This series has been such a pleasure to listen to and I was really looking forward to this story but just as I pressed play I was wondering whether my expectations were too high. They weren’t. The plot sees Liam being returned to Earth to be executed but those plans are smashed to pieces by Yan, Hazel and co. Hunt was becoming more and more unstable. This is slightly deflected by Janice Webb (Hunt’s Assistant) who is starting to become disloyal to Hunt or so he thinks. I thought that Paul Hunt got an exit that was befitting of him. Having lauding around the place like a proper president, he finally got his comeuppance when the Cybermen converted him after they thought he was going to be assassinated. As he was trying to get the Cybermen to spare him I was actually feeling quite sorry for him. This made the Chessman character more horrid and less likeable than the Hunt character ever was. For Hazel’s character there was one of two ways her story was going to end. Either she was going to encounter her sister unharmed or she was going to be a Cyberman. Rather grimly the latter was the case. This seemed to unhinge the usually nice as apple pie style that we have known. However seeing her sister change along with the death of Yan was too much.
The conclusion of this story was quite unexpected. Essentially the Cybermen have been told that there a meteor that is heading to earth that will destroy them and working out that there is no way of stopping it decided that it would be better to retreat and go to another planet. They realise that they have been too focused on destroying the twin planet of their home planet Mondas. There were a few false ends when I had thought that Sam had executed her plan of releasing a virus in the Cyber-system. Her death was expected because once she announced her plan. The character of Sam was one of the unexpected highlights, well played by Hannah Smith. She was well supported by Mark McDonnell who has been brilliant throughout this series. During the scenes when he was been held by Hunt he was almost resigned to the fact that he was going to die.
As an episode it was brilliant. It was actioned packed from start to finish with some wonderfully emotional scenes. Some of which were the most dramatic that I have encounted. All the characters throughout were all sensible and all had links with each other which was unusual to find in a play. As a series its hard to praise this one without sounding like I’m rubbishing Series 1. This series has had an epic feel to it and whilst at times it has felt a little grim and darker than what you would expect from a normal Doctor Who story. The pace of all four parts felt a lot more structured than series 1 and as a result it had a faster feel and it felt like the story was heading to something whereas with Series 1 the ending sort of jumped out at me.
There was a near four year gap between series 1 and 2. Hopefully due to the success that this series should get it wont be 2013 before series 3. James Swallow has done a superb job and will get another crack at writing the next series.
The conclusion of this story was quite unexpected. Essentially the Cybermen have been told that there a meteor that is heading to earth that will destroy them and working out that there is no way of stopping it decided that it would be better to retreat and go to another planet. They realise that they have been too focused on destroying the twin planet of their home planet Mondas. There were a few false ends when I had thought that Sam had executed her plan of releasing a virus in the Cyber-system. Her death was expected because once she announced her plan. The character of Sam was one of the unexpected highlights, well played by Hannah Smith. She was well supported by Mark McDonnell who has been brilliant throughout this series. During the scenes when he was been held by Hunt he was almost resigned to the fact that he was going to die.
As an episode it was brilliant. It was actioned packed from start to finish with some wonderfully emotional scenes. Some of which were the most dramatic that I have encounted. All the characters throughout were all sensible and all had links with each other which was unusual to find in a play. As a series its hard to praise this one without sounding like I’m rubbishing Series 1. This series has had an epic feel to it and whilst at times it has felt a little grim and darker than what you would expect from a normal Doctor Who story. The pace of all four parts felt a lot more structured than series 1 and as a result it had a faster feel and it felt like the story was heading to something whereas with Series 1 the ending sort of jumped out at me.
There was a near four year gap between series 1 and 2. Hopefully due to the success that this series should get it wont be 2013 before series 3. James Swallow has done a superb job and will get another crack at writing the next series.
No comments:
Post a Comment