor to wipe Donna’s memories to save her life. This seemingly puts the meta-crisis in stasis – provided Donna never remembers her adventures in the TARDIS. If she ever does, she’ll die.

Or at least, that’s what the Doctor (and fans) always believed. But the first Doctor Who special reveals this is no longer the case, as Donna passed some of the meta-crisis on to her daughter, Rose (Yasmin Finney). As a result, both mother and daughter subconsciously share (and are influenced by) Donna’s memories.

What’s more, once these memories are unlocked, splitting the meta-crisis across two hosts staves off its fatal effects. Donna’s apparent death? A fake-out.

How Does Donna Survive the Meta-crisis in “The Star Beast”?

Later on in “The Star Beast,” The Doctor warns Donna and Rose that this is only a temporary solution. “The meta-crisis might have slowed down,” he says. “But that thing is wrapped around your cortex.” 

Yet once again, Doctor Who’s typically all-knowing protagonist is proven wrong. In the special’s most talked about scene, Donna and Rose expel the meta-crisis’s energies from their systems simply by letting go of its power – quipping that this is something the Doctor’s male incarnations would never consider.

That said, it’s unclear whether Donna willingly relinquishing the meta-crisis was always an option, or if Rose made it possible. Dialogue in the “Star Beasts” hints that the former is true, although Rose’s involvement certainly helped stabilize Donna’s condition.

But either way, making like Frozen’s Elsa was ultimately the key to Donna surviving the meta-crisis.

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