Tuesday, 6 March 2012

REVIEW: Doctor Who 156: The Curse Of Davros

Also posted over at my Doctor Who only review page - Wandering In The Fourth Dimension


Sixth Doctor & Flip Jackson

Cast:

The Doctor / Davros - Colin Baker
Flip Jackson - Lisa Greenwood
Davros / The Doctor - Terry Molloy
Jared - Ashley Kumar
Napoléon Bonaparte - Jonathan Owen
Captain Pascal - Rhys Jennings
The Duke of Wellington - Granville Saxton
Marshal Ney - Robert Portal
Captain Dickson - Christian Patterson
The Daleks - Nicholas Briggs


Synopsis:

"It's been a year since Philippa 'Flip' Jackson found herself transported by Tube train to battle robot mosquitoes on a bizarre alien planet in the company of a Time Lord known only as 'the Doctor'.

Lightning never strikes twice, they say. Only now there's a flying saucer whooshing over the top of the night bus taking her home. Inside: the Doctor, with another extraterrestrial menace on his tail – the Daleks, and their twisted creator Davros!

But while Flip and the fugitive Doctor struggle to beat back the Daleks' incursion into 21st century London, Davros's real plan is taking shape nearly 200 years in the past, on the other side of the English Channel. At the battle of Waterloo..."


Review:

Flip gets a promotion to fully-fledged companion in the first of the Sixth Doctor's latest trilogy. I think she makes a pleasant enough impression here but has a bit too much of being new to the time travel game to settle. There's a couple of moments where I can't make out whether it's the acting or the scripting that's at fault but I can't quite make out what she was actually doing in that scene. The delivery sounded like intentional whining to get her own way but wasn't made clear enough. Story wise though, is where this one shines. Flip and her boyfriend, discover The Doctor in a crashed escape pod fleeing from the Daleks, who under the leadership of Davros are looking to capture him for a re-union. There's plenty of story and action here with The Daleks taking them back to the Battle Of Waterloo. There's some good scenes with Napoleon and The Duke though I'd have liked to have heard more from them. There's also some good scenes with The Doctor and Davros and the cliffhanger to part 2 is fantastic. Overall, not only do we have a good storyline, but it's also a fast paced, exciting one with plenty happening. I want to give this a six but it just didn't quite reach the standard for that magical score.

Score:

0/7 - Non-existant
1/7 - As bad as you can get
2/7 - Poor
3/7 - Quite poor / too many poor points / didn't like it
3.5/7 - Neither good nor bad / undecided
4/7 - Quite good / plenty of good points / liked it
5/7 - Good
6/7 - As good as you can get
7/7 - Impossible perfection

Writer: Johnathan Morris
Director: Nicholas Briggs
Produced By: Big Finish
Released: January 2012

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