Spoilery goodness ahead.
Last time, it seemed fairly obvious that Pendolin was the bad guy. He
reminded me of the demon in the classic Doctor Strange story "What Lurks
Beneath the Mask?" (originally from Strange Tales 136 according to
t'Internet, though as a child I read the B&W Marvel UK reprint); but
I was hoping there'd be more of a twist than there was. He did get his
memories eaten too, after all.
The other thing I was looking forward to was the resolution of the
cliffhanger. The "what the?" identity-switch moment at the end was
certainly intriguing! And what happens at the start of this episode?
Another disconnect - which is fine - but then they go back to their old
selves, prompted just by the smell of matches in the fog, and write it
all off with a line of dialogue. I found this really disappointing.
Still, what wasn't disappointing was the reference to the first novelisation, Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks.
In fact, I've enjoyed all the references to past stories. I believe
every one of Ian's TV serials is covered, along with a number of audios;
though this is the only book I spotted. In the second episode there are
also several references to the program post-Ian: the time scoop,
Sontarans and Rutans, Nekkistani (from the audios), even the Eternals!
The nerd in me really enjoyed all of this.
One niggle, though: having Eternals among the captured specimens does
seem to me to be setting up Pendolin's people as being more powerful
than the story needs. This, along with the ending, makes this story feel
like the start of a new trilogy - one which, with the end of the
regular Companion Chronicle series fast approaching, seems unlikely to
happen.
Anyway. This episode has to do a lot of heavy lifting in terms of
explanation, and with that in mind the decision to move the action
beyond the Chesterton Exhibition is a good one. It was a fun tour, but a
bit more variety is needed at this point. The exposition is well done,
fortunately, so it sounds like (mostly) natural conversation. There are
some lovely turns of phrase - I particularly like "tugging away at his
lapels and looking into the centuries." Though the fact that the
discussion reveals the ending of The Rocket Men would have annoyed me if I hadn't heard it!
The way Ian hides both his recovery and the fact that he has rumbled
Pendolin is particularly well done, both in terms of script and
performance. The story of the rock made me think, too; it's a changing
of history I hadn't considered.
Still, overall, this episode grabbed me less than the preceding one.
It's a common problem for serialised stories in all media: everything's
new and exciting to start with, but then you have to tie up the story.
It's partly why the three-act structure evolved, to control the pacing
of a play; and the limitation of two-episode stories is that you
generally have to make Act One lead up to the cliffhanger, which only
leaves 25 minutes or so for the other two. Indeed, the ending here feels
in some ways as if we have only reached the end of the second act (at
most) for Ian, and I think that's why it looks something like the start
of a trilogy.
Rating:
5/10
Next Time:
The Time Museum as a whole.
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