Changes Everything review [James Goss]

I think that the sign of a real fan is the ability to enjoy a show whilst still being able to make fun and criticise it. I absolutely adore Torchwood and can readily admit that a significant portion of the first two series was substandard TV, sometimes with good ideas but ruined by juvenile humour, trying way too hard to be "adult" and horrible character choices (looking at you, Gwen and Owen) making for a group of unlikeable characters engaging in unsubtle and silly stories.

Let me reiterate that I absolutely adore the show, because despite its faults it managed to produce some stellar television that was touching, sophisticated and really down-to-earth. It hit its stride with the last few episodes of series 2 and produced the extraordinary Children of Earth and epic (if stretched) Miracle Day. It is such a shame that the show ended when it had really found itself. Thank God for Big Finish.

The New Torchwood

This is a fresh start for Torchwood and its name (a play on the first episode, Everything Changes) invites comparison to the earliest episodes of the show. Just as was done with the soft reboot of Miracle Day, we're introduced to new characters. Don't worry - they're better than Rex and Esther.

We're introduced to Tyler Steele, an overconfident and sexually-charged journalist looking to redeem his career after being disgraced. We are reintroduced to Torchwood Cardiff through his eyes just as we first met the group through Gwen. Tyler can be thought of as an anti-Gwen - whilst she was supposed to be the heart of the show (we'll ignore her disgusting affair with Owen and shameful pining for Jack), Tyler is a dick. And he works perfectly. He's the sort of person you would hate to know in real life but makes for a good flawed protagonist in that he's open and accessible in a way that Dr Owen Harper was rarely allowed to be onscreen.

We don't see as much of Mr Colchester, but he's fine. An old civil servant is just the sort of character that can shake up the dynamic of Torchwood and admonish any of the other members for engaging in the sexual immorality they all got up to early in the show. He's gay, which makes me wonder if Owen the only straight man to ever work for the organisation and what it is about being LGBT that attracts you to alien-fighting.

As for the oldies, Jack has, thankfully, not completely reverted back to the cold and inhuman leader that he so often was for the first two series and is written somewhere between that and the more relatable and likeable Jack of Children of Earth and Miracle Day. He's having sex, standing on roofs overlooking Cardiff and fighting aliens - what more could you want from him?

It's a shame that Eve Myles's role in Aliens Among Us is practically non-existent, but Alexandria Riley makes a very good Gwen Cooper. They sound enough alike that it's very easy to imagine her as Gwen rather than as an impressionist or stand-in. My initial reaction to the reveal at the end that Riley has been playing Gwen made me very worried that Gwen had been recast, so I was very pleased to learn what we do in future stories.

The Plot

Children of Earth began just before the 456 stopped all of the children. Miracle Day began with the Miracle. Aliens Among Us starts much later than both of these series, with Cardiff long since having been taken over by aliens. We're introduced to controversial and relevant issues like racism, immigration and refugees. It's an interesting approach that fills us with questions - who's taken over, how and why? It's a far looser arc than the aforementioned series but these questions are, of course, answered as it plays out.

Changes Everything can't just introduce the arc, though. It has to have its own self-contained story to avoid being forgettable and as more of a prologue than an actual story, much like Everything Changes was. (The story just wasn't all that good and we really didn't get to know Suzie well enough.) We have Tyler's attempted assassination at the beginning of the story, reintroducing Torchwood and learning about what's happened in Cardiff and then discovering and stopping the would-be assassin before a sad ending where Tyler is rejected by Torchwood.

A Good Quotation

"Tyler Steele, keep yourself in shape?" 

"Yeah."

"Weights or cardio?"

"Hot yoga and crossfit."

"A bit London but it'll have to do."

This Reminds Me...

Didn't we get pretty much the same Gwen driving scene in More Than This? Not that I'm complaining.

I'll Explain Later

How come Tyler doubts the existence of aliens? Has he never been in London at Christmas? Did the 456 incident and the Miracle pass him by? I know the Miracle wasn't alien but you'd think it would open people's minds a bit.

The Judgement

Is this a story that will set your world on fire? No, of course not, but it's a great start for Aliens Among Us, introducing us to an intriguing post-Miracle Cardiff and a brand new Torchwood that's had its base blown up and that's matured greatly before returning. This is the type of story that Everything Changes should have been. Long live Torchwood! B

The Trial of a Time Machine review [Andy Lane]

We've had the Doctor sit before a court in Trial of a Time Lord. We've had the Valeyard switch from the prosecutor's chair to the defendant's in Trial of the Valeyard. We've had Romana sit before the Inquisitor in The Inquiry. Continuing the theme of anything Gallifreyan facing legal action, The Seventh Doctor: The New Adventures begins with The Trial of a Time Machine. Now we're just waiting on The Summary Hearing of Susan Foreman.

The Doctor's Case
The TARDIS being on trial is a novel idea and arguably the main draw of this box set, aside from seeing original Big Finish stories with Chris and Roz. After all, how can a box be put on trial? The answer is that the people of Thrantas believe that, given that the ship has some sentience, it's responsible for its actions. Unlike in Trial of a Time Lord and Trial of the Valeyard, the actual hearing itself isn't the main nor the most interesting part of the story.

What the trial does allow for is some understated exploration of the Doctor's relationship with the TARDIS. It's something we've seen a lot more of in the modern series (especially Eleventh with The Doctor's Wife) but very little with the classic Doctors beyond Sixth and Eighth referring to it as "Old Girl". Here we get a fascinating idea - given that the TARDIS has sentience, has the Doctor enslaved it by stealing it from Gallifrey and flying away? It's something that he worries about in a particularly poignant moment at the end of the story. You'd be forgiven for thinking that Big Finish had run out of new ideas and facets to show of the "old" Doctors but this isn't the case. This might be one of my favourite Seventh moments despite how subtle and short it is. His pained reaction to the TARDIS's sentence is another standout moment.

The cancelled novel adaptations range was cancelled for lack of an adequate number of sales, so it seems a number of listeners might not be too aware of companions Chris Cwej and Roz Forrester. My only exposure to them so far has been Cold Fusion. The story wisely gives them a reintroduction, letting us know their background as law enforcers through natural and believable dialogue rather than espousing exposition. They clearly haven't been travelling with the Doctor for long given that he's almost training them, getting them to assess where they've landed based on what they can see.

The story begins with an intelligent but uncomplicated discussion on the nature of law and universal truths, which I (a third year law student with an interest in legal theory) wasn't expecting and thoroughly enjoyed. We also get criticism of black letter law that doesn't account for different circumstances or how harmful an act actually is to society in the short- and long-term. In fact, acts on Thrantas may or may not be a crime depending on the impact it has on the public.

Again, you might think that we'd run out of things to learn about the Doctor but clearly that isn't the case - he believes that what is right and what is wrong is dependent on where you are and what the norms are there. It would have been easy (and dull) for the Doctor to say that there is inherent black-and-white morality but instead Lane goes for something arguably more controversial. Perhaps I'm reading into this too much.

The Valeyard's Case
The nature of law and ethics was my favourite part of this story and I was looking forward to seeing what was going to happen to Thrantas after the Magistrum was released... but we didn't get any of that. Has the Doctor destroyed justice on Thrantas? We have no idea, which is a huge shame and an unfortunate consequence of this being a fifty minute story rather than a Main Range release. For that matter, perhaps I missed something but I have no idea what the TARDIS was trying to teach the crew.

Chris and Roz might be given a soft reintroduction but the scenes with them off on their own are easily the weakest of the story. The plot just isn't all that interesting and, if this is to present Chris and Roz for a wider audience after the unfortunate failure of the novel adaptations, we could have done with them taking a larger role that shows them in a more dynamic light. This is nitpicking, though.

Not a gripe with this story per se but what was wrong with Seventh's TV theme? Why did they make a new one for the novel adaptations?

I'll Explain Later

• The Doctor says that the TARDIS is incapable of communication. However, not only have we seen it communicate through beeps and boops in Clara and the TARDIS, but it's used a voice interface in Zagreus (as the Brigadier), Let's Kill Hitler (as Amy) and Hide (as Clara).

The Inquisitor's Judgement
A weird idea plus interesting things to say is a perfect recipe for Doctor Who and a decent start to this volume. The discussion of legal theory and the Doctor's worry that he's enslaved the TARDIS are standout themes, but the fifty minute format means that the ending feels somewhat rushed and the question of whether or not the Doctor was right to free the Magistrum is never brought up. Still, this is a good story and earns itself a B.

The Seventh Doctor: The New Adventures - Volume 1

The Trial of a Time Machine  |  Vanguard  |  The Jabari Countdown  |  The Dread of Night

Gifted review [Roy Gill]

When a talent scout arrives in Shoreditch, Ram sees an opportunity to further his goals, whilst April strikes up a friendship with new boy, Thomas Laneford. Their choices draw all three to Carterhaugh House – but who is the mysterious Mab that waits for them there...?

When?: Ram and April are together, so this takes place between Co-Owner of a Lonely Heart and The Lost. It's 2016.

The Doctor's Case:

• A Good Quotation:
• "I've got all the grace of a drunk hyena."
• "She even took my phone. Do you know how dull it is just sitting?"
• The April-Ram relationship was an extraordinarily weak part of the TV show. It was difficult to buy into the impassioned love-making of Co-Owner of a Lonely Heart and the relationship that followed with Ram being unlikeable and April being boring. There seemed no reason at all that these two characters would like each other and they had next-to-no chemistry during their solo adventure in Brave-ish Heart. That's where Big Finish comes in, restoring the intelligence that April had early on in the show before it was sacrificed for Tanya's genius (a fourteen year old hacking Kate Stewart's UNIT?) whilst jettisoning the silly heart-sharing device and smoothing out Ram's edges a little and showing some kindness to Tom. They tease one another.
• Mysterious and unusual new kid at school is a tried and tested trope that was inevitably going to be used at some point in Class. Rhys Isaac-Jones's Tom is a sympathetic and likeable enough character that shares an interesting relationship with April, quickly bonding with her over poetry. I choose to believe that the reveal that he's from 1967 isn't supposed to be a twist because it was far too obvious.

The Valeyard's Case:

• A Bad Quotation:
• "Don't you recognise class when you see it?"
• Sophie Hopkins starts off sounding a little awkward and uncomfortable with the audio format.

Roll of Honours: Tom is aged by Mab and then killed by her using vines.

I'll Explain Later:

• Were Ram and April ever this close in the TV show?
  
  

This Reminds Me...:

• April says "just biscuits", a line delivered by a Russian lady in Thin Ice that I quote a lot in what I like to believe is a good impression.
• Deirdre Mullins previously played Effenish in The Very Dark Thing, Naomi Davies in Charlotte Pollard: Series 2 and Osen in Beneath the Viscoid.

The Inquisitor's Judgement: I will never pretend that I was a fan of Class. I watched it out of loyalty to Doctor Who and a fondness for Katherine Kelly and I never looked forward to watching it. The Metaphysical Engine, or What Quill Did was definitely the best episode and the only characters I had any fondness for were Matteusz, Ram and Quill, although the latter two could frequently be unpleasant. However, I bought both volumes of Class: The Audio Adventures because I have faith that Big Finish can take the ideas and characters from the flawed show, streamline them and colour them in and make a decent audio series. My optimism was, as I expected, well-founded with even April being a believable and interesting character rather than the sword-wielding cipher from the show. Like with the Torchwood Main Range, the characters are given time to shine and develop by limiting the number in a story and letting them share some chemistry. There's a solid plot, some great characterisation and a memorable villain. The Audio Adventures is looking like it might be Class's Children of Earth. Gifted is good and earns itself a B.

Class: The Audio Adventures - Volume 1

Gifted  |  Life Experiences  |  Tell Me You Love Me

The Krotons review [Robert Holmes]

Robert Holmes is often considered Doctor Who royalty, by the fans and the crew (including Eric Saward) alike. Spearhead from Space, The Talons of Weng-Chiang, The Caves of Androzani... This man wrote stories consistently ranked in the upper echelons of classic Doctor Who stories. The Krotons was his first script, originally submitted as an independent, non-Doctor Who script. Let's see how it was and if it shows the greatness that was to follow...

When and Where: The Krotons is set on the planet of the Gonds in a binary sun system. For the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe, this is at some point after The Isos Network, itself a few days after The Invasion.

The Doctor's Case:

• A Good Quotation:
• "Yes, well, Zoe is something of a genius. Of course, it can be very irritating at times."
• "Great jumping gobstoppers, what's that?"
• "Now go away and don't fuss me. No, come back. What's this? It's all right, I know."
• "We only know what the Krotons tell us. We don't think. We obey."
• The Second Doctor, Jamie and Zoe are a trio that I don't see enough praise for. The characterisation of each of them is just perfect, with each having a distinct relationship with one another. It's more like Ninth, Rose and Jack than Eleventh, Amy and Rory. After the Doctor and Jamie had some time to themselves in The Invasion, the Doctor is paired up with Zoe and they work together marvellously. A pair of geniuses, with the Doctor irritated by Zoe and Zoe believing herself to be the intellectual superior, but they still have an affection for one another that transcends such squabbles. Zoe does something stupid in doing the Krotons' test  and the Doctor shouts at her, continuing to do so as he sits himself down to do the test himself to save her. He's not doing it because it's the right thing to do but to save his friend. Are we sure Second and Jamie are the iconic pair?
• The Krotons work best in the first two episodes as supposedly benevolent and almost paternal figures. They dispense knowledge to the Gonds and embrace the cleverest of them as their companions, taken to their home to live a new life alongside them. The Gonds who do well at their test feel an intense feeling of pride because they feel how pleased with them the Krotons are. It's a shame that they didn't continue in this parental direction that would have been far more interesting than what we got.

The Valeyard's Case:

• A Bad Quotation:
• "Aye, you wouldn't be so tough without these guards round you." / "Get back. I accept your challenge." / "Oh you do, do you? Aye, well, that's just fine with me then." (For a master of dialogue, this is a very unusual exchange.) 
• "I'm forbidden to discuss the secrets!"
• The Krotons look terrible, most noticeably in wide-shots. It's hard to feel threatened by what looks like a robot in a skirt. Holmes's idea of a creature grown from crystal is one that couldn't have been realised in the '60s without a significantly higher budget. The Birmingham accent, though, is very strange to hear come out of an alien. They're a reasonably ominous force in the first two episodes, but as soon as we see them in the flesh, as it were, they lose credibility.
• The guest characters are functional but not developed at all, and in order for the viewer to want the defeat of the Krotons, we have to care about the people whose lives they've affected. And we don't. The revolt isn't interesting and nor is Eelek's quest for power, or whatever his motivation was. It never really felt as though it connected with the Kroton storyline that much.
• If the robes of honour look that cheap, I'd hate to see what the dishonoured Gonds have to wear.

I'll Explain Later:

• How come the Doctor wasn't crushed by that falling ceiling? 
• Has Gond civilisation really able to function without going outside for all these centuries?

This Reminds Me...:

• A people whose information is kept limited and who are trained not to think. This is an idea that we'll see again in The Long Game, except in that story it's the news. In this one, it's education.

The Inquisitor's Judgement: The Krotons isn't a very popular story and when the classics of Robert Holmes are rolled off, it's one of two stories that people ignore, the other being the imperfect The Mysterious Planet. Is it a bad story? No, not at all. The personification of the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe is done extraordinarily well and they're truly a delight to watch in this story. It's tightly-plotted with some pretty good dialogue and an interesting premise, and is greatly helped by the fact that it's only a four-parter so it doesn't drag. The guest cast are forgettable, the Krotons don't look great and their Brummie accent is unusual, but I think it's good, and deserving of a B.

Doctor Who (Season 6)

The Invasion  |  The Krotons  |  The Seeds of Death

The Angels Take Manhattan review [Steven Moffat]

When Rory is sent back in time to New York 1938, the Doctor and Amy must overcome a mass of temporal-distortion to find him whilst he and Professor Song face the Weeping Angels. 

When and Where: New York in 2012 (for some reason - remember that Amy and Rory aren't from the year that this aired but from 2020 at the earliest) and 1938. For Amy and Rory, this must be after their ten-year anniversary visit to Cwmtaff in The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood. For River, this is after The Diary of River Song: Series 3 and just before The Husbands of River Song.

The Doctor's Case:

• A Good Quotation:
• "I'm only human." / "That's exactly what they're thinking."
• "It means, Mr Grayle, just you wait until my husband gets home."
• Amy's choice has been a recurring theme during her tenure on the show. She waited for the Doctor and left with him on the night of her wedding, apparently falling for him a little and later trying to have sex with him a few feet from her wedding gown. She was, frankly, a terrible person and I maintain that series 5 Amy is one of the worst of the Doctor's companions. In Amy's Choice she finally made her decision between the Doctor and Rory, finding that she couldn't live without Rory and killing herself knowing that she would either wake up and be with Rory or die forever. Amy makes this choice twice more, firstly by again risking killing herself and then condemning herself to a life in 20th century New York to be with him.
  
• For enemies to remain interesting they have to have something new whenever they appear, or it quickly gets stale. In The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone, we saw Angels at full-strength, killing people, speaking with the voices of the dead, emerging from video footage, effectively turning Amy into one of them... In this episode, we get baby Angels in the form of giggling cherubs, reminding us that - when unobserved - they are biological creatures that only turn to stone as a defence mechanism. They have children who grow and become Angels. They're creepy and we get a sense of them moving in the dark from their footsteps scurrying about, which we never get from the Angels. Additionally, we've gone back to the Angels' original M.O. of sending people back in time rather than the more generic killing that they did in The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone. It's good that the thing that made them fresh hasn't been forgotten about and the idea of a farm where they send people further and further back to get more and more energy from them is a clever one, again giving us something new.
• River doesn't have a massive role to play and doesn't really need to be here, but her choosing to hide her broken wrist from the Doctor to protect him is awfully sweet. It's easy to forget that River is a woman who loves the Doctor. Not who lusts after him or flirts with him like most companions and female guest stars these days, but who genuinely has a deep affection for him. This attempt to cheer him up and protect him from the harsh reality if only for a time is a rare reminder that there's more to their relationship than double entendres and snogging.
  
• Is Sting's "Englishman in New York" a moment of perfection or is it too on the nose? I'm going to be nice and put it in this section.

The Valeyard's Case:

• The Statue of Liberty being an Angel is a ridiculous idea. Even worse, she's superfluous and the episode would have been no different without her. The great hulking Lady Liberty couldn't possibly get off her plinth and stomp around the city to Winter Quay without being seen. This is the city that never sleeps, after all - there are always eyes. It's a "wouldn't that be cool?" idea that should have been nixed from the script for its stupidness and irrelevance.
• It's strange that after getting so much closer to Amy and Rory this series that they feel so distant in their last appearance. Since series 5 (God, Amy was terrible), the pair have become living, breathing characters that we care for and feel a sense of closeness to, particularly after The Power of Three, but where are Amy's worries for Rory after he's sent back in time the first time? Why do they seem to care so little for River? The jump is a highlight but the two feel so far removed this episode.
  
• I spoke about it extensively in my review of The Power of Three, but this isn't the natural end to Amy and Rory's arc this season. They've struggled to choose between the Doctor and their lives on Earth and have grown increasingly attached to the latter. What was the point in all that if it comes to nothing? Their departure here is entirely unrelated to their journey in series 7a, which suggested that they would eventually choose to leave the Doctor to live on Earth rather than the Weeping Angels forcing their hand. This way is more shocking, of course, but it's not good storytelling. Rose's departure was satisfying because she had become so attached to the Tenth Doctor and was suddenly ripped away from him. Martha loved the Doctor and came to realise that she deserved better than to be the Doctor's rebound companion living in Rose's shadow. Donna spent series 4 becoming a better, more well-rounded person and this was snatched away from her when the Doctor was forced to remove her memories and cause her to lose who she had become. Amy and Rory were realising that they wanted to live ordinary lives with friends and jobs and this ending doesn't honour that at all.
• River was in this episode, of course, because it's Amy and Rory's departure and Moffat wanted to have her be there. The problem is that River and her parents have absolutely no relationship. River grew up with them as Mels, met them out of order so had to keep the fact that she was their daughter to herself, and as such this was the only episode where the three Ponds were together all aware of their relationship. There was the reveal at the end of A Good Man Goes to War and a brief scene of them in Amy and Rory's back-garden in The Wedding of River Song, but this is the first and last real time for us to see them together as a family. And there's nothing there. No chemistry, no relationship. Nothing. If somebody tuned in without having seen series 6, they would have had no idea that River and the Ponds were anything more than casual acquaintances without River them Dad and Mother. My solution to this would have been The Power of Three (yes, I do seem unable to stop bringing that episode up. I apologise). They could have had River drop by and choose to stay for the Long Invasion, giving us the time to see not only River and the Doctor living together in our everyday world but also letting us see River spending time developing a relationship with her parents. The Angels Take Manhattan did absolutely nothing for them and was more about River and her husband than River and her parents. A big mistake given that they're leaving and never returning.
  
• Amy and Rory get two endings in this episode. Firstly, Rory makes the brave and selfless decision to kill himself to wipe out the Angels and save New York, with Amy choosing to jump with him so that, whatever happened, they were in it together. This was the far more effective and emotional ending. They survive and arrive in the 2012 graveyard, where Rory gets sent back in time and Amy joins him. Both times, Amy is making her choice and choosing her husband but the second time has none of the poignancy that the first did. Perhaps Amy and Rory jumping and their status being ambiguous would have been a better ending since the graveyard scene added little more.
• The Doctor not being able to get Amy and Rory back has been criticised at length, so I won't focus too much on how little sense it makes. Here's a quote from Moffat explaining why the Doctor can't collect them:  "[...] in normal circumstances he might have gone back and said, ‘look we’ll just put a headstone up and we’ll just write the book’. But there is so much scar tissue, and the number of paradoxes that have already been inflicted on that nexus of timelines, that it will rip apart if you try to do one more thing. He has to leave it alone. Normally he could perform some surgery, this time too much surgery has already been performed." (Source) It's a rubbish explanation given that the Angel situation has been resolved and never happened. The Twelfth Doctor later returns to New York to "calm down" the time-distortions but... it's all sorted. Even if there is scar tissue around New York, the Doctor could just land in the next state over, hail a taxi and find them in no time. Or use a vortex manipulator. There's no real reason he could never see Amy and Rory again.
• River advises Amy not to let the Doctor see her age because he doesn't like endings. What a load of rubbish. 
  
• River slaps the Doctor. A wife should never slap her husband. Imagine the uproar there would have been if the Doctor slapped River. Spousal-slapping shouldn't be seen as something funny or acceptable and if the sexes were reversed it would be seen as abuse.

I'll Explain Later:

• The Williams grave lists Rory as "Rory Arthur Williams". Why isn't Amy listed as "Amelia Jessica Williams"? We learnt her middle name in The Beast Below.
• Why exactly won't River travel with the Doctor full-time? "One psychopath per TARDIS" isn't an answer.
• "That which holds the image of an Angel itself becomes an Angel." Surely the Angels should have overrun the country at the very least given the amount of photos and postcards featuring the Statue of Liberty.
• How come River and the Doctor both referred to the Angel in Mr Grayle's office as a she? 

This Reminds Me...:

• This is the second episode this series to begin with an American narrator.
• Mr Grayle's house is the same set as the Tyler house in Pete's world (Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel).
• Rory dies and comes back again. We've seen him die and return (or were led to believe that he was dead) in Amy's Choice, The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood, The Curse of the Black Spot and The Doctor's Wife.
  

The Inquisitor's Judgement: I have a number of problems with Amy and Rory's swan song, the main one being that this isn't an organic end to their story. If I let that go, there's still the issue of the characters not being at their best in this episode and that they have absolutely no connection to their daughter, who's here not because the plot demands it but because her parents are leaving and she should be there. There are some nice ideas and the Amy/Rory suicide is a deeply touching sequence that could pull any heart-string. The Angels are well-handled and the noir-feel of the episode is immersive and consistent. Ignoring Dinosaurs on a Spaceship, series 7a has been a great half-series with three stellar (or near-stellar) episodes. It's unfortunate that it should end on a somewhat disappointing note. Still, The Angels Take Manhattan is a good story and earns itself a B.

Doctor Who (Series 7)

The Power of Three  |  The Angels Take Manhattan  |  The Snowmen

Last of the Titans review [Nicholas Briggs]

The Doctor lands in a gigantic spacecraft and meets its captain, a cousin of the Neanderthals who once lived in Devon. But how did he get from the sunny south of England to the planet of Ormelia? And why did he leave?

Where and When: The planet Ormelia. The Doctor is travelling alone but the TARDIS still makes its TV sound effects rather than the film ones. He's in his white jacket on the cover, so perhaps he dropped off Ace at some point before 1963: The Assassination Games, although he seems to be travelling alone permanently rather than being on a break. Perhaps it's between Ace's departure just before Bernice Summerfield and the Criminal Code and his meeting Chris and Roz in Original Sin. We know from the cover of The Hesitation Deviation that he does wear his white coat during this period. It's impossible to tell.

The Doctor's Case:

• The Seventh Doctor has something of a problem with companions in that he seems to be defined by them. If he's with Mel, he's a clown. If he's with Ace, he's dark and brooding. If he's with Klein, he's tired and nearing the end of his life. To have him on his own means that we get to experience him as a singular character and not as part of a double-act, which he and Ace have come to be.
• Sylvester McCoy can sometimes be less than stellar when acting, such as when he had to be angry in Battlefield ("There! Will! Be! No! Battle! Here!") or in his overly theatrical delivery at the end of Survival ("If we fight like animals, we die like animals!"), but he does a great job as a narrator. He's very easy to listen to.
• Vilgreth is a sympathetic character, living all alone, but turns out to be a murdering sociopath. Despite this revelation, it's hard not to feel sorry for him. It was in his nature after all, being close kin to the Neanderthals.

I'll Explain Later:

• When does this take place?

This Reminds Me...:

• The TARDIS will again be plunged into fire in Journey's End, but with Donna inside.

The Inquisitor's Judgement: Short, sweet and with more substance than its runtime might suggest. It's good to see the Seventh Doctor alone (presumably after having Ace surgically removed from his side) and proving that he doesn't need a companion. The setting and story are immersive and engaging and the finale tragic. All in all, a good story deserving of a B.

Special Releases

Last of the Titans  |  The Ratings War

Red Dawn review [Justin Richards]

The Doctor and Peri land on Mars and uncover the tombs of the Ice Warriors. But they aren't the only non-Martians on the planet: the US has sent a team for reasons the Doctor might have something to say about.

When and Where: Mars in the 2000s. For the Doctor and Peri, this takes place between Rulebook and The Eye of the Scorpion as the Doctor has promised Peri an alien world. For the Ice Warriors, it is between Cold War and before Frozen Time.

The Doctor's Case:

• A Good Quotation:
• "Your instruments aren't reliable. You're in better shape than the instruments say." / "We know that." / "You do?" / "Yeah. The instruments say we're dead."
• As somebody who didn't even remotely like anything about Perpugilliam Brown ("known as Peri") onscreen, bar her extraordinary death (which was sadly retconned, leaving no redeeming points), this story has opened my mind to the possibility that she might be salvageable, just as Big Finish proved Mel Bush to be. She exhibits botanical knowledge, which she rarely did on TV (similar to Mel and her computer skills), and she's intelligent, observant and even a little witty. Nicola Bryant's accent has improved as well, even if it does still noticeably wander at times.
• The Fifth Doctor and Peri are a fresh pairing ripe for adventures and a developing relationship. The Caves of Androzani was clearly intended to directly follow Planet of Fire (with Peri in the same clothes, referencing Sarn and asking the Doctor about his celery), but given how surprisingly good Peri was in this story I have no complaints about it.
• It's strange to say that the setting of an audio drama is one of the best things about it, but the journeying across the windy surface of Mars, the imagery of the organic shell of the Ice Warrior tombs and the sacrifice of Lord Zzaal under the rising Sun are all wonderfully done.

The Valeyard's Case:

• A Bad Quotation:
• "Save yourself, Doctor."
• Webster is a dull villain. His motives are good enough and certainly could have resulted in more plot, but he's ultimately a forgettably-written character with a forgettable performance. Tanya too is uninteresting despite the revelation that she is a human/Ice Warrior hybrid, which nonsensically allows her to have knowledge of the Martians' culture and technology. It's a twist that she doesn't react to in a realistic or relatable way.
• It was most likely done to differentiate the Ice Warriors given how difficult whispers can be to tell apart, but Commander Zzaal doesn't sound that much like an Ice Warrior bar the little hisses. It makes it difficult to image an Ice Warrior rather than a human delivering these lines. 

I'll Explain Later:

• Will Tanya be able to survive on Mars? Do the Ice Warriors speak English or will she lose her ability to speak to them once the TARDIS is gone?

Later's Arrived: 

• The reason that the Martians use the name "Ice Warriors", a term used by humans to describe them in The Ice Warriors, is that the Fifth Doctor referred to them by it and they adopted it as their own. Another explanation is offered in Lords of the Red Planet which makes more sense given that Iraxxa used the term in Empress of Mars, long before Red Dawn.

This Reminds Me...:

• The Doctor mentions that the yearometer is on the blink, which it has been since An Unearthly Child.
• The British Mars missions were seen in The Ambassadors of Death.
• The tombs are reminiscent of the Cybermen's on Telos seen in The Tomb of the Cybermen and Attack of the Cybermen.
• The Ice Warriors offer a treaty, much like the proposed human-Silurian treaty in The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood.

The Inquisitor's Judgement: This is a story that began promisingly but turned out to have a thinner plot than expected. NASA is done well, with the shuttle sequences being believable, and both Peri and the visual imagery stirred up by the dialogue, sound design and notably good music are the best things about it. The Ice Warriors aren't always done hugely well and their code of honour can be boring, but they make a decent appearance even if Zzaal's voice isn't quite Ice Warrior-y enough. Ultimately, Red Dawn is a good story deserving of a B.

The Main Range - The Fifth Doctor

The Land of the Dead  |  Red Dawn  |  Winter for the Adept

The Main Range - Peri Brown

Whispers of Terror  |  Red Dawn  |  The Eye of the Scorpion

Human Resources review [Eddie Robson]

Lucie is working her first day at Hulbert Logistics. The Daleks, the Tomorrow Twins, Phobos... They were all dreams. So was the long-haired Doctor in his bright blue box, who just so happens to be on his way to save her.

When and Where: For the Doctor and Lucie, this is just after No More Lies and at some point before Dead London. For the Cybermen, this is at some point after The Tenth Planet and before The Tomb of the Cybermen.

The Doctor's Case:

• A Good Quotation:
• "Any more rope-gags?"
• "Take a letter, Miss Miller." / "I'll take four letters and make a word out of them if you're not careful."
• "What are you doing?" / "Shredding." / "Shredding what?" / "Whatever I can find." / "Why?" / "I'm hoping it might annoy somebody."
• A key part of a number of Moffat-written episodes is the cold open. There was River's exciting departure of the Byzantium in The Time of Angels, the movement of Van Gogh's painting through time in The Pandorica Opens and the chase scenes in Day of the Moon. Here we have another good teaser, with Lucie having been taken to, of all places, the office job that she got before she was swept up by the Time Lords, and the Doctor is given a time ring to save her. Like Heaven being an office in Dark Water, Lucie having been kidnapped for an office job at Hulbert Logistics is an intriguingly strange premise. 
• Hulbert Logistics brings in humans of a non-military background and has them wage war on planets by translating their tasks into a form that they can understand whilst ignoring that which doesn't fit into the narrative. Their latest mission: wiping out the Cybermen on Lonsis. This is a great idea that almost sounds like something out of Terry Pratchett. Doctor Who is very good at combining the ordinary with the extraordinary, and that's excellently done here. The keen-eyed, however, might notice the office-robot on the cover. I didn't.
• The Cybermen here don't speak like the Cybus models in Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel, nor like the Cybermen of The Tenth Planet. They're somewhere in-between, with the effect of the modern ones but the strange enunciation of the classic. Their screams are an amazingly horrible thing to listen to.
• The surprise arrival of the Cybermen at the end of Part 1 is brilliant, bookending this series with two of the Doctor's greatest enemies: the Daleks and the Cybermen. This is also the earliest in their timeline that we've seen for quite a while, excluding their origin in Spare Parts.

The Valeyard's Case:

• Although the office scenes are funny and bizarre, Part 1 does take a while to get going as a result.
• Lucie being placed in the TARDIS by mistake is a little underwhelming a reveal.

Witness Protection: Hulbert found Lucie to be a promising new addition to his company but she was taken by the Time Lords and dropped into the TARDIS before she could arrive at the office. Hulbert sent the Headhunter after her because he was afraid that a competitor had nabbed her and that they would be able to learn the secrets of his mental manipulation from her. In actuality, the Time Lords had taken her because the CIA had altered her life using a quantum crystaliser to keep her from becoming a right-wing dictator and they didn't want her exposed to the quantum crystaliser aboard one of the Hulbert offices, as it could destroy her. Lucie was, however, the wrong woman.

I'll Explain Later:

• If the Time Lords have access to technology such as the quantum crystaliser, why is this the only time it's used? It would have been handy in the Last Great Time War.

This Reminds Me...:

• The Cybermen have never heard of Telos. They came to Lonsis from Mondas after its destruction in The Tenth Planet and, after their defeat in this story, will escape to Telos where they entomb themselves and are later sealed in by the Second Doctor. The planet is bombarded by humans at the end of the Cyber-Wars. At some point, they will "give help" to the people of Red Rocket Rising, as seen in the end of Blood of the Daleks.
• The Doctor previously worked in an office in World Enough and Time.

The Inquisitor's Judgement: The series finale isn't as much of a blockbuster as its first story, taking a little too long to get started and perhaps not being quite as high-concept, but it's a satisfying end to the first series of the Eighth Doctor Adventures. As a good story, it earns a B.

Eighth Doctor Adventures

No More Lies  |  Human Resources  |  Dead London

No More Lies review [Paul Sutton]

The Doctor and Lucie chase a criminal before finding they've arrived thirty years into his future, where he's living in England, married to a Hungarian and has been a well-behaved citizen for all that time. He also happens to be in a time loop that external forces wish to penetrate.

When and Where: It is England 2006, after Phobos and before Human Resources.

The Doctor's Case:

• The story begins in media res, which is unusual for Doctor Who in audio and on TV. Its use here keeps the Eighth Doctor Adventures fresh and shows how the Doctor and Lucie have grown, working together and sharing banter more playful than in Blood of the Daleks or Immortal Beloved.
• The Doctor says that he feels bad about manipulating people. Whilst this isn't explored, its another hint of the darkness of this Doctor that was brought up in Phobos. It's especially important in that, only in his previous incarnation, he was an arch-manipulator. Either Seventh began feeling guilty about his actions by the end of his life or Eighth feels regret for what he did in his last life.
• Zimmerman and his wife Rachel are this week's couple (after Zeus/Hera and Kai/Eris) and their tragedy is a sad one. The twist that the time loop doesn't exist to punish Zimmerman but that he set it up himself to spend one day with his wife forever is heartbreaking, as is her insisting that he accept her death.

The Valeyard's Case:

• Beginning in the middle of the story can be a good idea if the rest of the story is sufficiently explained later. However, we know very little of how the Doctor and Lucie got involved with Zimmerman.
• The time loop isn't really explored at all. We're told that it exists and why but don't see any of its effects bar a bit of deja vu.

Witness Protection: The Headhunter arrives at the end of the story, capturing and kidnapping Lucie.

This Reminds Me...:

• The Doctor mentions Ramsey, the pet Vortisaur that he and Charley took in after they met in Storm Warning and that they released into the time vortex in Minuet in Hell.

The Inquisitor's Judgement: No More Lies is a character-centric story that focuses on Zimmerman, a villain who has been sufficiently rehabilitated and well-behaved (aside from cheating on his wife) for thirty years. The Headhunter arc is reaching its climax now with Lucie being kidnapped and the Doctor coming to save her. This is a good story and deserves a B.

Eighth Doctor Adventures

Phobos  |  No More Lies  |  Human Resources

Phobos review [Eddie Robson]

The Doctor and Lucie land on one of Mars's moon, Phobos, which is home to an unfinished ski resort that attracts adrenaline-seekers. But there are things lurking in the snow. Things that Kai Tobias warns everyone about. Things that have killed.

When and Where: The year is 2589 and the location is an incomplete resort on Phobos, one of the moons of Mars. This story takes place after Immortal Beloved and before No More Lies.

The Doctor's Case:

• A Good Quotation:
• "You're telling me this is natural?" / "Everything here is. That's why we come. You can't get a properly authentic experience on Earth anymore."
• "If it's not a really rude question, what is he?"
• "I've seen entire species destroyed, civilisations left in ruins. I've witnessed solar systems vanish in the twinkling of an eye. I've seen things that would freeze your blood, so don't threaten me. Don't ever threaten me."
• It's the future and the Earth has been urbanised and built upon so much by humans that you have to go to a Martian moon to get an authentic experience of adrenaline-seeking. It's this sort of fascinating idea that Doctor Who can explore but doesn't too often, like with the mood pills in Gridlock.
• There are some hints of Paradise Towers in this story. The adrenaline-seekers are drennies and the setting, rather than a forgotten residential block, is an unfinished resort inhabited by squatters.
• The funniest moment of this story is easily when the Doctor confronts Kai, saying, "Kai, I'm in a bad mood and if you say 'what are you talking about?' during this conversation then I will break something." Later on in the conversation, Kai inevitably feigns ignorance and we hear an object smash on the floor.
• After Cribbins and McNeice, this week's big star is Timothy West, who gives a great performance as the well-meaning killer Kai Tobias. 

The Valeyard's Case:

• A Bad Quotation:
• "I feel the need for speed."
• "I don't know what you're capable of anymore."
• The cool kid drennies are sometimes the victims of embarrassing attempts to make them sound hip. One half of the gay couple uses the word "cool" a few times too many, and delivers the line "I feel the need for speed".
• The Doctor and Lucie spend another audio almost entirely apart from one another. Having them apart and following different plot strands make for more varied storytelling but doesn't a great pairing make. Ninth and Rose were together for most of series 1, allowing us to get to know the two, enjoy the chemistry and explore their relationship. This is what was done with the Eighth Doctor and Charley, which made them a popular and successful duo. The Doctor and Charley, of course, had longer adventures but Ninth's and Rose's were just as long as the Eighth Doctor Adventures and managed it.

Witness Protection: The Headhunter shows up at the end again, swearing that she'll get Lucie next time.

This Reminds Me...:

• A creature that feeds off of fear also appeared in the Seventh Doctor story The Fearmonger, although with a very different M.O.
• Nerys Hughes also played Rhys's mother Brenda Williams in Torchwood.
• The Doctor says that he has known savages with better manners than Lucie, perhaps referring to Leela.
• You can tell that the Eighth Doctor Adventures was written during the Russell T. Davies era, with a rare appearance of a gay character and an alien-human relationship, just like in Gridlock.
• The Doctor defeats the entity in a similar way that the Eleventh Doctor tried to defeat the villain of The Rings of Akhaten. Before Clara saved the day with her leaf, of course.

The Inquisitor's Judgement: Phobos is very much a New Who story and a good one at that. The Eighth Doctor, who hasn't yet been explored very much in the Eighth Doctor Adventures, shows signs of darkness and weariness whilst we've learnt little more about Lucie's character or backstory. The twists are satisfying and the idea about adrenaline sweetening fear for the entity's survival is an original one. There isn't very much new or exciting about this story but it's good, and that earns it a B.

Eighth Doctor Adventures

Immortal Beloved  |  Phobos  |  No More Lies

Horror of Glam Rock review [Paul Magrs]

A creature lurks in the snow around Bramlington services, where prospective pop stars the Tomorrow Twins have stopped with their manager. The Doctor and Lucie arrive after aiming for Lucie's time. Can the time-travelling duo save the Tomorrow Twins and, more importantly (in manager Arnold's opinion), their career?

When and Where?: This story takes place at the Nadir Motorway Service Station in Bramlington in 1974. For both the Doctor and Lucie, this is after Blood of the Daleks and before Immortal Beloved.

The Doctor's Case:

• A Good Quotation:
• "I like a bit of handbag, don't you, Doctor?" / "Not a great deal, no." / "Oh, you surprise me."
• "We will be with you, Tommy."
• So the Doctor's mission this series is to get Lucie home, just as was the case with Ian and Barbara in season 1 and season 2. If this was made apparent from Blood of the Daleks, it would have sounded like an idea doomed to fail. Listening to the Doctor try to get rid of a young woman that he doesn't like for at least eight discs isn't a great pitch and doesn't make for a fun time. When the Doctor and Lucie exit the TARDIS and discuss the '70s like friends complete with Lucie subtly trying to find out if the Doctor is gay, it's not unlike the moment at the beginning of The Mysterious Planet where Sixth and Peri are suddenly getting along. It's a relief. It almost wouldn't be surprising if a number of new stories were released between Blood of the Daleks and this story because the relationship between the two is so much more pleasant. At the end, the Doctor and Lucie fly off as companions to explore the cosmos, which is a lot more fun than the Tegan-Heathrow sort of series.
• After the darkness and seriousness of Blood of the Daleks, it makes sense to have a lighter and more comic story to follow, especially since the Eighth Doctor Adventures aired on the radio and were geared towards the wider audience introduced by the 2005 revival. The story is a love letter and nostalgia trip to the '70s and to glam rock, which is something that's never been touched on in Doctor Who even when it was airing in that decade. There is, however, a certain sorrow that's subtly woven through the story - Flo has worked at the services for years and probably always will, Arnold knows very well the feeling of failure in the music industry and that's what Tommy Tomorrow and Pat (as Lucie informs her) will feel. Glam rock doesn't survive past the '80s and there will be very few survivors.
• A services on the M62 in 1974 is the perfect place for your modern base-under-siege story. It's a quaint, normal and boring location that makes it the ideal place for Doctor Who.
• Bernard Cribbins (who would go on to play Donna's grandfather Wilfred Mott) does a great job as Arnold, as expected.

The Valeyard's Case:

• A Bad Quotation:
• The story is wrapped up very quickly, with the Doctor trapping the Only Ones in Lucie's iPod as a track that she should never play. It's a satisfying way to defeat them, but it comes out of nowhere and, once they've been trapped, the story's over. There should have been some mourning over Trisha by Arnold or some more talk between Lucie and Pat, with Lucie assuring her that she isn't nothing in the future.
• Why did the writer bring back Arnold? He was an unlikeable man (made somewhat likeable by the warm tones of the great Bernard Cribbins) who sacrificed himself, but then we find out that he survived. Being selfless redeemed the usually selfish character who only cares about success and he should have died in that moment rather than showing up at the end.
• Although the change in the Doctor and Lucie's demeanour towards one another is a welcome one, it's somewhat out of the blue and there should perhaps have been an Edge of Destruction before this story. (The good bits, that is. No scissors.)

Witness Protection: The Headhunter arrives at the services just after the Doctor and Lucie have left.

His Constant Companion: A drunk man gets mauled outside of the services by the Old Ones, as is Trisha after Arnold takes her and Tommy outside. The Only Ones aren't killed but trapped on Lucie's iPod by the Doctor.

This Reminds Me...:

• Creatures made out of soundwaves also appear in Whispers of Terror and Criss-Cross.
• A rock version of the Doctor Who theme song will later be played by the Twelfth Doctor during the opening titles of Before the Flood.
• The Only Ones are beautiful and wraith-like, sort of like the Gelth in The Unquiet Dead.
• Lucie isn't the only companion who meets a family member in the past. Ace met her mother and grandmother in The Curse of Fenric, Helen visits her brother in Absent Friends and Rose met her father in Father's Day.

The Inquisitor's Judgement: This is a solid story with a much friendlier Doctor and more genial Lucie who's now more of a Donna than a Tegan. The story's a lot of fun and well-paced but the ending is far too quick and easy with little in the way of an epilogue and no reflection on the terrible things that have happened. However, Horror of Glam Rock is a good story, and that earns it a B.

Eighth Doctor Adventures

Blood of the Daleks  |  Horror of Glam Rock  |  Immortal Beloved

An Unearthly Child review [Anthony Coburn]

In a junkyard on Totter's Lane stands a police box. Young genius Susan Foreman has the yard recorded as her address at Coal Hill School and when two of her schoolteachers investigate they find that the police box, belonging to her grandfather, is bigger on the inside. And so their journey through space and time begins.

Where and when?: The first episode is set in Shoreditch, England on 23rd November, 1963. The remaining three episodes take place somewhere on Earth in 100,000 B.C. This story takes place one month after Hunters of Earth and leads into The Daleks.

The Doctor's Case:

• A Good Quotation:
• "You say you can't fit an enormous building into one of your smaller sitting rooms?" / "No." / "But you've discovered television, haven't you?" / "Yes." / "Then by showing an enormous building on your television screen you can do what seemed impossible, couldn't you?"
• "Have you ever thought what it's like to be wanderers in the fourth dimension? Have you? To be exiles? Susan and I are cut off from our own planet, without friends or protection. But one day we shall get back. Yes, one day. One day."
• "Orb has sent me this creature to make fire come from his fingers. I have seen it. Inside he is full of fire. Smoke comes from his mouth." / "As lies come out of yours."
• "Fear makes companions of all of us."
  
• The first episode of this story is one of Doctor Who's very best, as well as one of its very simplest. Ian and Barbara are an instantly likeable and relatable pair with chemistry from the off, and their discussion about Susan (complete with flashbacks, which became very unusual for the classic series) succeeds in making the audience wonder about this contradiction of a girl. She's a genius but the finer points of 1963 Great Britain are lost on her, and then there's the fact that she lives in a junkyard. Susan is never better than she is in these twenty minutes - mysterious, intelligent and unearthly and not the screamer she so quickly becomes. The Doctor, too, is an interesting character and his spikiness, rather than making him unlikeable as the somewhat more exaggerated trait that the Sixth Doctor was given in The Twin Dilemma, closes him off and makes him all the more mysterious. This episode is absolutely perfect.
• The Doctor's relationship with Susan isn't something that's a large part of the series, but there are some nice moments between the two of them. Rather than open the doors to let Ian and Barbara out and risk Susan leaving with them, he chooses to kidnap them. Whilst the Sixth Doctor's relationship with Peri was antagonistic and frequently unpleasant to watch, the Doctor and Ian are capable of holding their own against one another, but when it comes to it Ian tells Za that the Doctor is their leader. He might find the Doctor disagreeable but he respects him.
  
• The guest characters for this story might not be the most memorable or engaging, but Hur is a decent character.

The Valeyard's Case:

• A Bad Quotation:
• "This is where you live, Susan?" Is that all Barbara has to say after entering a dimensionally transcendental timeship?
• "I like walking in the dark. It's mysterious," Susan says in the first episode. Her breakdown after the Doctor's disappearance in The Cave of Skulls quickly becomes overly melodramatic and shatters the image of her we've developed. We know that Susan has travelled to other worlds before arriving in Foreman's Yard (the Moon, Rua, Quinnis, Akhaten, Nazi Germany) and is just as seasoned a time-traveller as her grandfather, and yet she spends a significant amount of time wailing. Barbara does her fair share in the third and fourth episodes but she has the excuse of being entirely uprooted and out of her depth.
• Yes, they're cavemen, but Kal would have to be an idiot to produce his own knife knowing that it's covered in the old woman's blood. Not quite as inexcusable as the trial scenes in The Keys of Marinus but still a very silly thing to do.
  
• The fight scene between Za and Kal is incredibly awkward. The poor choreography, the long pauses, the weird drum music and Kal's short screech of a dying yell. The, erm... effect of the TARDIS crew running through the jungle (that is, jogging on the spot and swatting at branches) is similarly embarrassing.

Stray Facts:

• The best five months of Susan's life were on Earth, 1963. She apparently didn't enjoy her life too much on Gallifrey.

Was First a Chauvinist?: 

• The Doctor, when seeking to get rid of Ian and Barbara in Foreman's Yard, takes Ian to one side to try to speak sense to him. Sexist? Possibly, but still a far cry from Bradley's Doctor in Twice Upon a Time.
• The Doctor refers to the Native American as having a "savage mind".

His Constant Companion: The old woman is murdered by Kal with a stone for trying to keep the secret of fire from him. Kal is killed by Za in a fight.

I'll Explain Later:

• What's the Doctor been doing in Shoreditch all this time whilst Susan's off at school?
• Susan claims that she herself came up with the name "TARDIS", which is perhaps the first hint that the Doctor built the TARDIS himself and that it's one of a kind, something that he later implies in The Chase. But we know that this isn't the case and that there are multiple TARDISes.
• This is later explained in The Beginning. Susan believed that she had come up with the name herself, although this wasn't actually the case.
• The Doctor says that he and Susan are exiles, cut off from their own people and without protection or friends, but that one day they will return. This origin doesn't really gel with what we learn later in the show. From this story it seems that the Doctor and Susan were cast out (indeed, William Hartnell and Carole Ann Ford apparently devised a backstory where Susan had done something to annoy their people). However, we later learn that the Doctor left of his own accord in a stolen TARDIS because of a number of reasons: he believed himself to be the hybrid that would destroy Gallifrey, he wanted to see the universe, and he found the plight of those left to suffer by the Time Lords too much to bear. So Susan says in The Beginning, she didn't know why it was that they left.
• Why do Ian and Barbara pass out in the TARDIS? It never happens to any future companions.
• Did nobody ever see Za's father make fire?
  

The Inquisitor's Judgement: The first episode of this story is an excellent start to Doctor Who, setting up interesting characters and an interesting premise. The Doctor, Ian and Barbara are all capable and enjoyable (even if the Doctor isn't the most likeable or accessible, there's no denying that he's a good character to watch) and Susan is initially intriguing. The remaining three episodes are good, although Susan is reduced to a wailing girl without any unearthliness about her. Overall, An Unearthly Child is a promising start to series 1 and to the show at large. Being good, this story earns a B.

Doctor Who (Season 1)

An Unearthly Child  |  The Daleks

The First Doctor's Timeline
Hunters of Earth  |  An Unearthly Child  |  The Daleks

A Christmas Carol review [Steven Moffat]

On Christmas Eve, the Doctor must convince resident miser Kazran Sardick to save a crashing spaceship with 4,003 people aboard, Amy and Rory Williams amongst them. How best to do this? Why, rewriting his entire life's history, of course.

The Doctor's Case:

• A Good Quotation:
• "Where's Mrs Mantovani?" / "Ah, you'll never guess. Clever old Mrs Manto. She only went and won the lottery." / "There isn't any lottery." / "I know! What a woman!"
• The title and Michael Gambon's obvious Scrooge that we meet at the beginning of the episode ("I despise Christmas") together set up a predictable and cliche Christmas special with the Doctor time-travelling around with a humbug showing him the error of his ways before he decides he loves Christmas. Fortunately, this isn't what we got. Kazran's not a complete Scrooge, having some small degree of decency that the Doctor spots and which prompts him to build Kazran into a better man to save a crashing space-ship.
  
• Kazran quickly turns out to be a far more interesting character than first expected, with all three of his actors doing superb work. Here's hoping for an Eleventh and Kazran Big Finish box set.
• The fish sound ridiculous but watching the episode they make sense. They're an obvious way to try to weave Katherine Jenkins's voice into the episode somehow but they're still a nice idea.
• The Doctor serving as the Ghost of Christmas Past is the best sequence of the episode, where we explore Kazran and follow his growing affections for Abigail. More interesting, though, is his transformation from a sweet boy to a love-struck young man to a bitter miser, even if the reason behind Abigail's countdown is obvious. Amy as the Ghost of Christmas Present is fine, although we don't have any real emotional connection to anyone on the ship but perhaps her and Rory. The Ghost of Christmas Future, however, turns out to be Kazran himself, who angrily goes to strike his past-self before remembering his father.

The Valeyard's Case:

• A Bad Quotation:
• "Father Christmas. Santa Claus. Or, as I've always known him, Jeff."
• In The Aztecs (a great story) Barbara decides to end the religion of the Sun God to protect the culture from the landing of Cortez. The Doctor says to her, "But you can't rewrite history! Not one line!" Yet here the Doctor does so, rewriting most of Kazran's biography, in fact. Not only is he going against what he said and has, more often than not, stood by but in changing the course of this man's life he's playing God. The Time Lord Victorious.
• Surely given that the Doctor is rewriting time, reality should be changing rather than old Mr Sardick remembering new things and being aware of temporal changes (e.g. the painting of his father being replaced by and then replacing one of Abigail).
• Kazran starts off as a very nasty man, yes, but his willingness to let 4,003 people die without so much as a thought does come across as cartoonish and moustache-twirling. We know that he's a bad guy but it makes him somewhat difficult to buy into.
• The Doctor learns that the Sardicks have amassed a collection of people as insurance and does nothing. He doesn't bring up how people aren't a commodity or that the lives of these people have been put on hold whilst their families suffer their absence. He doesn't release any of them but Abigail. Any other Doctor would have been disgusted by what they'd seen and freed everyone.
• There doesn't feel like there's much of a threat in this episode with regards to the crashing space-ship. We're told that there are more than 4,000 people aboard but all we see is the cockpit with Amy, Rory and a small handful of crew members. A sweeping shot or two of the people inside the ship might have helped as it feels so small.
• Katherine Jenkins's performance is fine but Abigail Pettigrew isn't much of a character. Perhaps Moffat deliberately underwrote Abigail to avoid giving Katherine Jenkins too much material given that it's her first acting job. She's happy to spend the last few days of her life with two strangers than to return to her family. Why?
  

I'll Explain Later:

• Abigail is dying. Is she really that useful as insurance when she has only a week to live?
• What space disease does Abigail have that shows no symptoms up until the very day she dies?
• Hopefully the delta wave in the fog caused by Abigail's voice isn't the same kind of delta wave the Ninth Doctor planned to use to destroy Earth in Bad Wolf.

The Inquisitor's Judgement: Overall, this is a flawed but decent Christmas special - probably amongst the best of the festive specials. Occasionally the Doctor's fast-talking quirkiness irritates and Abigail isn't a fully-formed character, but the character of Kazran manages to make A Christmas Carol a touching story that avoids most of the cliches derived from its source material. B

Doctor Who (Series 6)

The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang  |  A Christmas Carol  |  The Impossible Astronaut