When Russell T Davies decided to kick off Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary specials with The Star Beast, he made a very smart decision. Not just because it was a relatively straightforward story that allowed plenty of focus on the Doctor and Donna’s long-awaited reunion. But it was also a nice way of celebrating the show’s long history, in a way that went beyond the TV series itself.
You see, Doctor Who and the Star Beast was originally a comic story in the pages of Doctor Who Weekly (better known these days as Doctor Who Magazine). Written by Pat Mills and with artwork by Dave Gibbons, the story depicted the Doctor and his friends encountering the seemingly cute Beep the Meep while being chased by the monstrous Wrarth Warriors. Of course, not everything is as it seems…
If you’ve only seen the TV special, you can already see that it’s a pretty close adaptation of the original story. Naturally, there are some key differences. The most obvious of course being the TARDIS teams, with the Fourth Doctor meeting his new companion Sharon. There are a few twists and turns in the comic‘s plot that the TV adaptation doesn’t use.
In both versions, the extremely adorable Meep turning out to be evil is a major twist, and a rather brilliant one on Pat Mills’s part. It’s not surprising Russell T Davies wanted to adapt this story for television. Considering the success of Grogu in the TV series The Mandalorian, it's a twist that works better than ever in the current era.
It perhaps shouldn’t be surprising that the story was so successful in Doctor Who Weekly that it eventually led to several more appearances of Beep the Meep. Not just in the comic, but even on audio, in the free Big Finish story The Ratings War.
It also shouldn’t be surprising that while last year’s special was the first time that we had seen the story on-screen, it wasn’t the first adaptation. In March 2019, Big Finish released Doctor Who: The Comic Strip Adaptations, featuring full-cast audio adaptations of two popular comic stories: Doctor Who and the Iron Legion, and of course, Doctor Who and the Star Beast.
Unsurprisingly, this version sticks closely to the original. At the same time, due to the comic’s relatively short length of only 34 pages, the audio adaptation includes a little expansion to the plot to justify the almost two-hour length. If you’re familiar with both the original comic and the TV special, the audio version doesn’t really have any surprises of its own, but it’s still a solid adaptation that’s worth a listen, especially for Tom Baker’s performance.
Lastly, the most recent take on The Star Beast is an adaptation of an adaptation. I am of course referring to the Target novelization of the TV episode. Written by Gary Russell and released almost immediately after the episode’s broadcast, this one naturally sticks closely to the TV story, with a few extra details added - including one or two more nods to the original comic. And of course, on top of the novelization itself, you also have a full audiobook reading by Jacqueline King (who plays Donna's mother Sylvia). At this point, you might say that we have as many as five versions of the story!
Regardless of how many versions there are, one thing is clear. The Star Beast is a great story, regardless of the medium it’s told in or even which Doctors are involved. It’s a thrilling adventure for the Doctor and his friends; it has a brilliant villain at the center of it, and it’s simple enough that it allows for some decent character exploration, too. For a 60th anniversary special, it was an excellent story to bring to a brand new audience.