Star Beast vs. Star Beast vs. Star Beast

The Star Beast is a kind of unique story scene it has been done three times in three different mediums. What are your favorite?

  • Comic
  • Audio
  • Television
0 voters
3 Likes

I read the comic and listened to the BF audio before The Star Beast premiered. The comic was okay and the audio adaptation was fine, but a bit fogettable. I like the TV story, though, but perhaps that’s beacuse it has Tennant & Tate instead of T. Baker.

6 Likes

I thought of this topic before I listened to the audio and read the comic and now that I have I am having a really hard time of deciding. I think all of them are good!

Comic
The original story. I think this creates a wonderful story with new interesting characters and a fun villain and twist. I am usually not the biggest fan of these older styles of comics where there is a cliffhanger every 3 or 4 pages but I think that it works here. The design of both the Meep and the Wrath Warriors is amazing. I gave this 4/5

Audio
While this is a good audio it does not add that much new stuff to the story and I think this story is better suited for a visual medium where you can see the cuteness of the Meep. I gave this 3.5/5

TV
This story adds the Doctor/Donna stuff to the story but it is also more faithful to the original story than I thought it would be. The design of the Meep is so good and I think the whole story is such a good match for 14 (10) and Donna. Rose is also a fantastic replacement for Sharon Davies (I love Rose). I gave this 4/5

My winner is: TV (But I am a Tennant fan after all)

7 Likes

I haven’t heard the audio version so I can’t comment on that. But I do prefer the original comic version to the TV version.
Probably because the comic version is a more “pure” version of the story whereas the TV version constantly gets slowed down by addressing the DoctorDonna situation, the pacing just feels off. I rate this the lowest of the 60th Specials. But it is beautifully directed by Rachel Talalay with stunning visuals and Miriam Margolyes is fantastic as the Meep.

It did give us Shirley Ann Bingham who is great, but kind of feels a bit too similar to Osgood which begs the question, why wasn’t she brought back instead?

Also the part where the meta-crisis gets resolved by “letting it go” that apparently men are incapable of doing? Come on, be better than that.

(I also find it funny that RTD in an interview insisted that the sonic wasn’t a magic wand when it never has been used more like a wand when making those bulletproof barriers)

4 Likes

Probably because RTD wanted to create a cool new character with a disability to counterbalance the fact that there are a lot of disfigured villains in wheelchairs in popular culture.

3 Likes

Yeah that’s what I gathered as well, and that is really great. I love Shirley and I love Osgood, but character-wise and personality-wise I just think there should have been a greater differentiation - it’s really the same template used.

2 Likes

Only the comic and TV versions for me although the audio is on my ‘to listen’ pile.

I think the main thing I miss from the comic version is Sharon who I’ve always thought was a great companion and pretty significant in the grand scheme of things.

2 Likes

Here are the scores on the site:

Comic : 78%
Audio: 84%
TV: 70%

1 Like

I feel like it has to be the comic or the audio. I don’t like the TV adaption, especially not as an adaption. Beep’s facade is dropped entirely too soon, the push and pull of Beep trying to keep the leads on-side until the right moment is gone, that relationship with Sharon (or in the show’s case Rose) isn’t there because the character is completely sidelined for the DoctorDonna story. I think as an adaption, The Star Beast (2023) is a total failure.

With the audio I feel I’m biased to the medium, and one of my favourite parts of that adaption is the music, I absolutely love that Beep’s motif throughout the story is the “Beep and Friends” theme from The Ratings War, and the way the music goes from a gentle music box to a little more sinister sounding as Beep’s facade slips.

The comic, as it is, is a simple “don’t judge a book by its cover” story executed very well, and it’s no wonder that it’s so well remembered.

9 Likes