Legend of the Cybermen (2010)

At the end of the previous adventure ‘The Wreck of the Titan’ we were presented with the notion that the Doctor and Jamie are in the Land of Fiction as featured in the 1968 adventure ‘The Mind Robber’. I therefore assumed that this story was going to be very strange. It has to be said that this series has been a bit of a disappointment because nothing seems to have happened to explain what’s going on with the Doctor and Jamie. At lot was riding on this story and it fell to Mike Maddox to give a satisfactory conclusion to this series. Also a fact here, this is the first story to feature the Cybermen in the main series since The Girl Who Never Was way back in December 2007.

The whole story about the story arc was explained. Shortly after Zoe was returned to her time by the Timelords in ‘The War Games’ she went to the ship doctor and was told that her body was two years older. Due to the fact she is a genius she works out what happened and shortly after that a fleet of Cyberships appear and creates a way to the Land of Fiction and takes the Cybermen with her. That way the Cybermen can’t hurt anyone. She becomes Mistress of the Land of Fiction and uses the characters to fight them. She creates another porthole for the Doctor and lures him there. She creates Jamie to be of some help and when asked why she made him so that he couldn’t remember any of the adventures he had with the Second Doctor she answered that it was suppose to be a mystery otherwise the Doctor would have left and not helped. There was some wonderful imagery that was created in this story. Cyber versions of Mermaids (Cybermaids ?) and Werewolfs gave a new fresh side to the Cyberman character. It was great to have the Cyberplanner back because it always sounds creepy. There were a lot of red herrings thrown in to try and keep people guessing. There was a possibility that everything that had happened after The Mind Robber up to this story was all fake. That is all took place in the Land of Fiction. This was clearly something that wasn’t going to be the case because it would just silly if it were true.

The music was used brilliantly. It was needed to help distinguish between the two castles where the Cybermen and the fictional characters were. Also the use of the same eerie music that was used in ‘The Mind Robber’ actually sounded better in this story than in the TV adventure. The music sounded like it came from a 1950’s Hollywood Robin Hood movie and I loved every time it was played. It’s not very often that I mention music in a review but in this case I felt it was warranted because it helped to such a lot. I also found the cliffhangers to be quite effective. Especially the first one where the Cybertronic Oliver Twist quotes the infamous like from that story “Please Sir, Can I have some more?”. It sounded quite strange coming from a Cyberman but that’s one word that can be used for Legend of the Cybermen.

Frazer Hines put in his best performance from the three stories. His story moved quite substantially in this from not remembering the adventures he had with the Second Doctor to been reminded of them to finding out he’s in fact not real. There were three different sides of the Jamie character and Hines did a great job in being believable. Wendy Padbury did a great job playing Zoe in a full cast adventure since The War Games in 1969. The fact that Padbury created a way into the Land of Fiction and was made mistress was totally believeable. She is the only character that would have been able to do this. Padbury has done a Companion Chronicle and also did ‘Davros’ in 2003 for Big Finish so she is no stranger to working on audio and does a good job as both fictional Zoe and Mistress Zoe. Colin Baker does a good job. Its his best outing out of the three but well below what we have come to expect from Mr. Baker. His sadness at certain points in this story came across as sincere and heartfelt.

The Legend of the Cybermen is a curious story. It’s the best story of the three but that’s not really a compliment. If I had to pick a fault with the story is that it spends too long getting started. The first episode has too much of Jamie and the Doctor running around the void. Its only when the Artful Dodger turns up that it really gets going. The thing about this story is that it has a lot of loose ends to type up and it does this effectively and in a way that a simple mind like mine can understand.

Hopefully this wont be the last time that we have the Sixth Doctor and Jamie in a series. Whilst it didn’t take off like I hoped there were certainly some big plus points like the two actors themselves.

The Big Bang (2010)

Well after the dramatic ending to the previous episode I was left wondering how the episode was going to resolve itself. The episode saw the return of Amelia Pond who we saw way back in episode 1 (it does feel like a lifetime ago doesn’t it!). Like the previous episode there seems to be a long period of things happening before the title sequence. I did have the horrible feeling that the story was going to go ‘Lost’ on us and go backwards and forwards in time. Thankfully it was kept to a minimum. The site of the Doctor with a Fez and a mop is possibly one of the strangest sites in Doctor Who and that’s possibly saying something but what Steven Moffat has to do is to show the Doctor Who fans that he has the ability to take control of a series and deliver what people are expecting.

The story is that because the TARDIS exploded all the universes went kaput and never existed and it’s slowly wiping out everything with the Earth being the last thing. Amelia goes to the Museum where amongst the stone Daleks (possibly my favourite looking Dalek since the Gold/White livery ones from Remembrance) is the Pandorica Box. When Amelia opens the box she finds her older self in there. What happens throughout the episode is that the Doctor gives Rory the sonic screwdriver to open the box and then they put the dead Amy in there because it turns out that the box has the capatbility of keeping people alive. So when the box is opened 1,894 years from 120AD, Amy is all well and good. The story then moves on that the universe called essentially be rebooted by creating another Big Bang and the only way to do that is to explode the Pandorica in the exploding TARDIS and only the Doctor can do that. What we then get is a series of flashbacks to previous adventures in the series with a heartfelt moment where the Doctor is talking to a sleeping Amelia. The Doctor then goes into the crack and we go to Amy who is just about to get married. I liked how we finally got to me her mom and dad. It’s at the reception that Amy finds River Song’s book and starts to remember the Doctor which brings him back. The Doctor then gets a call to come to the Orient Express in Space and he is with Rory and Amy.

The first feeling that I had after the episode had finished was how underwhelmed I felt. In RTD era finale’s we got a conclusion to the season story arc and then there was 20 minutes of emotional blubber. I also found the beginning of the episode a bit odd. There was all this hullabaloo made over the Pandorica box and then the Doctor just magically appears. Also I would love someone to point out who kept saying “Silence will fall” in the previous episode. It was never mentioned in this episode and it was one of the things that I wanted to know. Also I must admit I am starting to find all this River Song not making it clear at what point things are happening in her life and saying “Spoilers” a tad bit irritating. It was fun to begin with but needs to stop soon. One thing I do like about this series is that Moffat isn’t embarrassed to roll off a series of complicated gobbledygook but does give a more simplified version for the likes of me to try and keep us engaged with the story.

This episode like this series was enjoyable. Matt Smith and Karen Gillan were superb throughout and apart from The Lodger which was ok, I found ever single episode to be dramatic and had a freshness to it that was lacking from the RTD era. I also found Rory to be a very likeable character that that is one of the surprises of the season. I was delighted when he came back at the beginning of the previous episode and equally delighted when he was still in the TARDIS at the end of the episode. Alex Kingston is very good as River Song but hopefully the next time she returns her role will have a little bit more substance that what we’ve had over the four episodes she appeared in. When the series returns in 2011, I hope that they continue with the different types of stories that have occurred in 2010. It does seem that the story left over from this series will spill into the next.

The Spirit Trap (2010)

2010 TOMS TARDIS AWARD WINNER

• Best Jago and Litefoot

The third instalment in this series of four sees a return to what I liked about the first story. A simple yet brilliantly told adventure. Written by Jonathan Morris (Bloodtide, Flip-Flop, Max Warp and the 2008 Toms Tardis Award Best Story Winner – The Haunting of Thomas Brewster). The story sees Jago and Litefoot attend a séance which is being attended by Ellie who wants to speak to her dead brother one more time. What is actually happening is that the soles of people who are attending these séances are being removed and replaced by other soles. The story spends the first half trying to portray that psychics are frauds who prey on vulnerable people who have lost a dear one and then the truth is revealed that Mrs Vanguard is being used and actually doesn’t recall what is going on.

I thought that part of the plot about spontaneous combustion was handled very well. I originally took it as something that wasn’t really relevant and a bit of a red herring but it was explained very well. The process that put soles back into the bodies wasn’t perfect and the body would get too hot and burst into flames. The scenes where Ellie and Jago were in the ‘afterlife’ only really worked thanks to the music and sound effects. I was glad that there was a little tension created when Ellie started talking about how her brother died. Jago and Litefoot kept a terrible secret over Ellie and there was a genuine possibility that it could have been revealed in this story. Thankfully it didn’t because it would have distracted from the main story.

It was nice that Lisa Bowerman got to do something substantial with Ellie. Apart from the loss that she suffered when her brother died in the first story, she hasn’t really developed in this series. However in this story she was the main character to drive the story. I also thought that Janet Henfrey was very good as Mrs Vanguard. The character was presented as a charlatan and whenever she was shown up as such she always came up with a great excuse. When she became free and herself her reaction to where she was was very funny. I also found Lex Shrapnel to be very good as Toby. He was very written perfectly. Not being too big to take centre stage but not been too weak and feeble to be forgotten. Last but by no means least Christopher Benjamin and George Litefoot were very good in this story. In fact I thought that Benjamin thrived as Jago because he got to show that the character could spot when things weren’t right when Litefoot would take them at face value.

This story is a well written piece by Morris and also Lisa Bowerman did another sterling job as director. This was a story that had plenty of drama and also characters that were sensible and well played. After the last story my confidence in the series dipped but was restored due to the wonderful nature of this story.

The Pandorica Opens (2010)

“The Pandorica will open, Silence will fall”

That was the chilling line given in Episode 1 which would see the beginning of the slowest burning story arc that I can remember in Doctor Who since it returned. The pre-title sequence showed that this series finale wasn’t going to be like previous finale’s. There was a surprise appearance from Vincent Van Gogh (from Vincent and the Doctor) who has done a painting that is tormenting him. It is then found in Winston Churchill and Bracewell (Victory of the Daleks). Then River Song returns and she goes to the 50th Century where she meets Liz 10 (Sophie Okeonedo from The Beast Below). The Doctor and Amy go to the oldest planet where a message is left for the Doctor from River. They travel to 102 AD to a Roman Camp where they encounter River dressed as Cleopatra where she shows them the painting.

What follows is 45 minutes of pure drama. The action takes place underneath Stonehenge where there is a box (The Pandorica) and it is opening. They find a Cyberman arm which it turns out was a guard. There is a good 5-6 minutes of action with the Cyberman and the arm that is firing randomly. That is what is so good about this season of Doctor Who. At no point did I get bored and want to look at my watch. Even when watching Mr Unfunny (James Corden) last week I found that time went very quickly. The return of Rory was always on the cards and wasn’t really a surprise but what was a surprise was the explanation. In Flesh and Blood, Rory was killed and was erased from time but somehow got planted back in Roman times. Sadly he was just a dummy and was in fact an Auton sleeper figure. All the things with the Romans and surprise return of Rory comes from a book in Amy’s house. The idea that the Pandorica is a prison and also a trap for the Doctor is something quite smart. We’re told that it’s a box that holds all the fears and terrible things and that applies to the Daleks and Cybermen. Their biggest fear (whilst they wont admit it) is the Doctor, and with him in the Pandorica, they will be able to carry on with their plans. The idea that they have all formed an alliance seems a bit odd but you don’t think about it for long.

Matt Smith and Karen Gillan deserve special praise because they have always put in good performances in every single episode in this series but this episode was the best. Especially Smith who showed genuine terror at the thought of being locked up. There’s no trick way out and no obvious way out and Smith portrays that brilliantly. Arthur Darvill was also very good as Rory, before and after its revealed he’s an Auton. It was nice to have Rory back, the best bit came at the end for him when he fights himself in not shooting Amy which of course he does. Alex Kingston was great as River Song. I am starting to warm to her. Her journey through this episode was long and eventful. She was the one that put all the pieces together and her ending was curious. The TARDIS has appeared by a wall and the console seems to be about to blow up. What could this mean? Spoilers!!

The image of Daleks, Cybermen, Autons, Judoon, Sontaran, Slitheen, Sycorax and pretty much ever monster that they could fit in there looking at the Doctor was one of the best sights I have ever seen. In fact the ending was one of the most enjoyable and emotional since the show returned. The Doctor is trapped in the Pandorica and Amy has been ‘killed’ by the Auton Rory. There is no real obvious way out. The fear when the Doctor was being trapped in the Pandorica Box was totally outstanding and that’s the word I can use for this episode. Hopefully when the Big Bang airs then the story will be able to unfold and we won’t be left with 10-15 minutes of emotional drivel like we had to endure under the RTD era.

Fingers crossed that next week is the finest episode of Doctor Who since the show returned. PLEASE OMEGA!!

The Bellova Devil (2010)

After an impressive opening story, the second story is a more complex offering. Not surprising considering its written by Alan Barnes, author of Brotherhood of the Daleks (2008) which is undoubtedly the most complicated story ever heard. Barnes’ stories always tend to be ones that have to be listened to more than once. I decided that if I couldn’t understand that story after the third listen then I should probably stop. I decided to approach this story with an open mind. The story starts off with the curiosity of two dead bodies that are connected, what’s more strange is that one person was declared dead six months previously. The death was reported by Doctor Sucker who clearly was wrong in the first place. In fact what has been going on is that he had been given/taken something which when working creates the impression that the body has died but the individual will wake up several hours later. The story moves to club which at first gives the impression that you can fake your death but you have to stump up a sort of pension. However when Jago and Litefoot arrive at the club and see everyone there it turns out that they are just actors.

There is a B-plot and it is that Jago is trying to hide from the Manchester Mangler who is a debt collector. If only they had done a bit more with this part and not so much with clubs and people giving the impression that their dead. The problem is that whilst The Bloodless Soldier was quite simple and easy to follow. This story is quite the opposite. It’s confusing at times and just when I think I figured out what is going on there is something else that confuses me. There are a lot of scenes where there are long plot explanation scenes and the thing is there are way too many of them. I also found the characters to be particularly plain. Even after a second listen I found this story to be all over the place and a poorer story compared to The Bloodless Soldier.

Trevor Baxter and Christopher Benjamin are very good but are given a mixed up script to work with. Benjamin himself seems to having the time of his life pretending to be a German. Baxter himself also seems a bit more light hearted than previously which is surprising considered he has always been a bit ‘stuffy’. I thought that Lisa Bowerman was very good as Mrs Sofia whilst the character might have been stereotypical, Bowerman gave it slightly more credibility than someone else might have given the role. Duncan Wisbey also gave a good performance as the inebriated Doctor Sacker. His character was probably the best and was at times very funny. I also really enjoyed Stephen Thorne as the Club Screatary. His voice was born for radio and should be used more often.

The Bellova Devil is a disappointing story. After the enjoyment I felt after listening to the last story, my enjoyment for this one was far lower. Hopefully the third adventure will be better.

The Bloodless Soldier (2010)

Well its finally here. The first Jago and Litefoot series finally arrived in my download box. Four full cast adventures featuring the double act that made their only appearance in The Talons of Weng-Chiang back in 1977. This series is due to the popularity of the Companion Chronicle story ‘The Mahogany Murderers’ back in 2009. All four stories are written by people who have contributed to Big Finish Doctor Who stories over the last eleven years. The first was written by Justin Richards who wrote the 2000 story Red Dawn. Richards has a tough job in trying to take what we loved about The Mahogany Murderers and translate it into a full cast 50 minute drama.

The story sees a group of soldiers return from serving overseas but one of them has been infected by a beast and is mutating. Back in London there are a series of deaths and unexplained events. One of the soldiers was the brother of Ellie who is the barmaid at the pub that Jago and Litefoot frequent. The story sees Private Michaels trying to sell the Captain to Jago to put in one of his shows like some sort of Freakshow act. During the impending battle that takes place at the end Private Higson (Ellie’s Brother) becomes infected and is the subject of a mercy killing at the hands of Jago. Ellie is told he died a hero and is not told the truth.

The plot suits this story. Had it been a Doctor Who adventure then perhaps it would have been a bit underwhelming which is perhaps worse than a dud story. It’s pace started off quickly at the beginning before hitting a peak at just the right time. The characters in this were all very strong and very well acted. I particularly like Lisa Bowerman who returns as Ellie. The character was really excited about her brother coming home but then absolutely devastated when he died. Bowerman did a great job making the character believable throughout. I thought that the moment when Jago kills Private Higson was a surprising moment. I expected someone else to do that job but I think that probably would have been chickening out which would devalue to character and the story. Trevor Baxter (Professor Litefoot) and Christopher Benjamin (Henry Gordon Jago) are outstanding in this story. The way that they sound exactly as they did back in 1977 was one of the reasons why The Mahogany Murderers was so well received. They give comforting performances and at no point throughout did I get bored or feel like they we running out of steam.

The Bloodless Soldier is a brilliant opening story. It did exactly what it was suppose to and lay down the groundwork and show what the rest of the season is going to be like. The plot was lightweight but needed to be and quite unusually this story was more of a character piece because what we saw was a different side to Jago and Litefoot when Jago kills Private Higson. For me the £30 I paid for this series was value for money just on this offering alone. You can clearly see why Big Finish commissioned a second series before this first series was even released.

Good stuff!

The Lodger (2010)

I can’t stand James Corden. I really really hate him.

Not the best way to start a review but I do. No one in all the years that I have been watching TV has ever come close to making me really consider throwing my TV out of the window. When I heard that Corden was going to be in Doctor Who I couldn’t understand why. You may as well get Lady Gaga in Doctor Who now because Corden is one of the most overrated personalities in TV history. Just because he stared in an overrated ‘comedy’ which led to a sketch show which was as funny as a bucket of sick. Now due to an odd piece of scheduling by the BBC they decided to screen this episode of Doctor Who in the build up to the England vs. USA World Cup match.

The story sees the Doctor and Amy separated for some reason. The Doctor becomes a lodger of Corden who is trying to get upstairs to stop something that isn’t allowing the TARDIS to land. The first two thirds of the story is spent trying to see what the Doctor would be like if he settled down. An interesting thing happened in this story for me in that he actually got to play a sport. Back in the 1982 story ‘Black Orchid’ the Fifth Doctor got to play Cricket so in a way it’s another nice nod to the classic series. There was also another blink and you’ll miss it flashback to all eleven doctors when the Doctor head butts Corden. I would quite happily have done that for forty-five minutes. The Doctor and Craig go up the stairs and it turns out that their isn’t an upstairs. It’s a spaceship that has used the old perception filter trick to convince people there was a second floor. The ‘second floor’ is a spaceship that has crashed and the computer is using humans to try and get the ship starting up again. The problem is that its not working.

The story really seemed to show a different side of the Doctor/Amy relationship. As they never actually got to spend any time on screen together and only communicated via the phone type thing. Amy didn’t really do much in this episode apart from getting thrown about and bored waiting for the TARDIS. Like Amy’s Choice earlier in the series this was very much a character piece but not as subtle as before.

The thing that I was impressed about this story is that Corden was actually quite good. I thought his character was pretty ordinary and his reaction to the Doctor’s strange behaviour was well played. I also thought that the Matt Smith was pretty good, I thought he was genuinely happy to be playing football which is what he was apparently wanting to be when he was younger. Together they were very good and struck up a good on screen relationship, with the absence of Gillan it was up to Corden to play the assistant role and he did it quite well. The Doctor Who team should consider this their biggest achievement so far.

The main problem with the story is that so much time is spent hyping up the mystery of what or who is up the stairs and then it turns out to be a computer programming. It’s just a 21st Century version of ET. It was a bit of a disappointment because in every story I have felt more or less like I have watched a entertaining and dramatic episode but after watching the Lodger I just felt underwhelmed. That’s the main thing about this story. Also a lot of fuss was made over the damp patch in the corner but it was never really explain in a satisfactory way for me.

Weakest story of the series. But the final two episodes should be an absolute cracker.

The War Games (1969)

There are quite a few special things about this story. It was the last story to be made in Black and White, it was the last to be screened in the 1960’s, it was also the 50th story in Doctor Who but most importantly it was the final regular appearance of Patrick Troughton, Frazer Hines & Wendy Padbury. The War Games is a special story because it’s the first time that we encounter the Timelords and also the length is different. At this time it was the second longest serial in the shows history (being beaten by the 12 episode long Daleks Master Plan in 1965-66). Malcolm Hulke and Terrance Dicks wrote this story and whilst both would become more successful separated. Hulke would write several very good Pertwee stories whilst Dicks would become Script Editor during most of Pertwee’s tenure.

The first four or five episodes are good enough. The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe arrive in what appears to be the First World War but soon they discover it’s a war zone along with different wars from various times. However after the fifth episode the story starts to struggle. You get the feeling that they realised the end was in site and they seemed to just pad it out with bickering between the Security Chief and the War Chief. Once the story got to the Mid-West and the war between the confederates and the Unionists. It’s at that point that the story seemed to start stalling. It’s only because of Troughton, Hines & Padbury that it still seemed to be enjoyable. Once we get to Episode Nine the story starts to pick up again and the final episode is absolutely fantastic. The bickering between the Security Chief and the War Chief was something that seemed like nothing at first but towards the end because a significant part of the plot. The final episode is the best out of all ten. It where we meet the Timelords for the first time even though we don’t get the name Gallifrey for another five years. The arrogant and at times patronising tone of the Timelords is evident straight away, despite their only being three of them they seem determined to keep the Doctor and co on the planet. From start to finish the action never lets up and it’s the first time since the first half of the serial that we get action like this.

The main actors were all very good. Patrick Troughton gave his usual performance but there was something sad about it because he and us knew that this would be his last regular appearance. Frazer Hines also gives a good performance and he has a lot of action scenes which is really what his character must have been created for. Hines and Troughton’s relationship was a strong close one and it was clearly evident in a lot of their stories. Their goodbye scene was really sad. Wendy Padbury always suffered because of the strong relationship between Troughton and Hines. I always liked Padbury’s character because she was smart but wasn’t too smart and whilst Jamie was unaware of future events past 1745, Zoe was not knowledgeable of any events prior to 2000. It’s a shame that Padbury didn’t start earlier because I think she would have livened up more stories.

The supporting cast in this story was very strong. David Saville (Lt Carstairs) was a very typical British WWI soldier. He was ready to do his bit for King and Country but once he discovered the truth he was determined to fight against the real enemy. Saville gave the character a warm and likeable quality to the character that could have been bullish and rude but could have been a totally different character. Jane Sherwin (Lady Jennifer Buckingham) played the character in a way that I could quite work out. She was ok to begin with when everything was all primp and proper but once the action started to get going she didn’t really seem to develop. Philip Madoc made his second appearance in Doctor Who in this story as the War Lord. Madoc plays the War Lord in a very cold and smart way. Madoc’s best performance was yet to come in The Brain of Morbius but this was a very strong outing.

The War Games is a perfect story but it gets pretty close. Even though I have seen this story countless times I still end up watching episode ten and wishing that Jamie and Zoe carry on travelling with the Doctor. It’s a credit to Troughton, Hines & Padbury that they make those few moments some of the most memorable in Doctor Who. It was very sad and its one of the few times that really gets me emotional. As there aren’t many Troughton stories left (most were wiped in the 1970’s), its stories like this one that show what a great Doctor Patrick Troughton was. Admittedly some of his stories weren’t particularly good (Krotons, Dominators etc) but then there were some crackers like The Invasion and The Seeds of Death. The War Games is a fitting end to one of the finest Doctor/Companion combinations since Barbara and Ian.

The Time Vampire (2010)

The Time Vampires is the third story in the trilogy of Leela adventures. Starting with The Catalyst I recently re-listened to that story and found it to be enjoyable. Likewise with Empathy Games this is a story that requires a second listen. But the thing about both of those plays are that I really didn’t get them on the first listen. In fact even on the second listen I struggled to fully get them. Sadly it’s the same problem I have with the Time Vampire. Nigel Fairs is given the opportunity to conclude this trilogy which is probably the best thing to do.

The starts off with the Doctor repairing K9 and Leela encountering an old K9 in the wooden console room that was destroyed in Empathy Games. There the mystery starts. Things disappear and reappear and things bob along at a nice fair pace but when the story needs to deliver for the listener it doesn’t. The second half of the story is just pretty much the same of what was going in the first half. The last five or so minutes are spent up with the death of Leela but if the rest of the story had been as enjoyable and more importantly been as simple then I would have liked this story more.

The main problem with this story is that it’s too complicated. I personally don’t think that you have to listen to something more than once to understand it. I never really understood what a) The Time Vampire was and b)what was going on in the main plot. There is an awful lot of shifting between time zones kind of like Lost but making less sense. There’s a lot of things going on and Louise Jameson does a great job in trying to explain it and I think that plays the character of Leela just as good as she did over 30 years ago. Even John Leeson as K9 was good despite the fact of my dislike for the tin dog. The main problem with K9 on TV is that he was too smart and you could hear him coming a mile off and he could shoot people but after three goes his battery had run out. In audio we could marvel John Leeson and its nice that 33 years after he started as K9 he sill enjoys doing it. There was a line in the Extras in the end that David Richardson says “You have to work for it”. I completely disagree, you should fully understand and also enjoy it. The only time that you should have to listen to something more than once is if you want to listen to it again because you liked it so much, not because you didn’t understand something.

Despite not understanding it I still found certain parts of it to be very good. However out of the three stories to feature Leela this isn’t the best. That honour goes to The Catalyst.

Vincent and the Doctor (2010)

Historical figures are nothing new in Doctor Who. William Shakespeare in The Shakespeare Code (2007), Queen Victoria in Tooth and Claw (2006) and HG Wells in Timelash (1985). This story sees the second story written by a comedy writer. Richard Curtis is obviously known for writing Blackadder, Mr. Bean and Vicar of Dibley. To be honest I did have reservations. Could a comedy writer who is known for slushy and at time sickening romantic films be disciplined enough to write a science fiction drama. Like most people who are considered geniuses, Van Gogh was a laughing stock and derided by people around him. The Van Gogh we get in this story is someone who is quite tortured by him mind and at times is very sad to watch however due to Tony Curran’s acting its not depressing for me to watch.

The story is quite a simple yet enjoyable one. Whilst visiting a gallery in Paris, The Doctor and Amy notice a monster in one of Vincent Van Gogh’s paintings. They visit him just before he’s about to paint the picture. However there is an invisible creature lurking around the town that only Van Gogh can see. This is essentially the B plot where the conclusion is that the monster is killed by Van Gogh. The A plot is about Van Gogh and his involvement in this story and also how he was trying to battle his demons. There is also a lot of excitement between the Doctor and Amy about meeting a cultural legend. There are a few references about how he died and the fact he committed suicide which I think is a bold thing to do in a family drama. There is also a reference about how he cut of his ear but once you hear about his suicide then self mutilation is just something else that went bad in his life.

The idea that the monster was invisible might seem like a budgetary thing because obviously an invisible monster is cheap but ultimately this meant that Van Gogh was more instrumental in the story. I thought that the picture of the first and second Doctors was another nice nod to the classic series. This is the third time that Hartnell has made an appearance in this series (The Eleventh Hour and Vampires in Venice). Not that it’s a bad thing.

Tony Curran looks so much like Vincent Van Gogh its quite scary. The scene towards the end of the episode where Dr. Black talks about Van Gogh and seeing Van Gogh get teary eyed was quite a lovely moment. Curran might have used his Scottish accent instead of adopting a perhaps weak Dutch accent was perhaps the right thing to do. That wasn’t really something that I considered whilst watching the episode. Tony Curran should win any award that involves best guest star of the series because he looked the part and more importantly gave the performance that was mesmerising.

To be fair to Richard Curtis, this is a very good script. It was a very slow building story but it doesn’t get boring and builds to a fitting conclusion and there is a little time left to take Van Gogh in the TARDIS and to the art gallery. There is a nice bit with the art posters stuck all over the TARDIS and when the TARDIS arrives in Paris the posters have burnt off and there are a few bits burning away which I thought was quite nice. Curtis has made Van Gogh and interesting character which shows what a talented artist he was but how he suffered and was tortured by his talent. I think if you start wondering about what impact taking Van Gogh to see his work then you just start dismantling the story to a rather dull point.

Vincent and the Doctor is beautifully shot and beautifully written piece of drama and whilst Britain’s Got Talent which is going to be the most watched show of the year (for some reason) has dance acts and grannies that can sing quite well, Doctor Who has emotional and powerful characters. I’ll take Doctor Who over Simon Cowell’s waste of time anytime.

The Song of Megaptera (2009)

The Song of Megapetra is a story that I could only really see working on audio. A story which sees a large chunk take place inside a whale is clearly something that couldn’t be realised on a miniscule BBC budget. Written by Pat Mills (Scapegoat, Dead London), this story is like those two stories and slightly strange. The story was originally meant for the Fourth Doctor then for the Fifth Doctor where it would have introduced Turlough. Then it was rewritten for the Sixth Doctor and Peri before being abandoned. The story sees Space Whales in it. It seems slightly unfortunate that this story comes out just after The Beast Below aired on TV.

The story sees the Doctor and Peri answer what they think is a distress call but in fact turns out to be a call to lure a space whale. The plan would be to lure as many space whales as possible and then effectively kill them. The ship is led by Captain Greeg who is slightly unbalanced and it seems borderline crazy. The story does seem at times to skirt pretty close to Moby Dick which isnt really a bad thing. When the story moves into the whale I did find that the story was starting to run away from what I thought it was going to be about. By that I mean a battle between the Doctor and Greeg but alas that didn’t happen and we get a story about people who have been living inside the whale for 30,000 year years and that’s when the story started to lose a bit of momentum.

Colin Baker was on usual good form but this wasn’t his best story by quite a long shot. Nicola Bryant had another good story and her highlight was when she was talking about keeping a Dalek as a pet and how they ‘get a bad rap’ and then she starts singing in a drunk way. Very funny. John Benfield is very good as Captain Greeg. He does fall into that stereotypical captain that is driven purely by money and will quite happily step over morals to get to the case. Quite like Commander Uvanov in The Robots of Death. Susan Brown pops up again after her run the Stockbridge Trilogy of stories at the end of 2009. She plays two roles in this but her best is as the Chief Engineer. The level of disdain that she had for the two security guards was enjoyable. But my favourite of the guest characters were the Security Guards played by Toby Longworth and Alex Lowe. Both gave the double act a lot of heart and in this grim story it was nice to have these two pop up and make me smile. John Banks played a character that perhaps in any other story I would have found annoying as the Ship’s Computer but in this story the weird and oven bewildering voice was very different from what we normally get.

The Song of Megaptera is a story that isn’t perfect but ultimately isn’t a bad story either. I quite liked some of the characters and the story moved along at a good pace however the first half was better than the second and had the story stayed on the ship as opposed to inside the whale with the inhabitants. Its one of the better stories of this season.