vivdunstan

Another 20-years-on rewatch for us, last week, with my review only going up now.

This is a strong episode, that brought back a much-loved old character, in a way that appealed to both long-term fans from the 1970s and new fans who had no idea who Sarah Jane Smith was. Or indeed K9. It was a risk going for the jealousy angle, and Rose doesn't always come out well, including re the final bit with Mickey. But it gives a new perspective on the role of a companion, and I think was generally well done.

It's another tightly written episode - rewatching this 2006 series I'm constantly agog at how much tighter the single parters were writing wise than in the RTD2 era - with a strong plot and good guest cast. Anthony Head is particularly strong in his role, and I honestly thought that the main kid actors were ok, though I've seen other reviewers less positive about them.

As an old time fan myself, albeit starting watching in 1978 after Sarah Jane Smith left the TARDIS, I loved the ending. And it was easy to see how much fun David Tennant was having, as another lifelong fan. It's no wonder that this led to the very successful Sarah Jane Adventures spin off.

Continuing my Twelfth Doctor rewatch, and going into spoiler space to discuss some more specific spoilery details.

( spoilers )

Had the first boxset waiting to listen to for ages, and finally fired up this first story. And this is enormous fun. Georgia Tennant does a grand job returning to her Doctor Who TV role as the Doctor's Daughter, and the story, characters and tone are great space comedy, in the style of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I don't know if the rest of the boxset will be similar, but this is a superb start.

Was worried that I was going to run out of title characters to fit that lot in!

Continuing my rewatch of the Peter Capaldi era with this opening two parter from New Who series 9. And going to put my discussion into spoiler space.

( spoilers )

I'm just starting a rewatch of New Who series 9, with "The Magician's Apprentice" / "The Witch's Familiar". And while I'm enjoying it, I'm finding the so very Steven Moffat storytelling exhausting. Admittedly I'm especially tired at the moment, including cognitively, as I recover from my latest neurological illness flare. But the constant jumping around from time and place to somewhere else combined with the big set pieces in between feels way too much for me at the moment. I'd really like a more simple story structure with a more straightforward beginning, middle and end!

To be fair I've seen and enjoyed this era of Doctor Who before, on original broadcast. And I'm very familiar with this style of storytelling, from especially New Who series 5 onwards, as well as some isolated examples before then. It's what we get, for example, in "The Pandorica Opens" / "The Big Bang", and so many many more Steven Moffat penned stories. But sometimes it's just too much for my taste. And tonight is definitely one of those times.

Harking back to slightly simpler times in Doctor Who history, we're planning to soon rewatch all the Fifth Doctor TV stories in sequence, now that we have all of his season Blu-ray boxes. I saw them all many years ago, and a few again more recently. Martin's only seen a few of the stories. So that will be fun, and hopefully a little more palatable for me when fatigued. That's not to say that they're simplistic, but there should be a certain lack of convolution generally. Which I think I will appreciate. Though we still have to finish watching the final BBC Narnia TV series first.

Just got to Tom Baker appearing in our rewatch of “The Silver Chair” Narnia series from the BBC in 1990. And I’m constantly laughing at everything he says as Puddleglum. Brilliant character, perfectly cast.

Continuing my Peter Capaldi rewatch, and onto another I had very bad memories of. Overall I still found it a disappointing episode, but there was more that I liked this time. The large group of young schoolchildren seemed more palatable, and well-defined individuals, providing good material to watch, and complicating the experiences of the three main leads. Peter Capaldi's Twelfth Doctor seemed to particularly thrive with young Maebh. And it was fun to see the two schoolteachers coping out of the classroom, as well as the challenges of their own relationship.

The first half or so of the story was solid for me, but things fell away after then. Too hand wavy, too vague explanations. I appreciate that a lot of the Steven Moffat era of Doctor Who has a fairytale quality and dreamlike nature. But I think Frank Cottrell-Boyce stretched this too far.

The environmental aspect was refreshing, but still too vaguely handled. And the ending was far, far too predictable for me.

I'd probably skip this on future rewatches, but am pleased that I enjoyed it more this time.

Recently rewatched this, and enjoyed it again, though perhaps not as much as the first time.

The Golden Age style whodunnit aspect is fantastic. Though I found it frustrating that the Doctor already knows about the Foretold, making me feel one step removed from the story at that point. Writing about (fictional) past legendary things can be tricky, but I think a smoother bit of sleight of hand could have improved this. Taking the viewer along with the Doctor on the journey of discovery can be an important element.

I still find the split between the Agatha Christie esque train setting and the futuristic lab to be extremely jarring. This is a longstanding problem I have with Doctor Who stories that have an atmospheric opening setting, sometimes historical, and then relocate to a different much more scifi setting. Think "The Stones of Blood" for example.

Yet there is a good resolution, and the guest cast is strong. Not least Frank Skinner as train chief engineer Perkins, who has an unnerving ambiguity about whether he's an ally or not. Nicely done.

Bit late in posting my first version of this for 2026. I'm not reading as many books as a year ago. But I have now finished a fair number.

1. The Hobbit: Graphic Novel by JRR Tolkien, illustrated by David Wenzel
2. Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
3. Stone & Sky (Rivers of London) by Ben Aaronovitch
4. A Venetian Bestiary by Jan Morris
5. Doctor Who: 1001 Nights in Time and Space by Steve Cole and Paul Magrs
6. Everything Will Swallow You by Tom Cox
7. Normally Weird and Weirdly Normal: My Adventures in Neurodiversity by Robin Ince

Of these books The Hobbit graphic novel, Hamnet and A Venetian Bestiary were all 5-star reads.

The graphic novel version of The Hobbit was quite enchanting and engrossing in its approach, though it took me a few pages to get used to how the characters were depicted visually. Bilbo in particular had an extremely pudding bowl haircut!

Hamnet is one of the most astonishing novels I have read for a long time. I wrote a fuller review of it here a few weeks ago.

And A Venetian Bestiary was a gift for any lover of Venice, myth and legend, and animals and more fantastical creatures.

The Tom Cox novel was a 4-star read for me. A strange book to describe, a mix of life story and magical realism, set in the West Country. A lot felt autobiographical, knowing the author's life, e.g. the setting and frequent references to old vinyl records. Also the travails of living a peripatetic renters life, and difficulties finding a place to rent with pets. But it's also remarkably imaginative, and moving too. And very, very strange, while still being refreshing in its approach. Recommended.
 
The Rivers of London book, the Doctor Who collection and the Robin Ince book were all 3-star reads for me.

The Rivers of London book had an original Scottish setting for a change, in Aberdeenshire, but felt rather scrappy in its plotting and storytelling, and the relocation of Peter and so very many of the other core "cast" to from London to Scotland also felt forced and unrealistic. I also found some of the storytelling too predictable, especially nearer the end of the book.

The Doctor Who book is presented as a storyteller telling folk tales, but is more retellings of Doctor Who adventures from the past. Many of these retellings were fresh in their approach, but not nearly enough of them. And it didn't work so well for me if I didn't recognise which TV story it was retelling, especially when I struggled to visualise some of the creatures described.

And the Robin Ince was an interesting read about neurodiversity, but not general enough for me. Though I appreciated a lot of the insights into ADHD (which Martin clearly has) and anxiety (which I have - generalised anxiety disorder) particularly. It was just too tied to the author's own life story, and framed through that, in a way that wasn't generally applicable enough for me.

“The Importance of Being Earnest” with Ncuti Gatwa is going up free on YouTube for a limited period in March. I definitely intend to watch this, though more likely at the weekend than on first broadcast.