So, farewell, Miss Grant. How will the Doctor cope without you? Well, he’ll start off by finding himself the single greatest companion in the show’s history, that’ll be the first step.
I have said before I don’t really have a favourite Doctor – I love them all for different reasons. However when it comes to companions, I’m not quite so principled. I LOVE Sarah-Jane Smith. And this story introduces her and does a bloody fine job of it.
What can you say about Sarah-Jane Smith? She spends this story rabble rousing at the Castle of Wessex, leading a raid on Irongron’s castle, utterly mistrusting the Doctor and trying to spread the seeds of feminism through the kitchens of a medieval castle. I’m not sure a companion has ever been so brilliantly introduced.
The story has been described as “Game of Thrones without the incest” and I can see why… The medieval set up is great and is superbly realised. They even have a decent excuse for the lack of extras… The castles are grubby and the characters are all drunks. Irongron, the main grief causer, reminds me hugely of Robert Baratheon from Game of Thrones and spends the whole story fighting, boozing or shouting, often all at once.
And we get to meet our first Sontaran. Linx is fantastic. He is the complete article on the first attempt. He looks great and everything we know and love about Sontarans today is there in this first incarnation. He’s also utterly ruthless as he merrily provides medieval mankind with firearms from well after their time.
The script is simply awesome. The Doctor is described as a:
“Longshank rascal with a mighty nose”
Sarah Jane’s reaction to strife is:
“Ooh, I could murder a cup of tea…”
And we get one of the Doctor’s defining lines, ever:
“You’re serious, aren’t you?”
“About what I do, yes, not necessarily the way I do it”
I rarely worry too much about the way classic Doctor Who stories look but the designs in this are great. From the Sontaran himself to his spaceship and the castle settings. Rarely has 1970s Who looked quite this good.
This story has it all. Great settings, the menace of an alien race and the problems caused by buggering about with timelines. It is well scripted, it introduces a fantastic companion as well as a classic villain and it has plenty of laughs.
Honestly, one of my all time favourites.
10/10
I have said before I don’t really have a favourite Doctor – I love them all for different reasons. However when it comes to companions, I’m not quite so principled. I LOVE Sarah-Jane Smith. And this story introduces her and does a bloody fine job of it.
What can you say about Sarah-Jane Smith? She spends this story rabble rousing at the Castle of Wessex, leading a raid on Irongron’s castle, utterly mistrusting the Doctor and trying to spread the seeds of feminism through the kitchens of a medieval castle. I’m not sure a companion has ever been so brilliantly introduced.
The story has been described as “Game of Thrones without the incest” and I can see why… The medieval set up is great and is superbly realised. They even have a decent excuse for the lack of extras… The castles are grubby and the characters are all drunks. Irongron, the main grief causer, reminds me hugely of Robert Baratheon from Game of Thrones and spends the whole story fighting, boozing or shouting, often all at once.
And we get to meet our first Sontaran. Linx is fantastic. He is the complete article on the first attempt. He looks great and everything we know and love about Sontarans today is there in this first incarnation. He’s also utterly ruthless as he merrily provides medieval mankind with firearms from well after their time.
The script is simply awesome. The Doctor is described as a:
“Longshank rascal with a mighty nose”
Sarah Jane’s reaction to strife is:
“Ooh, I could murder a cup of tea…”
And we get one of the Doctor’s defining lines, ever:
“You’re serious, aren’t you?”
“About what I do, yes, not necessarily the way I do it”
I rarely worry too much about the way classic Doctor Who stories look but the designs in this are great. From the Sontaran himself to his spaceship and the castle settings. Rarely has 1970s Who looked quite this good.
This story has it all. Great settings, the menace of an alien race and the problems caused by buggering about with timelines. It is well scripted, it introduces a fantastic companion as well as a classic villain and it has plenty of laughs.
Honestly, one of my all time favourites.
10/10