The Power of Three review [Chris Chibnall]

Amy and Rory awake to find that the world is littered with perfect cubes that have appeared overnight. It's an invasion. Of course it's an invasion. But why do they do absolutely nothing?

Previously on Doctor Who...: Not even remotely required to understand this episode, but Kate Stewart was first seen in Downtime, where she was living on a canal boat as a single mother with a son called Gordon. She had grown estranged from her father but reconnected after helping him and Sarah Jane Smith fight against a group of students controlled by the Great Intelligence.

When and Where: Don't ask when this takes place. Kate meets the Doctor for the first time but The Day of the Doctor takes place in 2013 (which we can work out thanks to Class) and this could only take place between 2016 and 2020. Bear with me here. Amy and Rory are married in June 2010, watch the Doctor die at Lake Silencio in April 2011 and travel with the Doctor before being returned after A Good Man Goes to War. They stay on Earth before rejoining the Doctor in Let's Kill Hitler at the end of summer 2011. In The God Complex, they are returned to Earth in April 2011 for some reason (which we know because we see them and a newspaper bearing the date in Closing Time). The Doctor visits them at Christmas two year later in The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe (making it December 2013, i.e. post-The Day of the Doctor). Pond Life takes place from April to August 2014 and then have their divorce almost finalised in Asylum of the Daleks. Divorce in the UK tends to take roughly ten months, so it's June 2015 at the very earliest given that they might not have started divorce proceedings immediately after Amy kicked Rory out. The pair return home and are picked up ten months later in Dinosaurs on a Spaceship (making it April 2016 at the earliest), then return to Earth for a few more months (whilst Brian is abroad travelling) before A Town Called Mercy. This makes it June 2016 at least, although it was presumably more than two months. The Power of Three begins in July. This could be July 2016 or 2017. Perhaps even later, but given that Amy says that it's been ten years of travelling with the Doctor for them but not for the rest of the world, it's before 2020.

To conclude, The Power of Three takes place from July 2016-2017 at the earliest and July 2019-2020 at the latest. We have to assume that, for some reason, Kate is pretending not to know the Doctor to maintain the timeline or something. It's impossible to reconcile this with the Clara-era, because The Day of the Doctor was 2013 and Clara was dead by 2016 (which we know thanks to For Tonight We Might Die). Damn you, Class. Without the Class date, The Day of the Doctor could have been post-The Power of Three, but that would mean that Clara travelled with the Eleventh Doctor for at least four years, which clearly isn't the case.

The Doctor's Case:

• A Good Quotation:
  
• "I want them vulnerable with a nice Achilles' heel."
• "What happened to the other people who travelled with you?" / "Uh... Some left me. Some got left behind. And some, not many, but some died. Not them, Brian. Never them."
• We've seen the Eleventh Doctor in an ordinary setting living an ordinary life before, in The Lodger and Closing Time. This is definitely the best of the three because it's not the selling-point of the episode. It's funny to see him trying to pass the time and it's sweet to see him try because he misses Amy and Rory.
• This is the first appearance of Kate Stewart since Downtime, this time played by Jemma Redgrave with a convincing dye-job. At the time of writing (between series 10 and 11) I find this to be Kate's best appearance. She's got a humility and vulnerability to her that's completely excised by Dark Water/Death in Heaven when she's delivering sassy dialogue about having the Doctor on the payroll and throwing Cyberman heads. She has a tender moment with the Doctor when they discuss the Brigadier and she's delightfully warm and chatty when they first meet. She loses these aspects and becomes a steely, stolid leader, which is the version we got in Extinction and the rest of UNIT: The New Series.
• In Asylum of the Daleks, Amy and Rory have been away from the Doctor for at least ten months and Amy says that she's missed life-or-death situations. In Dinosaurs on a Spaceship, another ten months have passed and, after the adventure, Amy asks the Doctor to come back for them in a few more months. The struggle between the two lives continues in A Town Called Mercy and comes to a head here, where the couple have started making long-term commitments and have started to lead and enjoy a normal life. It's been interesting to watch this little arc unfold and seems to be leading to the Ponds choosing to settle down and say goodbye to the Doctor once and for all. As Amy says, there was a time in her life when she needed the Doctor, but she doesn't anymore. They want to have friends and jobs and a normal life together. Unfortunately, the way that this arc concludes is in the section below.
  
• Series 5 (to a lesser extent), 6 and 7 have all been more cinematic and Hollywood than the Davies era was. The show under Moffat is less quintessentially British, which was part of his plan to gain traction with the US. In The Power of Three, we get a dose of Daviesness. There are the news reports and the appearances of British pop culture like Professor Brian Cox and Sir Alan Sugar. Even something like the Doctor playing on the Wii would never have fit in with series 6 or the past three episodes. Overall, I prefer the tone of the Davies era and I enjoy having the Eleventh Doctor and his companions exist in this sort of world.
• The Tenth Doctor's heart stopped working in The Unicorn and the Wasp. David Tennant gave an embarrassing and excessive performance in a scene that I truly despise. I like to think that Matt Smith saw it and made sure to do it so much better.
• I don't have much to say about Brian Williams, but he's an endearing character that (as I said in my review of Dinosaurs on a Spaceship) really should have been introduced sooner. He's nothing groundbreaking and is somewhat reminiscent of Wilf but he's played very well by Arthur Weasley. A shame it's his last appearance and that we never get any closure for him after Amy and Rory disappear.
  

The Valeyard's Case:

• I was so sure that this episode was going to score an A. (I'm reluctant to give an A* to anything but Heaven Sent. How amazing is Heaven Sent?) Then it got to the final ten minutes. The Shakri are uninteresting characters with an uninteresting motivation that might have worked in another episode, but not here where they're tacked onto the end. The cubes were such a great idea and I loved the rest of the episode, so it's a massive shame that the conclusion is so disappointing with the Doctor saving the day with his sonic screwdriver (but more on that below). Whoever it was that sent the cubes should have remained anonymous and unseen. After the cubes are made harmless, the Doctor should have theorised about why someone might have sent the cubes or if they even ended up here deliberately. It should have been ambiguous.
• Well, once again everybody lives. A third of the population is killed - a third! - and then the Doctor brings them back with a buzz of his screwdriver. It's bad enough that the amount of death that happened wasn't emphasised enough when it's even more than were killed in The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords, but to have them brought back in so mundane a way is very disappointing. Fewer people should have died and then Kate and the Doctor should have found a way to stop the signal and stop further people from dying. The dead would stay dead and the cubes made harmless.
  
• Amy and Rory have had their struggle juggling their two lives and are being increasingly magnetised towards their lives on Earth. The only thing keeping them from the lives that they now want is the Doctor, who decides at the end to leave them to their ordinary lives. It's a satisfying end to their little journey this season. But then Brian says that they shouldn't give up the Doctor and should travel with him and that their lives will still be here when they want to return. That's not satisfying at all and means that their journey has had no conclusion. They decide to continue travelling with the Doctor and return to Earth between adventures? That's what they've been doing all this time. This isn't a conclusion and is deeply unsatisfying, just like the marriage troubles plotline that existed only in the confines of Asylum of the Daleks.
• Amy writes travel articles for magazines now. What was the point in us being reminded of her modelling job from Closing Time in Asylum of the Daleks? Has this writing job been thrown in to make Summer Falls and Other Stories more believable?

I'll Explain Later:

• Was Brian really in the TARDIS for four days, without food, water or knowing where the toilet is?
  
• How could Rory tell that the man on the stretcher at the far end of the corridor was his dad?
• The bad guys just happened to pick the hospital that the Doctor's companion works at?
• Did we ever get an explanation for the hospital kidnappings?
• The Doctor mentions his hovering tin dog. Did he ever see K9 hover?
• What happened to the red berets? Were they too camp? I liked them.

This Reminds Me...:

• The Doctor tells Brian what happened to his previous companions.
• Some left him, like Ian, Barbara, Vicki, Steven, Dodo, Ben and Polly, Victoria, Liz, Jo, Harry, Leela, Romana, Nyssa, Tegan, Turlough, Hannah Bartholomew, Erimem, Evelyn, Mel, Chris Cwej, Hex, Sally Morgan, Izzy, Fitz, Mary Shelley, Mickey and Martha.
• Some got left behind, like Susan, Sarah, Thomas Brewster, Flip, Bev Tarrant, Lysandra Aristedes, Charley, Jack, Rose (in a way) and Donna.
• Some died, like Katerina, Sara Kingdom, Oliver Harper, Joshua Douglas, Adric, Kamelion, Peri (sort of), Roz Forrester, Gemma Griffin, C'rizz, Lucie, Tamsin, Molly, Sheena (well, she was erased from time) and River. Clara is the next to die.
• In addition to this, we also get a mention of K9.
• The Doctor says that he hates not knowing things. The Twelfth Doctor will later agree with and then contradict this.
• The Doctor suffered the tediousness of living life in the slow lane in Vincent and the Doctor.
• We see the Doctor, Amy and Rory in Henry VIII's bedroom, where the Doctor said that Rory left his phone charger in A Town Called Mercy.
• As already mentioned, the Tenth Doctor had a heart stop working in The Unicorn and the Wasp.
  

The Inquisitor's Judgement: Flawless is a word that I could use to describe most of The Power of Three. I've never been a big fan of Amy and Rory but they've been pretty good in the buildup to their departure and its great to feel that we're growing closer to them by seeing them living their normal lives (even if their emotional arc was organically leading towards them choosing to leave). Kate Stewart isn't only a sweet nod to the Brigadier but a lovely character in her own right who doesn't have to be sassy to be a strong woman (although this does become the case) and provides the reinvention of UNIT that we need after having them be mostly faceless throughout New Who. Until the last ten minutes, The Power of Three was well on its way to earning an A*. Unfortunately, given the villain and the resolution this story can get no higher than an A.

Update: I can't do it. I'm giving it an A*, poor ending be damned.

Doctor Who (Series 7)

A Town Called Mercy  |  The Power of Three  |  The Angels Take Manhattan

Extinction review [Matt Fitton and Andrew Smith]

Whilst Scientific Advisor Osgood attends a 'skyfall' incident with Colonel Shindi and Captain Josh Carter, Kate's duties take her to visit Devlin Future Tech, and reclusive billionaire Simon Devlin.

Journalist Jackie McGee is also on FutureTech's case, and nothing's going to get in the way of her story: a product launch that will change the world...

When and Where: Extinction takes place between The Power of Three (which took place at some point between 2016 and 2020) and The Day of the Doctor (which was at least a year after the beginning of the former episode). By Power Cell, Shindi is still recuperating from being shot but Osgood has met the Eleventh Doctor, so The Day of the Doctor is next for UNIT.

The Doctor's Case:

• A Good Quotation:
• "Here at Devlin FutureTech, your future is in our hands."
• UNIT: The New Series begins very new, with a modern plot that brings the Autons to the contemporary age in a way that Rose didn't attempt.
• Rather than reintroducing UNIT through a sat-down discussion as it was in Spearhead from Space with the Brigadier and Liz Shaw, this story begins with Kate and her crew in action trying to save an extraterrestrial crocodile in the River Severn. The organisation hasn't been allowed to be too effective since the Third Doctor left them, meaning that in the modern series they're usually made useless so that the companion has the opportunity to be clever. For example, they have to bring in Clara in The Magician's Apprentice and again needed her in The Zygon Invasion. Here there's no Clara, meaning that they have the chance to be an effective and intelligent force for good.
• On television, Kate has a nasty habit of just being a sound-board delivering cool Moffatisms like River or Missy ("He's on the payroll", "With dress sense like that you must be the Doctor", "I've got officers trained in beheading. Also ravens of death.") rather than being an actual character. She improved by The Zygon Invasion/The Zygon Inversion, but here she is undeniably flesh and blood with thoughts, feelings and a history. Osgood too was a bit of a gimmick on TV, and has similarly been rounded into more of a character.
• Devlin gets a plastic skull that means he's able to connect to the Nestene Consciousness. This could have seemed like a ridiculous idea if it wasn't handled so well, with Devlin's delivery and Kate's shock.
• Setting UNIT apart from the Torchwood Institute is that UNIT isn't outside of the government nor beyond the police. Kate has to visit Downing Street to speak to the Prime Minister and Colonel Shindi visits Geneva, with both leaving feeling frustrated at the lack of leeway being given to them. Torchwood would go in all guns blazing. It's good that Big Finish have chosen to stress the difference between the two organisations as otherwise having them both be separate might feel redundant. If a story would play out exactly the same in a Torchwood One or UNIT story then Big Finish aren't doing their job.
• Jacqui isn't a character I thought much of for most of Extinction, but her scene at the very end where she sounds like a mad conspiracy theorist is definitely standout.
• We haven't seen a whole lot of science leading, but Kate going to the Nestene to discuss terms is an example of UNIT's ethical growth since Doctor Who and the Silurians and Children of Earth.

The Valeyard's Case:

• We're introduced to a few new UNIT personnel: the rule-flouting Captain Carter and the hard-line Colonel Shindi. Their first scene together feels mostly natural, if a little obvious at getting us to know that one's a rebel and the other faultlessly dependable. Neither of them had much to do in Vanguard to set them apart, but Lieutenant Bishop is very much a main character in his first appearance and we learn nothing about him either. 
• "Everyone wants to talk about Dad today." Kate's right, and having the shadow of the irreplaceable Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart over this story does nothing but cast her in the same shadow. The Brigadier shouldn't be forgotten about, of course, but if Kate is going to lead a new UNIT series then we shouldn't be being reminded of him all the time.
• There's a lot of exposition in Earthfall. It's necessary and had to end up somewhere, but it doesn't make for the most exciting of stories.
• Osgood and Lieutenant Bishop go to the Gobi Desert in search of a Nestene energy unit. Unfortunately, this thread isn't a very interesting one and nothing much comes of it except the sphere's retrieval at the end. It's a wholly unmemorable adventure for the two characters.
• Auton conversion is introduced. It's always good to bring new things to old villains but this feels too much like the Cybermen.
• The 3D printers printing Autons was obvious from the beginning, yet Kate and Osgood apparently didn't have the slightest inkling until the printers began printing. It makes them seem rather naive.
• That news jingle very quickly gets annoying. Angering, even, and Nicholas Briggs's voice is so prolific in Big Finish that it always breaks the immersion for me when I hear his voice as a bit-character.
• Captain Carter now has an Auton skeleton more or less as a result of his own recklessness. However, he's completely and entirely okay with being plastic now, which shouldn't be the case. It isn't interesting and would be like if Owen Harper had no qualms about being dead.
• The use of anti-plastic makes Armageddon a mix of Spearhead from Space and Rose. It's a shame that the resolution is so easy.

I'll Explain Later:

• It's not until Armageddon that there's any mention of the fact that Kate has two children. With the world coming to an end, one would think that she'd have her children in mind, but they're mentioned only once in a throwaway line.

This Reminds Me...:

• Osgood has read the UNIT files on the Nestenes, referring to the Third Doctor adventures Spearhead from Space and Terror of the Autons.
• The Pharos Project from Logopolis is mentioned.
• UNIT uses nitro-12, which is presumably a new and improved version of nitro-9, Ace's weapon of choice since Dragonfire.
• On the cover of Earthfall, Osgood seems to be wearing a cat badge. This was arguably the least offensive of the Sixth Doctor's items of clothing.
• Kate mentions that she plays bridge, which she said she was outstanding at in Dark Water.
• Devlin says that UNIT have used investigative reporters before, referring to Sarah Jane Smith.
• Kate orders five rounds of RPG fire, a reference to her father's "five rounds rapid".
• Anti-plastic was first seen in Rose, where a Nestene was killed by a vial.

The Deliberation: 

• Vanguard updates the plot of Spearhead from Space and brings both UNIT and the Nestenes into the 21st century. (We can't be much more specific, but this is probably the 2010s.) Vanguard establishes the characters both old and new in a way that doesn't feel remotely superfluous or purely functional. Kate doesn't just spout "cool" lines and Osgood is far more effectual than she was on TV. 
• Earthfall is rather disappointing, following an extraordinarily strong start to the first series of the new and improved UNIT. It has atmosphere and is perfectly functional, but involves a lot of exposition being dumped and not much else really happening. Osgood and Bishop's sojourn isn't very interesting and Kate doesn't get up to a whole lot. This story is too short and concise and could have done with more colour and excitement.
• Bridgehead shows that the box set, after a promising start, has sagged somewhat in the middle with the most blatantly obvious reveal of what the 3D printers were for and very little else. When it's been this obvious to the listener since the superior Vanguard, it makes Kate and Osgood look stupid. Perhaps New UNIT does need Clara around after all. Also, I hope I never hear that news jingle again.
• Armageddon rounds up Extinction neatly and steps up from Andrew Smith's somewhat average middle episodes. The Nestene's defeat isn't anything we haven't seen before and the existence of the anti-plastic comes out of the blue, but it can't be said that Armageddon is anything less than competent. Still, it's not quite Vanguard.

The Inquisitor's Judgement: All in all, Extinction is a relatively stream-lined story that mixes and modernises the plots of Spearhead from Space, Terror of the Autons and Rose to create a confident tale that's a promising start to UNIT: The New Series in a way that, for example, the first series of The Diary of River Song isn't. That volume could just have easily been about Jack Harkness or Charley Pollard, but Extinction is unabashedly UNIT. It has a number of problems and Earthfall is forgettable, but Vanguard is a high-point for Big Finish. These issues, however, are minor and Extinction is, overall, very good and has earnt itself an A.

UNIT: The New Series

Extinction  |  Shutdown

Death in Geneva review [Andrew Smith]

With few people left to trust, and with assassins on their tail, Kate and Osgood race to UNIT Command in Geneva. Will General Avary be able to help them?

But when death follows UNIT all the way from the English countryside to the snowy slopes of the Alps, Captain Carter finds himself in a race against time.

As the body count rises, Kate struggles to separate friend from foe, danger circles Osgood ever closer, and, high in the mountains, Josh comes face to face with the enemy...

When and Where: In Geneva, after Power Cell and before The Battle of the Tower.

The Doctor's Case:

• On the show and in Extinction, things happen in the UK that mean that Kate and Osgood have to go out to sort it. Here, everything revolves around Osgood, making the plot that much more personal. Kate gets to worry about her and hurry to her rescue and Osgood gets to save herself.
• General Avary seems to be a good guy helping Kate, then he seems to be a bad guy helping Sir Peter. It turns out he's a slightly more complicated person, so to-the-letter that he contacts London not because he's a bad guy but because Kate has broken protocol.

The Valeyard's Case:

• Captain Carter is on the cover and Lieutenant Bishop is credited, but I can barely remember them even being in the story. The two not only have very little character but also very little in the way of plot, which was also an issue in Extinction.

This Reminds Me...:

• Osgood's psychic device shows the Eleventh Doctor arriving at the Tower of London in his TARDIS, which was presumably from The Day of the Doctor.
• Osgood remembers fighting Autons in the Gobi Desert, which was in Earthfall.
• Osgood's asthma plays up and she needs her inhaler, which was the case in The Day of the Doctor.
• The Kimishi first appeared in I Went to a Marvellous Party.

Next Time on UNIT: The Tengobushi are after an artefact in the Tower of London, where they're heading.

The Inquisitor's Judgement: This is a short review that makes me wonder if I should be doing box sets with continuous stories like these in one... Whilst the country-hopping seemed superfluous in Extinction, this trip to Geneva is great from the start. We learn a bit more about UNIT and how the government sees it, as well as finally visiting the global headquarters. We also learn who the aliens are: assassin Kimishi known as the Tengobushi, looking for a lost artefact in UNIT's hands. This story is very good and that earns it an A.

UNIT: The New Series - Shutdown

Power Cell  |  Death in Geneva  |  The Battle of the Tower

Power Cell review [Matt Fitton]

Osgood and Captain Josh Carter are sent to investigate the disappearance of a UNIT scientist.

Meanwhile, alien technology has fallen into the hands of Lyme Industries, and Kate Stewart can't persuade the company’s CEO, Felicity Lyme, to give it back.

But UNIT find themselves fighting a third battle when innocent people start to die. Who are the mysterious assassins? And what does Felicity Lyme want with top secret alien technology?

When and Where: Osgood has met the Eleventh Doctor, placing this after The Day of the Doctor. Colonel Shindi is still recuperating from being shot in Armageddon, so not much time has elapsed since then.

The Doctor's Case:

• We didn't learn very much about Kate or Osgood in Extinction and, whilst they were more well-rounded than on TV, they weren't properly humanised. It didn't feel like they had a life outside of what we saw on TV. Here, however, we're treated to some of this. We learn about some of Osgood's past - that she studied at King Henry's University in London and got her job after Kate found her through her relative Tom Osgood as part of her plan of making science lead in UNIT. We also see her outside of her work environment, going to a pub quiz with friends from uni and later seeing her house. She has something of a relationship with Captain Carter, but it's nice to see her with Jay Roy, with whom she has history. With Kate, we get a mention of her two children and learn that Gordon cooks, although apparently not very well.
• Felicity Lyme is a woman not unlike Matron Corfelia, Miss Kizlet or Ms Delphox, with a bit of Yvonne Hartman thrown in. She's a businesswoman with a calm and diplomatic exterior whilst managing to be a threat.

The Valeyard's Case:

• Captain Carter is still a nothing-character. Hopefully there will be time over this box set to explore him a little more. Kate too is still rather one-note and could do with some deeper characterisation. At the moment, she's just... competent. Can't we find out more about why she thinks science should lead or something?

I'll Explain Later:

• How did Osgood get the cloister bell for her ringtone?

This Reminds Me...:

• Lyme is reminiscent of Matron Corfelia (AKA Miss Foster) and Miss Kizlet.
• Osgood is wearing a bow-tie like the Eleventh Doctor.
• We saw the Moon-landing in Day of the Moon.
• Kate mentions her eldest, Gordon, who we met in Downtime.
• Osgood owns a sonic lock-pick.
• Kate mentions that Shindi is recuperating. He was shot in Armageddon.
• Kate mentions the ravens of death, first mentioned in The Power of Three.
• Osgood said that family connections were a part of how she joined UNIT. This is a reference too technical officer Tom Osgood, seen in The Daemons.
• Osgood breaks the rules and takes alien artefacts home, not unlike Owen, Tosh and Suzie in Everything Changes.

The Inquisitor's Judgement: Matt Fitton began Extinction with a bang. His opener to Shutdown isn't explosive; rather, it's a slow-burner that intriguingly sets up the plot whilst finding the time to expand on the geeky cosplayer that is Osgood. The struggle between Kate and Lyme reminds me of UNIT vs ICIS and, after seeing UNIT at full strength in the last box set, it's interesting to see it threatened. This is a very good start to this set and earns itself an A.

UNIT: The New Series - Shutdown

Armageddon (Extinction)  |  Power Cell  |  Death in Geneva