The Entropy Plague (2015)

The Entropy Plague is the final story of this series which has been very hit and miss. I thought that Mistfall was highly enjoyable and yet Equlalibrium totally missed the mark so I was hoping that this story would end the series on a high note and whilst not as good as Mistfall it was far better than Equilibrium. This is a story that has been several years in the making and so this story had more riding on it than most series finale’s.

One of the things that I like about this story is that it is high on action and high on drama. The thing that Jonathan Morris can do really well write a story that utilises characters really well and engages them in a story which feels like it could be used on the TV. I like that Nyssa’s child Adric has been bought back and Morris utilises the flashback plot device that has become famous due to shows like Lost but unlike Lost, this story has an ending that makes sense. Morris always has one (narrative) eye on the regulars and the other on the story and each episode sees one regular telling Adric the story and its hard to think of many writers that would take this creative approach.  

The story sees the TARDIS land on Apollyon which is in a weird state at the beginning of the story because entropy is going to cause the end of the world but people are either trying to escape or party. The only way to escape is via a portal and it can only be opened via a human sacrifice which is a rather grim idea. What makes the idea even grimmer is that Tegan is going to be used as the sacrifice.

With the story being light of positive vibes, the performances are appropriately downbeat. I thought that all the performances were very good and in particular Peter Davison.  

The Entropy Plague is one of the best Fifth Doctor stories for quite sometime. Jonathan Morris is on fine form and he has written a story that has a lot going on and not only does the story get wrapped up in a proper way but the series is wrapped up in the same way and my confidence in the range is back at its usual high after the wobble of the previous story. There is just one question that still remains which Morris has in a way created and that is just where does this Doctor/Companion combination go because it would be nice if future stories with this combination aren’t tied to this story arc that we have had. It would be nice to have a more familiar Nyssa as opposed to the older Nyssa that we have had all this time.