The Rescue (1965)

The Powerful Enemy is the first episode to feature a new companion since An Unearthly Child and it introduces Maureen O’Brien to the show as Vicki. It’s the first time that we don’t have Carole Ann Ford and it must have been weird watching this in 1965 to not see her with the rest of the regulars. O’Brien is the first person that we encounter in the episode. She hears a noise on the scanner which she thinks is rescue. She is stuck with Bennett who is bed ridden and is determined to be a killjoy when Vicki comes in with so much energy.

Koquillion is introduced into this story as a mystery figure. Both Bennett and Vicki are afraid. When we do get to see him the costume is rather good. The music helps create the menace and its good that we don’t hear anything from him at first. It’s a first good impression. Sadly when he does speak to Barbara and Ian it’s a little disappointing. No electronic effect is used and it’s a shame really.

It’s nearly four minutes before the Doctor, Ian and Barbara are introduced. The Doctor is asleep when the TARDIS lands and his behaviour is very unusual. At first there is no real effect of Susan’s departure until they are about to leave the TARDIS and I like how the Doctor is embarrassed that he made the slip. The interaction between the Doctor, Ian and Barbara is rather sweet. It’s almost like a small family.

When Koquillion is left alone with Barbara its clear that something bad is going to happen. She falls of the side of the cliff and is only saved after clinging onto a branch and she manages to survive. Before long she is helped by Vicki. Bennett then tells Vicki after his ‘meeting’ with Koquillion that they have died and Vicki tells him that one survived and the look on his face is priceless.

The Doctor has visited the planet Dido before and remembers it’s as a nice place and there is a lovely scene where he reminisces to himself and has a nice chuckle about whether he can convince Ian that it was done on purpose. William Hartnell seems to be different in this episode and it’s a wonderful performance. The scene where the Doctor comes out of the TARDIS after the explosion in the cave and there is no smoke or dust yet the Doctor is acting like there is seems to be a slightly odd moment. It seems like the dust was suppose to move quicker than it did.

This a good episode by Christopher Barry. The bit where the Doctor is choking on no dust is a bit of a letdown but there is a good moment where Ian and the Doctor are walking along the ledge and see the monster below. The shot where Barry fits both in I thought was a good camera effect and it set up the cliffhanger rather well. This is a good episode as it sets up a new character but doesn’t make it obvious. I also like the small cast as it gives the characters more on screen time and even though this is the first of two episodes, it still feels like they are taking their time in telling this story. This episode is about setting up the mystery and the menace of Kaquillion and its done very well.

The final part of this all too brief adventure which introduces Maureen O’Brien to the Doctor Who world resumed with the Doctor and Ian about to be a late lunch for a monster that doesn’t look to dissimilar to the slither from Dalek Invasion of Earth. The way that Ian gets around the sharp knifes is quite clever. The story moves back to Vicki, Barbara and Bennett where Bennett continues the pretence that Ian and the Doctor are dead. When Barbara comes up with a plan to surprise Koquillion the look on Bennett’s face is great.

Barbara does a very bad thing in one scene where she shoots the monster after she thinks that Vicki is in danger. Vicki is angry and doesn’t appreciate what Barbara thought was a good deed. It’s a typically Barbara thing to do to instinctively try and do whatever she can to help someone else. However on this occasion she read the situation wrong and killed something that wasn’t going to cause harm. The first encounter between the Doctor and Vicki is a bit more grandfather/granddaughter than we had with the Doctor and Susan. He talks down to her far more than he ever did with Susan. It’s a worrying moment when this happens because this is pretty much why Carole Ann Ford left the show.

The story starts to take shape when the truth starts to emerge when the Doctor tries to speak to Bennett. When he finally gets in he discovers a room with audio equipment and also a trapdoor. Its simple but effective and its low-tech enough to believe that it could fool Vicki and not make her look like an idiot. There’s a funny scene where Vicki works out that Ian and Barbara are 550 years old. It’s funny because of the reaction of Ian and Barbara who feel old all of a sudden.

The Doctor is the one that works things out and slowly starts to put things together. This is William Hartnell’s best episode for a while as he becomes the smart one of the group The scene where the Doctor meets Koquillion is a great scene and its lit well and the atmosphere make it’s the best scene of the two episodes. It helps that its filmed in Black and White and not colour as I always think that monochrome adds so much to a story. The truth about Bennett is that he is a criminal that killed the crew and tried to blame it on the locals. It’s a good enough story and it works in the context of this story. In the fight that they have the Doctor is quite energetic and it’s the quickest I think we have seen him move for sometime. The battle end when two of the locals come out and force Bennett off the cliff. Quite why they waited until this point to come out of hiding is never made clear.

With her parents and Bennett dead, it’s the perfect opportunity for Vicki to join the crew. It’s nice how the Doctor, Ian and Barbara all come up with the same idea and it shows what a stronger team they are. The final shot on Dido is of the two Dido people smashing up the equipment. Not really getting that this wont really stop the rescue ship from coming.

The cliffhanger is literally a cliffhanger with the TARDIS materialising on the edge of a cliff and falling. It was a really good way to end the episode because it must have raised questions in peoples mind about what was going to happen. As an episode it was good because it did exactly what it needed to do. It solved the mystery of what was going on and found a constructive way of introducing Vicki As a story its just the right length and doesn’t get bogged down in trying to put padding into it and there are just the right number of characters in it to make it work. I thought that it was a good introduction for Vicki and a good story which isn’t that hard to believe considering its written by David Whittaker.

Cold Blood (2010)

The second two parter of this series sees the Doctor try and prevent a war between the Silurians and the Humans. Oh and by the way regardless of the several names that they seemed to have for me as a long term fan I will always call them Silurians. The problem with bringing back monsters from the past is that there is a fine balance to find between pandering to older fans and not alienating newer fans who probably wont have watched ‘The Silurians’ and ‘Warriors of the Deep’. The balance was found when the Doctor pointed out that he had met their kind before but the human wiped them out. Explaining the end of ‘The Silurians’ where the Brigadier wiped them out. There was a moment where they were

The most obvious thing from the previous episode is that either Rory, Tony or Ambrose would kill Alaya. The way that it happened was quite dramatic and I thought that whilst Ambrose probably didn’t intend to actually harm Alaya she was quite glad when she did. There was the thought in my head where I thought that this was going to be the catalyst to start a war between the Silurians and the humans. What was quite a refreshing change is that it didn’t spark this war but it came mighty close and that was entertaining.

Matt Smith and Karen Gillan were much stronger in this episode than the last. Gillan in particular was on a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. I thought that she played the bit where she forgot about Rory seemed quite strange. I’m so use to her being besotted with Rory that to just blank him out was quite odd. I never thought I would say this but I was quite sad to see the character of Rory go. To be honest in the Eleventh Hour I found him irritating but since he came to travel in the TARDIS he has been one of the revelations of this story. Stephen Moore (Malohkeh) and Richard Hope (Eldane) were two names/voices that I recognised and their characters were likeable and very strong characters. There was the brief thought that I had was that he was going to join Restac and be involved in the war.

There were quite a lot of things I didn’t like in this story. I’m not totally sold on the look of the Silurians. I thought the mask with the massive black eyes were quite sinister but they were too far removed from the classic version. Yet again Steven Moffatt has an opportunity to update a classic monster (like the Daleks) and he has messed it up. They looked too human for my liking. I didn’t quite understand what the whole point of seeing Rory and Amy on the other side. Also where were the other villagers. Apart from the characters that we saw in this story there wasn’t a single human wandering around or getting involved asking why it was going dark in the middle of the day.

The ‘crack in the wall’ story arc returned in this story. The Doctor quite bravely puts his hand in the crack and one of the last shots was what the Doctor had pulled out of the crack and it was the top of the ‘call police’ sign on the TARDIS door. I just went NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO you cant leave it there. So this story whilst it wasn’t perfect and there were some fundamental flaws with this story (Chibnall should stick to doing Law and Order UK) at the end of the day the story was a welcome return for the Silurians but it will be remembered for the sad death of Rory.

Castrovalva (1982)

In many ways, Castrovalva and Peter Davison were the classic series’ answer to Matt Smith and ‘The Eleventh Hour’. Peter Davison came straight after the phenomenally popular Tom Baker and Matt Smith came after the equally (if not more so) popular David Tennant. This story is the third part in the unofficial but blatant trilogy starting with ‘The Keeper of Traken’ and ‘Logopolis’. This was also the first time that Doctor Who had moved away from its traditional Saturday night slot. There would also be two episodes a week as opposed to 1 so it the whole series would be half of what it is normally.

Most of the first two episodes are set in the TARDIS which is always something that I approve of. The reasons behind are two fold. Firstly we get to find different rooms that we’ve never been made aware of. Secondly it provides a claustrophobic atmosphere. The TARDIS is usually a place of safety and the vehicle where the Doctor and his companions are travelling to get to a new world. Not this time. We get to see a new room (The Zero Room) for the first and last time. We are also treated to learning that’s their a information databank. It’s quite hard to fully describe Peter Davison’s Doctor. His impressions were very good. I thought his William Hartnell was an unexpected comedy moment. It was interesting that this wasn’t the first story that Davison recorded but actually the fourth. This shows as a fresh Davison probably would have gone overboard and the time to film other stories enabled Davison to find his Doctor. Anthony Ainley is very good in this story, even playing Portreeve he managed to give an entertaining performance.

The story is about the Doctor being taken to Castrovalva where he can relax and get over his regeneration. However the Master is trying to kill the Doctor and the TARDIS crew can plunging the TARDIS to the beginning of the universe where the Big Bang took place. The Master is using Adric (I shake my fist at him) to see what is going on and programme the TARDIS. As the Doctor gets Nyssa and Tegan to jettison rooms of the TARDIS, the TARDIS lands on Castrovalva I found myself being totally engrossed with the surroundings. The story seemed to stop for a short time and that meant that we could marvel at some of the shots Fiona Cumming did. Then the story starts to break apart. We meet the inhabitants and to be harsh they look stupid and as the story progresses we discover they really are stupid. Once the action moves away from the TARDIS and more into Castrovalva I started to get a little tired of it. There was an awful lot of walking around and watching Mergrave being a nice but ultimately lukewarm character which is a shame because I like Michael Sheard partly based on his performance in ‘Remembrance of the Daleks’. The character of Portreeve was so blatantly the Master that it was embarrassing that no one else could tell that it was him, I even noticed the first time I saw it and I’m not normally one to notice that thing first time around. Of the three companions its Adric that has the best story. It’s the first time that I didn’t find him totally annoying even though the bits with the Master came quite close. Matthew Waterhouse is helped with the stupid pyjama outfit but this was his best performance before ‘Earthshock’. Nyssa and Tegan’s relationship seems to blossom despite this being only their second story together. They work together in the TARDIS and dragging the Doctor’s zero cabinet. It’s a credit to Janet Fielding and Sarah Sutton who aren’t annoying and manage to fight for their performances to stand out in a sea of different characters.

Castrovalva isn’t quite a great story but neither is it a terrible one. Christopher H Bidmead isn’t my favourite writer partly because he seems determined to through sci-fi down our throats as quickly as possible. The first half of the story set in the TARDIS is very tense and dramatic but then the stuff on Castrovalva is just a little bit dull. Its when the story gets on Castrovalva that all the techno-babble gets thrust on screen.

An Unearthly Child (1963)

EPISODE 1 – AN UNEARTHLY CHILD
Originally Broadcast on BBC – Saturday 23 November 1963

Very atmospheric opening. Foggy with the eerie theme tune helping to create a wonderful effect. The camera in a seemingly following forcing its way into the Junkyard just like Barbara and Ian are about to, thought it was a nice metaphor. It feels weird that the story starts off in ‘contemporary’ London, Doctor Who would obviously return to Earth in the modern day but considering its mostly a non-earth series it has a different feel to the rest of the story. Ian and Barbara’s introduction seems like two natural teachers with a friendship. It’s very low key.

In their first scene it is Barbara who is the driving force into discovering the mystery about Susan. In the scene where Ian and Barbara are in the car it’s interesting how Barbara is the one that can sense there is something odd about the area. Susan’s introduction is really good. The way that she says that she likes walking through the fog as it’s mysterious. There is a moment when Susan is listening to John Smith and the Common Men. It’s odd how the John Smith gag seems to come from The Wheel in Space but this is the first mention of John Smith so this episode is the birth of the John Smith joke but it would be four years before it became part of the character. I thought the French Revolution reference was quite fortuitous as it would form the final story of this opening series.

The scenes where Ian and Barbara talk about their encounters with her are quite rare for the show as flashbacks don’t form part of the narrative until the new series and there good as we only see Susan but only hear Ian and Barbara so its as if we are the ones confronting Susan. Hartnell’s first appearance comes at the 11 minute mark which shows that this is really Ian and Barbara’s episode. Hartnell isn’t the warm and grandfather like figure that we know he becomes. In many respects he is the anti-grandfather figure. When they are in the TARDIS, he is very reluctant to explain himself to Ian and Barbara and won’t let them leave fearing that they will tell people.

Ian and Barbara’s first encounter in the TARDIS control room is our first encounter and it’s a superb introduction.  The console room might not have the grand scale that the new series console does but it still an impressive room. They are trying to use human logic to what they are experiencing and it’s a futile venture.  After Barbara leading the curiosity, its Ian who now leads the mission to try and understand where they are. Ian’s inability to try and understand what’s going on is fun to watch. Barbara still thinks its some sort of trick and she seems to be dealing with it a lot more than Ian.

After a superb start for Susan, she quickly resorts to being the child of the group. When she wants to leave the Doctor and live her life on earth. She seems to throw a mini-tantrum when they says this and its perhaps the only time (apart from Inside the Spaceship) that she shrugs off the child image and acts like an alien.  The cast do some fine wobbling acting when the TARDIS ‘takes off’. The panning out shot of London along with the ‘time vortex’ from the title sequence is as best an attempt to create the impression to the viewer that the TARDIS isn’t in a junkyard in November 1963.

The Cliffhanger is absolutely brilliant. A shadow appearing out of shot is one of my favourite cliffhangers in Doctor Who. This was an wonderful episode. It started off very well and continued to maintain my interest. Even though there are other people in the episode they don’t have an impact on the story and so its one of the rare occasions in Doctor Who where it’s just the main cast that are involved and it’s a clever move which helps establish that this isn’t your typical drama.

EPISODE 2 – THE CAVE OF SKULLS
Originally Broadcast on BBC – Saturday 30 November 1963

After the introduction episode we get to the main part of the story and our first introduction into a different world. We find out what the shadowy figure was from the cliffhanger. It’s a rather gormless looking individual. It’s a  case of the mind perhaps creating a more impressive answer than what we could possibly have expected. It would perhaps have been better to have a look in the TARDIS before we get to meet the clan. The first voices we hear in this episode are from the clan. It’s nearly 3 ½ minutes before we get back to the TARDIS and in that scene we get to basically understand what the next three episodes will be about. When we go back to the TARDIS there is a dramatic near four minute scene where Ian and the Doctor square up to discover the finer points of science. Despite what must have been a turbulent journey, Ian is still reluctant to accept what’s going on.

A nice scene in the TARDIS takes place concerning the name of the Doctor. Doctor Foreman is the name mistakenly given by Barbara as to the identity of Susan’s grandfather. With Ian being the first to question just what the Doctor’s real name is (a question still being asked 50 years on).When we leave the TARDIS we learn another thing about the show and that’s the TARDIS is suppose to change shape and blend in with its surroundings. It’s also rather odd to see the Doctor actually doing some scientific research into the surroundings. Normally the episode starts and the Doctor and crew are off and away so its nice to see the Doctor doing some research.

The central performances are noticeably different from the first episode. William Hartnell plays the Doctor really well in this episode as the Doctor is less frosty in this episode despite his stand-off with Ian. William Russell is putting a good performance. I like how confident Ian thinks he is that the Doctor is a charlatan. Even after stepping out of the TARDIS he can’t quite believe what he’s seeing. This continuous refusal to believe what’s in front of him would normally be quite annoying but with Russell its good. Carole Ann Ford does the best that she can but Susan’s still hysterical. She’s degraded quickly. Barbara is playing the mother figure, it’s quite surprising just how quickly these two characters have been bedded down but I still think that Jacqueline Hill is a very good actress and Barbara is the stronger written character out of the two. The TARDIS crew that we have now do the finest ‘pretending to be frozen in a baking hot studio’ acting I think I’ve ever seen

The problems with this story become evident in this episode. The cave storyline is rather pedestrian and dull compared to the more interesting storyline with the Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara. Essentially it’s a power struggle with the leader being the one who can make fire. The only character that is of any interest is Old Mother. Old Mother is clearly someone who revels from Za not being able to make fire. Eileen Way is clearly having fun despite looking haggard and grim.

The only time that the cave clan become interesting is when the Doctor gets bought in a then it leads to quite a dramatic rescue by Ian, Barbara and Susan with an even better moment where the Doctor tries to save Ian’s life. But it’s a futile attempt as it leads them to the first prison cell scene of Doctor Who.  Considering the episode is called ‘The Cave of Skulls’ it quite bizarre then that its 23 minutes before the story moves into the cave. The cliffhanger is quite good as at the time it must have been quite grim because the camera focuses on a skull with a hole in it and the idea that you would have to wait a whole week to see whether your new favourite characters would have a hole in their head after just three weeks is quite nice.

The Cave of Skulls isn’t quite as good as An Unearthly Child but there are still some elements that are entertaining.

EPISODE 3 – THE FOREST OF FEAR
Originally Broadcast on BBC – Saturday 7 December 1963

The Doctor opens the episode apologising for getting them trapped. It’s probably the nicest that the Doctor would be for a while. As he drastically changes throughout the episode. The story in this episode sees the TARDIS crew trying to desperately escape from the cave and get back to the TARDIS however as the power struggle in the tribe gets worse and worse it heightens up the tension for the Doctor and co. There is a wonderful quote in the early part of this episode “Fear makes companions of us all” is a wonderful quote from the Doctor.

It’s not been mentioned before but the set designs are quite good. It’s not really evident that it’s been filmed in a studio. The cave sets in particular are well designed and have a claustrophobic feel to them which is I know what you would want from a cave but it’s lit quite badly and that helps to create the right impression.

Ian’s role as the action man of the group is established in part three as he is the one who’s hopes of setting them free rely upon. He becomes the one who is quite resourceful and is always trying to come up with ways of helping someone. Russell has been a strong presence in these episodes whether its having the argument with the Doctor in the previous episode or being resourceful.  It’s Barbara’s turn to be the hysterical one. After two episodes of being the strong one taking things in her stride, she then becomes the one that just screams and cries during the course of the episode. Her decision to go and help Hur after Za has been attacked might seem like a stupid thing to do but it recovers Barbara from being the hysterical one and establishes the character as a caring person.

The Old Woman doesn’t want the Doctor to make fire. It’s a curious request considering how much everyone else wants it. It’s a shame when she dies cause I thought that she was a really good character and well played. Eileen Way has been one of the gems of this story but I think that her usefulness has run its course but its still a shame when a good character gets written out. Za and Hur are really good in this as Za’s desperation intensifies and Hur is doing everything she can to help him. Za does raise a good point about why Hur did nothing when Old Mother took Za’s rock. Apart from that she is really good and even Za is quite good.

The middle section of the episode is the highlight of the episode because it’s a good chase sequence with Za and Hur chasing Ian, Barbara, Susan and the Doctor. It’s halted when Hur gets attacked by something which we don’t see (presumably a tiger or a lion). The moment when the Doctor picks up a rock and is clearly going to kill Hur is something that you wouldn’t associate with the character. It shows the darker side of the character and its quite a surprising thing because he of course would play the grand father figure quite well in the rest of his time on the show and he continues to be the anti-grandfather. Hartnell’s performance is very good  and is the best out of the regular characters.

The cliffhanger was quite good. Just when we think that the Doctor and the rest have made it back to the TARDIS then they encounter some of the tribe who come out of the darkness its quite well done and then when Ian tells the other to go back they face more trouble in the form of Kal. The look on his face is very serious as his power in the tribe grows. I thought that this was a much improved episode on Cave of Skulls. For one, the title actually has some meaning here as most of the story takes place in the forest and there is a certain amount of fear. The final episode is set up nicely by what goes on in this episode.

EPISODE 4 – THE FIREMAKER
Originally Broadcast on BBC – Saturday 14 December 1963

The final part of this introduction to Doctor Who after nearly getting into the TARDIS, the crew are captured and taken back to the cave. When they do get back to the cave there is a nice bit of teamwork between the Doctor and Ian, it’s made even nice when Ian makes sure Za knows that the Doctor is the leader. The first eight or nine minutes bumble along and there is nothing really exciting that grabs the attention but then at nine minute mark the power struggle takes centre stage. It’s been bubbling along for the previous two episodes but here it intensifies when fire has been made. We have our first big action sequence and it doesn’t involve any of the regular crew. It’s between Za and Kal It’s quite a violent  encounter  buts its well worked out.  The reactions from the regulars help make that scene even more graphic.

There is a last minute plot device to crank up the tension when after Ian has made fire for Za, he refuses to let them go and the TARDIS crew are still trapped. However it’s a short lived imprisonment because they discover a way to get out. Susan is the one that works out how make the cavemen scared. It might have been Ian that worked out the finer details but its still Susan who starts the ball rolling. Considering how for the last two episodes she has been whining and acting like a kid but here that has all disappeared. The cavemen are pretty easy to scare and so it’s a plan that works well. It’s a wonderful image of the skulls being on fire, it’s quite a well realised image that is helped because its black and white television.

The central performances are all consistently good for the first time since the first episode. The Doctor is less grumpy and frosty than he has been and William Hartnell performs very well. It’s quite good how he has become more dishevelled as the story has progressed and has mellowed since the first episode. Carole Ann Ford has had a good episode, not only does she come up with the idea but she doesn’t go hysterical and is good to watch. Jacqueline Hill puts in a good performance after her brief moment of hysterics she is the strong figure that we know she can be and Hill can play that well. William Russell’s most significant contribution to the story is when Ian makes fire. It’s not to say that he wasn’t very good but I don’t it was his finest episode. In the supporting cast Alethea Charlton has become the star of the story with her stunning performance in the past three episodes. She started off quietly but soon became an important member of the story and she was strong until the very end.

Visually the story has been very good and continues here. The cave scenes have been the heart of the story and it was made very well. The scene where the Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan are running back to the TARDIS and being chased is done in a rather odd way. Just static shots of each of the regulars with branches hitting them in the faces. I know that it was a means to an end because they probably didn’t have the space to do a running scene but it just doesn’t sit as well as the rest of the story.

It’s good how when the TARDIS takes off, Barbara and Ian think/hope that the Doctor will take them back to 1963 but it’s not going to be that simple. The sense of desperation from Ian and Barbara shows that a trip back in time isn’t going to make them want to go travelling with the Doctor which is what happens pretty much every time that someone new joins the show. When they do land the world that they have landed on doesn’t look like Earth and the cliffhanger ends with the radiation detector hitting danger just after Susan has checked it when it was normal.

As an episode it’s half a good episode but spends an awful long time to get into gear. When it does though its really good and the second half is what saves this episode. As a story, I had always thought that it was one quarter very good and three quarters ok. However having watched them over four days I must say that its half a good story and half ok.  The first and third episodes are enjoyable and the second and final episode sort of let the side down but it definelty a good start to the journey of the Doctor.

The Mind Robber (1968)

The Mind Robber is a strange story in more ways than one. It uses a lot of characters from stories and fables and what appears to be normal isn’t. The story was actually only meant to be four episodes however due to problems with the previous story ‘The Dominators’ that story was made one episode shorter and a new Episode 1 was required. However with no money for extra sets or characters it was just the main cast, the TARDIS console set and a white cyclorama that was used.

I like episodes that are just set in the TARDIS. It gives a claustrophobic feeling that is very refreshing. That’s one of the reasons why I love ‘Inside the Spaceship’ so much. Like that story there is an unseen threat to the TARDIS crew which sees Jamie seeing his home town in Scotland and Zoe’s home town in some space-age town. Both wanted to get out of the TARDIS and they soon realise that it’s a trick. Due to the fact that there are only the three characters it means there’s a lot more time for them to interact and this is intriguing to me.

This story features the Master but not the one that we all know and love. He turns out to be controlling the controller but all we see of it is a big ball with some cobwebs in it. The Master was bought to the Land of Fiction though he doesn’t class himself as a prisoner. He loves writing but is wired to a machine and it is the machine that wants the Doctor to replace the Master due his age. The Master starts off as a nice bumbling author who is as sweet as pie but when the Doctor refuses to take over from him he shows his nastier side. The plan is that the Master/Controller is going to take all the people on Earth and use their imaginations for his purpose. With the Earth empty, the Master can create his own world with his own characters. As plans go its quite out there. But then what in Doctor Who isn’t.

There’s a nice battle of words between the Master and the Doctor with the threats and dangers getting more extreme each time. It was nice to begin with but ultimately got silly as time went on. I found the idea that there was that the actions of the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe were being read out via a machine and the Master.

This story is also notable for the fact that for one episode, Frazer Hines got replaced by Hamish Wilson due to Hines having Chicken Pox. To be Wilson he did a competent job, he wasn’t on par with Hines but then that like getting another actor to pretend to be Patrick Troughton. They’ll do a decent job but it just won’t work. When Hines was in it he was his usual likeable self. Wendy Padbury was also on good form but I did find it disconcerting that she kept screaming. For some reason I think that smart academic women like Zoe or Liz Shaw shouldn’t scream. It just doesn’t seem natural. Patrick Troughton was on usual good form and at this time of his run as the Doctor he was seemed to be getting slightly tired of these sorts of stories.

The main problem that there is with this story is that it’s just dull. There’s no immediate threat for the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe. It was quite late in the story before the Doctor meets the master. I think that this should have happened quite a lot earlier in the story. Also I found the actors playing some of the literature characters to be a bit below par. Especially Christine Pirie who played Princess Rapunzel. She seemed wooden to me and I didn’t care for the character. I also can’t understand why they bothered to bring in Karkus. The actor playing Karkus (Christopher Robbie) wasn’t a muscular as he should have been and the scene with Karkus battling Zoe was just embarrassing and shouldn’t have been committed to film. The only character that I thought worked was Gulliver as played by Bernard Horsfall who is always a reliable actor.

The Mind Robber isn’t a bad story just dull. Peter Ling did a credible job writing this story but just put too many characters in it. Worth a viewing but don’t expect too much from it.

Night's Black Agents (2010)

May is the month where Big Finish release two Companion Chronicles. Despite numerically this story is the latter I decided to listen to this one first. This is also the first Sixth Doctor Companion Chronicle with only the Eighth Doctor yet to have one. A fact that will be resolved in June 2010. Set immediately after City of Spires but recorded after Legend of the Cybermen, this story tells of the dreaded Kelpie. Night’s Black Agents is written by newcomer Marty Ross. As the Doctor and Jamie head back to the TARDIS they discover that the TARDIS has been taken and soon running from the Kelpie. They are rescued by Reverend Merodach who as it turns out is the Devil.

The story took a while to get going with the setting up the story and the introduction of Reverend Merodach but once all that was sorted the story really got interesting and the moment that the Reverend was revealed it became marvellous. I had an issue with the fact when the Reverend/Devil said he wanted the TARDIS because he had seen the future and wanted to leave to try his luck on another world. Come again? How rubbish is it when the Devil (or even someone pretending to be the Devil) gets scared by the future of Earth and wants to get out before it gets difficult.

Frazer Hines was brilliant in this story. He has a reputation for being able to do an outstanding Patrick Troughton impression but he also did a good impression of Colin Baker. Not on par with Troughton but I did get what he was trying to do. However Hines was out performed by Hugh Ross who’s voice was created for radio. He played the Reverend with an elegant style and before his revelation gave some superb lines aimed at trying to show the Doctor how he was in the wrong. When he became the Devil his voice became even more powerful and part of that was due to Howard Carter who modified the voice to create the right impression. Lisa Bowerman has become effectively the chief director of the Companion Chronicles and has done another great job and moved the story along at quite a steady pace.

Night’s Black Agent is a very good Companion Chronicle story. I wish I had listened to this before Wreck of the Titan because I think that the whole Sixth Doctor/Jamie story arc would have been that bit more special but we learn from our mistakes (hopefully).

The Enemy Within (a.k.a The TV Movie) (1996)

He’s Back...and it’s about time! Well that’s the tag line that the continuity announcer gave when Doctor Who returned onto BBC television since December 1989. This was the first Doctor Who story that I had watched since I became a fan back in 1988 after seeing an episode of Remembrance of the Daleks. This TV Movie was a co-production between Universal, the BBC and FOX and was an attempt at a back door pilot to hopefully be made into a full series. An interesting stat according to Wikipedia states that this episode of Doctor Who cost close to £3.5 million or $5 million US. In was recently commented on in one of the DVD’s that they thought it was a mistake for them to bring back Sylvester McCoy only to kill him off 10 minutes into the story. I disagree. I think it was a nice piece of continuity and it was a mistake that they didn’t bring McGann back to regenerate into Christopher Eccleston. Also for the record, I think calling this story just ‘The TV Movie’ is a bit weird. From now on I’m going to call it the name that keeps getting banded about – The Enemy Within.

I quite liked the opening bit which explained that the Master had been exterminated by the Daleks. Quite why they bothered to use the Daleks when you only hear their voices is beyond me. The story sees the seventh Doctor regenerate into the eighth and a race against time to stop the Master from using the Eye of Harmony to destroy the Earth. There are many questions that remained unanswered in this story such as where and how long ago did Ace depart to? Also when did the Doctor become so in love with Gothic furniture and statues? The opening few shots have loads of bits and pieces.

There were many things that I liked about this story was that for the first time in the history of Doctor Who it looked like some money had been spent on it. The interior and console of the TARDIS looked beautiful and far superior to anything that is seen even in the new series. I also thought that Paul McGann was a very good Doctor. At the time I wasn’t aware of anything he had been in and at 13 years old at the time all I knew him as was the next Doctor. I thought that McGann gave a very credible performance and with some of the action sequences reminded me of Jon Pertwee’s Doctor. Pertwee sadly died shortly before transmission. Daphne Ashbrook was also very good in this story as Dr Grace Holloway. To be honest she did grate on me at first but after the scene with her and Chang Lee. Also I had the same reaction to this character played by Yee Jee Tso. I thought the final scene with everyone in the Eye of Harmony room was probably the best of the entire piece. All the character being killed and chained up left right and centre along with the Master taking all of the Doctor’s memories was a real highlight.

There were flaws with this production. It pains me to say this but Julia Roberts’ brother Eric was very poor in this. He camped the scene in the TARDIS where he says “I always dress for the occasion”. Not even John Nathan Turner would have allowed that. He wasn’t a total disaster but neither was he anything like Anthony Ainley and worlds apart from Roger Delgado. Another problem was the plot was a little bit basic. I know that it’s a pilot and had a series been cast then there would have been better stories planned out but for most of the story it was the Doctor and Grace chasing the Master and Chang Lee around San Francisco on the eve of the Millennium.

In one way it’s a shame that FOX never made a series out of it because it would have been nice to see what McGann’s Doctor would have been like. To be fair we now know what it would have been like thanks to Big Finish who have given McGann well over 30 adventures over the last near ten years. However when watching this TV Movie I am left wondering WHAT IF?? That said on the other hand I’m glad they didn’t because now we have a TV series of Doctor Who that’s made by the BBC and made in Britain where it wont be watered down and made to be like Jack Bauer with a Sonic Screwdriver. Oh it was good that they bought the screwdriver back, long overdue!

At the end of the story I thought it was a good story. Brilliant production values and even after 14 years it stands us really well. Matthew Jacobs has written a good script with ok characters but largely good solid ones and Geoffrey Sax has directed a nicely paced adventure. The only Doctor Who story of the 1990’s and the last to be made in the 20th Century was a good piece of drama and at 85 minutes long this story is something that should be viewed by every new Doctor Who fan.

The Wreck of the Titan (2010)

2010 TOMS TARDIS AWARD WINNER

• Best Main Range Story
• Best Writer (Barnaby Edwards)
• Best Director (Barnaby Edwards)
• Best Cover Design (Simon Holub)
• Best Music/Sound Design (Howard Carter)
• Best Guest Star (Alexander Siddig as The Captain)

After the ‘interesting’ opening story for the Sixth Doctor and Jamie, we are treated to a truly great adventure. This story is written and directed by Barnaby Edwards who gave us ‘Dr Who and the Pirates’ (2003) and also ‘The Bride of Peladon’ (2008). This story is set on the Titanic the infamous ship that sank nearly 100 years ago. Or is it? The one thing that this story makes quite clear from pretty much the beginning is don’t take everything at face value.

The story starts off on the Titanic where the Doctor and Jamie think their on the Mary Rose in 1936. They soon meet the posh (but probably dim) Tess and Teddy. The ship then turns out to be the Titan. Now here’s where my literature knowledge shows itself. I wasn’t aware there was a novella called The Wreck of the Titan. For those that did probably clicked what was going on from that point. The Wreck of the Titan is a book that pretty much predicts the sink of the Titanic. Which is quite a chilling thing to say considering the Titan was written about 14 years before the Titanic sank and in the Titan book it sank in April and in the North Atlantic (both points are true of the Titanic). When the Titanic turns into the Titan, Tess and Teddy are replaced with Myra and John who are both American socialites. But when the Titan sinks the story moves onto the Nautilus which is featured in the novel 20,000 Leagues under the Sea by Jules Verne. The story then tries to survive the attack from squids who the Captain and his crew are trying to milk for the black water that was mentioned in City of Spires.

The original theory that the Doctor came up with as to why the Titanic turned into the Titan and then the appearance of the Nautilus was that they were in some sort of computer game and their involvement in the game led to the game trying to jump to another level in order to fix the problem. This was a nice and very clever idea but it was bettered by the real explanation. They weren’t in a computer game but in the Land of Fiction where they had been in the 1968 TV adventure ‘The Mind Robber’. The cliffhanger saw the robots that appeared in that story approach the Doctor and Jamie. What a wonderful way of ending it.

Despite a lot of going on there are quite a small number of characters. Obviously Colin Baker is on usual fine form. I honestly cant remember when he gave a dud effort in a Big Finish play. Frazer Hines was also good but the character of Jamie was much better in this story. He seemed more like the Jamie that we all know and love and Barnaby got a good handle of him and his relationship with the Doctor bang on. Miranda Raison is perhaps one of the biggest names that Big Finish have cast in one of their dramas. She previously appeared in the BBC show Spooks and also appeared alongside David Tennant’s Doctor in Evolution of the Daleks & Daleks in Manhattan. As Tess she was very good, she was sweet and made the character a gentle and caring one. However whilst she was just as good as Myra I did find the accent annoying. It was the same one that she did in the Dalek episodes and it continues the ongoing tradition of doing annoying American accents. Matt Addis was very good as both Teddy and John. It was whilst he was John that he really came into his own and in the scenes where John was with the Doctor on the iceberg that I found the character to be a strong and dependable one. Alexander Siddig was another big name like Raison, having appeared in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. I wasn’t totally keen on his character because I just didn’t really warm to the character of the Captain.

When the story finished I found myself liking this story but not totally sure as tow why. I think that whilst it was mysterious for large parts of the story it wasn’t too confusing as for me to stop caring. The reason behind what was going on was clever and not to ‘out there’ and all the characters were well written and Barnaby Edwards has done another fine script which has led to a potentially outstanding Cyberman story.

The Hungry Earth (2010)

After all the drama with the Dreamlord in the previous story its time that Doctor Who did best (or new Who anyway) and that was bring back a monster that appeared during the ‘classic’ era. The Silurians for those who don’t know first appeared 40 years ago in ‘Dr Who and the Silurians’ (1970) with Jon Pertwee in only his second story. They wouldn’t appear until ‘Warriors of the Deep’ (1984). That story wasn’t as good because they had to share screen time with the Sea Devils.

The plot takes a bit from Inferno where the Doctor arrives and finds humans are burying into the earth. There is also a bit taken from the Daemons where the town is cut off by an invisible dome. The Doctor and Amy meet Dr Nasreen Chaudhry (played by Meera Syal) and Tony Mack (played by Robert Pugh) who are running this drilling operation in a welsh village (like The Green Death) called Cwmtaff in 2020. Another nod to the Green Death was when Tony showed that when he got attacked by Alaya his veins and skinned started to turn green like they do when the maggots attacked people in the 1973 adventure. The Silurians are well imagined in this episode. They are given more human characteristics than before which makes their threat seem more real. The mask that Alaya wears is pretty scary and probably should have worn that for more of the story. I thought the cliffhanger like The Time of Angels was a bit bizarre. It just seemed to come out of nowhere, there was no sense of danger for the Doctor which is a good thing cause you know he’s going to be around for the next five episodes so there’s not point putting him in danger. The real cliffhanger for me came with the Doctor Silurian coming at Amy with the intention of opening her up. It’ll be interesting to see how that gets resolved.

Matt Smith was very good in his first encounter with a classic monster that wasn’t a Dalek or a Cyberman (which will come later). I wouldn’t say this was his best performance but it was still a good outing for him. Karen Gillan didn’t really seem to have much to do. Apart from arrive with the Doctor and Rory and then being sucked into the ground and then the ending she didn’t really do much. This will presumably be resolved later on in the story. Arthur Darvil puts in another good performance as caring but dopey Rory. Pretending to be a policeman because of a misunderstanding was quite comical.

Of the guest stars obviously Meera Syal is quite a big name because of her role in the Kumars at Number 42 and Goodness Gracious Me. She is married to Sanjeev Bashkar who appeared in the Paul McGann audio adventure The Eight Truths/Worldwide Web in 2009. Her character was the usual sceptical at the beginning and then holy trustworthy at the end. Her reaction to the inside of the TARDIS was a refreshing change. Robert Pugh’s performance as Tony Mack was very good as well. He had previously appeared in Torchwood as Jonah but this was a much more natural performance. Together they were like a married couple even if they weren’t.

As an episode it’s a good one. The Silurians involvement is slowly bought into the story and the Doctor is revelling in what’s going on.

The Twin Dilemma (1984)

The Twin Dilemma is one of my least favourite stories and it was voted the 200th Best Story in the DWM Mighty 200 poll. It’s the opening story for Colin Baker’s Doctor and whilst many will remember this story for the Doctor trying to strangle Peri in the first episode. It was an unusual move to put Baker’s first story at the end of season 21. Normally a new Doctor opens a season but for some reason John Nathan-Turner decided to give Colin Baker’s Doctor the final slot in Season 21 instead of the opening of Season 22. It’s strange to say that Peter Davison’s outfit actually suits Colin Baker more.

The Doctor that we see at in Episode 1 is a world away from Peter Davison’s Doctor as well as the Sixth Doctor we hear in Big Finish plays. His mood swings in the first episode ventured on pantomime villain. His over reaction to trying to kill Peri and then deciding he should become a hermit and Peri is his disciple. His anger at Peri for potentially letting another human die was quite uncomfortable to watch. Its one thing to do it in a joking manner but the way that Baker delivered this line was something different. Whilst most of the first episode is about the new Doctor and Peri there is a B plot which starts. It involves twins Romulus and Remus (like the twins who founded Rome) who are taken from their home after they were abandoned by their dopey father. The kidnapper in question if Edgeworth who it later turns out is a friend of the Doctor or at least an earlier incarnation. The idea that a friend of the Doctor’s has turned bad and is working for the enemy leads to the usual ending where that person looses his/her life and the Doctor then feels sadness and pity. I did like the character of Edgeworth. I found the character as played by Maurice Denham to be a likeable character even when he was pretending to be bad and harsh to Romulus and Remus.

There was quite a lot about this story that really bugged me. First of all were the characters. Apart from the Doctor, Peri and Edgeworth the rest were irritating and I wanted them off the screen straight away. The only thing Peri did wrong was at the end of Episode 2. What was that face Peri was trying to do? A ferret? Unfortunately that puzzling question totally robbed that cliffhanger of any emotion. It certainly wasn’t her trying to cry (I hope). I also really didn’t like the character of Hugo Lang (played by Kevin McNally). I found him smug and uninteresting. The way he pretended to be hard and tough was more of a joke than anything else. Romulus and Remus were horribly written. The two actors (Gavin and Andrew Conrad) were left with bland characters, horrible haircuts and totally inappropriate outfits. They didn’t come across as genius twin brothers but irritating smart arse brats. However the biggest and boldest problem with this story was Mestor. No one in their right mind can take the character of Mestor seriously. It looks like a giant slug has got drunk and it’s gone a bit funny around the eyes.

First episodes are rarely a good indication of what a Doctor will be like. It’s a good thing that his first full season was a lot better because this story is truly dreadful and it’s not surprising that it was Anthony Steven’s only contribution to Doctor Who. He created characters that were totally wrong for this story. A poor opening story for the Sixth Doctor.

Doctor Who and the Silurians (1970)

As the Silurians return to our screens after 26 years. I chose this chance to re-visit the very first time we met the Silurians. Only the second story of what I would call the greatest season of Doctor Who ever. This story was written by Malcolm Hulke who when a list of the greatest DW writers is made his name will be fighting for top spot with Robert Holmes.

Unusually for a Doctor Who series, all bar the first story are seven episodes long. This means that the writer has longer to spend developing characters, working out their motives and to like them or dislike them more than you ever could with a normal four part adventure. Episode 1 spends most of its time setting up Dr Lawrence and all the other personnel at the Nuclear Base. It’s the cliffhanger before we get any whiff of a story. All the characters are very strong and are well acted. I particularly liked Doctor Laurence (played by future Nyder Peter Miles). His slow but noticeable unhinging behaviour was an unexpected joy of his character. Dr Quinn (Fulton Mackay) was working with the Silurians in the hope for knowledge and power. Like most people who desire things that are above him he is disappointed and ultimately betrayed. His death is a shock and also quite sad as I thought his character was still a good one despite what he had done. Geoffrey Palmers (the captain in Voyage of the Damned and Masters in this story) was a character that was understated but no sooner had he arrived and I had grown use to him being there than he was killed off in quite spectacular fashion. An unexpected character that got my attention was Captain Hawkins played by none other than Paul ‘Blakes 7’ Darrow. His character for me went from being a normal captain to something that had potential to be quite sinister. Only one character in this story was a disappointment and that was Miss Dawson played by Thomasine Heiner. I liked her to begin with but once Dr Quinn was killed she just became irritating and he usefulness in this story stopped.

Credit has to be given to Malcolm Hulke that it’s the end of Episode 4 before we actually get to see what the Silurians look like. The revelation of it storming into Dr Quinn’s lounge where the Doctor was examining his dead body was well acted and directed. One thing I loved were the cave scenes. They were tremendously atmospheric and added to the drama. It was a powerful image where the caves where the Silurians lived were dark and dank conditions whereas the ‘superior’ humans live and work in bright well vented places. It’s probably an unintended attempt by Malcolm Hulke to show that Silurians are the bad guys and the humans are the good guys. One thing I didn’t like was the music. It was alright for a few episodes but by episode four it was just grating on me and distracted me at times from what was going on.

As mentioned I think that the fact there were seven episodes allowed the characters and the different plot points to grow and develop. Jon Pertwee and Caroline John have settled down and are working well together. The humour that Pertwee interjects at varying parts of this story show how his Doctor is not just a dandy daredevil. The Silurians is a classic in every sense of the word.

Rose (2005)

After a 16 year absence (not including the TV Movie). Doctor Who fans are treated to a full series, Back in September 2003, the BBC announced that Doctor Who would return. The series would feature 13 x 45 minute episodes as opposed to 26 x 25 minute. At the time I had only seen the TV Movie when it was first transmitted so this was a relatively new feeling that I had. Waiting for a new Doctor Who, not something a generation of Doctor Who fans had ever known.

Rose has a lot to do in just 45 minutes. It has to introduce the new Doctor, and the new companion as well as trying to tell a story and to a point it does that. The story is told from the point of view of the companion Rose. She is a 21st Century woman with a dead end job and a dopey boyfriend as well as an irritating single mother and they all live on a council estate in London. The story sees the return of the Autons who appeared in Jon Pertwee’s first story ‘Spearhead From Space’ and then the following years ‘Terror of the Autons’. Their involvement is pretty limited as the story is all about (and rightly so) about the Doctor and Rose.

Christopher Eccleston is very good as the Doctor. There is an intensity that there hasn’t been in a previous Doctor. The outfit is very suited to his Doctor and its very much of its time. Had Colin Baker or Tom Baker worn that outfit then perhaps it wouldn’t have worked but for Eccleston it does. Billie Piper is surprisingly good. She does the girl next door act very well and is rightly sceptical of the Doctor and what he is. The bit where she meets Clive in his shed was nice scene and showed that she was developing well. Her reaction to stepping inside the TARDIS was well done. The character of Rose is one that is like Ace but in the 21st Century. Noel Clarke (Mickey) and Camille Coduri (Jackie) are characters that seem only there for comedic effect and only for short periods of time and that’s why I wasn’t bothered by them so much.

There are problems with the story and to be honest their more to do with production than acting or plot. The first being the picture that Clive shows Rose with the Doctor at the Kennedy assassination. When a real piece of history is used in a TV drama its important to try and make it look genuine. Unfortunately this just looks dreadful. If they couldn’t make it look right then they shouldn’t have bothered to include it. Then there is the fake Mickey. Even a simple person could see that Mickey was different. Even when the Doctor had pulled his head off and they were in the TARDIS, Rose still acted like he was real. That said the show did manage to do what they weren’t able to in ‘Spearhead From Space’ and that is getting shop window dummies to smash a shop window. The very next day I went to work and walking past window dummies almost wishing that they would come to live but I’ve had that wish for years.

As an opening episode it did what is was suppose to. It established a show that hasn’t been on the air for nearly 20 years to a 21st Century audience that is use to The X Factor, Eastenders and Big Brother and shows what all long term fans have always known. That Doctor Who is a fine piece of drama with excellent actors, writers, designers and when the money is spent and more importantly in the right places then its possible to make a Sci-Fi show one of the most popular shows on TV. Eccleston and Piper are very good together and with Russell T Davies at the helm the show can go places.

The Trial of a Timelord: The Mysterious Planet (1986)

Whilst Doctor Who has been put on gardening leave for 18 months, the BBC relented to fan pressure but left a sting in the tale. It was clear that the BBC considered Doctor Who to be a joke and something that they didn’t particularly want on their channel. The ‘argument’ that was put against it was that it looked cheap and tired. Well my response would have been to put a lot of money into it and wait for the ratings to rise. Just look at Doctor Who since 2005, money put in the right places and the series reacts well. Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant would return to the series however there were substantial changes made. Instead of 26 x 25 minute episodes or 13 x 45 minute episodes we got just 14 x 25 minute episodes. The series is broken down into four stories but there is a main story arc very much like in the new series. The title is a sort of pun. The series itself was being put on trial and it was too close to call to say what the outcome would be. In the DWM Mighty 200 poll from September 2009, the entire Trial of a Timelord series was voted in 142nd place. This section was voted the least favourite out of the four which isn’t a surprise. The first four episodes are nicely called ‘The Mysterious Planet’. Written by Robert Holmes who is rightly considered the greatest Doctor Who writer of all time. It’s a shame that his final contribution to the series is such a weak one.

The opening shot is perhaps a false indication as to how the series is going to pan out. By the look of it the time that the show was off the air was enough to insert a new freshness that the series desperately needed. Alas within about 3 minutes the hope had gone away. The story starts with the Doctor being informed that he is being charged for “conduct unbecoming a Timelord”, essentially interfering in the affairs of other worlds which at this point he had been doing for 23 years. Here we are introduced to the Inquisitor (Oxo Ad Mum Lynda Bellingham) and the Valeyard (Michael Jayston).

The story that the Valeyard uses in this section of the story is set on the planet Ravolox was your pretty much standard story. The planet had primitives but there was an evil lord who was holed up living underground never venturing out because they believe that the surface had been destroyed by a fireball. However it turned out that the surface had recovered but it was actually Earth and had been moved from its original course. The characters are perhaps the most interesting thing about this story. There are some really nice characters such as Drathro. Ok it’s a robot but compared to most robots in the history of Doctor Who, I found Drathro to be quite entertaining. Merdeen is a character that starts of irritating but develops into a great character and by the end he’s one of the best characters. However not all work. Queen Katryca was what I would call a plot plugger and that means she was there to stop the plot flowing through before being pulled out and letting the story progress. It was a shame that they cast Joan Simms as like Beryl Reid four years earlier she was miscast. Like a normal Robert Holmes story there is an entertaining double act. In this story its Glitz (Tony Selby) and Dibber (Glen Murphy). Their harmless but quite ruthless. They originally think (well Glitz anyway) thinks that the Doctor and Peri are after the secrets. It’s worth watching jut for their scenes.

The story plods along at a reasonable pace but is stopped every time it starts to get interesting by returning to the courtroom. I can understand that it’s a trial but why they didn’t just have a three minute scene at the beginning and the end is beyond me. The cliffhangers were also appalling but that’s a claim I make at all the episodes (except for part thirteen). Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant’s friendship onscreen is better than it has ever been and this helps create a more family friendly feel to the series than there had been in the previous series. Their performances both together and separate were very good and shows that despite the extended time between series they were starting to settle down into the role.

Whilst the story itself isn’t the best that Robert Holmes ever did (partly because he was ill and died shortly after) it’s a lot better than his earlier contributions such as ‘The Krotons’ (1968/69) and ‘The Space Pirates’ (1969). As part of the series it’s the weakest of the main stories but as we will find out the series gets better as it progresses.

The Catalyst (2008)

When I first reviewed this story back in January 2008, I was rather unkind to it. This is how I described it then.

“The main problem with this story is that I had a bit of difficulty in understanding what the actual point of the story was. I was still wandering that at the end of the story which is never good. I thought that the story was going well for the first 15 or 20 minutes and then my interest seemed to disappear.

Overall this story was ok but nothing special”

With the pending release of The Time Vampire which makes it a Trilogy of adventures for Leela I decided to re-review this story. The story starts off with Leela who is also known as Prisoner 270-G. She is in the last moments of her life and she tells of a story. The reason why the Doctor and Leela are in their present adventure is that the Doctor is trying to teach Leela how to be more ladylike which is something that the Fourth Doctor seemed to spend most of his time with Leela doing. The Doctor and Leela are at the home of Lord Joshua Douglas and what looks like a bland dinner soon turns into darkness.

The house is hiding a secret. The Doctor has imprisoned an alien called H’mbrackle who is an officer of the Z’nai who are a noble race of warriors but he was the last of his race. By the end of the first episode two characters had been killed off and the thing that surprised me was how much of an effect it had because especially Jessica who was quite an annoying character but that made her death even more sad. H’mbrackle wanted the Doctor to help him restore the power of the Z’nai but the Doctor knew that he would have to sacrifice his being to do this and this is what led him to imprison H’mbrackle.

Louise Jameson is better when she’s telling the story than when she’s being Leela. I’m not a massive Leela fan but when as I was listening to this again I could understand why people liked her. I also thought that Timothy Watson was very good H’brackle and his voice was well suited to the tone of the character. Nigel Fairs has written a very good story that has just the right amount of drama and some very strong characters. He is also responsible for the music and sound design and that shows as everything is on sync to provide possibly the best story of the second series.

One of the problems I had when I originally reviewed the story was that it was difficult to follow. Well I cant really recall why I said this. From what I heard this story was quite straight forward. I must have been having an off day. I’m going to amend my the final line from my original review.

Overall this story is very good and is something special.

Amy's Choice (2010)

Amy’s Choice is curious story about surprise surprise… making a choice. Every series has a cheap episode, one where there are not a great deal of special effects and this is the one of those episodes. Written by Men Behaving Badly creator Simon Nye, we get a story which lead a lot of (stupid) people to think their would be jokes about male body parts and larger and women but for those who have an IQ higher than a Big Brother contestant we knew it wasn’t going to be anything like that.

The main villain in this story was the Dreamlord who is essentially the modern day Celestial Toymaker. He doesn’t actually have any power but is having fun causing chaos with the Doctor and his team. There are two worlds that are seen in this story. The first is in ‘Upper’ Leadworth where its inhabited with extras from ‘Last of the Summer Wine’ where Amy is pregnant and Rory has a stupid ponytail. The other is in the TARDIS where they are powerless and heading towards a cold planet where the cold is slowly starting to affect everyone in the TARDIS. The premise of the story is that they have to choose what is real and what is a dream.

I shouldn’t write this but the bit where Rory hits that old woman with a plank of wood and her falling over was quite funny. As was the old woman who fell off the roof onto the floor. Don’t know if that was intentional humour but I would find it funnier if it wasn’t. I thought the idea of the Dreamlord was a brilliant one, it was very sinister and the way that it kept jumping from Upper Leadworth to the TARDIS was very Celestial Toymaker-like. My only issue was the idea that the Dreamlord was the dark side of the Doctor’s personality. The only reason it started was that a few specks of Pysic pollen got into the Time Rota and heated up seems a little to me a bit weak but ultimately this is a minor foible to an other great story.

The three main cast were all on top form. Matt Smith was on brilliant form and his scenes with the Dreamlord were very enjoyable. His trying to work out what was going on was one of the highlights of the episode. The realisation that the Dreamlord was him and that reflection the Doctor saw at the end of the episode was absolutely brilliant. Arthur Darvill is slowly starting to become the surprise piece of casting of the series. In this story he was very good and I don’t know whether its because I’ve become detached from it or whether its because of Darvill and Gillan but I find myself not really bothered by it. Whereas Rose and Mickey and Martha and her Doctor boyfriend did bother me because it because it seemed to distract me from the story whereas in this one I found it be charming and likeable. I also found Karen Gillan to be brilliant, she spent most of the episode with a bump but the choice subconsciously seemed to be for her. To choose between travelling with the Doctor where there is a sense of danger and not quite sure whats going on or to go with Rory, Mr Reliable but actually quite dull. Gillan did a great job in trying to decide between the two but it was when Rory was killed in the Summer Wine version that her decision became clear with her wanting to be with Rory. But it was the Dreamlord that I was most impressed with. Toby Jones played the role brilliantly, he brought a genuine terror and sense that he could actually beat the Doctor. Especially the bit in the Butchers when he basically corners the Doctor with the old people.

Amy’s Choice always had the potential to be a very good episode and to me it lived up to that. The drama was always top notch and whilst the scenes in Upper Leadworth were enjoyable and dramatic it was the scenes in the TARDIS which made this episode. The clostrophobic elements of Inside the Spaceship and the Mind Robber were in evidence here and this was a great stand alone episode.

The Creature from the Pit (1979)

There are stories which are simply embarrassing and un-defendable to anyone who tries to mock Doctor Who. Wobbly sets are one thing but monsters shaped like a body part is something else. The main problem is essentially Tom Baker. The 1979 came at a time when the show started to go off the boil slightly and where it became a lot more comedic than perhaps it should have been. The story was ranked 184th in the Mighty 200 Poll from Doctor Who Magazine, perhaps just the right position.

Set on the planet of Chloris where the Doctor and Romana find themselves involved in the affairs of Lady Adrasta who rules the planet with fear and uses the mysterious creature that she keeps in the pit. The story spends four episodes just pottering about at a steady speed. The problem is obviously the creature. A lot is made of the creature at the beginning of the story so it’s a major disappointment when we actually see the whole damn thing. When the title is ‘Creature From The Pit’ it emphasises that the story is about the creature so a lot more money and time should have been spent on it. I know that it was a long time ago but surly someone could have come up with a better design that this. On the DVD where the effects makers try to explain it was said that they tried to change it slightly by adding dangly bit to it but that just makes it worst. Really nothing can defend this story. The story has only one redeeming feature and that is the quality of filming. Whilst I thought that the story would have benefited from some location filming the scenes in the forest. Also the scenes down in the cave have a nice feel to them its just a shame about the stupid creature.

I’m not totally bowled over by Tom Baker’s performance. It’s partly down to his performance but also down to the dull script. Had this story come earlier in his time then perhaps his energetic performance might have made more of the story. Lalla Ward technically makes her debut in this story as this was the first story she recorded as Romana (even though her first story to air would be Destiny of the Daleks). Ward is perfectly good but does suffer from David Fisher’s inadequate script. David Brierley makes his debut as the voice of K9. Unfortunatley for long term fans like myself it just doesn’t work. John Leeson IS the voice of K9 and what Brierley has managed to do is make K9 sound more human than robot.

The character of Lady Adrasta was very pantomime like. She wasn’t really believable but at the same time it wasn’t the fault of Myra Frances. She was just doing the best with what she was given. The story features the return of Eileen Way who first appeared as Old Mother in the very first story ‘An Unearthyl Child’. She plays Karela and is perhaps my favourite of the guest stars in this story. She has a comforting style of acting and was a joy to watch.

The Creature from the Pit is a story that has to be seen to be believed. Quite what was going on at the BBC to allow this to get to the stage it did before realising the failings which ultimately fall to the story. Take the creature out of the picture and what we’re left with is a dull, uninspiring affair which just solidifies the fact that the 1979/80 series was the worst of the Tom Baker era. Fact – In the Mighty 200 the 1979/80 series was voted the 25th best series.

Shadow of the Past (2010)

Shadow of the Past is the first story to feature Liz Shaw since ‘The Blue Tooth’ back in 2007. Quite why its taken this long to get Caroline John back into the studio is a mystery. This story is another one to come from the mind of Simon Guerrier, the man behind arguably the best Companion Chronicle story ever. This story is Guerrier’s fourth story and whilst I will admit its not his best it was still a good try.

The story is set sometime after the Silurians story which is pretty much in the middle of the 1970 series. The story is centred around a pod that has crashed. The Doctor is quite desperate to rescue the pilot and as the story progresses its about trying to get the Mim back to the rest of its kind. Its quite a simple story but its used to great effect. I quite liked the nod back to Terror of the Auton where the Timelord dressed like a 1950’s Civil Servant with a bowler hat and the desire not to have anything to do with the troubles of Earth. It seemed very much to tie this story down to that era in a way that I never felt before.

Caroline John was brilliant in this story. I’ve heard her read the Target Novels of The Cave Monsters & The Auton Invasion and they were very enjoyable to listen to. Not having listened to ‘The Blue Tooth’ for quite a long time the only thing I can remember is how I thought it was the best story of that short series. Lex Sharpnal was also very good as Marshall. The moment when he realised who and what he was made his role in the story that bit more enjoyable.

One thing that stood out for me was the sort of person that Liz Shaw was. We never really got an impression of what Liz Shaw was like as a human being as opposed to a scientist. The sadness that she felt for all the soldiers that lost their lives during the battles was heartfelt and the bit where she left to have a shower and try and wash away the smell of death and fear was quite a dark moment in this story. The revelation at the end that the soldier that is in fact from the same material as the mim that Liz was talking about in the story was quite a shock. That last part was perhaps my favourite part but then saying that would imply I didn’t like the rest of the story and that’s simply not true because the whole story was a well written and well directed adventure.

Being a Simon Guerrier story, this was a well told story. Being a Lisa Bowerman directed story it was a well paced and interesting release. Shadow of the Past is perhaps one of my favourite CC stories of this series. It’s the strongest offering of 2010 (so far).

Point of Entry (2009)

Its fair to say that I have found this Lost Stories series a bit of a mixed bag. Some have been really good (Nightmare Fair, Mission to Magnus) and then there have been some really woeful ones (The Hollows of Time) but then there are some average ones (Leviathan, Paradise 5). Point of Entry was written by Barbara Clegg but adapted for audio by Marc Platt. The moment I read that Platt was working on this then I knew that we were going to get a very complicated story and that is exactly what we got.

The story starts off with Christopher Marlowe who I had never heard of before but turns out to have existed between February 1564 and May 1593. He is writing a story but is lacking inspiration before being offered inspiration by a strange Spaniard to finish Foustus if he helps him find a knife. Whilst Asteroid Spotting the Doctor and Peri come across one that is emitting a strange sound. They soon arrive and become embroiled in the events. The main problem with this story is that there isn’t enough to stretch it to two forty-five minute episodes. Like in Leviathan we get a first episode with nothing really happening. The Doctor and Peri just potter about for forty-five minutes. Its only when we learn a bit about what was making the buzzing noises were that it started to get me interested.

The true success of this story are the characters and the actors that play them. Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant are on usual good form and in particular Bryant gets something interesting to do. The part where she has to pretend to be Queen Elizabeth I but sounding more like Elizabeth II was quite funny and added a bit of comedy to the story. Gemma Wardle as Alys was perhaps my favourite because she was cheeky but not irritating which is quite a difficult thing to get right. Luis Soto was a very convincing baddie as Velez and also Sean Connolly should be praised for being very good as Iguano. All the other characters and actors were very good and were given some good dialogue.

Ultimatley Point of Entry is a story that doesn’t quite work for me. There’s too much time wasted in getting to the main nub of the story. However once they do get to what’s actually going on then it becomes a slightly more enjoyable adventure. I’m not sure how much of this confusing story is down to him and how much is down to Barbara Clegg but I think that this story could have been better than it was.

Vampires of Venice (2010)

After all the pathetic furore of the conclusion of the last episode now a (thankfully) distant memory. We can move on to the Vampires of Venice, a story that is perhaps the most visually stunning episode that I have ever seen in Doctor Who. It’s the third time that Doctor Who has filmed overseas since 2005 which is the same number of times that Doctor Who had filmed overseas between 1963 and 1989. The story is written by Toby Whithouse who wrote ‘School Reunion’ in 2006 and this is by far a superior story. The opening scene where the Doctor bursts out of the cake at Rory’s stag do was perhaps the strangest moment I have ever scene but Smith’s face when he popped out of the cake was funny.

Set in 1580, the Doctor takes Amy and Rory to Venice where the city is being protected by the House of Calvierri. The idea that they look like Vampires but are actually not, was quite a nice twist. The moment where Rosanna actually shows her true form was something that me and my friend had to stop for a moment a go ‘what’. That said the story that they were fleeing their home world and trying to set up on Earth was a good start. What Rosanna was trying to do was get all the women of Venice (all attractive women) to be brides to ’10,000 husband’ that appear in the water. There were several very good moments. The scene where Amy is strapped into the chair and Rosana tells Amy what is about to happen was a very dark moment. Then she got bit and I thought ‘Oh no, now shes a vampire’ before realising that their not vampires.

Matt Smith and Karen Gillan were very good as usual so I’m not going to repeat what I’ve said about previous episodes but for me Arthur Darvill was very good in this story as Rory. I must admit I wasn’t totally won over by his performance in ‘The Eleventh Hour’ but in a different setting he was a lot better. He has a nice scene with Matt Smith when he tells the Doctor that everyone wants to impress the Doctor in what most people already knew. When he was invited to stay on the TARDIS I was actually quite glad. I think that whilst Rory can be a bit child like its not full blown childishness. The moment where he has a go at the Doctor showed for me that he can do serious.

Again the best thing about this story (apart from the plot) was how wonderful and lushes it looked. In every scene it looked beautiful. Filming took place in Croatia which double quite convincingly for Venice. There is a bit more about the Silence will fall story line as Rosana gives a speech about it to the Doctor. At the end of the story Rory is accepted on board on the TARDIS. Not sure whether this makes his a proper companion, I suppose that debate will run and run. I quite like how the camera moved into the lock of the TARDIS, I thought that it was going to lead to something interesting but instead it was just the Next Time trailer.

The Vampires of Venice is a wonderfully visual episode with a great story and some great scenes in it. I wasn’t expecting a lot from this story as it comes in the middle of the series where there is usually a lul in terms of quality but Vampires of Venice is a story that shows that Doctor Who should go overseas to more filming because there’s only some much that be done to make something in Cardiff or Wales look like something abroad.

Flesh and Stone (2010)

The first two parter of the Matt Smith era ended on a typically Moffat note. I didn’t see the first episode when it aired on BBC1 (I caught it on iPlayer) so I didn’t see the animated Graham Norton that seems to have annoyed 6,000 people enough to complain. The resolvement of the ‘cliffhanger’ was very smart and wasn’t what I was expecting. There were several moments where there were claustrophobic scenes and they were acted brilliantly and was as closed to one of the Isolation type stories that I love in Doctor Who.

A lot of this story was about Amy and how she was being killed slowly by the Angels. You could tell there was something up with her when she started counting down from 10. Soon Amy does the exact opposite of what everyone who encounters the Angels does and that’s she closes her eyes. The reason why the Angels were doing this to Amy was a brilliant one and that was for “Fun”. Simple and did the right thing in making the Doctor mad. There was big push in the crack story arc where it becomes quite a massive plot point in this episode. For the first time the Doctor and Amy realise something is not right and it’s the Doctor who proclaims that “Time can be unwritten”. We learn a bit more about River Song and in typical Lost style we are given pretty much nothing and get the feeling there is a lot more to her. In Confidential we are told by Steven Moffat that her story will be told so I predict we may see her either at the end of this season or the beginning of the next.

This particular episode featured some of the best moments that I can recall since the show returned in 2005. The anger of the Doctor towards River Song and also the intimate moment when the Doctor leaves Amy and kisses her on her forehead was very moving. Likewise the scene where the Angels are surrounding the Doctor and one actually grabs his coat was a massive moment in the story. The site of the Angels falling into the light was a great visual moment and it was only beaten by the few shots of the Angels moving their heads and one actually moving which is the most movement we have ever seen. Matt Smith and Karen Gillan are brilliant in this story for different reasons. Smith is brilliant because of his anger towards the Angels and intrigue about River Song we get a Doctor that is frustrated and at times very unbalanced. The moment when the Doctor leaves Amy in the ‘forest’ and kisses on the forehead was a really touching moment that was played perfectly by both actors. Karen Gillan puts in her best performance yet (which is quite a statement). The scenes where she has to close her eyes and move through the forest with the Angels either side of her was a great bit of acting. Alex Kingston was better in this episode than in Time of Angels. She didn’t seem quite so over the top and was more the potential companion that I would have liked. The revelation that she killed a ‘good man’ might lead some people to think that it’s the Doctor she kills in some sort of mercy killing but I think that’s too obvious. That said I am looking forward to Kingston’s next appearance in Doctor Who because I think that she brings a lot to the character (apart from the slightly OTT moments) which is what the show needs.

The ending of the episode was perhaps the only area that I wasn’t entirely pleased with. The Doctor returns Amy back to her house five minutes after leaving in the Eleventh Hour and she comes on to him. This didn’t quite make sense as she had never really shown much interesting romance wise in the Doctor. That said after everything she had been through you could understand her for going off a bit. The date of the wedding is June 20th 2010 which coincidentally is a Saturday which if the show doesn’t take a week off for the Eurovision Song contest is when Episode 13 is due to air. This is Russell T Davies level of story planning and shows that the season has some major things to reveal to us.

This is perhaps the best of the two parters that there has been in the new series. The Weeping Angels are a wonderfully simple creation that had developed in terror since their debut back in 2007. Hopefully there will be more of them in the future. Steven Moffat has written a very strong script with very engaging characters that you could care about and was sad to see go. Especially Father Octavian who’s capture and death were a surprise and brilliantly played.