#have the doctor and alien companion get captured and have to figure out the enemies plans and ship and trchnology

[algrolo]

Would also allow more flexibility in splitting up The Doctor and their companions since the companions could function relatively well on their own in most circumstances. Splitting up due to things like enemy machenations or just being unlucky and whatnot. Currently theres been a pattern where in future settings where if The Doctor needs to do future babble, they do it with the locale while the companion is kinda just there; I say let the locale be idiots again along with the Earth Companion and let the other two brainiacs do the cool stuff.

Oh also can we get a non-earth companion again? Those are the most fun. All these youngins from the british isles smh i wanna see some alien who actually knows future technology like The Doctors sonic (basic principles) and have them undermine The Doctor constantly whenever they say their techno babble. Like, have The Doctor peacock for the Earth companion only to have the alien companion actually answer the question or even cut The Doctor off. Would also lead to moments where the two smart people would bicker about technology and courses of action while the Earth companion is like "oh yeah i already found an escape vent" or "yeah i just hit it with a hammer :)". I need two smarts and one blunt in the blue box for comedic reasons.

[shawtygonemad]

What Is This Feeling: Chapter 7

Fem!9th Doctor x Male!Rose Tyler

WITF Masterlist

Through time and space once more, our extraordinary duo was off to have another adventure. The TARDIS sped through the time vortex.

"Where are we going?" Ross asked.

"The planet Panera. They have fantastic bread," the Doctor grinned at her companion.

The TARDIS suddenly switched course and jolted in the opposite direction. The Doctor examined the screen and tried to figure out what was going on. The ship finally materialized. The Doctor and Ross stepped out. It was a dimly lit area with carpeting and display cases. It looked like a museum.

"So, what is it? What's wrong," Ross instantly began to ask.

"Don't know. Some kind of signal drawing the TARDIS off course," the Doctor spoke as she looked around.

"Where are we?"

"Earth. Utah, North America. About half a mile underground," the Time Lord deduced.

"And when are we?"

"2012," she informed her friend as she began to inspect a case.

"God, that's so close. So I should be 26."

The Doctor found the light switch and flipped it on. The room and cases suddenly lit up.

"Blimey. It's a great big museum."

"An alien museum," she looked at the exhibits as she walked forward. "Someone's got a hobby." She shook her head.

"They must have spent a fortune on this. Chunks of meteorites, moon dust. That's the milometer from Roswell spaceship." She furrowed her eyebrows, confused.

"That's a bit of Slitheen!" Ross pointed to a Slitheen arm in one of the glass cases. "That's a Slitheen's arm. It's been stuffed."

The Doctor stopped in front of one of the cases. "Oh, look at you."

Ross walked behind the Doctor and looked over her shoulder. "What is it?"

'Delete…' she heard an echo in her mind.

"An old friend of mine. Well, enemy. Stuff of nightmares reduced to an exhibit. I'm getting old." She internally groaned.

"Is that where the signal's coming from," Ross asked.

"No, it's stone dead. The signal's alive, calling out for help."

The Doctor reached out her fingers, and lightly brushed the glass. Alarms suddenly blared from all around. The pair slightly jumped at the sudden noise. The Time Lord mentally kicked herself. She should have been more careful. Before they could make it to the TARDIS they were cut off and surrounded by guards. The guards were armed and aiming at them.

"If someone's collecting aliens, that makes you exhibit A," Ross nervously joked.

The two of them were escorted by the armed guards up many levels, and throughout the complex. The journey was mostly silent. Ross stayed close by her side, however. Finally they were led into their destination. An office full of over confident Americans.

The man sitting at the desk seemed to be the one behind the complex. He was being showed their recent purchase. It was a musical instrument. They did not know it, and looked completely daft whilst holding it.

"You really wouldn't hold it like that," she almost laughed at how stupid he looked.

"Shut it," she was yelled at.

"Really though, it's wrong," she insisted.

"Is it dangerous?" A girl around Ross's age asked.

"No, it just looks silly," the Doctor smirked.

She reached for the item. Firing bolts clicked all around her. She stopped. The man behind the desk curiously looked at her, and handed over the curved palm sized object.

"You just need to be-"she stroked the instrument softly, and out rang a beautiful sound. "Delicate." To prove her point, she played several different notes.

"It's a musical instrument," the man said, fascinated.

"And it's a long way from home," the Doctor commented.

"Here, let me," the man took the instrument from her hands.

She raised her eyebrows. That was rude. The man proceeded to touch it harder, causing no noise to come out.

"I did say delicate. It reacts to the smallest fingerprint. It needs precision," she once again informed him.

Once he finally got the hang of it and produced music, she smiled.

"Very good. Quite the expert," she complimented.

"As are you," he said before tossing the object on the floor.

The Doctor's jaw dropped. That was almost two hundred years old! It was used to entertain kings and queens, and he just threw it away?! Who is this man?!

"Who are you, exactly?"

"I'm the Doctor. And you are?"

"Like you don't know. We're hidden away with the most valuable collection of extra-terrestrial artifacts in the world, and you just stumbled in by mistake?"

The Doctor laughed. "Pretty much sums me up, yeah."

The man slowly walked around his desk, and got closer to the Doctor.

"The question is, how did you get in? Fifty three floors down, with your cat burglar accomplice. You're quite an artifact yourself, being rather pretty."

"The cat burglar accomplice is going to smack you if you don't give the 'artifact' personal space," Ross shot off angrily. It shocked the Doctor a bit. It was the first time he was ever verbally protective of her.

"Oh, he's English too! Hey, little lady Fauntleroy. Got you a boyfriend."

"This is Mister Henry Van Statten," the girl introduced. She was the only English person, besides Ross, at the complex.

"Who is he at home?" Ross snidely remarked.

"Mister Van Statten owns the internet," she added.

"Don't be stupid. No one owns the internet," he jabbed again.

"And let's just keep letting the world think that, right kids," Van Statten remarked, smug.

"So you're just an expert in everything except the things in your museum. Anything you don't understand, you lock it up."

"And you claim greater knowledge?" Van Statten challenged.

"I don't need to make claims. I know how good I am," she shot back.

"And yet, I captured you. Right next to the cage. What were you doing down there?" He asked.

The Doctor placed her hands on her hips. "You tell me," she sassed.

"The cage contains my one living specimen."

"And what's that?"

"Like you don't know," Van Statten scoffed.

"Show me."

"You want to see it?" Van Statten once again challenged the Doctor.

"Blimey, do I need to separate you two?" Ross remarked, annoyed.

"Goddard, inform the cage we're heading down. You, English. Look after the boy. Go and canoodle or spoon or whatever it is you British do. And you, Doctor with no name, come and see my pet."

Van Statten stood in the elevator with a smirk on his face. The Doctor gave Ross a reassuring look before stepping on the lift next to the American. The ride down was quick and silent. Once they stepped out of the lift, the Doctor was led over toward a large metal door. Van Statten spoke as he unlocked and opened the large door.

"We've tried everything. The creature has shielded itself but there's a definite sign of life inside."

"Inside? Inside what?" The Doctor asked, curiously.

A man in an orange hazard suit walked over to Van Statten.

"Welcome back, Sir. I've had to take the power down. The Metaltron is resting."

"Metaltron?"

'What kind of dumb name is that?' She thought.

"I thought of it myself," Van Statten stated proudly.

'Of course.'

"Although I'd much to prefer to find out its real name."

"Here, you'd better put these on," the man in the hazard offered her rubber gloves. "The last guy that touched it burst into flames."

"I won't touch it then," she said like it was most obvious.

"Go on, Doctor. Impress me," Van Statten grinned at her.

The Doctor narrowed her eyes at him before strutting past, into the cage. It was very dark as she looked around. She jumped slightly as the door slammed shut behind her.

The Time Lord continued to investigate. She found a small table with drills, and other torture tools. Her heart instantly went out to the creature. She turned to where she assumed the 'Metaltron' was. She couldn't make it out. The room was too dark.

"Look, I'm sorry about this. Mister Van Statten might think he's clever, but never mind him. I've come to help. I'm the Doctor."

A few seconds of silence passed before a blue light was seen. When the Metaltron spoke, two white lights flashed with its words.

"Doc-tor?"

The Doctor's eyes widened, and her hearts stopped. No! This can't happen. It's-

"Impossible," she managed to breathe out.

"The Doc-tor?" The Metaltron spoke with more confidence this time.

The lights came up to reveal a Dalek. The Doctor's worst enemy. And it was chained to the floor. This didn't stop the Doctor from crying out in fear.

"Ex-ter-min-ate! Ex-ter-min-ate!"

The Time Lord flung herself onto the door and started to pound her fists.

"Let me out," she practically screamed.

"Ex-ter-min-ate!"

The door wouldn't open. The Doctor took a step back and just stared at the monstrosity. Her entire body was quivering. Her hearts were pounding hard into her chest.

"You are an en-e-my of the Da-leks! You must be des-troyed!"

The Doctor closed her eyes and awaited death. This was it. This was how she would finally die after nine hundred years. Maybe it was her time. Suddenly she accepted her fate. She never realized until now that she was ready to go.

After a few seconds without pain, she opened her eyes. She was alive! Yet a small part inside of her was disappointed. That part was overshadowed by the sickening joy she suddenly felt over her enemy.

"It's not working." She started to laugh like she's gone mad. "Fantastic! Oh, Fantastic! Powerless! Look at you. The great space dustbin. How does it feel?"

The Dalek tried to roll backwards, but was stopped by the chains.

"Keep back!" It demanded.

"What for?" She launched herself forward and became face to eyestock with the Dalek. "What're you going to do to me?" She challenged.

The Doctor, bottled with rage, began to circle the creature. Like a lion hunting its prey. She wanted to intimidate it.

"If you can't kill, then what are you good for, Dalek? What's the point of you? You're nothing!"

The Gallifreyan finally stopped back in front of the Dalek.

"What the hell are you here for?"

"I am a-wait-ing or-ders!" It responded to her.

"What does that mean?"

"I am a sold-ier. I was bred to rec-ieve or-ders."

"Well you're never going to get any. Your race is dead!" She yelled at it. "You all burnt, all of you. Ten million ships on fire. The entire race wiped out in one second."

"You lie!"

"I watched it happen. I made it happen," she spoke maliciously.

"You des-troyed us?" It asked, almost sounding heartbroken.

The alien stopped and calmed down a bit. She turned away from the Dalek in guilt. Their race wasn't the only one she destroyed that day.

"I had no choice," she responded quietly.

"And what of the Ti-me Lo-rds?"

"Dead." She managed to choke out. "They burned with you. The end of the last great Time War. Everyone lost."

"And the coward survived."

This fueled her rage once more. However, she managed to keep it under control.

"Oh, and I caught your little signal. Help me. Poor little thing. But there's no one else coming 'cause there's no one else left."

"I am a-lone in the un-i-verse," it almost sounded defeated.

"Yep."

"So are you. We are the same."

The Doctor spun around, no longer able to hold her anger.

"We're not the same! I'm not-"she paused as a cruel thought crossed her mind. "No, wait. Maybe we are. You're right. Yeah, okay. You've got a point. 'Cause I know what to do. I know what should happen. I know what you deserve." She grinned sickeningly.

"Exterminate."

With that the Doctor pulled a lever on a nearby console. The Dalek lit up with electricity. It began to scream, and she just watched.

"Have pity!" It cried out.

"Why should I? You never did." She pulled another lever, and increased the electricity.

"Help me!"

Suddenly the door opened and guards flooded in. She launched herself towards the last lever. No! This was her only chance to kill it! She was suddenly yanked away from the panel and was practically carried out of the cage.

"No! You've got to destroy it!" She yelled.

The Doctor ripped herself away from the guards once outside the cage. She frowned deeply as she waited for Van Statten to leave the cage. She was very cross with the American man. Once he left the cage they were guided towards the lift.

"The metal's just an armor. The real Dalek creature's inside," she explained to Van Statten.

"What's it look like?" he asked.

"A nightmare. It's a mutation. The Dalek race was genetically engineered. Every single emotion was removed except hate," she tried to explain to them. These stupid little apes weren't getting the big picture!

"Genetically engineered," he spoke as if it were Christmas. "By whom?"

"By a genius, Van Statten," she was starting to get stressed out. "By a man who was king of his own little world. You'd like him."

Van Statten's assistant Goddard decided to butt herself in.

"It's been on Earth for over fifty years. Sold at private auction, moving from one collection to another. Why would it be a threat now?" she asked.

"Because I'm here." How many times does she have to explain it? "How did it get to Earth? Does anyone know?"

"The records say it came from the sky like a meteorite. It fell on Earth on the Ascension Islands. Burnt in its crater for three days before anyone could get near it and all that time it was screaming. It must have gone insane," Goddard spoke in a superior tone.

The Doctor stood for a moment and thought. "It must of fallen through time. The only survivor."

"You talked about war," the human female asked.

"The Time War. The final battle between my people and the Dalek race."

"But you survived, too," Van Statten said with a devilish smile on his face.

"Not by choice," The Doctor added grimly.

"This means the Dalek isn't the only alien on Earth. Doctor, there's you. The only one of your kind in existence."

Just as the doors opened, the Doctor was once again grabbed. She struggled against their grip as they led her into her own cage.

"Any type of exposed metal is going to affect the laser scanner," Van Statten smiled.

The Doctor ended up having to shed her boots, jacket, and top. She was able to keep her bra on because Van Statten claimed he was a 'gentleman'. So now that the Doctor was stripped, she got chained spread eagle in front of the scanner.

"Now, smile!" Van Statten said, cheerfully.

The Doctor bit her lip as a painful shock ran through her body from the laser.

"Two hearts! Binary Vascular System. Oh, I am so going to patent this," Van Statten said.

The Doctor glared at the man. "So that's your secret. You don't just collect this stuff, you scavenge it."

She shook her head in anger as Van Statten went on to say how he cured the common cold and was going to sell cures for every disease. The Doctor was getting frustrated.

"Do you know what a Dalek is, Van Statten? A Dalek is honest. That creature in your dungeon is better than you."

"In that case, I'll be true to myself and continue," Van Statten frowned.

"Listen to me! That thing downstairs is going to kill every last one of us!" She tried to get through to him.

"Nothing can escape the cage."

Van Statten turned the laser up a Koch and blasted the Doctor. She bit her lip harder as she tried to endure the pain. Once the laser stopped, she attempted to catch her breath and speak.

"But it's woken up! It knows I'm here. It's going to get out. Van Statten, I swear, no one in this base is safe. No one on this planet!"

He turned the laser to its highest setting. It once again blasted the Doctor. This time around wasn't for informational purposes. He just wanted to hear her scream. And he did.

[aubasic]

An actual AU's list

Here we go.

• alien AU except the humans are the ones visiting

• honestly just a teenage angst AU because why not

• "that loser from high school changed HOT DAMN is that really them??" AU

• royalty AU; a prince(ss) is forced to live in secret when threats arise. how will they manage?

• best friends that were separated at a young age and reunite later in their life, though they don’t recognise the other at first AU

• unstoppable new kid who will not let anyone push them around AU

• regular bar-goers’ backstories AU, and possibly where they might go from there (maybe they band together to accomplish something, maybe this could be how you introduce character, etc. it’s your decision!)

• magic school AU where each student receives a supernatural/mythical creature as a “companion”, but something is off about the whole thing...

• group of teenagers find an abandoned amusement park but something (or someone) actually inhabits it AU

• a world where humans and supernatural/mythical beings coexist, but if you aren’t human and the government finds out you’re forced to move to a secluded, monitored city with other “vile creatures like yourself” AU

• an angel of sorts is sent down to monitor high school students by becoming one of them temporarily AU

• mercenary AU

• an angel of heaven is sent out to either capture or kill a notorious dark angel AU

• the ruler of a secret kingdom goes into panic when an outsider discovers it and threatens to expose them for some reason (idk, it’s up to you) AU

• a lab rat/genetically modified person taken from a young age only now returning to a normal life, and are forced to figure it out themselves AU

• the two richest and most powerful households in the city are rivals, but one of each has a forbidden romance with the other AU

• “my best friend’s insane, and i mean literally” AU

• a person wakes up in a strange room, finds a way out into a main room, and finds another person (or people) glaring at them and blaming them for why they were in this peculiar (and slightly eerie) place but the person doesn’t remember AU

• apocalypse AU that doesn’t necessarily have a good ending

• rival assassins AU where the other keeps “stealing all my fucking kills, that bastard.” (plot twist; they don’t know each other’s actual identities though ((bonus: they know each other personally, without realising the other is pretty much their enemy)))

• an immortal sitting through high school again and constantly rolling their eyes at each history lesson, ready to drop out when they have a partner assignment AU

• new police officer/longtime prisoner AU

- alternatively; new doctor/longtime prisoner who purposely gets in rough fights to see them AU

• where a person is reading a really good book but by the end they’re a bit afraid as it seems like the main character in the book is actually speaking to them specifically AU

- alternatively; the main character of the book somehow becomes real

• dystopian AU where you aren’t allowed emotion, but one person is in desperate need to change that, and can’t do it alone

• old partners in crime meeting once again, but as one still committing crime and the other a cop (somehow)

• AU where a seemingly normal human goes to a college for seemingly normal humans. plot twist, bitch.

Feel free to alternate others if you use ‘em.

[suki-schiffer]

Why does season 10 suck?

Within my small group of whovians we all agreed that this season of Doctor Who has definitely seen a decline in quality to the point some of us felt like we were going to stop watching it. Of course none of us did, just hoping that there was another reason we were mourning the show, maybe we were mourning Clara (my friend L hated her though so...), maybe we didn’t like Bill and Nardole (but actually I’ve been better able to relate to Bill than any other companion, I like her, she points out and question the same things I do, like how the acronym TARDIS wouldn’t work in other languages and while I first thought Nardole was annoying he does serve as a nice comic relief), maybe the so called mistakes and plot holes I have issue with will all be corrected in future episodes, maybe all my questions will be answered. And so I waited and waited and continued to watch and one or two questions were answered and then I realized that in two days season 10 is over. The writers literally have only one episode left to save this season for my friends and I. What bugs me the most though is that I haven’t heard anyone complaining about this, in fact people are singing praises and I’m sitting here wondering if people are blind and/or why people are putting up with this. Just in case you are unaware of the show’s horrible story line this season, or if you are aware and want to compare notes I have made a short list of some of the mistakes and plot holes thus far. (Spoilers)

Episode 1 Pilot: so the Doctor is earth bound, has been guarding the vault at St. Luke’s for about 70 years and yet he doesn’t notice a space ship land on campus and leak fuel. He’s living in the TARDIS and apparently avoiding some unknown enemies, he should have some sort of scanners warning him of unusual occurrences and aliens approaching etc. And he’s probably bored so it’s not like he’s going to let these aliens land and take off without investigating, even if they are friendly, because he’s bored and curious. Also we never found out why Heather had a star in her eye, surly that couldn’t be natural.

Episode 2 Smile: I found this episode very nonsensical. The robots are smart enough to program themselves to kill off the humans to prevent dissatisfaction but they can’t/aren’t smart enough to kill someone who walks outside the city even though they can go and have been shown outside the city. Also they are dumb enough to need a badge to tell them if humans are happy or not (originally if oxygen, water, food was optimal) this is supposed to be hundreds of years in the future, robots today can assess mood through posture and facial expression. For some reason everyone tries to trick the badges into thinking they are happy by smiling so that the Vardy don’t kill them yet no one thinks of taking the badges off. When the Vardy kill they manage to destroy everything but the bones and the locket, including those suits that seemed to have metal components and I refuse to believe that only one person was wearing jewelry, therefore where is all the jewelry/metal? This isn’t the only planet humans have colonized, wouldn’t other colonies be using similar technology, shouldn’t they be warned. And the fix for the episode seemed ridiculous, turn them off and on, no one else thought to try resetting them? It took the Doctor 45 minutes to figure this out?

Episode 3 Thin Ice: my favourite episode so far, pretty well written but for the fact the Doctor says he’s been to the Frost Fair before and Lord Sutcliffe says the monster (and we never do find out what it is, why it’s on earth and where it goes) has been chained in the Thames and the secret passed down in his family “forever”. This means the Doctor obviously should have known something was amiss and already solved the problem.

Episode 4 Knock Knock: another ridiculous episode. What were the bugs? Why did they save the mother but kill/eat/destroy everyone else? Why did they need six people every 20 years? The landlord was old, it was unlikely he would like another 20 years, what did he plan to do then? Didn’t anyone notice these people going missing? How was it the Doctor could save all of Bill’s friends/roommates but not the other people? Why did Bill suddenly need to move out of her foster mother’s house? It wasn’t like getting to the university was difficult if she was working there everyday. When Eliza was ill wouldn’t her son have been sent away? After her “death” wouldn’t his father, a relative, or even an orphanage take him by request of the doctors who presumably announced Eliza dead, or the servants a house that big probably had? Like who was paying taxes if the landlord was a child at the time and his mother had turned to wood? I’m going to stop ranting about this one here.

Episode 5 Oxygen: this episode was okay. I liked the portrayal of the dangers of capitalism and the racism reversal (Bill being called racist). So I get that the people had to buy oxygen but they were all talking about running out, wasn’t there a way to buy more? They were obviously going to be working there for awhile so there had to have been a way. Killing the workers off seems really harsh, wouldn’t it just be better to fire them and take them back to earth/wherever they came from? The fact that the Doctor didn’t figure out that Bill’s suit wouldn’t kill her due to low battery until after he was blind really bugged me. He made a major sacrifice for her when he didn’t have to, and maybe he was trying to save her from pain but in the end her suit got stuck again and so the “inevitable” still happened. Also the lying, I sort of get why he lied to Bill/the crew to make them feel better, but why have Nardole “fix” his vision only to tell him a few minutes later that he really is blind? Again he mentions that his enemies can’t know he’s blind/weak but he shares this with Missy.

Episode 6 Extremis: ah yes, the horrible monk trilogy that no one asked for. First of all this breaks standard Doctor Who format, when have we ever had a three part episode in the middle of the season? The horrid sonic sunglasses are back and somehow the Doctor’s managed to hook them to his occipital lobe so that he can see outlines, read emails, and view statistics about the living thing(s) in front of him, but he can’t see patterns, colours, textures, etc. For some reason in this alternate universe the TARDIS translation matrix doesn’t work as it doesn’t translate the pope for Bill. And that’s a strange device that’s never been used, seen, or eluded to before, very convenient the Doctor decides to make a potentially fatal trade to read the paper version of the text before figuring out it’s already on the computer right in front of him and he can listen to it instead. Oh and the fact that his sight takes awhile to load is very useful too. So Missy being in a vault and how Nardole joined the Doctor is explained in part. Why did these people want Missy dead and how did they capture her? How did they convince the Doctor to come to their planet to be the executioner? When did he have time to fiddle with the device? What exactly was so scary in the records that caused the others to run away and how/why did they not check the records and know this before they brought the Doctor in? How did Nardole get from Darillium to this planet? 

Episode 7 The Pyramid at the End of the World: Out of all the disasters throughout history why did the monks choose this one? They seem generally surprised that the Doctor manages to stop them/turn back the clock, but claimed to have studied him in the simulation world and won against him many times. Where on earth is UNIT? Why do the monks need consent that comes from love? Why could they not just create a link with anyone who agreed to meet their demands if they saved the world? And why did it have to be a person with power? Later on it seemed like any human would have made a successful link. Why a pyramid? Since when can’t the sonic screwdriver not open doors/locks? It’s never just told him the code/showed him what the key looks like, it opens things, so long as they aren’t made of wood and that door definitely wasn’t wood. Why couldn’t the Doctor tell Bill that he would regenerate to prevent her from making the deal? How did these monks fix his vision? 

Episode 8 The Lie of the Land: how was the Doctor “captured”? Why were some people able to overcome the brainwashing? What exactly was the monks’ plans? The had earth and the citizens of it enslaved for over six months yet didn’t seem to be doing anything, not taking resources, not using the humans as slaves for labour power, not preparing for battle of any kind. In the last episode they said that they had taken on the forms they had to essentially relax the people even though they looked like corpses (all humans looked like corpses to them) we never do see their true forms. Why are there so few of them? How did the Doctor manage to convert an entire prison ship to his side without alerting the monks who clearly could get on board and were checking on him? Bill didn’t know the Doctor could regenerate, why did he pretend, how did he manage to pretend? Why hadn’t he acted sooner? Why did he need Bill and need to test her to the extent that he did? Seriously? The answer was love? Love for a woman Bill never knew? And of course everyone forgot everything afterwards, why wouldn’t they?

Episode 9 Empress of Mars: Why didn’t Friday wake his queen up earlier? Why wait months for the humans to discover the “tomb” and do it? Why couldn’t Friday have convinced her to make peace with the humans before she killed so many of them? There’s a fair number of military personnel on Mars, this is 1881, I’m pretty sure someone will notice they’ve gone missing. Isn’t this a bit of a paradox? The Doctor essentially sends himself to Mars because he sees the message “God save the Queen” at NASA then goes to save the humans and the Ice Warriors so that they can create that same message. If he wasn’t there there would be no message, but without the message he wouldn’t be there. Finally the thing that bugged me most about this episode: Since when does the TARDIS lock her doors and leave on her own and then refuse to return for her Time Lord?

Episode 10 The Eaters of Light: actually liked this one probably because of the scenery and mysticism involved. Major critique though is how a small group was able to hold off the creatures for centuries. While it might appear as if they broke the portal because too many went through at once the fact that you can still hear the music is an indication that it’s still functional to some degree. 

Episode 11 World Enough and Time: I was really mad at myself for forgetting about how time and gravity interact however I found the episode very predictable. I mean the way the Razor first scurried from Bill? Totally something John Simm’s Master would do. If the bottom of the space ship is experiencing time much faster than the top and the city is dying doesn’t that mean all the parts are wearing out and will eventually stop powering the top of the ship? Are you telling me all those people originally came from just 20 humans? No wonder they are dying with that little genetic variability. How did the cybermen know to come for Bill (yes they have cameras but Missy, the Doctor and even Nardole look human, how were they able to figure out it was her)? Why was someone sending them up to take the rest of the humans (not just Bill but the other 20+ crew members)? Can they only convert humans, is that why they didn’t try to take anyone else? Why doesn’t Bill’s heart work outside the hospital but the other incomplete cybermen were able to leave to fetch her? Why did the cybermen freak out when she opened the window? Why didn’t more people attempt to go upstairs? I have more questions about this episode but since it is a two parter it is likely some, if not most, will be answered on Saturday.

So there is obviously a writing problem this season and yet very few people seem to be complaining. Personally I think Moffat is trying to take the show down with him, that perhaps he wanted a raise or more creative freedom BBC said no, so now he’s trying to set it up to fail so that he can look back and say “see, you should have just given me what I wanted, I told you guys you wouldn’t be able to survive without me”. My friend C gives Moffat the benefit of the doubt, compares him to a minimum wage worker who’s handed in his two-week notice, he’s run out of ideas and there’s no need to work hard to make the show amazing because so long as he does the work he’s getting paid and this will be his last season whether or not he does well. My other friend, V, is actually blaming the new head writer, Chris Chibnall. She says he might be asking they set the story up for him in some way and the current writers are struggling to do so. Or on a more minor level since Bill is the only character who seems to be staying she could be Chibnall’s character and the current writers are having trouble setting her up to be the character Chibnall wants while fitting her in their stories and having her interact with their characters. 

Okay this has taken much too long to write but it is done. I don’t have much hope for season ten as I find it impossible for the writers to address all these questions and plot holes in a single episode but maybe I’ll be surprised. If it does go down in flames hopefully season eleven will be better. I wrote this solely because I couldn’t find anything on the net expressing similar opinions about this season that I had and I sort of wanted confirmation that my small friend group and I weren’t the only ones disappointed so hopefully someone else who felt the same way has discovered this post. 

Anyway goodnight/day/whatever (it’s now 4am here, oops) and thank you for reading.

[timeagainreviews]

Rage Against the Machines Piloted by Squidgy Mutants

If you're coming to classic Doctor Who for the first time as a fan of the new series, it can be a bit of an adjustment. It's very much like watching a play, in that the sets aren't so much realistic, as they are implications. The acting is theatric, and everyone speaks in the Queen's English. Back in 2011 when I originally began my foray into classic Doctor Who, I found the differences shocking. But "The Daleks," was a serial that somewhat mystified me.

It's not impossible to put yourself into the mindset of a 1963 audience watching this for the first time. Because if you were to update this story with flashy editing and special effects, it would still be rather unique. Doctor Who is so unlike any other science fiction, despite how many tropes it borrows from the genre. There is still, to this day, not much similar. Only ten years previous, had one of the first adult-oriented science fictions been introduced to British television with "The Quartermass Experiment." But Doctor Who stove toward something broader- a family oriented science fiction.

The inception of Doctor Who was surprisingly "rag-tag," in many ways. The show's creator, Sydney Newman, had a vision, but it was by no means clear. It was more of an intuition on his behalf. He set producer Verity Lambert to the task of seeing this vision come to fruition. Ironically, one of the most iconic moments of the show came from ignoring one of Newman's early guidelines- "No bug-eyed monsters!"

If you recall from the end of the Cave of Skulls, the TARDIS had landed in an irradiated jungle of sorts. The trees were alien and stark white. Our crew, unaware of the dangerous atmosphere set out to explore the surface of this strange planet on which they've found themselves. Ian and Barbara are still upset about having not returned home, but they seem to be adjusting to this new reality as best they can.

After a closer inspection, Ian discovers that the forest is actually petrified. The branches of the trees don't blow in the breeze because some sort of process has turned them all into a kind of brittle stone. None of them can hide their amazement at this strange forest. Susan finds a fragile flower at the base of a tree, preserved perfectly in stone. She asks Ian to help pick it so she can bring it back to the TARDIS, but a scream heard from Barbara causes Ian to hastily drop the flower into Susan's hands, pulverising it.

The cause of Barbara's discontent was the discovery of a rather silly looking reptile the size of an alligator, covered in metal plating. Due to its rigid structure, it only appears to be alive. In truth, it's long dead. The Doctor speculates that the creature was held together by internal magnetic forces that it used to attract prey, which may have also been metal. It is obvious that they aren't on Earth. The Doctor decides to get a better vantage point to map the stars, in an attempt to figure out where they are.

At the top of a large hill, the Doctor discovers a city off in the distance, unperturbed by whatever process had petrified the forest. Naturally, his curious mind wants to explore this strange city, but his companions convince him to return to the TARDIS for the night so they might get some rest. Ian refuses to let the Doctor go alone, as he is the only one who can pilot the ship. Upon returning, Susan is distracted by another flower which separates her from the group. While standing behind she hears a strange sound and a mysterious human hand grasps her shoulder momentarily, causing her to sprint back to the TARDIS in fear.

The Doctor is still naive at this point in his life. He still thinks he knows everything. Therefore, the idea that Susan was grabbed sounds impossible to him. The Doctor we know nowadays would never assume what was impossible. She's seen too much to disbelieve things outrightly. But early on, the Doctor is so sure it couldn't happen. No one could live on the surface of this planet. Right?

Back on the TARDIS, Barbara is feeling a bit ill with a headache. We as the viewer know this has something to do with the radiation on the planet's surface, but our friends have no idea. Susan gives Barbara a tincture to cure what ails her. The two of them have a nice moment, where Barbara takes on a bit of a motherly/teacher role with Susan, comforting her. Ian and the Doctor argue over the logistics of surviving on this planet. Can they leave? How will they live? What will they eat? Which brings me to one of my favourite little moments in the Hartnell era- the food machine!

I know it's a funny thing to love, but it's such a product of its time. The Doctor and Susan make Ian and Barbara some bacon and eggs from the food machine. Only it comes out as a sort of tofu looking substance wrapped in foil. The Doctor explains how flavours are a sort of spectrum, much like colour. They can be mixed to make new ones. Funnily enough, you never see it in the show again after Hartnell's era. It's one of those things from Doctor Who that I wish they would bring back, if only for a silly nod.

Ok, back to it. The idea of going back to the TARDIS for the night is a bit of a joke. They spend all of five minutes before going right back outside. There's no indication of a passage of time longer than a moment. The Doctor pulls some mercurial trickster shit to get his way. By slight of hand, he sabotages the TARDIS' fluid link, claiming the mercury is empty, and they need to find more. (See what I did there?) It's a dirty trick, but it gets them out of the TARDIS to seek out more mercury in the mysterious city.

Now they're all back outside, precisely as the Doctor desired. They find a little silver box they mistake for a bomb, which leads to a lot of Ian hopping around like a dolt. It turns out to be a bit of medicine that they bring into the TARDIS. They then set off into the city. By the time they arrive, they're all exhausted. The radiation is taking a toll on their bodies. Ian makes the "brilliant," suggestion that they all split up. He goes his way, the Doctor and Susan go theirs, and Barbara goes hers.

I tried to imagine what it was like to watch that first episode end, but no matter how you cut it, it looks like Barbara is getting attacked by a toilet plunger. I imagine that perplexed many people in the following week waiting for the next episode. The rest of the crew have already met back up and go looking for Barbara. While looking they find a room full of scientific instruments that make me giggle a bit. One of the things I've always found humorous about Daleks was the idea that they could manage to build complex machinery with those sucker arms. One of the machines is a Geiger counter, which alerts them to the fact that they're stewing in radiation. The Doctor now knows why the forest was petrified. He surmises it was a neutron bomb, as the city still stands. 

The Doctor admits there is nothing wrong with the fluid link, which upsets Ian. He snatches the fluid link from the Doctor and demands they find Barbara.  Upon exiting the equipment room, they are surrounded by robotic creatures shaped like pepper pots. Unless you've been sleeping under a rock, you'll know right away these are Daleks. Their classic look hasn't changed much throughout the years. The ring modulator on their monotone voices is just as evil and grating as ever. They take our friends captive and lead them toward a containment block.

In what may be one of the dumbest moves in Doctor Who history, under zero cover from fire Ian makes a run for it. He's immediately shot by a Dalek, leaving his legs temporarily paralysed. The Doctor and Susan must carry him to their cell where they find Barbara has also been captured. One of the cooler things I noticed this time around was that the Daleks have a small round screen in their control room that has the time vortex from the opening credits. My headcanon is that this is them, pre-time travel, experimenting with this newfound phenomena. I'd love to know if anyone has ever done a story about this.

The Daleks decide for the time to keep their captives alive. They want to know more about these strangers from the outside. The Daleks interrogate the Doctor and discover the drugs our friends found outside the TARDIS are anti-radiation drugs. They allow one of the crew to go fetch the drugs, thinking they could duplicate it and use it for themselves. The person they send is Susan, who is basically useless, so she spends a lot of time running through the forest like a moron.

While in the forest, Susan meets a man named Alydon from a race of people know as the Thals, one of two dominant races of this planet, Skaro. The Thals were once a proud race of warriors who were at war with the Daleks, hence the neutronic bombs. The radiation mutated both races, but the Thals had come back around to a more human appearance, while the Daleks remained horribly mutated in their metal encasings. Alydon tells Susan that it was he who tried to get her attention in the forest and that it was also him who left the drugs as a gift. He belongs to a small group of Thals that have been searching for a new source of food. Their hope is to establish some sort of treaty with the Daleks. He gives Susan his cloak and sends her on her way with a warning about the Daleks.

Alydon heads back to his encampment to discuss the possibility of a treaty. At this point, it's worth noting that the Thals are basically interchangeable. The men are all tall, handsome, with blonde hair. The women all dress like Vegas showgirls and also possess blonde hair. They're all the embodiment of the Aryan ideal, which is ironic considering their biggest enemy is the embodiment of Nazi ideals. The main Thals worth noting are- Alydon: notable for being second in command, Temmosus: notable for being the leader and having "I'll be dead by the end of this story," stamped all over his forehead, and Dyoni: notable for being a woman with actual dialogue. All of the other ones are basically fodder for the story.

Susan returns with the drugs and passes them around, which for the 60's, is a lot less exciting than it sounds. The Daleks listen in and discover the Thals' plan to broker peace, so they play along, all the while devising their own plan. Using Susan's signature on a letter, they plan to trick the Thals into an ambush.

Recurring Doctor Who villains always come back, bigger, better, meaner. The Daleks of modern Doctor Who murder without warning, can fly, are made of reinforced Dalekanium, and can even fry people who touch them. The first time we see them, it's a different story. The Doctor theorises that they must be powered by static electricity from the metal floors and pathways. Or as Ian says "Like dodgems!" at the fair. It makes the Twelfth Doctor's "Anyone for dodgems?" line from "The Witch's Familiar," all the funnier. Mixing what little water they've been given with mud from Susan's shoe, they create a sort of mudball which they use on the guard Dalek's eyestalk and push it onto Alydon's cloak, insulating it from the statically charged floor. The Dalek powers down, and they open up the casing, replacing the squidgy inhabitant with Ian.

What comes next is a lot of cat and mouse. Our friends escape the Daleks, while they try and stop them. Ian tries to warn the Thals that the food exchange is really an ambush. But Temmosus tries to reason with the Daleks, leading to his very predictable death. The Thals and the TARDIS crew escape with as much food as possible and retreat to the encampment. There, Dyoni tells the tale of Skaro's history. Ian, learning of the Thals' previous status as a warrior race, rallies the new leader Alydon to once again take up arms against the Daleks. The Doctor would rather leave altogether but learns that leaving would be impossible, as the Daleks confiscated the TARDIS' fluid link when they took him captive. It's funny that they used to have to write reasons to keep the Doctor around. "When people need help, I never refuse," is not yet the Doctor's personal axiom.

I mentioned in the "Cave of Skulls," review that elements of the story were Arthurian in nature. The next part of our story also has a bit of a medieval vibe to it as well. Our heroes must infiltrate the Dalek city. However, it's well guarded by Daleks and/or cameras at every entrance. From the back is a natural barrier created by a bog known as "The Lake of Mutations," full of deadly beasts, mutated by centuries of radiation. But it has one thing going for it- it's unguarded. This is mostly because to traverse the swamp would be suicide. Ian and Barbara, along with a group of Thals go the back way. The Doctor and Susan act as a distraction going the front way. We lose a few interchangeable Thals along the way but escape mostly unscathed.

The Doctor and Susan sneak into the city by scrambling the Dalek's cameras and work on a plan that will depower every Dalek in the city by destroying the static electricity generator. But doing so alerts the Daleks to their presence and they're captured. The Daleks, having learned that they need the radiation to survive, plan to build a new neutron bomb to kill the Thals, leaving them the supreme rulers of Skaro. However, the bomb would take too long to build with their little toilet plungers, so they decide instead to explode their nuclear reactors. How this wouldn't also power down their static charge is beyond me.

What comes next is possibly the most aptly named episode of Doctor Who ever- "The Ordeal." It is exactly that. Ian and Barbara are now in the cave beyond the lake with their Thal companions. They spend the bulk of this episode trying to cross a fucking ravine, and it's brutally uninteresting. Another interchangeable Thal dies, cutting himself free to save Ian from falling as well. Ho-hum. They make their way through an opening in the cave into a rather large facility, or as it appears onscreen- a stock photo of a big industrial plant. It's all rather comical.

While in Dalek custody, the Doctor pleads with the Daleks to reconsider killing all other life on the planet, but they start the countdown anyway. Since this episode, it's been established that the Daleks count in "rels," rather than seconds. Rels are a bit slower than seconds, and while they didn't call them rels in this story, I pulled out a timer to see just how much slower the countdown was from actual seconds. I counted just below three seconds per number. The fact that they had one single Dalek doing the countdown from 200 back, was possibly the most Dalek thing ever. So stupidly inefficient.

While the countdown is going, Alydon has brought a separate party through the front of the city and met up with Ian and Barbara's party. They join forces to take out the Dalek's machinery, stopping the radiation. They also take out their power source, powering down all of the Daleks in the city. While doing this, we lose more interchangeable Thals as they dance with the Daleks, fighting them off with stone tree branches and rocks from the cave. It's very Ewok of them.

Fluid link in hand, the Doctor, his friends, and the newly radicalised Thals head back to the TARDIS. In possibly one of the more shocking moments of the episode, Ganatus, a random Thal, exchanges a romantic kiss with Barbara as they part. It's not the kiss that is shocking, so much as the fact that they had any kind of romantic feelings at all. Nothing in the story up to this point had supported this. It's all rather forced, but whatever. Get you some, B!

Back on the TARDIS, our crew sets off into motion. However, the TARDIS console sparks and flashes, and our four heroes fall to the floor!

Final thoughts: Terry Nation's "The Daleks," is an iconic story. If you've never seen it, it's a must see. Not only does it establish the Doctor's oldest foes, but it's also the story that created "Dalekmania." Children went nuts for these stupid pepper pots, and it really pushed the popularity of the show forward. However, after having seen it once, I must say, I struggled to get through it a second time. The pacing is awful. It's overlong, and there is little to no plot. Though some of the musical cues they played over the Dalek city are particularly effective. It's no secret that I found the Thals one dimensional. I found the cavemen of the previous story more relatable. This is not to say they are without merits though. The idea that the Daleks used to share a planet makes them tragic is some respects. There were some interesting, if not dated, arguments about pacifism as well. The very idea of Skaro, with it's Lake of Mutations, and petrified forests is wonderfully creative. It's easy to see why this was the story that captured the imagination of so many, and never let go.

Hey guys! Sorry this was late. Been a little busy with life. Might push the Twin Peaks review back a day or two. But we’ll see what happens tomorrow. Regardless, I might do the next Doctor Who review sooner than later. “The Edge of Destruction,” is such a short story, it shouldn’t take long to write.

[netmaddy-blog]

Doctor Who: The Card Game, Card Game Review

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Doctor Who: The Card Game, Card Game Review

Doctor Who holds the Guinness record for the longest-running science fiction television show in the world, airing from 1963 till today. For those unfamiliar with the show (really inexcusable I might say!!) Doctor Who (or The Doctor) is a humanoid alien, a Time Lord, whose planet has been destroyed and is traveling through space and time with a time machine called TARDIS, exploring the universe and helping the helpless. TARDIS looks like a blue British police box, a common sight in Britain during the 60s when the show first appeared. Through the years, it has become a trademark of the show. Doctor Who has faced many enemies through the course of the show, the oldest and most significant ones being the Daleks, an alien race whose sole purpose is to destroy all beings inferior to them. Martin Wallace, a well-known independent board game designer from U.K., undertook the challenging task of recreating the atmosphere of the show in a rather simple card game. Let’s see how the game measures up to its theme and how appealing it is in general as a card game.

Game Overview

Although I am a huge sci-fi fan, I’ve seen very little of the renowned show. However as I sat down to play this game I had in my mind the general concept of “The Doctor”, his time-travelling machine and the atmosphere that the game should have. In my point of view, the fact that I’m not a hardcore fan of the game neither totally ignorant of the theme makes me more suitable to write an objective review of the game. Let’s go through the basics of the game for starters:

In Doctor Who: The Card Game, players take the role of Doctor Who and his companions, trying to defend locations from various enemies but they also take the role of the “bad” guys, by sending enemies to attack other players’ locations. During each of their turns, players will have the opportunity to perform a number of actions, which involve playing cards. There are four different types of cards in the game:

Locations. Players will have to fight for the control of their own locations as well as their opponents’. Each location is worth a number of victory points at the end of the game.

Defenders. Defenders will be used to defend a player’s locations. There are actually 4 defenders, all based on the Doctor Who TV-series, each one with their own defense strength: The Doctor, Amy Pond, Rory and River Song

Enemies. Players send enemies to their opponents locations, trying to gain control of them. The enemies are well-known races and monsters from the Doctor Who universes like The Daleks, Cybermen, the Sontarans, and Davros. Each enemy has a different attack value.

Support cards. These are allies, special gadgets or events that will help a player or hinder his opponents. At the beginning of the game, each player must pick a color and get 10 counters of the appropriate color (5 DALEKS and 5 TARDIS). Daleks are used to indicate that we have placed an attacking enemy at an opponents’ location, whereas TARDIS is used to show that we have successfully defended a location of our own. Each player also gains a starting location which is chosen randomly. The player having the highest value starting location becomes the first player. All cards are shuffled in a face-down pile and 5 cards are dealt to each player except the player sitting to the right of the first player, who receives only two cards. There are also thirty-time tokens in the game, which are set by the side of the draw deck.

Each player, during his turn, may play as many actions he wants, limited only by the fact that at the end of his turn he must give to the player on his right 3 cards. Extra cards may be bought during a player’s turn using time counters, that can be gained with a number of ways. Available actions a player may do during his turn are:

play a location card in front of him. He receives a number of time counters as indicated on the card

play one or more defenders on a location owned by him. The defender cards are played face-down on a location, leaving part of it uncovered so as the value of the location is not hidden. You cannot play two or more of the same Defender card on a given location

play an enemy card on an opponents’ location. In contrast to defenders, in general, only one enemy may be placed on each opponents’ location (exceptions do exist). The enemy card is placed face down near the location under attack and the attacking player puts a DALEK counter on the location under attack

play a support card

discard one or two cards to gain a time counter for each card discarded

buy cards by paying five time counters for each one

put one or more cards in the reserve. Players may put up to 2 cards in the reserve (face down in front of them) in order to use them in a later round. The size of the reserve may increase using certain support cards There is no cost for playing any of the cards a player owns and players can perform any number of the above actions. A certain action can be performed more than once. At any case, the active player must end up with 3 cards which he must give to the player on their right. At the end of a player’s turn, he draws 2 cards from the supply and puts them in his hand. After the first player, play continues clockwise as usual.

The most interesting point in the game is combat, which occurs whenever a defender and an enemy card have been played at a given location. All defender and enemy cards are then revealed and their strength is compared. If the defender’s total strength is equal to or greater than the attacker’s, the defender wins. All attackers and defenders are discarded and the defending player puts a TARDIS counter on the location card to indicate that it is under the Doctor’s control. If the enemy wins, all defenders are discarded and the attacker must discard one or more enemy cards with total strength less or equal to the total strength of the defender.

The game ends when a player has all of his DALEK or TARDIS counters in play or when the Game End card is revealed (it is initially put on top of the 20 last cards of the draw deck). In the first case, the game ends immediately, while in the second one an “End Game” period starts, during which players continue to take turns but are obliged to take a single action and they don’t draw cards at the end of their turn. They don’t pass cards to the player on their right either of course. This period ends when a player cannot perform an action. Then all players count the victory points on their locations that are not under attack plus the enemy locations they have their DALEK counters on. The player with the most victory points is the winner.

Components

The game’s components are cards and tokens. The tokens are standard cardboard ones with nothing special to be the comment on. The cards, however, deserve a special mention as they are all beautifully illustrated with much attention to detail. The colors used in the illustrations carry the feel of the game and all pictures are of high detail. All cards enhance the theme of the game and the artwork is so awesome that truly captures the eye and sets a unique atmosphere, especially the location and monster cards. The design of the components leaves really nothing more to be desired. 9/10

Gameplay

Usually one has not many expectations regarding gameplay when it comes to such “small” games. And when I say “small” I mean having few components and a short duration, usually called “filler” games. It is truly a big accomplishment when a game designer manages to produce a game of enough complexity and depth that can appeal to hardcore gamers out of so little material, while also keeping the mechanics simple enough for more casual gamers. From this aspect I find Doctor Who: The Card Game a rare gem that deserves a place in everyone’s game library, no matter if he is a Doctor Who fan or not or if he is a casual or hardcore gamer. The game starts aggressively right from the start when everyone’s put down his starting location. The concept of playing cards for free, that means without having to pay a cost as it is usually done in most drafting games, gives a refreshing tone to the gameplay and allows players to develop their strategy with more freedom.

Choices are hard in every round as during each turn players have 5 cards in hand but must hand out to the player on their right, 3 of them. That is the core of the gameplay and the mechanic that gives the game a strategic aspect and depth that you will all appreciate. Which cards should you play and which should you pass? The idea of having a reserve is also interesting and adds to the depth, giving you the opportunity to set your game up the way you want in future turns. Another aspect of the game that I liked is the way conflicts are resolved. Enemies and defenders are placed blindly and are revealed only when both are present in a given location. Very clever idea that maintains a feel of suspense, as you never really know if you have won a location until the conflict is resolved. It feels that Martin Wallace has hit the nail on the head with this one, reminding us how talented he truly is! 9/10

Learning Curve

Despite the many interesting mechanics of the game, rules are kept simple as they should be for a game of this category. The 12-page rulebook can be read within about 10 minutes (in reality the rules are only 9 pages and there a lot of pictures too). At first, the mechanics of the game may seem a bit strange but after playing your first game, you will have it all figured out. 7/10

Theme

The game’s theme is supported in every way in the game. From the intuitive TARDIS and DALEK counters to the characters used as Defenders and Enemies and the support cards. The locations all reflect the theme of the game, some set on earth and others on alien planets. Characters from the most recent episodes of the famous TV show are used as the defenders, while the biggest enemies of the doctor have been chosen to serve as the enemies in the game. Support cards feature objects used by the Doctor throughout the years along with special characters and events that boost the thematic character of the game. During my first play, I constantly felt being a part of the Doctor Who universe, I was completely drawn to it. The only thing that felt a bit strange is the fact that you are playing with the “good” guys in general but when you send enemies to opponents’ locations, you take the role of the “bad” guys. That feels a bit strange, disorients you and takes back some of the immersion. I think it would be better if roles were more distinct but that would probably lead to a whole new game. The fact remains that after playing for the first time, it really made me want to catch up with the TV show, maybe try to find some of the older episodes too. 9/10

Replayability

Doctor Who: The Card Game has enough depth and strategy that will ensure that you will have the desire to play it at any given time. It could surely act not only as a filler game but as the main game at the table, with consecutive plays. It’s that addictive! 8/10

Fun:

I really had a lot of fun, playing Doctor Who. There is enough player interaction through attacking your opponents locations and defending your own from attacks and there is a lot of suspense too as you wonder what enemies/defenders your opponents have placed on locations. Every aspect of the game seems to contribute to the fun factor, from the intuitive drafting mechanic to the illustrations on the cards and the feel of the theme. Time will pass fast, with this game, as you constantly have hard choices to make, endless unknown enemies to fight and control of the various locations will change many times during the game. Pure fun if you ask me! 8/10

Pros:

A Doctor Who game Excellent support of the theme Simple rules Awesome artwork Gameplay with depth and strategy Cons:

It feels strange to play both as the Doctor and his enemies.