The Criminal Code sees Lisa Bowerman actually starring in a Companion Chronicle as opposed to director. The story is written by Eddie Robson who has written some truly brilliant stories over the last few years. So I had high hopes of this story, especially as I was intrigued reading DWM and said it was “a rare and welcome return to the era of the popular New Adventures novels”. Now I am probably with a large majority of people who are fans of the companion chronicles and also of the seventh Doctor but to me that doesn’t really make much difference. Its also quite a departure for the CC series in that this is the first story to feature a companion that never actually appeared on TV.
The story takes place on Shanquis where the Doctor is playing negotiator trying to get a peace settlement between the people of Shanquis and a neighbourly planet. There was a clever little bit about why Bernice is with the Doctor and not Ace. In a nutshell The Doctor and Ace landed where Bernice was doing her thing and Bernice and Ace swapped places. It was something that made the reason why Ace wasn’t there more believable. The opening few minutes were good, it laid the groundwork and gave a purpose behind the story but then it really went downhill. I’m not going to have a go a Lisa Bowerman’s impression of the Doctor because impressions of the Doctor is something that is very rarely done properly. But for me there are more concerning problems that an impression.
The first part of the story was so boring that for the first time in quite some time (perhaps listening to Flip-Flop) that I thought about pressing stop. But I persevered and it’s a long 30 minutes. The problem was that the story was told at a very slow pace as if Bowerman was having a chat with a friend. Normally there is a pace to the story which is helped along by the actor as well as the writer but in this story neither of them help this story. Also where the hell did the cliffhanger come from. The Doctor had been kidnapped. Unless I fell a sleep how did this happen and the build up was weak.
The second part was much better (but then it couldn’t be worse). Its were the who purpose of the story got revealed. Its were the clever parts come to the story. There is a terror forming machine where people in the future can look at it and see what mistakes have been made and hopefully not make the same ones again. It’s revealed the Bernice has been talking to this machine. Other clever bits include the language that is illegal was actually English. Quite a revelation. I didn’t see that one coming. It was quite a clever thing to put in the story. Also the fact that Bernice used think for a force field to be created was quite smart.
It would be rude not to mention Charlie Hayes. This is her second appearance after appearing in Seven Keys to Doomsday back in 2008. Hayes is the daughter of former companion Wendy Padbury. I wasn’t so keen on the character because I felt the character was a bit dry and there was nothing really for Hayes to do with the character. When the ending finally came I have to admit that it certainly picked up. The first half was really bad with a very slow pace, hardly any music to keep my interest and a weak ending but then suddenly it hit top gear and became a much better story than it could have been.
The story takes place on Shanquis where the Doctor is playing negotiator trying to get a peace settlement between the people of Shanquis and a neighbourly planet. There was a clever little bit about why Bernice is with the Doctor and not Ace. In a nutshell The Doctor and Ace landed where Bernice was doing her thing and Bernice and Ace swapped places. It was something that made the reason why Ace wasn’t there more believable. The opening few minutes were good, it laid the groundwork and gave a purpose behind the story but then it really went downhill. I’m not going to have a go a Lisa Bowerman’s impression of the Doctor because impressions of the Doctor is something that is very rarely done properly. But for me there are more concerning problems that an impression.
The first part of the story was so boring that for the first time in quite some time (perhaps listening to Flip-Flop) that I thought about pressing stop. But I persevered and it’s a long 30 minutes. The problem was that the story was told at a very slow pace as if Bowerman was having a chat with a friend. Normally there is a pace to the story which is helped along by the actor as well as the writer but in this story neither of them help this story. Also where the hell did the cliffhanger come from. The Doctor had been kidnapped. Unless I fell a sleep how did this happen and the build up was weak.
The second part was much better (but then it couldn’t be worse). Its were the who purpose of the story got revealed. Its were the clever parts come to the story. There is a terror forming machine where people in the future can look at it and see what mistakes have been made and hopefully not make the same ones again. It’s revealed the Bernice has been talking to this machine. Other clever bits include the language that is illegal was actually English. Quite a revelation. I didn’t see that one coming. It was quite a clever thing to put in the story. Also the fact that Bernice used think for a force field to be created was quite smart.
It would be rude not to mention Charlie Hayes. This is her second appearance after appearing in Seven Keys to Doomsday back in 2008. Hayes is the daughter of former companion Wendy Padbury. I wasn’t so keen on the character because I felt the character was a bit dry and there was nothing really for Hayes to do with the character. When the ending finally came I have to admit that it certainly picked up. The first half was really bad with a very slow pace, hardly any music to keep my interest and a weak ending but then suddenly it hit top gear and became a much better story than it could have been.
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