Going Through Doctor Who (Spoilers all Eps aired on BBC/BBCA)

[rushy]

Spare Parts finally fulfills the true potential of the Cybermen, and capitalises on their body horror with a story focused on the poor souls who doomed themselves to the conversion process.

WRITTEN BY

Marc Platt, who wrote the Seventh Doctor story Ghost Light. From what I understand, he's a major player in the Big Finish field and seems to share my thoughts on the flaws of the new series.

PLOT

The TARDIS lands on Mondas, Earth's long-lost twin planet adrift in space and soon to be torn apart by spatial phenomena. In order to survive, the Mondasians have devoted themselves to construction a planet-sized rocket that could propel their world out of the way of the oncoming nebula. But how much can you sacrifice before you lose yourself anyway?

ANALYSIS

Brrrr. This was a very unnerving story. I've always found the concept of the Cybermen spooky, but this is the first time since perhaps Rise Of The Cybermen that I've actually found them horrifying. And that was a derivative of this anyway.
But yeah, the concept of the Cybermen has always been the fear of overwhelming technology, of men walking around with literal hearts of steel. And that hasn't dated in the slightest bit, even now people are considering linking brains to computers and seeing the digital world in real life. You're not sticking any of that in my head, let me tell you that!

However, I feel as if the televised Cybermen stories have spectacularly failed to take advantage of that. The Tenth Planet and Attack Of The Cybermen hinted at it, and the inherent icyness of the Cybermen was promiment in their 60s appereances, but since then, they've been mostly ineffective, sometimes even the backup players for other villains like the Master.

Here, though, the Cybermen are at their absolute best, a chilling concoction of biological matter reanimated with mechanical devices, forcing others to go through the same process and without any mercy whatsoever.

It's the story of a city full of tired people, of ordinary citizens who just want to give their best, but can't... so they found another way, only now they're oppressed by their own protectors. The inevitability of their deaths(and worse, conversion) is what really gives Spare Parts its edge, because over the course of the story, you grow to like the people of Mondas and become invested in their desperate struggle for survival, only to see it yanked away from them and have their mechanical logic emerge triumphant. It's so very sad.

CHARACTERS

Peter Davison's age is definitely noticeable here and you can see he's developed the character slightly from the 1980s, continuing with that waspish, irritable side that Tegan gave birth to. Someone once said that Davison's Doctor was reminiscent of a younger version of Hartnell's and I'm beginning to agree.
However, his characterisation is a little problematic: the story can't really seem to decide what exactly the Doctor is supposed to be doing on Mondas. I mean, we all know how the story's going to roll out(the Cybermen win), but he still insists on sticking around and helping and even announcing to the Mondasians what will happen to them... whilst also trying to make sure they don't directly influence history. It's very confusing.

I actually didn't recognise Sarah Sutton's voice until the Doctor mentioned her name, so that goes to show how much she's changed. Characterwise, she's more cynical and worldwise than the show hinted at, but retains her dedication to life as represented by her decision to bring food to the family who hid her from the Cybermen at great personal risk in spite of their world being doomed anyway.

The Hartley family(along with much of Mondas) seemed too Earthlike to me. I mean, I know it's supposed to be Earth's twin planet, but the culture doesn't have to be identical. Apart from that, though, they're a lovely bunch and the centerpiece of an absolutely heartbreaking scene after one of them goes through a partial cyber-conversion.

Doctorman Allan is a really interesting character: she's alcoholic and cynical to the point of being useless to anyone, yet is paradoxically devoted to the Cybermen she invented and helps them at every turn. I guess she feels let down by the slow progress of their work, especially when the Cybermen ultimately turn on them, but it would've been nice to expand on Allan a little, as she is essentially what Davros was for the Daleks.

NOTES

*Why does this story have the 1970s opening theme as opposed to the Peter Howell one?

*What is it with Doctors and companions going off on their own to investigate without any means of letting the other party know? They should all start carrying phones.

*It's a wonder that companions never get killed with how little they work at trying to fit in into whatever society they're visiting. As soon as they see what they perceive to be injustice, BAM! To the rescue! Nobody's ever clever(and heartless, I guess).

*A Cybermat nicknamed... Mattie? That's imaginative. Not even Matthew?

*Nyssa's little rant about staying even if she has to leave the TARDIS for the sake of this one family who helped her out is admirable, but ultimately, more than a little foolish. I would've locked the doors of the TARDIS and taken off immediately. And if she wanted to leave, that would just be proof she's not ready for the ordeals of time and space travel.

*But the worst part is that not only does the Doctor apologise and let her loose on Mondas, he himself leaves the TARDIS for some fresh air. On Mondas. Facepalm.

*They really overdid the sound effects on the Central Committee, I could barely make out what they were saying. Unless they're supposed to be related to the Mechanoids.

*Sometimes I love just how forthcoming the Fifth Doctor can be: he has no qualms about letting a random alien into his TARDIS just so he could find Nyssa. "Oh yeah, Nyssa's in there, and it's bigger on the inside, whatever. Have fun."

*I realise that Yvonne is scared witless, but why would she think she's going to meet her father in the facility prior to her conversion? From what I understood, the family members get taken away and that's it.

*Cyber-horses...? That's just weird. Also, doesn't that beg the question why the cyber-converted animals in The Next Doctor became so mutated whilst the horses essentially remained horses?

*There's something adorable(and eerie) about the confused Cyberman wandering around, asking for tasks to do.

*The Cybermen restrict data from their own citizens, but when it comes to the Doctor, they basically do a Powerpoint presentation about their big engine.

*I realise that Platt wanted some kind of a backstory for the name "Cyberman", but was ending everyone's titles with "-man" really the best option? I'm sorry, but calling your nurses "the Sister-Men" is just weird.

*I must admit, the moment where the show pretends that the Doctor has been cyber-converted absolutely got me, even though I knew in my head that he couldn't really become a full Cyberman. But still, that was just brilliant. One way I imagined Capaldi would regenerate would be to have him go through the Cyber-conversion process and then explode into yellow light from within the suit. How cool would that be?

*The absolute nadir of turning the Mondasian culture into a copycat of Earth's: they have football results... who even plays football on Mondas? I can't really imagine that. Or where they referring to older games?

*I love that the Doctor can use the computer logic of the Cybermen against them, and make them plot them against their own Cyber-Planner. It's an interesting form of conflict that we've not really ever seen since, since the Cybermen are always in agreement with one another. But their cold, hard logic really could do with a comeback.

*The ending to this story is just cruel. I was honestly confused when the Doctor won out and I actually thought maybe we're going to have an upbeat ending that shows that maybe... just maybe things can work out somehow. I shouldn't have been so naive...

CONTINUITY ADVISOR

1) In this story, we see the Cybermen construct the space engine that would ultimately lead Mondas to Earth in The Tenth Planet. So it functions as a sort of clever prequel to that story.

2) Nyssa blames the Doctor for following a literal interpretation on the First Law of Time, and not saving Adric's life, which Tegan suggested he do in Time-Flight. I think Nyssa is being thick here, and the Adric reference is crowbarred in.

3) The Central Committee is obviously an early version of the Cyber-Planner, which led them in The Wheel In Space and The Invasion, and even adapted the Doctor's own mind for its calculations in Nightmare In Silver. Here, we bring the body horror even to them as the nature of the Committee is just as awful and corrupted as the rest of the Cybermen. Awesome.

BEST QUOTE

"Now, remember what it all means? Eh? Our dear old, scraggy old tree stands for the forests that once covered the surface of the world. The lights are the stars above the stone sky. And the baubles are the worlds we pass, winding our long journey through them like the tinsel. And the star on top, that's the old sun we left behind and one day, we'll get back to." - I'm not even going to spoil the context, it must be heard to be truly experienced.

CONCLUSION

A depressing warning tale that epitomises the nature of the Cybermen.

[rushy]

Thin Ice is an entertaining, but superficial adventure that touches on a lot of subjects, but can't seem to deliver any kind of message about them.

WRITTEN BY

Sarah Dollard, writer of 2015's Face The Raven. She's fast becoming the next Mark Gatiss, with a pattern of making good ideas uninteresting.

PLOT

The TARDIS takes the Doctor and Bill to 1814's London Frost Fair, organised by a mysterious Lord Sutcliffe. There, they discover a massive creature living underneath the ice of the Thames with a penchant for snacking on the unsuspecting partygoers above. Now the question that is on everyone's mind... what to do with it?

ANALYSIS

The first scenes on the Fair have a lot of atmosphere and as per usual, the production team have outdone themselves in recreating the past era. And the story itself isn't all that bad, it's just that... there's not really much tension to it. Maybe I'm just wary of comedy in Doctor Who these days, but I feel like this episode was far too lighthearted for its own good.
That, and much of the material was recycled(shades of The Shakespeare Code and City Of Death).

I liked the tension between the Doctor and Bill, which came about very naturally, but the theme of racism was left unexplored. It would've been nice if there was, for example, some conflict between Bill(who's clearly led a comfortable life) and Kitty(who's been on the streets). They could've even drawn a parallel between the Doctor, a Time Lord who is from a higher class of existence, but has devoted his life to "moving on" as the episode put it, and helping everyone as best he can.

Thematically speaking, the episode felt undercooked. Since Lord Sutcliffe was irredeemably evil, he should've at least been a fun villain, but he has scarcely any good lines and so comes across as nothing more, than an irritating racist. He's not a villain you love to hate, he's just a git. And as a result, not really interesting at all.

CHARACTERS

Peter Capaldi begins to slip towards comedy again in this episode, which is once again a mixed bag. The running gag about poor old Pete was hilarious, but his obsession with the coin trick was just tiresome. It's not his Doctor at all. And the less said about the return of "Doctor Disco", the better.

Pearl Mackie is the strongest aspect of the episode, as Bill learns about the Doctor's darker side and begins to cope with having to do seemingly ruthless things in order to save people. She walked a tightrope this episode, above Clara-like irritating naivete, but fortunately managed to remain just likable and realistic enough, even as the Doctor inexplicably began asking her for orders and calling her his boss(he must be on a rebound or something).

As I predicted, Matt Lucas has next to nothing to do in this episode as well, and from the next time trailer for Knock Knock, seems to be largely absent from that one as well! I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that Nardole will never really travel in the TARDIS in the traditional sense(unless Chibnall keeps him) and his whole arc will be dedicated to the protection of the Vault. Which is why he'll suddenly become important around the time of the three-parter.
I will say that I rather liked the ending of this episode, where he was left alone to deal with whatever menace is inside the Vault.

Nicholas Burns is basically a Scarlioni-wannabe as Lord Sutcliffe, just a cliche "charming bad guy" without any of the quirky characteristics that really makes one.

I'd also like to mention Simon Ludders as the Overseer, simply because I found his excitement over being congratulated for his intelligence by the Doctor adorable.

NOTES

*When was the last time we had a nice, atmospheric establishing shot? Seems like nowadays, the episode just... starts(although I guess this time I can forgive it, since they're continuing from the Hartnell-esque ending of the last one).

*The Doctor makes a big deal over how the TARDIS diverted their course to the Frost Fair, but it doesn't really seem to go anywhere. Was she just feeling bad for the Thames creature?

*What is it with Peter Capaldi and obvious greenscreens?

*What exactly is wrong with the meat that Bill has to cringe? Looks like fine meat to me. Except for whatever fish the Doctor snagged. But she cringed before that.

*I was really upset when that kid nicked the sonic screwdriver. That's a big no-no.

*Where did those weird fish come from, anyway? I mean, I can sort of buy there being a giant Thames creature, but fish that can suck people under the ice and then instantly re-freeze it?

*And of course, the one time they try and claim someone who has the Doctor's property, they freeze the ice too quickly, leaving said property right in the Doctor's reach. How convenient.

*The Doctor's new sonic looks more like a toy replica in this episode than an actual device.

*Whilst Bill's reaction to death is very well written and natural, I am more than tired of companions being upset with the Doctor when things happen that they don't expect. How is he supposed to warn them that "whoops, time travel can be harsh"? It's kind
of a no-brainer!

*And why does she keep saying "that's not what I asked" when he begins to explain that yes, he HAS killed people. I mean, giving reasons is pretty much the same as giving an affirmative, isn't it?

*How exactly do the kids "lure" people to the Fair? All they really did was make up some story about a lost dog. Do they expect people to go and look for their dog?

*Someone needs to tell Peter Capaldi to tone it down when the Doctor is meant to be lying, because I swear, every time that happens, he starts hamming it up, making it far too obvious.

*Apparently, the Twelfth Doctor loves being "down with the kids" now. Sounds way more like Matt Smith to me, but whatever.

*Why borrow some random diving suits(that were just sitting in a cart??) instead of getting some advanced ones from the TARDIS? Don't tell me the Doctor doesn't have some.

*Why can't the Doctor hear Bill's shouting through his mask? They were talking earlier, meaning that they could clearly hear one another.

*Setup for the joke: the Doctor approaches a con man to find information on the Thames creature, only to be distracted by his coin-tossing skills and begs the man to teach him. Bill looks at him disapprovingly. After a small pause, the Doctor turns back to the man and tells him to never mind.
Execution of the joke: without any hint of enthusiasm, Capaldi randomly asks the man to teach him the afore-mentioned coin toss, then quickly turns to Pearl Mackie(who is completely ignorant of her part in the joke and just sort of stares at him) and then immediately turns back and tells him to never mind and changes the topic.
Sorry, but that's just an embarrassingly misjudged moment, not just from the actors, but also the director, and the people who allowed it to air.

*So, no explanation of the psychic paper to those younger viewers Moffat wanted to reel in?

*Shouldn't Bill be saying "no kidding" instead of "no sh-"? I feel like the latter is reserved for sarcasm.

*I like that the Doctor explains to Bill that one has to be tactful sometimes with villains. It's a cute, self-aware moment.

*The Doctor's speech to Lord Sutcliffe was very Pertwee. Shame that Capaldi didn't get angry like he would have, though. The speech was delivered as a quiet, uplifting moment instead of a red-hot one, like it could have been.

*Nardole puts coffee in tea? Who does that???

*The Doctor feels the need to censor Nardole for saying... naughty?

*How many times has New Who used the "Humans forget everything" get out of
jail for free card now?

*Bill sure found that Lord Sutcliffe article pretty fast, didn't he? You'd think it'd be in some kind of an archive instead of available online within minutes.

CONTINUITY ADVISOR

Nardole makes the tea(/coffee) that the Doctor asked him for in Smile. And as before, he sternly reminds the Doctor to uphold his oath and stay on Earth to look after the Vault. I hope he doesn't do this next episode as well, because it will get very repetitive.

BEST QUOTE

"Do you want to help me or do you want to stand here stamping your foot because let me tell you something: I'm 2000 years old. And I have never had the time for the luxury of outrage." - Finally, he tells the companion to quit whining and get on with it! It's a different morality, get used to it or go home!

CONCLUSION

It's enjoyable and there's some good character development, but overall, it's just too lightweight.

[rushy]

One of the best parts of any fandom is the fanfiction. They can be indulgent or showcase remarkable imagination worthy of the show's best writers. Today, I'm going to celebrate the Doctor Who fandom by taking a look at the first fanmade audio drama by beloved Second Doctor impersonator, Chris Thomson(who very kindly did a recording for my mother's birthday, thanks Chris!).

Red Snow is a traditional Earth invasion story that combines a remarkably good understanding of the relatively underused Ice Warriors with a lovely Christmas mood. With a story that has more holes in it than Swiss cheese.

WRITTEN BY

Chris Thomson. I hope to see him in Big Finish someday!

PLOT

After a TARDIS malfunction carries the Doctor away from Jamie and Victoria, he's stuck in 2013 London that has been buried under ice by an invading force of Ice Warriors. Why are they invading Earth? Why do they need the Doctor? Check this link to find out.

ANALYSIS

It's clear that the production team(can I call them that?) were primarily concerned with nailing the feel of 60s Doctor Who and they succeed, more or less. Most of the sound effects and music is straight out of that era(although there is some very Peter Davison-y electronic cues used in the Episode 1 cliffhanger). There is the sense that this is the first time they're doing this sort of thing(some odd moments where you're not really sure what's going on), but that's hardly a fault, more like the same charm you get when noticing the flaws in the original stories.

The big problem for me was that some of the most important plot points just didn't make much sense: I didn't understand why it was so important to the Ice Warriors that the Doctor be the one to destroy the Earth. What were they going to do if he didn't show up? And wasn't the whole point of the deception that it was a natural disaster?
And then later on, the Ice Warriors seal the TARDIS in ice, freezing the people inside. But, doesn't the TARDIS have an internal atmosphere(not to mention a closet filled with warm clothes)? So how does that work?

Regardless of those flaws, I enjoyed this story and do recommend it, as there's some lovely character work here, and the entire guest cast gets to shine. In fact, let's talk about the story's strongest suit, shall we?

CHARACTERS

This is not an embellishment: I could see Patrick Troughton when I heard Chris Thomson deliver his lines. I was literally picturing him in my head. That's the highest possible compliment I can give an impersonator. It wasn't pitch-perfect(no impersonator is), but Thomson nailed Troughton's fussy and fast-thinking persona well enough that I was completely invested from the get go.

I'm not sure who voiced Jamie or Victoria(it's not stated on their website) in the beginning of the story, but they both did a really good job too. Jamie's voice could be a little faster(Frazer Hines was always very lively in his delivery).

Allan Rafferty's Scott serves as the de facto companion in this story, a teenager whose father sacrifices himself to hold back the Ice Warriors. He gets a nice little arc in which the Doctor and him muse over the meaning Christmas holds and will hold for them.

Christopher Johnson's Lord Kryzon is definitely my favourite Ice Warrior ever. He's got a great, polite evil bad guy voice(speaking of the Ice Warriors' voices, they sound a lot less whispery in this story, and more like Cybermen) and has a very simple, understandably pragmatic motivation. It's almost a shame he had to die.

Benji Clifford's Captain Durant was a really cool, confident and likable military figure. It's nice to know the Doctor has friends in the regular army as well as UNIT(it'd be really cool to revisit Durant some 40 years later, as with professor Travers). He's basically the Duggan of this story, providing the Doctor with backup muscle.

NOTES

*The TARDIS is very echo-ey in this, sort of like in Tomb Of The Cybermen.

*I like the tinkly An Unearthly Child-esque music when the TARDIS dematerialises.

*So apparently, the Doctor uses WD-40 oil to clean his TARDIS... would've been nice to mention what WD-40 is, by the way(I had to look it up).

*So, after he's left Jamie and Victoria and arrived in 2013 London, why does the Doctor randomly say "Jamie, you best put some trousers on"?

*The military officers(and Scott) take a bizarre interest in the Doctor's backstory. No offense, but in that situation, the Doctor's family and whether or not he hates Christmas would be the last of my concerns.

*And speaking of which, why does the Doctor place so much value on Christmas, anyway? It's very cute, but... it's still an Earth holiday.

*I can't decide whether employing the London Underground in this story is unwise or not, as it obviously inspires direct comparison with The Web Of Fear.

*The scene in which the Doctor suggests to Scott that he celebrate Christmas for his father's act of bravery rather than mourning his loss, is simply wonderful.

*A crime that the TV series itself is often guilty of... the Doctor tells Scott to run away from his captors within earshot of the Ice Warriors meant to escort him!

*Couldn't the Ice Warriors have found a colder, uninhabited planet away from Earth? I mean, if they have spaceships... and with all that ice, surely they have cryogenic freezing technology or can survive in space for multiple generations...

*Points for a rather shocking moment in which the Doctor threatens to shoot himself, leaving Kryzon with no one to activate the machine(can't he just trick some human to do it?).

*Why does the Doctor get rid of his gun after this trick, by the way? Couldn't the Ice Warriors take it and then go back on their promise to give him ten minutes?

*Somehow, I don't find it plausible that a rusty lever would prevent the Doctor from taking off in the TARDIS mid-crisis. Just get someone to help you move it! Or just break the darn thing, it's worth it.

*The Doctor shows a remarkable lack of concern over leaving Jamie and Victoria somewhere in the 13th century. I mean, how many times was he able to go back to someplace he'd already been to in the 60s? Not more than 3 or 4 times.

*Kryzon compares to no other dictator he's ever run into, eh? What's funny is that I can't actually remember any big dictator he ran into in the 60s(I mean specific people, not a race like the Daleks). So this could very well be honest.

*So, the TARDIS's communication system can reach Mars? I mean, it's plausible, but we certainly never saw something like this happen back in those days.

*Did Scott kill Kryzon? If he did, that's a bit dark, isn't it? And the Doctor's like "oh, thanks mate!"

*The Doctor seems very certain that Mars will regain its freezing temperatures... is this a reference to something?

*How exactly did the Ice Warriors remove Kryzon's ship so fast? I imagine a giant sucker arm came out of the ship and dragged it away with them.

*Heating the Earth up with the Ice Warriors' terraforming device seems more than a little bit dodgy to me... is the Doctor a fan of climate change?

*Scott's voice sounds oddly tinny in the final scene. I think he's in a car or something, but that's a very odd effect in that case.

CONTINUITY ADVISOR

Nothing, really! Very refreshing and very true to that era of carefree monster tales.

BEST QUOTE

DOCTOR: "The Ice Warriors do have a sense of morals... I hope."
SCOTT: "But they admitted to eliminating everyone regardless!"
DOCTOR: "Well, perhaps they'll make an exception for me... and hopefully everyone else."

CONCLUSION

Iffy plot aside, this is a great tribute to Patrick Troughton's tenure as Doctor Who and a genuinely good outing for one of my favourite monsters, the Ice Warriors.

[rushy]

The Neverwhen is a depressing, dreary story that was honestly hard to sit through.

ANALYSIS

Matt Fitton, a prolific Big Finish writer who seems to have dabbled in everything. But crikey, I hope those stories are more enjoyable.

PLOT

Following Cardinal Ollistra's tampering with the TARDIS, it arrives in the Neverwhen - a planet where the Time Lords experimented with a time flux weapon that causes history to become completely malleable. Can the Doctor save the poor souls trapped there? No, of course not.

ANALYSIS

I'm not even entirely sure what it was about this story, because apart from a few glaring plot holes in the concept of the Neverwhen, it's solid. But for some reason, I just felt miserable throughout it. The guest cast are all soldiers(whom the story sort of abandons halfway through), Ollistra is practically an antagonist and the rest are Daleks. That leaves the War Doctor to be utterly alone in a situation that he cannot change. So there's scarcely anyone to relate to and the one person you do is completely helpless.

Whilst the ending does at least give Ollistra a comeuppance, it doesn't make you feel any better about the hellish events recently and in fact, it promises even more pain and suffering next time!

CHARACTERS

John Hurt is admirable as usual as the War Doctor. He almost comes across as the Daniel Craig version of Jon Pertwee's incarnation, with all the moralising and fighting that he does. Irritatingly, he spends most of the story getting talked down to by Ollistra.

And speaking of the devil... I feel like this story defines her more than any other so far. As the Doctor describes her in the end, she's delusionally believing that she'd doing the right thing whilst in fact, doing the worst. This makes her likable sometimes as she is technically on the same side as the Doctor, but in reality, she's as far away from him as possible.

NOTES

*Shouldn't the time-flux merely decay the weapons(and the opposite?). Why does it provide the Time Lords and Daleks with different kinds?

*And if it is changing their physiology, how on Earth are their memories intact?

*Daylin tells the Doctor that her group are over the ride, if they're still alive. But instead of checking for them, he seems to just immediately take her back to the Dalek base, completely ignoring the potentially wounded men and women. Um... okay.

*Having the Kaled leader finish their plan of attack by declaring "seek, locate and destroy" was a nice touch. Even if they were Time Lords, it would've been a clever reflection of how far they've come, so I didn't suspect anything.

*Another line from the Kaled leader that I misinterpreted was his question for the Doctor: "What's that collar you're wearing?" I thought he was referring to colour and trying to remember if the Doctor was supposed to be in prison clothes or something.

*Can't the Doctor just call himself John Smith so people would leave him alone with the name thing?

*Apparently, when the Daleks evolve and devolve, one of the forms they take is "the spider-forms of the Fifth Skaro Devastation". I'm certain that's a reference to some comic book...

*The Doctor's group of Time Lords being revealed to be Kaleds(evolving into Daleks) was a brilliant twist.

*Skaro is time-locked? Since when?

*The ending is a bit of a deus ex machina... not only is the Doctor able to create a peaceful society with a combination of the Anima Device and the Neverwhen whatever-fancy-thing-it's-called, but he also manages to prevent the Neverwhen from ever being created by destroying it at its very beginning... simply by "altering its parameters". Somehow.

*I love that the Doctor yells at Ollistra for psycho-analysing him. Feels like all of my rants towards Clara are finally justified.

*So, did the Doctor get rid of the Anima Device THIS time? Still a pretty dangerous thing and he certainly had time to check Ollistra's pockets...

CONTINUITY ADVISOR

1) The TARDIS's arrival to the Neverwhen is caused by Ollistra's tampering in the previous story.

2) The name of the Neverwhen and its time flux effect seems to have been influenced by references from The End Of Time, which I'm very keen on, because that was our main viewpoint into the Time War until this series.

3) Ollistra mentions that the Time Lords have been working on something similar (to Kallix's time flux-induced resurrection) with less success, a reference to the Technomancer project from Legion Of The Lost. Makes sense, since she spearheaded both.

4) Ollistra reminds the Doctor that he told her she would find him at "the heart of the battle", which occurred in, what do you know, The Heart Of The Battle. It's a pretty thematically relevant callback.

5) Daylin exclaims that the Doctor's TARDIS is "alive with power". I don't think this is actually a continuity reference since it's made very clear that this is due to unusual conditions, but it reminds me of Ian thinking the TARDIS was battery-powered due to it seeming "alive" to the touch in An Unearthly Child. If it's a callback, it's a nice and subtle one.

6) Ollistra reveals that the rogue Daleks on the Theta-12 asteroid saw inside the Neverwhen and speculates that it might have influenced K006's actions, both of which occurred in A Thing Of Guile. Frankly, I find this to be pretty irrelevant.

7) The Doctor is still wearing the special collar that Ollistra forced on him in the previous story and once again, it's a hindrance. Okay, basic continuity, but I personally really hate it here, because I hate seeing the Doctor electrocuted every time he does something Ollistra doesn't like.

8) The fast return circuit of Ollistra's TARDIS is set for Kronos. The fast return switch was a major plot point in The Edge Of Destruction, a particular favourite of mine so I approve, though it's not necessary to the story at all.

9) Ollistra planned to use the Neverwhen in conjunction with the Annihilator, a plan that the Doctor unknowingly foiled in Legion Of The Lost. That's a clever callback.

10) The Doctor reversed the polarity to escape! Classic.

11) Kallix mentions that the Sisterhood of Karn isn't here to help them regenerate. Not sure why we had to bring them up.

BEST QUOTE

"If any single thing can be considered Gallifrey's deadliest weapon and greatest
omen, it's him." - Ollistra's descrption of the War Doctor.

CONCLUSION

Good concepts cannot save this from being a murky, tiresome experience. Especially if those concepts are somewhat poorly thought out as well.

[rushy]

Knock Knock is an excellent spooky haunted house story, with a really heartbreaking climax.

WRITTEN BY

Mike Bartlett, a talented addition to the show.

PLOT

As they're looking for a cheap, but comfortable home, Bill and his fellow students are approached by a slightly sinister landlord, who offers them an old mansion to stay in. Finding the whole thing suspect, the Doctor is compelled to stick around for the night and becomes the kids' only hope when the house comes to life and locks them in...

ANALYSIS

A fantastic haunted house vibe, likable horror fodder and David Suchet at the center of it all. It was superb. The episode capitalised on classic horror tropes, like the creaky floorboards, insect swarms, useless phones, flashlight under the chin and creepy music. There was even a subtle Evil Dead reference. I especially liked the way the house completely bolted itself shut, isolating everyone from the outside world.

All in all, it helped to create a proper sense of isolation and mystery in the house and the story maintained the tension all the way through, particularly in the emotional reveal at the end.

I also have to mention the set designers, who actually managed to build a really creaky set so it wasn't just sound effects. At least I don't think it was.

CHARACTERS

Peter Capaldi gave a very strong performance as the Twelfth Doctor. He's always shined in stories that require him to investigate and work things out and this is no exception. I liked his rapport with Colin Ryan's Harry as well, and their little adventure in the cellar was very enjoyable.

Pearl Mackie is somewhat underused here as Bill, but since she does set the whole story in motion, I can't really argue. Besides, the guest cast are so strong you don't even notice.

David Suchet's Landlord is both likable and creepy at the same time. In every scene he's in, you can't take your eyes off of him. The character's psychosis and obsession was brilliantly portrayed and when he regressed into a child, you genuinely felt bad for him since he wasn't really being a bad person. There's a lot of layers in Suchet's performance, the work of one of the great actors of our time.

The rest of the cast are all fairly likable, though you'd be hard-pressed to remember more than "the nervous girl", "the Scottish bloke", "musician guy", "Bill's buddy" and Harry Jr. But that's not a slight on their performances, I think they all brought a lot to the table and made themselves likable enough so that you didn't want them to die. Honestly, I cared more about them than the entire cast of Class.

NOTES

*Why does Bill need a flat anyway? Couldn't she just sleep in the TARDIS. The Doctor's
currently stationed on Earth anyway and it's not like she's got anything major in life
outside of him right now. I mean, she only became a student to listen to his lectures, didn't she? Or does she have some other aspirations?

*Why would someone say "wicked" in response to stepping on a creaking floorboard?

*It's sad and all that Pavel got sucked into the wall, but I spent the scene wondering why the record suddenly scratched for no reason. Do records just do that(don't judge me, I've not seen a working record player since I was five)? Wouldn't that be a major pain when you're trying to listen to music?

*I know I already complained about this in my review of The Pilot, but the title sequence is really unforgivably sloppy this season. Leaving aside the poor fade-out effect for the actors' names, Capaldi's eyes have just become an afterthought and I don't think I care for the huge episode titles either, it just makes it harder to read when they first appear.

*Bill, are you 100% sure you want to rest your arse on the controls of a ship that you've seen can pretty much do anything?

*The Doctor's speckly jumper from Listen makes a comeback... I guess it's his horror episode outfit(like how Tom Baker had different coats for studio and outside filming-heavy stories, and Matt Smith had different bow-tie colors for contemporary and futuristic episodes)

*So, first the Doctor randomly mentions regeneration(which still makes me uncomfortable outside of regeneration stories) and then he doesn't elaborate? I thought this season was all about breaking the mold! What a lost oppurtunity to actually prepare a companion for it! Maybe he just likes seeing their faces when he changes his.

*Why did Paul(Scottish bloke) plan to sleep in the Tower when the Landlord made it explicitly clear the first time that it was unsafe and off-limits?

*I've always found it odd that the Doctor doesn't mind name-dropping historical celebrities. Shouldn't the risk of contaminating history also include the 21st century?

*I really wish they'd explained where exactly the insects came from and what happened to them afterwards. Aside from Smile, unexplained threats seem to be a theme this season.

*What exactly did the mother think was going on? First she gets sick, then her son brings her insects, after that the doctors fail to treat her and somehow, her husband disappears and she and her son end up living alone... and then at some point she began to believe that her son was her father. I know I shouldn't ask the show to treat the viewer like an idiot, but I'm just tired of these enthymemes(I googled "leaps of logic" and found this word).

*I am certain that Missy is in the Vault. We've already seen her on a piano in the trailers and I don't understand what the point of capturing Simm's Master would be, given that he'll end up becoming Missy anyway. And that piano reaction to the Doctor's mention of dying children is so her.

*I'm very glad to see Nardole will be joining the adventure next time and we'll finally get to see this TARDIS team together in action!

CONTINUITY ADVISOR

1) Bill tries to comfort herself in the house by saying that there are no "living puddles, weird robots or big fish" nearby, a reference to the prior three episodes, which is nice character consistency and helps to make this season feel more coherent.

2) When checking the Landlord's knowledge of the outside world, the Doctor asks him who the Prime Minister is and namedrops several, including Harriet Jones, the supposed brain behind Britain's Golden Age in the RTD era.

3) Nardole mentions that whoever's in the Vault has been getting restless, which we saw at the end of Thin Ice. Consistency. Good.

BEST QUOTE

"I think it's better to leave your granddaughter here with her friends, they seem respectable. And... I'll keep an eye, of course..." - I love Suchet's delivery of this line, he acts like he and the Doctor are the only two people in on some sort of secret.

CONCLUSION

A classy, dramatic and entertaining thriller.

[rushy]

Warriors Of The Deep is lame.

WRITTEN BY

Johnny Byrne, who wrote The Keeper Of Traken and Arc Of Infinity. Shame that not one of them came out the way he originally envisioned.

PLOT

The TARDIS makes an emergency landing into a Sea Base in 2084 Earth, shortly before it comes under attack from the combined forces of the Silurians and the Sea Devils, forcing the Doctor to once again mediate between the two owners of the planet to prevent genocide.

ANALYSIS

Just to get it out of the way: this story was scuppered from the start by Margaret Thatcher's call for a parliamentary election, which cost the production two weeks. This meant that most scenes has little to no rehearsal and the notorious Myrka costume was unfinished and worn by actors for the first time on-screen.

So I will cut Warriors Of The Deep some slack in terms of acting and direction. What I won't hold back on, however, is the awful script.

Simply put, this is the biggest failure of a story I've seen, worse than The Three Doctors(at least that had some entertainment value and was heartfelt). For the majority of its runtime, it is absolutely lifeless, with stale, robotic dialogue and characters who are simply there to die. The only deviation from the pointless, inevitable bloodshed is a horribly unsubtle jab at the Cold War, but this goes nowhere plotwise and is even less interesting to watch.

Things go to a whole new level in episode 4, in which the Doctor becomes downright unpleasant as he uncharacteristically shames the humans for trying to kill the invading Silurians. I mean, there's pacifism and then there's defending the genocidal aliens who appear to be no better than the humans.

But before we can declare that the story is an unforgivable pile of excrement, I must point out that it looks gorgeous. Both literally and metaphorically speaking. The model work for both the Sea Base and the Silurian ships easily holds up today and looks beautiful. The white, futuristic corridors are almost 2001: A Space Odyssey-esque. The redesign of the Silurian and Sea Devil costumes is a respectable update.

Likewise, the story is set up to be fantastic. Its two predecessors were both heavy in ethical dilemmas and it's clear that Byrne intended to emphasise on that whilst also commenting on the Cold War, but his utter lack of subtlety and failure to do actually give any kind of message beyond "that fecal matter is intercoursed up, yo" sinks it. As for the action scenes, they might've looked good on paper, but are realised dreadfully, with basically the same sequence of events repeated over and over: the Sea Devils show up and slowly walk towards the enemy whilst firing sound-effects, and the humans run away.

So yeah, Warriors fails on every level of storytelling, but it also manages to extra disappoint by drawing you in with shiny looks and promises of excellent drama.

CHARACTERS

In direct contrast with his material, Peter Davison gives an excellent performance that shows his maturity in the role. He's far more subdued than usual and doesn't skitter around or get breathless. I also really like his passive aggressive(but light-hearted) jabs at Turlough and Tegan. They're an unlikely trio, but life's not a perfect fit.

Janet Fielding isn't particularly remarkable as Tegan this time around, as she has nil to do, but she doesn't get on my nerves either, which is great considering her past...

And then there's Mark Strickson, who hams it up as Turlough to the point where his facial expression seems to change with every single word. He spends most of the story running around with a rifle and shouting ineffectively at people like a nerdy Arnold Schwarzenegger(or Reb Brown, for a more obscure reference).

Please forgive me, but I can't be arsed to talk about anyone else. Well, maybe the base commander, who seems to react to his hand being used to destroy the Earth with mild sternness.

NOTES

*What's up with the Silurians' Dalek eyes?

*I guess I shouldn't blame Ian Levine too much, given that he had to handle Silurians from "Siluria", but having the Sea Devils actually be referred to as the Sea Devils by their own cousins? Really?

*Considering that the nuclear button can only be activated by a sync operator, it's downright insane that there's only one of them on the base at any given time. If Maddox - a student - hadn't been there, they would've just been screwed for two weeks.

*What's with the fancy make-up on everyone? Is this the next step after the retro punk hairstyle?

*We've seen the Doctor dematerialise the TARDIS in seconds before, so why does he chinwag with the Earth satellite instead of just leaving and going someplace else?

*There's an odd scene where Turlough and the Doctor can't pull a door open(there's a keypad right next to them, which they ignore) and then Tegan just suddenly pulls it open all on her own. Comedy?

*After they've turned on the alarm by activating the lift, why do the TARDIS crew run away instead of... I dunno, stepping into the lift?

*And why does the lift open anyway after the alarm turns on?

*The security is terrible in the Sea Base, as the TARDIS crew are able to hide in a chemical store WHILST they're checking it!

*It gets even worse later, when Turlough just picks a gun off of one of the soldiers and runs off with it without anyone bothering to give chase.

*And at one point, Preston, who is ordered to guard the Doctor, actually runs ahead of him.

*"I've hotted things up a bit." Clearly, the Doctor also failed grammar in the Academy.

*The Doctor's plan to cause a ruckus in the base by overheating the reactor makes no sense... he plans to sneak back into the ship by putting the base on red alert?

*I'm sure this has been mentioned in every review of this ever made, but what on earth makes Turlough think the Doctor's drowned in like three seconds?

*Does anyone else think Davison looks the age he is now when he's underwater? I think it's because his hair isn't covering his forehead.

*Is every 80s Doctor Who villain obligated to declare that things are "excellent!"?

*To give the production some credit, they did a great job recapturing the awesome original Sea Devil voices.

*With "what have you been eating?" in episode 2, Doctor Who indulges in its first bad breath/fart joke. For shame!

*Considering that he corrected Jo on the Silurians' name in The Sea Devils, why does the Doctor still call them Silurians in this story?

*Whilst it's nice to have a more supportive base commander for once, wouldn't he suspect that "the power bloc opposing this Sea Base" would be the ones attacking as opposed to the Doctor's rantings about sentient reptiles?

*I love that the spies discuss their plans at the corner of the bridge in full earshot of everyone.

*Why does Solow reveal to Karina that Maddox is doing sabotage instead of lying and... you know, not having to murder her?

*Why are the guards wearing HAZMAT suits?

*Another one for Ian Levine: how do the Sea Base people know the Sea Devils' name? Because I'm pretty sure it was only mentioned once before, by the Silurians at the beginning of the story.

*A lovely callback to the original story: Sauvix(the leader of the Sea Devils) wobbles his head insanely when he tells Icthar that the base is theirs, even when he's not talking!

*A major plot point is the ultraviolet light which the Doctor uses to disable the Myrka and Nilson. He specifically tells Tegan NOT to look at the light and she later remembers that and closes her eyes when he uses it again. Except that when he does... there's a close-up of her taking a peek for several seconds and it's never brought up!

*Why do the Sea Devils bother to keep Bulic and Turlough alive? I thought murder was a mercy in their eyes?

*So, what's the thought process behind the bubble wrap on the beds?

*Considering that ultraviolet light is a real thing, you'd think they'd make its effect as realistic as possible, but nope. Nilson's entire upper face turns into a CSO mess.

*The peak of the Silurians' hypocrisy: They claim that its the Base members who keep fighting them and forcing the ongoing battle, completely ignoring that they ATTACKED them!!

*Knowing that Nilson is an enemy spy, the commander declares that he will be court martialled... but doesn't check him for weapons so he could, you know, make a daring escape, die and spare him from all the paperwork.

*When exactly did the Silurians abandon mediation? It's not exactly made sure what's been going on since we last saw them, but it is implied that they've been awake since around 1977(The Invasion added four years to every Pertwee story). So, why have they waited 107 years to wake up the Sea Devils and get on with their plan? What have they been doing all this time? Fighting a civil war underwater? Could this be a story please?

*I love how, whenever a villain runs into a technical issue, he demands his lackey to "INCREASE POWER!!" Yeah, sure, I guess that'll prevent it from... randomly turning off on you due to low battery. That can be annoying.

*Why does Turlough tell the Doctor to use his sync-up to disable the computer? What good will that do given that this isn't a computer simulation and the sync-up process is manual?

CONTINUITY ADVISOR

1) Turlough reveals that he no longer wants to go home(as he declared in Enlightenment) and is instead content to stay and learn from the Doctor. So, what was the point of that? Did they just decide to skip the Turlough-centred adventure last minute?

2) Icthar reveals that "for hundreds of years, our Sea Devil brothers have laid entombed, waiting for this day." Well, unless you count that one incident only 107 years ago... not to mention, does this mean the Silurians have been awake? Seriously, what have they been up to?

3) The Doctor tells Tegan and Turlough to run when he says so, in a manner reminiscent of the Second Doctor. Except in that case, he didn't just say "When I say run, run-RUN!", wasting their running time. It had to be done at the right moment.

4) The story heavily implies that Icthar is the original Silurian leader encountered by the Third Doctor, who somehow survived getting fried by Silurian Jar-Jar and crawled out of the caves. Um, okay? I don't really know what to make of this... it's a nice idea, but they don't do much with it.

5) The Doctor reminds Icthar that "while there's life, there's also hope.", the final words spoken by the Third Doctor in Planet Of The Spiders. Not even sure if it's a callback or not, but it's a nice line anyway.

6) As he's repairing the TARDIS, the Doctor muses that he "should've gotten a Type 57 whilst he had the chance". This is a reference to the Doctor's recent visit to Gallifrey in The Five Doctors, though I find it very hard to believe that he'd want a different TARDIS no matter what.

BEST QUOTE

NILSON: "The commander's orders were to keep the bulkheads closed."
TURLOUGH: "I know what the commander's orders were, but now I'm giving you mine." Golden dialogue.

CONCLUSION

Bland and disappointing for the most, and then downright foul at the end.

[rushy]

Oxygen is a convoluted, uninteresting yarn about capitalism in space.

WRITTEN BY

Jamie Mathieson... dude, come on! You were the best part of Series 8!

PLOT

Bored of being stuck on Earth, the Doctor takes Bill and Nardole into a space station in the future, where oxygen is used as a currency and the spacesuits have turned against their owners.

ANALYSIS

So, in a future where Health & Safety apparently still exists, there's a company that routinely murders their employees with spacesuits specifically designed to treat people as "organic components", there's a monopoly on air(which, if the human race are spacefaring, can be produced infinitely on a number of planets), which demands that if there's too much of it, it should be expelled into space.

That is only the tip of the iceberg of the plot holes in this story. I must give special mention to Bill's malfunctioning spacesuit, which provided so much convenient drama throughout the episode that I'm surprised it didn't open a comlink to Clara Oswald.

Completely ignoring the plot, what do we have left? Well, there's the ghastly dialogue that as per usual, destroys the tension with cheesy oneliners(personified by poor Nardole) and unsubtle social commentary(the "oh great, we picked up a racist" line was particularly groansome).

I will admit that there are some remarkable sequences. Bill's exposure to the vacuum of outer space was very effectively directed, and the scene between the Doctor and Nardole towards the end is probably the best acted of the entire season so far. Mathieson's concepts are very interesting in of itself as well. But they all drown underneath the combination of plot holes and unbearable dialogue. Maybe it would've worked with only one of the two problems, but both? No.

CHARACTERS

Peter Capaldi gives an overall strong performance. I don't think he really has any chemistry with Matt Lucas, but his acting is nonetheless very strong, particularly when the Doctor becomes blind(his grief is extremely subtle, but well played).

Here, we see Bill really face some hardships and Pearl Mackie gracefully brings her terror and hope in the Doctor to life. It's really lovely to have a companion who properly reacts to the situation around her.

Let's be honest, Nardole is never going to be a fan favourite, but he could still be so much better than he is utilised. When Lucas brings out the concerned, dutiful side of Nardole, I am immediately invested, but this sleazy goofball side of the character has to go.

Kieran Bew was quite likable as Ivan, mostly because he was the only one of the space station crew who seemed reasonable after Tasker's early demise.

Speaking of Tasker, Justin Salinger was a little bit gritty and it's a shame that he died so soon, as he was by far the most immediately interesting of the crew, being the oldest and in charge.

Paul Caulfield only has one major scene as Dahh-Ren, and it's used to have him needlessly Bill(who clearly has no experience with aliens) of being a racist. Not amused.

But it's not nearly as bad as Mimi Ndiweni's unbearably snipy Abby, whose icy demeanour towards the Doctor I found completely inexplicable.

We would've been much better off with seeing more of Katie Brayben's Ellie, whose little romance with Ivan was adorable, even though he didn't even get in a single word! She just brought their relationship to life all on her own and guess what? This is only the actress's third performance on-screen! Good luck to you, Katie, you're great!

NOTES

*As much as I appreciate the Star Trek reference, isn't time the final frontier in the Doctor Who universe?

*What's with Ivan's cliffhanger scream at the end of the pre-titles sequence? I mean... he doesn't die, he's still far away from the zombies... it's definitely not a distraught "you killed my wife/girlfriend!!" scream either...

*Whilst the Doctor probably has earned enough favours to last a lifetime with whomever let him lecture in college, wouldn't they be concerned that he always goes completely off-topic? I mean, from the viewpoint of any teacher, he's wasting the kids' time, isn't he? Their education is at stake here!

*The scene in which Bill asked for reviews of the various planets the Doctor offered her reminded me of how the Eleventh Doctor constantly knew everything about everyplace(and once said something akin to "I travel with you lot because I've already seen it all."). Seems like we're back to the old dynamic here of the Doctor being almost as much in the dark as the companion.

*I was a little miffed that the Doctor immediately refused to take Bill to where she asked. Who cares if it's the toilet section(whatever that means)?!

*The Doctor's "theme tune" aka distress signal actually sounded kind of catchy. You know, as catchy as a recurring beep can be.

*Nardole has changed his face? What is he, space Leatherface? If they don't explain his deal at some point during the season, I'll be really angry.

*Apparently, the Doctor has forgotten the concept of shops since he tried to send Nardole away to Birmingham for... a packet of crisps?

*I really love Capaldi's delivery of "if it's not a packet of crisps, you're sacked!". Classic British bile.

*Although I must admit, seeing Nardole constantly scorned for trying to do the right thing became really painful as the episode went on. Just because he's a guy doesn't mean he doesn't have feelings!

*The airlock with the round window that the Doctor admired for its design seemed very reminiscent of the famous door that Charlie from Lost drowned behind.

*Would it really matter if the space station did expel the air? I presume the TARDIS's supply is infinite... or it would be if it hadn't shut the doors for... some reason.

*Why does the sonic clamp onto the space suit and why doesn't the Doctor carry a spare to spare us the trouble of dealing with fans who think the sonic has been written out forever?

*How do the Doctor, Bill and Nardole know the suits would just magically attach themselves to them? I mean, the Doctor, alright... Nardole, maybe... but even Bill just stands there, uncharacteristically not asking any questions.

*Why does Bill's air bubble flicker when she breathes heavily, but nobody else's does?

*The way the crew of the space station treat their supposed rescue team is deplorable. First, they have to have a debate whether to even help them escape from the suits and then Abby spends most of the episode talking down to the Doctor as if she had a better idea what to do.

*What is the "mythical Union"? Is it the company, which is clearly not mythical? If it's not, what is it and why does it show up on the psychic paper?

*Why do the suits need to be off the "grid" to repair the space station's conveyors?

*Why does Ivan describe his distress signal as a botch? I mean, at that point, he still believes the TARDIS crew were sent to rescue them, doesn't he?

*The spacesuits gave me major Cybermen vibes. Wouldn't it be great if the space station crew had turned out to be Mondasians?

*Bill expels breath at least three times when she's exposed to the vacuum... how? I mean, unless she's breathing in air, which would cause her lungs to explode.

*Why is there any area in the space station that is unmapped for the suits?

*Bill's attempt to psychoanalyse the Doctor made me roll my eyes hard. Just let him distract you with jokes so you can save your breaths!

*"I am the Doctor... and for heaven's sake, I don't need these fancy speeches to be awesome. Can't they just be recorded especially for the trailer so we wouldn't have to shoehorn them into episodes?"

*Why does Bill randomly shout at her dead mother for answers?

*I know the Doctor's a genius and all, but somehow I feel like operating a human computer via keyboard whilst blinded is out of even his reach.

CONTINUITY ADVISOR

1) I'm not sure whether season arcs should even count here, but the Doctor's still lecturing at the university as established in The Pilot and he's still very eager to leave and is growing lax with his duty of guarding the Vault, as established in Thin Ice.

2) To keep the Doctor on Earth, Nardole removes one of the TARDIS's fluid links, only to find out that the Doctor lied about needing them to fly the ship... for some reason. This is a bizarre callback to The Daleks, where the First Doctor stranded the ship on Skaro by removing the fluid link so he could investigate a city... and as anyone who's actually seen the story will recall, this became a major hassle later on, because the TARDIS did in fact need the fluid link to leave and the Doctor's stunt caused it to end up in the hands of the Daleks. Tsk tsk tsk.

3) The Doctor tells the space station crew and Nardole that no matter how bad life gets, there's always one thing left: dying well. This is a direct reversal of his stance from Class's first episode, where he berates Miss Quill for wanting to go out dying well. It's later revealed to be a ruse on his part, although why he'd lie, I have no idea.

4) After returning to the university, the Doctor plays with his yo-yo, last seen in Kill The Moon and originally used by the Fourth Doctor in The Ark In Space

BEST QUOTE

"The universe shows its true face when it asks for help. We show ours by how we respond."

CONCLUSION

Might've worked if the plot and dialogue issues had been ironed out. As it is, it's just too grating to watch for me to really care.

[rushy]

The Awakening is a clever, quirky story that suffers massively from its short length.

WRITTEN BY

Eric Pringle, um... some guy who wrote some Doctor Who once. Shame he never came back, the show really suited him.

PLOT

The TARDIS returns to Earth to visit Tegan's grandfather, only to find out that his village of Little Hodcombe is embroiled in celebratory war games led by the mad Sir George Hutchinson, who is trying to recreate the era and thus, send his men into a frenzy to summon forth enough psychic energy to power his evil master, the Malus.

ANALYSIS

There's a lot to love about The Awakening: the isolated English village is a classic, and thanks to the war games it has a historical tinge to it. And the idea of people becoming so obsessed with the past that they become a danger to others in their attempts at recreating it is genuinely terrifying. The guest stars are all very good and make the characters stand out, and the juxtaposition of the past and present brings modern Doctor Who to mind.

The problem here is that The Awakening aims way too high to be a two-parter. From what I've heard, JNT and Eric Saward felt the story went on for too long and had Pringle shorten it. And after that, Saward even made some extra edits on his own.

So, Warriors Of The Deep had to spend an hour and a half on lame bloodshed, but a story about temporal and psychic manipulation of reality caused by the alien equivalent of a catapult - cut that down to 45 minutes!

Utter codswallop.

CHARACTERS

Peter Davison continues to impress me. Thankfully, it seems the days of breathless babbling and spineless apologies are long past. The Fifth Doctor now exudes a calm, sardonic attitude that actually makes him fun to watch as he brings some subtle humor to the part, at times even reminiscent of Troughton.

There's not really anything to say about Mark Strickson or Janet Fielding. Mark has thankfully gone back to normal after chewing the scenery in Warriors Of The Deep, so they're their usual selves, in a good way. Tegan's a bit prickly and Turlough's a bit pragmatic and cynical, but they both look out for one another. It's an interesting and realistic dynamic that I wish the writers focused more on.

Denis Lill(previously the eccentric Dr. Fendelman in Image Of The Fendahl) is fantastic as the mad dog Sir George Hutchinson. He's completely believable as a villain even without the Malus' influence, as his obsession and pride with the war games immediately makes him a frightening threat, someone who's taken a relatively unimportant event way too far and who also wields the power to carry out any one of his whims.

Keith Jayne plays a likable rapscallion from 1643, who... is there. I mean, I like him, but like most of the characters in this story, he only exists to supply a few lines of exposition and then tag along. It should be mentioned that Jayne resembles Matthew Waterhouse and... of course, JNT wanted to keep him around as a companion.

Jack Galloway is pure evil as Willow, enjoying being able to do as he pleases(so long as Sir Hutchinson's orders are fulfilled) and completely shameless in his antagonising of everyone around him. Bizarrely, the character's evil deeds are completely forgotten after the Malus is defeated(it is hinted that the Malus influenced the villagers, but it had a way bigger effect on Willow than anyone else other than Hutchinson, who was under direct control), though it's still an effective performance.

Polly James is a rather likable leading character for the Fifth Doctor to interact with, as she's sort of part-Liz, part-Jo, if that makes any sense. She's very pragmatic, but can also get quite excitable once she gets into the groove of things, so to speak.

Glyn Houston(who gave a similarly underrated performance in The Hand Of Fear) is so lovable as old Colonel Ben Wolsey, that it's hard to see how he could've been coerced by Hutchinson to begin with, Malus or no Malus. I loved the scene of him defying Hutchinson at the Queen Of The May ceremony and, though it seemed a bit out of left field, his desire to repent for his sins by fighting Hutchinson on his own.

Frederick Hall's Andrew Verney is a cipher character, but to be honest, I really would've liked to see more of him as it would've been interesting to explore Tegan's relationship with his grandfather, maybe see a little bit of her warmer side. Still, he was perfectly fine in the role.

NOTES

*I already mentioned how Hutchinson seemed like a human villain, but I would like to emphasise that it would've made the story much, much better if Pringle had just ditched the Malus altogether and simply had the villagers go nuts about their war games. It's a much more frightening and rich concept, reminiscent of the old historicals, not to mention far more manageable in just two parts.

*Both Tegan and Jane seem to pay no heed to the fact that the entire village is against them and are content to shout their lines in the streets and church respectively. If I was in their shoes, I'd be whispering and clutching a weapon the entire time.

*Time to dust off the old cliche of the companion clearly encountering something weird and choosing to ignore it and not tell anyone.

*Okay, flipping a coin to make a decision I understand, but playing "which hand has the item?" with yourself is just... stupid. Although I suppose the whole game is just a charade, given that the Doctor loves to flip the coin more than once.

*I love how self-satisfied Turlough is when the Doctor orders him and Tegan to get back to the TARDIS. He practically ushers her in!

*First of all, how does leaving a door unlocked mean that the Malus' apparition can get into the TARDIS? Secondly, why do Tegan and Turlough just run off without even prodding it or... I dunno, something? Just leave it there unguarded, sure.

*In a funny coincidence, the Fifth Doctor's flashlight looks like the RTD-era sonic screwdriver.

*"Was Andrew Verney engaged in r- in any research..." Told you Davison was a young Hartnell.

*Jane's cliffhanger scream has to be heard to be believed. "Doctoooooooooo-ooooooooorrr!!"

*What exactly was the result of that cliffhanger anyway? The Doctor stood in front of the Malus, got a nice steam sauna treatment and then fell over, slightly weakened. What happened?

*A lot of nonsense happens in this story, which I won't recount, but it can all be chalked up to the psychic bleedover caused by the Malus... although I do wonder, why does it need to recreate the events of 1643 so badly? Wouldn't just murdering a bunch of people and starting a metaphorical witch hunt have the same effect? And why on Earth is the Malus actually physically bringing people to the future, like Will and that thief and the strange mute lord??

*"Insight is often mistaken for madness, my dear." Never heard that one before.

*How stupid is Hutchinson to leave the fate of Jane, Tegan and the Doctor at Wolsey's hands, whom he knows was just having a civil conversation with them? I guess he firmly believes Wolsey is loyal, but... couldn't he have just killed them all himself with a gun there and then? It would only take about five seconds.

*We clearly see some women toss flower petals(or whatever it is you toss at weddings) at Tegan, so why couldn't any one of them been the May Queen? Hutchinson seemed to think it could only have been her or Jane, but it's never explained why.

*After Wolsey reveals the May Queen is made of hay, he takes off to escape... but then apparently stops to let the Doctor and Will perform their daring escape with his carriage, which takes a while. I know it sounds cowardly when I write it down, but on-screen, it would've made far more sense for him to escape on the carriage before anyone could stop him rather than hang around for the Doctor and Will.

*I'd love to see the Hakolians realised one day, because their weapon is just about the most convoluted thing ever. Get this: to prepare a planet for invasion, they send down this giant head to manipulate the planet's history and recreate an event from its past to create psychic disturbances, which it then uses to power itself whilst also turning people against one another and killing a lot of them. Seriously, Pringle, why not just drop this daft thing?

*In a remarkable show of perhaps unintentional chauvinism, the Doctor asks Tegan to close the TARDIS doors... even though she's standing on the scanner side of the console whilst he's standing with his back to the door... right in front of the control! So Tegan has to run around the console to push a giant lever for him.

*You have to love the knight who gets a polystyrene rock to break into the TARDIS as opposed to just slamming the feeble wooden doors open with his leg or shoulder.

*The psychic projection of the Malus inside the TARDIS drools green when it dies... why?! Is it a physical thing now? How? What? Why?

*There's an adorable moment where Jane uses the TARDIS door control right ahead of the Doctor, which is a lovely, subtle bit of background comedy of the sort that the show hasn't done for ages.

*What exactly killed Sir George in the end? Will pushes him onto the Malus' face and that's it? Instant death?

*Rather hilariously, Turlough points out at the very end that Will could not possibly be a psychic projection(which is the explanation the Doctor provided early on) and the Doctor's like "Uh, I guess I was wrong then!". It's perfectly naturalistic, but I just find it funny as heck that for once, the Doctor wasn't immediately right.

CONTINUITY ADVISOR

Upon finding some tinclavic(metal from the planet Ragga), the Doctor tells Jane that it's mined by the Terileptils(the villains from The Visitation) for the Hakolians. Not only is this a pointless reference, but it actually distracts from the storyline because the tinclavic has nothing to do with anything.

I have heard that Saward wanted to keep the Terileptils in the public eye to do a sequel and just never got around to it, which is fair enough, but surely he could've done so in a better way, like actually having the aliens cameo(they would've made Warriors Of The Deep instantly much more interesting) or anything other than this, because all that this reference does is tell the audience "oh, they're a thing". Which they will no doubt forget instantly after anyway.

Point is, if you want your monster remembered in-between stories, just putting the word "Terileptil" in the script isn't going to cut it.

BEST QUOTE

HUTCHINSON: "Are you a member of the theatrical profession?"
DOCTOR: "No more than you are."

CONCLUSION

An imaginative, splendid time travel story with a great cast and setting crammed into a far too short runtime.

[rushy]

Ever heard of the phrase "show, don't tell"? Frontios has not.

WRITTEN BY

Christopher H. Bidmead, script editor during season 18 and writer of a pair of utterly unique whoppers: Logopolis and Castrovalva. Thank heavens he didn't write any more "regular" adventures, because it's really not his thing.

PLOT

The TARDIS is pulled down to Frontios, one of the last human colonies in history. Despite treading against Time Lord law, the Doctor is compelled to offer them his services. Nevertheless, he is mistaken for a faceless enemy, condemned to die unless he... investigate the faceless enemy.
Said enemies are revealed to be bored snails who want to pilot the planet around the universe(what's left of it).

ANALYSIS

Frontios may not be technically as bad as some other Doctor Who stories I've reviewed, but I abhorred it. It throws everything and the kitchen sink at the viewer, but all of it in exposition. Most of the runtime is spent on wandering around dark caves or listening to the absolute worst base commander ever ramble on about how everyone's a traitor.

At least with Bidmead's other stories, he had certain things listed that had to happen. Logopolis needed to build up to the Fourth Doctor's regeneration. Castrovalva needed to establish the Fifth Doctor. Both also had languid pacing, but it came across more as a stylistic choice and a scriptwriting quirk. Here, we have Bidmead's "concept over storytelling" approach at its worst. A colony at the end of the universe. Bored snails. The TARDIS destroyed. These are just things that exist inside this meaningless soup.

I'm not all too impressed productionwise either. The colony looks like an old, cluttered warehouse(I get that it's meant to show decay, but a good set designer could've accomplished that by showing signs that the colony once had actual life in it, which I certainly don't see here). The caves look better, but we see them far too often. And the Tractators look worse than the Zarbi.

Fortunately, Paddy Kingsland did the score, which is lovely(I love it when he gets a beat going!).

CHARACTERS

In contrast with the disastrous plotting, Bidmead does a marvellous job writing for not just the Doctor that he himself helped devise, but also the two companions he's acquired since then.

Peter Davison gives his best performance in the role thus far, easily. Bidmead scripts him with subtle eccentricity and tired cynicism. This being exactly what Davison has aimed for, he revels in the chance to have a bit of fun playing the role. It's interesting to see how the Fifth Doctor has evolved from a childlike, innocent cricket-loving explorer to a slightly bitter, teenage adventurer.

Taking advantage of Turlough's alien nature was a very smart decision and whilst his personal history with the Tractators never really comes into play, it does give Mark Strickson a bone to chew on, so to speak. We also get a bit of character development for Turlough, as he finally embraces bravery(with a healthy dose of wits).

In comparison, Tegan doesn't really have that much to do, but Janet Fielding does a perfectly solid job as always and she makes for an excellent punchline to many of Davison's jokes.

Jeff Rawle(Amos Diggory in Harry Potter 4 FYI) portrays Plantagenet, the young leader of Frontios trying desperately to inspire his downtrodden people. The name and his goal suggests that Rawle's theatrical performance throughout was intentional, though it would've been nice to see it break down at some point.

Peter Gilmore's Brazen is the most intolerably thick-headed base commander(well, technically not commander, but still a military leader!) this show has ever had. Unlike most, he doesn't even improve over the course of the serial, but constantly accuses everyone around him of abetting "the enemy". The lowest point was when he berated Range for hiding information, only to backpedal and say the information would've been useless and socially insensitive. And then we find out that he himself has been hiding facts! He is my least favourite character in Doctor Who history, no contest.

William Lucas and Lesley Dunlop(who has what can only be described as a "MacGyver mullet") both give strong, invested performances as Range and Norna, respectively, and though they don't have many scenes together, they are very charming as father and daughter.

NOTES

*Beginning on a morbid note, actor Peter Arne(who was originally cast as Mr. Range) was murdered on the same day that he attended a costume fitting for the serial.

*The editing in the opening is quite amateurish, cutting from dust falling from the cave ceiling to a man trapped under rubble. I guess styrofoam rocks don't make a sound upon falling.

*Apparently, the Time Lords have rules about not visiting the extreme ends of history, for some reason and the Doctor is adamant that if the Time Lords should find out that he visited Frontios, it would get him into a lot of trouble.

*Once again we must deal with convenient deafness syndrome, as Brazen is quite happy to chat about the colony's doom... once he's stepped a few feet away from the guards, of course(this happens more than once). Same with the Doctor and Tegan, who are actually shouting in echo-ey caves whilst supposedly hiding from the Tractators.

*Here's a question for both this story and The Web Planet: how can a mere gravity beam pull down the TARDIS? Especially since it appears to be still inside the Time Vortex?

*I don't know where they pulled them out again after two years, but I'm glad to see Davison's charming half-moon specs again!

*Okay, I understand that the colony is paranoid about the prospect of being invaded, but in what way do the TARDIS crew look like any sort of an attack force?

*What's with all the fuss about the battery acid? Supposedly, Norna has permission to go to where it is, but they need to hide from guards on the way there, and sneak out with the acid. And once they do get it, nobody(not even Brazen) complains!

*Speaking of that sequence, apparently there was a deleted scene where they were spotted by Cockerill, but it was cut, leaving Cockerill's late inclusion in the actual story a bit strange.

*What on Earth actually happened to the TARDIS? Is this another example of the Hostile Action Displacement System?

*Why does the Doctor think the TARDIS has been destroyed, and why are he, Tegan and Turlough so unaffected by it?

*I understand Tegan is curious, but trying to break into Range's cabinet(just to read a document she carelessly dropped in there) whilst the man is nearby is more than a little silly.

*Captain Revere never giving reasons for his actions is downright idiotic. Doesn't he report to superiors?

*What is it with people abandoning each other in this story? First Tegan runs off, leaving Range behind, then after she comes back with Turlough, she runs off AGAIN, shortly followed by Range, who ditches Norna.

*Okay, I don't get this logic: because the Tractators are creating an elaborate set of tunnels, they have abstract, advanced powers of reasoning? Don't loads of insects create elaborate, geometrically precise tunnels?

*I'm sure this has been asked in every review of Frontios ever, but why does the Gravis have a nose whilst the other Tractators do not?

*Who is the Gravis anyway? Apparently, the Tractators are humble creatures without him, but he is clearly a part of their race. And why does he collapse into a coma when he's away from them? How is he supposed to survive on another planet when he's in a coma?

*What's the spaghetti in the Tractators' mouths supposed to represent?

*Apparently, at the end of history, there is only one Doctor, as the Tractators immediately
guess he's the one from Gallifrey. And yet, for some reason they're also confused that he has a TARDIS. Go figure that one out.

*The Doctor mocking Tegan's quirks by pretending that she's a loyal android was absolutely hilarious.

*Not sure what makes the rebels think that Cockerill's the man to save the planet. I mean, the only notable thing he did was not get sucked into the ground. That equals leadership?

*What drew Turlough towards the Tractators' machine? Another memory? And why can't they tear Brazen off of it like they did with Plantagenet less than a minute ago?

*When Tegan flees from the Tractators into the TARDIS, why does she just calmly chat with the Doctor instead of shouting, oh, I dunno... "DOCTOR! THE TRACTATORS ARE RIGHT BEHIND ME!!"

*And why didn't the Doctor go retrieve Tegan when she fell behind in the tunnels?

*The cliffhanger to this story is very interesting, and actually more like the Hartnell era as opposed to the early inane references to the previous adventure at the start of each story.

CONTINUITY ADVISOR

1) Not really a reference, but Turlough chooses not to be a coward the same way the Doctor
made a decision in The Awakening: by playing "which hand has the item". And like the Doctor, it makes no sense since he rigs the game. I will never understand this era's love of rigging fate.

2) The Doctor reveals to the Gravis that Gallifrey operates on a strict policy of non-intervention these days, which was established in The War Games. I find it interesting as it suggests that the Tractators predate the Doctor himself.

3) The concept of driving around a planet is of course familiar to everyone who's seen The Dalek Invasion Of Earth. And it was a lot more interesting there.

BEST QUOTE

"I can't see it! There's a WALL!" Turlough shouts in mental anguish, whilst staring at a wall.

CONCLUSION

Soulcrushingly average.

[rushy]

Though Resurrection Of The Daleks is actionpacked and exceptionally well paced, it drowns in padding, convoluted plotting and the transparency of the whole story.

WRITTEN BY

Eric Saward, current script editor, whose fondness for antiheroes led to an overall downbeat theme for this season.

PLOT

Seeking a cure for the Movellan virus, a few remaining Dalek survivors invade the space prison containing Davros. However, he has plans of his own, particularly when the Daleks' time corridor gets a hold of the Doctor and pulls him into the picture...

ANALYSIS

What did Earth have to do with anything?!

This is a big question. Half of this serial takes place on Earth. It's where the Time Corridor takes the TARDIS. The Dalek agents are there... gunning down the Dalek duplicates for some reason.
We do see that the canisters of the Movellan virus are concealed there and I do understand that it's smarter to keep them off the Dalek ships, but on another planet in time? Specifically one that the Doctor frequents? It's sheer lunacy.

It's one of several examples of the insane amount of padding in this story. The actual story is very simple: the Daleks have a problem, they go get Davros. He turns against them so they ditch him.

This is surrounded by endless action scenes between the human jailers and the Dalek agents, plus the military fighting against the Daleks protecting the canisters on Earth. And then the duplicate military protecting the canisters by... having Tegan and professor Laird sit next to them. Turlough has the best part of all. In a lovely callback to season 20, he wanders around. A lot. Watching stuff happen. For three episodes.

Basically, a lot is happening all the time to cover the fact that absolutely nothing of relevance is going on. The spectacular direction from Matthew Robinson hides the fact really well and his work is indeed the star of the show. His camera work is quite masterful, and the score by Malcolm Clarke only emphasises it. Visually, this could be one of the best serials yet.

Initially, it got me pumped, but as time went on, I couldn't help, but get bored waiting for something substantial to occur. A random last-minute plot twist involving Gallifrey did not help.

CHARACTERS

The Fifth Doctor's characterisation is a little iffy here. I mean, the scene in which he declares Davros must die is certainly impressive and shocking, but it comes across as hollow after seeing him blow a Dalek mutant to bits with a handgun in the same story. I did enjoy his interactions with Stien, and how he was able to convert undo the Daleks' conditioning on him.

Poor Mark Strickson almost never gets anything to do. He'd have been an excellent villain, I think he's got exactly the appropriate kind of theatrical acting ability for it, not to mention a really shady look. Even as an antihero, he'd be cool. But for some reason, no one can really figure out what to do with him, since the Fifth Doctor fills the traditional male hero part.

Tegan, Tegan, Tegan... she was quite the character, wasn't she? You can say all you want about 80s companions, but Tegan certainly changed for the better over the course of her adventures with the Doctor.
She was downright intolerable in season 19 when all she cared about was Heathrow, but from Arc Of Infinity onward, I found myself enjoying her toned down pragmatism and even occasional enthusiasm. She's sarcastic, but not heartless. And it made her softer moments stand out much more because they were genuine.
I also have to express my admiration of Janet Fielding, who improved dramatically as an actress over the years. It's a shame she never really had a career in that area, because as a villain, she was sublime in both Kinda and Snakedance.
Brave heart, Tegan. I'll miss you.

Terry Molloy sits into the wheelchair of Davros, who is basically the lynchpin of the entire story. The hunt for Davros, his subsequent machinations to overcome the Daleks' hold over him and the Doctor's difficult decision drive the plot. Molloy does a great job of imitating Wisher's vocals and his more deformed mask helps to make him look intimidating(especially when he speaks softly), but the character now comes across as a parody of himself.
The point of Davros, from my perspective, is to give the Doctor someone to discuss and argue the nature of the Daleks. Thus giving the Dalek stories that he's in a bit more depth than they would otherwise. Defending the Daleks on a moral level is what defines him. Here, however, the two don't even meet until the end, and their single confrontation ends with the Doctor simply walking out of the room.
So for the rest of the story, Davros is an intelligent, but unremarkable baddie, making all of the effort that went to releasing him rather anticlimactic.

The rest of the characters are paper-thin, but I'll try saying a few words: Maurice Colbourne gives a strong performance as the tough, independent Dalek agent Lytton, but is underused. Rodney Bewes is very subtle(that stammer was a nice touch) as the conflicted duplicate Stien, though his character doesn't make much sense.

Everyone else are just... good. To their credit, nobody gives a flawed performance, but they are all ciphers, set to die in meaningless battles, so there's just not much to say about them. Although I do think the early Spock/McCoy-esque interactions between Jim Findley's Mercer and Rula Lenska's Dr. Styles did a good job of at least introducing the prison environment.

NOTES

*So, is Lytton taking over that plan to replace Earth's leaders with duplicates? Is he a duplicate himself?

*The helmets on the Dalek agents look almost as stupid as the eyesticks coming out of the skulls of those infected by the Dalek nanovirus nowadays.

*Why was the prison so poorly run? You'd think even lazy people would be more careful if they're working in a prison for just one man... think how dangerous he must be!

*Was there a particular reason for the complete revision of Davros's design? He looks almost nothing like he did in the first two stories. Even his chair seems to be completely different.

*And couldn't he have used that handy brainwashing device to convince the Kaleds to let him keep experimenting in Genesis? Or to turn the Doctor to his side?

*What convinced Tegan to leave now of all times? Wouldn't it be more likely for her to have this breakdown after Snakedance?

*What caused Stien's conditioning to start breaking down?

*When did the Daleks find out that Davros was lying to them? Surely such a momentous revelation couldn't have happened off-screen!

*The ending of this story makes it seem almost like this is yet again the end of the Daleks for good. I mean, if you missed that line about them being scattered to different corners of the universe, you wouldn't be remiss for at least wondering that when we see all the Daleks and Davros himself get eaten away by the Movellan virus without any kind of twist.

*How come Davros didn't expect any Dalek casualties from the Dalek-Movellan War? He turned them into suicide bombers last time!

*I love Davros's reaction when he's told the Daleks lost. It's like he snarls and gasps at the same time.

*How did the Movellan virus affect Davros? He explicitly says it shouldn't, so... what happened?

*Why on Earth do the Daleks need to be reminded of/alerted to their own orders by Lytton? What would have happened to the Dalek Supreme's big plan if they just exterminated the Doctor there and then?

*I love how the Doctor just assumes Davros is somewhere around when he sees the Daleks.

*How does Davros know what the TARDIS is? It was completely absent in Genesis and I don't recall him discovering it in Destiny either.

CONTINUITY ADVISOR

1) The Dalek-Movellan War was introduced in Destiny Of The Daleks. It's quite neat that Saward decided to carry on straight from that story as opposed to just bringing the Daleks back on their own.

2) The TARDIS is still caught in the Time Corridor, following the cliffhanger from last week.

3) Davros announces that the Daleks will not abuse him again, as they attempted to kill him in Genesis Of The Daleks. This, again, is a nice bit of continuity that I think Destiny Of The Daleks completely ignored.

4) Images of all the previous Doctors and companions are shown on-screen when Stien attempts to duplicate the Doctor and his mind. I think it's pretty gratuitous.

BEST QUOTE

"HE MUST BE EXTERMINATED... AS SOON AS IT IS CONVENIENT TO THE DALEKS!!"

CONCLUSION

A blockbuster that can't decide what it really wants to do.

[rushy]

The Saviour Of Time is a Skype-based roleplaying game where you influence the adventures of the TARDIS crew via a technological link created by the Doctor.

WRITTEN BY

Joseph Lidster. From what I understand, he does a lot of peripheral Doctor Who writing for the BBC(websites, a few SJA and Torchwood episodes), but he's also quite prolific in Big Finish and most notably, wrote the excellent Seventh Doctor audio Master.

PLOT

Once again, evil has begun to take a hold over the universe and the Key To Time is needed to restore the natural order of things. But this time, the Doctor requires a distant helping hand... from you!

Serving at his beck and call, you will solve logic puzzles... and that's pretty much it. Sometimes you push a button to keep the ball rolling and say "yes" or "no" too. Saving the universe, of course.

ANALYSIS

The AI is incredibly simplistic, so you'll have to be really precise(and speak as little as possible) to make the Doctor's dialogue sound realistic. But when it does work, it works wonders and I was really drawn in. Lidster does a really good job of nailing the Twelfth Doctor's dialogue and his repartee is often hilarious.

The puzzles themselves are quite complicated, ranging from obscure historical facts to mathematical conundrums to remembering who the Doctor's favourite composer is. You'll definitely go away learning something.

As a story in its own right, The Saviour Of Time has its ups and downs. You have some really tense sequences, like having to guide the Doctor through an ancient temple with a ticking clock, but a lot of it is also mundane stuff like answering a lot of trivia questions that basically serve as the Doctor's password to access a shopping centre.
I wish they had focused more on the former, as they were really the only times that the story became tangible, creating a sort of Indiana Jones atmosphere.

NOTES

*Oh crap, did he just- he saw my internet-...!! HE KNOWS I WRITE FANFICTION!! 'cries a bucketful' I mean, I also got pornhub on my internet speed dial, but whatever.

*The second segment was disguised as a certain character(spoilers!), which is kind of weird. I mean, all the original segments seemed to be unique, not duplicates or something. Did the fake person die or is she just wandering around now, looking for the Doctor?

*It's very annoying that we never find out the disguises of some of the segments. The Doctor just basically says "oh yeah, that Key To Time segment? Found that while you were doing this."

*Why does the Doctor assume that Nardole has been captured in the past because the words "NARDOLE WOZ ERE" was sketched on some rocks? Couldn't he be on any random TARDIS trip? Although I suppose then they should've worked in a bootstrap paradox thing where Nardole tells them how to save him.

*Is the planet "Shar-Tek" a reference to Star Trek? Nothing else about the planet seems to relate.

*Of course, the number required to stop the bomb is 42. Hey, it's the answer to everything.

*I'm willing to buy that the Doctor would require a random nerd from Earth at a stretch, but someone thinking out loud via text messaging... okay, MAYBE if they're speaking to Siri or something on their end. Which I doubt, because the character in question is supposed to be doing talking to me in extreme secrecy.

*Okay, so I have to pick between three Sontaran names... first of all, there's Lynx. Which would be a rip-off if I didn't know they were clones. Then there's Kaarsh, which sounds a little silly. And then there's Katsy. Now you're just screwing with me.

*The part where your text is translated to Sontaran-esque dialogue is hilarious.

*Apparently, despite his dislike of vortex manipulators in the television series, the Doctor just happens to be carrying one in his pocket. A run-in with Jack?

*The Doctor does not disappoint if you mention that you watch Netflix.

*Warning: the game might glitch up. I had a character repeat the same line three or four times. Also, I think it could be a problem with Skype itself, but on several occasions the game randomly scrolled up, which was a big problem when the bot is constantly posting and you're missing stuff or clicking on the wrong things.

CONTINUITY ADVISOR

1) The Twelfth Doctor quotes his previous incarnations on several occasions.

2) When discussing the Agent, the Doctor mentions that he was followed on his journey from Earth, to Balhoon(The End Of The World, to Terra Alpha(The Happiness Patrol), to Earth, to Metebelis III(Planet Of The Spiders).

3) The Twelfth Doctor shares one of his predecessors' love for "places with little shops", which was first mentioned in the story New Earth.

4) One of the puzzles used in the Temple of Shar-Tek is ripped from Pyramids Of Mars. It's a great one, don't get me wrong, but still.

5) The Doctor suspects that either Missy, the Celestial Toymaker or the Trickster(from The Sarah Jane Adventures) could be the Agent.

6) When your link with a Sontaran clone becomes garbled with txtspk, he mentions Bad Wolf at one point. The words appeared regularly throughout Series 1, signifying Rose Tyler's brief control over the Time Vortex.

7) The Doctor tells you that Nardole is reminding him he's required on Earth, a veiled reference to his period of guarding the Vault.

All of these are entirely unnecessary(but cute), save for the last one since it's contemporary.

BONUS REWARD

If you excel at 4 chapters out of 6, you receive a final voice message(the only other one being from Peter Capaldi at the beginning) from the main villain, complimenting you for your victory and promising to defeat you the next time you meet.

It's a great send-off, but I was a bit let down that we didn't get some kind of sneak peek to the TARDIS and maybe even a little clip of Peter Capaldi in person.

CONCLUSION

Frivolous fun. Could've been better even with this limited format, but it does function fairly well as a roleplaying game. I think you'll have a nice experience with it.

[rushy]

The Monk Trilogy starts off with an engaging, complex mystery, but descends into a cesspool of contrivances and cliches with the second two parts.

WRITTEN BY

Steven Moffat, Peter Harness and Toby Whithouse. Three writers and not one of them could give a single reason for this story's existence.

PLOT

You know what? I don't know. I just sat down, watched these three episodes and I have no clue what the story here was supposed to be. So I'll just recount what happens:

Some alien Monks create a simulated Earth to experiment their invasion on(although all they really seem to do is try to prevent any simulated people from finding out that they're simulated, which kind of spoils the whole point if you asked me). The simulated Doctor gets a message out.

Then they try to bully the real Earth's leaders into adoring them unconditionally(because they apparently don't know cause and effect - love comes from actions, not because you ask). This somehow eventually works with Bill, even though she doesn't really care one whit about them.

After they instantly take over by brainwashing everyone(couldn't they have just skipped the consent BS and get straight to this?), the Doctor spends six months acting as their TV host until finally bothering to send Nardole to fetch Bill so he could check her brainwashing by faking a regeneration. I wonder if he did that with every single person he saved.

They find out that Bill's consent is the key to breaking the brainwashing, but she has to die. To prevent that, they hack into the "Fake News Center"(ha ha), but the Monks fight back. Until they don't, because Bill really loves her mom.

The Monks go away. The end.

ANALYSIS

And the moral of the story is...? No, there is none. Minor Donald Trump satire aside, nothing that happens in this entire trilogy is relevant to the viewers.

Let me tell you something about storytelling. It has one single reason to exist: to allegorise reality. Children who seek entertainment learn and remember from their experiences. Adults have their worldview expanded. It is an experience on a primal level. We all have our favourite shows, because we love getting to know these people, experiencing their emotions, their thrills and fears. As we learn about others, so we learn about ourselves.

This, as Shakespeare so eloquently put it, is sound and fury, signifying nothing. We are introduced to an alien race, and after two and a quarter hours, the writers haven't managed to tell us anything about them.
Our characters are sent through the wringer, only to realise again and again that it was all irrelevant. A simulation, a trick.

Dialogue is brought down to the most basic level - retarded even, if you'll pardon the word. The Monks speak of nothing, but their intentions to conquer Earth. The Doctor speaks of nothing, but stopping them and protecting Bill. Even tied up and with his friend about to die, all that this brainiac can shout is "Stop! I order you! I forbid you!"

His intention to rehabilitate the Master is laughable - it shows a fundamental lack of understanding in both characters on the writers' part. The Master was the Doctor's friend. Past tense. They are two Time Lords of infinite wisdom, both seeking to escape the narrow confines of their existence. The only difference is that one is selfish and the other is not. They see themselves as equals and regret said difference, but they are also defined by it.

The only reason why the Master's redemption in The End Of Time and Master was conceivable was because there, the stories were dealing with the pain and suffering his path had led him to. Midlife crisis, if you will. But this isn't such a story. It's not any story, to be honest. We are introduced to concepts for the sake of concepts and none of them benefit the characters.

The only pleasure to be gained from this entire adventure is from the first part, Extremis, since in that case, we are at least focusing on a competent mystery set in very intriguing environments - the Vatican and CERN. The simulation side of it also means that the characters can actually suffer somewhat.

But as often is with Steven Moffat, the competence is a fluke, because he is not a true storyteller. He is the guy who asks "but wouldn't it be cool if...?"

CHARACTERS

If you can detach him from the writing, Peter Capaldi gives an astoundingly good performance, even by his standards. His lanky frame and perpetually curious frown(as if he's not sure where he is) really help to sell how weak and vulnerable he has become without his eyesight. When he was running down the Haereticum corridors with the laptop, I was scared for the Doctor for the first time since I can remember.
On the flip side of the coin, he was spellbinding as the creepy, maniacal villain(though you only get a few scenes of it). Peter seemed to particularly enjoy that vibe, since he maintains a slightly lunatic act throughout the last episode.

Pearl Mackie doesn't stay too far behind though, and really cemented herself as a great actress in the fake regeneration scene. Her utter fury combined with fear and grief and longing to be safe with the Doctor again were palpable. A terrific showing that sadly was completely wasted.
Also, even though we once again had to deal with the infamous power of love, Mackie managed to express Bill's joy well enough to get make it almost work, and that's no small feat.

Sadly, I still can't quite get a grip on Matt Lucas. I'm just not sure what he's supposed to add to the show. I really liked when they were setting him up to be the Doctor's butler, but he's too independent for that. He's... a cowardly Frankenstein's monster(literally) who thinks he's as cool as Bruce Campbell and feels the need to mother the Doctor? Like, seriously, who the heck is Nardole anyway? Can we get a flashback episode or something?

Michelle Gomez goes for a more calmer(still kooky, though), emotional performance, which I do appreciate since I've thought Missy could do with more depth from the very beginning. But let's face it, it just made her even less interesting than usual. The only moment that seemed to be true to the Master's character was when she chastised the Doctor for believing that his morality is absolute.

It's no surprise that nearly all of the memorable guest actors came from the best episode...

Joseph Long was really funny and charming as the overwhelmed Pope, and his appereance in Bill's room was an LOL moment.

Corrado Invernizzi as Cardinal Angelo was 100% believable. Being religious myself(though not Catholic) and having grown up in that sort of environment, it was great to see something that I recognise in Doctor Who, and Invernizzi's naturalistic acting brought the story to life.

Laurent Maurel was downright hypnotic as the unhinged Nicolas. There was just something bizarrely charismatic about his drunken, gleeful attitude towards finding out the truth, and his enthusiasm towards sharing it with Bill and Nardole. The whole CERN scene is a perfect slice of surreal horror-comedy.

And finally, I really liked Rachel Denning's Erica. By default, a compliment to whoever cast her for completely ignoring her stature and the actress herself was the best part of The Pyramid At The End Of The Clunky Title. She came across like a really witty, warm person and I wouldn't have minded trading Nardole for her by the end of it(sorry Matt).

NOTES

*Why is there a planet for executions? Would anyone with the death penalty really bother?

*How did Missy even end up there? Did they finally track down her picnic spot on Xeraphas?

*What was the deal with the female Pope Benedict(whose painting, according to the Wiki, is of Angelina Jolie)?

*As directors, both Daniel Nettheim and Wayne Yip have an annoying tendency to flash stuff like internet pages at the audience.

*The Doctor's oneliners have gotten so lame that he's started to nick them from Samuel L. Jackson.

*I'm really irritated by Nardole arguing with the Doctor about telling Bill the truth. For crying out loud, he's got every right to be private. Same with his idiotic "licence to kick the Doctor's arse".

*How did the priests not find the missing translator if he was in the Haereticum with the Veritas this whole time?

*The Monks look and act exactly like the Silence - they're even both a religious order! Same big arms, same Force Lightning, same distorted faces.

*Okay, one complaint about Extremis is that the Monks' plot is basically a rip-off of The Android Invasion. But it's definitely done better here.

*I don't care that they're all part of the same program, making several queries at once should still produce a variety(not random, but at least different) of numbers.

*Also, apparently every single thing in your computer is capable of email. So don't play Solitaire whilst you should be studying, because it'll tell your mom.

*Why does Bill tell Penny all about everything that's happened in Series 10? They really don't give a hoot about altering history anymore, do they?

*Murray Gold seems to have pretty much given up, his scores nowadays are just random variations on past themes.

*"I wouldn't have voted for him, he's... orange!" I'm no Trump fan, but what's the joke here?

*A few brownie points for sharing awareness of the Doomsday Clock to the audience.

*Apparently, the Russians wanted to destroy the pyramid with... a submarine torpedo? Eh?

*I wonder what they said at Douglas's funeral. "I forgive you for nearly melting the planet."?

*The biggest contrivance in the whole story is that the Russian officer wasn't scared of defying his leader.

*The whole reason why the military head out to give their consent was because they couldn't find another way. So why on Earth do they proceed to the pyramid after the Doctor discovers the laboratory??

*I refuse to believe the Doctor would just give up once he realises he can't see the numbers.

*Why does Bill make a real hot cup of tea for her imaginary mother?

*What would Richard have done if the Monks hadn't turned up? Bill would've realised he's on their side if he claimed their papers checked out and then the whole operation would've been blown!

*Am I the only one disturbed that the Doctor tricked Bill into trying to kill him?

*Capaldi's laughter is glorious.

*Shouldn't the Monks know about the Vault from the simulation? Why do they not try to move it or retrieve Missy, who is obviously a threat to them?

*What is up with this "last of the Time Lords" business now? Gallifrey's very clearly still out there, you don't get to use that title!

[rushy]

CONTINUITY ADVISOR

1) Missy does try to explain her surprise by revealing that she received info from the Daleks suggesting that the Doctor had retired on Darillium. Now, unlike most, I don't think we needed a follow-up to her "clever idea" in The Witch's Familiar. But this subtle reminder of her previous appereance was nice. And I suppose I can let go of the reference to The Husbands Of River Song, since it immediately becomes relevant afterwards.

2) River's diary(last seen in the Library) has somehow since ended up in Nardole's hands, who is revealed to have been tasked by River to accompany the Doctor. How The Return Of Doctor Mysterio fits into all this, I have no clue. I honestly preferred that episode's explanation, without all the arse-kicking.

3) The Doctor is still blind, following the events of Oxygen.

4) The Doctor swears an oath to guard Missy for 1000 years as a Time Lord of the Prydonian Chapter. This Rowling-esque House system was introduced to Gallifrey in The Deadly Assassin. A neat, but pointless callback.

5) Rather tiresomely, the Doctor is still President of Earth, as seen before in Death In Heaven and The Zygon Invasion. I hate this daft idea so much and hope it never comes up again. Still decent continuity though, so I guess I can't argue too much. And it works better without the UNIT nostalgia

6) Bill asks the Doctor whether he's double-locked the TARDIS doors. The only other time I'm aware of when that happened(instead of deadlocked) was in The Dalek Invasion Of Earth. I think this was the writers just subconsciously adding it in. But if it was intentional, it would've been better just to say deadlocked. Why introduce that word if you're just gonna use the old one?

7) The Doctor defends the Monks by comparing them favorably to the Daleks. Completely gratuitous.

8) Whilst discussing the Monks on TV, the Doctor mentions how they defeated the Daleks, the Cybermen and the Weeping Angels(cue clips from Into The Dalek, Nightmare In Silver and Blink that the Doctor couldn't possibly have). Also utterly forced.

9) This may not be a direct reference, but at one point, Capaldi rolls his r's, Sylvester McCoy style. That's really sweet.

BEST QUOTE

"Relax, do as you're told. Your future is taken care of." - the Doctor, being more like the Master in this episode than the actual Master has been in six.

CONCLUSION

A superb story run into the ground by unimaginative, jaded writers who took the easy way out every time.

[rushy]

Planet Of Fire is a superbly entertaining character-driven adventure with a slightly melancholy theme.

WRITTEN BY

Peter Grimwade, whose writing has improved with every serial.

PLOT

Trapped in miniature form after a failed experiment, the Master(hell yeah!) manipulates the Doctor's TARDIS via Kamelion to move his own ship to the planet Sarn, one of the few planets to contain the rejuvenative numismation gas. It also happens to be the prison planet of Trion, Turlough's home, and it's up to him to finally face his past and convince the superstitious natives that they are not the enemies...

ANALYSIS

Planet Of Fire may not be a masterpiece, but it is simply enjoyable on every level, and after several seasons of oddly paced, woodenly acted, plasticky TV, it is incredibly refreshing, even more so than the previous story. Everything feels natural - Turlough's development, the Master's predicament and the colony's plight. It's the show(and especially the Davison era) on top form.

There's a healthy balance between the character drama and good humor(the Master's miniaturisation is downright hilarious) and something is always happening, but this time for good reason as well. I will admit that the plot can be slightly confusing at times, particularly in the early parts... they really don't do a good job explaining the connection between the Trion artifact and the two TARDISes, to the point where I had to seriously tax my brain trying to work it out afterwards.

But that's a nitpick that doesn't detract from my enjoyment of one of a great romp.

CHARACTERS

Peter Davison is on fire, his Doctor finally acquring a steely backbone without any female companions to cater to. It's very nice to see Resurrection Of The Daleks left a serious effect on him, and he's now more careful and emotionally withdrawn than ever.

I don't think any companion has had a farewell like Mark Strickson's Vislor Turlough. Practically this entire story is dedicated to his backstory and development to a person who would risk returning to his former(and hated) life to save a bunch of aliens he barely knows. A brilliant showcase for how the Doctor's influence has improved a person over time.

Nicola Bryant's Peri Brown is a mixed bag. On one side, she's really very sweet, and though they don't spend a lot of time together, it is very plausible for Peri and the Fifth Doctor to become friends. They're so cute together. That, and Bryant is stunningly gorgeous.
On the other, she's a bit of a clumsy, girly cod in this story. I mean, I've never seen a companion sit down and start crying like a baby before.

Gerald Flood really didn't fare well as Kamelion, did he? There's not even much to say about him except that it was a dignified failure. Also, I was pretty surprised that the Doctor would just kill him(since he did seem to be fairly sentient), but I suppose he knows best. And now that he's toughened up, he's not going to take any chances.

Boy, am I glad to see Anthony Ainley again. That cliffhanger where he pops out of nowhere was so very him that it warmed my heart. As usual, the Master is in well over his head and it's up to the Doctor to save him... or is it?

Dallas Adams was grossly miscast as Howard. Leaving aside the downright creepy relationship that him and Peri seem to have, his acting is phenomenally poor and stilted(although to be fair, the American scenes are honestly some of the worst written in Doctor Who history, because Grimwade has no clue how they behave).

Peter Wyngarde's Timanov was a truly tragic character, a good man who was utterly devoted to his God(really a Trion in a spacesuit) and though he was a little too eager to burn unbelievers, you could see that he had no ulterior motives. But he couldn't face the truth even when it was in front of his eyes, and instead simply left life to be with his God(at least that's what he seemed to do... we never actually saw him burn, but that's what seemed to happen). Wyngarde's performance is multilayered, alternating between naivete, paranoia and kindness.

NOTES

*I'm surprised they didn't even bother to reintroduce Kamelion after his extended break.

*Davison's utterly zoned out expression when fixing Kamelion up is LOL material.

*I got serious Three Doctors vibes with all the contacting Kamelion made.

*Purest technobabble ever? "Kamelion's plugged into the computer. He must've computerised the signals we heard."

*I'm glad to see the Doctor and Turlough finally in new costumes, though I'm not so sure about the flowery vest(thankfully it's only in one scene) or shorts(sadly it's there for the whole story).

*I know I said a lot about how Turlough has become a better person, but his torturing of Kamelion to hide the robot's connection to the Trion artifact is pretty disturbing.

*What actually happens to Peri in the water? And why does Turlough bring her to the TARDIS and not the nearby shop?

*When asked, why doesn't Peri just say where she got the artifact instead of why(something that Turlough obviously doesn't care about)?

*I can understand Kamelion-Howard's first appereance, but why does he keep reverting to this appereance in later scenes? They don't even require him to move, so the production team could've just used the prop! Also, what's up with the black suit that Kamelion wears both as Howard and the Master?

*What makes the Sarn colonists think that their machine controls the volcano instead of merely monitoring it(which was my first thought when I heard there were "dials")?

*So the Chosen One is killed and the fire goes out, but Timanov still follows Kamelion simply because he glows? Wasn't it already confirmed that he was not the Outsider? Timanov in particular should realise this, as he looks nothing like the suit we see later on.

*I love the Master's black TARDIS interior. It'd be even better if he had stuff lying around, but that's a crime he shares with the Doctor in this era.

*The Doctor threatening to end his friendship with Turlough if his secrecy ended up helping the Master was a real shocker. He wouldn't have done this even a season earlier.

*I must say, Mark Strickson carries a lot of authority. Seeing him order the Sarn colony around was a treat. I bet he rose through the ranks back home.

*Why was Turlough sent to Earth anyway, and not Sarn like his family?

*Rather humorously, the Trions seem to use a traditional Earth keypad, complete with hash and asterisk.

*What exactly happened to the Master at the end anyway? He seemed to be fine in the flames for a while, and then he just melted into nothingness. The Doctor reacted as if he died, though, so obviously he wasn't surprised by this...

CONTINUITY ADVISOR

1) The Doctor mulls bitterly over the Daleks after the bloodbath in the previous story. I usually don't like starting a story out by referencing the one that came before, but here it played into his character so well that I really didn't mind.

2) As the Master prepared to escape Sarn, the Doctor considered materialising his TARDIS around the Master's as he had done way back in Logopolis and considered in Time-Flight. Thankfully, we don't open that can of worms again.

3) Turlough wonders out loud whether the Master is doing all of this because he's heading towards another regeneration crisis. The Master spent the Tom Baker era hunting for regenerations and as of The Five Doctors, is still lacking one. I guess the Doctor told him about all that sometime off-screen. It's a valid question though, so it's alright.

4) The Master reminds us all that he's been "lodged" in Kamelion's mind since their first encounter on Xeraphas, as first mentioned in The King's Demons. I think this plot point is pretty self-explanatory myself, but I suppose it would be helpful if you really had forgotten the character.

5) Turlough's mysterious solicitor from Mawdryn Undead gets a mention, and is revealed to be a Trion agent. Good to know.

BEST QUOTE

"It's still a wise precaution to send the occasional free thinker to the flames." - Timanov, considerate as ever.

CONCLUSION

A lighthearted character piece that neatly ties together all the leftover threads from the Peter Davison era.

[rushy]

As the Joker might say, we all have that one bad day, and the Doctor had his in the Caves Of Androzani...

WRITTEN BY

Robert Holmes, classic series savant.

PLOT

Whilst exploring the terrain of Androzani Minor, the Doctor and Peri are caught in a lunatic war between embittered scientist Sharaz Jek and greedy politician Morgus that has sent the solar system into chaos due to Androzani Minor being the only planet to provide the invaluable drug Spectrox that can double humanity's lifespan.

In addition to this, they are also poisoned by accident and the only cure is the elusive bat's milk found in the depths of the planet. Driven by his guilt for bringing Peri into this, the Doctor tears through the cluster of androids, mercenaries and armies led by a psychotic and a sociopath for one final act of compassion...

ANALYSIS

This was the Doctor Who story that I got hyped up for more than any other(except maybe Genesis Of The Daleks). The endless glowing reviews, the concept of the Doctor(especially Davison) going full Rambo just to save his friend, the fact that Robert Holmes wrote this... I'm not even sure what I was expecting. Some kind of Shakespearean work of art, perhaps.

But yeah, I let myself get carried away and felt the crushing disappointment as it failed to live up to my expectations. That's not to say Caves Of Androzani isn't excellent. It is a dark, oppressing story where everything that can go wrong, goes wrong and then some. It is the epitome of the so-called "Sawardiverse", where everyone's out for themselves and heroism means an ignominious death.

But like the Fifth Doctor, I do not accept it. Death is preferable to such a boring, meaningless, glum existence. And that's the real problem I have here. There's no possibility of a happy ending, no carrot being tangled in front of us only to be taken away, so the hellish environment doesn't deliver nearly as much of an impact as it could have.

There's also some basic flaws: whilst most of the characterisation is stellar, Morgus's army(in particular the General and Major Salateen) aren't nearly as interesting as they should be given that the entire first episode is focused on them. The mercenaries are suddenly dropped into the story without any kind of introduction. To be perfectly honest, the first one and a half episodes were kind of dull, if I'm allowed to say that.

Without the borderline cinematic(as far as you can go with the BBC budget) direction of Graeme Harper, it would have fallen apart. It's his work, and the strength of the actors, that pushes the Caves Of Androzani over this initial stumble and into true brilliance as we uncover the personal conflict between Jek and Morgus, Holmes's acidic satire comes into play and things get truly tense as the final battle draws nearer.

CHARACTERS

Hats off to Peter Davison for a superb final showing. There's the Fifth Doctor retrospective ahead, but suffice to say, he really runs with this script as he has all season, indulging in almost Tom Baker-esque levels of sarcasm with Chellak early on and then confronting the madness around him with admirable stoicism

Nicola Bryant doesn't really have much to do in this story, as she's Sharaz Jek's prisoner for pretty much the entire time(Peri obviously being incapable of surviving on her own in this environment). It's really sad that we never got a chance to see her and the Fifth Doctor in a more traditional adventure together on-screen, since their mischievous chemistry at the end of Planet Of Fire was really enticing.

Christopher Gable's Sharaz Jek... what a character! Not a hero, not a villain... perfectly in the middle. He's a nasty, manipulative creep(whose love for latex transcends the irritation it must cause to his burns) and yet he has a perfectly valid reason for his boiling hatred and his love of beauty is downright tragic. He's like the Phantom of the Opera crossed with Darth Vader.

John Normington's Morgus is a curious fella. Despite Sharaz Jek's entire life now being devoted to bringing him down, he seems completely oblivious and is happy to continue just making the most profit off of his position, including even surreptitiously trading with Jek without the latter's knowledge. It's like Jek has a crush on him, but in reverse.

Bringing all the old companions and especially Anthony Ainley back for the regeneration scene was a nice touch, although I'm not gonna lie... the talking heads flying around Davison were even sillier than Troughton's delirious regeneration.

And now we've got Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor! I love Colin, but his appereance ends the story on a very weird note. It's like, this dramatic, desperate fight for freedom led up to an over-the-top narcissist taking over the show?

NOTES

*If I sounded overly critical of this story, I'm sorry. It was an incredibly gripping hour and a half, and one of the very few Doctor Who stories to step outside "safe horror", as it were, into something truly terrifying, and I find that very commendable. Not to rag on Steven Moffat again, but this is the show I signed up for. I think this sort of a dangerous story is what we need now in our flippant 2017 Doctor Who even more than we did in passive 1984 Doctor Who. But then again, with everyone fussing about modern day politics, perhaps it would just depress the audience even further.

*Seeing Davison play up the Doctor's arrogance(as he finds the idea of Sharaz Jek being more intelligent than him inconceivable) was quite odd. This incarnation has been a number of things, but arrogant hasn't really been one of them.

*The Caves Of Androzani is very different from other regeneration stories. It's less saying goodbye to this Doctor(Planet Of Fire actually did that) and more taking advantage of being the last story to do something completely different and unique.

*At one point, I thought Salateen's android had replaced him and was tricking Chellak, which I think would've been a nice twist.

*Instead of the traditional transformation, we have an interesting 2001: A Space Odyssey regeneration effect.

CONTINUITY ADVISOR

1) Since Castrovalva, the Doctor has carried around a stick of celery on his lapel and now, at Peter Davison's request, we finally find out why. I liked hearing the explanation at last(although "I heart celery" would probably have been truer to the character). However, I will say I was let down by the fact that it didn't tie into the Spectrox toxeamia at all.

2) As I mentioned already, the Doctor becomes delusional as he regenerates and hallucinates hearing his old companions and the Master(hell yeah!), which is a fitting touch.

BEST QUOTE

"I'm going to die soon anyway, unless of course I can find the antidote... I owe it to my young friend to try because I got her into this - so you see I'M NOT GOING TO LET YOU STOP ME NOW!!" - Best cliffhanger ever.

CONCLUSION

It's a dark, sad end that leaves a massive impact on the viewer.