Having no knowledge at all of Stockbridge I ventured into this story. When I say that I new nothing I mean nothing. I didn’t know that the story had featured in Doctor Who Magazines and also that it was a real town. That said I was expecting a lot from these stories. This story sees the first appearance of the Rutans who made their only appearance in the TV series in Horror of Fang Rock (1977). This story also makes references to their war with the Sontarans which has gone on for so long that no one knows what started it.
The story is mainly a comedy in the first two episodes. It’s actually quite annoying after about 20 minutes. When I first started to listen to it I had to actually stop listening because I was getting so frustrated with it. When I went to listen to it again I started to enjoy it. I thought that the character the Earl of Mummerset was an obviously annoying character but then it changed as we learnt that he wasn’t actually the Earl but just pretending to be. Joe Thomas (from the Inbetweeners) was very good but as both the Earl and as Hubert. But it was John Sessions that stole the show for me. He was just brilliant as Roland of Brittany because when he first appears in the story he is a French knight but is played like John Cleese in the Monty Python film The Holy Grail (1975). Soon he too turns out to be someone else and that’s when he really shines.
I did like the nod to the Sontarans and the connection to The Time Warrior (1973) where Linx has taken refuge in a castle so he can repair his craft and get back to the war. The Rutans plan seems to be to wait for this one Sontaran and destroy him. A bit of a petty but expected thing to do.
There were two things about this story that didn’t quite work for me. The first was the fact that it took way too long to get into the castle. As the castle features in the title I was hoping that it didn’t take until the latter part of episode 2 before we even got into any part of the castle. The second was the voice of the Rutans. I thought that they sounded too similar to Daleks. I know that they sounded similar to the Rutans that appeared in their story but I felt that there was room to change the style slightly as most of the younger fans will not know of the Rutans and think that someone has copied the Daleks.
Despite this being an Alan Barnes story it’s quite straight forward. There were no complex plot points like in Brotherhood of the Daleks (2008) or in The Girl Who Never Was (2007). Barnaby Edwards makes a welcome return to directing a Doctor Who. This story needed someone who would be able to stop the story from descending into an early pantomime. Overall this is a good opening story for the Stockbridge Trilogy.
The story is mainly a comedy in the first two episodes. It’s actually quite annoying after about 20 minutes. When I first started to listen to it I had to actually stop listening because I was getting so frustrated with it. When I went to listen to it again I started to enjoy it. I thought that the character the Earl of Mummerset was an obviously annoying character but then it changed as we learnt that he wasn’t actually the Earl but just pretending to be. Joe Thomas (from the Inbetweeners) was very good but as both the Earl and as Hubert. But it was John Sessions that stole the show for me. He was just brilliant as Roland of Brittany because when he first appears in the story he is a French knight but is played like John Cleese in the Monty Python film The Holy Grail (1975). Soon he too turns out to be someone else and that’s when he really shines.
I did like the nod to the Sontarans and the connection to The Time Warrior (1973) where Linx has taken refuge in a castle so he can repair his craft and get back to the war. The Rutans plan seems to be to wait for this one Sontaran and destroy him. A bit of a petty but expected thing to do.
There were two things about this story that didn’t quite work for me. The first was the fact that it took way too long to get into the castle. As the castle features in the title I was hoping that it didn’t take until the latter part of episode 2 before we even got into any part of the castle. The second was the voice of the Rutans. I thought that they sounded too similar to Daleks. I know that they sounded similar to the Rutans that appeared in their story but I felt that there was room to change the style slightly as most of the younger fans will not know of the Rutans and think that someone has copied the Daleks.
Despite this being an Alan Barnes story it’s quite straight forward. There were no complex plot points like in Brotherhood of the Daleks (2008) or in The Girl Who Never Was (2007). Barnaby Edwards makes a welcome return to directing a Doctor Who. This story needed someone who would be able to stop the story from descending into an early pantomime. Overall this is a good opening story for the Stockbridge Trilogy.
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