The final story of the fourth series in the Companion Chronicles sees the first story to feature the Eighth Doctor. Solitaire sees the return of The Celestial Toymaker who’s involvement was a rushed idea due to his success in The Lost Stories: The Nightmare Fair. John Dorney has been handed the responsibility of this story. David Ballie returns as the Toymaker after The Nightmare Fair and India Fisher plays Charley for the first time since last years Blue Forgotten Planet. The story sees the Doctor turned into a puppet and Charley having to play the Toymaker’s games. Charley cant remember the Doctor at all and only knows herself as Charlotte.
Quite like Stealers from Saiph, this is a different type of release. With this story there is just Charley and the Toymaker. It’s quite an unusual story because it’s essentially Charley trying to get away from the clutches of the Toymaker. There is a time factor to trying to solve this game (if it is a game which isn’t made clear) every so often there is a big bellowing voice which always comes as a shock saying PPPPPLLLLLLAAAAAAAYYYYYY. There is a lot of things that don’t make sense however its due to Ballie and Fisher that I managed to maintain any interest in it. I found this Charley to be more like the Charley from 2001/2002 and it was a nice trip down memory lane. The frustration at times that she showed was quite funny and reminded me of listening to Storm Warning and Sword of Orion. David Ballie was perhaps even better in this than he was in The Nightmare Fair. I think that may have more to do with John Dorney. Dorney is perhaps writing a Toymaker that is more suited to Ballie’s acting style as opposed to Ballie having to fit in with the Toymaker that Graham Williams and John Ainsworth wrote in the 2009 story. I found the moments when the Toymaker got more and more frustrated quite entertaining. Both Ballie and Fisher are the masters of frustrating acting.
If I did have to find a fault with this story it that it’s quite difficult to actually class this as a proper bonafide Companion Chronicle because its not Charley recalling an adventure she had with the Doctor but its more like a proper adventure. In the Extras its even referred to as a full cast audio with just two people in it. Quite like Scherzo where it was just Paul McGann and India Fisher. It was also mentioned that Charley will soon be having her own adventures quite like Jago and Litefoot. Solitaire is a good story that only suffers from not being a traditional CC story. Good effort from John Dorney. It was also a solid piece of directing from Nicholas Briggs who surprisingly makes his first contribution to the Companion Chronicles range. If I have to call this as a Companion Chronicle then I would say it is a fine end to this fourth series.
Quite like Stealers from Saiph, this is a different type of release. With this story there is just Charley and the Toymaker. It’s quite an unusual story because it’s essentially Charley trying to get away from the clutches of the Toymaker. There is a time factor to trying to solve this game (if it is a game which isn’t made clear) every so often there is a big bellowing voice which always comes as a shock saying PPPPPLLLLLLAAAAAAAYYYYYY. There is a lot of things that don’t make sense however its due to Ballie and Fisher that I managed to maintain any interest in it. I found this Charley to be more like the Charley from 2001/2002 and it was a nice trip down memory lane. The frustration at times that she showed was quite funny and reminded me of listening to Storm Warning and Sword of Orion. David Ballie was perhaps even better in this than he was in The Nightmare Fair. I think that may have more to do with John Dorney. Dorney is perhaps writing a Toymaker that is more suited to Ballie’s acting style as opposed to Ballie having to fit in with the Toymaker that Graham Williams and John Ainsworth wrote in the 2009 story. I found the moments when the Toymaker got more and more frustrated quite entertaining. Both Ballie and Fisher are the masters of frustrating acting.
If I did have to find a fault with this story it that it’s quite difficult to actually class this as a proper bonafide Companion Chronicle because its not Charley recalling an adventure she had with the Doctor but its more like a proper adventure. In the Extras its even referred to as a full cast audio with just two people in it. Quite like Scherzo where it was just Paul McGann and India Fisher. It was also mentioned that Charley will soon be having her own adventures quite like Jago and Litefoot. Solitaire is a good story that only suffers from not being a traditional CC story. Good effort from John Dorney. It was also a solid piece of directing from Nicholas Briggs who surprisingly makes his first contribution to the Companion Chronicles range. If I have to call this as a Companion Chronicle then I would say it is a fine end to this fourth series.
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