I've never mentioned it here, but I had a cat called TC. My family adopted him from a shelter in 2013 after he had been found wandering the streets of Glasgow. We picked him as adult cats usually get overlooked in favour of kittens. Despite being a street cat for, who knows how long, he was sweet as can be, a big gentle soul who loved humans. Today he passed away at the vets while getting treatment for a kidney disease. We have no idea how old he was but he was a senior for sure.

This hasn't been the first time I've lost a pet, but this hit me harder than usual. I think it may have been the amount of what happened while he was with us. During his lifetime I joined the furry fandom, gained friends from across the globe, lost friends, studied at university and college, got my first job, endured two toxic exes and so many more. I feel like I never fully appreciated him. I would often get irritated being woken up by him at 4 or 5 in the morning but would always see his face and mellow. He was one picky eater and would turn up his nose at fancy treats in favour of dry food and would always lick the jelly and leave the rest of his wet food. He was one silly strange cat. I hope wherever he is now, he's in a happier place.

Goodbye TC. I wish we could have spent longer together, but I am happy to have known you for 12 years where you were always by my side. I hope you find somewhere beautiful on the other side.

So....I just deleted my Twitter account. And....I feel pretty good about it. That website was going downhill anyway and it kept spamming me with alerts that someone was trying to login to it. And someone was....it was me. So that was obnoxious.

Truth be told I barely used it so it was good to get that weight off my shoulders.

Hello everyone.

As you can see I've not posted a journal in a while. In all honesty I have not really had much to type about in these journals. I've mostly been focused on my writing instead or events outside of the furry fandom, which have been far more fulfilling. I should also note that 4 months ago I passed the 10 year mark of this account's existence. Its surreal, it felt like that time has passed by in a snap.

The four years between this journal and my previous one have been a strange mix of very lows and highest highs. Triumphs with graduating from university courses, finding employment and becoming more confident in writing stronger stories. However it was marred by self reflection on my past actions online.

To put bluntly, I used to be a pretty wretched horrible person who held grudges and pour constant whinge fests, expecting sympathy and, if I am truly honest, in some cases manipulating others. It was a truly lowest of the low point in my time on FA. I was a constant emotional wreck and never got anything done, spending more time scrapping with others, all while alienating and ignoring my friends. After that break journal I took time to reflect on what I looked like to others and who I really wanted to be.

When I first came to FA the metaphorical floodgates had been smashed open. I was rushing around eagerly being happy and joyful and probably downright irritating. I had been extremely lonely and my rural nowhere home had only just got internet access and I ran wild to try and find like minded people. Of course it wasn't too long until I trod on the toes of others and got smacked about. That is when the mopey, selfish Altallo was born and I spent several years being a complete miserable pill instead of focusing on what actually mattered. I had ran into the sticky flypaper that was Clout Chasing, cosying up to people in the hopes of a few scraps of recognition and replies. I felt like I could finally find friends based on their appearance rather than who they were. When things went rough I went to them thinking they were my friends and they'd offer reassurance...but they simply said 'Get over it'. In hindsight, they had the right advice, but to me it felt cold. I should have went to who were my true friends.

After a few years I detached myself from that part and spent my time floating miserably. For a while I ended up in a rather toxic friendship which sapped my creativity and made me fearful and jumpy, every time I talked to them it was like walking on eggshells. I was also isolated from speaking to anyone else and thus my other friendships decayed. Then one day, I walked away and never looked back. I gathered myself up and went back to writing, making new friends along the way and slowly becoming a better person I hope. They helped me not just with my writing, but also with my behaviour.

I am autistic. I am not saying that as an excuse, but simply saying I have it. I find it difficult to read emotions in text without someone's face or voice. I also have a rather dry sense of humour which I feel rubs people the wrong way and while I don't mean to come across as rude or cause harm, I unfortunately do go over the top. As one friend puts it, I can be a bit 'prickly' with my humour.

Moving forwards, I hope to keep on writing and find new communities to join. Looking back at my private messages and other parts of FA made me realise that many people in our community are now gone. Visiting accounts to find the users have either left or are no longer among us is very sobering. Everyone should try be a bit kinder to each other, especially given the events of the past few years where divisions are deeper now than ever before. I doubt I will ever make up for what I did though and to anyone I've ever annoyed or hurt, I am really sorry. I wish there could have been a happier ending to all of this. And to all my old friends, I say hello again. Its nice to see you all again.

I will get to writing up a proper profile description soon also.

Part 6: Silver Nemesis

And so we come to the end of CyberSummer, Silver Nemesis. The last appearance of them in the classic series and they went out as they usually were...pretty bad.
Actually looking at it again, its not really that much of a Cyberman story. They’re just kind of in the background as far as the plot goes, stomping about and being monsters. Otherwise much of the plot is taken up by other characters and factions.
Ok plot time, the Doctor once launched a statue made in the image of a lady called Peinforte from England in 1638 into space where it became a comet. Now in 1988 it has returned to Earth. Now a faction of random Neo-Nazis (They always ruin everything.) have arrived to take it away and then Peinforte also arrives using a magic potion made out of blood (yes you heard me right) to take it. And then a legion of Cybermen also arrive.
So with all this fuss over the statue you can probably tell its not just some pretty statue that everyone wants in their garden. The statue, named Nemesis, is made from a living metal develiped as a weapon on an alien planet, that fell to Earth in 1638 and was found by Peinforte who made it into a statue. The statue has a bow and arrow which is needed to power it up; the Neo Nazis have the bow and Peinforte has the arrow. Oh also the Cybermen have a massive fleet of ships somewhere to take over the world after they get Nemesis.

Yeah, so problem no.1, there is way too much going on in this plot and in the span of only three episodes. The Cybermen were a late addition and just make the whole thing far more crowded. The Neo-Nazis also feel uneeded and barely get any time either, so they just come across as a bunch of losers...which admittedly all Neo Nazis are. Tee hee.

Problem no.2, The Cybermen themselves. Not only do they barely do anything, but they also don’t feel like Cybermen. The leader and second in command bicker and disagree like Megatron and Starscream, minus the emotion and Starscream’s shrillness. Oh also they want to turn Earth into the new Mondas. Eh, I suppose it is a step up from destroying Earth completely.

Problem no.3, The music. Most of it sounds like a late 1980s dance club. A really bad 1980s dance club and kept giving me flashbacks to an eighties party I went to in highschool. It was terrifying; the living envied the dead!

Despite the negatives I feel this has a fair amount of positives that save it from the utter dregs. First off Peinforte makes a great villain. Well ok maybe not a great villain, but she’s certainly an interesting one, especially near the end when she hints that she knows more of the Doctor than we do. This was all hinting at the Cartmel Masterplan (named after Andrew Cartmel, who was the script editor of the time), that was going to end the series with discovering who the Doctor really was. With the series facing cancellation, Cartmel decided the series would end with the Doctor’s past being explored which sadly was never fully realised but we do get some great hints here and there and Silver Nemesis is no exception. There are great scenes of Doctor mystery inbetween the bad plot stuff.

Also on a personal note, I do like many of the quieter scenes with Ace and the Doctor and I always love 7th Doctor era space shots with planets and stars that look like paintings. Though speaking of which, Ace gets a raw deal here compared to her other stories. She sadly has very little to do, except for a battle scene where she takes down a bunch of Cybermen using gold coins and the mysterious final moments which are actually really fascinating; Ace asks the Doctor who he is, but he just puts a finger to his lips and smiles. What happened to mystery like this in Doctor Who? Now its mostly just wailing and “OH boohoo hoo!”

So...Silver Nemesis. I really have a hard time deciding on whether this is good or bad. It has some brilliant ideas running through here and, especially the statue itself which is an interesting character in its own right and it does speed along unlike some other sluggish episodes. But its bogged down lots of shoddy ideas and overstuffed so that its bursting at the seams. It is the weakest of the 80s Cyberman stories, neither having the impact of Earthshock or the gritty action to mark it out like Attack of the Cybermen. In fact it barely counts as a Cyberman story due to their limited role.
As for being the official 25th anniversary story, eh, your better off watching Remembrance of the Daleks instead. Its better paced, has more atmosphere and fleshed out characters. If anything Remembrance feels far more like an anniversary story than Nemesis, with links to the past.

And thus comes the sad conclusion of Cyber Summer. The biggest issue with many classic Cybermen stories is that the writers didn’t seem to know what they were dealing with and what made the Cybermen such a scary villain. They’re not simply cold blooded killers, but a reflection of what people could become when pushed to the extreme and asks what would we sacrifice simply for survival?
This issue has carried onto the New Series who, aside from a few instances, don’t recognise the Cybermen as once being human and instead focus more on arbitrary things giant robots, silly sitcom comedy and Tim Burton-esque settings. Also I hate the new redesign of the Cybermen; they look more like Iron Man than horrific machines that once were human beings.

That being said I would recommend the episode World Enough and Time. Not only does it bring back the classic Tenth Planet Cybermen design but it does delve into the horror of being converted into one of these lifeless automatons. Actually it got me really uncomfortable and even nauseas at times in just how they portray Cyber conversion. So it must be doing something right. It has some New Whoisms that, I admit, I cannot stand such as being way too fast and throwing away characters too soon and also it suffers from a very clumsy part 2 which has a companion who dies not dying actually and living forever. Even at its darkest, New Who is utterly gutless. I think World Enough and Time and The Tenth Planet are the closest we have to exploring this concept, but both are inferior to the audio story Spare Parts, which I highly recommend; probably the best you can get so far.

And so it all comes to a close. As I said earlier I won’t be reviewing anything else for a while. I’ve tired myself out and haven’t found much joy in it recently. So I’ll be focusing more on story writing for now. But I hope the 3 or so people who read these journals have enjoyed it so far.

And so we come to the 1980s, ah that decade of fashion nightmares, synth music and fondly remembered, though sometimes not that great, movies. The 80s gave us three Cyberman stories and two are much better than Revenge thankfully. One, not so much. The 80s version of Doctor Who tends to get a lot of flak from fans, but honestly I’m fine with most of what it had to offer. Though I will admit the mid 80s did get pretty gruesome and at times it felt like someone in the team was trying to sabotage the series from the inside...which actually did happen, but more on that some other time.

First off Earthshock. I’ve already taken a look at this before on an earlier journal, so I will keep this quite brief. I admit my respect for this story has risen since then. Yes it does drag at the start of the climax; for 1982 this was very fast paced but its aged a bit badly here and there. That all said it holds up as a highlight of the entire run and a great way to get rid of a very unpopular character. The way Adric dies is down to his pure hubris and is kind of a comedic tragedy.

But, onto the second episode of this journal, Attack of the Cybermen. A story that is extremely polarising to fans. I myself am on the its a good story, after the sameyness of many of the earlier Cyberman stories, this and Earthshock were great breaths of fresh air, despite some issues.
Attack of the Cybermen has the Sixth Doctor and his companion Peri land on Earth when trying to repair a faulty circuit in the TARDIS. Meanwhile the Cybermen have captured a time machine in a London Sewer (Invasion reference) and plan on crashing Haley’s comet into the Earth in 1985 so it won’t get destroyed in 1986 (when The Tenth Planet is set). They send the machine to Telos (last seen in The Tomb of the Cybermen), where they have partially converted and enslaved some people who couldn’t submit to the mind wiping process involved and get them mining minerals. Also on Telos the natives called Cryons, who can only live in freezing temperatures and boil to death in heat, fight for freedom.

As you can see there’s a lot going on, and I’ve basically streamlined most of it. This makes it both fascinating and problematic. The biggest issue though is the references to older episodes. Not only do we have callbacks to previous Cybermen stories, but also we get Lytton, a henchman from a previous Dalek episode who, while a really great character with a brilliant relationship with the Doctor and a brutal death scene. Now I know who this guy is, but if you’re viewing this for the first time and never seen Resurrection of the Daleks, you’d be stumped. This is what makes watching the mid-80s episodes so tough to slog through with non-fan friends, the references usually twists their minds and you’re left there either confused or just awkwardly trying to explain everything to them. Also on a minor note the music is a bit meh, far too loud which seems to be a common thing in most episodes during this time.

But where this story really shines is in the action. Like Earthshock, you probably won’t get too much interesting new content or mind changing philosophy, this is a pure and gritty action oriented episode. The directing is very stylish and even downright brutal at times. This makes the Cybermen terrifying in a way that I think the New Series is too wimpy to do; have the Cybermen hurt people. A lot. There’s an infamous scene where two Cybermen grab Lytton’s hands and crush them into bloody pulps. Its disturbing and scarred many 80s British kids, but it really drives home the Cybermen as a credible threat. The Cryons may be seen as silly to some, but they are a fascinating alien design. They are very graceful and while the music is not that great in some places, the theme for the Cryons is a lovely mysterious and yet also rather sad high point. The Doctor also befriends a Cryon queen and there’s a tragic scene where she is killed mercilessly by the Cybermen. Also at the end, a downtrodden Cryon who is called stupid by the others redeems herself by sacrificing herself to save the others. Oh also they have a weird thing about feeling up Peri’s shoulders. Keep those hands to yourself!

So Attack of the Cybermen. Brutal, bloody and yet extremely entertaining. That is if you can stand the violence, the tinny music and those awful references. Actually I think the violence part stands for most of season 22. By this point the creative team had become very cocky and thought they could get away with anything. So the violence and cruelty was amped up, in some cases providing great social commentary and in others just a miserable episode. As said before this one is very polarising, you’ll either like it (I doubt anyone loves it) or hate it. I’m fine with it. Though the next story is a bit less polarising, but I’ll even try and defend that one a bit….emphasis on the word try!

Also I’m not going to cover the New series Cyberman stories. Sorry. This whole thing was a bit draining with the Wheel in Space and I admit I’m not really finding much joy in making these. So I will probably take a break and focus on story writing instead after Silver Nemesis.

And thus we leave the Flower Power, Beatlemania groove of the 60s and to the flashy, glittery disco dance floor that was the 1970s to the only Cyberman story of this decade.

Why was there only one? Was it so good that the producers decided they can’t top it and so left the Cybermen to bask in the golden glow of this one story and let the impact fade?
Sort of. Except replace ‘good’ with ‘horrible’ and ‘bask in golden glow’ with ‘ferment like sewage’.
Yes sadly this is another pretty bad Cyberman story. Some call it the nadir of the classic cybermen run and honestly they may be kind of right here.

In the future, a space station called Nerva is used as a beacon for spaceships. However a plague has wiped out all but a few of the crew and one mysterious civilian. Then the Cybermen pop up, planning to destroy Voga, a legendary planet of gold, which has recently become one of Jupiter’s moons after being blasted and beaten in a war with the Cybermen. Gold is lethal to Cybermen you see; it clogs up their mechanical lungs and blood vessels. Two factions of Vogans exist; a modest group in an underground city and a more extremist group who are building a rocket to finally end the Cybermen. Meanwhile the Doctor and a few crew members are sent to Voga rigged with explosives.

So Revenge….what is good about it?
Well I do like the Vogan designs. They are clearly masks and make up, but the creative team made an effort to make each face unique. We don’t get much about their culture, but I do like this scene when the Doctor asks a Vogan leader for some gold dust and the Vogan just gives it to him as if he asked for something common as mud...but maybe that is just me.
There’s also some good directing and interesting angles here and there. Also I will say this in the defence of this story, it at least is a new story and isn’t a base under siege rehash like most of the Troughton stories.

What’s bad about the episode? Er, pretty much anything else that isn’t what I described and the main cast.
Most obvious are the Cybermen themselves. For whatever reason the writer decided they have emotions now. They laugh and are amused by the silly squishy humans and also get really annoyed whenever the Cyberwar is mentioned. The worst offender is the Cyberman leader, who struts around with his hands on his hips looking fabulous. Also the weakness to gold is a pretty silly one. It reduces the once cold and terrifying silver giants into being killed off by glitter.
Aside from the Cybermen problems its just kind of a standard story. Its interesting in places but no it doesn’t do enough. Also the Cybermen have no interest in converting humans into cybermen. So that bit of their character is gone out of the window also.

Revenge of the Cybermen is...ok. Its just standard stuff. It isn’t the worst thing ever, but it is the weak link after a triad of amazing episodes, especially Genesis of the Daleks, one of the show’s masterpieces. I think having Genesis next to Revenge just shows the massive differences between the Daleks and Cybermen. The Daleks often getting the royal treatment and full manicure, while the Cybermen are usually left in the dirt to scrounge what they can. Such a massive drop in quality could only make Revenge of the Cybermen more reviled and that is quite sad. Its still better than Wheel in Space and Moonbase, at least in my opinion. All three are see only for completionist sake or if you’re just really interested in Cybermen, otherwise just ignore them.

And with that dullness out of the way it is off to the 80s. And thankfully a boost in quality.

After two pretty good Cybermen episodes and one not so great one, we find ourselves now with the Wheel in Space which sort of reaches a middle ground.
The Doctor and Jamie arrive on a deserted space vessel transporting materials to a space station, the titular Wheel in Space. The cargo holds two Cybermen and a bunch of Cybermats who aim to take over the Wheel and use its random super laser cannon to destroy the Earth...of course.

So the Wheel in Space is basically a retread of The Moonbase and Tenth Planet’s destroy the Earth. Why does the same writer who created them keep returning to this same plot line? Was it time constraints or was he just exhausted with them? Who can tell. That being said I initially thought that Wheel was going to be a better story than Moonbase coming in, being the last Cyberman episode I have yet to watch/listen to yet. Did it hold up? Not really.

Wheel is a lot more creepy atmosphere and build up. That first episode especially has a tangible sense of claustrophobia, as the Doctor and Jamie are floating in space with no sign of help anywhere. Unfortunately this slow pace gets really dull midway through when the plot kind of grinds to halt and the cybermen reminds us of their plan for the third or forth time.
The best thing in this story are the characters. We have Gemma, an all round compelling and wonderfully written character. She provides the voice of reason to the unstable leader of the station Jarvis and has a great rapport with the Doctor. There’s a really sweet scene where the Doctor calls her ‘Miss’ but she corrects him with ‘Mrs’, and the Doctor seems genuinely disappointed. Oh Doctor you sly dog! Her death by Cyberman laser beam is really sad and the Doctor’s reaction is muted yet far more weighty than any extended crying scene.
And then of course there is Zoe, the new companion. Zoe is the first companion who is just as intelligent, or its suggested at times, even smarter than the Doctor. She’s the precursor to Romana and Nyssa. Oh and she’s a lot of fun to. Here she makes fun of Jamie and is overall bright and perky. She does get a lot more material later on, but this is a good intro for her.

Unfortunately this where all the good stuff end. The slow pace is good at first for building suspense, but it really hinders the story in the midpoint. It becomes insufferably dull seeing the usual ‘heroes mistaken for saboteur’ routine and the usual wrong accusations and arguing here and there. Its the effect of coming at the end of a season where nearly everything else was the same base-under-seige routine. With red shirts dying and so on.
And then there’s the Cybermen. Oh poor Cybermen you have taken a beating. They’re back to being brainless ‘CONQUER THE WORLD FOR ITS TREASURES!’ generic baddies. No cyber-conversion or anything like that. How come they kept hiring this writer if his track record was this uneven? No offence Kit Peddler but make up your mind! And it doesn’t help that the Cybermen, despite a rather cool redesign, have some of the weirdest voices.



You may be wondering why they’re nodding their heads like that. It was so the actors could work their voices through the filter giving them that robotic tone. And what is with that dialogue?
That being said there is this great scene with them and the Second Doctor.



So….the Wheel in Space. Its kind of on the same level as Moonbase; it does one or two things better yet it also has some flaws and so they’re both pretty equal. Its not very entertaining for the most part, not even really scary and coming at the end of a long string of samey stories, it just feels so tired. I admit I enjoyed it a tiny bit more than Moonbase, a bit, but its not the hill I want to die defending.
And with that boring chapter out of the way, we- OH hey The Invasion is next! Sweet!
I didn’t want to do another 2 parter journal so soon, hoping to keep it until later for Earthshock and Attack of the Cybermen for reasons that I will get to later. But I think I’ll keep the Invasion’s review brief. Oh not because its bad, on the contrary. I think it should be experienced though so I won’t give anything away.

The Doctor and co land on Earth in an unspecific date (I won’t go into the whole UNIT dating thing. It’ll just make heads explode.) to find a strange gigantic company called International Electromatics. The company makes electronic devices and is lead by a man called Tobias Vaughn. Vaughn is secretly in league with the Cybermen and is shipping them into London via railway cars and the sewers. The Cybermen begin transmitting a radio signal through the devices that paralyse humans and emerge from the sewers in force. However, both Vaughn and the Cybermen are planning to backstab each other and soon Vaughn’s haughty ambitions are dashed as the Cybermen plan to...oh...blow up the world….ok.

Alright The Invasion. The story may be quite slight and not very deep, its got a lot of style and characterisation that lifts it high above many of the other 60s Cyberman stories. In fact I think its one of the best of the bunch. Its also immortalised as the introduction of UNIT, which became integral for the Third Doctor. This sort of format of modern day (well modern day for then) settings and Doctor saving Earth from alien menace became a standard part of the series.
The Invasion also benefits from trimming most of the fat that would be bolted onto previous outings. This story is 8 episodes long, two more than Wheel in Space and double the length of Moonbase, yet it feels far more smooth and engaging. However this streamlining comes at a cost for some scenes. There’s a big chase that’s talked about to rescue a kidnapped scientist, but that’s the main issue; its just talked about. We don’t see it. And also the ending is a bit limp. We just end up waiting around with the other characters for a rocket to hit the main cyberman spaceship. Boy its a slow three minutes long.

Despite these bumps, The Invasion is still one fine story with memorable imagery and a great supporting cast. And they really splashed out with the budget on this one, with helicopter rescues and so on. Oh also should talk about the animation. Several stories have had animated episodes for DVD releases and the Invasion was the first. Its also probably one of the better ones and adds a great noir look to the serial. Also they fixed some issues; the electronic chips the Doctor bring in actually look alien and they add a spaceship to a scene where there was none originally, yet the characters talk about it. So overall I’d recommend the DVD.

And so that is that for the 60s Cyberman stories. I’m sorry this has taken a while. The Wheel in Space slowed down my momentum since it wasn’t available on DVD and it was a pretty frustrating episode to write about. But now it should be smoother.

Next we get the only 70s Cyberman story. Is it good? No…but that is a tale for another time.

Part 2 on our journey through Cyberman stories takes us to a base on the moon in the year 2070. A weird paralysing plague is spreading among the crew who are controlling the weather using a giant piece of cardboard called the Gravitron. The TARDIS crew arrive and are blamed for the plague, but of course its the Cybermen, who plan on destroying the world with the Gravitron and use the plagued victims, under mind control, to operate it.

The Moonbase is just bad. I’m sorry thats blunt and that the review for it is short but this episode just sucks. The only new thing it does is a new Cyberman design, which is quite a sinister design but lacks the human element of Tenth Planet.
The Cybermen themselves suffer though; they’re just here to destroy the world. Never mind the whole fact that they need to convert people into them. You could easily replace the Cybermen with any random alien race, even the Daleks or angsty space teens who just want to destroy everything, and nothing would change. Its a real shame. Oh and they also spread the plague by infecting sugar for coffee and tea. Why? There’s far more commonly eaten stuff you could have poisoned, like bread. Oh and also they get in and out of the moonbase through a hole in the wall that they block up with sacks, because that’s how space and gravity works, and they keep bragging in a very uncyberman way how its so smart that the silly humans could never figure it out….really. A hole in the wall is too much for our squishy human brains to figure it out. Yes.

Aside from that all the human characters are just flat copies of the Tenth Planet ones, even down to the slight racism, this time of French people. Oh and there’s a black actor who went on to do many great roles and is also the best guest actor in the whole episode, so of course his character dies first. There’s no General Cutler with dimension. All the humans are the goodies against the big bad Cybermen. The special effects are awful, even by old timey Doctor Who standards.
Overall...not good. But I won’t leave this journal so short, so here’s a review of Tomb of the Cybermen also.
This episode has the Doctor, Jamie and new companion Victoria meet an archaeological group on the planet Telos where they have found the last city of the Cybermen, who have been dying out since The Tenth Planet. But of course its all a trap to lure people in to convert them into other Cybermen. But in the team are members of a sort of Illuminati group thing who want to use the Cybermen and their technology to CONQUER TEH WORLD!...or something like that. Its basically like a mummy horror movie.

Tomb of the Cybermen was lost since its broadcast and had an aura of being one of the biggest lost classics until it was found in the 1990s in Hong Kong. And did it live up to its reputation? No….no it didn’t. But it is a better episode than The Moonbase by a mile.
While the Moonbase did have some atmosphere, its nothing compared to Tomb’s creeping dread. You don’t even see any Cybermen (bar a test dummy one for a weapon in one chamber) until the end of episode 2 so the mystery is built up over a long period of time. And even after the protagonists escape the tombs, they are stranded and have to shelter in the Cybermen’s control room while the Cybermen plan their escape below. Tomb also readdresses the conversion trait that is supposed to be key to all Cybermen stories but was forgotten about in Moonbase, so that’s nice.
Also introduced is a the Cyber-Controller, the Cyberman leader, who’s head looks rather….suspicious, if you know what I mean.

However one of the best moments of this story is where the Second Doctor speaks to Victoria still mourning from her father’s death by way of Dalek shootout.

Its one of the all time greatest scenes of any DrWho and its far more interesting and mysterious than most of the 10th Doctor’s weeping scenes.

However Tomb still has some flaws….some rather gaping flaws. Its one of those 60s stories that hasn’t aged well. All the protagonist human characters are British or American, while the three villainous humans are Eastern European, black and...I’m not sure which race the woman, Kraftan, is supposed to be. But either way this is kind of a sticking point. I’m not really an SJW and I think anyone of any race can make great heroes or villains, but I would understand if these characters makes anyone uncomfortable, especially the ‘noble savage’ Toberman, played by a black actor who would go on to play much better characters later on. But for some reason sounds Transylvanian in this episode...interesting.
Also there’s some iffy bits of acting here and there are also some really pretty bad special effects, including obvious unhidden wires used in fight scenes when people are picked up. I can handle the bad special effects, but I doubt not everyone can. And the tension drops like a rock when the Cybermen just decide to go back into the tombs for whatever reason. No big battle end, it just ends with a thud and Toberman throwing around a dummy Cyber-Controller across the room. Oh and also the Cybermats are introduced here too. They’re small rodent/woodlice things that are meant to be dangerous but honestly are just so adorable.

Despite its flaws and warts, I say Tomb of the Cybermen is the best Cyberman story so far. It has some great scenes and atmosphere and despite some iffy bits here and there is an enduring story that’s always wonderful to re-vist. Maybe I am a tad harsh on the Moonbase though. I’ll be kinder and just say its a general Doctor Who episode of evil aliens attacking humans. Its run of the mill and okayish I guess.

Doctor Who Cyber Summer Part 1: The Tenth Planet

Hello one and all and welcome to the first part of Cyber Summer. Today its one of the most important episodes ever, the Tenth Planet, which does double duty; introducing the Cybermen and the concept of regeneration.
In a rocked base in Antarctica (which doesn’t make sense due to trajectory; its why most rocket bases are in places close to the Equator such as Florida.), the Doctor and co. arrive just as a new planet enters the solar system and starts orbiting Earth, the titular tenth planet. The planet is Mondas, Earth’s twin and home to the Cybermen who arrive in force to take suitable people to convert into Cybermen and drain Earth of resources before blowing it up before it collides with Mondas. But in the midst of the action, the elderly First Doctor faints and begins to feel his body wearing out.
The Tenth Planet is very strange to revisit in terms of the regeneration, after over 50 years of Doctors regenerating after big events. However the first ever regeneration is very low key, the Doctor doesn’t go down fighting, he just grows frail and dies and its up to the companions, Ben and Polly who are two of the greatest companions and very underrated in my opinion, to carry the story. Although its an important event, I’d argue its also one of the weaker regenerations. But its not really the story’s fault, William Hartnell who played the Doctor was really ill at the time and they were pressed for time.

Now of course we can’t ignore the other massive event of this story, the Cybermen. This is one of my favourite Cybermen designs, even if they look a bit silly by modern standards, with the cloth faces and bulky chest units.



But when you get down to it, the design is very clever. It has a lot of human to it, almost equal amounts of human to machine. The cloth faces are basically medical gauzes and dressing that cover what could be a human face but with the eyes drilled out and replaced with computerised versions.
These Cybermen aren’t metal monsters, but beings of pure survival and their rough design makes the idea of being converted into one even more horrific.
I think this is an area where most of Classic Who and the majority of the New Series forget the power of the Cybermen. They’re not evil robots who want to take people’s emotions away because they’re baddies, no, they run purely on logic. We made them as the next upgrade of humanity and we made them think they’re the next big step for humanity. It makes you think how desperate the people of Mondas were to sacrifice their humanity, their bodies and emotions just for survival.
The Cybermen were created by a scientist called Kit Peddler and he was influenced by two massive medical breakthroughs in the 1960s; the first ever successful heart transplant and the growth of plastic surgery in America. He had an idea and fear of the ‘dehumanising machine’, where people started having metal and plastic replacements for lost limbs but it quickly escalated to point where it became cosmetic.
And in a way what he feared came true; people change their bodies for cosmetic reasons. Ok it doesn’t involve becoming an emotionless cyborg, but to me the bland ‘pretty’ faces of models and people who have had loads of plastic surgery like the Kardashians (bet you’d never see them and Cybermen mentioned in the same journal!) are just as blank, emotionless and alienating as the cloth faces of the Cybermen. No personality, no lines showing every smile or the journey of age.

Why yes I am reading a lot into it, but thats what good fiction does. And its all what Mr Peddler theorised in a way.

Sadly despite all this praise I have heaped on the Cybermen, thats only a part of the Tenth Planet. The Cybermen plan to blow up the Earth and are pretty much reduced to generic bad guys in the latter half of the episode. Its a real shame since they started off as fascinating beings who saw that what they were doing was right; upgrading people so they don’t die of disease, don’t feel pain and live longer. But nope, got to blow up the Earth. Though in fairness its not as egregious as some later episodes, more on those later, since they’re doing it so Mondas doesn’t smash into the Earth.

The base crew are also a bit bland, bar one. The general in charge, Cutler, is the most interesting character. A control freak who runs his men with brutal efficiency, he only cares about one thing; his son. Once he believes his son, who pilots a rocket to explore Mondas, is killed he snaps and tries to shoot the Doctor. (which would have made for a better regeneration).
Aside from this the rest of the base are kind of stock such as gruff soldiers, nervous put upon scientists and a racial stereotype of a woman-hungry ‘Mama Mia” screaming Italian crewman.

Overall I’d say the Tenth Planet is...ok. Its got a lot going for it here and there, especially with the Cybermen in Episode 2, but aside from that not much. Its also kind of a sad ending to the First Doctor’s run, its just a sudden inglorious end and he deserved far much more. Its an important part of DrWho history, but not an outstanding one.

But if you want a true Cyberman experience like this, I can recommend the audio play Spare Parts. Its such a vivid story and really soul crushing as you see what life is like on Mondas before full on Cyberman conversion and just how far the people were pushed to the extreme.

Next up will be the Moonbase. Where the Cybermen get a new look...but not a fresh story.

Hello everyone and sorry about that dry period. You know what university exams are like and boy what a rough one it was. Not because of the questions, more the utter train-wreck that was everything around it.

But anyway I would like to announce something for the Summer. Since Dalekcember was such a success I've decided to try something similar with DrWho's next best villains (or at least they have the potential to), the Cybermen. For the whole Summer I'll review every Cyberman episode (bar cameos) in single journals....yes even the New Series, which I'm not looking forward to There's a great Cyberman episode in the New Series during Capaldi's run but to get there I need to sail across a sea of meh and crap episodes.

Now a little word on the Cybermen.
Many people, mostly New Who fans for some reason, say the Daleks are the scariest villains of Doctor Who, to which I say No. They're a great alien race for sure, but not exactly terrifying. The only time they were scary was in Power of the Daleks, which is 52 years old now and most of their New Who appearances were kind of crummy. For my money the Cybermen were a lot scarier, or at least in theory. While the Daleks have many gems in their catalogue like Genesis of the Daleks, the Cybermen have always struggled with bad writing in their TV appearances.
Which is a real shame because compared to mutant Nazis the Cybermen are utterly terrifying. Basically they are people who have converted themselves into unfeeling cyborgs to free themselves of their frail bodies, shorter lifespans and weakness of those silly things called 'emotions' (Who needs 'em!)
Something about their blank skull like faces and the fact they want to turn you into them is just terrifying. And granted while that terror is diminished somewhat in some stories, there's a lot of potential for them.

This series won't be uploaded by any rigid timescale. But I'll try and get them all done by Summer's end. It'll be tough, but be on the look out!




Tales of the Eternals, Chapter 23 Return to Egypt

It had been over a month since the ship departed Rhodes and the ship’s new crew had settled into a routine. Altallo had joined Shern’aath and Kiya washing the deck, while Basilus took kitchen duties. They had travelled around the edge of the Mediterranean, docking in Cyprus, Phoenicia and several Greek islands, but with no luck. There was no record of any Rhea statues being sold and the Selene had not stayed moored for long. As the days dragged into weeks, tempers were running high. Kiya’s hands were blistered and her knees ached. Her once pristine dress was now ruined and in tatters. All the while Solon was growling under his voice at them and Kiya had to bite her tongue to stop herself from yelling back. Altallo and Shern’aath, while more used to muck and dirt, were also
At the dawn of their second month at sea, Altallo peers into the mirror, rubbing his chin where brown hairs had started to grow.
“Mmm, do you think I should get rid of them?” he asks Shern’aath who had just entered. The raptor puts his arms around Altallo and kisses his cheek.
“I think they look good on you. My little fuzzy Altallo.”
“Oh stop you sly lizard!” Altallo giggles, giving Shern’aath a playful nudge in the ribs, causing the raptor to chuckle.
The door bangs open and Kiya stomps, red in the face and smelling foul. She jumps face down into her hammock and seethes. Altallo and Shern’aath jump apart from each other.
“Erm...are you okay Kiya?” Shern’aath asks awkwardly.
“What do you think?” She mumbles into the pillow. “I had to clean out a horrible barrel full of rotten bits of fish. And please, you can keep cuddling each other while I’m here, I don’t mind!”
“I’ll talk to her.” Altallo whispers to Shern’aath who nods and then starts preening his feathers.
“What’s wrong?” he asks sitting next to Kiya.
“Oh I don’t know. The fact we’re on a ship with dumb sharks? I’m tired, I’m dirty, I’m sick of all this!”
“Hey I heard that!” Solon’s voice bellows from above.
Kiya buries her face into a pillow and groans. “I don’t know how much more I can take.”
Altallo awkwardly pats her on the shoulder.
“I’m sure we’ll find the ship soon. Besides the next stop is Egypt again. You could show us around your home town, that beautiful temple again and all the other sites-”
“I don’t want to go back though!”
Kiya bolts upright, glaring at Altallo and Shern’aath stops his preening, his tongue sticking out comically, to stare at them.
“I’m not some tour guide or curiosity!”
“I wasn’t suggesting that, I just thought-”
Kiya lurched off her hammock and stormed out. Altallo sighs and Shern’aath sits next to him and puts an arm around him.
“I’m still really bad at this.”
“Oh I shouldn’t worry. I’m sure when we’ll reach dry land she’ll bounce back eventually. She has a point though, these sharks are pretty dumb.”
“Stop hurting my feelings!” Solon screams again, followed by sniffles and blubbering.

The next day, they land at a port town in the Nile Delta, where the winding branches would soon join into the mighty river as they flow southwards. Altallo and Shern’aath jump ashore and eagerly rush over to a stall selling papyrus maps of sites across Egypt. Kiya hangs back looking moody, while Asterion stands behind her looking concerned.
“We’ll be here all day,” Basilus says to the group. “Be back here before then or we’ll leave without you. Got it.”
Asterion nods solemnly and Kiya merely shrugs.
“Don’t keep us waiting now!” Loukianos calls to them with a smirk while waving a cloth. “It would break our hearts if we had to leave you behind.”
Altallo and Shern’aath meanwhile are obsessed with their papyrus map.
“Oh look, there’s a lion with a man’s head!” Shern’aath exclaims, pointing to a drawing of the great sphinx. “And why is that man green?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe its his favourite colour and he painted himself-”
“Ugh, its Osiris god of the underworld!” Kiya groans, snatching the map from them. “He’s green because it symbolises vegetation and therefore is a sign of rebirth in the afterlife. What are you reading anyway?”
“Its an advert for a guide down the Nile and all the hotspots like these triangles and that lion with a human head.” Shern’aath says excitedly.
Kiya snorts dismissively. “I thought we were here for something more important than sight seeing.”

They make their way into the town’s market, they start searching.
“We’re getting nowhere.” Kiya huffs after an hour. A pair of girls in full make up, wigs and fine gowns walk past, their noses wrinkled when they see Kiya. One whispers something to her friend and they both erupt into giggles. Kiya’s face turns bright red and she seems to deflate.
“Want me to roar at them and tell them I’ll eat their faces?” Shern’aath asks with a smirk.
“Doesn’t matter. Lets just get out of here.”
Altallo looks slightly guilty but then notices a nearby manicurist and his expression brightens
“Come on, lets get you refreshed.”
“But what about-” Kiya starts but Altallo interrupts her.
“Oh never mind about that. I won’t have my friend sad and gloomy. Besides we could all do with a freshen up.”

Inside the manicurist, Kiya sits on a stool while several young women buzz around her. One combs her damp hair, while two others file her nails. A fourth applies make up to her face, green and black around her eyes and reddened lips. Kiya looked more relaxed and happier now, as she chatted and giggled with them. It was unusual to speak to people from her own country after so long. After an hour, one of the women hands her a bronze mirror and she examines herself in its polished surface.
“This is beautiful! Thank you so much.”
“Your friends are almost done too.”
In an adjacent room, Asterion is having a bath while Shern’aath and Altallo have their eyes painted with black kohl. Shern’aath peers doubtfully at himself in a mirror.
“Why exactly do we need to do this?”
“Because it makes you look more presentable.” Kiya replies. “It’ll also keep flies and other pests away. Now if only you’d do away with that smelly old rag and wear more-”
“I beg your pardon! I’ll have you know-”
“Thank you ladies!” Altallo says loudly over Kiya and Shern’aath. “Come on children stop arguing, its embarrassing.”

Outside they see the two girls who had laughed at Kiya earlier. At first they seem taken aback by her appearance, but one of them starts sneering.
“Do you smell that? I think that’s the stink of fish!”
The girls start laughing again, but stutter to stop as a shadow looms over them. Asterion glares down at them, his arms crossed and in front of him, Shern’aath grins, showing off his sharp teeth.
“You know what, I always wanted to know what Egyptians tasted like. Leave my friend alone, or you’ll find me outside your house tonight.”
The girls shriek and run pelmet down a street.
“Welp, they won’t be causing us any more trouble. Hey have any of you seen Alty?”
“Now that you mention it, no,” Kiya starts. “He was here a minute- oh there he is.”
Altallo rounds a corner and dashes up to them.
“Where have you been?”
“Oh er, just...erm, saw something interesting and went to go and see it!” Altallo replies cautiously, rubbing the back of his head. “But anyway lets go! I really want to see the Nile again.”
Kiya and Shern’aath don’t look convinced, but decided not to press the matter.
“You know I really wish I got one of those.” Kiya casually comments as they pass a store display with busts wearing wigs.
“Why?” Altallo asks surprised, while Asterion sniffs at one of the wigs. “You still have your hair.”
“Yeah but its fashionable to shave your hair and wear one of those. Plus it ensures you’re always clean.”
“Sounds stupid to me,” Shern’aath grunts and Kiya shoots him a filthy look. “What? Don’t look at me like that! I like my feathers. I wouldn’t want to wear a silly pile of fluff like that on my head.”

As they round a corner Kiya’s fall upon a massive building with elegant striped columns and large stone walls. A knot clenches in her stomach and her throat goes dry; she was home again. Glancing back at the others and without really thinking, she drifts towards the temple. Inside, it was completely deserted, without a single soul in sight. But everything was as she remembered; towering brightly painted statues of gods and goddesses, an altar with vases full of holy water and small sealed shrines. The scent of incense hung in the air. It had been so long since Kiya had smelled it and it made her start coughing.
“Who’s there?!” a voice rings out from the bowels of the temple, accompanied by the taping of wood on stone.
A large and lumbering tortoise hobbles into the temple. He glowers down at Kiya.
“The temple’s closed. Get out of here.”
“Erm, I wanted to know if there were two priests here, a cat named Neferure and a crocodile named Ramos.”
The tortoise raises an eyebrow.
“They’ve been dead for over a year now.” he says bluntly. “Why?”
Kiya’s face had drained of all colour and her limbs had started to shake.
“N-nothing.” she mutters and staggers out of the temple.

“There you are, we were worried about you and—hey are you okay?”
Kiya ignores Shern’aath’s questions and walks past him.
“Lets just get back to the boat.” she says in a barely audible whisper.

“Welcome back you two!” Loukianos booms, arms wide open and a massive grin on his face. “You’re back early, what gives?”
Kiya glides past the shark without barely looking at him. Loukianos’ smile faulters.
“What’s with the little princess over there?” he asks Shern’aath.
“No idea, she’s been like this all the way back. Any sight of Altallo and Asterion?”
“Nope. They got a few hours left anyway.”
“You really wouldn’t just leave them here?” Shern’aath asks in alarm as Loukianos returns to sewing up a damaged sail.
“Oh I’m sure Solon was just joking. He won’t give up any payment, seems like we’re always in the red. And the old girl could use some love.” he pats the ship’s mast and sighs.
Basilus lumbers past with a barrel slung over his shoulder.
“Not to sound rude, but the captain won’t be too happy seeing you making idle chitchat.”
“Ah yes you’re right.” Loukianos jumps and starts sewing up a damaged sail.
The sun was hanging low in the sky when Asterion and Altallo returned, looking rather forlorn.
“It was another dud I’m afraid. No statues of Rhea were sold or unloaded on any market in this city. Lots of crocodiles and jackals though for some reason,” he continues, holding up a tiny figurine of a jackal holding a staff. “Where’s Kiya?”
“Shut up in the cabin. Alty I’m worried about her, something’s eating her up inside. She won’t speak to me.”
“Lets try all together this time.” Altallo says and walks over to the cabin door. He knocks. “Kiya? Is it ok if we come in?”
No answer.
Altallo pushes the door open. Inside Kiya is sitting on a bed. She had changed from her brand new garments into her older clothes and had washed the make up from her face. The skin around her eyes were red and irritated looking, she had obviously been crying. Asterion sits beside her and gently nuzzles her head, while Altallo and Shern’aath drag some stools over to sit in front of her.
“Kiya what happened?” Altallo asks. Kiya doesn’t answer at first and just stares blankly ahead.
After a pause, Altallo exchanges a look with Shern’aath and Asterion and then gets up. “We’ll give you some breathing room.”
Before they could exit, Kiya speaks up in a croaky, dry voice. “They’re gone.”
The others turn back to her.
Kiya was looking out of the small porthole

The Third Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith return from a trip to the Medieval period to modern London to find it completely deserted, except for UNIT (they’re a task force the Doctor worked with for a while who investigate alien phenomenon and threats.) and giant toy dinosaurs. A society of snobby scientists is bringing back dinosaurs and letting them roam loose on the city as an experiment and have teamed up with a bunch of hippies inside a fake spaceship. Their ultimate goal is to use dinosaurs to conquer the world, destroy humanity, revert Earth back to its ‘wild state’ free from pollution and so they and the hippies will be able to frolic freely until a T-rex decides their its afternoon snack. Oh and there’s a traitor in the UNIT ranks. You can probably guess who it is from the videos I’ve linked.

And yes that is the basic story….and yes its 6 separate episodes long….and yes they treat it dead serious.

Invasion of the Dinosaurs. Mm, what to say about it? After all its famous for only one thing really, the dinosaur special effects. But we’ll get to that later.

Right first things first; story. This is basically the bluntest, barest and most blaring of the big three environmental stories of the Third Doctor’s run. The 70s were a time when the effects humanity was inflicting on the planet were only now just coming into light and there was a massive wave of environmentalism, as can be seen in other media like The Lorax. Doctor Who jumped on this also with three stories; aside from Invasion of the Dinosaurs, they are Inferno and The Green Death, both of which are far stronger in every way. What makes Invasion of the Dinosaurs so weak is just how simple it is; lets go beat up the bad corrupted guys and end on a lesson of saving the planet.
Compare with Green Death, the second strongest of the trio, where the polluting company is more blinded and naive than evil, just wanting to make profit, be efficient and provide for others. Inferno goes even further, never addressing the environment issues head on and in fact just using its visuals instead and its message is more, don’t meddle in things you don’t understand.
All the characters in Dinosaurs meanwhile are kind of standard and the whole episode has a cheesy feel overall. Its too one sided and it makes me think whoever wrote this really hates environmentalists and hippies. The only big twist is another member of UNIT, this time a long running member, betrays them all, but even then its brushed under the rug.

But, erf, lets get to what everyone remembers. The dinosaurs themselves.





...oh boy.
Ok so of course the special effects are rubbish. But then again this was 1974 and on a shoestring budget. But even still, if you do not have the effects to pull off a script, then just change the script. Of course one positive about the dinosaurs is that they provide the most entertainment in this story. That and there are good directing bits here and there, especially the rather sombre and sinister empty streets of London in episode 1. But aside from those few glimmers of creativity or hilarity, there’s little else. Its not laugh out bad like Horns of Nimon or spectacularly bad like The Time Monster.

The biggest weakness of Invasion of the Dinosaurs ultimately is that its just kind of boring. A plodding mess that actually isn’t much of a mess.
So that’s Invasion of the Dinosaurs. I’m sorry it was quite short, I couldn’t think of much else to type.

But for the next review I’m going to take a more notable episode; Survival.
See you then!

Hello and welcome again!
So we come to the end of Dalekcember, the 1980s, the decade that basically killed Doctor Who, at least for a while. I personally think this decade gets too much of a bad rep with fans, sure it includes some of the worst of the worst in the series, but there’s still plenty of great moments, especially towards the end when it became a more reflective and yet also forward thinking series, having been through over 25 years, nearly being cancelled and yet still here it was shambling along for a very brief moment.
Basically the 80s in Doctor Who can be cut up into distinct layers like a cake:
Layer 1. Fresh from the 70s with a new look and new vision; this lasted from 1980 to about 1983
Layer 2. Showing some signs of wear and getting kind of rotten: late 83 to 84
Layer 3. Controversy and really unpleasant, 1984 and 85
Layer 4. Ugly period. 1986
Layer 5. Getting back on its feet. 1987 to 1989.

And 1989 is when you ate all of the cake and realised there’s none left and you’re sad because Layer 5 was so good after the vomit flavoured layers 3 and 4.

But enough of cakes and layers, lets dive into the episodes. Three episodes from the 80s; one in Layer 2, one in Layer 3 and one in Layer 5 and all with different Doctors. How well will they hold up?

No.12. Resurrection of the Daleks

Lets start off with Doctor no.5’s Dalek episode. This was originally going to be for the 20th anniversary special but was moved back due to strikes.
In a miserable part of the then decaying Shad Thames in London, sinister policemen patrol the streets, gunning people down and a military operation has found strange capsules buried in a building. The capsules contain a virus engineered by the Movellans from Destiny of the Daleks which attack and kill Daleks and have been left on Earth by the Daleks for future uses. Meanwhile in the future, the Daleks attack the prison holding Davros their creator. They plan to get Davros to work on a cure for the virus, while they do a bunch of other things like making clones of the leaders of Earth to take over eventually and also clone the Doctor and his companions Turlough and Tegan to assassinate the High Council of Time Lords. Gosh that’s a lot on their list. But Davros has other ideas and wants to use the virus on the Daleks and start from scratch.
This episode’s plot is a real jumble. In fact there are times when it feels like far too much is going on. And there are some parts, like those Earth leader clones, which are never resolved or mentioned again after they’re brought up.
This story is usually compared to Earthshock and for good reason. Both are action filled stories with two of the most iconic villains in the series. However I’d say Resurrection of the Daleks is the strongest of the two. Even though both have brilliant directing and atmosphere, Resurrection has simply more going on than Earthshock. True it has too much going on but I also feel that the characters are stronger, we get to see the space prison staff interact much more in this than the freighter crew in Earthshock and in a more realistic way. There isn’t one clearly evil one who will betray the rest, they’re all just tired and bored workers on this great hulking mess of a ship that are suddenly thrown into a seemingly hopeless war. Like Earthshock the directing is fantastic, with lots of rapid movements to make the viewer part of the chaos and the dark lighting is always a plus, making the sets which were probably cheaply done look much more high budgeted. The story isn’t the strongest ever, but it at least its not completely devoid of any character.
Of note, this is one of if not the most violent and bloody Doctor Who episode ever. It famously even has a higher body count than the first Terminator movie. It may have upset some more sensitive watchers, especially parents, but it does make the episode stand out. It also features the departure of Tegan, one of the longest running companions. Surrounded by people being killed brutally around her, she has become sickened of travelling with the Doctor and results in one of the more heart wrenching and realistic departures. Its not all happiness and fun with the Doctor all the time.

Davros meanwhile is played to excellence by Terry Molloy, one of the all time great Davros’ and is an utter joy to watch as he plots against his own creations and builds a small army of brainwashed minions. The mask of Davros is also much better than Destiny of the Daleks’, allowing much more mouth movement and a clearer voice.

Aside from all this there isn’t many downsides. Most of it boils down to the rushed nature of the story and even then there are a few cases of padding here and there. The biggest flaw I thin is home media; after repeated viewings you see the cracks and faults in it. When it was originally broadcast there home media was not as widespread as it was later in the 90s. VHS was around, but it was mostly limited to feature films at this point and not television episodes. So when broadcast this probably had a massive impact on those who watched it since at the time they wouldnt be able to rewatch it unless if it was rerun.

But overall a much better story than Destiny of the Daleks. Its not one of the best Dalek stories out there, but it still holds up I think.

No.13 Revelation of the Daleks

The Doctor and Peri arrive on Necros, a funeral planet to pay their respects to someone the Doctor once knew. Though to be fair with a name like that it could only ever be a funeral planet or a zombie planet. Necros however also has a massive cryogenic chamber where those with life threatening illnesses can be frozen to await cures, though in reality no one wants these people back since it will create overcrowding.
However the frozen humans are being used by Davros, who has become the ‘Great Healer’ at Necros. He’s converting intelligent, important and powerful humans into a new race of Daleks loyal only to him and the rest into food which is saving this part of the galaxy from starvation. One of his business partners who sells the processed food has become envious and hires an assassin knight named Orcini to kill off Davros. Meanwhile a pair of the mortuary workers have contacted the original Daleks and reported Davros’ location.

Revelation of the Daleks is a brilliant story. It may not be up there with the all time greats like Genesis of the Daleks, but its still the standout of its season which has a bit of a reputation; audiences were revolted by the violence and cruelty of most of the stories and the rest were regarded as pretty awful like Timelash (Who’s day will no doubt come). Revelation along with Vengeance on Varos are pretty much the only good stories from this era and the violence and gore is there with Revelation, but it fits in well with the episode’s tone of funerals, sickness and death. The mortuary workers have lots of personality especially the director of each funeral, who seems to enjoy making dead bodies look nice a bit too much. Don’t worry he gets a suitably nasty and ironic demise at the hands of a nurse who he abuses. There’s also dark streaks of humour here and there. Its not funny but its kind of not supposed to be funny, its the world’s own dark macabre sense of humour which fits the mood perfectly.

After Genesis of the Daleks, this is the best Davros story. He’s at his most subtle and sly here and while he does have a few shouty moments, he relies more on manipulation here. He uses honeyed words and a false sweet caring voice to change the nurse mentioned before from shy and nervous wallflower into a more violent character when he wants the director dead. There’s also an iconic scene where his hand gets blown off, for those wondering why the New Series Davros has a metal hand.


The Doctor doesn’t make much of an appearance in this episode until near the end. So for the most part we have Orcini the assassin knight as a main character and honestly he’s more likeable than the sixth Doctor, which is a real shame because Colin Baker became an awesome Doctor when given the chance on audio. But sadly in his TV run he was shown as brash, aggressive and very pompous. Orcini meanwhile is a dangerous person for sure, but also honourable by giving his earnings to charity. It would have been great to see this character have a spin off, but sadly he gets killed off at the end of this episode….boo.

Necros itself is a very interesting mishmash of ideas. The outside is a snowy wasteland with bare trees and bushes and the funeral/hospital complex has a futuristic look in the cryogenic chambers but a curious mixture of Ancient Egyptian and Medieval Graveyard for the morgue. Its a very nice looking episode overall and is accompanied by some spooky music which used to give me nightmares as a kid! There’s also a DJ to entertain the frozen people (Yes) who’s either very funny or annoying depending on your tastes.

In all Revelation of the Daleks is the best TV story that the 6th Doctor ever had. Its a real shame the rest of his episodes weren’t of this quality, otherwise it would have been an interesting run with an orthodox Doctor. But as is, its short and not very sweet, though at least it did manage to have one or two spikes in quality.

No.14 Remembrance of the Daleks.

In 1963 London, the Doctor hides a powerful device used to customise stars called The Hand of Omega in a grave and two factions of Daleks are after it; the rebel Daleks who are Davros’ originals and led by the Dalek Supreme Council and the white and gold Imperial Daleks led by the emperor Dalek. But what is the Doctor really planning?

Remembrance of the Daleks marks a triumphant to form return for DrWho in the 80s. It had now shaken off all the mess of previous years and was working ahead to get back on its feet fully, and while that sadly never happened, this period is still fondly remembered and one of the first places I’d recommend new fans to go to.
The story is simple enough to follow and there’s plenty of explanations for unfamiliar people to get engaged with the plot. It also helps to have a fish out of water character in the form of Ace, an 80s girl unfamiliar with the early 60s setting and its here we see her showing further hints at her background, building on her introduction in Dragonfire which showed she hated her parents. Here we get hints about her hatred and history with racism; she looks at a card in a window saying ‘No coloureds’ with utter disgust. In fact racism itself plays a massive part in this story. The rebel Daleks are allied with white suprematists and the two Dalek factions despise each other for being different. The Imperial Daleks being cybernetic are viewed as wrong by the organic rebel Daleks and vice versa. There’s also a nice, yet rather unsubtle, scene where the Doctor talks to a black worker in a cafe and discusses cause and effect and its influences on everything, from historical events like the slave trade to something mundane as deciding to put sugar in tea. Pure poetry. And we’ll see racism affect Ace later on and in fact she becomes one of the all time greatest companions, beating nearly all of the New Who companions. I’ll explain why some other time though, but mainly its because she’s not perfect...and has a personality outside of ‘nice and gentle.’

Oh and did I mention in this she beats up a Dalek with a baseball bat?



And topping all this are some of the best action scenes in any Doctor Who story. Massive explosions and great special effects for the most part (Some of the spaceship flights look a bit meh though) including a magical scene where the coffin holding the Hand of Omega floats to its burial site.
Its also a great look into the Seventh Doctor’s manipulative side, where he basically talks the last surviving Dalek into killing itself and then calmly looks down at its remains and says;
“Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.”

The only bad thing I can say about this episode is the music. The composer has a habit of making loud over the top scores that sound like 80s dance clubs. Really bad 80s dance clubs. It doesn’t add much to the tension and its kind of distracting at times.

But in general I rate Remembrance of the Daleks very highly. Its always been regarded as a classic and it deserves its reputation. After the mess of the mid 80s, it fully set the series on route to gaining a foothold again for a brief period. And in the end its just a lot of fun!


The 80s were a surprisingly rich time for Dalek (And cybermen) episodes. I think after the relative dead period that was 70s there seemed to be a push to break away from the silliness of Destiny of the Daleks and also to explore new ground.

So that is all fourteen Dalek episodes reviewed. Its weird, for such a popular villain they only appear fourteen times in the entirety of Classic Doctor Who’s run time yet they always make an impression whenever they appear, even in some more basic episodes. The Daleks will remain a popular design and chilling villain with their nuclear war backstory, staccato electronic voice, catchline of ‘EXTERMINATE’ and unorthodox appearance. Even if the in the new series I wish they’d give them a rest instead of dragging them back every year. Everyone needs a rest every once in a while!

I do hope you have all enjoyed these journals [All 4 of you who read it ] and I look forward to what this new year will bring. :O

Hello and welcome to Dalekcember part 2, where we go into the mysterious, disco wonderland of the 1970s.
Now this decade is regarded as a practical gold mine for Dr Who, and it is one of its high points, though not so much with Dalek stories. Aside from one, the famous Genesis of the Daleks, most of the rest of the 70s Dalek episodes are seen as either average. And while I personally think there is some more merit to some of them, yeah this was a pretty standard decade for Dalek stories. Lets take a look in detail.

No.7: Day of the Daleks.

A peace conference taking place in a remote house is suddenly attacked by gurella fighters from the future which ravaged by wars and then conquered by the Daleks. They believe the host of the peace conference caused the war by blowing up the house with the delegates in them. But what is the real reason?

The most fascinating aspect of this story is the time travel involved. As it turns out its the gurellas themselves who caused the war when they blew up the house, creating a recursive loop. Its really the first time the series touched on the consequences of changing history. Before it was all ‘You cannot change history, not one line’ and the Doctor and co. would get away unscathed, while here you get the full effects of meddling with history and the damage it can cause.

Aside from that there’s not much else to be honest. The Daleks themselves were never supposed to be in this story, originally called ‘Years of Doom’. They were added in the last minute because of demand from the public for their return after 5 years of no Daleks. And remember this was the days before VHS and the Internet, so for younger viewers there was a lot of hype over those 5 years to finally seeing the Daleks again, some for the very first time ever. And….in that regard the Daleks are just kind of there. No big scheme really, they invaded the Earth and are now just strip mining it. Oh and they have slaves called Ogrons which are basically gorilla people. They’re also just kind of there and only serve the purpose of delaying the Dalek’s screen time until the big reveal. Also there’s a huge battle scene where the Daleks and Ogrons attack the house and its very disappointing. There are only 3 Daleks and they and the Ogrons just casually stroll into the house through blasts of morter fire. I do like the golden leader Dalek though.

Overall a pretty interesting idea that is ironically spoiled by the Daleks. Not a good story, but not the worst.

No.8: Planet of the Daleks

Following on from Frontier In Space, where the Daleks hired the Master to cause a war between humans and samurai reptiles, the Doctor and Jo track the Daleks to a planet called Spirodon. Here they are enslaving the invisible inhabitants to try and learn how to become invisible themselves. As well as that, they have a huge army in a huge fridge and there’s also a group of Thals, yeah remember them, who have pitched up to stop the Daleks.

Planet of the Daleks is a very bland story. Unlike Day of the Daleks where there was at least one good aspect, Planet of the Daleks is just a listless retread of the very first ever Dalek story; there are Thals, an elevator scene, a Dalek cuts through a door, skulking through caves, a hostile forest, unseen menaces, etc, only it lacks anything that made the first Dalek story notable. The jungle sets are ok but you can tell they’re plastic and they reused them a lot and most of the special effects are very ropey. You could read in some parallels or influences with the jungle environment and combat between Spirodon and the Vietnam War, which was still raging on when this was made in fact, but thats only really surface detail

I know I’ve skimmed through this story at a ridiculous speed but really there’s nothing much to talk about here. Its not a bad episode, it is entertaining in its own way, but is a pretty hollow experience. Its basically the first Dalek story with different clothes and in my opinion is the weakest Dalek story in the classic series.

No.9. Death to the Daleks

And from the weakest of Jon Pertwee’s Dalek stories to his strongest. Death to the Daleks sees The Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith stranded on the planet Exxilon, due to a mysterious city with a power draining beacon. Also on the planet are a group of humans looking for a cure to an epidemic and a Dalek expedition. With the Dalek’s weapons not working, both parties make an uneasy alliance and face off against hostile natives who worship the city. But secretly, the Daleks arm themselves with machine guns. The Doctor and Sarah team up with some ‘heretic’ Exxilons, who do not worship the city, and venture into the city’s innards to take it out of action. Simple? Well not really. The city itself has a computerised mind and has laid out traps and puzzles which the Doctor has to solve to get into its centre and destroy it.

If Planet of the Daleks asked ‘what would happen if the Daleks were invisible?’, Death to the Daleks asks ‘What would happen if the Daleks couldn’t use their guns’, which is a far more interesting premise since you take away the Dalek’s biggest weapon; killing people. Actually, in all aspects, Death is a better story than Planet of the Daleks and Day of the Daleks. Its one of the first steps into truly gothic horror for the series, with some wonderful atmosphere and gloomy lighting. The Pertwee era dealt with horror for sure, but most of its horror was usually gritty and grounded. Here the horror is more fantasy orientated with crazy cults, foggy scenery, zombies, a killer city and blood sacrifices. There’s also some great design work, the city invokes towering Mesopotamian ziggurats and Mayan pyramids on the outside, but inside its eerily stark and bland, it doesn’t look like a place people would live in. Its also nice to see alien looking aliens that aren’t all evil, but who aren’t complete saps, something which new Who does suffer from, since most of its good aliens are friends to the children or something like that.

That being said there are some issues. Some are merely due to low budgets, like the entrance of the human ship is basically a beaded curtain and the cliffhanger of episode 3 is a marking on the city floor. I know its an electrified area, but its just a red pattern on the floor, kind of like something you’d see at grandma’s house. Not exactly terrifying.
Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah big faults. Well, first off some of the human characters are a bit meh. Aside from one who is only interested in getting the cure to Earth, the others are just the red-shirts and the pretty guy and girl who will get together at the end. But a bigger issue is the music. Now for the most part its ok, but then there’s the theme they used for the Daleks, which sounds like a sad trombone. Its not really a theme you want to us if you’re trying to make your main threat feel. Quite the opposite, it makes them feel sad and comedic, especially when they’re in such a vulnerable state without weapons.

But in all I think Death to the Daleks raises above the faults and delivers a pretty solid, if a bit standard, adventure. Its a lot of fun and I know I’m going to watch it again many times in the future.

No.10 Genesis of the Daleks

Now we move from the Pertwee era to the Tom Baker era and boy is this a big one. If there’s any Doctor Who episodes from the Classic series you’ve seen its probably either Genesis of the Daleks or Pyramids of Mars, both considered some of the best of the best. And its easy to see why, both have amazing dark storylines and atmosphere, brilliant characters and acting and memorable villains. Of course Pyramids will have its time to shine later on, for now lets focus on Genesis.
The Time Lords bring the Doctor and his companions Sarah Jane Smith and Harry to Skaro in the far distant past during the huge war between the Thals and Kaleds [Kaldes=Daleks], who live in large cities protected by domes. Skaro has been decimated by the biological, chemical and nuclear weapons used in the war and mutations in both races are exiled into the wasteland. Each side is close to collapse; the Thals are pouring all their remaining resources into a huge missile, while the Kaleds have reduced to propping up bodies in trenches to make it seem like they have a greater force and hanging prisoners to conserve ammunition.

The Time Lords have predicted that if left unchecked, the Daleks will one day will rule the universe and send the Doctor to either destroy the Daleks, learn an inherent weakness that could be used to defeat them or alter them to become less aggressive creatures.

In the Kaled city, the scientist Davros decides to accelerate the speed of mutation in the Kaleds to form the ultimate life-form, the Dalek, while also building travel machines for them. He also betrays his own people to stop them interfering with his work by helping the Thals to destroy the Kaled dome and then sends the Daleks on a rampage through the Thal city. But Davros has also driven his Daleks too far, reducing their rationality, reason, making them more aggressive and violent and making them believe they are the supreme race. In the end, the Daleks decide they do not need Davros any more and shoot him down.

There are so many good parts to this story. The biggest is Davros, though sadly every Dalek story after this has Davros in it and diminishes the Daleks to revolving around him constantly rather than being their own devious selves, ironic given the ending this episode gives to Davros. But anyway, Davros here is probably at his best, though one of the 80s episodes comes close. He’s terrifyingly insane and yet also ruthless and highly intelligent. Coupled with Michael Wisher’s on point performance and the amazing wizened make up leads to one of the most memorable villains in any Doctor Who story, bar none. And this scene….oh this scene, it is pure gold;



He’s also accompanied by Nyder, one of the most effortlessly creepy characters who is like a Gestapo commander always hanging around Davros’ shoulder like a vulture. There are also a lot of other fascinating characters around the place, including Kaleds who don’t think Davros is the most sane person [I can’t imagine why.] and its nice to see the Thals again, this time with proper clothes on and not being all wishywashy, here they’re toughened soldiers.
The whole world of Skaro feels so gritty and nasty, surprising given there’s only about five or so major locations, as most of it is conveyed with character and dialogue. See New Who? You don’t have to be big to be brilliant. Speaking of which I love the Kaled/Thal war here, its portrayed as a brutal fight to the death with crude weapons mixed with modern ones as the resources run dry, unlike in New Who where they had hand land mines….with eyes….really? Where are the gas masks? The shells? The rifles? No? Hand land mines with eyes are apparently the ‘safe’ option….bleurgh, softer generation!

Are there problems? Yes. The Doctor and Harry enter a cave where Davros’ experiments on animals are left. Some of these turn out to be hilariously awful giant clams which I think are supposed to be scary but you can’t make clams scary unless if they’re covered in blood and bits of people. The first time they pop up they’re ok because they move around, but the second time they appear is just downright embarrassing. The cast pretend to be scared, but the clams don’t do anything at all, so it comes across as more of a pantomime.
Genesis also continues the themes of genetic purity, Nazi and WW2 symbolism and the horrors of war, which is good but in this they’re very unsubtle about it. In early Dalek stories it was all subtext, here its smacking you over the head that “THE DALEKS ARE NAZIS!”. That and some of the cliffhangers are bit naff.

But aside from that Genesis has endured as a classic for very obvious reasons. It was great then, its still great now. Its the crowning achievement of Dalek stories in the 70s and possible as a whole in Doctor Who.

No.11 Destiny of the Daleks

Oh boy. Its time for another stupid Dalek story. Yes the infamous Destiny of the Daleks….this is going to be fun.

The Doctor and a newly regenerated Romana arrive on Skaro to find the Daleks in a stalemate with a race of Egyptian space disco robots called the Movellans, both of whom are all logical based now. The Daleks are digging up their city to try and find Davros, who isn’t dead but just frozen;

Doctor: “But you’re supposed to be dead!”

Davros: “...I got better.”

The Daleks want Davros to reprogramme their computers to have a new element in them to defeat the Movellans. The Movellans want the Doctor to do the same for them. Insanity and stupidity ensues….woo.

Ok lets get this out of the way, Destiny of the Daleks is bad. Really bad, but kind of an enjoyable way. Its just so stupid and silly and yet its also very likeable in how chintzy and 70s it is. The Movellans are one of the most glamorous alien races ever in Doctor Who, I could see them stomping around a dance floor. Maybe that’s why they’re one of the more popular Doctor Who cosplays for the ladies, they do have a great look and are more iconic than dressing up as New Who’s ordinary Earth girl line up. But as the Dalek’s greatest enemies….yeah, no we’re not buying it.
Also Daleks are apparently logical now. Daleks who are based around fear, malice and hatred are extremely logical creatures of course. If they wanted to do this right, why didn’t they have the Cybermen vs the Daleks? Two of the biggest foes against each other and the Cybermen actually are logic based.
This is the start of Daleks and Davros’ violent and abusive relationship [Davros should really leave the Daleks and sue them.]. And sadly this is Davros’ worst episode. He likes the fanaticism of Genesis and instead could be any old shouty villain. Also the mask they used on the actor was far too small. Its not the actor’s fault, he’s doing all he can, but that mask really hampers his voice which is a real shame.
There’s also one big continuity issue. Now normally this isn’t too big for me, but here its a bit infuriating. The Daleks are revealed to be robots. Despite the fact they’re not, they have an organic core….and no, this wasn’t a different writer, this was written by their creator. Its like he forgot what he had created, but that wouldn’t surprise me.
Aside from that the story just looks kind of shoddy. The Dalek props are pretty battered looking and could do with some tlc. The quarry used for Skaro is also way too green for a barren wasteland. Its so odd seeing a Dalek frolicking around in wild flowers. There are one or two nice visual effects like a spaceship flying, but overall this is not a pretty episode.
The one positive I can give is that it introduced Romana’s second reincarnation, who is a very cool companion. She’s just one of the sweetest and yet also elegant companions in the entire roster.

Destiny of the Daleks does have some entertainment in its silly tacky wacky antics, but its not a good episode at all. I say its better than Planet of the Daleks though, because it is different and more enjoyable, but you don’t need to watch this.

The 1970s were an unusual time for the Daleks, yet not an interesting one. While the 60s and 80s which had lots of experimentation and the Daleks appearing usually heralded a major change, the 70s have one huge high point and the rest are mostly just average and generic. They’re by no means bad and can be fun entertainment but aside from Genesis they don’t add that much.

Next time we tackle the 80s. How did the Daleks hold up in the decade of synth music, wacky hair, yuppies and Doctor Who’s death rolls? Tune in later to find out.

Hello everyone and welcome to a new special review series; Dalekcember! Since I haven't reviewed any episodes with those lovable tin can terrors, I decided to try the whole lot of them. I do love a good challenge anyway! So let us start with DrWho's beginnings, the 1960s which were the most Dalek crazy times until the 2000s and 2010s. People had never seen anything like them in popular culture before and they were hyped, with Dalek merchandise galore, even Dalek themed food and music!
The First Doctor, William Hartnell, had the most encounters with the Daleks in four stories, including one that spanned twelve episodes; the longest ever Doctor Who story. After him, Doctor no.2, Patrick Troughton only encountered them twice as audiences started to tire of them and wanted something new. So do these vintage Dalek episodes hold up? Lets take a look.

No.1. The Daleks/The Mutants

The second ever DrWho story had the Doctor, Susan, Barbara and Ian land on the desolate, radioactive wasteland of Skaro, with eerie jungles of petrified trees, a silent metal city and a glowing lake full of mutants. Living on Skaro are the Daleks, confined to their metal city and the Thals, a race of blond people who live in the wilderness. Its not long though when they encounter the xenophobic Daleks and are captured.

This story laid down the basis for so much, including the sci-fi element was solidified and the Daleks themselves. They guaranteed Doctor Who's success. It was also the first ever DrWho story novelised and has become one of its most famous and most often told.

So it may be a surprised when I say that this story in the whole is.....kind of boring. Well ok not all of it, but the first four episodes are brilliant, but as soon as the main cast escape the Dalek city and join up with the Thals, things get so slow. You'd think a plot about sneaking into a city full of killer tank aliens would be thrilling, but nah its not. There's a whole episode where Barbara, Ian and two blond fashion models are skulking around in some gloomy cave. The Thals themselves are kind of unlikable also, utterly passive pushovers who won't even lift a finger to save their own lives when the Daleks plan to dump radioactive waste into the atmosphere. You kind of wish the Daleks would kill them off just to stop their whinging. And what in the heck are they wearing?! The Thal women look like they have lamp stands on their heads.

Now despite all the gripes, this is still a very respectable story. The directing for the time was stylish and you cannot deny its imagination and themes that are just as relevant as they were in 1964; racism, xenophobia, nuclear war and its consequences...in fact its kind of uncomfortable just how much hasn't changed in fifty or so years! So in that regard it can stand on its own.

No.2. The Dalek Invasion of Earth

We visited the Daleks on their planet, so now they invade ours. Yes its the sequel to the Daleks! And how is it? Um...its good?

Well alright, lets go from the beginning. Doctor and co. land on Earth in the year 2164, even though it still looks like the 1960s and find the Daleks have invaded and are turning some humans into 'robots' wearing silly hats. They also want to blow up the Earth's core and then drive the planet around the universe like a giant spaceship. Very silly stuff for sure.

The plot may be slightly basic, but I think its save graces are the themes it brings up, Susan's departure and some of the location filming. Susan's departure is the first ever companion departure, a pivotal and moving scene, as the Doctor lets his granddaughter go to be with a man she falls in love with and to grow up....on messed up future Earth. Oh Doctor. This marks an important step in the series' evolution, a sign that it would last longer than expected.
The Dalek Invasion of Earth really taps into a part of 60s British psyche, that of what would have happened if the Nazis invaded Britain. There's no denying the Daleks are based on Nazism; with genocide and subjugation....even though the British Empire did that also, but that's history for you. Its all classic 60s paranoia. And some of the shots are just amazing, especially the Daleks gliding around abandoned London, especially famous locations such as Westminster and London Bridge. Its good enough to counter the bad special effects, especially the Dalek spaceship which I'm sure is a pie tray on a string!
There are also a few grey morality characters, with some people who'd do anything to get a few scraps of food. It gives a sense of just how bad things have become on Earth. The man Susan falls in love with also scolds her for her suggestion that they should just use the TARDIS to run away from anything bad; its his home, its where he belongs.

So overall, this was a step up in some parts from the first Dalek story, its tighter and has more energy, though it still has a bit of flab in it and it can be pretty laughable by today's standards.

No.3. The Chase

And here is one of the oddballs of all the Dalek, if not DrWho stories in general. The Chase is pretty much what it says on the tin; Daleks chase the TARDIS crew from place to place. This is definitely the most comedic of the Dalek episodes. It lacks the seriousness of the last two and instead just has fun with its silliness. There are a few derpy Daleks here and there and some who sound like the voice actors have colds even!
There's really not much else to say about this episode except for the places the TARDIS crew and Daleks go to; from a dried up sea, the Mary Celeste and to a city of robots to make merchandise from. Also Ian and Barbara leave the series after a massive row with the Doctor, though as they leave he does say he will miss them, which is kind of the only way these characters could leave.
This is a kind of love it or hate it experience. Its rather shoddy in places and rather brilliant in some parts. I know I always enjoy its silly stupid antics, but you might not.

No.4. The Daleks Master Plan

The Big one. Twelve episodes of Daleks...well 11 and a half of Daleks. This is the largest story of DrWho ever. And thats kind of one of its biggest problems.
But there's a lot of good points;
+very stylish and imaginative directing. From the surviving footage [3 out of 12 episodes exist visually], it can be said this would be a very visually interesting story.
+Katarina's death. Ah poor Katarina, you were such a brief yet sweet companion. The reason why she was killed off was because the writing staff thought it would be awkward to have a companion who thought the Doctor was a god. [She's from Ancient Greece you see]. Her death is sudden, brutal and very sad. It just shows travelling with the Doctor is actually very dangerous.
+The Daleks are back to their firespitting scariness.
+Mavic Chen makes a great secondary villain, despite the unfortunate yellowface and blackface make up. He's hungry for power and believes to be equal to the Daleks and then thinks he will be their master...until they shoot him down.
+Very spooky music and atmosphere
+ Sara Kingdom is a great new companion, until her death at the end of the episode. She's a cool, tough and a dependant character who's not afraid to go on the offence and kick some butt. Whenever New Who claims their female companions are better than any of the Classics, well...they're just generalising.

Sadly this story has quite a few warts:
-ITS TOO LONG! This story can really drag! It roars into action in the first five episodes and then the next three really slow down the pace. Things do pick up afterwards, though that middle part still feels like a long stretch of desert.
-Its a tonal mess. The first five episodes and the last two have a lot of tragedy and sadness in them, setting up a very bleak tone. But this is in stark contrast to that dratted middle three again. As well as being slow, they're awfully cheery and twee. It kind of makes you forget this is a story which has people suffocating in space, being shot or aged to death by the Dalek's ultimate weapon.

I know this story is considered a classic and I can see why, but personally I find it just a bit too jumbled up and clumsy. It has some brilliant aspects, but the whole is less than the sum of its parts in this case. Perhaps if the any more episodes are found visually, it could change opinions.

No.5. The Power of the Daleks

Ah now this is a great one. Power of the Daleks is the first story to have the Second Doctor, Patrick Troughton. And what a way to introduce the new Doctor! Most reviewers who look at this story tend to focus on the Doctor himself and ignore the rest of the story. Kind of like how in 'Vincent and the Doctor', they focus on the relationship between the Doctor and Vincent Van Gogh and ignore the embarrassing evil space chicken hiding in a church. But unlike that space chicken, the rest of Power of the Daleks is awesome and not an embarrassing pile of something brown and sticking lurking under a pile of gold.

The recently regenerated Doctor and his companions, Ben and Polly, arrive on an Earth colony on the planet Vulcan. A scientist discovers a crashed space capsule, finding three Daleks inside and decides to reactivate them. The Daleks go around being servants to the humans, who blindly ignore the Doctor as they deal with their own issues.

What's startling about the Daleks in this story is how underplayed. Their motivation here isn't conquer the universe, but just kill everyone in this colony, as that's what Daleks do. They're also very devious; realising they're outnumbered and outgunned, they pretend to be friends to the careless, shallow humans around them until they are in a position of power. A few New Who writes claim you can't make the Daleks scary anymore because of their popularity, but I happily disagree. Power of the Daleks is easily the creepiest Dalek episode ever. Most of it is actually down to their presence and the building foreboding and dread atmosphere in the first few episodes which mounts up to explosive climax. Its a major strength of multi-episode stories, the build up and suspense, which is hard to do in a new 45 minute episode which usually ends up being rushed or about as well paced as a cheetah on a sugar rush.

Aside from the Daleks, the rest of the colony is also pretty sinister. The whole architecture of the place is claustrophobic and the hallways are ominously Dalek shaped. The people are a real mixture; you have an old governor who loves his position and a bumbler, a growing band of rebels who are upset with his regime, a traitorous vice-governor who wants everyone suppressed and a scientists who doesn't care about either side and just wants a breakthrough to be recognised. In short its basically a bunch of people who make a powder keg and the Daleks are the spark. Its so aggravating and tense when the Doctor is basically screaming at them all about the growing danger of the Daleks and yet no one pays him any mind.

Power of the Daleks' reputation has long since been 'Its the first one with the Second Doctor', but much like a Youtuber named Stubagful, I think Power should also be remembered for its amazing atmosphere and mastery in storytelling and pacing. It puts many New Who Dalek episodes to shame, even after 50 years.

No.6 The Evil of the Daleks

And so we come full circle, the last of the 60s Dalek episodes and in fact what was going to be their last appearance in Doctor Who...permanently. Yes in 1967 it was suggested to kill off the most popular of all Doctor Who villains. But as you can imagine, that didn't happen.
The Evil of the Daleks has an interesting plot. The Daleks lure the Doctor and his companion Jamie [Who is awesome and wears a kilt, because SCOTLAND!] to a fancy manor house in 1866, where they force the Doctor to send Jamie into a number of tests to try and save a young girl named Victoria. The tests are used to create a formula called 'The Human Factor' which includes emotions that are alien to the Daleks; pity, friendship, compassion and mercy. But the Daleks then take the Doctor and Jamie to Skaro, where the Emperor Dalek announces its plans to instead create a Dalek factor; the willingness to obey and to destroy, for the Doctor to spread through the entire history of Earth and beyond.

Evil of the Daleks is not as strong as Power of the Daleks. Thats not to say its bad, by no means, its still one of the all time greats. It has a bit of a more goofier plot than Power, which was pretty gritty, thought it does play around with the ideas of what makes us human, so there is that. Instead of tight metal corridors, we have fancy elegant manor settings which are a real delight as the BBC always do a good job with period dramas. It also provides a stark contrast with the sci-fi looking Daleks. The characters are a nowhere near as complex as those of Power or Dalek Invasion of Earth, lots of black and whites, with a few people who just turn out to be under Dalek mind control. The scenes on Skaro also look magnificent, with the awesome giant Emperor Dalek as a centrepiece. Another high point are the battle scenes between humanised Daleks and the Emperor's guard, with brilliant special effects for the time.

Overall, a tour de force of an episode. It may not have as much meat as Power or other Dalek stories, but its still a fun story.

So that was the 60s Dalek episodes. A mixed batch of experimental, good and bad. I think the Second Doctor's were overall more solid, but that doesn't mean the First Doctor's weren't completely terrible. They pushed the limits of what they could do and ended up with some satisfying results, or at the least some interesting ones.

Next time join me for the 70s Dalek Episodes; will the Daleks find romance in boogie wonderland? Or will it just be a chintzy mess? find out next time.

Hello all.

Sorry for being silent for a while. I've been having a massive and difficult writer's block when it comes to Tales of The Eternals. University has been pushing my energy out of my mind and I can't seem to get things out. Everytime I write it feels lame and limp and I'm starting to get irate with what I've done in Tales.

So I'll probably go quiet for now. Though I may make new journals here and there again.

Hope to get writing again real soon! And sorry for the inactivity :o

Hello and welcome once again to another review of DrWho. This time we’ll be looking at a journey with the Third Doctor to Atlantis, full of fantastic mythical creatures, mysterious ancient artefacts and a butt tonne of boredom and nonsense!
Yeah, Atlantis in its two appearances in Doctor Who have usually been pretty much the kiss of death for the episode. When last we saw it in the Underwater Menace, a crazy German scientist wants to blow up the world just because. So now when it came to the show’s second attempt at Atlantis, was it an improvement? No….no it wasn’t.

In the Time Monster, the Master has infiltrated a research centre and is now conducting experiments with a machine used time experiments called, ugh, TOMTIT...and yes its pronounced Tom Tit. Did the writers even read what they put down? Um, well anyway, he’s doing this to disrupt the flow of time to summon a creature from a trident shaped crystal, a time eater called Kronos. People grow older and younger, the day never ends and so on. But he finds out that he needs a much bigger crystal that was made long ago in ancient Atlantis, where Kronos was worshipped. The Master first tries kidnapping an Atlantean priest to help summon Kronos, but that doesn’t end well, so the Master travels to Atlantis followed by the Doctor and Jo. While the Master flirts with the Atlantean queen and plots to have the king discredited, Jo and the Doctor search a labyrinth for the true crystal which is guarded by a minotaur. But the crystal is snatched from them by the Master who summons Kronos who destroys Atlantis. The Master escapes in his TARDIS with Jo, followed by the Doctor. Then shenanigans with TARDISes withing TARDISes, Kronos promises to torture the Master, everyone goes home and we end on a Scooby Doo laugh….boo.

The Time Monster ends Doctor Who’s ninth season in 1972. What was the rest of the season like? Well, put brutally not good. There are two good episodes and the rest are mediocre. The Time Monster is probably the worst out of all of this season. Like the debut story of Season 9, Day of the Daleks, it tried doing something new and fresh. But like Day of the Daleks it doesn’t work, the difference between the two being that Day of the Daleks is at least short and fast moving, The Time Monster just drags.
And that is its biggest problem. For a story with such grand visions, its extremely sluggish and everything seems so lax. There’s no urgency, no flare, no imagination in the direction and all the acting from the guest cast is rather wooden. It feels more like a silly romp than the big spectacular end to the season. In fact its not until near the end that you actually see Atlantis, most of the time its just sat around a research centre hoping something, ANYTHING will happen.
Production wise its an okayish story. Atlantis looks quite nice with great Minoan inspired designs, though the direction, especially the lighting, just makes it feel so flat and dull. The science lab looks very bare bones in comparision. But the two biggest let downs are the TARDIS redesign that only appeared in The Time Monster and never again and Kronos’ first appearance. The redesign for the TARDIS’ interior is just ugly and I’m glad it was junked.
Our big threat Kronos who is actually quite a neutral entity, has two forms that we see. The second and most effective is just simply a pair of eyes floating in a mist and an ethereal voice saying how Kronos is neither good nor bad, how gender has no meaning for him/her and that he/she is both a creator and a destroyer. This is really interesting stuff.
But unfortunately the first design we see is….well just take a look:



...its a flailing pigeon wearing a helmet! With fluffy slippers too! What a silly design! I know they were going for some sort of Angel of Death while working in an Ancient Greek vibe, but the design just looks so laughable in realisation.

Ok, positives. There’s only one real positive I can think of and that is this scene with Jo and the Doctor:



You so rarely get scenes like this between the companion and the Doctor nowadays, especially in the Tenth Doctor era. Back then it was mostly blubbering, moping and whining. But here you get so much more mystery and wonder. You don’t see Galifrey but just from the Doctor’s dialogue you get a full image. Also I like how there is a mystery in what his worst day had been. But unlike the New Series which played it up like a universe shattering mystery, oooh! What’s his name?! Oooh! But here, its just the experiences someone had in his life, which is far more interesting than any big prophecy or foretelling.
And on the side note the Minotaur does provide some eye candy for people who like that sort of thing. Even if the mask is so clearly a mask in the floodlit labyrinth.

So the Time Monster. It was kind of bad. Not even in an its so funny way like Horns of Nimon or the other Atlantean episode The Underwater Menace (who’s day will no doubt come), but in a sluggish lumbering way. Its really not a fun watch, but I do give it credit for its imagination and a few good scenes with the Doctor, Jo and the Master. But everything else? Not really up to scratch. A big bloated disappointment.

Well thats another one down. Next up I will offer a mix of New and Classic, just to add variation...and someone told me to do a positive New Who review instead of bashing it. So for next time here are your choices:

New:
-Blink
-Midnight
-World Enough and Time
-Mummy on the Orient Express
-Flatline

Classic;
-Pyramids of Mars; a very violent Egyptian god is awoken ready to turn Earth into a desolate desert.
-The King’s Demons; there’s a robot on the English throne...no its not as good as it sounds
-Castrovalva; A summery, relaxed introduction to Doctor no.5
-The Invasion; Doctor no.2 faces an old enemy
-The Greatest Show in the Galaxy; Altallo’s personally favourite episode, complete with killer robot clowns!

So we've had an announcement a week or so ago about the 13th Doctor being a woman and opinions have been polarised. What are my thoughts?
Honestly I'm ok with the Doctor being a woman, as long as the personality is there and the writing supports the Doctor. And thankfully with a new team there may hopefully be some fresh air breathed into the series.

I also feel like audiences will always be wary and even unwilling of change. But here's the thing, Doctor Who is all about change. But then again, even way back in the series' misty past there was a fear of change.
Lets rewind the clocks to 1966, William Hartnell, Doctor no.1 had regenerated to Patrick Troughton, Doctor no.2. And audiences at the time HATED the change. They had gotten used to the first Doctor's reign and saw the strange younger Doctor as utterly silly.
But soon enough Doctor no.2 won many audiences and is even now considered one of the best Doctors. He also created the fun side of the Doctor; Doctor no.1 could be nice, especially later on, but he was initially quite a cold, cantankerous and even downright diabolical character. While no.2 felt like your best friend in many ways.

What I'm saying is, change should be embraced. Sure it can be clumsy and even bad at times, but its good to move forwards and look to the future. The new turn may also break the ice with rather disillusioned fans like myself with the new series. I just got fed up with Doctor 11's run mostly because it didn't feel like DrWho anymore, it was more soap opera with a few aliens here and there who were seen more as jokes rather than threats or wonders, very stale scenery (lots of dull generic spaceships or Victorian London) and plots so convoluted and complex that it makes Kingdom Hearts blush. Sometimes a simple plot can go further than any mixed, interwoven or mashed up storyline.
Also as nice as it was to have throwbacks to old series, which is needed sometimes, but too much and the series just feels wistful. This was especially a bad in Russel Davies' reign when the series would mope about Rose Tyler, a companion who honestly doesn't have much personality. It just felt so pathetic at that point and all the sci-fi stuff seemed to have been shoved aside.
Thankfully the latest season really ticked a lot of improvements.

But as for the New Doctor, I hope the writing really does help her out. Personally I feel that to succeed this new Doctor must;
1. Not draw attention to the fact she's a woman all the time. It would be pretty painful and wouldn't create a good personality if in every episode she mentions 'Hey hey hey, I got boobs and a vag now!'. Yes we know....drop it

2. If she's weird like all the other good Doctors. For me every Doctor should be eccentric and know about but don't care for Earth's normal customs and fashions and instead go their own way. Its what Doctors 9 and 10 honestly never achieved. If you were to drop any of the Doctors into a crowd you'd probably spot most of them except 9 and 10. After all no one really wears a ridiculously long multicoloured scarf everyday do they?

But thats just my opinions.
What about you lot? Are you excited for the new Doctor? Or do you not care anymore?
Feel free to comment.

Just had a clean out of my profile as well as my Skype. Sorry for people on them, they were just getting cluttered and messy looking.
Plus some things have just changed too much with a few people, for the worse mostly :o

I hope to fill my profile again someday, but a bit more streamlined looking.

Tales of the Eternals chapter 22

A small villa lies nestled in a small ridge on a mountainside, surrounded by oak, poplar and olive trees. The warm air is rich in the scents of flowers and the faint tang of salty air from the sea, glittering on the horizon. In a walled garden Shern’aath is sitting on a wall drawing patterns and flowers onto a vase with a paintbrush. Asterion sits down next to him and Shern’aath shows him the stone he’s working on. Both are now dressed in fresh white tunics with green meandering patterns. On the villa’s sheltered porch, Kiya is dozing peacefully on a couch.
A winding path from the villa leads out to a cobblestone road. At the entrance to the villa’s path, an elegant statue of the goddess Rhea stands. She has wears a crown made of coral and sea shells atop her long hair and one of her hands rests on the head of a massive lion standing at her side. The peace of the afternoon is disturbed by a great rumbling and creaking. A heavily loaded wagon of rather crudely made statues wobbles along the road, pulled by two great oxen and driven by a skinny, weary looking pinkish grey gecko. He stifles a huge yawn and thinks longingly of a clean bed waiting for him at the end of the road when he spies the statue. His large eyes brighten with interest and he stops the cart. Quick as a flash, he starts crawling around and on the statue.
“Ooh, such craftsmanship!” He mumbles to himself in a nasally voice. “No flaws, perfect smooth finish and the detailing. Oh the detailing! It puts those from Anatolia to shame! This would fetch a pretty price in Cyprus or, dare I dream, the pharaoh’s court in Egypt! Yes yes! Well,” he takes a quick glance around, not noticing the villa hidden by the trees. “Whoever dumped this here, well its their loss!”
He starts pushing it towards the cart, puffing and wheezing. As he finally manages to push the statue into the cart, Altallo appears on the road carrying a vase full of olive oil. He has exchanged his poncho and headdress for a white tunic, a yellow cloak with blue patterns and a wide sun hat. He approaches the oxen and starts petting them.
“Good afternoon!” He says to the driver as one of the oxen licks his ears.
“Wha-oh hello.” the lizard pants, wiping his brow and sighing.
“Long journey?” Altallo inquires.
“Oh yes. I’ve been travelling all the way from Lindos. Still, at least Rhodes isn’t too far away now and then I can rest on my ship. I’d stay and chat, but I must get going.”
“Of course, please don’t let me detain you.” says Altallo smiling up at him. “Goodbye.”
“Goodbye, I hope we see each other again.”
The lizard’s cart trundles off and Altallo makes his way down to the villa, but stops dead in his tracks. He notices a patch of earth where his ship had been. Frowning he looks up and down the road, spotting the cart as it disappears over the horizons. His face drains of all colour and his mouth drops open. He stutters and stammers, his brain grinding to a halt.
“Wait come back!” he yells before briefly lurching in the direction the cart was heading. He runs down towards the villa, where Shern’aath and Asterion were walking out of the walled garden.
“Alty what’s the-” Shern’aath begins.
“No time to explain, come on you two. Where’s Kiya?!”
Kiya jerks awake when Altallo pokes her head.
“Wassgoingon?” she mumbles groggily.
“The ship has been taken to Rhodes. If we hurry we can get there!”
“What?!” Shern’aath gasps. “Well come on then!”
“It never ends!” Kiya groans and slumps face-first into her pillow.

A few minutes later they are wading through the bustling streets of Rhodes towards the port, a wide open space nestled into a sheltered bay with a large and impressive central building acting as hotel and commercial hub. Sheltered cloisters act as makeshift stalls for freshly landed goods. Meanwhile rows of small cubicles stem from the building, with adverts for boats and crews and destinations, making look almost like an airport terminal. The nearest had a banner advertising voyages to Tauris.
“There he is!” Altallo calls to the others pointing to a bulky trading vessel unfurling his sails and picking up its gangplank. On one side of the ships’ bow the name ‘Selene’ is painted. Altallo runs towards the pier, knocking over produce from a nearby stall but oblivious to the shouts of the owner.
“Alty wait!” Shern’aath follows him, while Asterion and Kiya help pick up the owner repair the damage.
The lizard was lounging next to the guard rail of the ship, looking very pleased with himself. He spots Altallo running along the pier shouting and waving his arms.
“Ah hello my friend!” the lizard calls out, unable to hear Altallo over the pounding of the ship’s oars and the splash of the waves. “Yes I remember you! Come to see me off have you? How very kind. Well bye!”
And with that the ship sails off into the distance. Altallo sinks to his knees, watching the tiny dot on the horizon with an unreadable expression on his face. Shern’aath soon catches up to him, panting and huffing.
“Alty?” he asks, putting a hand on Altallo’s head.
“I can’t believe its gone. How could I have been so stupid?” Altallo says in a hollow voice.
“Don’t say that, we’ll get it back! Kiya and Asterion are trying to find answers back there.” Shern’aath helps Altallo up and guides him away. “Besides that guy didn’t look so big, I can beat him up if he doesn’t give us the ship back!”
Kiya was waiting impatiently for them back at the terminal.
“Here,” she grunts, jabbing a thumb to a poster showing trade routes on a map, before sulking to some nearby shade.
“There! The Selene’s route takes it from Rhodes to Illyria, with a number of stops.” Altallo says thoughtfully stroking his chin. “Well we won’t get there by foot, so we’ll have get a ship. Me and Shern’aath will look around the piers, Kiya you and Asterion check the sailing companies, see if there are any other ships there. And stop sighing!” he adds as Kiya sighs loudly.

“Sorry but we don’t have any voyages following that route.”
“That’s ok, thanks for your help.” Kiya replies sweetly with a smile. But when she and Asterion walk away from the booth, her smile slackens. “That was the fifth one we tried and we’re getting nowhere!”
Meanwhile Shern’aath is approaching a crisply painted and very clean ship.
“Excuse me could you-hey wait!” he cries as the ship starts sailing away with none of the well dressed crew or passengers even noticing him. “Ugh! Fine don’t listen to the crazy lizard man!”
He picks up a loose tile piece from the pier and throws at the boat but misses. The raptor falls to his knees and screams in rage.
“Well if you want a place on one of our ships, its fifty electrum coins a night and not a bunch of rocks.” says another cubicle owner, eyeing the gems Kiya and Asterion offer her with her nose wrinkled as if they smelled bad.
“But that’s too expensive! And this is an emergency!” Kiya retorts, poking the counter.
“Not my fault, we only accept the finest of customers. No peasants and their cows-”
Kiya had dragged Asterion away before she could continue. When they’re at a safe distance and out of sight, Kiya starts making rude gestures towards the cubicle.
“No.” says the captain of one ship bluntly.
“But you sail right next to Ilyria, surely it wouldn’t hurt just to drop us off there?” Altallo asks.
“Look little fella, its not my fault there are strict rules about where we have to go. Now if you want my advice, you should-”
“GET LOST!” yells another booth owner before slamming a wooden shutter into Kiya and Asterion’s face.

They regroup soon after on one of the piers. Shern’aath, Kiya and Asterion look dejected and tire, but Altallo seems to have been invigorated.
“Don’t look so glum!”
“But we’ve been to every stall and they’re all either fully booked or jerks!” Kiya sighs.
“Never mind, we have one more ship to check. There it is over there.”
“That one?” Shern’aath gulps. “I dunno Alty, it looks a bit...grim.”
“What? No, don’t be silly. Its got a, er, rustic charm. Yes that’s it. Its far more lovely up close, see?” Altallo replies, marching up confidently to a dilapidated looking ship with the others trailing behind.
The ship is rather short and sturdy with peeling paint, muck covering the deck and tattered sails. Sitting next to the gangplank is a muscular hammerhead shark man sitting on a stool and whittling away at a small wooden statue. He holds it up to one of his eyes to examine it closer, but stops when he sees Altallo approaching.
“Hello there,” Altallo says smiling happily. “My friends and I need a ship following the Selene’s trade route. Do you think you could help us?”
“Gotta speak with the captain first.” the hammerhead grunts.
“And he ain’t the sort who likes to be disturbed while resting.” says another shark, who slinks down from the sail rigging. Much smaller than the hammerhead, he has a slight, thin body and a higher pitched voice.. “And he don’t take kindly to folks poking their noses into our business.”
Shern’aath notices a few barrels and boxes behind the sharks. “And what sort of business is that?”
“Best you don’t ask about that if you want to keep all your fingers,” the blue shark says quickly, jumping down and grinning down at them. “Now why don’t we get acquainted with each other. Name’s Loukianos, at your service.”
He holds out a hand and Altallo shakes it. Kiya is a bit hesitant and Loukianos laughs.
“Don’t worry, I don’t bite! Oh and this handsome lug over here is Basilus.” he adds, leaning on the hammerhead’s shoulder. Basilus shoots him a look. “Don’t let his rough looks fool ya, he’s a really softy ain’t cha?”
“If you say so.” Basilus snorts.
“What about this captain then?” asks Kiya.
“Well lil’ lady, he’s named Solon and like his name, he really is a lump of iron. Best you don’t catch him on a bad day-”
The doors to the lower deck of the ship burst open and a massive muscular great white shark bursts out.
“What’s with all the noise out here, what are you knuckleheads doing? And who are you?!” he bellows at the gang, making them jump backwards.
“Er...hello. Erm my name is Altallo and these are my friends, Shern’aath, Kiya and Asterion. We’re wondering if we could possibly travel on your ship? We need to follow the Selene’s route.”
Solon stares at them for a solid minute and then tosses back his head and starts laughing.
“Ha! You must really be desperate to come begging us. Well come to think of it, you two look like you’d make fin sailors.” he says, clapping both Shern’aath and Asterion on the shoulder. “Mmm, yes I think you can come aboard.”
“Good!” Shern’aath says, while Asterion turns to Altallo and Kiya before clambering aboard. But when Kiya makes to follow, Solon holds up a hand and stops her.
“Now wait just a second. Did you hear me say YOU could come aboard?”
“But we’re all together,” Altallo says.
“We don’t take humans with us. They’re so soft and squishy and useless, especially when they go overboard.”
“Well of all the spiteful rotten things-” Kiya shouts but Altallo puts a hand on her shoulder.
“Oh we understand perfectly,” he says while winking at Kiya. She looks confused up at him but then smiles. “We humans bruise so easily and we wouldn’t want to burden you.”
“Ha thank you! Someone finally gets it.” Solon laughs and cross his arms.
“Although,” Altallo continues, turning away with Kiya, “We were going to pay you. Isn’t that right Kiya?”
“Yes we were!” Kiya says smiling sweetly at Solon.
“….Pardon?” Solon asks looking dumbfounded and the other sharks look up with interest as Altallo pulls out a bag and pours something into his hand. He holds up a small pile of colourful gemstones. Basilus and Loukianos’ eyes shine brightly and their mouths hang open at the sight of them. Loukianos reaches out a trembling hand to try and take them.
“But of course you’re not interested and I don’t blame you.” Altallo says solemnly, putting the gems back into the bag and turning away. All the sharks look devastated and Loukianos even whimpers a soft “No!” as the gems disappeared from sight.
“We’ll just have to find someone else willing to take us. Come on Kiya.”
“Bye, it was nice meeting you!” Kiya calls back, waving at the sharks.
She and Altallo smirk at each other and Altallo holds up three fingers.
“Three,” he whispers. “Two...”
“Alright alright!” Solon shrieks behind them and Altallo smiles triumphantly. They turn back and beam at him. “You can come aboard!”
“Fantastic!” Altallo says. “Right for payment. I’ll give you this and there will be more after we get back our property.”
“Got a vendetta eh? Well money is money and its no concern of mine whatever it is you want.” Solon replies, holding out his hand and Altallo shakes it. “Alright, you got yourself a deal. We leave in half an hour. Unfurl the sails and ready the oars!” he barks at the other sharks. Basilus packs away his wooden carving into a box and carries it and his stool into the ship, while Loukianos snakes up into the rigging.
Soon they are speeding their way out of the harbour, past an enormous shiny bronze statue of a handsome man wearing a crown and holding a torch aloft. Kiya leans against the side of the ship and smiles happily as the wind ripples through her hair.
“You know this might not be as bad as I first thought. Its no royal barge but this is nice. Plus I always wanted to see the Colossus of Rhodes!”
“Now don’t you get so comfy little miss,” Solon says. “This ain’t no pleasure cruise and you need to shift your weight too. Right first off, you big guy,” he points at Asterion. “Come with me. You can row the oars to help us go even faster.”
Asterion blinks in surprise and looks at Kiya sadly.
“Its ok,” she replies softly patting him on the arm. “We’ll see each other soon.”
Asterion smiles weakly before being led away to the deck below. Basilus ambles up and claps a hand on Altallo’s shoulder, nearly causing him to collapse.
“You can take kitchen duty.” the shark grunts.
“Me? But I’ve never cooked anything before-” Altallo retorts to deaf ears as the shark pushes him away.
“What about us?” Shern’aath asks out loud, before Loukianos leaps down in front of them.
“Oh I’m so glad you asked!” he says jovially smiling at their shocked faces. “You get the most important job. Now as you can imagine, with only three of us the ship gets a bit messy. Now you’re going to give the old girl some tender loving care.”
Later, Kiya is moodily washing the deck with a mop while Shern’aath wipes the railings with a sponge. Loukianos is lounging with his hands behind his head on a box.
“You could help us you know.” Kiya growls at him.
“What? And let you miss out on all the character building and the exercise of swabbing the deck? No thank you. Besides I have the important job of keeping a watch out for other ships and weather events.” He yawns loudly. “And I see its smooth sailing for today. So if you don’t mind I have earned a well deserved rest.”
Kiya grumbles loudly as she starts slapping the floor with her mop. Shern’aath turns to her.
“Look on the bright side” he says and points overboard where a pair of oars close to the back of the ship pound the water. “Seems like Asterion is doing well and hey,” he continues as acrid plumes of black smoke start ominously seeping through the cracks of the doorway below. “It could be worse.”

“Erm, Alty, what is this?” Shern’aath asks later when Altallo brings out plates full of charred black lumps covered in a thick foul smelling sauce.
“I think it was a fish. The stuff they had down there wasn’t exactly fresh,” Altallo replies, earning him a sour look from Solon who grumbles under his breath. “So I thought maybe this would help give out the flavour a bit.”
Shern’aath takes a bite and starts coughing. It was quite possibly the most disgusting thing the raptor had ever eaten.
“Its, ugh, its very rich.” the raptor splutters while his eyes water. “Not bad for a beginner.”
Altallo smiles hopefully but he soon looks ashamed by Kiya throwing her food into the sea without a backwards glance and the sharks abandoning their plates. Meanwhile Asterion had helped himself to a bale of hay.
“Well that was so awful, I think it even gave Set indigestion.” Kiya says glumly. She notices Shern’aath mouthing ‘stop talking’ and then notices Altallo looking utterly devastated. “Oh Alty, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to-”
“YOU THREE!” Solon barks at them and they all snap to attention. The massive shark paces in front of them.
“We’re barely a day out on this voyage and already you’re giving me a headache. Well except your friend Asterion over there who’s a first class rower. But the ship’s still a mess and this meal, well to be blunt was dreadful. Why didn’t you tell us you weren’t a cook?”
“You didn’t give me a chance!” Altallo protests and glares back fiercely at Solon, but the shark doesn’t look convinced.
“Fine.” he sighs. “I’ll reconsider your roles. For now you three are confined to your cabin. Asterion you’ve done a great job so you can rest with them.”
Glumly they file downstairs and to a small room at the back of the ship. Inside were two hammocks and two rough straw beds beneath them, a tiny table and four stools, but other than that it was bare. A small window with shutters offers the only source natural light.
“I guess you should take one of the beds,” Kiya says to Asterion, giving one of the beds an experimental thump with her fist. “They look more sturdy.”
Altallo sinks down in one of the stools.
“Sorry I landed you all in here.” he says thickly. “Its all my fault.”
“I should have said something,” Shern’aath says, patting Altallo on the arm. “But I bet what they had in that kitchen would have been horrible anyway.” he adds, sticking out his tongue.
“One thing’s for sure,” Kiya sighs looking out of the window at sunset streaked sky. “This is going to be one long voyage.”

The Hand of Fear

Landing in a quarry, the Fourth Doctor and his companion Sarah Jane Smith are caught up in mining detonations. By chance, Sarah finds a fossilised hand with a ring on it. Touching it, she becomes possessed by an alien intelligence which guides Sarah to a nuclear energy plant, where it absorbs the power to gain a new form; the ring contains DNA. The creature born is a crystalline woman named Eldrad. She convinces the Doctor that she tried to save her people on Kastria from destruction and asks him to take her there. The Doctor obliges, but when he arrives on Kastria, the horrible truth about Eldrad is revealed…


The Hand of Fear is an interesting story. It has a lot of good points in it and a few bad ones and sees the departure of a fan favourite companion quite abruptly. Usually companion departures have a built up for a while, but not here. Also it feels kind of like a half and half episode in quality, or more likely three quarters good one quarter bad.
First lets look at the good stuff. Easily the best thing in this episode is the female form of Eldrad. Judith Paris gives an amazing performance; she’s beautiful and feels sympathetic and even a little seductive, but at the same time there’s a hint of menace to her, an otherworldly ounce of terror in how alien she acts. Its also helped by some truly brilliant costume and design, this is some of the best make up ever in the entire history of Doctor Who. The scenes set on Earth just ooze atmosphere, especially when possessed Sarah is wandering around the nuclear facility with just a gloomy sinister thudding score in the background. It really gives the bleak industrial settings a weight to them. Elisabeth Sladen, who plays Sarah Jane, is on top form in fact, especially when she’s possessed; using mainly her eyes. Tom Baker as Doctor Number Four also great here too; the one and the only.
Doctor Four is my favourite of all the Doctors. He has that perfect balance of goofy and yet serious, has no qualms of insulting people to their face if they annoy him and yet always feels like he’ll try his best to help those in need. There’s no big pompous ‘I am the Doctor’ of the new series or any chosen one prophecies in his run, or in fact in the whole of Classic who, which is good because that stuff sucks. Yes, I’m attacking the new Doctor Who again...I really shouldn’t. Ok if I ever write a review of a New Who episode I’ll make a positive :P

Now for the bad stuff. Most of it centres around the last episode, bar the very last scene which we’ll come back to later. Kastria is such an ugly looking place, with tacky sets and clearly the budget was running low. But the biggest and most glaring problem is Eldrad’s male original form. Oh yeah spoilers, as it turns out not only is Eldrad supposed to be male (the female form is because he was in close proximity to Sarah or something) and also an evil dictator, because of course he would be. The male form of Eldrad is loud and shouty, nowhere near as interesting or as well acted as the female Eldrad and the design changes from interesting to just kind of generic, at least as far as rock people go. And then he dies by tripping over the Doctor’s scarf into a chasm. How anticlimatic. Its also not the most developed story; if this were a six parter it may have expanded on Kastria and Eldrad’s backstory. But as is its quite thin on the ground.

But the thing everyone remembers from this episode is Sarah Jane Smith’s departure.



Its not overblown and over-dramatic like some of the newer leaving scenes, especially Rose’s because Rose was honestly a pretty bad character; whiny and easily jealous. Its quite a blunt departure and a very fitting one for Sarah Jane. As some have pointed out, Sarah Jane when you get down to it isn’t as developed as some other companions; Jo Grant, despite being everyone’s go to for an example of the ‘screaming’ companion actually gets an arc and changes as a character. Can’t really say the same for Sarah. But what does win her over is that she’s loyal, feisty and full of vigour and Elisabeth Sladen is always a joy to watch, she gives it her all. And of course, now watching Hand of Fear has a tinge of sadness for classic DrWho fans since her passing in 2011 from cancer. Just another tragic loss from the 2010s. :c

Sorry for ending on a downer note.
But that was Hand of Fear. Another rather mixed story but I’d say a bit above Earthshock (sorry Davidson fans) as it has better companions and the mid 70s were just a better period in general than most of the 80s when it comes to Doctor Who.

Thank you for reading and I hope I’ve been at least a smidge entertaining.

For the next journal, here are your voting choices;
-Revelation of the Daleks; Something sinister is going on at a hospital and cemetery combined.
-The Time Monster; Atlantis, crystals, minotaurs and pigeon monsters, oh my!
-Timelash; 80s glitter nonsense.
-The Dominators; no its not what you think it is.
-The Sensorites; those Sensorites look kind of familiar…
-Destiny of the Daleks; Daleks vs Space Egyptians.
-Time and the Rani; more 80s nonsense.
-The Mind Robber; where fantasy comes to life
-The Claws of Axos; spaghetti monsters that love the colour yellow.

Hello ladies and gents and welcome to another DrWho review. This time its 1982’s Earthshock.
The early 80s were a pretty good time from the series; it had grown more interesting and looked much more polished compared to the rather stale. That all said, it didn’t take long for 80s Who to fall on its face.
By 1982 we had a new Doctor and a full TARDIS with three companions; Adric, Nyssa and Tegan. None of these companions are particularly memorable or even that likeable in the case of Adric. So in Earthshock, he had to go.

In Earthshock, the Cybermen plan to drive a space freighter into an intergalactic peace conference on Earth to prevent a dangerous alliance which will threaten them with extinction. They also try destroying Earth with a bomb guarded by some sinister androids which wipe all but one of a team of palaeontologists. After diffusing the bomb and now with a gang of soldiers and Professor Kyle, the only survive of said team, the Doctor and Co. go and try to find who planted it and finds himself on the space freighter.

Earthshock is one of those legendary episodes. It was THE episode of its day, a momentous Television event. It featured the Cybermen, stylish direction; its basically wonky old time DrWho directed like a blockbuster and lots of action. But while its had a glowing reputation for most of the 80s, its kind of dropped from greatness for some fans. Are they right? Well….yes. But lets discuss the good stuff first.
The biggest plus for Earthshock is its direction as mentioned before. Its such a good looking episode, with lots of dark gloomy lighting, foreboding atmosphere, a great spaceship design and some sinister music to lace the scenes. You can feel the influence of Alien on the spaceship scenes, even a warning klaxon sounds very much like the one used on the Nostromo. Of course the spotlight of this episode is the Cybermen. After a downright disaster of an episode before (Revenge of the Cybermen, a pile of boringness) they are back on form with an iconic design, even if they do look like they have 80s legwarmers around their ankles. But it was an inspired choice to give them visible mouths with the chin of the actors, painted silver and mouth blackened, to remind us that these aren’t just generic evil robots who want to take away people’s emotions because they are evil (As much as the new show wants us to think), but are people who willingly gave up all humanity just to survive. The androids, while simple; basically just people in black featureless masks and black spandex are really sinister. Always in the shadows and with creepy weaponry that reduces people to pools of foul liquids.
Its also note worthy

But then we go straight to the bad things about the episode. There’s one huge major downfall of this episode and that is pacing. The paces of the first and final episodes are brilliant, but in the middle there is a bit of flab. There’s about three or four scenes of Nyssa and Professor Kyle in the TARDIS while everyone else is out and about and each scene is basically this:

Professor Kyle: “We have to help our friends!”

Nyssa: “Woah, hold on there little lady, where do you think you’re going? We are some of the smartest characters in the episode, we don’t belong out there. Lets leave all the work to a bunch of soldiers who shoot first ask later, a brat, a loud Australian woman and a blond Doctor. They clearly have their priorities right. Now lets go back to standing around doing nothing.”

Professor Kyle: “Oh, ok then.”

Rinse and repeat three or four times. Was this really needed? It just drags the story out and doesn’t build up drama or atmosphere. Its just boredom.
I’ve also seen some reviews complaining about how grey and dark Earthshock is...but honestly isn’t that the whole point? Its a dark bleak story, not sunshine and unicorns. So if you don’t like shades of grey, you’re really not going to like this episode. Aside from that, the only biggest issue I can see with it is that, its not a fun story. Not much comedy or banter, but that’s the main problem with early 80s DrWho, so its not specific to Earthshock.

WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD! CONTINUE AT YOUR OWN RISK!

But let’s get to the next biggest thing about this story; Adric the brat dies. Ok that is a bit harsh, but I have no doubt that everyone will agree with me that Adric was an unlikeable character. He was snide, untrustworthy and complained a lot and was a teenage prodigy in mathematics. He was ok enough in his first season, but in his second he had a habit of betraying the Doctor and his companions when it seems like they’re losing and then flips back when the tables are turned. Basically he’s the worst friend you could ever have. All these qualities and more make for such a horrid slimy character that barely anyone would like. How the Doctor tolerated this dinghead for so long is beyond me. Earthshock, as though to pile home this point, begins with Adric throwing his toys out of the pram and having an argument with the Doctor.
Even his ending is kind of selfish and petty. The Cybermen have locked the space freighter’s controls with three codes that can only be solved by logical mathematics, so of course Adric was drawn to it like a vulture to a corpse. Adric solves one of the codes, but when all seems lost and the rest of the crew is abandoning ship, Adric slips out of the escape pod and continues to work on the codes….but as revealed in his last words;

“Now I’ll never know if I was right.”

Show that he wasn’t really doing this for the people on Earth or his friends, but to see if he could crack the codes himself for ego sake. But he fails and the freighter crashes into Earth….but due to a convenience, it crashes into the Earth 65 Million years ago and wipes out the dinosaurs. So really Adric pretty much died for nothing. But after all that wailing, thank goodness he went out in fire and explosions!

So that is Earthshock. Its considered a classic, but has gotten flack over the past few years. How do I feel about it? Well...honestly I’m kind of mixed on it. There are a lot of things I do like about this story. Its got some great designs, wonderful atmosphere and suspense, the Doctor is on form and there are some great bits of dialogue between him and the leader of the Cybermen. But at the same time the padding does make the viewing more difficult. Its the curse of the home media; VHS and DVDs. Back then you viewed the story once a week and so had a whole seven days to digest the episode before the next one. Now with home media we can watch it all in one go and repeat it and that is when you start noticing the cracks. Also looking at the story now I just noticed that not much happens really. If you’re looking for things to analyse, I wouldn’t recommend this and would point to Kinda instead. Earthshock is basically like an action movie, but not as densely packed.
It is a highlight of the Fifth Doctor’s run, but I don’t think its the best. In fact its gone a bit down in my viewpoint. That’s not to say its bad, not at all, but there are other episodes that would more regularly draw my attention.
Overall, not the worse, but not the best, but without a doubt iconic.

Oh boy oh boy, I’ve been looking forward to this! Hello once again folks and welcome to the wacky world of Time Travel and rubber beasties, aka Classic Doctor Who. And this time its one of the hilarious stinkers.
One of my least favourite things about the new series is that the bad episodes are never funny. They’re always eye rolling, headaches full of moping and whining. Classic DrWho had the decency of having some of its bad episodes to be utterly hilarious. And Horns of Nimon is the king of of trashy fun. But first a bit of backstory;
The end of the 70s was a rough time for DrWho. It was getting old and rather tacky looking. The last season of the 70s is also one of the worst in the entire series. It did have one huge high point, City of Death, but the rest was just blasé and not that great. The fact that most of the money was spent on City of Death with opulent sets and location filming in Paris and therefore the rest of the series looked shoddy. Seeing the way the season was going the producer, Douglas Adams (yes that Douglas Adams of Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy fame.) decided to pen the season’s finale to make up for the lacklustre scripts of the previous stories. The result was the infamous Shada. But to fill in season he also recovered a rejected script, Horns of Nimon. He knew it was a terrible story, but he didn’t care, he just needed something to bridge the gap between the story before it and Shada, hoping Shada would overshadow it. So when Nimon hit financial and scheduling problems, no-one cared; Shada would solve everything! And then there were BBC strikes and Shada got cancelled...oh boy.
Production mismanagements, rushed filming, low budget; sounds like we got a winner! But what about Nimon’s story?

Basically Horns of Nimon is Theseus and the Minotaur in space if they were all aliens and the Nimons were space locusts who sold tech. The remnants of an empire called Skonnos (Knossos), which has a Nimon (minotaur) living in a power complex (Labyrinth) who provides them with technology in exchange for tributes of people from the planet Aneth (Athens) which he stores in a fridge thing. Skonnos is lead by the tyrannical Soldeed (Daedalus, which is weird because he wasn’t a villain, that was Minos) who is down right insane and clearly has a thing for cardboard bulls. Of course the Doctor and his companion, Romana a Time Lady (thats female for Time Lord) get involved and on the wrong side of Soldeed who tries to let the Nimon nom them. All the while the Nimon is building a wormhole opening device to bring in the other Nimon to sap Skonnos of all its life. But along with the Anethian Seth (Theseus), his clearly soon to be girlfriend Teka, a survivor from the Nimon’s previous host and a few Skonnoians who realise Soldeed is bonkers and want him gone, the Doctor solves the problem pretty darn easily.

Horns of Nimon is utterly terrible but in a wonderful way. The costumes for the Nimons are laughable, with a cardboard bull head, a gold loincloth and platform shoes. You can clearly see the actors in the suits can’t see a thing, they waddle slowly with their arms stretched out so they won’t collide into things, not exactly a threatening life sapping beast, a real pity because their voices sound really cool.
The actor who plays Soldeed is very over the top and silly, with wide eyes and a constant manic voice, but its so hilarious watching him. He’s one of the most entertaining things about this episode. Oh also that actor was slated to be the fourth Doctor….just so you know.
Aside from that none of the cast aside from the regulars stand out; the Anethians are a bunch of bland idiots. In fact in one scene, Romana, Teka and Seth run away from the Nimon, but the rest of the Anethians just stand there and let themselves be herded away by it. DUUUUUUUUUUUUHHHH! Looks like drinking heavily while pregnant is a common custom on their planet. There’s also a scene where Romana and the Anethians find a drained corpse and Teka asks; “Is it dead?”
No Teka, no, that body will be just fine. And then she touches it and disintegrates. I just wonder if she puts that finger in her mouth a few seconds later, while the camera was away from her.
That is one of the biggest flaws of Horns of Nimon; the good guy aliens the Anethians are not interesting. While the real Theseus was flawed and pigheaded, Seth is bland and boring with very little personality, well except for one scene where he tells Romana that he’s scared and asks her not to tell Teka...who is about 4 meters behind him, HELLO!

The second biggest flaw of the story is the realisation. This is one cheap looking episode for the most part. The spaceship and sets inside it at the beginning are very tacky looking; the spaceship looks like its made from empty chocolate boxes and the ‘engines’ are bike reflectors. On Skonnos things are a bit better, with some pretty surreal and interesting designs, especially in the Nimon’s Power Complex. The costumes for the Nimon may be pretty shoddy, but the Skonnon costumes look pretty decent, if a bit laughable. But predictably, the worst (well second worse after the Nimon) costumes belong to the Anethians, with their ugly yellow pyjamas. They look like hippies who forgot what fun and happiness were and never washed their clothes, its not a good look.

The Horns of Nimon pretty much ended 70s Doctor Who. From 1980 onwards the whole series would have a refreshed new look and a new direction and while some people really don’t like 80s Who and it did eventually destroy itself, I think it was good for the time. It felt like a breath of fresh air after many things felt stale and dull.
But what is my opinion of The Horns of Nimon? Personally I adore this episode. It is one of the funniest bits of Doctor Who you’ll ever see, its like the Room or Planet 9 From Outer Space, with some hilarious goofs (there’s a scene were someone is shot down by a Nimon and splits his pants), the Nimon waddling around, the over the top performance of Soldeed and some really silly writing make it a joy to watch. Aside from the bad stuff there is still one or two good things here and there, like some pretty well done visual effects for 1979, so its not all terribleness.
All in all a classic ‘Its So Bad Its Actually Pretty Good’

I hope you have enjoyed this review! I enjoyed writing it and I hope to get another one out soon. If you have the time, what do you think I should look at next? Here are your choices:

-Destiny of the Daleks, where the Daleks battle robot space Egyptians.
-Time and the Rani; where an evil female Time Lord with an obsession for dinosaurs and chemicals called the Rani grows a giant brain for nefarious reasons.
-The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, my favourite DrWho episode set in a creepy circus.
-Earthshock, an episode starring the Cybermen where a companion meets a grisly end
-Pyramids of Mars, where Egyptian gods are aliens (going for an Egypt theme here).

Hello all and welcome to another review. This time its an episode with William Hartnell, aka Doctor no.1 and this is his first clunker. The companions of this story are his granddaughter (yes the Doctor has a granddaughter) Susan and two teachers from her school; Ian a science teacher and Barbara a history teacher.

The TARDIS lands on an island on the planet Marinus. The beach is made of glass and it is surrounded by a sea of acid. Inside a vast pyramid the TARDIS crew meet an old guy named Arbetius who has a machine which causes people not to be jerks and be mindless zombies of good and kindness. Arbetius tells the crew that a while ago he took out four of the five keys of the machine (he has the fifth) and scattered them across Marinus to protect them from the evil Voord...who are evil because they wear wetsuits, the pesky villains! He threatens to leave them trapped on the island without food or water and unable to enter the TARDIS unless they help him find the remaining keys with the help of special time dials he gives them. The rest of the story is basically the TARDIS crew travelling to various locations looking for the keys, including;
-A sinister city called Morphotron ruled by brains in jars
-A jungle full of screaming plants
-An icy wasteland with frozen knights and a creepy hunter in a cabin who tries molesting one of the companions, we’ll get to him later
-A boring butt-numbing trial in a dull random city.

The Keys of Marinus is a 6 episode long story and was Doctor Who’s first dud. Its the fifth ever story ever broadcast and it really shows that it was rushed production. The sets look cheap and flimsy compared to the other stories around it, even with black and white film (Doctor Who’s best friend.) and everything just has this tired air about it. With the exception of the pyramid and acidic sea in the first episode and the Morphotron city, the rest of the story is a drag to get through.
Lets start off with the biggest thing everyone who watches this story (and stays awake all the way through) and remembers; the Voord. The Voord are the DrWho’s first attempt to make a new long running villain, since they had a huge success with the Daleks. But sadly the Voord fail to make much of an impression, mostly because they are barely featured, only appearing at the beginning and the end of the story, limiting their impact and the fact they look utterly silly doesn’t help; men in flippers and wetsuits with things on their heads who can’t see where they are going just didn’t have the same impact as the Daleks. But to its credit the first episode is quite atmospheric, if a bit cheapy; again budget issues.
Another strength of this story is that each episode is distinct and brings up a new threat and location, so you don’t know what you will get….unless if you read this and I spoil it in which case, I’m really sorry! And unlike the new wimpy series that cries whenever we leave modern day Earth, the classic series wasn’t afraid to try alien worlds, despite the tiny budget. So kudos? Maybe?

The Morphotron city episode is probably the best of the bunch, even though the Voord don’t even show up. It is an apparently idyllic city where everyone is drugged to imagine it as a beautiful Utopia, where in fact its dilapidated and filthy, and slowly become the slaves of a bunch of brains in jars. There are some great camera angles and the set design is actually pretty good here. If the rest of the story was like this episode, it would have been much more interesting. Its also here where William Hartnell takes a holiday for a few weeks, so the Doctor leaves and to replace him until the penultimate episode we have two nothing characters; Altos and Sabetha. The actors playing them are fine, but they just don’t have much in the way of personality.

Sadly though we come up to the jungle full of screams. This is a pretty dull and slow episode. The jungle has overgrown a building (Temple? Lets go with temple) because some silly hermit scientist sprinkled some fertiliser he made onto it and what do you know, the obvious happens. The crew find the key in a jar of seeds….end of that story then.

Anyways onto the next bit of boredom, the Snows of Terror! This episode has the same issues of the previous one in that its slow and the world building is trite, but there’s the added layer of creepy. The crew and their two new lumps of stale tofu end up in a snowy mountainous wasteland of polystyrene snow and stock footage wolves and get separated. Barbara and Ian luckily (?) run into a hunter guy named Vasor who looks kind of like Hagrid;
“You’re a wizard Barbara.”

He takes them back to his cabin and then tells Ian that the others have gone ahead to some cardboard, er I mean ice caves and Ian heads off to try and find them, leaving Barbara with Vasor. But soon Barbara finds that Vasor has stolen the Time dials. Vasor then starts chasing Barbara around his cabin and this is the uncomfortable part. There’s nothing explicit shown on screen, but the image of a giant guy chasing a woman while panting and creepily laughing doesn’t paint a pretty picture. This sort of thing would not happen in the new show, thankfully.
But luckily before Vasor can use his magic wand that hides in his pants, Ian and Altos break up the party and force Vasor to accompany them to the caves. Here they find the key locked in a solid block of ice linked to a heating system. They have to heat up the block to get to the key, simple right? Well there is a catch; around the cavern are frozen knights in plastic capes. Who are they? Why are they frozen? Where they voluntary frozen by that Arbetius bloke? Why do they attack the crew randomly without asking them who they are and what they want? NEVER EXPLAINED! You’d think the knights would ask whether or not it Arbetius send them or why they wanted the key before swinging swords at them. But nope, they’re just silent threats...not even that threatening actually. But, thank Ra, they do kill off the creepy Vasor. If only they had replaced the frozen knights with the Voord then we’d have more tension and a greater emphasis on how dangerous our villains are meant to be...but nope, frozen knights it is.

So from cardboard snow and perverts we go onto the penultimate episode which is set in some random city that consists of five rooms. Where is this place? Dunno. Ian is falsely accused of the murder of someone else who was looking for the keys and oh boy, a trial episode. I won’t go into detail here, because it would probably take too long and honestly if you’ve seen any courtroom drama you’d probably know all the beats...heck even if you haven’t its probably clear who the real murderer is. Its boring, its bland and its so slow, but its nice to see the Doctor again. The court stuff runs into half of, or maybe even more (I was barely awake at this moment) the final episode, leading to a rushed climax where those lazy wetsuited Voord reappear, yeah remember them? But it finally finally ends with Yartek the leader of the Voord (who has just been introduced 2 hours into the whole story) putting in a fake key that the Doctor has substituted into the machine which destroys it and there’s a message about letting people decide instead of having a machine making everyone good. Which means that every thing that has happened in the last 5 episodes was completely pointless. It just makes me wonder; why the heck didn’t Arbetius do it all himself?

The Keys of Marinus is not liked among the DrWho fandom. Its slow, boring and not pretty to look at. Most of the actors do ok, though Arbetius, played by George Coulouris from Citizen Kane seems so tired and flat. If Yartek and the Voord had featured more maybe they would have been a credible threat, but as is they’re just a bunch of losers. As is the Keys of Marinus stands as the weakest story in the otherwise very strong first season of DrWho. Maybe if it were a film with a full movie budget, maybe that would help, but the script is still the biggest issue overall. It can be enjoyed in an ‘its so bad its good’ kind of way, but even in that regard it pales to other sorts of episodes in that can be fit into that category...one of whom we will be discussing next time, The Horns of Nimon.

So the Keys of Marinus….it tried to be different, sadly everything else was against it.

Hello all and welcome to the first Doctor Who review in this account! Today we're looking at two of the most popular episodes, Kinda and Snakedance from 1982 and 1983, both with the 5th Doctor Peter Davidson.
Most people seem to despise and revile most of DrWho of the 80s and honestly, its kind of easy to see why. The show's producer at this time made some really poor decisions, like making Doctor no.6 more violent and unlikable, but the early 80s are actually quite a rich time for the series with some great nuggets of episodes. Plus I'd rather take 80s Who over the mopey self-obsessed New series. Blech.

Also fair warning; this contains spoilers.

Kinda tells the story of the beautiful (well it looks kind of like a cheap set, but what are you going to do on the show's tiny budget?) idyllic planet of Deva Loka, home to a people called the Kinda, hence the title's name. Most Kinda are mute, bar a few females, and at first seem rather primitive not needing to build houses or farm, given the planet's almost paradise like environment. But they are also highly telepathic, can construct complex wind-chimes and wear necklaces in a double helix structure, like DNA. The Kinda are under threat from a colony of human or human like people. Half of the colonists have disappeared, leaving only three; the old blustering Sanders who does everything by the book, the unhinged and deranged Hindle and cool, calm scientist Todd. Hindle is on the verge of a breakdown and has rigged the colony's dome to explode and set fire to the forests, believing them to be contaminated and the Doctor's companion Adric (more on him later), it is left to the Doctor and Todd to stop him. But an even greater and more complex danger is lurking. The Doctor's other companion, Tegan, has fallen asleep under a wind-chime, leaving her mind open for a creature that feeds on the fears and hatred of the mind, a Mara from the dark places of the within. Possessing Tegan after torturing her psychologically, the Mara now has a physical form to bring destruction, pain, dread and madness to the Kinda.
Kinda is one of the most stunning and multi-layered episodes of Doctor Who ever made, towering over most of New Who's feeble attempts at being 'deep and thoughtful', mostly because Kinda does something that New Who doesn't do; stop midway to waffle about feelings randomly while the characters are being attacked by Daleks or other nasties. Here the feelings and character development are woven into the story, Tegan doesn't stop in the middle of an intense scene and go "Wa wa wa, I'm scared of being alone and no one understands me!", instead we're told that Tegan is afraid of being alone through the visuals of the dream sequence.
The biggest draw many people have to Kinda is the Buddhist philosophies and ideas; the writer of the story was really interested in Buddhism and it shows in this episode. The Mara is a demon from Buddhist legends that tried tempting the Buddha to give into anger, greed, fear, sadness and delusion. The Mara attacks Tegan via three characters in her mind; Dukkha (pain), Anicca (impermanence) and Anatta (egolessness), three major conceps in Buddhism, representing the three poisons. The Doctor and Todd are helped by two Kinda who can speak, an elderly woman named Panna (wisdom) and a young girl named Karuna (compassion) and the Kinda have a healing device called the box of Jhana (meditation), a seemingly simple wooden box that shows people who opens it the world through the Kinda's eyes and calms the mad Hindle. You can draw a lot from these Buddhist ideas; that compassion, wisdom and meditation brings calmness and dispels the seeds of fear and hate. Kinda also touches on a few Christian symbolism too; Deva Loka is paradise and there's a big snakey monster involved, you can see what they mean. This may just have been an image that audiences in the UK of 1982 were familiar with for contextualisation or it could tie into Kinda's second biggest theme; colonialism. The colonists, while technologically advanced are in fact lost. Most have succumbed to their fears and paranoia and are only cured when they learn about the Kinda culture. At first they sneer at the Kinda, calling them 'primitive' or 'savages'. This sadly is something many people across the world faced from European colonists. In fact Buddhism was at one time seen as dangerous and evil, a symbol of the 'Yellow Terror' of the East, mostly because the colonists didn't want to learn about another culture….which is kind of rich; Buddhism, a belief in peace, overcoming your fears and attachments to find a better existence being called evil by nations which expand, conquer and destroy. But thats neither here nor there in Kinda, its more about the experiences the characters go through; when the colonists do learn of the Kinda ways they are changed forever. Its never revealed what has happened to the other members of the team, but its usually assumed they went to join the Kinda, while Hindle and Sanders become calm, freed from their anxieties and fears. Speaking of the Kinda, they represent natives and are a prime example of never judging a book by its cover. While they seem primitive, they are in fact a very thoughtful people and sensitive. The colonists take two Kinda hostage and the others become very sad; especially for the unfortunate Aris, a brother of one of the captured Kinda who becomes easy prey for Tegan possessed as the Mara. Aris' gains a voice, the Mara's, and thus is seen as a prodigy by the Kinda. The Mara then tries to militarise the Kinda to kill the colonists and begin a cycle of destruction, as Panna puts it:

“Wheel turns civilization rises, wheel turns civilization falls.”

This is a key symbol of Buddhism; the Wheel of Samsara, a wheel of life death and rebirth, of creation and destruction. Its also suggested by a vivid vision that Panna shows the Doctor and Todd that the Kinda were once technologically advanced like the colonists now threatening them; as seen by their knowledge of DNA chemical structure and their ability to make the dream chimes. However their greed for power and fear of death led their civilization falling by the Mara. The planet Deva Loka itself is also a hint at the Kinda’s downfall. Deva Loka is a reference to one of the realms in the Wheel Of Samsara, specifically the realm of gods and deities, beings who live a life of luxury and sweetness, but who are never too far away from being overly greedy or lazy and can fall from grace. Its a pretty powerful symbol of how these emotions only leads to cycles of destruction and for me its a better natives vs. settlers story than say Avatar, where the natives are shown as genetically engineered to be perfect and obviously the good guys. Sure Deva Loka is a paradise, but the people aren’t perfect, they possibly were greedy and selfish in the past and now have sought out a better lifestyle.

There’s so much food for thought in Kinda that I could probably go on and on and on about its themes and such, but I won’t. Its also a mostly well made story with lots of fine actors and actresses, including a child actress for Karuna who is a very believable child, who bring life to their characters.
As for flaws, there are a few but not really to do with the story itself. The only thing I can fault about the story is that perhaps it came out a bit too early. Audiences at the time were confused by it and there were no DVDs at the time and VHS was in its infancy, so for a while there was no way they could rewatch the episode and fully grasp it. But Kinda was instantly recognised as being much more intellectual than most other DrWho episodes and its reputation has soared with age. The only other flaws are mostly down to the low budget, which honestly couldn’t really be helped, they did the best they could, and the companions, which are less forgiveable. At this time there were three companions, which was way too much and its no wonder they are often called ‘The Trio Of Terror’. One companion is great and well developed (Tegan), one is barely ever given any focus but is pleasant enough (Nyssa) and the third is a jerk who gets too much screen-time (Adric). In this story Nyssa is knocked out for...I dunno, she was too smart I guess and Tegan falls asleep under the chimes, so for the most part its just the Doctor, Adric (who betrays him, he did this a lot) and Todd (who would have made a wonderful companion as opposed to the other three. This is by no means the writer’s fault; he was just burdened with bad luck with these clowns in the TARDIS and this story could have done without Adric or Nyssa.

Aside from that….I can’t really think of any other flaws, well maybe the design of the Kinda themselves who look like they are from one of those cheesy shampoo commercials, but overall this is a fantastic bit of Doctor Who and is very unique and interesting. Its a must see for any fan or anyone interested. Oh and of course, we can’t talk about Kinda without talking about the giant pink snake….you’ll thank me for this :p


Now onto Snakedance, don’t worry this won’t be as long! The sequel to Kinda; Snakedance set on Manussa the Mara’s homeworld. The Mara that had inhabited Tegan has possessed her again and has led her to Manussa to be reborn during a ceremony held every ten years to celebrate the defeat of the Mara by the Manussan Federation.
In this episode we get more of the theme of greed leading to downfall; the people of Manussa are surrounded by luxury and material wealth, yet compared to the Kinda they are very backwards and ignorant. They have forgotten and scoff at history and ancient traditions, ironic given the civilization before the Federation, the Sumaran culture, were in fact more advanced and created mental powered technology. Unfortunately, one such bit of mental technology used fear, anger and other negative emotions and the culture was destroyed by the Mara. There is also a sect of people called Snakedancers (hence the title) who believe the Mara will return and practice the Dance of the Snake to focus their minds and show no fear. The Snakedancers are reviled and considered maniacs by the Manussan Federation and persecuted. Its a rather uncomfortable parable of the plight of the Tibetan Buddhists by the Republic of China, which is still ongoing. Manussa is an interestingly designed alien world; a mixture of Byzantine and Arabian, which gives it a unique and decadent look. The Buddhist subtext is there, but more subtle; to defeat the Mara the Doctor must find the Still Point of the mind, free from any fear or anger, depriving the Mara of its source of energy.
The biggest strength that Snakedance has over Kinda is that its more accessible. This doesn’t mean Kinda is bad, its really not, but it can be a bit confusing and impenetrable for some people. Snakedance is a simpler and more traditional Doctor Who story and therefore more people can get a grasp on it. Snakedance, like Kinda, is full of weird surreal and often scary imagery, including this creepy scene involving a hall of mirrors where Tegan sees her face replaced by a snake’s skull. And the special effects overall are a lot better here than in Kinda, though the snake is still pretty dodgy looking (no footage this time sadly).

Overall these two are brilliant 80s Doctor Who, and are one of the rare times a sequel is just as good as the original. I really hope you have enjoyed this review...and I hope it hasn’t bored you at all . I hope to have another review up soon, but I’m not sure what...probably a terrible episode! Do you have any suggestions? Or you can pick from this list below;
-The Horns of Nimon
-The Trial of a Time Lord (thats a big one!)
-Revenge of the Cybermen
-Destiny of the Daleks
-Colony in Space
-The Keys of Marinus
-Terminus
-The King’s Demons
-Time Flight
-Underworld
-Creature from the Pit.

Hey all. Just uploaded my first mature rated writing, hence the lack of goofy Altallo dragon cover art (I wish I had a more appropriate, universal cover art). Its been one tough chapter to write, yet also a fascinating one. I'm also a little nervous to how people would react to it. I just hope its not too disturbing or controversial.

But if you do have the time, please do read it;
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/21943352/

I feel I really improved with the quality and detailing of my writing. Its still rough in places, but improvements are improvements. I'm also sorry for my desolate journal record, so much has been happening and I've been worn out a lot with no drive to write more.

Anyways, how are you all?

Hello all. I'm sorry I haven't done another 1990s journal, but I still have to research to give a better picture of the 90s.

But anyway, I've recently reached a whopping 600 watchers!
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Tales of the Eternals chapter 21: Asterion

Kiya felt her feet leave the ground and something touches her face. It was warm and soft, like freshly washed wool. At first Kiya thought maybe she was dead and that this was the afterlife, any moment the god Anubis would be there to guide her. Slowly, she started to open her eyes.
The gloom of the labyrinth greets her. She stares blankly for a solid minute before it dawned on her what the warm thing was.
Kiya gives a small squeak of terror and starts thrashing around in the creature’s grip but freezes when she catches sight of the beast in the murky light. It is huge and would have towered over a fully grown man, with a powerful muscly body and thick arms covered in dense white fur. Two massive horns curve from its brow and it had a soft pink muzzle which was creased into a gentle smile. A thick mop of long wavy hair grows on the beast’s head and hangs over the upper half of its head, so that its eyes seemed to be peaking trough a curtain And those eyes. They were the bluest blue Kiya had ever seen. Although still scared, something about the creature was calming to her and in her mind she no longer saw it as a creature or an it for that matter, but as a person.
“You’re-” Kiya started, but her throat was dry and her mind slow. “You’re not going to hurt me?” she finally says. To her surprise, the minotaur shakes its head.
“You can understand me?”
The minotaur nods.
“Oh no, I’m sorry! I said some horrible things and if you’re angry I under-” Kiya splutters, but she’s swiftly silenced when the minotaur instead pulls her into another hug.
“I’ll take that as a ‘don’t worry about it! You don’t say much do you?” Kiya asks, as the minotaur puts her down. In response he puts a finger to his lips and shakes. Kiya’s eyes widen. “Oh, you can’t speak! I wish I knew your name, I don’t want to call you ‘the minotaur’ or ‘the beast’ or- what is it?”
He had crouched down nearby and was etching letters in the dust. When he’s finished, he steps up and points to the word and then to himself.
“My Greek is a bit rusty, but I’ll try,” Kiya mutters as she reads them. “As-ter-ion. Asterion?” The minotaur nods and smiles. “Oh its a lovely name. But one thing I don’t understand, how do you know what I’m saying?”
Asterion points to his ear and then mimics talking with his hands.
“I see, you heard guards talking and learned from them. Do you know where you come from?” Kiya asks nervously “I’ve never seen anyone like you before.”
Asterion glances around him, as though wanting to see other minotaurs and then he gives a sad shrug and hangs his head. Seeing the saddened minotaur tugs at Kiya’s heart and without thinking she reaches up and gently touches his face. “I’m sorry.” she says in a hushed voice. “I wish I could say I know what its like, but I don’t think I can even say that. But I do want to help you.”
Asterion slowly raises his head and takes one of Kiya’s hands into his.
“Lets get you out of here.” Kiya says warmly. She picks up the thread tied around her waist and shows it to Asterion. “To guide us back to the door.” Asterion’s eyes lighten up and his beaming smile returns.
Trekking the labyrinth was much easier now with Asterion. The twisting passages appeared larger and brighter than before, though they were both eager to leave this prison as soon as they could. All the while, Kiya kept glancing back at Asterion. Something about him kept drawing her eyes and she couldn’t help but feel her spirits lift whenever she reminded herself of his presence. They found the door unlocked and the adjacent corridors of the palace empty.
“Looks like Ariadne sorted out the guards.” Kiya whispers. “I’ve just realised, that muscle head Theseus will be disappointed. Well, actually its probably best he never meets Asterion. You wouldn’t like him,” she adds to Asterion who was looking curious. “He’s all vain and thinks he’s the best. You’ll probably like my friends. There’s Altallo, though he is a bit weird and Shern’aath who is a silly feathered lizard thingy. What’s wrong?”
Asterion had stopped and was looking back towards the labyrinth with furtive glances here and there. It struck Kiya that it had been the only home he known for so long. She takes his hand again.
“There’s a bit of this corridor that leads out onto a veranda overlooking the sea, the guards led me past it. You’ll see the sky out there also,” she says gently. Asterion perks up at the mention of the sky. “Most people say its blue, but its not always. It can be the colour of gold or silver. Or pink, orange, red and even as dark as ink at night with glittering stars like speckles of silver. Would you like to see it?”
Asterion nods eagerly and Kiya takes the lead. They pass more passages and corridors, almost exactly like the maze they had just left. Frescoes seem to follow them with their painted eyes and Kiya’s nerves prick with every twist and turn until they came to a door.
“Ariadne said she would unlock this door for us. Yes!” she says testing the lock. “Are you ready?”
Asterion glances back to the labyrinth one last time and then after a deep breath, nods.

The door swings open, Asterion blinks his eyes rapidly, and shields his face from the light for a moment as light spills in. As he becomes adjusted, he looks onward, his face is in an expression of pure awe and he shuffles almost in a daze to the railing. On the horizon, the sun was just beginning to rise, staining the sky with warm shades of pink, yellow and orange. Directly above them, in stark contrast, the last of the inky night was fading slowly, with stars shining like diamonds. Asterion's expression of amazement becomes one of joy and a few tears run down his cheeks and Kira smiles and looks onward with Asterion at the scene before them.

In the prison cell, the Athenians were huddled together in a corner. Some were trying to sleep, but others were wide awake. Altallo paces up and down.
“Will you stop that!” Theseus suddenly bursts out. “You’re making me all jittery with all that walking.”
“I should have done more!” Altallo says to himself, ignoring Theseus. “Its my fault Kiya’s in danger to begin with.”
“What are you complaining about? There will be more girls anyway. More attractive ones at that, she really was quite ugly now that I think about it-” Theseus began but he’s cut off when Altallo seizes him by the scruff of his chiton. Despite being considerably bigger than Altallo, the Eternal’s grip was much stronger than any person or animal Theseus had encountered. Whether it was a trick of the light or something more otherworldly, the prince could have sworn he saw small pinpricks of electric like particles dancing in Altallo’s enraged eyes.
“If you dare insult her again, I swear you will regret it for the rest of your life.” Altallo snarls in a low, yet dangerous voice.
Footsteps approach the cell and the locks grate open. Altallo lets go of Theseus, who cowers behind Altallo, his whole body shivering.
“Quick! You must go first so that I can think of some way of escape and I will avenge your sacrifice...wait no YOU must survive since you’re the brains. Let the beast take another to sate its-”
“Shut up!” Altallo hisses. “I’m going in and-Kiya!”
Kiya steps into the cell and, beaming with triumph, she takes Altallo’s hands into hers.
“I was so worried! What happened? Did you...oh my.” Altallo gasps as he sees the towering figure behind Kiya. In the cell, the Athenians huddle closer together at the sight of the minotaur, but Theseus’ fear disappears and he glares at the giant with hatred in his eyes.
“Altallo,” Kiya says happily. “This is Asterion. Asterion this is the friend called Altallo I told you about.”
Altallo holds out a hand.
“Nice to meet you Aster-OOF!”
Asterion had lifted Altallo into a massive hug and stuck out his tongue goofily.
“Aww, he likes you!” Kiya laughs.
“I like him too!” came Altallo’s muffled reply and he gave Asterion a pat on the back.
“Look at them! That foreign girl has done a deal with the beast! It’ll devour us all and let them live!” Theseus cries out, pointing to them. “Hear me youths of Athens, they are no friends of ours!”
“What is he talking about?” Kiya asks as Asterion lets go of Altallo.
“Oh the usual ‘heroic’ nonsense of ‘I’m gonna slay the beastie’ and all that. Never mind him, lets just focus on getting out of here. Especially with our new crewmate here, if he wants to come that is.”
“What do you think Asterion? Do you want to come with us?” Kiya asks Asterion, who immediately nods eagerly and grins. “Well that’s settled then!”
She goes out with Asterion. Altallo pauses in the doorway and turns back.
“Well? What are you all waiting for! Come on!”
The Athenians edge out of the cell slowly but quickly pick up their paces, with Theseus stomping behind them.
“What now?” Kiya asks Altallo as they dash down a grand hallway and into a walled plaza. Asterion was looking around the huge space with great interest, a far cry from the narrow passages and dead ends he was used to.
“Back to the port, get a boat and leave as fast as we can. Ariadne said she’d take care of that.”
“But-” Kiya says, lowering her voice “Why didn’t we use the ship? Fly it over here.”
“Too conspicuous, besides they,” Altallo gestures to the Athenians. “Wouldn’t understand and probably panic. You saw how they reacted to Asterion.”
In the plaza they meet Ariadne, who’s worried expression melts away when she sees them.
“Oh thank the gods you’re safe! I was starting to fear the worse and...oh!”
She hugs Asterion’s middle and the minotaur smiles bemused down at her. Kiya grumbles and folds her arms so tightly and hunches her head, making her look like a crab glaring from its shell.
“Pff, typical princess, always latching onto the first hunk she sees.” she hisses to Altallo, who frowns at her and then something catches his eye and he wanders off.
“Dear brother,” Ariadne says. “Its wonderful to see you after so long.”
“Wait, brother?!” Kiya exclaims, untangling her arms.
“Well, to me he is family, ever since he came to Crete. Some soldiers brought him from some far away land. The ship is ready by the way,” Ariadne adds. “I’m afraid its nothing fancy.”
“As long as its seaworthy, it’ll do. Hey you got your old clothes back!” Kiya says, as Altallo returns.
“Yes,” Altallo replies in a terse voice. He brushes dust and other blemishes from his poncho and then starts straightening the feather on his headdress. “Can you imagine, I found them thrown out on a rubbish heap beside the palace! Left to the rats and the muck and they’re antiques too!”
“Scandalous!” Kiya gasps while trying to hold back a giggle.
“Ugh, well never mind my poor fashion sense, we must get going before anyone sees us.”
“Wait,” Kiya turns to Ariadne. “Do you want to come with us?”
“I’d love to, but I can’t.” Ariadne says with a sad smile. “I still have a family and I still love my family. My father acted out of grief and I wish he could have controlled his rage, but I could never hate him. Besides its safer if I don’t go, they’d send searches out for me and I don’t want to put you in danger again.”
“We understand. And thank you so much for all your help,” Altallo replies, taking her hand and shaking it. Kiya also shakes her hand and Asterion gives Ariadne a massive hug.
“Wait, where’s Theseus?” Altallo asks, noticing the prince’s absence.
“Oh here he comes, a shame.” Kiya sighs. Theseus runs up to them, panting yet looking very smug about something.
The same ship that had brought them to Crete was moored up in the docks, its black sail rolled up. As the Athenians file onboard, a deep rumbling sound emanates from the water and small waves rock the boat.
“What was that?” Kiya asks, looking over the railing.
“Maybe its Poseidon?” suggests one of the Athenians. “He’s blessing our ship to sail away from this dark place.”
“No.” Altallo cuts across the Athenian. A look of creeping dread was spreading across his face. “I’ve seen this before. Never a good sign. We need to cast off.”
“But Alt-”
“Now Kiya!” Altallo begins tugging at ropes, trying to release the sail, as another tremor rumbles, this time creating small chips on the quayside.
“But what is it?!” Kiya screams.
“Earthquake!”
A third, even louder tremor rattles the shore and now massive cracks rip through the harbour and buildings start shaking. Screams echo from the town and the palace begins to rock. Ariadne stares at it in shock and is about to run towards it, but Theseus grabs her and hold her fast.
“LET ME GO!” She shrieks, punching his shoulder.
“There’s nothing you can do.” He turns her around to face him. “Please, don’t waste your life!”
Ariadne’s eyes fill with tears and she allows herself to be carried on board. They set sail again and out of the harbour. Waves caused by the earthquakes rock the boat gently. Behind them, the battered yet magnificent city burns and is slowly reduced to rubble. Ariadne watches from the stern, eyes wide and vacant. Asterion puts a comforting hand on her shoulder and she pats it without looking away. Altallo and Kiya meanwhile are manning the ship’s rudder, turning it into the breeze for the sails to catch.
“It should just take about a day to get back,” Altallo comments. “Oh I think we should give her some room.” He adds as Asterion comes back and sits beside them. From the deck below there were cheers and jeers from the dancing Athenians, the loudest coming from Theseus. Kiya grimaces.
“They won’t help much. Though I was surprised at what Theseus did back then. It was almost like a gentleman.” she says, but is interrupted as Theseus staggers up to them.
“Ah friends! It is a great time to celebrate! Our enemy lies crushed under rubble and we’re finally free! Now back to Athens with the prize, the beast to slaughter!” He points dramatically at Asterion who looks confused. Altallo and Kiya stand in front of him protectively. Theseus pulls a sword out from his clothes and holds it up high for all to see.
“Its head would make a fine decoration for the palace walls! And all will remember, I, Theseus, bull slayer and hero of Athens!”
“Listen Theseus,” Altallo starts in a calm and measured voice. “I know you want to make your father proud, but think of others. Think of poor Asterion here-”
Altallo never got to finish his sentence. Theseus had just swung out at him with a punch and poor Altallo topples to the floor, clutching his nose and wincing.
“Get out of my way you weirdo!”
“Alty!” Kiya cries out and then she clenches her fists and glowers at Theseus. “Why you stuck up, snot nosed, pampered-”
Theseus slaps her across the face. Kiya staggers back, hand over her cheek and tears start streaming down her face. She rushes back to Asterion and starts crying into his chest. Asterion looks at her and then to Altallo still on the floor, open mouthed and shocked. Theseus meanwhile brushes his hair out of his face and grins broadly.
“And as an extra bonus, I shall rule with my new wife!” he proclaims, seizing Ariadne’s arm and dragging towards him. She struggles to wrench herself from his grasp, but he just laughs and holds her even closer.
Asterion’s hands slowly curl into fists and his eyes narrowed. He gently pushes Kiya to one side and stomps across the deck towards Theseus, his teeth clenched into a snarl. Theseus, still gloating over his victory, is taken by surprise when Asterion wrenches the sword from his grasp. The minotaur bends it effortlessly out of shape until, with an awful sound, the blade splinters and tiny shards rain down onto the floor. Theseus utters a high pitched yelp and clasps his hands together and screams.
“Oh please! Spare me, take them instead!” he jabs a finger at the Athenians.
Asterion gives Theseus a hard shove and takes Ariadne away back to the others. Although he wasn’t hurt, Theseus continues to wail and whimper at Athenians.
“That horrible monster has just hurt me! My friends, help me!”
But the Athenians back away from him. Theseus’ face flushed an ugly shade of red and he stamps his feet.
“Filthy cowards!” he shrieks but before he can say any more, he spots something that chills him. Kiya and Asterion were helping Altallo back up to his feet. The Eternal was clutching at his nose and when he lifts his hands, a strange yellow liquid oozes out.
“Thank you.” he mumbles thickly. Kiya hands him a cloth to hold back the bleeding.
“I knew it! I knew they weren’t normal!” Theseus hisses under his voice, as they stumble to the other side of the ship. He notices a shard of the sword nearby him. While small, it is larger than the other useless specks of bronze. Sneakily and with smug smile, he picks up the shard and pockets it.

Later, the Athenians, Kiya and Asterion are sleeping in the ship’s cabin. Theseus, who had slunk away, paces the length and breadth of the hold. After a while he climbs up to the trapdoor and peeks out. The deck is deserted, save for Altallo who was standing at the stern, standing as still as a statue and staring up at the stars. Keeping a wary eye on him, Theseus crawls out as quietly as he can and sneaks through the shadows towards the cabin. He could see the beast at the back of the room and reaches to his belt for the shard, but his hand gropes thin air. He looks behind him confused and almost screams out loud when he sees Altallo standing there. The Eternal holds up the lost shard and throws it away into the sea. Theseus collapses onto the floor and starts blubbering and pleading, but Altallo merely points gravely to the hold where Theseus had come, his face a blank mask. The prince scurries away like a frightened spider, glancing back only once. Altallo had returned to the very spot, staring up at the sky again.

“Land ho!”
The voice jerked Theseus awake from behind a hay bale. He looked awful; his hair was dishevelled and there were large shadows under his eyes from the restless night. He yawns widely before clambering up top.
The ship had docked in an island bay and everyone disembarks from the ship. The Athenians happily chatting amongst each other as they gather food, but Ariadne walks away from the others and sits on a rock, looking out to where Crete lay before her.
“Alty, do you think she should come with us?” Kiya asks. She, Asterion and Altallo were pushing their way through undergrowth
“Only if she wants to. I never take anyone without permission.” Altallo replies. “Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to leave her alone with Theseus, but its her choice and I won’t force her. Uh oh, here comes trouble!”
Shern’aath, who had been dozing against a tree, woke up at the sound of voices. He’s thrilled when he sees Altallo and Kiya come into view and runs down to meet them.
“I’ve missed you so much!” he cries out, lifting Altallo off his feet and hugging him.
“I’ve missed you too you big feathery bucket of love!” Altallo replies, kissing Shern’aath who giggles.
“Hey don’t mind me, just standing here admiring the scenery. Take your time.” Kiya says, smiling at then. Shern’aath chuckles and puts down Altallo.
“Oh come here you!” He and Altallo pull her into a one armed hug. “Say what happened? Wait,” Shern’aath notices the bruises on Altallo and Kiya’s faces and his smile fades. “Who did this to you?!”
“It was Theseus.”
“I knew I didn’t like the look of that lumbering oaf,” Shern’aath growls. “Just wait till I get my claws on him, I’ll...”
Shern’aath’s eyes widen when he sees Asterion.
“Erm, Shern, meet Asterion.”
Asterion grabs Shern’aath and