The Fourth Wall

 

The Fourth Wall by John Dorney

The Fourth Wall is yet another main range script that is objectively good in any way that you'd care to look at it, but loses the final punch for me. Of course, I mean, if you consider the actual components, rather than a story like Shield of the Jotunn that just goes through the measures for example, it actually has something it wants to say that is rather subversive for the general ideas of Doctor Who as a genre. It's unique, and rather experimental - Sometimes to it's own detriment. It reminds me most of Jubilee, yet another methodical thinking piece that takes a somewhat silly concept at points and really forces you to think about it and consider - what makes a Dalek any different from a human, or, in this stories case, about the horrible lives of the fictional characters we create. It has a lot of thought put into it, and that makes me really think it's excellent...for what it is trying to do, rather than what it is. The end result of The Fourth Wall leaves me feeling that it's really an admirable piece of media that I respect more than anything. Thinking Man's Doctor Who is a subgenre that rarely shows up these days, and while it's far from perfect, it really is absolutely wonderful from a critical perspective. It really makes us think about the lives of these fictional characters, how these actors and writers forge them, and the true darkness of the Saturday Morning Cartoon villain and how terrifying evil without motive is. But the end result loses a bit in tone when the Fourth Wall careens between harrowing and comedic - something that I'm not sure works best with this particular story, although I'm usually one to utterly adore me some tone whiplash. The juxtaposition of not-Bonnie Langford, the Porcians, and the villain without motivation make me think that this is in direct a Doctor Who parody in story, but Laser as a character is so far from the Doctor, it makes these elements lose a bit of bite. I would prefer they commit even more fully to the Who pastiche and made Laser and Krarn more Doctor and Master and lampshade the Doctor and Master's somewhat indecisive relationship...which I can't tell if Dorney even did or not, since the story still did give me that idea. So I am really divided on the Fourth Wall - on the one hand, it's exactly the kind of story the Monthly Range really needs to keep going instead of going through the measures...but at the same time I could feel it could be even more effective than it is. But it's still a Dorney script, and it's still cutting edge Who, so a solid recommend. Just if you're looking for a really brilliant Fourth Wall breaking monstrocity, I'd check out Jago and Litefoot The Theater of Dreams instead. 8.5/10