Colditz

 

Colditz by Steve Lyons

When you think about Doctor Who, you think about Daleks. And when you think about those, you indirectly are thinking about the Nazis. The thing is, because of that, the avenues for a Nazi story, are actually fairly slim. We already get the grating screaming dictators every other week. It's just an allegory, and a fairly good one. It's why stories like Genesis of The Daleks work so well. So, you'd need a fairly good tale to actually dip into our own disgusting history, and make it worth it, to make it important to listen to. I'm not really sure Colditz does that. Colditz isn't a bad story, no. It's just one of those classic ones that fail to hold my attention. This one feels overlong, and it's dark without too much of a narrative purpose, it gives it's best material to Ace and Klein, while at the same time, even though it points out the horrors of war and whatnot, and clearly makes the Nazis terrible, miserable people, it fails to have the emotional connection, the shock to the core this story is trying to deliver. When Ace says, "I'm Dorothy now," you're supposed to have changed with her at the end, you need that gutpunch, and I just, don't feel it. It feels short of a rewrite, because the emotional core of WW2 stories is pretty undeniable, and I think that this is close to being truly great, but kind of isn't really. A WW2 story shouldn't feel at 4 parts, overlong, it should feel close to home, hard to listen to. This story should be something as evocative and gripping as 5:29 or Dalek Occupation of Winter, or The Sky Man. All 3 stories that show what Colditz is so close to being, but ultimately, isn't at all. The weakest link by far in the 7/Ace range, although the Rapture is like, terrible, it still feels like it's doing something unique and succeeding at being unique, Colditz feels like a war movie without the emotional core. 6/10