Friday, May 16, 2014

M016 - Storm Warning

The first appearance of Paul McGann's doctor since the TV movie has a rocky start, but soon picks up and delivers a solid historical episode that introduces a quality companion in Charley Pollard.

Since the Dr. Grace character from the TV movie could not be used, McGann's doctor starts the episode flying solo. In television this might not have been too problematic, but without a second character to explain things to the whole opening sequence has the Doctor talking to himself and describing what he sees. McGann is a classy actor and he makes it work as best as it can, but you can feel the script forcing its way through the setup to get to the main plot.

The story sees the Doctor appearing on the R101 airship in 1930, a famous maiden voyage that crashed in France with a higher death toll than the Hindenburg seven years later. In this setting, the Doctor meets Charley, an adventurous woman posing as a boy on the crew who quickly latches on to the Doctor's infectious spirit and helps him deal with spies and Vortisaurs.

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