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 | Reviews for The Ninth Doctor Chronicles |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Tuesday 24 February 2026 |
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| Rating: |   6 |
This is a boxed set of four adventures featuring the Ninth Doctor as played by Nicholas Briggs, who also narrates and does the voices for most the other characters. Christopher Eccleston had yet to agree to reprise the role. The stories sit in different parts of the Ninth Doctor story arc, from before he meets Rose to before he meets Captain Jack. The stories are of varying quality. The first one is The Bleeding Heart, where murders are taking place on the planet of peace. The Doctor thinks he might have found a refuge from the aftermath of the Time War, but that seems hardly likely. The next is The Window on the Moor, which takes place with Rose newly installed in the TARDIS. This is my least favorite of the set. It is a weird fairy-tale magic door story that for no clear reason features Emily Brontë. It is all rather a confused muddle. The third story is The Other Side, with Adam Mitchell fresh from the alien archive. This is another kind of magic door story with the door being a movie theater getting brief visitations from time past, which sweeps people back into the past. There is much concentration on building trust between The Doctor and Rose, and Adam shows both his personal strengths and personal weaknesses. The story itself ends up being another race lost in the Time War issue. I wish the writer had pursued the more scientific side, a pure problem of something devastating happening in nature that needs to be solved. The last story is in some ways the best of the four. Retail Therapy has The Doctor and Rose revisiting Jackie Tyler, who has started a new scheme to make something of her life, selling fuzzy, squishy balls that make people feel good. Of course, it's a bit too good to be true. Camille Coduri is excellent as Jackie, bringing out her fears, hopes, and compassion convincingly. The story itself could have fit well for the Third Doctor in terms of the alien menace and how to overcome it.
