The Dark Times Review

The Dark Times

The Doctors take on the Dark Times

Time Lord Victorious Part 2

Doctor: Eighth Doctor, Ninth Doctor, Tenth Doctor, Eleventh Doctor

Companions: Rose Tyler, Brian

The meat of Time Lord Victorious sees the collision of three Doctors as the Tenth Doctor makes a desperate bid to defeat death.

The Review

The Ninth Doctor in the vampire war

Other than a short story which we’ll discuss in a minute, The Dark Times kicks off with at last the Ninth Doctor’s entry to the story. Although sadly we get no Eccelston on audio, it is nice to see this short-lived Doctor get some more play. As well, he’s along for the ride with Rose. The Doctor finds himself in the Time Lord, well ‘Space Lord’ war versus the Great Vampires referenced in State of Decay. The Gallifreyans are still unused to death and functionally immortal, and we meet the original Rassilon, who surprisingly turns out to be a woman. Rose briefly becomes a vampire, but the Doctor frees the vampire underclass. It’s a fun story to get a very rare peak back into Gallifrey. Of course this came out after The Timeless Children where Tecteun was said to be the first space explorer, but if Gallifreyans were immortal at this time, hey, she could’ve been exploring an extremely long time. Series 1 Rose is definitely better than what her character became, so it’s fun to see her.

The Tenth Doctor arrives in the Dark Times

The title of this blockbuster story obviously comes from The Waters of Mars, where the Tenth Doctor declares himself the master of time with the Time Lords all dead. He’s in a false chipper mood in the first novel The Knight, The Fool, and The Dead as he arrives in the Dark Times. The book is well-written by Steve Cole, and definitely reads as the Tenth Doctor as opposed to just a generic Doctor. The short story Dawn of the Kotturuh gives more background, but the Kotturuh are a race that give the gift of death, artificially determining the lifespans of previously immortal races. The Doctor tries to come up with a way to stop them, get them to give up, but after they kill a previously immortal girl Estinee, the Doctor reflects their gift and starts a genocide of the Kotturuh. This turns out to be the cause of the massive changes in time felt by the Daleks in the Eighth Doctor who turn up to stop him along with the Ninth Doctor and free vampires in a pretty epic cliffhanger. Two Doctors fighting their future self? Now that’s fun.

The Time Lord Victorious and Brian

The confrontation between the three Doctors does not disappoint at the beginning of All Flesh is Grass, really the climax of the whole story. There is a sizable gap where-in fits The Minds of Magnox where Jacob Dudman delights with his great Tennant impression and shockingly prefect Matt Smith in the coda. The Doctor visits Magnox, a famous place of knowledge to ask if he did the right thing, but the Kotturuh come and kill almost everyone. One woman, Peschell he saves and sends to Islos, where she founds its archive seen in Daleks! in a charming coda where the Eleventh Doctor returns to apologize to her. There are some comic strips, but the heart of the action is the Daleks secretly combining Daleks and vampire DNA to try and destroy Gallifrey before the creation of the Time Lords. The Tenth Doctor finally admits he went too far, and with the help of the last Kotturuh who destroys the hybrid Daleks with her judgement, save Gallifrey. Interwoven through the previous book and Una McCormack’s work here is the Brothers Grimm fable that you are unable to cheat Death. It’s a very well-written story, and perfectly fits the Tenth Doctor’s dramatic character arc at the end of his life.

The Eighth Doctor is a lot more dynamic than this, I swear

The Eighth Doctor is a fun inclusion in the story as he has no knowledge of the Time War to come, or how precious Gallifrey is. He causes an explosion on the Dalek Time Ship as they flee the Kotturuh’s judgement simply saying “apparently, in the Time Lord Victorious.” Mutually Assured Destruction the best of the Eighth Doctor trilogy, with high-stakes, a wonderful McGann performance and Nick Briggs working overtime giving texture to all the Dalek voices. The Doctor outwits them all, and the ship disintegrates through space. Exit Strategy, a final short story, has the Strategist escape, plotting the Time War meaning this whole arc leads right into that. Overall, The Dark Times is both well-plotted, and has excellent character development and thematic resonance. It’s really all you can ask for from Doctor Who.

The central hub of Time Lord Victorious does have the Daleks attacking Gallifrey (again), but it is really about how far one should try and go to fight death. The Kotturuh were evil, but the Doctor should’ve found in the better way. Also, I didn’t talk about him much, but the dry sartorial quips from Brian keep the whole thing lively.

9/10 Time Lord Victorious keeps its level with both epic and poignant moments.

Yes, even the Doctor Who Comic Creator got in on the action

The Five Doctors Review

The Five Doctors

The titular four Doctors



Story 129, Episodes 602, 20th Anniversary Special

Doctor: The First Doctor, The Second Doctor, The Third Doctor, The Fourth Doctor, The Fifth Doctor

Companions: Susan Foreman, The Brigadier, Sarah Jane Smith, K9, Romana II, Tegan Jovanka, Vislor Turlough

Doctor Who celebrates its 20th Anniversary in style, bringing back classic Doctors and probing deeper into Gallifreyan history.

The Review

The First Doctor and Susan meet the current team

Anniversary specials are a funny thing. We all want to see our favorite characters from the show return, but also don’t want something that is dumb and stupid. It would be exceedingly difficult to bring as many characters back as The Five Doctors does and come up with some killer emotional story, so it doesn’t really try. For the big reveals we return to Gallifrey and finally meet Rassilon, who for a decade has been spoken of as the legendary founder of the Time Lords. That at least makes the story feel special rather than tossing in characters. First off, we see shots from the unfinished Shada representing the Fourth Doctor and Romana, who we are told are ‘stuck the vortex’. It’s a shame Tom Baker didn’t return, as seeing him and Lalla Ward again was genuinely heart-warming. With William Hartnell having passed, Richard Hurndall is cast as the First Doctor, and he cuts a warmer figure than Hartnell. Susan is also back as a woman now, curiously the Fifth Doctor doesn’t seem too happy to see her. She then twists her ankle, which is honestly a cruel joke played on Carole Ann Ford.

The Third Doctor and Sarah Jane reunited

The Five Doctors smartly gives us some character pairings we haven’t seen in a while starting with the Second Doctor meeting the Brigadier, and the Third Doctor meeting Sarah Jane. Troughton is delightfully and completely himself, and despite his hair having gone completely white Pertwee still has his sharp edge. Sarah Jane doesn’t get as much to do as she deserves, there’s no really interactions with the Fifth Doctor and she falls down a hill. Turlough gets stuck in the TARDIS for most of it, but Tegan does get to hang around with the First Doctor which is quite a fun crossover. As for the Fifth Doctor he gets some time on Gallifrey taking to Lord President Borusa and other members of the high council, trying to figure out who brought them all here. It’s a good narrative structure to have all these pairings and bring them together at the end.

Rassilon makes an appearance at last

We of course get some villains, the Daleks are only represented by a lone entry while we get a lot of the Master and the Cybermen. The Master is tasked with rescuing the Doctor from the ‘Death Zone’ on Gallifrey, where Rassilon’s tomb is, but once again Ainley doesn’t get to do much despite putting in a good acting performance. I don’t know who expected a lot of the Cybermen in this story, but it is fun to see their silver suits out in the foggy Welsh highlands of the Death Zone. Certainly would take them over lots of EXTERMINATE! In the end, President Borusa turns out to the the villain, desiring Rassilon’s immortality, and he gets it as others before him, immortality as stone on Rassilon’s tomb. The First Doctor gets the pivotal line goading Borusa into it, a good decision by the script. As they all leave, the Fifth Doctor is appointed President of Gallifrey, so he jumps in the TARDIS and flees. After all, that’s how it started. Listen, The Five Doctors is just pure fun. We even get illusions of Liz, Yates, Jamie, Zoe to round it out. Classic characters, a good plot, and an ending ensuring the show continues.

It opens with William Hartnell’s monologue to Susan from The Dalek Invasion of Earth, and ends with the Peter Davison Doctor running away from Gallifrey. All told, it’s good fun. I just wish the companions other than the Brigadier got more to do.

9.25/10 A great template for future anniversary specials. Give us characters!

The Master in discussions with the Cybermen



Arc of Infinity Review

Arc of Infinity

There’s something on your back



Story 123, Episodes 580-581, Season 20 Episodes 1-4

Doctor: The Fifth Doctor

Companions: Nyssa, Tegan Jovanka

We head back to Gallifrey to kick off the twentieth season of Doctor Who, and it turns out to be more of the same.

The Review

Gallifreyan diversity: a council member is a woman now

Arc of Infinity doesn’t do anything other Gallifrey stories haven’t done before, or really that The Invasion of Time didn’t do, but better. There’s a dastardly plot and the Doctor and Nyssa are recalled to Gallifrey, some antimatter creature has attached itself to the Doctor and the only way out is the Doctor must die. This creature turns out to be Omega, last glimpsed yelling and screaming at everything in sight in The Three Doctors. Now he looks really weird and still just wants to come back to reality. The Doctor is seemingly killed, but not really, and he returns from the Matrix in order to track down Omega and stop him. There’s some nice references, we’re told Leela is doing well on Gallifrey and the Time Lords are upset Romana never returned from E-Space. Borusa is President now, but the shared history between him and the Doctor is irrelevant. The exceedingly serious Commander Maxil is played by Colin Baker, who will succeed Davison as the Doctor next season, but there’s no glimpses of a future Doctor with his good but extremely serious approach. All in all, we have nothing new from Gallifrey.

The day is saved in Amsterdam

The first episode starts with two young men sleeping in a crypt in Amsterdam, which seemingly has nothing to do with the story. There’s one hell of a twist when one of their cousins turns out to be Tegan, sporting a new short haircut. It’s fun to see Tegan again, though I’m surprised she offers no ill-will to the Doctor. The location shooting in Amsterdam is a huge plus, an upgrade from chroma-key and quarries and the usual fare for the show. Davison briefly plays Omega in the finale once Omega steals his body, but once it becomes corrupted he hilariously is swapped out by some actor who looks a lot closer to Javier Bardem. Still, Davison does a good job as the creepy Omega moping around the city. I think a bit too long is spent on the Amsterdam plot before the trick with Tegan is revealed. Recently it has been ‘canonized’ that Nyssa and Tegan were a thing, something I didn’t see any hint of until this episode. Seems to be more on Nyssa’s side so far with her quiet joy at hearing she’s going to see Tegan again on her face. Don’t get me wrong, I’m here for it, but I’m searching to see if there’s any there there.

The Gallifrey parts don’t add anything, and I really don’t care about Omega returning, especially when he’s never even really explained again that well. Still, solid location work.

7.9/10 Giving this an 8 would’ve felt wrong.

Boy, I really want that guy’s job, looks great…



The End of Time Review

The End of Time

It’s the end

Story 202, Episodes 755-756, Doctor Who 2009 Christmas Special & 2010 New Year’s Special

Doctor: The Tenth Doctor

Companions: Wilfred Mott, Donna Noble, Sarah Jane Smith, Rose Tyler, Jackie Tyler, Mickey Smith, Captain Jack Harkness, Martha Jones

In a monumental story closing the Tenth Doctor era, the RTD era, and the 2000s on Doctor Who, the Doctor affirms who he is.

The Review

The ‘Master Race’ is really an obviously clever bit of wordplay

There are a lot of parts of The End of Time that are silly and ridiculous, but as the story builds and builds it keeps getting better and better held together by two perfect performances from David Tennant and Bernard Cribbins. The worst stuff comes right away, the weird Harold Saxon cult that brings the Master back to life, but also his wife was part of an anti-Saxon secret group that leaves his body half-formed. He then proceeds to rant and rave about meat and literally eats people, jumping a million miles in the air and firing off ridiculous lasers. I feel so sorry John Simm had to do all this ridiculous stuff. It’s an hour long, but not much actually really happens in part one, but it feels all so orchestrally drummed up that we can’t help but be intrigued. The best moment comes when Wilf and the Doctor talk in the cafe, with the Doctor saying regeneration feels like death and Wilf making another pitch to the Doctor to restore Donna’s memories somehow. The Master using the Immortality Gate to turn every human on Earth into him is completely silly but actually works because of how hilarious it is to see John Simm dressed as all those different people. It gets better, but part one is a whole lot of build-up to the reveal that our mysterious narrator is a Time Lord, and the Time Lords are coming back, a reveal that comes out of absolutely nowhere but certainly hooks you!

Wilfred Mott, the Tenth Doctor’s final companion

In part two, I wish there was more interaction between the Doctor and Master, because their one conversation where the Doctor tries to convince the Master to travel the universe with him is so good. Thankfully the Capaldi era would give us all the Doctor/Master interplay we could ever ask for. Timothy Dalton as Rassilon is perfect for the role, he is imposing and is the perfect embodiment of the ugliness that had become the Time Lords. This story attempts to provide more justification that the Doctor had no choice to kill the Time Lords, and successfully shows how awful they are. Of course, the Doctor will find another way later, but for the concept of this story it works. The Time Lords implant the Master’s brain with the infamous sound of drums all just so they can try and pull Gallifrey back out of the Time War and onto Earth, Boxing Day 2009. For being nearly two and a half hours, the story is actually surprising light on plot, and could’ve been easily condensed. Still, it keeps us hooked with all the quiet intimate conversations. Several happen between Wilf and a mysterious woman only he can see revealed to be a Time Lord, one of two who voted against Rassilon. When the Doctor sees her, it’s clear, be it his mother, daughter, whomever, she’s one of the Doctor’s family. Some people have complained about this character, but I like how it expanded our knowledge of the Doctor while preserving the mystery.

Rassilon was the last card RTD had to play, and he played it

So with all this story’s problems, how can it be so good? It’s because David Tennant is fully embodying the final form of the Tenth Doctor, as all the charisma and arrogance is revealed to cover up the fear that he will slip back into being who he was before, the man who killed the Time Lords. With the Doctor’s stance on guns well known, him using Wilf’s old pistol and pointing it at the Master or Rassilon is dramatically effective. Tennant alone can’t save this story, Bernard Cribbins does, and even elevates it to great status. Cribbins had always been adorably charming as the bumbling but brave grandfather to Donna, but now in a brilliant turn he plays the Tenth Doctor’s final companion. Wilf’s character was an accident, from a brief role as a newspaper salesman in Voyage of the Damned to becoming the last companion of the Doctor’s most popular incarnation. When Bernard Cribbins bursts into tears as he and the Doctor sit on the Vinvocci spaceship, telling the Doctor he doesn’t want him to die, it’s hard not to well up with emotion. When Wilf is shooting missiles using an asteroid laser, it’s hard not to smile. This story exemplifies why I love this show because what it does is so unique, it has the biggest more adrenaline-filled crises and still dives right down to relatable characters that we care about.

“I don’t want to go”

At the end, the Master punishes the Time Lords and chooses to save the Doctor as Gallifrey returns to the Time War. The Doctor thinks he’s survived, but here’s those four knocks: Wilf, trapped inside a vault about to flood him with radiation because he saved a scientist out of kindness. The moment is the perfect completion to the Tenth Doctor’s character arc, he whines, he throws a tantrum about all the things that were left for him to do, but there was never a doubt. It didn’t matter that Wilf was old, that the Doctor might die, or never regenerate again, saving Wilf was the right thing to do. RTD gives us one last look at the characters from his wonderful era of 2000s Who, each better than the last. The Doctor gives Donna and Wilf a winning lottery ticket purchased with money from Donna’s late father, and Wilf gives one last salute. Smartly, we visit Rose as we remember her from Series 1, young and ready for so much adventure. As the Ood sing, the Doctor staggers to the TARDIS, and with a line that is effective but I do think was a little too brutal the Doctor says he doesn’t want to go. There, the Tenth Doctor dies a hero, who saved the world, but died saving just one man. The End of Time is too long, maybe too clunky, but at its core is the brilliant end to a brilliant era. David Tennant will be missed. Oh, and that is Matt Smith making a dramatic debut. GERONIMO!

The End of Time isn’t perfect, but it is everything we could’ve wanted from the Tenth Doctor’s final story.

9/10 Come on, no one finishes this story and isn’t affected

The Eleventh Doctor!

The Invasion of Time Review

The Invasion of Time

President Doctor

Story 97, Episodes 474-480, Season 15 Episodes 21-27

Doctor: The Fourth Doctor

Companions: Leela, K9

The Invasion of Time takes us back to Gallifrey in what actually feels like a season finale, a rarity for a non-regeneration story in the Classic series.

The Review

The tribe of Time Lord dropouts

There’s a lot going on in this story, but almost all of it is good fun. The episode starts with the Doctor signing a contract for unseen aliens, and returning to Gallifrey, demanding to made President. Never has it been more apparent the Time Lords were running on autopilot behind their incredible technology. After Goth’s death in The Deadly Assassin, it seems that as the only other candidate the Doctor is legally required to President, which is quite unfortunate for Gallifrey. A lot of the Gallifrey citadel still looks kind of dingy, the President’s office is pretty nondescript. The Doctor orders Leela banished to outer Gallifrey, and it’s clear that something is up. Our main Gallifreyan cast are the old and snarky Chancellor Borusa, the pathetic guard leader Castellan Kelner (every oligarchy gets its Castellan says the Doctor), the honorable guard Andred, and finally, a Time Lady, Rodan, whom Leela meets and sure seems to be an early attempt at Romana. When Leela and Rodan do escape to Outer Gallifrey they meet a group of Time Lords who rejected the citadel out in the orange sands of the planet. Rodan getting roasted by their leader is an amusing scene.

Leela in the TARDIS pool

The main enemy are the Vardans, a race that can project themselves without fully materializing and are instead represented by some trippy crackling foil. The Doctor has the Time Lords bow before them, but when he gets in his now lead-lined office reveals that the Vardans read thoughts and he is playing along to find a way to defeat them. We never quite see why the Doctor thought the Vardans so much of a threat that Gallifrey couldn’t handle them, but he has to blow a hole in Gallifrey’s shields to get them to materialize so he can find out who they are. Once they’re just some fascist soldiers, it’s easy for the Doctor and K9 to see them off. The Doctor triumphantly heads back to the Panopticon where in a whammy of a twist, there are the Sontarans who were behind the Vardans all along. The whole time Castellan was actually working with the Vardans, and now sides with the Sontarans. After the Doctor shakes down Borusa for the Great Key of Rassilon, he retreats with the good guys into his TARDIS. The corridors of the TARDIS are hilariously plain and nondescript, looking like backstage at a theater. Even the pool is amusingly low-rent. The Sontarans bumble along through it until the Doctor has his final weapon, the De-Mat Gun.

The Sontarans are appropriately intimidating in this story

The episode is a romp from start to finish, and I can see people disappointed if they expected a more serious tale of invasion. Tom Baker has many blowups under the stress of his deception, but has several fun moments including leering right over Andred’s shoulder as the latter gradually understands the plan. Instead of a dramatic showdown with Sontarans, we instead get an amusing chase through never before seen rooms of the TARDIS. Borusa’s dry wit contrasts perfectly with the madcap Fourth Doctor. It’s an entertaining story, and what more could you ask for? The Doctor loses his memory of this adventure because Rassilon didn’t want him to know of the De-Mat Gun or something. Leela decides to stay because she loves Andred, which is a fittingly random ending to a character the writers could never figure out. K9 Mark I stays with her too. So, Sarah Jane was dumped because no humans on Gallifrey, but here, a human gets to stay on Gallifrey and marry a Time Lord? It also raises questions about why the Doctor never stopped by to talk to Leela again. Is she long dead by the next story on Gallifrey? It’s weird. At least we have K9 Mark II on the way.

It’s a fun story, with the Fourth Doctor at his strangest, as we get a tour of Gallifrey and the TARDIS.

9/10 Way too much strangeness to get a 10, but it’s good alright.

Tom Baker staring down the camera at the end of the episode is weird and it also kind of rules

 

Ascension of the Cybermen/The Timeless Children Review

Ascension of the Cybermen/The Timeless Children

The most devastating meeting ever

Story 295, Episodes 860-861, Series 12 Episodes 9-10

Doctor: The Thirteenth Doctor

Companions: Ryan Sinclair, Yasmin Khan, Graham O’Brien

Series 12 concludes with the most earth-shattering story in Doctor Who history, completely changing the way we view the Doctor in one story that is so colossal my head is still spinning.

The Review

The Doctor and Ashad having a conversation

Part two was so huge that I want to jump ahead but we do have to spend some time on part one. It starts out with the Doctor and the fam visiting the last seven humanities in whatever galaxy they are in (I’m going to go with Tiberian Spiral and it all lines up well with Nightmare in Silver) to save them from Ashad and the Cybermen. Ryan and the Doctor get separated from Graham and Yaz, who end up on a Cybermen troop carrier, and are visited by Ashad who re-awakens the Cybermen on it. The human’s goal was to get to Ko Sharmus and the mysterious Boundary, supposedly the only way outside of the galaxy. It turns out Ko Sharmus is actually an old man, and the boundary leads to…the ruins of Gallifrey. Out of which the Master drops out, no explanation of how he got away from the Spyfall situation, but we don’t need one of those from the Master.  Ascension of the Cybermen is a good episode thanks to the very real threat of the awakening Cybermen, and Ashad is such a frightening presence that it drives the pace. That said, we don’t really get any answers to any questions about what is going on, nor more hints at the Timeless Child.

The Master and Ashad. “Let’s workshop this.”

Well enough about that episode, it’s time to talk about the episode that contains, I think without a doubt, the most lore ever. See, revealing the truth about the history of the Time Lords is one thing, but revealing truth about the Doctor is another. Our guide throughout all this is Sacha Dhawan’s Master, and Dhawan absolutely nails it throughout this episode. I thought nobody could come close to Michelle Gomez, but Dhawan’s energy and manic charisma is truly something to behold. I can accept that the Master went crazy again, but I would really have liked some in-universe acknowledgement that Missy did end up standing with the Doctor. The Master could reveal to the Doctor that he did choose her side, and that could have further underscored how earth-shattering the Timeless Child story was. He invites Ashad and the Cybermen troop carrier to dock in the ruins of the citadel, and learns Ashad’s final plan: to remove all organic elements in the Cybermen and make them mechanized. The Master is disappointed that Ashad’s plans were just to make them into robots, and I agree. Dumb plan. So the Master kills Ashad in cold blood.

The fam with the anti-Cybermen gear, including a gold particle disperser of course

Let’s check in on the companions. In a story absolutely filled to the brim with Time Lord lore, the companions take a back seat. The pairing of Graham and Yaz was a good one, and leads to a scene where Graham praises Yaz as the best woman he’s ever known. It’s beautiful, but I wish we had seen more of what Graham praises Yaz for throughout the past two seasons. Hilariously, Yaz says Graham is not so bad himself, apparently a love letter if you’re from Yorkshire. Ryan doesn’t do much except for use his basketball skills to throw a bomb to destroy some Cybermen and react just like a guy his age would. I actually feel that Ryan has been pretty well-developed as a character, and Tosin Cole was able to do a lot with not many lines. Graham, Yaz, and the two surviving humans from the settlement disguise themselves in Cybermen armor to escape the troop carrier. The companions have been much more developed this season, and I hope we get a good goodbye to them. One of the surviving humans is a middle-aged woman, Ravio, who I think could be a good match for Graham. They all take a TARDIS back to 2020 London.

Tecteun and the Timeless Child

Ascension of the Cybermen features the story of a boy named Brendan in early 20th century century Ireland, found abandoned as a baby, who becomes a police officer. He somehow survives a gunshot wound and fall into a canyon, grows old, then his un-aged dad and former captain show up and begin brutally mind-wiping him. It turns out to have been an allegory for the founding of Gallifrey as the Master shows the Doctor within the Matrix. Gallifrey’s indigenous people were a group called the Shobogans, which is apparently straight from the EU. One of them, Tecteun, an explorer, found a child that had emerged from a gateway. She brought her back to Gallifrey and tried to find out what she was, but got no answer. One day the child fell to her death and regenerated, and after forcing several regenerations out of her Tecteun found the secret of regeneration. She proved it on herself and distributed the gift to the Time Lord elite founding Time Lord society. That child, of course, was the Doctor (though for a beat I thought it was going to be the Master). So there is a hell of a lot to unpack here.

Brendan, the metaphor Doctor. Ireland was always a cover for Gallifrey.

This is the most info we have ever been definitively shown about the foundation of Gallifrey, and Chibnall has chosen to go down the path of ‘the Doctor is a special Time Lord’ and not ‘the Doctor is a random Time Lord who left Gallifrey and became a hero’. I have to say, I kind of prefer the latter, because it shows that anybody can be special and be a hero. But in Chibnall’s defense, there have been many clues pointing at the Doctor being special, mostly from the Seventh Doctor era but the Hybrid sort of fits that. I was initially excited, then I got pretty down on all of the Doctor is special stuff, but now I’m kind of drawing myself back in. The problem though is that the onus is now on Chibnall to explain everything, and there are several loose ends: Rassilon and Omega, and what became of Tecteun? I assume the two unseen Time Lords that Tecteun bows to are supposed to be them. Was Tecteun the woman from The End of Time? Who is Susan? Her being the Timeless Child would actually make far more sense honestly. Were the Shobogans humans? We never found out if the Boundary always went to Gallifrey or not. Lastly, I see why this was a shattering revelation for the Doctor, but I don’t think it quite ‘laid her low’ like the Master thought it would. Not getting an answer to most of these questions in Whittaker’s era would feel unfinished.

Look at this beautiful boy

Regardless of my hesitation around making the Doctor the pillar of Time Lord history, and leaving us with tons of questions, I am excited about one thing: Ruth. Ruth is heavily implied to be a pre-Hartnell incarnation of the Doctor, working for ‘the Division’, Time Lord black ops. What really excites me about her is Jo Martin’s performance, who absolutely nails it as the Doctor. Still, it rings weird to me that a pre-Hartnell incarnation would call herself the Doctor, let alone have a police box TARDIS. The First Doctor just stole a random TARDIS, and this has been explicitly confirmed. Martin rocks though, so look to see more of her. The Doctor uses all of her history, known and unknown, to break out of the Matrix and we got a montage of all the known Doctors + Ruth and the pre-First Doctor faces from The Brain of Morbius because has Chibnall really waited 44 years to pay off that plot thread? Oh and one last thing, Ko Sharmus destroys the CYBERMAN/TIME LORD HYBRIDS THE MASTER MADE. They are Cybermen in Time Lord regalia, they are able to regenerate, they are amazing. It is weird that the Doctor can’t bring herself to kill them with the DEATH PARTICLE ASHAD HAD but we’re supposed to be fine with Ko Sharmus doing it. Oh, and six and a half years after saving Gallifrey, it and all the Time Lords are apparently super dead. Gallifrey whiplash! I guess Rassilon is still out there…

This story, especially part two, was as narratively dense as anything in show history. For as many revelations as there were, it still kind of worked. Not all of it, but a lot. And finally using the show theme as in-universe music for the Doctor montage was awesome. Got to give credit to audacity. Also loved the Tennant-esque ending with the Doctor getting immediately arrested by Judoon.

9/10 My head is still reeling, but amazing production values, pacing, and performances make this a blockbuster to remember.

The Fugitive Doctor??

The Deadly Assassin Review

The Deadly Assassin

The Doctor in the Matrix

Story 88, Episodes 436-439, Season 14 Episode 9-12

Doctor: The Fourth Doctor

In a sense, The Deadly Assassin is one of the biggest, most ambitious stories in Doctor Who history. It’s almost overwhelming how much we learn about the Time Lords. On execution though, a bizarre third episode drags it down.

The Review

Marked for death

From the beginning, an opening scroll detailing the history of the Time Lords lets you know something is up. The Doctor has a vision, the Time Lord President, gunned down. Even more shocking: he appears to the pull the trigger! The TARDIS lands unauthorized in Gallifrey, and guards unfamiliar with the Doctor attempt to track him down. The amount of world-building for Gallifrey is simply staggering, with us seeing the Panopticon where the high council meets, the very unique and now iconic Time Lord style of dress, learning the Doctor is in the Prydonian chapter. Not to mention we get an amusing look at Gallifreyan cable news and the skittish anchor Runcible. The ending is stunning: the President is killed, and the Doctor apparently shot him! The Doctor is caught and interrogated, but convinces Castellan Spandrell that he didn’t do it. It becomes apparent that the Master has, and the Doctor has to descend into a matrix of dead Time Lord consciousness to get at him.

The Master is sickening

What follows is a bizarre episode where the Doctor is in the woods trying to avoid being hunted by the acolyte of the Master, who is revealed to be Chancellor Goth, worried that he would not be named to the Presidency. This episode just completely threw me out of what was going on in Gallifrey, and really screwed up the pacing. In the fourth episode we finally get the showdown with the Master, played by Peter Pratt as a hideous decaying creature at the end of his regeneration cycle. The Master despises the Doctor and wishes him dead, something that doesn’t really square with the suave Delgado Master. Sure he tried to kill the Doctor a few times, but was just as eager for his help. Perhaps he blames the Doctor for his disfigurement, but this is never went into further. There’s even more lore as the Master tries to use the power of Rassilon, the ancient founder of the Time Lords, to restore himself before being stopped.

The Doctor isn’t President…yet

What’s really interesting about this story is how Time Lord society is portrayed. The leader that emerges from this is Borusa, a smart-tongued Time Lord who is a bit harsh but a capable leader. Capable is the least that can be said for most of the Time Lords, the Doctor blasts the Co-Ordinator’s technology as still primitive, and the Time Lords seemingly have forgotten all about Rassilon’s inventions that power all of Time Lord society. Time Lords are portrayed as so self-focused on their banal political dealings that they hardly care to know of the universe or even their own history. Perhaps if we met the ‘Celestial Intervention Agency’ or CIA that has been giving the Doctor missions such as to stop the Daleks we’d se more proactive Time Lords. Of course this isn’t to mention the entirety of Time Lord elite being white and male, the only female voice this story comes from a computer. For a show that so long has had the Doctor shrouded in mystery, even after The War Games, The Deadly Assassin changes everything.

The middle episode is a completely left turn from the rest of the story, and the amount of revelations and new information is almost overwhelming. This was a seminal event in Doctor Who, but part of me couldn’t wait to return to the standard show.

8/10 The companionless story changes everything…if only that Matrix business wasn’t there.

Why did dead Time Lords dream of Earth?

 

The War Games Review

The War Games

This time there is no escape

Story 50, Episodes 245-254, Season 6 Episodes 35-44

Doctor: The Second Doctor

Companions: Jamie McCrimmon, Zoe Heriot

The War Games is one of the most crucial and momentous stories in the 55-year history of Doctor Who. It mostly lives up to its billing by providing a problem that the Doctor finally can’t solve on his own.

The Review

Zoe and the Doctor in a stage of the rebellion

In the 50th anniversary promo, Matt Smith says “I’ve been running all my lives.” This isn’t entirely true. Until Hell Bent, this is when the Doctor stops truly and totally from his people. (Tellingly perhaps, the Doctor’s reason for running, boredom, is not challenged until Heaven Sent.) The War Games starts out like any other story might, though World War I is the most viscerally brutal setting we have seen on the show. As it spirals, it stops being a standard classic Who serial and becomes one of the first stories to fully immerse itself in building the lore of Doctor Who. My biggest revelation about Troughton’s Doctor is how truly young and inexperienced he plays him, which makes perfect sense in universe. The Doctor really has just been winging it all this time. At the end of episode nine, his luck has ran out.

 

Smythe and Von Weich plan the next assault

Rather quickly we learn that is not World War I, and that something sinister is going on. That takes place in the personage of Smythe, the first of the mysterious aliens we meet (they are only ever referred to as aliens). With sinister music and glasses that can alter the memories of the British soldiers he controls, he plans to have the whole crew shot. The Doctor, Zoe, and Jamie manage to gain allies in the nurse Jennifer and lieutenant Carstairs, and as they try to escape find themselves attacked by Romans. Slowly the plot is unveiled. The growing mystery is handled well, and a bulk of the story is navigating the interpersonal relationships between all the characters with often shifting allegiances. We meet Von Weich, Smythe’s German counterpart with a snide accent and a monocle to manipulate his soldiers. The first glimpse we get of headquarters is Smythe and a lackey in the bizarre sci-fi glasses staring down the Doctor through their video chat portals.

 

Just look at the War Chief. His beard his epic. His actor crushes it.

The sets are elaborate, as they should be for the 60s finale. Smythe’s, and later the resistance’s, headquarters is a dilapidated chateau. Headquarters is a sprawling sci-fi base of operations. Unfortunately we lose Jennifer early on in the story, it is a shame too as I really liked her character and interplay with Carstairs. Carstairs is captured, so the Doctor and Jamie ride in one of the remote-controlled TARDIS-like devices to headquarters and disguise themselves in a lecture. The school aspect of the games is not touched on much more, but the Doctor is soon recognized immediately by the satanic-looking War Chief rocking the Hunger Games beard 45 years early. Meanwhile, Jamie meets a resistance group in the American Civil War: the aliens have been ‘processing’ human soldiers stolen out of battle. 5% are able to resist the conditioning and have been living on the edges of existence. We also meet the Security Chief, a cold and quite disturbing man.

The Doctor does several tricks with the processing of people. Here is Carstairs, the Doctor’s most stalwart ally

The story is ten episodes long, and didn’t have to be. There is certainly some padding, but incredibly I never felt like the story was dull as I did in some of the predictable stories throughout Troughton’s run. There is a real sense of unpredictably, as we continually meet larger and large foes. Smythe seems imposing, when we encounter him again he’s scarcely worth thinking about and is killed (Von Weich too). The Security Chief reveals that the War Chief is a Time Lord, one of the Doctor’s people and is certain they’re in league with each other. He says as much when the Big Bad, the War Lord arrives. Playing a sadistic dictatorial Steve Jobs, the War Lord is as brutal as you think he might be. The Doctor is eventually captured, and the War Chief gives him an offer: join him in a coup to overthrow the War Lord. The Doctor does not, but is forced to get the resistance leaders (now including a non-subtle Mexican revolutionary general) to HQ or the War Lord would neutron bomb them to hell.

The War Lord is a youthful, demonic version of latter-day Steve Jobs far ahead of his time.

I’ve seen The War Games described as a situation continually spiraling further further out of control, and it’s true. The final layer is the reveal that the War Lord is stealing human soldiers with the War Chief’s rudimentary time travel technology to breed a fighting force capable of conquering the galaxy. The Security Chief records the War Chief’s conversation and tries to arrest him, forcing the War Chief onto to the Doctor’s side in trying to shut down the War Games. With his help, the take over headquarters after drawing away guards to all the timezones, the War Chief viciously killing the Security Chief. The Doctor then plans to use the War Chief’s machines to return all the soldiers home, but there’s a crucial issue: they’re almost completely drained (the War Chief not truly solving TARDIS mechanics). As the War Lord kills the War Chief, the Doctor knows only one thing can solve this horrific mess: the Time Lords. Jamie and Zoe don’t understand why the Doctor is so afraid of his own people, and the three run back to the TARDIS as the world slows down, the Doctor clawing at the door.

The haunting cliffhanger, the Doctor somehow manages to power his way into the TARDIS as the world shudders to a halt

He does actually manage to get into the TARDIS, but the Doctor just cannot escape and is recalled to his home world. We see the War Lord’s trial presided over by the calmly powerful Time Lords. (One apparently causes excruciating blinding light with but a thought.) The War Lord almost gets away, but does not and is hauntingly dematerialized. At the Doctor’s trial, he vigorously defends his interference in the outer world. He told Jamie and Zoe he was bored of not exploring the universe, and tells the Time Lords of the despicable evils (most of all, the Daleks) he has fought. The First Doctor was unsure of the man he wanted to me, the Second Doctor has become convinced. We get one final goodbye with Jamie and Zoe until they’re mind-wiped and sent away. It is a sad ending, but we’re assured their lives will continue to live on well enough. In New Who with Donna, this will be much more painful.

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!”

Throughout the past six seasons and this decade of Doctor Who, the show has evolved rapidly. It was an edutainment show at first, showing science and history. The writers and fans started to find that the true interest lay with the old man taking us on this journey. Who was he? How did get this machine? Will he find home again? We meet the Monk, we have the Doctor telling a petrified Victoria that he can remember his family when he closes his eyes, and now the Doctor loudly defends himself. His plea is accepted: there is evil, and it must be fought. However, the Doctor’s transgressions cannot be ignored, and he will be stranded on 20th century Earth, the place and time most familiar to him on his journeys. We never see the regeneration, just Troughton yelling and protesting as he fades slowly to black. It isn’t an uplifting ending, but we were warned it wouldn’t be. The Doctor risked his freedom to save the lives of thousands of soldiers he didn’t even know: and barely thought twice. Compared to the pitiful machinations of the War Chief and the aliens, the Doctor is ready to be the hero the universe needs him to be.

It’s hard to judge The War Games here in 2019, fifty years after its 1969 airdate. I feel like it deserves a 9, but I must also remember the context. This was a march  to one of the most dramatic conclusions in the show’s history, that remarkably doesn’t drag at all. Peppered with game-changing reveals, and irrevocably changing the show, there is no alternative. Full marks. Troughton, I will miss your enthusiasm and mischievousness. On to Pertwee!

10/10. Above all, the Doctor is a hero. With one faithful decision, he sealed that truth for all time.

See you again? Time is relative after all.

 

Face The Raven/Heaven Sent/Hell Bent Review

Face The Raven/Heaven Sent/Hell Bent

No More Running

Stories 260-262, Episodes 823-825, Series 9 Episodes 10-12

Doctor: The Twelfth Doctor

Companion: Clara Oswald

In what may be one of the most impactful Doctor Who stories ever, we find out what it truly means to be the Doctor. From the streets of London, to a far-flung castle prison, to Gallifrey itself, this story is about the Doctor.

The Review

The Mayor

First off, Rigsy calls the TARDIS, he has a new tattoo on his neck…that’s counting down. He joins the Doctor and Clara, and they set off on a mission to find a hidden street in London. The sequencing is a load of fun, and includes Clara loving being on the edge of death. They find it, a street that is a refugee camp for aliens being run by Ashildr…who else? Apparently Rigsy murdered a woman, and he’s been sentenced to time-based death by spiritual raven.

The Truth is Uncovered

The Doctor works out that Ashildr has framed Rigsy for some reason, because he knew him. Clara takes the countdown to death from Rigsy, because it will force Ashildr to retract the sentence. Using the prophetic nature of the murdered’s daughter, they learn that the woman Rigsy killed is still alive. To get her out, the Doctor has to get a teleportation bracelet stuck to him, but there’s bad news…Ashildr can’t save Clara.

Goodbye Clara…

Clara convinces the Doctor that everything will be okay, walks out, and is killed. That’s it. Dead. She’s gone. To add insult to injury, the Doctor is teleported away. The first episode of the story really succeeded in being a well-paced, great mystery, supported by more furious acting from Capaldi. Narratively, Clara’s death just makes sense. It’s heartbreaking, but it’s how it has to be. Then things starting getting even better.

The Veil, it never gives up

The Doctor is alone, trapped in a castle haunted by a slowly moving monster who will kill him with a touch. It never stops, inevitably the Doctor will die. Frequently consulting his memory of Clara, he reasons that the monster stops with confessions about the ‘Hybrid’ that will re-arrange the castle. The episode is one hundred powered behind Capaldi, who acts his ass off. It is enthralling, and the Doctor finds an escape behind twenty feet of super-hard rock. All he needs to do: confess one more.

The Long Way Round

Eventually, the Doctor pieces it together: he’s been here before, thousands of times, and died every single time. But each time he’s punched the rock, inching closer to breaking it. When he dies, he creates another copy of himself from the teleport, and after billions of years punches his way through in one of the show’s most triumphant moments. The other side? Gallifrey. The Doctor tells a boy to warn the Capitol: he’s back.

Rassilon, now former President

Rassilon wants him dead, and the Doctor goes to his ‘family’, and refuses to lay down his arms until he convinces everybody to banish Rassilon. He convinces the General that Clara can help with the Hybrid, so they take her and instant before her death, and the Doctor shoots the General, and goes rogue to save Clara. Breaking all his rules, he runs to the Cloisters to break into the Matrix. All to steal a TARDIS, grab Clara, and run to the end of time where she should be brought back to life.

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

At the end of the universe though, Ashildr was waiting for him. They chat about the Hybrid, and bounce around some ideas, but the main result is the Doctor promising to wipe Clara’s mind to save her. Clara hears it all and switches the memory device to work backwards to try and convince the Doctor not to save her. They end up gambling on who’s mind will be erased, and it’s the Doctor’s. It brings us to the frame story of the Doctor telling this tale to Clara in a Nevada diner, but when we thought Clara couldn’t remember: it was the Doctor.

Clara Who: Episode One

Clara walks into a backdoor where Ashildr is in there with the stolen  TARDIS console. The restaurant phases away, leaving the Doctor his old TARDIS, where Rigsy’s graffiti of the dead Clara’s face allows the Doctor to piece together what happened. While Clara and Ashildr go off on their new journey through time, the Doctor goes off as well. This finale seemed like it would be about Gallifrey, and explosions, but it was about the Doctor…and now that includes Clara.

The Doctor’s TARDIS

Really, this story was great from start to finish. The opening frame was expertly done, and had a gut-punch ending. Capaldi pretty much acted the entire middle piece by himself, an amazing story of perseverance, escaping an inescapable problem. From there, we conclude with the Doctor going to great lengths to save Clara, and ultimately giving her new life while losing her. All along, Clara was very similar to the Doctor, and as her tenure on the show continued she became almost his equal. And now she is.

There may have been a bit of pacing issues, but superb writing, direction, and acting, acting, acting, made this a finale to remember. This episode was Doctor Who at its finest, and wrapped up an amazing run. From uncovering a mystery in London, to dying for billions of years to punch through rock harder than diamond, to meeting the end of the universe to save one life…Doctor Who has never been better.

9/10: Clara gets the greatest exist for any companion, and the Doctor finds a bit of humanity perhaps. Remember, when the TARDIS appears, it may now be Clara and Ashildr to your rescue.

See You Next Series Doctor

The Day of the Doctor Review

The Day of the Doctor

The 11th, 10th, and War Doctors

Story 240, Episode 799, 50th Anniversary Special

Doctors: Eleventh, War, Tenth (Eighth)

Companion: Kate Stewart, Clara Oswald

Here comes the spoilers in the start of the 900-ish-Episode quest to review every Doctor Who episode!

Prequel- The Night of the Doctor

The Eighth Doctor returns at last

For some, this was an incredible moment. It was the return of the Eighth Doctor to Doctor Who proper after last being seen in a one-off movie in 1996. As having no Eighth Doctor experience, it was simply a good representation of the Time War. The Eighth Doctor is rebuked by a Companion and is mortally wounded trying to save her. He is offered a choice, regenerate and stop the Time War from ripping the universe apart. The prequel simply gave the Eighth Doctor closure and introduced the War Doctor.

8.5/10

Prequel-The Last Day

Less good as the Night of the Doctor, The Last Day showed a promising start to a new FPS blending Time Lords and Halo. Despite that such a game is too awesome to exist, The Last Day was even more ‘prequely’ than the last one. The Fall of Arcadia indeed.

6/10

The Day of the Doctor

The Doctor

The Day of the Doctor is truly brilliant. It is one of the best episodes of Moffatt’s run, and undoubtedly deserving of the 50th Anniversary special. Contrary to expectations, the true main character was the War Doctor, played by John Hurt. The sadness and gravitas he brought to the role left me saddened that all we see of the War Doctor is this episode. The crux of the 50th Anniversary is the War Doctor being shown by The Moment/Bad Wolf/Rose what he will be if he murders trillions of Gallifreyans and Daleks. He is thrust into seeing Eleven and Ten meeting up to solve an ingenious Zygon invasion. The other Doctors are understandably scared of him, as they remember his murder. Also fantastic is the return of David Tennant, who hasn’t been seen since he regenerated four years ago. He hasn’t missed a beat. Tennant dives right back into the role, and all the things that made the Tenth Doctor my favorite were shown in force in his scenes with Elizabeth I. The wit, the charm, everything that truly made him, as Clara called it, The Hero. Ten is the quintessential Hero, and his return was seamless. The Zygon invasion was utter genius, especially with the Time Lord being a 3D moment in time. So, in 1592 or whatever, the Zygons hide in paintings that the Zygon Elizabeth I places in her collection until 2013 when the Earth is ripe for the taking. The round-about way of Eleven and Clara being called in by UNIT to deal with the Zygons escaping (by Kate Stewart in a commanding performance that wants me to see more of her), and finding Ten investigating the same invasion was perfectly executed. The War Doctor is aghast at his future selves ‘timey-wimey’ speak and kissing and what the New Series in general. As he may be near the age of long-time Doctor Who fans, it was a way of comparing the old and new.

The Moment is at hand

Through it all, he sees that the future is in safe hands, but he cannot avoid activating the Moment, the Time War must be stopped. Ten and Eleven come to help him in a heartbreaking scene, until they realize: Time Lord art is frozen in time, a moment frozen there. What if, they can do that to Gallifrey? Suddenly, the three Doctors rush to Gallifrey to do this, and contact the planet and their faces pop up on holograms. But not just there’s, ALL THIRTEEN Doctors arrive to save Gallifrey, including Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor! They freeze Gallifrey and it vanishes and the Daleks’ fire destroys themselves. The Doctors depart, with the War Doctor and Tenth Doctor knowing their knowledge of them not committing genocide is lost. Seems only the oldest Doctor remembers multi-Doctor stuff, for the most part. The War Doctor regenerates of old age, into the Ninth Doctor, but cuts out before we see Eccleston. D’aw. The final scene had Tom Baker returning for the first time since 1981 as a Curator to lead the Doctor on his journey…to Gallifrey. It’s almost poetic, the Doctor’s going home. Stunning episode, great 50th Anniversary that shows what the Doctor’s mission now has become: going home.

10/10

Highlight: All thirteen incarnations of the Doctor arrive to save Gallifrey.

Previously: The Name of the Doctor

Next: The Time of the Doctor

WHO Knows?