Ever since I heard that there was going to be a Sixth Doctor and Jamie series of adventures I was unsure as what to expect. There had only been one adventure with the two of them and that was in the 1985 adventure ‘The Two Doctors’. This story would be written by a new writer. Simon Bovey is given a big responsibility of getting this series up and running. This is the first time that Frazer Hines has played Jamie McCrimmon in a full-cast drama since that 1985 story. Hines previously did ‘Helicon Prime’ (2007), ‘A Glorious Revolution’ (2009) and most recently The ‘Emperor of Eternity’ (2010). This story was more about the reunion of the Doctor and Jamie than anything else really which was what A Thousand Tiny Wings was about when the Seventh Doctor met Elizabeth Klein again. This story took a long time to get going. The story spends a lot of time doing very little. I’ll be honest, I have no real interest in the battle between the Highlanders and the Red Coats. It was good how they shoehorned in Rob Roy in this story for not particular reason. His involvement didn’t really seem to contribute anything to the story.
One of the things that I enjoyed about this story was the characters. The character of Major Heyward was particularly good. James Albrecht makes the character utterly unlikeable but not to the point that it became a bad joke. Georgia Moffett was the most noticeable name in the cast list (her name appears on the cover). She was perfectly good as Alice and the character was likeable and I thought the way she was with Jamie was a nice highlight of the story. I also thought that Frazer Hines was brilliant as Jamie/Black Donald. It was great how he was with the Doctor and it was like I thought he would be. Exactly the same but just forty years older. He had a great chemistry with Colin Baker and that will only get better in the other two stories. Colin Baker was also on very good form in this story. Trying to convince Jamie that they had at one time being travellers together was always going to be difficult but it does raise a mystery as to how Jamie doesn’t remember the events from ‘The Highlanders’? Since that was the only adventure that Jamie was left with after the Timelords had put him back on Earth.
The main thread of this series was set up at the end. It was set up when the Overlord said “Did SHE send you?” Another mystery was what was in the black water/oil and what was it for? Then there is the issue of the damage to the timeline in setting up a massive industrial city in 1860’s Scotland. It’s a shame that it all seemed to take place in the last 20 minutes as opposed to the other three and a half episodes. It does mean that there is a reason to stick with the other two episodes (like I wasn’t going to!). Ultimately though the main problem with this story is that it took way too long to get going. Had it not been for that final 20 minutes where pretty much everything was revealed, I would have found this a real disappointment.
Really looking forward to Wreck of the Titans.
One of the things that I enjoyed about this story was the characters. The character of Major Heyward was particularly good. James Albrecht makes the character utterly unlikeable but not to the point that it became a bad joke. Georgia Moffett was the most noticeable name in the cast list (her name appears on the cover). She was perfectly good as Alice and the character was likeable and I thought the way she was with Jamie was a nice highlight of the story. I also thought that Frazer Hines was brilliant as Jamie/Black Donald. It was great how he was with the Doctor and it was like I thought he would be. Exactly the same but just forty years older. He had a great chemistry with Colin Baker and that will only get better in the other two stories. Colin Baker was also on very good form in this story. Trying to convince Jamie that they had at one time being travellers together was always going to be difficult but it does raise a mystery as to how Jamie doesn’t remember the events from ‘The Highlanders’? Since that was the only adventure that Jamie was left with after the Timelords had put him back on Earth.
The main thread of this series was set up at the end. It was set up when the Overlord said “Did SHE send you?” Another mystery was what was in the black water/oil and what was it for? Then there is the issue of the damage to the timeline in setting up a massive industrial city in 1860’s Scotland. It’s a shame that it all seemed to take place in the last 20 minutes as opposed to the other three and a half episodes. It does mean that there is a reason to stick with the other two episodes (like I wasn’t going to!). Ultimately though the main problem with this story is that it took way too long to get going. Had it not been for that final 20 minutes where pretty much everything was revealed, I would have found this a real disappointment.
Really looking forward to Wreck of the Titans.
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