The Brain of Morbius (1976)

The Brain of Morbius is regarded as one of the best Doctor Who stories ever. The original story was written by Terrance Dicks but due to ‘creative differences’ Dicks’ name was taken off it and replaced with Robin Bland. The era of taking themes from the world of horror has been used again with the idea of Frankenstein. The story is set on Karn where the Doctor encounters Doctor Solon who is secretly working on bringing back Morbius who is currently without a head. Morbius is a fellow Timelord who seems to have been wronged by the Timelords which does sound familiar. We learn that Morbius was executed by the Timelords and as a result he is only a brain in a jar (like Lister in Red Dwarf). However unlike Omega, Morbius relies on Solon to help him. However being on a primitive planet Solon has been resorted to scrabbling around for anything he can find with the help of Condo. Condo is Eagor in all but name. He has lost his hand and is treated badly by Solon.

The character of Solon is very good and its made even better by Philip Madoc who could quite frankly appear in anything and would make it 100% better. In the past he has been in the Krotons as Eelek (1968-69) and as the War Lord in ‘The War Games’ (1969). Solon is someone who is loyal to Morbius and despite not being appreciated by Morbius, he is still striving to complete his task. This story does have one of the oddest sequences for quite sometime when the Doctor and Morbius have a mind fighting sequence. We get the previous three Doctor’s and then various images (including Philip Hinchcliffe, Robert Holmes and Christopher Barry). Now some people seem to think that it implies that Hartnell’s incarnation wasn’t the first but they seem to forget that Morbius is in the scene so its obvious that they are his previous incarnations.

The only thing I wasn’t so keen on was the Sisterhood. For me it slowed the story down too much and I find myself getting restless when they are on screen. The stuff with the elixir was quite fun but apart from that it seemed to be stuck in to give the Doctor and Sarah somewhere to go apart from Solon’s lab. The idea that they are powerful people is believeable but apart from that there’s not much I like about them.

The Brain of Morbius is a typically good story that is helped by superb acting from Madoc and Baker. Of course there are other good performances. Sadly Elisabeth Sladen does very little apart from stumble around Solon’s lab blind and running away from Morbius and Solon. Colin Fay is very good as Condo and does well in the loveable but badly appreciated sidekick. The voice of Morbius is a curious one because I think that Michael Spice did a good job as the exiled Timelord but I wonder if it would have been better with Roy Skelton or Michael Wisher.

The Brain of Morbius is one of the best stories of the thirteenth series. The sets and the general feel of the whole story helps make this story one of the best pitched in terms of quality of story that the show had produced at this time. I don’t know how much of Terrance Dicks’ original idea made it into the this story but it’s not really his story and as such is one of the Robert Holmes Classics with Christopher Barry cementing his place as one of the best directors in Classic Who.

Closing Time (2011)

The penultimate episode of a series has always been the lead up to the final episode. So Closing Time somewhat stands out as it is a single contained episode. It also features the Cybermen in their first proper episode since the 2008 story ‘The Next Doctor’. I was dreading this episode if I’m honest because I can’t stand James Corden. I think he is possible the least funniest person in existence. There are bowls of salmonella that are funnier than him and every time I see him on screen I just want to throw something at the TV. Right with my stance on Corden clearly defined. Lets move on with the story. So this is set sometime after the events of The Lodger. Craig is now a dad. Written by Gareth Roberts (author of The Lodger), this story takes place in a department store where the Doctor has become an employee.

As much as I really cant stand James Corden, I find myself actually quite liking him in this episode. He doesn’t come across nearly as annoying as he does in real life. I thought the baby was a nice touch (cant believe I’m writing these words!). It was a nice long running joke of how the Doctor was talking to the baby and translating what he was saying to Craig. It was a good thing as well that they ditched the pushchair because it was becoming a hindrance and slowed things down a bit. The build up to the Cybermen is done quite well. Their first appearance in the episode is very good and did make me jump. Then the scene where the Doctor and Craig are in the lift and they see the Cyberman walking toward them was also another superbly played scene.

The thing that stands out about this episode is the first appearance of the Cybermat. The last time we saw one in Doctor Who was in Revenge of the Cybermen some 36 years ago. I thought the 21st century design was very good and whilst when it moved it did resemble a toy when it got its teeth out it did look quite scary and the scene where they are trying to kill it is a wonderfully dramatic moment. The Doctor running through the glass window was unusually James Bond like for the Doctor. I did like how the whilst being a stand alone story and getting the story in, it does manage to tie in with things we know happen in The Impossible Astronaut. He is given the hat by Craig, the Doctor takes the blue envelopes that everyone opens.

This episode is pretty much companion free as Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill make a cameo appearance. They are seen just be in the same shop that the Doctor is working in and Amy signs a kids book or whatever. There is a lovely moment where the Doctor contemplates going up to them but decides not to. When I was watching this episode I did actually want them to talk to each other but actually on reflection it was probably a good thing they didn’t as it would have ruined the moment and the flow between the Doctor and Craig.

If I had one issue with this episode then it is that we are expected to believe that the Cybermen could build a relatively small base without anyone noticing. I think that it is stretching credibility a little bit. Also I think that Cybermen weren’t in it as much as I would have liked. I think that as one of the most popular monsters in Doctor Who it would be nice to see them in a two-parter but that’s a minor niggle and no fault of Gareth Roberts.

Lynda Baron steals the show for me. This is her third appearance in Doctor Who and whilst not on par with Enlightenment it is easily the nicest performance in the episode. She just pops up every 10 minutes or so and makes the joke that the Doctor and Craig are a couple. I just wish there was more of her than there was. James Corden is also quite good and does well to fill the companion role in the absence of Gillan and Darvill. I think that his ability to show that he is a good actor does lead me to wonder why he continues to be like a wally-brain in public. His on screen chemistry with Matt Smith is one of the things that I like in this episode. I think that it feels natural and like they are good friends. Smith himself is also very good and I think that his Doctor really has come on leaps and bounds over the last couple of episodes.

The final scene with River Song and Madame Kovarian (Frances Barber) is a very good scene and fits a lot in such a small amount of time. We learn that it is River that is in the astronaut outfit that we see in The Impossible Astronaut and the episode ends with River in the outfit in the sea. Presumably to wait for the moment to come out and kill the Doctor. This might be a massive red herring but only time will tell.

Closing Time is another good episode and whilst its not as dark or dramatic as previous episodes, its still a fun episode and the best use of Cybermen for quite sometime. I think that the final scene of this episode was the best because it basically sets up whats going to happen in the first episode and maybe this Lost theme of telling a story will disappear next week.

Pyramids of Mars (1975)

Pyramids of Mars is one of the most popular adventures and its not hard to see why. Stephen Harris is credited with writing this story but in reality it was Robert Holmes and Lewis Greifer working together after Greifer’s original script proved unworkable. This era of Doctor Who borrowed from the horror genre and this four part adventure borrows from the Mummy. The story is set at a country house in 1911 on the site of what would be become the UNIT base. Sutekh is trying to free himself from his prison and is using Scarman and others to help him build a rocket which will destroy the prison and allow him to escape and rule. That’s it as far as the plot is concerned but what we have keep us going is some fantastic dialogue, great scenes and some wonderful acting. This being in the early part of the season its clear that the budget hasn’t run out. The production values are very good in this adventure and make up for some of the weaker ones seen in ‘Planet of Evil’. The effect of the black robed person walking along the carpet with the smoke appearing as well as the smoke appearing when the figure touches Namin were very good. The Mummy’s are very effective and the whilst the idea that they could kill you by literally squeezing you to do death is a different form of way of killing off an extra. Though it is slightly hard to believe that they could catch anyone, especially as they are moving at about 5 mph. Ok so not all the effects used in Pyramids of Mars are as good, the weird colidascope in that the black figure appears from is a little bit rubbish as is the excessive use of CSO when the story moves to Sutekh.

Sutekh is a very good baddie because he doesn’t really have any failings or character flaws. Ok so he is slightly mad for wanting to be the ruler but apart from that he wasn’t the victim of alien invasion of left outside of a supermarket as a child but just wrong by people and wanting revenge. All the lives that have been affected and ultimatley killed are because of Sutekh. The story spends long enough on Earth and so when the action moves to Mars. The story enters a different style. There is a bit of ‘Death to the Daleks’ when the Doctor has to try and solve some puzzles. He moves from room to room trying to stay one step ahead of the mummies.

I liked the scene where the Doctor takes Sarah to 1980 to show her what Earth would look like it Sutekh remained unchallenged. I thought that it was a nice thing to do and showed the viewer at the same time why the Doctor cant just run off when the going gets tough. Then there was the line about time being rewritten which is what is talked about in new Who and this was done in 1975! There are other scenes that are good. The sight of the Doctor dressed up as a mummy isnt something that any other Doctor would have done but this being Tom Baker’s Doctor it seems perfectly at home. This story is home to one of the funniest gaffs in Doctor Who history. When Sutekh stands up from his throne in Episode 4, you can clearly see a hand disappear to the back. Can only assume this was a prompt for Gabriel Woolf.

The cast were all very good. Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen are in fine Doctor/Companion form, in particular Baker who’s more jolly than serious Doctor that we had in the previous year has been replaced by a more serious than jolly Doctor. This means that his performances fit in more with the style of the story. His best moment came in episode 4 when he was in the scene with Sutekh. Some fine acting was going on there. Michael Sheard makes another Doctor Who appearance and is fantastic. I think I could watch Sheard in absolutely anything. I liked it how at one point he feels like a child because he is being talked to like one as he cant/wont accept that his brother has been taken over. Sheard gives a very heartfelt and loving performance in what is possibly his best performance. Bernard Archard gives a brilliant performance as Marcus Scarman. He is extremely scary as the possessed brother. He does a good job in the scene where he gets shot and has to perform the stunt in reverse. Gabriel Woolf also deserves praise for giving his performance a very menacing feel.

The death of Namin at the end of Episode 1 is particularly grim. I think that it was the scream that really made it seem horrific. Though we are suppose to not really care because he was rude to Dr Warlock but in reality I found it a sad moment because there could have been a chance for Namin to redeem himself like Sorensen did in the previous adventure ‘Planet of Evil’.

Pyramids of Mars is definitely a classic Doctor Who story and its in the golden era of Doctor Who. This is somewhat due to Robert Holmes who is responsible for writing some of the finest stories in Doctor Who and even though Lewis Greifer is suppose to have been involved, this is definitely Holmes’ story.

Planet of Evil (1975)

Planet of Evil is a story that continues on from Terror of the Zygons where the Doctor and Sarah are travelling back to London and of course being the Doctor, things don’t go smoothly. Louis Marks wrote his third script for Doctor Who after Planet of Giants (1964) and Day of the Daleks (1972). The story is set on the planet Zeta Minor where the Doctor and Sarah pick up a distress call. They soon come across a military ship that is trying to leave after picking up Professor Sorenson but because they have taken some of the anti-matter with them and it’s a wonderful idea that the planet wont let them leave with it. Then the story moves to them trying to get the anti-matter off the ship and stop Sorenson from being taken over. It’s quite a good story and its handled particularly well.

The jungle that is used is very impressive and its very rare to have a Doctor Who story which is properly lit. It also has to be the best jungle in Doctor Who history because it doesn’t look like a studio with a few potted plants in it like it would in Planet of the Daleks. Some of it was filmed at Ealing Studios but some of it was recorded in the BBC studios and it does show and it’s a shame. I also think that the Anit-Matter monster that we see on Zeta Minor is rubbish. It seems a shame that when everything else works well that it’s such an important thing that lets them down. I think that some money should have been earmarked for a better effect.

Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen are on fine form in this story. Its clear from the beginning that Tom Baker is having the time of his life when he says the “prepare for dematerlisation” line and his eyes open up wildly. Sladen quite rightly takes the spotlight as the companion and I think that she has pretty much thrown off the old original Sarah Jane and embraced the new more traditional female companion role. As the only female in the entire story she manages to hold her own and puts in a great performance.

Like Terror of the Zygons. This is s a story that I have never been fond off in the past having thought of it to be slightly dull and whilst I don’t think it’s a classic by any means there is something quite chilling about it and it moves along at a snappier pace than I previously remember. It has Prentis Hancock who was just superb and was the leader who would refuse to listen to anyone because he thought knew better. Then there was Michael Wisher who had previous played Davros in Genesis of the Daleks the year before. I cant remember how his character ended because I was too caught up by the fact that this was his third Doctor Who story in the space of 18 months. Frederick Jaeger steals the show as the story centres around him pretty much. He finds this stuff that will make humans life easier which we are suppose to find commendable and he is taken over by this Anti-Matter creature. His characters end was changed by producer Philip Hinchcliffe who thought effectively that he shouldn’t suffer for something that wasn’t his fault. I think its good because when he is free and is himself then he becomes likeable and Jaeger should be praised for it. We are well into the Hinchcliffe era and the dark and edgier tone of Doctor Who was starting to show itself and the golden age of Doctor Who has begun.

Terror of the Zygons (1975)

Terror of the Zygons kicks of the second season for Tom Baker as the Doctor. It marks the final appearance of UNIT until 1989 and it also marks the end of Harry Sullivan’s appearance. At the end of the previous story ‘Revenge of the Cybermen’ the Doctor had been summoned by the Brigadier so there is a nice (if longated) link between the story and for reasons only known to the production crew the story is set in Scotland where a load of oil rigs are being sunk by forces unknown. We meet a few locals who are immediately suspicious and alarm bells ringing. The terror of this story is set by the Zygons who are attempting to take over the Earth.

The first cliffhanger is brilliant because it’s the first chance we get to see the Zygon in full. Before then there had been glimpses but not substancial but that is how a monster should be introduced. The look of the Zygon is very impressive. When you look at them its very difficult to not been impressed with it especially at how organic it looks. The only thing that lets it down the join between the outfit and their mouths. That big monster is possibly the only thing that lets the whole thing down but its appearance out of the water is thankfully restricted.

The locals are a bit odd and I don’t mean in the sense that their not human but the actors playing them. The most bizarre one is that of Tony Sibbald who plays Huckle. He is the one who works on the oil rigs. I cant quite make up my mind where Mr Huckle is suppose to be from. He seems to be Scottish but has a bit of American in there. John Woodnutt is arguably the best of those that gets copied by a Zygon. To my amazement this is actually Woodnutt’s third appearance in Doctor Who (Hibbert in Spearhead From Space and the Draconian Emperor in Frontier in Space). Whilst this isnt as good as his Hibbert offering, I do think that he does well making the Duke of Forgill totally unlikeable and then when we meet the original we find he is a nice likeable and willing to go along with the Doctor’s plans. Lillias Walker is the strangest of the lot because she looks like she’s literally come from Mars. The scene where she is wounded and attacks the UNIT soldier was one of my favourite bits because it felt un-Doctor Who like and it was the clearest indication that this was a Hinchcliffe story and not a Barry Letts story.

There are other sights that show a shift in tone compared to the Pertwee era. The sight of Harry attacking Sarah is quite a shocking thing especially as the companions relationship at this point had always been fun. Harry does suffer in this story, he gets shot and hospitliased and then we don’t see from him again until episode three and is effectively a spare part. I think that had they gone with an older actor to play the Doctor then Ian Marter would have probably lasted longer. Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen both put in good performances. This is the period where Tom Baker is 60% serious and 40% silly, as time would go by it would be the other way around. What’s quite interesting in how we now have the Sarah Jane Smith that we all know as opposed to the one that we had when she debuted in The Time Warrior. She has been slightly watered down but I think that Sarah Jane Smith is still one of the best companions ever.

I was never a big fan of Terror, I could never quite put my finger on what it was but having watched it again for the first time in a couple of years I have to say that it is actually quite a good story. I thought the final line was quite a funny way to finish a story, with a dig at the stereotype of how tight the scots are financially. This is a sound way to start this series.

The House of Blue Fire (2011)

House of Blue Fire is written by Mark Morris. His previous stories have included a single adventure in ‘Forty Five’ (2008) and Plague of the Daleks (2009). Set in 2020. The story is set in a hotel that seems to have people with fears (a bit like a certain Matt Smith story that aired recently). The story starts off like a ghost house and some sort of Halloween story. Story starts off with a woman arriving at a house she doesn’t know or is even aware of her own name. She has Mind-wipe Syndrome.

Something has drawn these four people to this house. According to the Doctor mentioning its name will strengthen it. The creature is the Mi’en Kalarash. Who is a scary bedtime story, a sort of bogeyman. The four people we meet at the beginning are Miss 5 –Apraphobia (An abnormal fear of water or drowning), Mr 12 – Catoptrophobia (Fear of mirrors, or seeing one’s own reflection), Mr 16 – Blattodephobia (The morbid fear of cockroaches), Miss 18 – Athazagoraphobia (Being forgotten or ignored). Big Finish gladly described the first three but I had to look up the final one. Which lead me to The Phobia List on the internet and some of the funniest phobias ever. I spent ages looking up some of the stupidest phobias including fears of chins, noses, sitting down, rooms and phobias of phobias.

The first half of the story is spent establishing the setting and the phobias of each person. The second half changes gear, the Doctor set up that house out of his subconscious. The Blue Fire System is a military base where they are trying to eradicate fear in the hope that soldiers would become better in war. The latter half of the story is spent trying to defeat the Mi’en Kalarash which is some sort of fear parasite which is very dangerous and due to the performances from the cast it’s a danger that is believable. It’s quite a good creature because it gets other people to do its work for it which is different to how most aliens/baddies act in these stories. The Doctor’s fear seems to be the deaths of everyone that he has encountered in his lives. This is revealed quite late in the day and like The God Complex the Doctor’s fear isn’t the same as everyone else’s.

The Doctor doesn’t appear until the end and in fact his appearance brings about the first cliffhanger. I may be wrong on this one but it has to be the first time that the first appearance of the Doctor is used in such a way (apart from a regeneration of course). It did through me a bit but I thought that this was a very clever thing and it meant that the supporting cast had to carry the story until McCoy appeared and they did it very well. McCoy’s Doctor is verging on the manipulative side of his character that he was famous for during his time on TV and has done from time to time in Big Finish stories. Timothy West returns after his 2007 appearance in Immortal Beloved. He takes a back seat role in the first half of this story and it’s only in episode 3 when the story moves into reality that he gets to be as good as we would want. I wouldn’t say it was a particularly massive role but West does do well with the role. I honestly couldn’t say that out of the four actors we meet at the beginning there was one that was better than the others and that’s because they were all very good. Amy Pemberton (18), Miranda Keeling (5), Ray Emmet Brown (16) and Howard Gossington (12) really did work well and were totally engaging throughout.

The cliffhangers were very enjoyable. The third one was possibly my favourite and I think that cliffhangers are pretty redundant on audio because people will listen to this story in one go and normally the cliffhangers are pretty ropey but in this story they are really well done. Even managing to make the Doctor’s first appearance dramatic is no easy task but credit to Mark Morris. The final scene is very interesting as Sally Morgan leaves with the Doctor in the TARDIS and it dematerialises which seems to imply that the character will feature again in 2012.

To show that I really like this story I am nit-picking and this is ultimate nit-picking because this is the biggest flaw with this story. After an apparent rest on rolling his r’s. McCoy is back on form with a few that actually didn’t need to be there but that maybe because of McCoy and not Morris. I didn’t think anything could be better than The Doomsday Quatrain but this one does it. It has to be in my top 3 of the year as from start to finish it was thoroughly enjoyable with some clever writing and some superb casting. In this series of Seventh Doctor adventures. Only Robophobia has disappointed me. It wasn’t terrible but when you compare it to this story and The Doomsday Quatrain it doesn’t stand up.

The Doomsday Quatrain (2011)

The Seventh Doctor series where he is companion light continues after the brief pause to celebrate release 150. The Doomsday Quatrain sees another figure from history used in a Big Finish story. Now first of all I have never heard of the word Quatrain so with the help of Wikipedia I was able to find a long description of it but here is the short version.

“A quatrain is a stanza, or a complete poem, consisting of four lines of verse.”

This story is written by two people who are complety new to Big Finish (to the best of my knowledge) and that’s the first thing that strikes me about this story is how fresh it feels and in particular the first episode never seems to take a breath. The historical figure was Nostredame who was famous for being able to predict the future and certain atrocities. Nothing is normal in Doctor Who and we learn that the Nostredame in this story isnt the proper one but infact made up. That’s where the story goes from a simple pseudo-historical to just plain sci-fi. The whole 1560 Florence has been designed by a bunch of poltagons who are creating worlds and in this particular adventure have created a fake world where a group of crocodile like creatures who are planning to invade and this is a sort of training exercise.

There are many plot threads being woven through this story. The first being this world created for the Crocs and its the relationship between the Poltagons and the Croc people. Now the course that this went down which was predictably strained and went the way that I thought it would but to be honest I thought that it was done rather well. Then we learn that the Crocs have had previous dealings with the Timelords and once they discover that the Doctor is a Timelord then their plan changes to capturing the TARDIS. As well as this there is the Doctor trying to prevent the inhabitants of this fake Florence being killed. All these plots are well handled and don’t feel like they have been rushed or compromised.

The big name of this story is that of David Schofield who makes his second appearance in a Big Finish play having appeared in the 2009 Eighth Doctor adventure ‘Death in Blackpool’. He has appeared in the first Pirates of the Carribean film as well as in the Christopher Eccleston led ‘The Shadow Line’. I thought that his interpretation of Nostradame was very well played. It flipped between being of his time and being able to take in the fantastic sights of the TARDIS interior and being able to accept that he is not real and has only existed for a few days. I was also impressed with Caroline Kleff who has to fill the role of temporary companion as Ace and Hex are nowhere to be seen. I think she does a good job and comes across as a likeable person from the get go. She is the only one of the Poltagons that seem to have a conscience. I always think that the test would be if I would want to see that person as a long term companion and in this case I would. I think that the character had potential and with a bit of tweaking she would be very good. Over the course of the four episodes she is continually on the side of good and not willing to let things carry on. I thought that Kleff’s performance was well played.

Slyvester McCoy is on his usual good form in this. I am glad he doesn’t do his rolling r’s that seem to have become his trademark since starting his Big Finish career. He seems to do well with having Ace, Hex or Mel with him and it gives McCoy a bit of freedom as the story focuses on the drama rather than some padding with the companions. It’s nice when Sophie and Philip are with McCoy as there is a nice chemistry between the three of them but in stories like Frozen Time, Robophobia and this one its good to have a bit of variety for us and for McCoy.

I like how at the end they decide to name the planet Prophecy. But like Project: Destiny last year it was the final scene that really set things up for the following story. A prophecy by Nostradame handed to the Doctor seems to indicate his death. Now this is quite an odd thing to do because we know that the Seventh Doctor dies in a alley way in 1999. However I may have this wrong but no matter it is still nice to have a link to another story. It might seem odd if you listen to this on its own but otherwise its ok. Both Beeby and Rennie have written a very smart story that had a lot going on and I could very easily have lost track and nearly did a few times but at the end of the adventure I thought that it was a solid adventure and hopefully they will get the chance to write further adventures in the future.

The Monster of Peladon (1974)

The Monster of Peladon is a sequel to the 1972 adventure Curse of Peladon. Curse was hugely popular and it was obvious that there was going to be a sequel. It even has the same writer and director (Brian Hayles and Lennie Mayne respectively). Now the first Peladon story was a nice four parter and it was about Peladon joining the Galactic Federation which was mirroring the UK entering the EU at the time this serial was broadcast. This time instead of David Troughton as King Peladon we get Queen Thalira and this time the story involved a dispute with miners which because of the time that this story was transmitted, the UK was under the three-day week which was introduced by the Government led by Edward Heath. Letts and Dicks were incredibly political and these Peladon stories proved that. The story sees the Doctor bring Sarah Jane Smith to Peladon some 50 years after his first visit but troubles seem to be still the order of the day. An attempt is trying to get some important minerals but the miners are refusing to use the new technology for fear of Agador. The Ice Warriors are used far better than they had done since The Seeds of Death. This is because they are the enemy as opposed to the good guys which is what they were resorted to in Curse.

The issues that I have with this story are many. Firstly, it doesn’t need to be six episodes in length. Secondly, Queen Thalira isn’t a believable leader. She is routinely belittled and doesn’t come across as any kind of a leader. It’s unfortunate because Nina Thomas seems like a good actress and has some good scenes but sadly doesn’t really stand-up to King Peladon. She is more inclined to defy what is expected of her and there is a nice little scene between the Queen and Sarah when Sarah talks about feminism which was one of the character traits. There are some good supporting casting decisions. Donald Gee is very good as Eckersley. When he first comes on screen he does look quite Tom Baker, not just in appearance but in his mannerism. As the story moves on and his true intentions are bought to light he goes up in my estimation. He is the best thing about this story. I also quite liked Rex Robinson as Gebek but to be honest I like Rex Robinson in practically every Doctor Who story that he is in. Though he is let down by that stupid multi coloured wig which was something that must have looked silly in 1974. Both Jon Pertwee and Elisabeth Sladen were ok in this story but nothing fantastic. It was clear whilst watching this series it was clear that as the end was in sight there wasn’t the freshness and enthusiasm that there was in 1972.

The big ‘twist’ that is in this story is that it isn’t Chancellor Ortron who is behind the Agador appearances but in fact it is Eckersley. The story does well in making us think that history is repeating itself because in Curse it is Chancellor Torbis. However beyond this there isn’t really much in the story and by episode three I was starting to get a little bit bored. It was clear that this story was pretty much like Curse. Some people have criticised that Eckersley’s betrayal is too obvious and silly but I think it’s done very well and isn’t silly at all and should be applauded. I also enjoyed Alpha Centuri who was funny in Curse and is funny is this story. The fact that she/he/it was used more was a good thing and I thought that the voice (Ysanne Churchman) was something that finished it off nicely.

The Monster of Peladon is a story that sadly fails to live up to what Curse had done two years before. It suffers from being over stretched and also doesn’t do the newly introduced Sarah Jane character any favours. Not the best story of the season.

The Bloodline (2011)

So it all comes down to this. After nine weeks of up and down story telling, with a series that was padded to within and inch of its life. We finally reach the end of this series and the best has been saved until last. The story flips between Shangai and Buenos Aires. Rex and Esther are in Buenos Aires with Gwen, Jack and Oswald in Shangai. This episode was co-written between Russell T Davies and writer of the woeful Immortal Sins. The story sees both parties trying to finish this once and for all and being Torchwood, it wasn’t going to shy away from the possibility of the main characters being killed. It seemed obvious weeks ago that once things went back to as they were then Rex was snuff it but more of that later.

The 24 element of this section of the series was strangley enjoyable. Charlotte’s working against the CIA and sets a bomb with shockingly kills John de Lancie. It did look like for a moment that she did it under hypnosis but then at the end its clear that she knew what she was doing. I just wish that they hadn’t killed of de Lancie because he has been fantastic and has rivalled Bill Pullman as best supporting actor. I was expecting a lot more sentimentality from a Russell T Davies story. He does have a track record, just watch Doomsday or Last of the Timelords or Journeys End to see what I mean. But to be fair its reigned in significantly. There is a wobble towards the middle section but compared to what RTD has done in the past I thought this was quite enjoyable and was relevant to the story.

The big scene was all about explaining what this strange thing that everyone was looking at was. To be honest I didn’t understand it at first but when they took a second swing at trying to explain what it was then it finally sunk in. It was quite a clever idea that it was the earth that had switched the setting and it would take Jack’s blood to switch it back. Oh, we’re all meant to think, how are they going to get around this and I was half expecting some cop-out designed to get around this as quickly as possible but those doubts were misfounded. The twist that Rex had been filled with Jack’s blood seemed like quite a clever plot twist and then by the end it had become something far more important.

Both John Barrowman and Eve Myles were great in this episode. They have both had their share of good and bad episodes this series but when it mattered they both delivered. I am also amazed at how Mekhi Phifer has come along since episode one. If you had asked me five weeks ago whether I would be glad or sad that he stayed at the end of episode ten then I would have said sad but actually I have really grown to like the character and think that Phifer should be applauded for making such an irritating character likeable. If I had an issue then it was with the decision to kill off Alexa Havins’ character. Ok I had different reasons as to why I disliked the character but like Phifer’s character, I had grown to like Esther. If only she had been filled with Jack’s blood!

Bill Pullman as ever is superb in this episode and takes the drastic step of strapping a whole load of explosives to him like some suicide bomber and his final words are clearly designed to remind us of what he was when we first met him 10 weeks ago. His lack of fear about going to hell is confounded by his line saying that its “where all the bad girls go!”. It was the fitting end for the character who has been enthralling throughout and whoever came up with the idea of casting Pullman should pat themselves on the back. Lauren Ambrose has also been very good as Jilly Kitzinger. Her desperate need to survive has been well played since the beginning and her little fight with Gwen was a great moment.

Now in the past and RTD finale would have seen the main action wrapped up within 30 minutes and then there would be 30 minutes of melodrama but surprisingly after the blessing stuff has been dealt with the interest still continues. After Rex was shot I did think that he was gone completely but when he came back to life I was exactly like Gwen and Jack. Then we get Jilly Kitzinger who made it out of Shangai and is told to that there is a Plan B. Just when I thought that RTD was trying to ruin Torchwood but in fact it was clear he was leaving it open for the next series.

As an individual episode it is very good and RTD has thought about this episode a great deal. I think that if more of the episodes had been like this then the series would have been stronger than it was. It was the episode that I wanted it to be because it explained what was going on and tied up all the loose ends (almost). The main problem with this series is that it was way too long and the main plot just didn’t stretch to ten episodes. Eight yes, seven possibly but not 10. I think that Steven Moffat has shown in the current series of Doctor Who how you pad something well. That said I hope that Torchwood comes back for another US/UK series because I get the feeling that all the flaws with this series (and there are many) would get ironed out. Roll on Series 5.

The God Complex (2011)

The God Complex continues the impressive run of stories in this second half of the 32nd series. The story is written by Toby Whithouse and is set in a hotel with a difference. Every room has a fear of the people we meet (including the Doctor). Whilst this is going on there is a strange creature roaming around and before people get killed they say “praise him”. The story is a very creepy one and within the first 10 minutes I had come to the conclusion that this episode was going to be completely off the madness scale. The room of those dolls all turning their heads was quite a spooky moment but that was just the start of it. The idea of a hotel where every room holds a horrible thing in it something that is believeable credit has to go to Whithouse for what he has managed to accomplish in such as short space of time. It’s quite clear that the budget cuts that the show has had to take on board are having an effect but its not getting in the way of a good story being told and in fact is actually a positive because it means that people have to be more creative than if they had money to through at something.

The regulars do their usual good stuff and whilst Karen Gillan wasn’t on the same level as she was in the previous episode, she was very good. Arthur Darvil was quite serious at times during this episode and gave the first hint of Rory’s desire to leave the TARDIS. A departure is always good when the its laid out for the audience in advance. Matt Smith is good and seems to be enjoying himself throughout which is never a bad thing. The supporting cast is really strong and the most noticeable name in it was that of Mr David Walliams who as this episode was being transmitted was getting over having spend 8 days swimming in sewage infested Thames. Had he spent longer in it then he would have looked like his character Gibbis who is a cowardly alien and at one point I thought it was going to be revealed that his gentle guy image was all an act but it didn’t happen. Walliams gets all the funny lines and comes as a bit of light relief to the heavily dour story. The rest of the human guests were all very good and in another instance where there is such a small number of characters its amazing how strong the performances were.

When the Doctor opens the door to his room (rather amusingly numbered 11) we hear the cloister bell but we don’t actually see what he sees so it’s clear that we will find out about this in two episodes time. The story has a theme about faith and fear and its this sort of drama that is interesting. The bit where the Doctor tries to break Amy’s faith in him is taken from the bit in ‘The Curse of Fenric’ which sees the Doctor try to brake Ace’s faith in him. There was a lot of stuff in here for long time fans. There was a link to the Horns of Nimon which is quite odd because I don’t think the Horns of Nimon is a particular fan favourite but hey this creature looks more scary than the joke Nimon that we had in the 1980 story. But as the story reaches its conclusion we are told to change our opinion from seeing the creature as a baddy but to a hurt soul who is effectively freed by the fact that the Doctor makes Amy lose her faith. The final scene started off like a scene from Tron but it was another informative scene that was well played by all concerned. Walliams almost stole the scene with his brief line.

The God Complex is another solid story that was high on tension and low on stupidity. Unlike Torchwood, the padding in these episodes is distincivley less noticeable during the episode and is also done better. I think that The God Complex shows that you don’t have to spend hundred of thousands of pounds to get a good story. All you need is a great writer, some good actors and a director who can get a handle on the material. Everything else is less important. Only thing that spoilt this episode was in the ‘Next Time’ trailer we saw a clip with James ‘unfunny’ Corden. Boooo!

Short Trips - Volume IV (2011)

The final Short Trips volume comes in the same month as Recorded Time and Other Stories which was a collection of stories. Ok so they were full cast stories but still it’s this is another release made up of multiple stories. Like the previous three volumes all these stories are written largely by new authors which is something that I approve of. The thing that has remained consistant is that there has been a wide variation in terms of quality because when they are good they are really good and when they are not then they are poor. I wondered what we would get this time.

The first story is A Star is Born by Richard Dinnick and to be honest this story doesn’t get the fourth volume off to a great start. I like William Russell and I could listen to him for hours (and do with the Target Audios) but I found this story slightly difficult to follow and with a running time of nearly 25 minutes I thought it was almost 10 minutes too long. The beginning of it was quite interesting and the idea that someone left their home planet many years ago does echo ‘The Ark’ but then the story starts to get unstuck and ultimately I didn’t like this story very much. Then we move onto the Second Doctor story which is Penny Wise, Penny Foolish by Foster Marks which is about this guy who is mining and is buying planets so that he can fulfil an order to allow him to make money so he can buy more planets and do the whole thing again. It was a very interesting and more importantly enjoyable adventure which was short and snappy and was also pretty straightforward.

The third Doctor story is Lost in the Wakefield Triangle by the wonderfully named Vin Marsden Hendrick. It sees an alien race try to invade a garden shed. Yes, only in Doctor Who would a shed being used in such a way. To be honest I found myself liking this story very much. It was read brilliantly by Katy Manning who has a voice that like William Russell’s I could read for hours. It is also one of those stories that are quite snappy and also easy to follow. In the end the farmer and the rhubarb shaped alien come to a deal and a nice little business deal is started. A fun story that continues the positive progression of stories. The fourth story is The Old Rogue by John Grindrod and sees the Doctor and Romana visit a man that is working in a café. It’s sort of a prison but it’s a normal everyday café. This story is read brilliantly and whilst I didn’t find it as straight forward as the previous stories it was still another highly enjoyable adventure. For me the funniest thing that the thought that K9 was outside of the café and was attacking the youths outside and setting fire to their football.

The fifth story is quite an interesting one an and uses a famous landmark in Lions of Trafalgar by Jason Arnopp and its good because it’s a familiar landmark and sits it right in the middle of a sci-fi story. It’s actually quite a good story with quite a good basis for a story but what I found surprising about this story was Peter Davison. I sometimes find his reading to be a bit uninspiring. Unless the story is very good it means that I often find the story harder to follow.

But the sixth story written by Cindy Garland is my favourite Short Trip story out of all four volumes. In To Cut a Blade of Grass there is a mystery about what connects the Doctor and an old man being visited by his daughter. It seems that nothing major is going to happen and then what we learn is that the Doctor has been taking the old man into the future to see what his daughter will become. I thought it was beautifully told and I could easily heard this as a 30 minute story. It was superbly read by Colin Baker and obviously is my favourite story of this volume. The penultimate adventure is The Shadow Trader by Charles William. Now the opening scene describes what the shadow was and it was all a bit of a mystery to me. It wasn’t until later on that I understood what it was and the rest of the story made sense. It was a nice story.

The final story was Quntum Heresy by Avril Naude. It sees a woman who is working in a bland position who is visited by the Doctor over and over again. The Doctor is stuck in a time-loop and is getting older with every visit. I thought that this was a fine story that didn’t seem like much to begin with but soon became interesting and this was a great way to end this release. I think that this was the best of the Eighth Doctor adventures.

Overall this volume was a relatively good one. There were more good/better stories than terrible ones but I do think that overall the four volumes have been quite an interesting experiment. I never read the books and think that having such inconsistent durations for stories (ranging from 10 minutes to 25) does have its advantages but more often than not its disadvantages. If there are to be more volumes in the future (as of now there is now official word) then I would hope that they reduce the number of Doctors and have longer stories (I know their suppose to be short but I think 4 x 20 minute adventures would be better).

The Gathering (2011)

The penultimate episode is the best that there has been for quite some time. The story takes place primarily in Wales and that makes this episode the most British that it has been. The episode did something that I wasn’t expecting which was to move the story along two months. I think because at the end of the previous episode it was looking quite grim for Captain Jack who had been shot and was looking pretty ropey. When we return to Jack he and Esther are holed up in some room still on the run. The worldwide situation continues to focus on the financial meltdown which still seems relevant today (but I wonder how poignant it will seem in 25 years!). Rex is now back in the bosom of the CIA so it means that the various plot strands can continue.

With Gwen booted out of the US it means that she has to go back and live with her mom who is still looking after her category 1 Dad and that is where some of the best tension comes from because the authorities are after the Dad and he has been dumped in a small hidden room and has to remain hidden whilst the evil man and whilst he was searching for the dad there was a moment of whether he would be found but thankfully he didn’t. When the story moves to America and in the CIA that was good because firstly we get to see more John De Lancie who has been a superb piece of casting and secondly because we get a bit of the 24 vibe in the story because in the workplace there is someone who is pretending to be on the side of good but in secret is working for the opposition. I did think this was a bit of 24 but to be honest I thought it was a nice thing.

Bill Pullman is as usual brilliant in this episode but due to the strong performances from everyone he doesn’t steal the show. It was good how he finally got to be in the UK and interact with other members apart from just John Barrowman. I did think that John Barrowman was on good form as was Mekhi Phifer and Alexa Havins. But this was Eve Myles’ best episode for quite sometime. Despite it being a family episode it was done very well and Eve Myles does very well. She does have a tendancy to go overboard on the family defence thing and becomes unlikeable but in this episode she found the right balance. Another big name that debuts is Frances Fisher who plays Mother and appears at the end when she greets Jilly/Lucy. Fisher has appeared in stuff like Titantic, Unforgiven and The X-Files, she is very good in her brief appearance. The casting in this season has been superb and its been one of the benefits of this UK/US co-production.

The moment when it revealed that the logo of PhiCorp is pretty much like the direct line between Shangai and Buenos Aires was brilliant. I thought it was a very clever thing and it was the sort of stunt that RTD was pulling when he was running Doctor Who. This is the first time in this series it felt like the old RTD. I just think it was a bit of a let down when it was Rhys that put the pieces together and told all the ‘smart’ people about the link.

The thing about this part of the series is that the loose ends have to tied up and the PhiCorp story seems to be going off in a strange way because Jilly has gone and has become Lucy Statten Meredith. When she arrives in Shangai she meets some bloke ad it seems like its going to be a deep and important scene but felt rather throw away.
The moment that Jilly arrives in Shangai and sees the blessing was a weird moment because I don’t know what to make of it. It looked like some blocks of meat with bits falling off and going into the black. I hope that this is resolved in the final episode because it doesn’t quite sit right with me and needs some explanation to make sense. I did like the bit with As an episode it is another strong episode and sets up the final episode brilliantly.

The Girl Who Waited (2011)

After the really enjoyable Night Terrors, I was wondering what this one would bring. It was called The Girl Who Waited which is a phrase that has been used several times since the Matt Smith era began. This story has been written by Tom McRae who’s previous story was the ‘Rise of the Cybermen/Age of Steel’ two-parter from 2006. It was clear that this was going to be Amy’s episode and the first five or six minutes was a fabulous opening scene where the Doctor and Rory press the green button to go into a room. Now it was obvious to a blind spielsnake what was going to happen next and to be honest its my only real niggle with this episode. So when Amy presses the button she presses the red button and in a quite clever plot idea when Rory leaves the Doctor and presses the red button to get Amy she isnt there. The plot of this story is essentially that the Doctor and Rory try and rescue Amy. That’s it. As simple plots go its quite basic but so is The Aztecs and I love that story. A simple story just means that you can enjoy the acting.

I liked the idea that 36 years has past and the Amy that Rory finds is very different to the one he knew in more ways than one. She is emotionally damaged and hates the Doctor because she thought he was going to get her. This means that when the older Amy has to sacrifice herself for her earlier Amy she refuses. This extends the story a bit longer. I think that the sets were very striking including the garden that Amy walks into at the beginning. The hedges were a bit mad but generally it looked very beautiful. I also thought that the pure plain white walls were a good idea but must have been a nightmare to keep clean because when the TARDIS appears in the white room it really shows the blueness of the TARDIS and makes it look beautiful which isnt something that is sad very often.

Karen Gillan is brilliant in this episode. It’s almost hard to imagine that it’s the same actress playing both versions of Amy. She has been very good since she debuted last year and there are several brilliant moments with Gillan. One is where old Amy and young Amy have a conversation and it’s a very well performed. Another is when old Amy is trying to force her way onto the TARDIS and Rory is about to let her in but old Amy doesn’t want him to let her in which I thought was just a very grim moment and it’s helped by Arthur Darvill with a great big tear drop on the end of his nose.

Matt Smith almost takes a back seat in this episode as he exiles himself to the TARDIS because he slips a line in about not been able to regenerate. I think that due to the emotional stuff going on between Gillan and Darvill that Smith isnt really required to do very much apart from do all the science stuff. I thought that he was good in what he had to do but this wasn’t the episode where he drove the narrative.

There was one funny moment when the Mona Lisa was smashed over a droids head and I wondered if it has “THIS IS A FAKE” written on it. The Girl Who Waited is a perfectly fine story which balances the fine line between brilliant and over complicated. At times it’s a very grim story that makes one of the characters we are interested in make a decision about someone they love. It feels like they pack a lot of story in 45 minutes and its considering it’s just the regular characters that are physically there and they do a fantastic job of holding together. This second half of the series is by far the better half and with just three episodes left it’s my second favourite episode so far.

Night Terrors (2011)

Mark Gatiss returns to Doctor Who. The former League of Gentleman’s writing track record has been very good. His first story ‘The Unquiet Dead’ was in my opinion one of Christopher Eccleston’s best stories (I may be alone on that one) and then he wrote the David Tennant story ‘The Idiot’s Lantern’ and his most recent ‘Victory of the Daleks’ was a nice story but wasn’t on par with his first. So the story is basically a cheap episode. The thing that I love about this episode is that its very light on visual effects. The story instead relies on the plot itself. The point is that a little boy is scared and everything that he is scared of is put inside a wardrobe. Now the first thing that came to mind was why don’t they just move. The Doctor pretends to be a social worker to get close to the family with Dad (played by Daniel Mays). Whilst the Doctor is being a social worker, Rory and Amy are separated from the Doctor and are pulled into a weird world which as it turns out is a dolls house.

The performances were all very good in this with the little boy (Jamie Oram) who doesn’t say much but is so good that he doesn’t have to. The story is centred around him and whilst his loud breathing did get on my nerves towards the end. I was also impressed with Daniel Mays. I think that he’s a very good actor and I still think of him in Ashes to Ashes but he has been in other things obviously. He is believeable as a worried dad but it turns out that he is the one that can save the day by just making George feel loved and wanted. Matt Smith was on good form as he switched between serious and comedy several time during this episode. I did like the Snow White and the Seven Keys to Doomsday joke which me and my friends did chuckle at when we heard it. I also thought that Arthur Darvill and Karen Gillan put in fine performances. Though I do think the moment when Rory and Amy are suppose to run past the peg dolls and Amy gets caught was a little feeble. Apart from that the regular performances were very good.

The story boasts very few characters but what they lack in numbers they make up for in performances.. Apart from the regulars there are just five other characters and one of those only appears briefly at the beginning and at the end). The landlord (Andrew Tiernan) was very unlikeable and was pretty much your standard horrible landlord and when he was sucked through the floor I was glad and then when he was turned into a doll it was even better. I was disappointed when he was back to normal though did like the bit where he hugs his dog, thus showing his nice side. The other guest character is the old lady (Mrs Rossiter) gets pulled through some bin bags. She seemed a nice lady and did her part in the dolls house very well.

The dolls were very creepy as was the transformation of humans to dolls. The time that Amy was turned into a doll was a very good moment because it seemed natural and by that I mean there wasn’t any computer imagery like there would be with a regeneration. The effect was helped out by the fact that it was constantly dark. Remember when listening to the commentaries of classic Doctor Who stories (especially the Peter Davison ones) and they go on about how bright it was. Well you cant argue that with this story. It’s quite dark for most of the episode. Despite having seen the dolls in the trailers and pictures of various websites, they still look scary. I think that Doctor Who works best when its simple. There is no sense of any effects which is why it works better than if there was CGI.

It’s a fantastic episode and one of my favourites of this series so far. According to some websites this was suppose to be episode four and it was moved to the second half of the series. I don’t know whether this is true or not but I’m glad they left it until now. Mark Gatiss seems to have a knack for writing solid Doctor Who stories and hopefully he will take time from Sherlock and write another adventure. As it stands this second half of the series looks like it will be better than the first half.

End of the Road (2011)

After the truly awful Immortal Sins which still bothers me to this day. I tuned into this weeks episode with the wish that it would be better than the previous episode but to be honest it wouldn’t be hard. Now the previous episode spent the entire episode laying down the groundwork about how this Angelo that Jack was getting close to was the one that could answer everything about this miracle. Well getting into this episode we go to where Angelo is and he was unconscious and almost dying. Well I’m certainly glad that I sat through all that c**p to get through to this moment to be effectively told that the person who could know what’s going on wont say a word. In fact won’t even open his eyes. Thankyou RTD for confirming what I have suspected for weeks. That you are trying to kill your creation by filling it with as much BS as it is possible for people to take over 10 weeks. The only thing of worth that he did was die which being a show where you can’t die is quite a big thing yet it is dealt with in a rather odd thing.

Once you get past the rather hap hazard way that the story starts then you can get into the episode properly. Wayne Knight returns which was fun and all through his time he was thoroughly brilliant and it seemed like he was going to be quite involved with the episode but then he decided to blow himself (and others) up. So his involvement (like Angelo’s) was limited at best. We were thankfully saved by the story which is a lot better than the previous week and doesn’t feel like padding as much. The concern moves from people running out of food as they were at the beginning of the series to the stock market and how they are all poo pooing themselves. It seems the natural progression and seems quite fitting considering the economical uncertainty at the moment. There seems to be a 24 theme entering the show. With the CIA returning to feature more prominently than they have done it means we have a character in the CIA that turns out to be working against everyone trying to do their job. I know that this isnt original and it was probably done before 24 but I have to say that it adds that much needed injection of drama which will hopefully not be abandoned in the final two episodes because the actress that was involved did a darn good job.

This episode finally sees the return of Bill Pullman. I was over the moon to see him back because I knew that we were going to be treated to some wonderful scenes and he didn’t disappoint. The relationship between Oswald Danes and Jilly Kitzinger has always been strained but this time it broke down as Oswald struck Jilly and this comes after a strangely uncomfortable scene where Oswald wants a girl who’s “legal”. Bill Pullman does a brilliant job in this episode however for the first time I find myself writing that he doesn’t steal the show in an episode that he’s in. That particular honour belongs to John De Lancie who to many was Q in Star Trek: The Next Generation. In every scene he was brilliant and did the ultimate good thing by kicking Gwen out of America and pretty much out of the good side of the story.

The ending of the episode was very well played because Jack has been shot in quite a serious way and its left to Esther to cry and wonder what’s going to do next. I have to say that despite how cross I was that they basically wiped out the meaning of Angelo, I was still impressed with this episode and thought it was more like Torchwood than we have had for a couple of weeks. Hopefully the final two episodes will give us a satisfactory conclusion but I’m not going to build up hope. Ultimately when the story was on Jack, Rex and Oswald I was enjoying myself, when it was on Gwen, I was enjoying myself less. Now she is back to Wales this means that she can do more bleating on about her Dad and bore us to tears. Joy!