Doctor Who: The Catalyst
2007

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15
JKRevell
Jamie RevellSupporter

In this Companion Chronicle, we have a 4th Doctor story told from the perspective of Leela. And that turns out to work rather well. Partly that's because her view of things is inevitably somewhat different from just about anyone else's, something that's played up in the earlier segments in which she's trying to get to grips with the concept of an Edwardian household... well before she finds out what it is that's so spooky down in the cellar.

A nice touch, though, and similar to the one used with Vicki in Frostfire is the device used for the interludes between the narration of the main story. Here we see future-Leela, now an old woman close to breathing her last (courtesy, although this isn't explained, of events in the Gallifrey audio plays), still spitting defiance in the face of death.

The resolution to the story proper is, perhaps, a little pat, but there is memorable stuff along the way, and reflections on the morality of the decisions that led to the set-up we see in the story. One of the better Companion Chronicles.

June 8, 2015Report this review