Recently, I've been reviewing Star Trek graphic novels and today, in Doctor Who's birthday month. I'm looking first at the two volumes which comprise IDW's 2012 Next Generation and Eleventh Doctor crossover Assimilation2
The Tardis materialises in a noir San Francisco holodeck scenario and Picard and the Doctor discover the Borg and the Cybermen- their thematic forebears- have formed an implacable alliance.
The murky, photorealist art style often looks like Photoshopped publicity headshots have been grafted on to painted torsos. I prefer the more cartoony flashback where Tom's Fourth Doctor meets Kirk and Spock and the Revenge Cybermen. The story is also told in the 31st century decompressed style which I always attribute to Bendis. There's a lot of padding: a battle with the Cybermen is quite dull, for example. However, there's a small role for the ageless Guinan and a call back to Pyramids of Mars as Picard and the Doctor visit the future Federation under the Borg. There's also a Borg attack on the Deltans- Ilia's people -whom I don't think have had much of a role in Trek spinoffs since the 80s. 3/5 Talmars because this could've been one, taut volume.
A few posts ago, I talked about ITV's big space opera franchise of the 70s, Space:1999, currently broadcast on the Horror Channel. The second series is substantially different in tone-not only is it a more colourful, adventure show, stripped of the perhaps more hard sci-fi elements of the first season but ( new cast members, uniforms and sets aside), it also has a lighter, more humorous atmosphere. Some fans like the idea that this is a parallel Moonbase Alpha ( like the "Kelvin" Trek timeline shenanigans). I find I'm warming much more to flirty Helena, bluff, comical Alan and kooky Maya, whose romance with the boyish Tony is quite likeable. I wonder if Big Finish will embrace the eponymous metamorph and the second season's warmth in their reboot?
Speaking of audio plays, I've been listening to a trio of Dark Shadows releases. Beyond the Grave makes the best and most striking use of the audio format in a tribute to the BBC's infamous 1992 "mockumentary" GhostWatch. It blends Collinsport characters with a British tv crew and creepy sound effects. There's a bit of American overacting which rather punctures the atmosphere (and is probably true to the tone of Dark Shadows) but it was engaging, spooky stuff. 4/5 Talmars
Meanwhile in the Whoniverse, I enjoyed Matthew J Elliot's Lure of the Nomad. This 2018 space opera features gaseous life forms and deadly cephalopod aliens on a space ship that's being refashioned as a space hotel. Maya would be at home here.
There's a timey wimey twist in the plot and there's also more to brand new companion Mathew Sharpe than meets the ear. The relationships between Sixie and Mathew, entertainingly abrasive entrepreneur Eric Drazen and the formless Willoway are all enjoyable and although the narrative is a little confusing, I would award this audio 4/5 Talmars also.
In the box set format, Ravenous 4 is comprised of three stories: Whisper, Planet of Dust and the two-part Day of the Master. It concludes the series of Eighth Doctor stories that is a loose sequel to Doom Coalition. While the first story is a traditional Base Under Siege on a jungle planet ( albeit making creative use of the audio format), the other episodes feature various regenerations of the Master and their interactions withe the Eleven and the eponymous predators of the Time Lords.
The second story takes place on a desert planet, where the Beevers Master's search for a Time Lord's tomb has a decided flavour of Egyptology. As Liv Chenka suspected, the Eleven hasn't reformed at all, of course and the concluding two-parter revolves, neatly, around the time vortex experiments of the legendary Artron, which gave rise to the Ravenous. Jacobi's sadistic War Master, Missy and the TV Movie Master combine forces against the Eleven and the Ravenous in diverse settings including a devastated future London and the Crucible of Souls from Doom Coalition. Plot strands even stretch back to the Dark Eyes quadrology.
Missy's flirting with the Eric Roberts Master is amusing and the McQueen Master, although he doesn't actually appear, does play a cameo role, in a way. The groundwork is laid also for the tweedy old lady incarnation of the Twelve from the Time War but Mark Bonnar ( superb in BBC Scotland's fantastic blacker- than -black comedy Guilt) will return to bedevil the Seventh Doctor and Ace next January.
Speaking of Scotland, of course, there is yet another terrible BF "Scoattish" accent in the final disc, which is inexcusable with so many Scots actors working for the company. 4/5 Talmars therefore, yet again but a deft closing of the circle.
Coming soon: the Enterprise's Early Voyages
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