Review by Cavan Gilbey
Its time to dip back into Doctor Who’s most prominent bit of space-opera; The Time War. Another set of War Doctor stories are upon us and, as the title of the box-set suggests, we’re really focusing in on the relationship between the Doctor and Dalek cyborg warrior Case that first brought up in Warbringer. Across the three stories we get to see the level of trust and mistrust that plays on the minds of these tow characters, finally getting a true glimpse of how far the War Doctor is willing to go to stop the war and save his friend. But his friend may not think she needs saving from what she is, and by the final story you begin to question; is Case finally embracing the Dalek side of her personality?
A Mother’s Love by Noga Flaishon opens up the set. The Doctor arrives on Haven, a state-of-the-art Time Lord war hospital, after following a distress call. However the AI watching over the hospital has no memory of any outgoing transmissions, but is more than happy to help in resolving the situation. A pair of surprise arrivals provide just the right amount of distraction for the Doctor to get to the bottom a burning question; why is this hospital so empty?
This begins like a classic base-under-siege story; you’ve got the Doctor arriving in an isolated location, they meet a couple of base dwellers, and there’s a threatening force working behind the scenes. When Veklin and Case arrive, I was beginning to think ‘oh are the Daleks somehow behind this?’ and half expecting this to go down a relatively typical route. However Flaishon’s script does some nice subversion to this formula by having the base itself cause the entrapment. M.O.M works are a great villain in the same way that GLADOS from the Portal games does; a sinister demeanour hiding a slightly tragic misunderstanding of their programming. M.O.M takes her mission to protect the patients of the hospital to such lengths that she is willing to entrap those trying to escape her in order to prevent them coming to harm.
I do think this has the slight issue that a lot of War Doctor stories run in to, in that they don’t feel too different the traditional characterisation of the Doctor. I could very easily see this story working with essentially any Doctor, although you would lose out on the well done emotional work done between Veklin and Case. The final moments of the episode where Veklin has a moment of genuine regret of trying to indoctrinate Case into the military way of thinking.
The cast are all doing a good job here. Johnathon Carley always surprises me with just how well he gets the emotional inflections and vocal mannerisms of a young John Hurt, and here he continues to show just how strong this recasting is. Ajjaz Awad and Beth Chalmers are a great pairing as Case and Velkin respectively. There’s a bit of a parental chemistry between them, with Awad capturing a teenage angst really well. Teigan Byrne does a good job as Runa but doesn’t get too much to do aside from being a typical teenager. Finally there is Georgia Mackenzie as M.O.M and she gets the right amount of uncanny chills out of the character, making even her introduction feel off.
It’s a simple story at its core, and one that I don’t think quite does the Time War setting as much justice as other episodes in the range. But I can’t deny that Flaishon crafts a fun story that doesn’t outstay its welcome thanks to tight pacing keeping the action moving along. A tad generic in parts but the cast hold it together really well, making it a good opener for the set.
7/10
Next up is Berserker by Timothy X Atack. The Doctor and Case have arrived just in time to help the people of Sunspire reclaim a genetic bank from the clutches of a berserker Dalek which has been trapped in there for years. Posing as a Dalek-Killer and her assistant, they gain the trust of the people but their reasons aren’t exactly the typically benevolent ones the Doctor normally works with.
Much like with the first story of the set, we have something that is actually quite simple in terms of its actual narrative, it is a pretty typical base under siege narrative again. This formula actually seems to crop up shockingly frequently in the War Doctor’s tenure on audio. But the threat is kept lurking in the background, we rarely actually see the titular Berserker and so there’s a true sense of horror created that mimics something like Alien or Predator. There’s a brief scene of body horror where Case and the Berserker merge that is quite horrific especially with Barnaby Kay’s direction and Howard Carter’s sound design.
With a much more simplistic threat there’s more time to flesh out this incarnation of the Doctor, and in a rare turn for these audios we really get to see the Doctor act out of character. Actively pursuing a deeply selfish reason for helping the people of Sunspire and ultimately not feeling too guilty about the deaths he has caused, its some much needed development that allows this Doctor to show the extents he will go for his friends and only his friends. Naturally Case objects and this leads to some interesting tension between the two characters, giving us a rare companion dynamic that is mostly distrustful and argumentative.
Carley and Awad are the showstoppers here as they get to spend much of the story together just exploring each other’s motivations for why they undertake this mission, Carley in particular channels a lot of the same DNA that was in the 7th Doctor’s Season 26 characterisation to great effect. Nick Briggs feels genuinely unhinged as the Berserker Dalek, capturing so perfectly this image of a Dalek so insane that it can’t really speak in full sentences.
It’s another straight forward story for the set that is lifted somewhat by some good characterisation from our central pairing. I loved getting to see a much more selfish side to the War Doctor than we have seen in previous sets but I wish the same level of character depth was given to the support cast since they are unfortunately a tad forgettable.
7/10
Finally we have Memnos by Phil Mulryne. The Doctor has brought Case to a state-of-the-art Time Lord secret project which strives to preserve anything of significance that was destroyed by the Time War. The Doctor hopes this might finally offer Case a chance to remember who she really is and her life before conversion, but when the Dalek Time-Strategist becomes a ghost in the machine and begins to tempt Case to embrace the Dalek within it is only a matter of time before she finally sees the Doctor for what he has become.
Much like with the previous story in this set, Memnos doubles down on showing how callous the War Doctor could be in the pursuit of doing what they see as right and just. There’s a desperation to the Doctor here as they can see Case slowly being turned against him, slowly becoming more sympathetic to the Dalek side of her heritage. He’s so deadest on giving her the choice for free will that he is willing to let people just like her die just to prove a point about defying Dalek control. I’m not going to say any more on the Doctor/Case for this one because it really is best witnessed first hand, especially with the context of the truly tragic opening.
The biggest thing holding this story back from being perfect is the audio and sound design at play. There are lots of location changes throughout the story and it isn’t often clear whether we are in the computer world of the Memnos machine or in the real world, there isn’t enough distinction and I often found myself getting confused and a bit lost. It doesn’t damage the overall emotional weight of Mulryne’s story but it doesn’t make the pacing and general flow of the scenes any favours.
Awad gives her best performance of the set right here, its layered and emotionally deep. This is the story that really sells you the potential of Case as a companion like no other and I cannot wait to see where Awad takes her performance next given where Case end up at during the conclusion. Carley equally turns in an excellent performance that truly sells you on this Doctor’s darker side, a performance that has a gleeful callousness when thinking about how innocent people can be turned into weapons. It’s when the pair get to share the stage that audio really comes alive and I really think this stand as series best performances for the pair.
A finale episode that effectively pays off the narrative threads sewn throughout the boxset is exactly what Memnos delivers, with strong performances matched with inventive characterisation and concepts. The only thing holding this back are some moments of genuinely confusing audio direction and sound design. It’s a strong emotional piece that really explores those moral grey areas of the Time War.
9/10
My final thoughts are generally positive, this isn’t quite the best we’ve seen from this incarnation. The final story aside, I can’t help but think the first two entries are putting the fun in functional. While good they don’t full utilise the setting as well as the final story in this boxset, which does a good job at expanding on the emotional ramifications of the War and how it has actually changed the Doctor for the worse. This is a boxset more so catered for the people who have locked in on the War Doctor’s range, luckily I am one of those people.
8/10
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Review: The War Doctor Begins – He Who Fights With Monsters
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