Pointless Witterings

Starring Caroline John & Lex Shrapnel  Written by Simon Guerrier  Directed by Lisa Bowerman  There's a secret locked up in UNIT's Vault 75-73/Whitehall. Dr Elizabeth Shaw is the only one left who knows what that secret is.  Returning to UNIT for the first time in decades, she slowly unravels the past. The vault contains the remains of a spaceship that crashed in the Pennines in the Seventies.  For the young Liz Shaw, the priority is to ensure the thing's safe. But the Doctor is more concerned about the alien pilot. And the chance this ship offers for escape. Can he resist the temptation, or will the Doctor turn on his friends?  Shadow Of The Past is a story that would fit perfectly into the seventh season from which it chronologically comes from. A Doctor, desperate to leave the planet, the Brigadier, determined to protect the Earth by any means necessary, Liz, caught in the middle of them. It's a typical tale from that season: dark, gritty and dangerous. It's v

Starring Tom Baker, Mary Tamm, Dominic Mafham, David Warner, Toby Hadoke, Nicholas Briggs & John Leeson  Written and Directed by Nicholas Briggs  "The raw power of the very fabric of reality itself. And you dare to think you can conquer it?"  Cuthbert's plan for the Proxima System is reaching it's final phase. The Doctor and Romana have been separated. The Doctor is aiding the Proximan fight-back. Romana and K-9 are prisoners of the Daleks.  And as the countdown to the opening of the Quantum Gateway begins, the Daleks reveal their true intentions.  And so, series 2 of The fourth Doctor adventures ends on a triumphant note, but sadly this story sadly fails to advance it's plot beyond the simple levels that we would expect. Instead of trying to pull some smart reveal or going in an unexpected direction, it just follows fairly predictable lines. It's certainly interesting, don't get me wrong, but sadly it very much follows the obvious path, with some addi

Starring Tom Baker, Mary Tamm, Dominic Mafham, David Warner, Nicholas Briggs & John Leeson  Written and Directed by Nicholas Briggs  "These creatures have ravaged half the cosmos. They're experts at this kind of thing. Nothing can stand in their way."  The Doctor and Romana find themselves in the Proxima System, where enigmatic Conglomerate CEO Cuthbert has been conducting his infamous 'experiment'. An experiment which might accidentally rip the universe apart. Meanwhile, living conditions on Proxima Major have become harsh and hostile. Climate change has turned the landscape into a freezing wasteland and an alien power has condemned much of the population to life inside internment camps. For those still clinging to their freedom, the struggle for survival is now beyond desperate and outsiders such as the Doctor and Romana are only seen as a threat. What is Cuthbert really up to in the Proxima System, and just how does he expect the dreaded Daleks to fit into

Starring Sylvester McCoy, Neil Roberts & Terry Molloy  Written by James Swallow  Directed by Ken Bentley & Nicholas Briggs  The Doctor arrives on Tasak in search of refreshment, armed with nothing more than a kettle. But this is a time of crisis for a civilisation about to enter an industrial age. Mindful that a devastating war is only recently over, the wise and revered Magus Riga will do almost anything to save his people from the follies of the past. But the road to hell is paved with good intentions. And the planet Tasak is host to ancient powers buried deep and long forgotten. Can visitors from another world avert disaster or will their intervention drag this innocent world into the Orion War?  KINGDOM OF SILVER:  One of the things that make the Cybermen so interesting is that they show what humans could so easily become. And Kingdom Of Silver shows what could happen those people who dabble with Cyber technology, no matter what there intentions may be. These themes run str

Performed by David Troughton  Written by Foster Marks  Directed by Nicholas Briggs & Ken Bentley  Showing too much interest in a mining operation on an almost deserted planet leads the Doctor and his companions into danger.  My god, what an awful title! I don't think that there's many titles in the Doctor Who cannon that I would say that about. And the story isn't particularly interesting either, never really grabbing the audience in the way it should. It certainly seems as if The second Doctor got the sharp end of the Short Trips stick, as non of the his stories manage to be interesting or memorable. And this story is no exception: there's nothing here that's original, new or even remotely involving. In fact, it just pases by so without a care that one never really can invest in the material. It's pretty much Vengeance On Varos without the heart or the charm. Even David Troughton's performance seems less interested than usual. To be honest: there's

Starring William Russell & Gus Bown  Written by John Dorney  Directed by Lisa Bowerman  The TARDIS has landed on Platform Five, a floating city in the sky of the planet Jobis, and for a time the Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Vicki get the chance to enjoy this idyllic place. And then the Rocket Men arrive, led by the sadistic Ashman... When the only other option to certain death is suicide, Ian Chesterton takes the gamble of his life... If you've ever wanted an example of why the Companion Chronicles shouldn't have ended, then this story would be a perfect example of why that would be the case. This story has everything that makes the Companion Chronicles work: a strong central voice, some brilliant direction, a lovely central premise, a brilliant lead actor, wonderful music etc. etc.. From the moment that The Rocket Men starts until the moment that it ends, the story gives every fan of The first Doctor era a nostalgic thrill, and also pushing it's characters in every directi

Starring Colin Baker & David Banks  Written by Terrance Dicks  Directed by Jason Haigh-Ellery  The Daleks have allied themselves with the Cybermen and a deadly band of mercenaries. The future of Earth depends upon a vital peace conference. And Mrs T knows that only one Time Lord can save the world.  There are epic battles. The are betrayals. There is love, and there are even songs.  Take your seat for... Doctor Who - The Ultimate Adventure!  Well, The Ultimate Adventure is one of those stories that is, well, bloody unusual. It's a little craz y, all over the place, not very deep and uttely cheesy. But despite the god awful songs, certain hammy performances and an almost pantomime atmosphere, it's fun and it's enjoyable in a light hearted sort of way. It's so light hearted that, in a way, no Doctor Who fan could take it seriously, which sadly means that it is never quite the blockbuster it could have been.  The plot itself is pretty straightforward, but I think in th

Starring Sylvester McCoy, Katherine Parkinson & Kevin McNally  Written by Stewart Sheargold  Directed by Ken Bentley  "There is only death."  A virulent disease that killed millions. A missing scientist. An ancient race of salvagers who collect and preserve the dead. The quarantined planet Antikon connects them all.  When the Doctor arrives on a sky station above Antikon, a single accident has already set in motion a chain of events that will mean the death of every living thing. And the only way he can stop it is to die. Again.  THE DEATH COLLECTORS:  While this story certainly has some really good ideas behind it, I feel that it's certainly lacking in some form. It's certainly not like many other Doctor Who stories, but there are certainly aspects of this story that just don't work. For example, I think that there seems to be a lot of hanging around, the music and sound design and music is also off and even some of the performances are not quite right. There

Starring Jean Marsh & Niall MacGregor  Written by Simon Guerrier  Directed by Lisa Bowerman   Space Security Agent Sara Kingdom is dead, her ashes strewn on the planet Kembel. But, in an old house in Ely, Sara Kingdom lives on... Now joined in the house by her confidante Robert, Sara recalls her travels in the TARDIS with the Doctor - and a particular adventure when the ship appeared to land inside a giant clock, where old men are caught in it's workings... And behind this nightmare is their enemy: Mavic Chen, Guardian of the Solar System.  Then and now, Sara's past is catching up with her. The cogs have come full circle... The final part of the 'Sara Kingdom as a house' trilogy is a story that directly links back to Sara's only TV adventure, The Daleks' Master Plan. While the obvious path to take would have been to show The Doctor and his friends evading Mavic Chen and the Daleks, Simon Guerrier has decided to place it as a prequel to the events of The Dale

Performed by Sophie Aldred  Written by Adam Smith  Directed by Nicholas Briggs & Ken Bentley Like all Shreeves, San loves to absorb electricity. But her landlord finds out about her alien abilities. Then the Doctor and Ace get involved... Like San's human form, Police And Shreeves is instantly forgettable . Apart from one possible fake Brigadier, there's nothing that makes you think or that makes it a fun story. Instead it feels like you haven't even listened to it: it's so ephemeral that you forget you've even been listening to it. To be honest, it's probably one of the most forgettable Doctor Who stories ever. The plot is so paper thin and so small scale that it would have worked better as an Avengers episode (no, not the Marvel superheroes, I mean the 60's crime fighters!). If the threat had been better established from the beginning, like in Robot, as a powerful menace, than that wouldn't be a problem. However, here it's just a extra detail,

Starring Paul McGann, Niky Wardley, Fenella Woolgar, Michael J Shannon & Emilia Fox  Written by Alan Barnes  Directed by Nicholas Briggs A bizarre manifestation in the Control Room forces the TARDIS onto the Plutonian shores of the irradiated world Nevermore, whose sole inhabitant is the war criminal Morella Wendigo - a prisoner of this devistated planet. But the Doctor and Tamsin aren't Morella's only visitors. Senior Prosecutor Uglosi fears the arrival of an assassin, after the blood of his prize prisoner. An assassin with claws... There's no escape from Nevermore, whose raven-like robot jailers serve to demonstrate Uglosi's macabre obsession with the works of the 19th century horror writer Edger Allan Poe. An obsession that might yet lead to the premature burial of everyone on the planet's surface -wreathed in the mist they call the Red Death!  This instalment of the fourth series of Eighth Doctor Adventures is definatly what I would term the rather more '

Starring Colin Baker, India Fisher, Michael Cochrane & Nicholas Briggs  Written by Alan Barnes  Directed by Nicholas Briggs  The TARDIS makes a return trip to the jungle planet of Spiridon, where the Doctor and Charley fall in with a lost platoon of shellshocked Thal soldiers - victims of a sneak attack by their blood enemies, the Daleks.  Besieged by deadly flora, surrounded by invisible monsters, and with all hope of rescue gone, the Thals are the victims of a grim experiment is psychological warfare.  With the very nature of reality under threat, the Doctor and Charley need each other more than ever. But dark forces are conspiring to tear them apart... DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF PAUL SPRAGG  1975-2014  Brotherhood Of The Daleks can sometimes get lost amongst the myriad number of Dalek stories that are out there, but it's probably one of the greatest ones. It's a psychological examination of the Daleks, it's a tense, thriller style piece where you can trust nobody and

Starring Katy Manning & Jane Goddard  Written by Marc Platt  Directed by Lisa Bowerman  "Retrocausation! Events before their cause. Time in reverse."  While investigating a temporal anomaly in Central London, the Doctor and Jo Grant meet Professor Harold Sanders, a man who possesses an unstable alien artefact, and who is seemingly haunted by the ghosts of dolls. Who is the mysterious Mrs Killebrew? Why is a pack of hounds hunting them in reverse? And can Jo pick up any bargains while backwards shopping on Oxford Street? In amongst the earliest Companion Chronicles, The Doll Of Death is a bit of a hidden gem. It's no downright classic, but it's a very good slice of Doctor Who. Years before Steven Moffatt did timey-wimey, Marc Platt was in there first, with multiple Doctors crossing different times and the like. The story fits in really well with the era it's set in, despite the more modem ideas of time travel. It manages to have that consummate family feel that

Performed by Louise Jameson  Written by Juliet Boyd  Directed by Nicholas Briggs & Ken Bentley  The Doctor and Sarah Jane pay an ill-timed visit to PT Barnum and The Greatest Show on Earth.  I certainly think that Juliet Boyd's first story is an interestingly written story, with a period of history I'm really not familiar with. It's quite a sad story, especially seeing the events of when the story is set. It's not about any almighty alien plot to invade Earth or something: it's just about one sad event in the history of the human race. It's pretty much divided into two stories: the first is essentially the TARDIS being stolen, while the second is about the tragic death of the original Jumbo. The first thread is sadly one which has been seen done better before and nothing new or original is presented to  us. It's a shame, because this does deal with the physical horror of entering the TARDIS and realising that it's bigger on the inside than it is on t