Season 25 Review

Posted on July 4, 2022 by guardion

Season 25

Season 25

Doctor: Seventh Doctor

Companions: Ace McShane

For the show’s twenty-fifth anniversary Season 25 makes an uneven but bold leap back into excitement and success.

The Review

Here’s the scores for the stories

The Greatest Show in the Galaxy: 10/10

Remembrance of the Daleks: 9.25/10

Silver Nemesis: 8.25/10

The Happiness Patrol: 8.25/10

One of the all-time great Doctor/companion dynamics is formed in Season 25. The Seventh Doctor finds his footing, no longer a generic character only defined by the weird mixed metaphors thing, the Doctor here enjoys stagecraft and acting like a clown but is always calm and collected on the inside. Compared to the Second and Fourth Doctors who often pretended to be idiots to be underestimated, the Seventh Doctor doesn’t do that, he’s always looking to entertain, to be a showman. As Sylvester McCoy was naturally a showman, it’s a perfect and obvious evolution. Meanwhile, Ace is simply a revelation, she’s kick-ass and adorable all at once. The Doctor secretly is just as punk as she is, and he’s basically the coolest teacher in the world for her. While classics like the Daleks and Cybermen seem uninteresting, the best story comes from killer clowns. Who knew?

8.925/10 A massive leap in quality and a smashing success

The Greatest Show in the Galaxy Review

Posted on July 3, 2022 by guardion

The Greatest Show in the Galaxy

Story 151, Episodes 678-681, Season 25 Episodes 9-12

Doctor: Seventh Doctor

Companions: Ace McShane

For the first time in years, Doctor Who delivers a masterpiece of a story, perfectly melding Sylvester McCoy’s talents with an epic, well-directed tale.

The Review

It’s finally here, the next truly great story after Caves of Androzani which feels like a lifetime ago. The Doctor and Ace find themselves drawn to the Psychic Circus, a rather cheap looking tent on a very barren but sufficiently alien looking world. The build up to the circus is excellent, with the Doctor and Ace encountering a crazy biker and then T.P. McKenna’s perfectly played Captain Cook and the goth young werewolf Mags. Captain Cook is dressed like an old British colonialist, and is some intergalactic explorer, constantly having boring anecdotes all ending with how actually bored he was. The combination of Cook and a circus are both perfect foils for the Seventh Doctor, last season he cut a very generic figure, here this is the first story that simply must be a Seventh Doctor story. In fact, once the circus’ overlords the Gods of Ragnarok are revealed, the Doctor distracts them with some skills we know Sylvester McCoy possesses himself.

Ace has less to do than usual with this excellent cast of characters, but she still holds her own and is always wonderful on screen. We have Deadbeat, formally Kingpin, the leader. There’s the Ringmaster and Morgana, supposedly in a relationship chafing under their rule. There’s Bellboy, the reject who created the circuses’ robots. There’s a ‘super-fan’ of the circus, a perfect parody of nerd culture that manages to not be disrespectful. Seeds sown in part one come back in part four in brilliant ways, and finally, we must discuss the Chief Clown played by Ian Reddington. Emotionally turning on a dime, always fearsome, he is the truest villain of the story. Despite often looking like it’s someone’s home video, The Greatest Show in the Galaxy is fresh, bursting with new ideas, an evil circus perfectly suited to the Seventh Doctor. I almost forgot what great classic series stories felt like.

The premise seems ridiculous, the sets bargain basement, but incredible ideas and performances and direction make this an absolute classic and remind us that at its peak Doctor Who is absolutely the greatest show in the galaxy.

10/10 Finally, another perfect story. It’s been years in real life time. I think Doctor Who is going to have a great 1989.

The Cantankerous Cook and the awesome Mags

Silver Nemesis Review

Posted on June 30, 2022July 3, 2022 by guardion

Silver Nemesis

Story 150, Episodes 675-677, Season 25 Episodes 6-8

Doctor: Seventh Doctor

Companions: Ace McShane

It’s the 150th story, and the 25th anniversary of Doctor Who, and we get a breezy story with neo-Nazis, Cybermen, and bizarre references to the Doctor’s secret past.

The Review

I’ve heard a lot of negative things about Silver Nemesis, but for me, this is where the Doctor and Ace relationship really snaps into place. Ace is the Doctor’s apprentice in being punk, heck, the story starts with the two taking in a jam session of jazz music. The plot is at once complex and at once inconsequential, there are four factions, the Doctor and Ace, a group of neo-Nazis out of exile in South America, the cruel witch Lady Peinforte from the 16th century, and a bunch of Cybermen are here too. There’s some fun interplay as the groups play off of each other. I’m a sucker for Cybermen, but they’re really pretty disposable here, the Cybermen don’t feel like a legitimate scary threat but just another alien threat. Still, I like their design here and getting trolled by jazz music is great even though like Remembrance of the Daleks they ignore tons of chances to shoot the Doctor. The neo-Nazis are interesting in how blatantly political it is, but Lady Peinforte takes the cake for most interesting villain.

Lady Peinforte is a caricature, but I don’t mind, she’s a weird lady from 1638 obsessed with the MacGuffin of the story: the ‘Nemesis’, a living metal comet the Doctor set up. In one amusingly bizarre detour she and Richard are picked up by a mega rich American researching her family past who is incredibly confused by them. The other part of this story is heavily implying the Doctor knew and hung out with the Time Lord founders, and that Peinforte has ‘figured out his secrets’. There’s one shot where McCoy looks like he’ll explode with fury on her, but then he calms down when the Cyber-Leader says he does not care about all that. Even the ending has Ace asking the Doctor who he is and he mischievously shushes her. Really, I enjoyed Silver Nemesis because of how well-paced and plotted it was, and the dynamite chemistry between McCoy and Aldred. This might just be the best Classic pairing, others, Six and Peri especially have shined in Big Finish but not the show, these two are on fire.

It’s a weird story to celebrate the 25th anniversary (complete with the Queen herself making an appearance), but it’s easy breezy fun.

8.5/10 Nothing revelatory, but undeniably a good time.

The Happiness Patrol Review

Posted on June 27, 2022July 3, 2022 by guardion

The Happiness Patrol

Story 149, Episodes 672-674, Season 25 Episodes 5-7

Doctor: Seventh Doctor

Companions: Ace McShane

The Happiness Patrol is a more refined Paradise Towers, with a more formed Seventh Doctor showing off his punk side.

The Review

I knew that Ace was a counter-cultural gal, but I never could’ve guessed the Seventh Doctor would be the most punk Doctor. The Twelfth Doctor is a bit too cool to feel authentically working class, but the Seventh Doctor leading an underground rebellion against an oppressive regime just seems to fit perfectly. He even gets paired up with folksy harmonica player Earl, the largest role for a Black man in the show in who knows how long. Just like the girl gangs of Paradise Towers, it’s women who roam the streets here, but it’s the bizarre pink dressed women of the titular Happiness Patrol. Led by Helen A they’re psychopaths all the way down, blasting ‘killjoys’ away and giggling all the time. Most bizarre is the giant Kandyman, literally made of candy, a sadistic robot with an amusing high-pitched voice. I don’t quite understand what he’s doing here, but he’s never boring.

The keys holding the story together are the Doctor and the villain Helen A, who fits right in the mold of every narcissist evil grandma you’ve seen as a villain. Supposedly based off of Margaret Thatcher, I’m not knowledgable enough to know if the parody holds but I love Shelia Hancock’s performance. Sylvester McCoy once again surprises with his dramatic rage, this Doctor’s quiet fury at evil comes across as scarier than bluster from other Doctors. Ace doesn’t get too much to do, and there’s also. very under-used subplot with the ‘pipe people’, the indigenous aliens of this colony who are kind of forgotten about. The story really earns its keep as the Doctor viciously rips apart Helen A’s ‘happiness’. This is the most underground/punk/left a Doctor Who story has felt, and I was here for it.

There are some weird plot threads that don’t seem to go anywhere, but this story is different not just for the sake of being bizarre and different, but using sci-fi for real world commentary.

8.25/10 It’s a bit nonsense at times, but I had a lot of fun

The cliffhangers are getting worse and worse though

Remembrance of the Daleks Review

Posted on June 26, 2022July 3, 2022 by guardion

Remembrance of the Daleks

Story 148, Episodes 668-671, Season 25 Episodes 1-4

Doctor: Seventh Doctor

Companions: Ace McShane

Doctor Who‘s drought of great stories finally ends with a taught, well-paced return to 1963 for one final showdown with the Daleks.

The Review

It’s hard to believe this is the same show that only two stories ago gave us the silliness of Delta and the Bannermen. After a season of just being a rather generic silly guy, the Seventh Doctor snaps into focus as a sharp manipulator who carries an air of bored superiority. Several plot points seem to be missing, the Daleks have followed the Doctor back to Coal Hill School in 1963, we scarcely remember why there are two factions, and suddenly the First Doctor had this Hand of Omega thing lying around? Still, it absolutely works due to the confidence of the script, directing, and acting. The Doctor is suddenly unknowable, not just an arrogant git like the Sixth Doctor, but he’s playing a game we barely understand and don’t quite approve of. Still, the Doctor isn’t sure himself, he tells a deli clerk about the ripples decision makes, and wonders at the end of the story if he did do good.

Ace is gorgeous and beats up Daleks with bats and RPGs, what more could you want?

Ace immediately makes the best impression of a companion in years, no more being annoyed at the Doctor or terrified, Ace is bold and confident and it rules. She falls for an Agent Smith, who turns out to be fascist working with the Renegade Daleks. Setting side that she’s only 16, it’s cute until it’s heartbreaking. The simple discovery of a ‘no coloreds’ sign in Smith’s house is a dark moment. We have a tall not-Brigadier and two capable female physicists which is a delight, making a well-rounded (white) cast. Davros shows up late as the Dalek Emperor, but much more interesting is the brainwashed young girl at the heart of the Renegade faction. She has force lightning! Ultimately, the Doctor tricks the Daleks into destroying Skaro, which is a surprisingly dark. Although failed by the Daleks sometimes wobbling and bland sets, it’s a great adventure story and reminds me that, yes, the classic series can be good.

There are a few too many cheap references, and it feels like we’re missing some backstory, but Remembrance gives us a new mysterious Doctor and a young but capable companion with a smashing supporting cast. Will stories improve from here? Time will tell, it always does.

9.25/10 Seriously, the Dalek props look cool but are very unconvincing trundling along uneven roads.