Underworld

The vast majority of the reviews have been of the new series under RTD as I am going through a phase at the moment but there was a classic series story I watched earlier - Underworld.

Underworld is a very poorly regarded story being in the bottom ten of most polls but I completely disagree. Yes the CSO is poor but the model shots in episode one do make this up for me. There is a good story in this and I think it is crime for people to disregard this story due to the CSO. I personally think the script is strong - one of Baker and Martin's best and I think this is one of K9's strongest stories. I like all of the Greek mythology elements being integrated into the story, which added a whole new dimension to this story.

The problems with this story is the production itself. If it had been made earlier in the season when they had money, I think they would not have been thwarted by the problems associated with the special effects and had the ability to build actual sets. As they are so flawed it seems to me people cannot appreciate what is actually a good story and script. It is by no means a classic but a strong story filled with strong ideas which permeate through the whole script; this is one of my favourites from this season behind Fang Rock and Fendhal but by no means one of the bottom ten doctor who stories ever.

7/10

INTERVIEW - The Creators of Doctor Who Legacy

The creators of Doctor Who Legacy kindly got involved with us and we have been able to do an interview with them, asking questions about the game:

How did the game develop from the drawing board to the app it is now?

Susan - The game that exists is very true to the game we originally set out to make and pitched BBC on in early 2013.  We're very proud of that fact.  Our development partner, Seed Studio in Taiwan, focused first and foremost on building a data driven back end system for creating and deploying new levels as quickly and efficiently as possible.  Our character artist at Seed, Pest Jiang, was responsible for the art style vision which we heavily iterated on with the BBC before beginning the mammoth task of creating the beloved characters of Doctor Who.  We were also fortunate to have very talented background artists who continue to amaze us with the work that they do bringing the sets of Doctor Who to life in the game.

What is your working relationship with the BBC, are they helpful?

Lee - The BBC has been amazing. There is no way, at all, that the game could have been made without the constant support of many parts of the BBC, from our amazing producer, the legal team who get us permission to add characters to the game, and the Doctor Who brand team who make sure we're true to this amazing universe of characters which we love so much. We're in contact with the BBC constantly - rarely a day goes past that Susan isn't on the phone to someone there, and our aim for the relationship is complete transparency on our side - from the first day of the project we've talked to the BBC about everything as it's decided on and built. 

You say you have to get BBC approval for anything you put in the game, have they ever turned anything down?

Lee - It's very rare we get turned down. We're huge Whovians, we understand the universe and characters very well, and we care about them, and the integrity of Doctor Who as a property, deeply - It's very rare when discussing new ideas for the game internally we ever get near something we believe wouldn't fit in the universe to the extent that the BBC would be concerned. Especially now - we've been working with them daily for over a year, and we have a much better understanding of their visions and goals for the universe, how they view the series as a whole, and we know the sorts of places where we cannot tread, and those where we need to tread very carefully. But ... sometimes we try and push the boundaries in little ways for fans of the game - we asked if we could do a Christmas K9 costume for the advent promotion last year and, looking back, it was absolutely the right decision.

The game has been a huge success, probably the first doctor who game to be anywhere this successful, are you shocked by this?

Lee - From the very start of the design for the game we has a very specific plan: a high quality, accessible to all ages, free mobile game which any fan of the show, almost anywhere in the world, could download and play immediately. What really shocked us was how quickly an absolutely awesome community built up around the game, who help us design it on a daily basis as we try to make it, week on week, become an even more awesome Doctor Who experience. 

What part of the game are you most proud of?

Lee - One of the pillars of the original design was that the game would feel more like a dungeon crawler, where you go into an encounter, the enemy poses a question in the form of a challenging situation on the board, and then you answer it with the characters and abilities you decide to bring into the encounter. This back and forth, the choices you have to make (I'm stunned - what do I do now? The gems are locked, how do I react to that?) make the game feel much more reactive, exciting, mature and deep compared to very arcade-y games such as Bejewelled and Candy Crush Saga. 

Some of episodes such as The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood and The Pandorica Opens have not been put into the game, do you have a process which chooses which stories you base levels on?

Susan - Lee and I have watched most episodes (of the modern seasons anyway) multiple times.  We look for the episodes which provide the best opportunities for varied gameplay (i.e. with lots of potential threats to deal with).  In the past, we typically avoided 'monster of the week' episodes where the conflict focused on just one enemy.  That said, this has evolved as the game has matured and we've found that those episodes can present some of our most engaging and memorable levels -- i.e. Vincent and the Doctor and The Satan Pit.

Are there any stories in the future you are personally desperate to get into the game?

Susan -- There are definitely some favorites of mine from the Tennant years that I'm looking forward to adding including The Girl in the Fireplace, Silence in the Library, and Doomsday!

Just have to say thank you to Lee and Susan from Doctor Who Legacy for answering our questions. Make sure to check out the game, unlock the fan area and keep playing the game. You can also check out the review we did of the game in the reviews section of the site, along with reviews of other episodes.

Tooth and Claw

I love this story. I think it is brilliant. The problem is that this story is generally ignored by many people due to the stories which were to come (The Girl in the Fireplace and The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit) but it is brilliant.

Doctor Who here returns to the style and form of its most prosperous period the Hinchcliffe/Holmes era of the show with its gothic horror vibes permeating the whole story. Action packed from start to end, a brilliant script, an enthralling monster, references to The Horror of Fang Rock (see Toby Hadoke's Who's Round Podcast with RTD to have that explained). A scary monster, clever twists and superb acting. Everyone is on top form this week and I really enjoy the way you just see The Doctor and Rose just having fun, something I think there is an evident lack of in Doctor Who (especially in The Classic Series). This whole story culminates in those dramatic final scenes with the establishment of Torchwood, an organisation which will lead to disastrous ramifications later in the series.

A great story from what could have been the greatest season since the return (if we just remove Love and Monsters, and Fear Her, we would have possibly the best season since the return).

10/10

The Army of Ghosts/Doomsday

Having reviewed The Stolen Earth/Journey's End and noting the various connections to this story, I am going back to the Series Two finale The Army of Ghosts/Doomsday. Firstly I really like the Torchwood set up and wish that RTD had taken this Torchwood further in Series Two and just have them popping up physically every once in a while, instead of a couple of references (like having a Torchwood agent standing in the background of School Reunion or Love and Monsters, reporting in on The Doctor's activities). I loved Tooth and Claw which I am planning to review along with a classic series story coming up soon and this is a good payoff to the ideas established in the climactic moments of Tooth and Claw. All the characters come off well in this story, leading up to a very dramatic conclusions in the final minutes with the revelation of the two monsters in the story. Overall Army of Ghosts is a strong opening episode to this epic series finale.

9/10

It had to be this. RTD wanted every finale to be bigger than the last and after having a massive Dalek empire in the Series One finale, the only way to top it would be to have the Daleks and Cybermen in the second series finale. It is however the ultimate piece of fanfiction. But due to some brilliant direction, great acting and some incredibly moving scenes, this story is so much more than that. With two scenes designed to pull the heartstrings Jackie meets Pete, and Rose's goodbye (the latter to be later ruined by Journey's End). The main problem with this story is that if you bring the two most powerful enemies of The Doctor together in a showdown in this way, you either worsen both (by both unable to destroy the other and going to a stalemate, or both being destroyed by each other) or you totally discredit one (by making them seem totally inferior). RTD chooses the latter and despite the fact the Daleks come off very good in this story, it does start a chain of stories where the Cybermen come across as a bit pathetic (Thank You Neil Gaiman for breaking the curse in Nightmare in Silver). I do like the Cyberman, Earth alliance but there was not enough of this war which had been made prophecy by The Beast and foreshadowed at the start of the story. The ending may seem a bit Deus Ex Machina but it makes a lot of sense and therefore I can forgive that they can just pull all the Daleks into hell (but the TARDIS traveled through the void, so why did it not get affected or even mentioned by anyone). Overall a good finale but with a few flaws (generally due to the Daleks being totally superior to the Cybermen [there was a rumour that a similar story was planned for the season five finale of the classic series but Terry Nation's American Dream of the Daleks prevented such, personally I am glad and anyway I suspect ti would be the other way around with the Cybermen obliterating the Daleks as it was the other way round during the Second Doctor's tenure).

7/10

Overall this climatic series finale scores:

8/10

Moonflesh

"Moonflesh" brings together the best Fifth Doctor companion pairing into an idyllic setting alongside a series of interesting and individual characters. When I first saw the cover of this story appear on the Big Finish website I did have my doubts.

"Moonflesh" however was a brilliant listen for me. Walking home on a sunny spring evening with this compelling audio drama being played in my ears was a total joy.

"Moonflesh" is set in 1911 in a country house owned by the eccentric explorer and big game hunter Nathaniel Whitlock (Tim Bentinck) - a man obsessed with the glory of his foreign explorations, surrounding his house with tokens of his success. His daughter Phoebe (Rosanna Miles) has learned her father’s ways, but longs to experience a “proper” life. They have guests for a hunt: the wealthy, obnoxious Edwin Tremayne (Hugh Fraser) and his clumsy, foppish son Hector (Geoffrey Breton). Tremayne and Whitlock would seem to be very similar characters but due to the brilliant acting and effective script they came across as two very well rounded individual characters. Furthermore we have Whitlock’s servant Silver Crow (John Banks), a Native American, totally loyal to Whitlock but reminisces his old life through continuing his tribal rituals - rituals which would become increasingly important the further into the story we progress.

Despite having a cast of traditional stereotypes and a very simple plot, the superb writing, acting and direction make what could be a monotonous listen into a compelling story which makes me desperate to listen what happens next. I may not be the biggest Fifth Doctor fan, but this story is helping me to warm further to The Fifth Doctor.

8/10

The Stolen Earth/Journey's End

With such an epic two part story with so much going on it is quite hard to provide a very succinct review but here it goes. The Stolen Earth is actually quite good. The stuff with Martha and UNIT, Captain Jack and Torchwood is really good, and a shame that they are not taken any further. Having a Dalek invasion with attacks on The Valiant is brilliant. Sarah Jane is not totally necessary in this story and the story could work perfectly well without her but Elisabeth Sladen's acting is brilliant though so I am not complaining. Wilf is fantastic in this with his paintball gun. The main problems with this episode is that I do not believe that there is enough of the Dalek invasion but the main problem is Rose. That is what the whole thing is about. I liked Rose is series two (unlike many Doctor Who fans I did not have a problem with that). She is completely unnecessary and the characterisation is completely off  and totally unrecognisable. Overall it is very good and I would score this individually:

7/10

Journey's End is the problem. It is awful. Where do I start. Jackie teleporting in with a massive gun seems totally out of character. Davros is brilliant in the first part but not even Julian Bleach's effortless performance could save it from the awful writing he received, RTD is brilliant writer but this is far from his best work. Rose spends most of the two episodes moaning at Martha being totally selfish and it is awful. The Deus Ex Machina ending is absolutely awful. The Daleks are clever (see the 1960s) they would not have a control panel which can stop all weapons, stop the bomb where they keep prisoners. The overcrowded TARDIS scene is just embarrassing with some awful lines given to members of the cast. Donna being the most important person in human history is unnecessary, there would be other ways of getting around it. Donna's characterisation also seems totally off (even when she is not the Doctor-Donna). The Bad Wolf Bay scene just put the icing on the cake, it ruined a totally brilliant ending in Doomsday. This whole story tainted my opinions of Rose. Finally the Donna ending is just a complete copy of the ending of Jamie and Zoe from The War Games and I was more emotionally affected there than I was here (but that may be because they are two of my all time favourite companions). Enough with the awful parts (I have said that a lot) and onto the few good parts.

Martha and Captain Jack are very good in this, as well as Mickey who has really grown as a character and whereas my opinions of Rose have worsened over time, my opinions of Mickey have done the polar opposite and I love how Martha, Jack and Mickey went off together at the end and it is a shame that RTD did not fulfill his original intentions of Children of Earth to have Martha and Mickey to both feature in it. The scene when Davros spoke to Sarah Jane is mesmerising. There are still lots of other bad things I have not mentioned but I do not want to worsen this story even more by picking it apart any further.

3/10

Overall a promising opening part with only a few small problems but totally discredited by the travesty of what was Journey's End. This is not testament to the brilliant writing of RTD who has and went onto write some absolute crackers (Bad Wolf/Parting of the Ways, Tooth and Claw, Waters of Mars). In summary:

5/10

The Shakespeare Code

In the late 1980s script editor Andrew Cartmel highlighted the need to have more historical stories since that was what the BBC did best, unlike the stories set in the future where cardboard and bubble wrap failed to suffice as a convincing alien space station. Despite the fact the BBC now have the money and the technology to produce a convincing alien space station, The Shakespeare Code highlights the fact that the BBC are still very good at this sort of thing.

Having watched Gareth Robert's other RTD story recently 'The Unicorn and the Wasp' I realise that both are ridiculously similar. Both feature references to the featured historical writers work ("you can have that"), there is a series of murders and both are comedies.

With a strong cast, great production values and good direction this story does excel but there is nothing special in this story to make it a classic but it is generally a fun romp and the series needs this after the traumatic events of Doomsday for The Doctor.

7/10

The Doctor's Daughter

A multi layered war story which surprises you from beginning to end. The Doctor's Daughter introduces the brilliant character of Jenny (who is playing the tenth Doctor's daughter but she is the fifth doctor's ... this is very confusing), someone who I do hope that in the future will return to the show. All the characters have lots to do, all playing major roles.

The story does make you question who the real enemies are. We would initially say the Hath (especially after they kidnapped Martha) but as we delve deeper into the story we learn that it is the war-like Cobb, who defines military victory, genocide and peace as the same thing. He is neatly contrasted by The Tenth Doctor's pacifism (the problem is though that with the knowledge we have now of the events of The Day of the Doctor, we realise a lot of what he says in this story is wrong).

There is a very much a classic series vibe to this story with the two warring factions and our heroes being split up, being taken to each others camps (Genesis of the Daleks springs to mind). Donna comes across well in this story as well with her solving the mystery of the war, just leaving the character of Martha. She is personally my favourite companion under RTD but was poorly served by series three, as in all but about two or three stories The Doctor is reminiscing Rose, preventing any proper friendship to come about between them. I am therefore glad for her return in series four with her character being used here to highlight that the Hath are not the monsters of the story. 

The whole story climaxes in an epic final confrontation with hints of the Timelord Victorious starting to show but The Doctor has not gone that far yet and instead uses the pain at the loss of his daughter to establish peace and build up a civilisation based on the values of 'a man who never would'. It is shame that Martha has to leave at the end of the story personally (some may disagree) but I realise that it is necessary for her to go as any further stories would hinder the development of the character of Donna. Overall this seems to me a very strong story but does not have the something which could turn it into a great.

8/10

The Unicorn and the Wasp

The Unicorn and the Wasp is an underrated story from the fourth series of the new series, boasting some brilliant performances, layered characters and an idyllic setting. It tells a traditional murder mystery story with the twist (or should I say a sting).

I really like the setting and how the 1920s have been portrayed here and that all the guest cast have important dramatic functions, serving as vehicles which motivate the clues to unlocking the truth. The Doctor and Agatha Christie work very well together here but this is itself the problem of the story. Donna. Donna serves very little dramatic function in this story and generally becomes quite annoying in a number of scenes. Agatha Christie acts more like a companion than Donna does and therefore Donna is pushed to the sidelines where she is either moaning about running towards a wasp, killing the tension built up in the revelation scene or just being frankly annoying. This is by far one of the characters worse stories. This story would have worked much better as a companion-lite story with Agatha Christie filling in the role of the companion.

Apart from that a silly eating scene and over-excessive comedy, this is a good story. Murder mystery stories have generally been a great success for Doctor Who in the past (Robots of Death) but due to a few problems here, this story is limited to just another good story, despite the excellent production values.

6/10

Doctor Who Legacy Reviewed

Doctor Who has generally failed to produce a successful game to play in the past. With Doctor Who: The Adventure Games being cancelled it appeared that there was never going to be a great Doctor Who game.

We were wrong. Last November, a new game was produced and is now a massive hit - Doctor Who Legacy. It is essentially a puzzle game but as you progress through the levels it becomes increasingly strategy based. You get to build up a team which you use to fight Cybermen, Sontarans, Weeping Angels, Daleks and the main enemy (spoilers).

The game is constantly being updated with new characters, monsters, levels and now the perk system which has added a whole new dimension to the game, enhancing the strategy side of the game which I hinted at earlier. And most importantly it is free! You do not have to spend any money to play the game but you are able to unlock the fan area which enables the players to play bonus levels and collect bonus characters which enables the makers to continue making the game and producing more levels, but is not necessary for ones enjoyment (we do urge you to get it though - all you need to do is buy six or more time crystals in the store). All doctor who fans need to get this!

One of the two best elements of the game is firstly how you are able to build up a team from any number of characters of the show. So you can have your favourite Doctor and your favourite companions fight your favourite enemies. I personally design teams around eras and strategy so at present I have an Eleventh Doctor team (11, Clara, River, Lorna Bucket, Amy, Handles) and a Tenth Doctor team (10, Martha, Jenny, Sarah Jane, Captain Jack, Yellow Ood), alongside my other more strategy based teams.

Secondly is the way that the designers interact with Doctor Who fandom. Every Thursday night on Adipose TV on Twitch there is a two hour feed where the presenter (Adi) and the producers (Lee and Susan) discuss everything which is coming up in the near future in the game and listen and respond to fan questions on the sorts of characters, monsters and improvements fans want for the game and improve the game as a result to favour fan enjoyment. Furthermore their facebook page is constantly being updated with news and special promo codes for extra characters.

This game is incredible and urge everyone to play it (despite the fact I suspect everyone already is) and on the sister site Doctor Who News will try to update you when any news on future developments are announced along with our daily updates. Normally I score everything here out of ten but this gets a special score:

11/10

The Fires of Pompeii

The Fires of Pompeii (Or a multi doctor story featuring The Twelfth Doctor (using the fob watch) and Klein, The Eleventh Doctor (working from the sidelines) and Amy (posing as a soothsayer), The Tenth Doctor and Donna).

The story itself is really strong with only a few historical inaccuracies (not talking about the Pyroviles and the volcano) for example Caecilius was actually a banker not a stone sales man. Apart from that it is a strong story with a very large cast but due to skilled writing and direction the story does not feel overcrowded. There are a lot of great character moments especially with the guest cast building up to those epic final scenes with Donna in the TARDIS and The Doctor saving Caecilius. Additionally the special effects in this story are very good (probably some of the best CGI of the RTD era with the eruption). THe story is very good but there is something missing from it which limits it. It needed something else (possibly more time, I do not know) to turn this into a great story.

7.5/10