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| What: | The Acheron Pulse (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Clive T Wright, St Lawrence, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Sunday 23 December 2012 |
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| Rating: |   8 |
The penny suddenly dropped: hands chopped off, tumbling from great heights, princes and princess in love (sort of) space empires, mystical powers. A dark emperor with face mask and heavy breathing, it's a Doctor Who version of The Star Wars trilogy.
With so many winning elements of Star Wars, mixed up and with a twist of Doctor Who it all comes together in an enjoyable story.
| What: | Series 7: Part 1 (BBC new series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Doug W, An Alternate Reality (formerly Pocono Summit), United States |
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| Date: | Sunday 23 December 2012 |
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| Rating: | 7 |
Series 7, Part 1 needs to be defended after being dumped on by Matthew, the previous reviewer. I'll grant that what we got here doesn't quite measure up to Series 5 and 6. But there's still a lot of gorgeous stuff here.
Asylum of the Daleks is just freakin' great Doctor Who. A very interesting, if somewhat puzzling story (why are the different Dalek factions together now, what's up with their asylum planet, etc.), looks beautiful, great pacing, and the ending is terrific. The Doctor is making some great strides toward removing himself from the eyes of the universe, moving back into the shadows.
Dinosaurs on a Spaceship... okay... a hastily assembled crew of companions. But it's great fun, and again, looks beautiful.
A Town Called Mercy... this one I think is definitely *not* the boulder of the season. There's really very little substance here. This is Doctor Who lite. But once again, some beautiful stuff.
The Power of Three... this one is unconventional. Again, not a heavy-duty script, but I was not bored. And it highlights just how stupid and gullible the majority of our tech-obsessed, consumer-driven society is, which I love.
The Angels Take Manhattan... this is a just a cool story, though by now, the Angels are getting a bit played out. A couple of neat set and story elements here, some great atmosphere, and they finally get rid of Amy and Rory with what appears to be a conclusive, somewhat spectacular (and a bit sad) end. Amy and Rory were fun, but not three-seasons-long fun.
Onward to new things, and hopefully an awesome Anniversary year.
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 | Escalation of the Time War? |
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| What: | Dark Eyes (Dark Eyes audios) |
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| By: | Doug W, An Alternate Reality (formerly Pocono Summit), United States |
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| Date: | Sunday 23 December 2012 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
In the Dark Eyes Behind the Scenes feature, writer and director Nicholas Briggs tells us that he thinks the story of the Time War should not be produced - that it would be beyond our comprehension, and so should remain as a sketchy legend in the Doctor Who mythos. I've heard the idea that Genesis of the Daleks was the first shot fired in the Time War (by the Time Lords). I would argue that the Dark Eyes series is the escalation of the war - the Daleks returning fire. I would argue that the Dark Eyes series *is* the Time War, but not all of it, and not the end of it.
Dark Eyes consists of four stories: The Great War, Fugitives, Tangled Web, and X and the Daleks. They go together to form a fairly epic storyline that gives us some fairly rich characterizations against a backdrop of travel across time, with the Daleks and Time Lords ever present, up to who knows what (which is slowly revealed). The Doctor and new companion Molly are the center of attention.
The casting of Ruth Bradley as Molly and Toby Jones as X, along with the rest of the fine cast choices, and of course, solid performances by Paul McGann, results in great productions. We get some great scripts, good performances, and high production values.
Highly recommended and not to be missed, in my opinion.
| What: | The Roundheads (BBC Past Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Monday 3 December 2012 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
The second Doctor is my favourite Doctor & Mark Gattis is one of my favourite writers so I had high hopes for this book & it didn't disappoint.
A lovely exciting well plotted story that gives equal amount of action for Ben, Polly, the Doctor & Jamie.
I thought that with such a big TARDIS crew the story may sag in places but it never does.
Great to read a story were real historical characters are used so well.
Highly recommended.
Marc Platt writing a story ensures youre not going to be able to really have any clue as to what is going to happen in a story. Hes got such a mind on him! And that this story was originally a near complete script from Chris Bailey is enough to peak my interest. No, it is not a mara tale, but like those two excellent tales, this lost story has a really good central theme. Here the androids are all rather soulless and really grab the attention, and the acting of the three main guest stars Honour Blackman, David Warner and Adrian Lukis means youre bound to not be dissappointed at all. There are plenty of taught moments throughout this story, from the defence systems penetration of the TARDIS to the Doctor once more losing his mind for a little while to some rather unpleasant alien. And the mentioning of Ragnarok was good to hear,, but the Gods dont appear in this story, and yet the eye symbol was a good misleading device that fooled me for a long while. I love every so often the story that you cant guess at all whats going to occur, and this story is one of them. Peter Davison and the two girl crew remain on excellent form too, guaranteeing this story is a great climax to the trilogy of fifth doctor lost tales. Those who like weirdness will not be disappointed in the slightest.
| What: | Series 7: Part 1 (BBC new series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Thursday 29 November 2012 |
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| Rating: | 2 |
This new series now has dulled to the point where I cant be bothered with it at all anymore. I just cant see how anyone in the word would see this first half of season seven as anything other than a collosal letdown.
The Doctor of the old series was always a byword for GOOD, yet here the mans turning into rather a weird and disturbing individual, especially in Dinosaurs on a Spaceship. Ive seen him let far worse villians go with less of murdering touch. Here the character of the Doctor just sunk to the depths of villain more than anything else. Hes given plenty worse a second chance before, why not again here? Sad and moronic what with those totally stupid ott robots prancing about all over the screen.
The Dalek Asylum is mental, for all the wrong reasons too. i just didnt get the jist of this strange story at all. And JLC, set to become the new companion, has the quality already with this tale to really really irritate the hell out of me. And dont get me started on that totally totally boring cube effort, where nothing even remotely sane happens for the whole forty five minutes.
And the angels...well, lets just say the ending could and should have been far more dramatic than Amy just ruddy getting pregnant again. Cant they think anything better up? Obviously not.
The only half decent story here was A Town Called Mercy, which was rather a rock amoungst the pebbles, with better drawn characters and a better side to the Doctor for once again emerging, but its too little in an otherwise dsastrous half season. Oh boy and weve goot pathetic snowmen to look forward too for Christmas, so Ill give it a miss I think.....
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| Couldnt have been any better |
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| What: | The Oseidon Adventure (Fourth Doctor Adventures audios) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Thursday 29 November 2012 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
The Android Invasion was wacky andd weird enough, and so the sequel to it deserved to be to, and The Oseidon Adventure is every bit as fun, cool, and fast paced and brilliant as that original adventure. The mad plot is one that makes you smile but without laughing too uch, and Geoffery Beevers is on top form as the Master/Android replicants. He seems to really like this story and his performance livens the show up. The Kraals are shown to be bungling again, I love this portrayal of an alien race that more often than not are just a bunch of divs. And the ever assured polished performance of Michael Cochrane just makes this finale excellent and leaves me longing for the neext Tom Baker series of audio stories! Couldnt have ended the first series any better than this. Tom Baker is the Doctor once more, and its about time too!
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| 2nd time around a bit better. |
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| What: | Absolution (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Andrew Shaw, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Wednesday 28 November 2012 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
I listened to part of this one night and just couldnt get into it I thought it was boring, but i must have been distracted or tired or something because i started again from the beginning and the 2nd time I thought this is quite good, (Spoiler) I thought when they mentioned C'rizz will sacrifice himself to save us, it would turn out alright as usual but had no idea this was his last and he did although not the way he was thought to go, and I agree with what another Reviewer says when Charlie gets on at the doctor about leaving and not caring at the end he's an alien and lost that many people he will react differently but she doesnt even give him a chance to explain, there was always hints in these stories of C'rizz being part of some serious religous practice and this comes to a head, I enjoyed the story and expected when they set his wife free she would do something to Aboresh (I think thats his name) and all the way through it mentions blame for certain events on different people, so unexpected ending for me as I dont like knowing to many hints of the plot just simple ones like The Cybermen are in or something, But thoroughly enjoyed, want to hear his next to find out what happens next, but I'm not jumping ahead I always listen to them by number in order unless I have some missing, which is coming up so I'll have to get buying more.
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| Story excellent, restoration very bad |
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| What: | The Ambassadors of Death (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Tuesday 27 November 2012 |
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| Rating: | 5 |
I thought Planet of the Daleks episode three was excellently recoloured, but what has happened since with Invasion of the Dinosaurs and this story? Id rather watch it all in black and white and have decent quality rather than a very patchy colour job that irritates the hell out of me. And yet again, it happens to be on one of my all time favourite Doctor Who stories again. Very very much a let down on the recolouriation front. Makes this story hard to watch now, much preffered the largely black and white video version. I hope it isnt going to be the same for the Mind of Evil too when it comes out next year. But this job is sadly woeful and mars what is otherwise one of my all time favourite Doctor Who adventures of all time. So Id give the story itself 10 out of 10 but the restoration 0 out of 10.Only episode one is decent and up to the ordinary BBC high standard. The rest is really really annoying.
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| Very very good stuff indeed |
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| What: | Planet of Giants (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Tuesday 27 November 2012 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
Planet of Giants just happens to be one of my very best William Hartnell episodes of the series. This shows the BBC trying their utmost to create a different sort of tale on a practically non existant budget, and achieving it very well indeed. There is plenty of excellent design work. For a start, the huge insects and worms all look fantastic for the time espescailly the ant and the fly, great early imaginative and realistic design.
And the first TARDIS crew are all on very fine form indeed. Jacqueline Hill again gives a brilliant performance as the poisoned Barbara, and William Hartnell is as leading and authoratative as ever, and just reminds me why he is such a brilliant Doctor. William Russell just gels with Jackie all the way through their time on the show too, and together with Carole as Susan they reaally do seem like a family.
And the plot isnt bad either, and the ending is really good, with the miniscule TARDIS crew putting an end to the murdering Forrester's schemes. All the elements of this tale work very well indeed, and show a very credible world of giants for the crew of the TARDIS to fit into. Very well done indeed.
| What: | The Greatest Show in the Galaxy (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Tuesday 27 November 2012 |
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| Rating: | 10 |
This story really does have it all. The werewolf conversion of Mags at the end of part three, in my book, just happens to be one of the most frightening things done in Doctor Who for a long time. The transformation is not over the top and rediculous, but just shots of Mags getting more and more primal and bestial, and that make up is disgusting!
Sophie Aldred really comes alive for the first time too, and demands to let us know what a great companion and foil she is to the ever brilliant Sylvester McCoy. The clowns are all creepy and unnerving too, and the eye in the chasm is one of the best effects the series did in a long time. And the Gods of Ragnarok immediately impress with great stone faced design and rather disturbing voices that terrified the hell out of me when I was younger.
The cast of this one too are of a very high standard, particularly the light relief given by Peggy Mount, who is brash but extemely funny in the few scenes shes in. Im sad that the character of Flowerchild doesnt last just a bit longer, though the BBC always see fit to get rid of highly interesting characters who should have stayed. The Bus conducto too is a creepy robot. So there is nothing really bad that comes to mind with this story at all. It is a great, highly entertaining and creepy excerpt of Doctor Who.
One of the very best Doctor Who stories of the eighties, definitely Id say. And to think it almost got cancelled, well that would have been a travesty!
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| I hate to be critical, but... |
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| What: | EarthWorld (BBC Eighth Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Emma Bowman, Sydney, Australia |
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| Date: | Tuesday 20 November 2012 |
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| Rating: | 2 |
I was wary about beginning this novel, as I have read several of Jaqueline Rayner's novels in various other DW series, and each time have found them to be simplistic and ridiculously silly and generally quite poor quality. Despite this, I was determined to keep an open mind about "Earthworld" and to not let my previous negative encounters with this author sway my opinion before I even got started. So I started reading, all the while hoping for the best.
Well. I fear that my this novel has lived up to the same low standard of writing as her previous DW novels. Rayner's lousy track record within the DW book series has left me astonished that she has had so many books published within the franchise. The characters were poorly represented and the plot was painfully inane, and I wanted to give up on it before I was even halfway through. I'm sorry I spent the money on it.
| What: | The Cold Equations (The Companion Chronicles audiobooks) |
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| By: | Matt Saunders, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Monday 19 November 2012 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
I can't stand these CCs a lot of the time, but these Harper ones are really excellent - well done Guerrier. Unfortunately, as ever, the end of the CD finishes with absolute dreadful interviews with the very smarmy and extremely annoying Richardson, but the over the top Bowerman comes a close second. YUK. Please just interview people like Peter Purves, and don't waste my time with the other two. Yuk yuk yuk.
| What: | The Taking of Planet 5 (BBC Eighth Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Emma Bowman, Sydney, Australia |
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| Date: | Sunday 18 November 2012 |
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| Rating: | 1 |
I am not even sure what the point of this novel was, the plot was such a confusing mess, no matter how I tried to figure it out I still had no idea what had happened. I don't know how a book like this gets through the editing process, let alone gets published. Horrendous drivel not fit to bear the Doctor Who logo. Zero stars!
| What: | Unnatural History (BBC Eighth Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Emma Bowman, Sydney, Australia |
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| Date: | Sunday 18 November 2012 |
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| Rating: | 4 |
I positively loved Blum and Orman's last EDA book "Seeing I", so I had rather high hopes for "Unnatural History". Unfortunately, I found this book to be of a much lesser quality than I was expecting. The plot was at times frustrating and occasionally confusing, and although the idea was interesting, but in the end it was poorly executed. It wasn't the worst EDA book I've read, but I really didn't enjoy it, and I won't bother read it again. Bit of a shame.
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| Not the worst, but very close |
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| What: | The Space Age (BBC Eighth Doctor novels) |
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| By: | Emma Bowman, Sydney, Australia |
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| Date: | Friday 16 November 2012 |
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| Rating: | 1 |
At times I despaired in reading this book - it frustrated and annoyed me to the point where I just wanted to walk away and leave it unfinished. But I struggled through to the end in the hopes that it would improve, and that the ragged threads of the tedious and uninspiring plot might be brought together in some satisfying resolutions. But it just didn't happen, and now this book is kept at the very back row of my bookcase out of sight, because I will never read it again, nor will I ever recommend it to anyone else. Very disappointing.
| What: | The Claws of Axos (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Thursday 15 November 2012 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
Episodes 2 & 3 have been considerably improved by the RT team.
There is a good making of on the SE as well.
If you don't have a copy of this story, get the SE rather than the standard version.
| What: | The Ambassadors of Death (BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays) |
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| By: | Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Thursday 15 November 2012 |
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| Rating: | 9 |
Season 7 is we're I came in & AOD is my favourite 3rd Doctor story so I was really looking forward to seeing this in full glorious colour.
Like Invasion of the Dinosaurs the work the RT has done on this story is staggering. If your familiar with the VHS release you'll know the problems they had to work with & they have worked miracles. Splendid chaps all of them.
The story is a tightly directed exciting story that feels very modern compared with the black & white era.
Pertwee is a very James Bond Doctor & UNIT bring a real sense of danger & excitement.
The extras on this DVD are a bit thin apart from a good "making of" documentary.
The commentary is good but a bit sad featuring, among others, the late Caroline John. But this is a good tribute to Liz Shaw & Caroline.
Highly recommended.
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| Doctor Who Weird Fiction Mode |
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| What: | Foreign Devils (Telos novellas) |
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| By: | David Layton, Los Angeles, United States |
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| Date: | Monday 12 November 2012 |
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| Rating: | 6 |
Former script editor Cartmel has indulged his penchant for mixing the supernatural with science fiction. "Foreign Devils" is "Doctor Who" in the weird fiction mode of Lovecraft, Derleth, Machen, etc., but mostly of William Hope Hodgson. The story involves the second Doctor, Zoe, and Jamie meeting Hodgson's ghost hunter character, Thomas Carnacki. The story involves a Chinese curse, an isolated mansion on a winter's night, assorted sordid characters, a spiritual medium, and a mysterious other-dimensional gateway. As if in response to all those stories that have the female companion out of the main action, this time Jamie spends most of the story in drug-induced sleep. Even so, Zoe is not particularly effective, spending most of the story fending off upper-class perverts and wondering what the Doctor is doing. One's enjoyment of this novella really depends upon how much one likes the weird fiction genre. I am not much a fan of it myself, so this novella just was not all that interesting to me.
| What: | The Silver Turk (Big Finish: The Monthly Adventures) |
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| By: | Doug W, An Alternate Reality (formerly Pocono Summit), United States |
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| Date: | Saturday 10 November 2012 |
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| Rating: | 8 |
I'm not entirely sure how to feel about some of The Silver Turk. Overall, this is a great, dark (but not too dark), atmospheric, compelling story, made more interesting than average by the presence of Mary Shelley as the Doctor's companion, and a pair of very, very early Cybermen on Earth, some time before the Mondas incident of The Tenth Planet (this is the linear timeline - no time-travelling Cybermen here). There's a lot going on here that's very intriguing, and often creepy, as in the scuttling noises made by the band of animated marionettes that come into this.
However, some elements here, including the above mentioned band of animated marionettes, try to push the plot into the realm of nonsense. While the concept of the living marionettes is a bit fascinating, it veers sharply off of what the Cybermen are, into the realm of fairytale land. Just how are the marionette voices made so much better than the Cybermen's own voices? How are so many produced? Are they crafting more of themselves, and if so, just how is this level of programming and functionality achieved, based on damaged Cyber technology? Are they duplicating clothing as well?
Those are some of the questions that started popping into mind by the end of this story, and which I couldn't hold back. But the setting, production and performances are done so well, with the possible exceptions of some of Paul McGann's lines being delivered without a lot of engagement, that the weaknesses in the otherwise very intriguing script are compensated for, for the most part.
