November 09, 2009

The Sandman (2002)

The Sandman is the first Sixth Doctor/Evelyn story for quite some time. In fact it was back in August 2001 (Project: Twilight) that we last had an adventure featuring these two. The reason for the extended absence was that the Eighth Doctor’s season was extended from four stories to six. This story also has the hard task of trying to match such modern classics as Spare Parts and The Chimes of Midnight.

I quite liked the twist that this story gave on the Doctor’s reputation. You would imagine that everywhere he goes, the Doctor is considered a hero or a saint. It’s the same around the world. There are people that you would consider to be good but to others would be bad and evil. There are faults with this story. The problem that I have with this story is that the voices are unbearable. I just found them really distracting and so it put me off a bit.

Colin Baker isn’t on his usual good form in this story. This isnt because of him but more to do with the writing. He seems very over the top at several times during the story. This story sees Colin Baker playing Doctor with a dollop of the Sandman thrown in for good measure. Maggie Stables isn’t used very well in this story, it was because of her acting abilities but because of what the writer has not done.

The guest star is Anneke Wills who played Polly during 1966 with the First and Second Doctors. She plays Director Nrosha who is interesting because she has a grudge against The Sandman. Ian Hogg is also a name from Doctor Who’s past to feature in this story. In that he played Josiah Smith in Ghostlight (1989) but in this he played something far different but nowhere near as entertaining.

At the end of the day this is one of the weakest stories to feature the Sixth Doctor. I think that it was a messy plot that didn’t really go anywhere and I felt a little disappointed when it finished.

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