A lot goes down during the finale of the second Doctor Who 60th anniversary special, “Wild Blue Yonder.” So, here’s a handy breakdown of everything that happens, and how it sets up the third and final 60th anniversary special, “The Giggle.” Warning: spoilers for “Wild Blue Yonder” to follow.
Following the events of its predecessor, “The Star Beast,” “Wild Blue Yonder” sees the Fourteenth Doctor (David Tennant) and Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) transported to an abandoned spaceship.
The pair is soon stranded there, after the TARDIS vanishes rather than expose itself to a nearby hostile presence. Said presence eventually reveals itself as two Not-Things: shapeshifting beings from outside of existence, bent on wreaking havoc throughout the universe.
With the Not-Things able to copy the Doctor and Donna’s likenesses (and memories), our heroes are nearly outmanoverved several times. However, they eventually hole up in the captain’s quarters, as the ending of “Wild Blue Yonder” begins to unfold.
Doctor Who: Wild Blue Yonder ending explained
It’s here that the Doctor realizes what happened to the missing captain: she ejected herself into space rather than give the Not-Things control of the ship (and by extension, access to the universe). What’s more, before the captain died, she managed to initiate the ship’s self-destruct mechanism without the Not-Things finding out.
This effectively converted the spacecraft into a gigantic bomb, with an intentionally protracted countdown serving as its sneaky, extra-long fuse. Unfortunately, the instant the Doctor pieces all this information together, his Not-Thing doppelganger knows it as well, leading to a frantic chase to the detonation controls.
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At this point, the ending of “Wild Blue Yonder” lurches between plot twists. First, the Doctor and Donna appear to lose the race against their Not-Thing doubles. Next, the TARDIS rematerializes to save the duo just as the ship is about to go up in flames. Then, the Doctor unwittingly pulls Donna’s Not-Thing counterpart aboard the TARDIS – seemingly leaving the genuine article for dead!
However, this final shocking development winds up being a fake-out. The Doctor almost instantly discovers his mistake (the Not-Thing’s arms were too long), saving the real Donna and turfing the fake moments before the spaceship goes kablooey.
How does Wild Blue Yonder’s ending set up The Giggle?
From here, we’re treated to an epilogue where the Doctor predicts more trouble is on the horizon. It turns out the Time Lord’s premonition is on the money, too. A joyful reunion with Donna’s granddad, Wilf (Bernard Cribbins), back on Earth is promptly cut short as chaos breaks out around them.
“Wild Blue Yonder” concludes with people fighting in the street and planes crashing from the sky for no discernible reason. It’s a mystery the Doctor and Donna will presumably solve in “The Giggle,” before the former regenerates into Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor.
Doctor Who: Wild Blue Yonder is streaming on BBC iPlayer (UK & Ireland) and Disney+ (everywhere else) now. For the latest Doctor Who news and updates, check out Dexerto’s full coverage here.
