Doctor Who: The Star Men

This story, the first time that the main monthly range has visited season 19 of the original TV show, is very much a mixture in terms of quality. On the plus side, there are a number of things to like, such as an effective slow build at the beginning that sets up the mystery. There's an intriguing monster, which is well thought-out and original, with some nice visuals (which would obviously be rather better on video, but there we go). The basis of the story, about an expedition to explore the Large Magellanic Cloud which doesn't turn out the way that 54th-century history says it should, is also a good one.

There is a good smattering of real-world science in here, which is something of a hallmark of Smith's writing. For example, here, some of the story takes place inside the (real) Tarantula Nebula, the nature of which is directly relevant to the plot. This, to me, adds verisimilitude to a story that is, after all, about transdimensional aliens and intergalactic travel.

On the downside, however, there are some notable weaknesses in the plot. At one point, something explodes with what seems to be the force of an atomic bomb (as well it might, given what had just happened to it), and yet seems to be almost completely intact in the next scene, rather than a cloud of atomised vapour. Almost immediately after this, the TARDIS team splits up for no discernible reason, half of them rushing off towards an unknown danger when they had every opportunity to figure out what they might have been facing first. From a narrative perspective, the purpose of this is to ensure that the four main characters all get something to do, rather than rushing about in a single group, but it comes across as a jolt, breaking the suspension of disbelief just a little too much.

Then there's Adric. He's written without the whiny petulance he often showed on TV, and getting to show off some of his skills, which makes him far easier to put up with. He even gets a romance subplot, although one gets the impression that he isn't really reciprocating the other character's crush on him. But there is the weakness that Waterhouse is, in his mid-fifties, being asked to voice a teenager... and it really isn't very convincing, breaking down entirely in a couple of places. It's hardly the actor's fault, but, still, it's there.