Max Warp (2008)

Max Warp is described as Top Gear in Space and that is what the writer must have had in mind when he penned this story. I wasn’t expecting much from this story but to be honest I was pleasantly surprised with a story that had a very good plot and was well structured. The first thing that I liked about this story is how it had a jokey front to it whilst beneath it was a Agatha Christie murder mystery story to it. The cast on a whole were very good. Paul McGann and Sheridan Smith were as usual on good form in this story with great chemistry and at times great comedy timing. Graeme Garden was very good as Geoffrey Vantage and James Fleet was very funny as O’Reilley. Nick Brimble was perhaps the best of the guest stars as The Kith as the voice was very unusual and gave a nice impression of what they would look like if this were made for TV. Samantha James was impressive as President Varlon and I liked the character because she personifies what a President or Leader is like. Katarina Olsson who is becoming a regular regular in these Eighth Doctor releases was on form as Judd Gillbride. The only piece of casting that was a bit of a let down was Duncan James who played Timbo, now it isn’t because he was from a boy band but it was that his voice didn’t really work in this play. It seems more suited to advertising Daz or some other well known brand. That may seem harsh and I know that Stephen Gatley (Horror of Glam Rock) was in a boy band but the difference with James is that he was only in it for a few minutes at the beginning and at the end whereas Gatley was in it for most of the story. The actual plot was quite interesting as it seemed to have a bit of Curse of Peladon about it, someone trying to start a war and people trying to keep the peace. Trying to find out who had murdered Timbo was quite entertaining as the people who it could have been changed every few minutes but the possibility that Timbo’s death wasn’t all it seemed to be dawned on me quite early on. It had a nice ending to it and overall it was a really good story. Whilst not on par with Dead London, it was still a very entertaining story.