War Against The Laan (2013)

The conclusion to The Sands of Time. I found that it was enjoyable and it was clear that it was going to be in this story that it would be judged. The story sees the Doctor and Romana try to stop ruthless businessman Cuthbert. Cuthbert wants revenge on the Laan and this looks like it’s going to a new space-war. The Romana connection with the Laan was something that I liked about the previous stories and thought that it was used even better in this story. We all know that timelords can communicate using their minds and it means that Romana gets something to do with is a bit different from her normal adventures.

I liked the scene where the Doctor tries to talk convince Moorkurk to stop Cuthbert’s plans when she refuses there is a nice speech where the Doctor thought that she wanted to do good not just protect her image. It’s a lovely moment. Even at the end when in any other story Cuthbert would be thrown in prison, Briggs continues with maintaining that Moorkurk would be finished politically if she were to get rid of him.

Whilst I liked the Laan, I must admit that I cant see there being much push for a return. They seem quite a likeable creature but there’s nothing more to them than their rather destructive way of giving birth. It wasn’t the Laan that made this story what it was, it was the conflict between Cuthbert and Moorburk. It all comes down to the fact that the Laan have got the wrong planet. Whilst at first it might seem like a slightly flimsy cop-out, I actually thought that it worked and was a perfectly fine plot point. I thought that it was a bit silly but I liked the story so much at that point and liked the characters so much that I forgave the story for doing that and liked the reaction of both the Laan and Cuthbert.

Having just seen David Warner in ‘Cold War’ opposite Matt Smith’s Doctor, it was fun to hear Warner who continues to entertain and make a really loathsome character just that little bit likeable in a way that only David Warner could pull off. Hayley Atwell is good as the Earth president. I think of Vera Fusek’s President in ‘Frontier in Space’ and think that female Earth president do tend to get hampered by people around her and Atwell does a good job in being someone who wants to do good but has had to (politically speaking) get into bed with people she would rather not have done so with. As for the central performances, both Tom Baker and Mary Tamm give good performances and it seems like Tom Baker is enjoying himself whilst Mary Tamm thrives with having more to do. Her final series is shaping up to be a fitting tribute to her.

It’s a perfectly fine Nicholas Briggs’ script and whilst it’s not a classic from Briggs, it certainly tells a very good story and whilst it’s not up there with The Nowhere Place but there it was certainly a lot to like in this story and as a two parter it has a lot of good dialogue and great characters and after I had finished I thought it continues the good run of fourth doctor adventures.