The Sword of the Chevalier review [Guy Adams]

"I am going to take you to... Slough." - The Doctor

Promising Rose a visit somewhere spectacular, the Doctor arrives in England in 1791 where he soon finds himself losing a duel against an exiled ex-spy whose gender's been the subject of many a bet. The time-travellers soon find that the Chevalier d'Eon isn't the only person with two faces... 
The Good:

• The amusing scene with the Doctor and Rose in the TARDIS deciding where to go next should have been the first that we've seen of the two of them since Rose's final departure in series 4 rather than having them barely interact as they did in Infamy of the Zaross. Re-establishing the TARDIS duo, having fun and a bit of banter between the two of them would have been the ideal way to start this box-set. As it is, it's instead a good start to this story.
• The story of Chevalier D'Eon is an interesting one and not one that's common knowledge, so the decision to set a story featuring them (pronoun-dodging) is a good one. Nickolas Grace gives an excellent performance, though not really selling the ambiguity regarding the character's sex. That's a big ask, though.
• The villain, with two voices behind one mask, is one of the creepiest characters yet.

The Bad:

• The villain could have been developed more. It's a creepy idea but some discussion about why they're doing what they're doing would have been good.

The Ugly: Rose's top on the cover is hideous.

A Good Quotation: "Let me get my bearings. Quarter to... Pride and Prejudice?" / "Yeah, yeah, half-past Blackadder series three." - Rose and the Doctor

When did this happen?: Given Rose's shirt, we can assume that this story probably takes place between New Earth and Tooth and Claw or around Infamy of the Zaross. There's no real way to tell. Given that Rose says that there's no such thing as the Devil, this presumably takes place before The Impossible Planet.

This Reminds Me...:

• Rose volunteers the Doctor to fight Chevalier d'Eon given his swordsmanship in The Christmas Invasion.

Verdict: D'Eon is a good character, narcissistic and full of him/herself and performed very well by Nickolas Grace. Tennant is good as usual and we'll just have to accept that Rose is posh now. The story's good and the villain creepy, so while this story wasn't a favourite of mine it was definitely a solid one. C

The Tenth Doctor Adventures (Volume 2)

Infamy of the Zaross  |  The Sword of the Chevalier  |  Cold Vengeance

'The Year After I Died' review [Guy Adams]

After the Daleks' slaughter of Satellite Five and attack on Earth in the year 200,100, the Doctor and Rose left in the TARDIS, leaving the newly-immortal Jack Harkness behind. On an Earth littered with the dead with starvation and radiation plaguing the survivors, Jack, after a year wondering how he survived aboard Satellite Five, must save the remnants of humanity from their oldest enemy.

Writer Guy Adams has written a number of instalments in Big Finish's Torchwood series, namely 'More Than This', 'Moving Target', 'Made You Look' and 'Outbreak' (with A.K. Benedict and Emma Reeves).

Spoiler Zone

The drama

The first adventure we've seen with Jack pre-Torchwood since 'The Parting of the Ways' proves to be a good one, filling in a smidgeon of the gap between Jack's first resurrection and his joining Torchwood in 1899. It even uses Jack's theme from the show as the title music. It deals with the aftermath of the Dalek Emperor's attack on Earth; people rely on food parcels and queue to collect clothes. Strange creatures (mutated terrestrial animals or Dalek experiments) wander the plains. A very unpleasant world to live in, so it's no wonder that the people are so enthusiastic to be flown away by the Hope Foundation.

Vortia Trear, head of the Hope Foundation, is a despicable and irredeemable character and the fact that she doesn't get ripped to shreds by the rioters is a crying shame. She does get her comeuppance, though. For a significant amount of the drama we follow Silo Crook, a reporter seeking to bring back journalism after it disappeared with the closure of Satellite Five. Silo reflects on the impact of the Game Station; humans don't ask questions or think for themselves anymore. Whilst not a particularly memorable character and not sharing a huge amount of chemistry with Jack, she fulfils her function well and her mission is an engaging one.

When Jack finally plays a proper role in this drama, he's very much the pre-Torchwood character who travelled with the Ninth Doctor and Rose, if a little hardened and unhappier. This helps with the somewhat jarring differences between the flirtatious and fun Jack of Doctor Who and the uncaring and unlikeable Jack that we meet in 'Everything Changes'. His not wanting to be called a hero does get annoying, much like the War Doctor's constant insistence that he's not the Doctor.

Overall, a good start to this new series. Jack's speech to the little people (transcribed below) was excellent.

A good quotation 

"The Daleks tried to stop us but we didn’t let them because humanity fights back, right? That’s what we always do, we pull together. Yes, Trear’s got guns, she’s got drones, she’s got power. But you know what we’ve got? What we’ve always got. Numbers. There are more of us than them. There are always more of us than them, so let’s get out there and remind them of that."

Cast

• John Barrowman as Jack Harkness
• Sarah Douglas as Vortia Trear
• Shvorne Marks as Silo Crook
• Scott Haran as Malfi Pryn
• Aaron Neil as Gorky Sax