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 | Reviews for Thin Time / Madquake |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Tuesday 11 November 2025 |
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| Rating: |   7 |
Here we have two one-hour stories, one featuring Doctor 5, the other featuring the companions, with the Doctor returning to them at the end. The first story, Thin Time, is a kind of William Hope Hodgson or H.P. Lovecraft story in which a Victorian dabbler in science is trying to contact his future self, but ends up paving the way for the entrance of some interdimensional being that wants to feed (do these things really have no other motive?) on reality after reality. In another sense, this is a base under siege story, with the base being the locked house, monsters trying to get in. Thin Time performs for the story arc the job of reminding The Doctor who he is and what his true relationship with his companions are. It has a little postlude when Doctor 5 meets Doctor 11 (not played by Matt Smith) and they have a little discussion over tea about getting away from it all. The second story Madquake involves the companions, left behind on a planet that seems tailor-made for mental healing. Each companion goes through their identity crisis, which is pushed to the limit with the arrival of some Slitheen, which allows the companions to solve the crisis without The Doctor's help. There is a brief reunification postlude that sets the conditions for the next adventure. Once again, the stories are entertaining without straining any bounds of the genre they are put into. The stories are also mostly functional, meant primarily to accomplish some goal in the larger story arc.
