I have a bit of an issue with Liz Shaw stories because I can’t say that I have been totally bowled over by them. There are things that I like and always happy that Caroline John gets a story but after the last story (The Sentinels of the New Dawn) I was slightly weary when I knew there was a Liz Shaw story coming along. However my dread disappeared when I realised that this Companion Chronicle wouldn’t be like previous stories from this release as it doesn’t have any linking narration and its happening. Pretty much like a main range release but with just a couple of actors. Eddie Robson has written this story and his recent track record hasn’t been quite as strong as when it started. Recently he wrote Prisoner of the Sun (2011) which I really didn’t like and before just after that was Industrial Evolution which wasn’t a great story. However I approached this story with an open mind. Liz Shaw is on the verge of leaving UNIT but will stay and sort out a machine which was been kept hidden from the Doctor.
The story takes the nice direction of being set inside a computer which lets be honest is always going to be an interesting concept providing its done properly. There is a wonderful sense of how new computers were to the likes of Liz Shaw in 1970 and the idea that computers could take up entire rooms is only something that seems strange nowadays when you can surf the internet on something the size of your hand. The story does its best to make sense however at the halfway mark I started to lose track of what was going on and it was only a brief explanation towards the end that redeemed it for me. One thing I did like was how there seemed to be something forming a satisfactory reason why Liz left the Doctor, how she felt she wasn’t been utilised enough and by the end she had performed a u-turn and decided to stay however there is no way of us knowing how many more adventures there are before she does eventually leave the Doctor for good. Hopefully further adventures will go into this area. I also liked how it seemed to be a bit like the very first set of Companion Chronicles where we don’t have the Doctor. There are some moments when the Doctor is typing something but he’s not physically involved in the story and I did like that as it was Liz’s story.
It’s always great to hear Caroline John in these plays as she voices it exactly as Liz sounded back in 1970. I like how she makes her performance seem effortless and how in the interviews she seems to be enjoying herself. As the two ‘supporting cast’ members I thought that both Joe Coen (Childs) and Kyle Redmond-Jones (James Foster) do their best to help give Caroline John someone to act against however they do just enough to allow John to shine as the lead star.
Whilst its not my favourite Companion Chronicle it isn’t the worst. I think that there are interesting things that are going on and Caroline John is very good throughout but I cant deny that I just didn’t connect with this story and it may be me or it may be this story. I do think that this is a partial return to form for Eddie Robson and Lisa Bowerman does her usual high standard. She has directed at least 75% of these stories and she has a knack of making each story feel different. It’s certainly better than Sentinels of the New Dawn but I still think that Blue Tooth remains the best Liz Shaw story.
The story takes the nice direction of being set inside a computer which lets be honest is always going to be an interesting concept providing its done properly. There is a wonderful sense of how new computers were to the likes of Liz Shaw in 1970 and the idea that computers could take up entire rooms is only something that seems strange nowadays when you can surf the internet on something the size of your hand. The story does its best to make sense however at the halfway mark I started to lose track of what was going on and it was only a brief explanation towards the end that redeemed it for me. One thing I did like was how there seemed to be something forming a satisfactory reason why Liz left the Doctor, how she felt she wasn’t been utilised enough and by the end she had performed a u-turn and decided to stay however there is no way of us knowing how many more adventures there are before she does eventually leave the Doctor for good. Hopefully further adventures will go into this area. I also liked how it seemed to be a bit like the very first set of Companion Chronicles where we don’t have the Doctor. There are some moments when the Doctor is typing something but he’s not physically involved in the story and I did like that as it was Liz’s story.
It’s always great to hear Caroline John in these plays as she voices it exactly as Liz sounded back in 1970. I like how she makes her performance seem effortless and how in the interviews she seems to be enjoying herself. As the two ‘supporting cast’ members I thought that both Joe Coen (Childs) and Kyle Redmond-Jones (James Foster) do their best to help give Caroline John someone to act against however they do just enough to allow John to shine as the lead star.
Whilst its not my favourite Companion Chronicle it isn’t the worst. I think that there are interesting things that are going on and Caroline John is very good throughout but I cant deny that I just didn’t connect with this story and it may be me or it may be this story. I do think that this is a partial return to form for Eddie Robson and Lisa Bowerman does her usual high standard. She has directed at least 75% of these stories and she has a knack of making each story feel different. It’s certainly better than Sentinels of the New Dawn but I still think that Blue Tooth remains the best Liz Shaw story.
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