Ninth Doctor Adventures: Old Friends

 The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Old Friends

The Ninth Doctor Adventures so far have been in my opinion, delightful. Yet, there's still this aura around them, because those who have been waiting for the Ninth Doctor to return for so long, have sort of built it up in their head as essentially the second coming of Christ. As someone who liked the Ninth Doctor a good deal on television, but didn't adore them more than life itself as some did, I'm more willing to accept these stories as they are, I haven't been building them up in my head for 17 years as some have. At least, that's the only explanation I can come up with, because recently the bile I've witnessed for the Ninth Doctor Adventures has immensely confused me. I don't think these sets are bad. I'm not going to say that they're PERFECT or anything, but this is Eccleston's first year with the company. It's easy to see that something like Ravagers is much better than Destination Nerva or Sirens of Time. Or at least Flux. I don't know why I'm rambling about it here, but really, it does feel like some people need some perspective.

 Either way, Old Friends is a set with two stories in it, but each of them do have a consistent thematic connecting point to them on the notion of old friends, (yeah, obvious) some established in Who, some of which we don't, and also a link on the matter of departures. I like that it has a link between the two tales - Lost Warriors is still the much better set, but that one had no thematic consistency, and neither did Respond to All Calls (although, that one was smart and had a theme in that the tales were themeless.) An overarching theme can help to make the pieces feel connected. It doesn't feel like an afterthought. Fond Farewell and the Two-Parter each don't work as well without the other. Regardless, I don't want to ruin my point too early here, but unlike Respond To All Calls and Lost Warriors, this set doesn't have a magical individual story in it like those two had. This is probably the weakest 9DA set so far, at least for me. Ravagers was a mess, but it was a mess that you really enjoyed watching fall apart. While this is objectively better than Ravagers on every level - Ravagers was a bit like say, Wedding of River Song and this set is more say, the Sontaran Stratagem. Sontaran Stratagem is better than Wedding of River Song from a writing standpoint in every way, but it's also a lot less wild and entertaining and bonkers and so I know which one I'd pick to rewatch most times. It's good, but really, there were a few chances for something more. So look at that - I'm properly critiquing the 9DAs here. You can't say I'm blind. 

Fond Farewell by David K Barnes

Fond Farewell is quite frankly, rather average, but it's nice. I really like it's concepts. It just doesn't soar above or anything. It's nice. It's whole concept is to do with this funeral home that brings the deceased back to the dead for one day. This is a brilliant concept, and I really like it, but I also feel that it's not exactly one for Doctor Who, necessarily. This should be a Rob Shearman or Neil Gaiman short story about the nature of family's response to death, not necessarily "robots at the funeral home go CRAZY and Doccy Who has to stop them." I would do something, much, much different with this concept, because the whole story is about a Funeral Parlor that is literally making the dead "decent," and appealing, at all costs, and how this whole thing is an allegory for our current funeral system often brushing over the problems with the person who just died - often to the detriment of us not seeing the true person and what they were really like. This is fucking brilliant. So, yeah, uh, explore that! What's on the page is fine enough, but I really would have loved a proper familial drama around this really cool sci-fi concept. Can you imagine the angry questions that could come up on a day like this - especially when you KNOW there's no other day to say them and the man you're talking to right now is going to be a pile of ashes tomorrow? As it is, it's really good, you know, proper Doctor Who stuff I can't criticize it for, but this would be a much better episode of say, Black Mirror than Doctor Who. 7/10 

Way of the Burryman by Roy Gill

I have to applaud Roy Gill, because when he was given a two hour slot for the big finale thing to the first four sets of the Ninth Doctor, he made something slow and deliberate, and atmosphere based for the entirety of part one. That's bloody brave, and it's a choice that didn't pay off for many people. I think this classic-who like pacing works, it did for stories on television like Under The Lake or The Empty Child, episodes that are largely slow in their part-one. It's something I can respect. It's also something that might not have paid off, but luckily, I think it does. Way of the Burryman is almost entirely atmosphere and character work, and it is actually rather mad for what it is - at this point in the series we've had no recurring characters, and suddenly without any real aplomb the story drops The Brigadier, Sam Bishop and The Cybermen in for a two-part finale. Sam Bishop is a little frustrating, but it's a better outing for him than other stories as he sort of picks up the companion role. The scene at the start with him mistaking the TARDIS for a coffee-cup booth is actually great. Wish he could be a little bit more like that, a little more kooky, it would make him a lot more entertaining. The Brigadier, under Culshaw's steady hand, shines all the more. Because I've been relistening to Zagreus recently, a tale that features Nicholas Courtney, I didn't think much of putting this on, and in said progress, I forgot I was listening to John Culshaw for a few seconds. Seriously, he's that good, I don't like saying that sort of thing for recasts often, it can feel like such generic praise, but truly, I really did. As The Brigadier, he's unparalleled. He's really well used to draw out some character stuff out of Eccleston, who is rather nice too, as usual. His enthusiasm throughout these four sets really works to make the Ninth Doctor feel sort of electric. Fiona's not electric. She's a bit of a conflicted character, I understand what they were going for, but my largest criticism surrounds her, characterized to be a whipsmart girlfriend but also her valuing human history - a bridge - over human life, is quite frankly an odd choice. Her encounter with the Cybermen is also a weak point. Usually Elinor Lawless gives her a very dignified performance, but in the scene where she first sees the Cybermen - she literally wails "NO!" killing the drama of the scene. Like, I don't care how scary the Cybermen are. Like, you could just do a normal scream and it would be so much more effective, but she wails NO! and it? really does not work! Way of the Burryman, as far as I'm concerned though, is a real triumph. The atmosphere buildup and cliffhanger really creates something. It's not flawless, but I really respect it: 8/10 

The Forth Generation by Roy Gill

I'm not going to say that this is my favorite Cybermen story, far from it, but it's a quite good Cybermen story, because the best Cybermen stories will inevitably focus on the conversion angle of the Cybermen. The Forth Generation doesn't exclusively do that, it's very much a sort of better RTD Cybermen story like Rise of the Cybermen/Age of Steel in that it's mainly focused on the "epic finale" aspects, but it does have these nice small moments, and The Doctor, The Brig and Sam each get a lot to do, and have some excellent moments. This is yet another production that's larger than the sum of it's parts. It's got some great individual parts, scenes, a nice angle involving Fiona, and the whole two-parter has this theme around how we are made of our memories that I really find super nice. There's a Deus Ex Machina, and for some, it will probably not work, but to be fair, I was expecting one from the way in - it's emulating a RTD finale after all. Eccleston and Culshaw remain the most in-depth characters, with the best performances. It's rare to find a recast that I feel can act well and also sound like the original, and if I am to have one, I will always prefer the first, but Culshaw does proper acting here. Really do like him. Also, I could actually tell you something about Sam Bishop after this two-parter, which is ironic since he never amounts to anything in his own series and half the time I forget he's there. Warren Brown has always deserved more than this dull empty character, and I feel he embues Sam with a lot of his own characteristics here to make him less dull. This is also Sam at his least military, which does make him more tolerable, but I think I'd like this two-parter a lot more if it was a new character and Sam wasn't in it. He's needless continuity as far as I'm concerned. I do love the Cybermen rising up out of the water, it does feel momentous, this whole two-parter does, but after the slow build-up of episode one, I think the Forth Generation loses something along the way, and has more to do as a result. While the Cybermen kick ass, it sort of misses a few individual bits. It doesn't land completely, but it lands enough. A satisfying finale to the set that could have been more, but could have been easily much less: 7/10