‘TALES OF THE TARDIS’
Please feel free to comment on my review.
Telling Tales with the Doctors and their Companions in the Remembered TARDIS
Finally! 🙂 I get to talk about this exclusive spin-off series! 😀
In November 2023, during the 60th anniversary celebrations of ‘Doctor Who’, a special spin-off companion series was released on BBC iPlayer. ‘Tales of the TARDIS’, originally a six-episode mini-series, featured past Doctors and companions to celebrate the show. 🙂
Now, it’s a seven-episode mini-series with a special episode released in June 2024, but we’ll get to that later. It’s taken me a while to get around to sharing my thoughts on ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ because I’ve had other projects and reviews to focus on in that time.
As I’ve just done my reviews on Series 14 of the new TV series with Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson, I feel now is the time to share my thoughts on what I think of ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ as a series to celebrate 60 years of ‘Doctor Who’ and whether it’s earned my approval.
You’re probably aware that I’m very fond of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series and, like many fans, I hoped there would be a celebration of the classic era as well as the new era as part of the 60th anniversary celebrations. In some respects, I’m still waiting for that. 😐
Don’t get me wrong, ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ does its job in acknowledging the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. But I can’t say I’m very satisfied with it in celebrating 60 years of ‘Doctor Who’. I hoped it would’ve formed a crucial part of the main 60th anniversary celebrations.
From my conversations with Sarah Sutton and Sophie Aldred at ‘Scarborough Comic Con’ in November 2023, it’s clear that ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ was put together as a last-minute spin-off series to celebrate 60 years of ‘Doctor Who’, which I feel is a great shame.
There’s no connection between ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ and the three 60th anniversary TV specials by Russell T. Davies with David Tennant and Catherine Tate, which I would’ve hoped for. 😐 This especially concerns the Remembered TARDIS that features in the series.
The only connection that ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ has to the ‘Doctor Who’ TV series is when the Remembered TARDIS appears in the two-part finale of Series 14 with Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson. Again, I’ll be addressing that as soon as we reach the end of this review.
As I’ve explained in my reviews for the three 60th anniversary TV specials by RTD, there were plenty of missed opportunities concerning how to celebrate the TV show’s history – both classic and new – and ‘Tales of the TARDIS’, as a series, is a part of that in my opinion.
I’m not going to readdress what I think could’ve been handled differently concerning the 60th anniversary celebrations by RTD, as you can check out my reviews on ‘The Star Beast’, ‘Wild Blue Yonder’ and ‘The Giggle’ for that. ‘Destination: Skaro’ is part of that too.
What I will be addressing in my review for ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ is how each of the six episodes (plus one) affect me when it comes to celebrating ‘Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary and whether I think they do justice with reuniting many past ‘Doctor Who’ actors.
On the surface of the six episodes, it does seem to be the case. It’s great to see Peter Davison reunited with Janet Fielding, Frazer Hines reunited with Wendy Padbury, Colin Baker reunited with Nicola Bryant, Sylvester McCoy reunited with Sophie Aldred, and so on.
But in terms of the actual content of the episodes, they’re basically omnibus editions of classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV stories being showcased to us as feature-length films. They’re ‘bookended’ with new scenes of past Doctors and companions reuniting with each other.
Personally, I would’ve preferred more active roles for the past Doctors and companions reuniting with each other and to have brand-new fun adventures instead of them sitting in the Remembered TARDIS to recall their past adventures. It’s a pity that didn’t happen.
Mind you, this was probably down to time and the fact this was a very last-minute spin-off series being put together to celebrate 60 years of ‘Doctor Who’. And it goes to show how RTD and his production team didn’t quite think the anniversary celebrations through.
Or at least, they didn’t think them through with much dedication, effort and love as I would’ve liked them to. I suppose we should be thankful the classic TV series is acknowledged a lot more for the 60th anniversary in 2023 compared to the 50th in 2013.
But then, I would’ve liked more than just having omnibus editions of classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV stories being presented to us with new scenes of past Doctors and companions at the beginning and end of each episode. You’d also need plenty of hours to view each episode.
Each episode is about 1 hour and 30 minutes, though some are shorter and longer depending on how you look at it. I didn’t get to see every episode of ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ on BBC iPlayer back in November 2023, since I didn’t have the time to check them all out.
I’m sure ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ has its fans and I wouldn’t want to dissuade them from enjoying this spin-off series. I’m just sharing what I think of this 60th anniversary spin-off series overall and how it didn’t quite meet my expectations as I hoped it would have done.
Anyway, let’s check out the episodes each in turn, shall we? There’s ‘Earthshock’ with the Fifth Doctor and Tegan, ‘The Mind Robber’ with Jamie and Zoe, ‘Vengeance on Varos’ with the Sixth Doctor and Peri, ‘The Three Doctors’ with Jo and Clyde, ‘The Time Meddler’ with Vicki and Steven, and ‘The Curse of Fenric’ with the Seventh Doctor and Ace. There’s also ‘Pyramids of Mars’ with the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby, but…we’ll get back to that later. 🙂
‘EARTHSHOCK’
N.B.: The ‘Earthshock’ episode of ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ is currently available on BBC iPlayer and on Disc 10 of the Season 21 Blu-ray box set of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series.
In the first episode of ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ focusing on ‘Earthshock’, we have Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor reunited with Janet Fielding as Tegan. The new Fifth Doctor and Tegan scenes are written by Russell T. Davies himself – the spin-off series’ creator. 🙂
I was disappointed that Sarah Sutton as Nyssa wasn’t in this ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode with Peter and Janet. I would’ve liked to have seen her back in the ‘Doctor Who’ universe after I enjoyed her and Janet Fielding in ‘The Passenger’ for the Season 20 Blu-ray box set.
I did ask Sarah at ‘Scarborough Comic Con’ in November 2023 about whether she’d been invited to appear in ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ with Peter and Janet. She said she was invited, but she couldn’t do it. It was two-weeks’ notice and, sadly, she was on holiday at the time.
Understandably, Sarah was angry and disappointed for not being in ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ and I would’ve liked it if she was in the series with Peter and Janet to be part of the 60th anniversary celebrations. RTD should’ve planned that in advance. Not at the last minute!
Anyway, in the episode, we begin with the Fifth Doctor exploring a strange TARDIS interior, comprised of a mashup of various TARDIS themes and contents. I assume this is the spirit of the Fifth Doctor appearing in the Remembered TARDIS and not the actual Fifth Doctor.
That this is a memory of the Fifth Doctor made flesh. The same goes for the Sixth and Seventh Doctors in this series. I’m assuming that based on what I’ve seen so far with the past Doctors appearing in ‘The Power of the Doctor’, who were the Guardians of the Edge.
As the Fifth Doctor tries to get the TARDIS controls to work properly and he wonders whether there’s a kettle somewhere, Tegan appears behind him. As soon as they see each other, they hug. 🙂 This surprises the Doctor, and he comments they never usually hugged.
This is a sly reference to the ‘no hanky-panky in the TARDIS’ rule by producer John Nathan-Turner when Peter Davison was a young Doctor with young companions like Nyssa and Tegan. I’m just glad that the Fifth Doctor and Tegan can now hug each other these days. 🙂
Before Tegan saw the Doctor, she said she ‘was fast asleep, in bed’ and had just ‘said goodnight to Nyssa’. Now presumably, this ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode takes place after or during ‘The Passenger’ mini-episode where Tegan dreamt about Nyssa and the Mara. 😐
But this might also be a reference to Nyssa and Tegan being a couple, as RTD suggested in the webcast story ‘Farewell, Sarah Jane’. I don’t really want to go into a big rant about that, as I’ve shared my thoughts on how I feel about the Nyssa and Tegan set-up by RTD.
With that said, in the time we’ve had ‘Farewell, Sarah Jane’, there’s no evidence to suggest that Nyssa and Tegan are a couple. It wasn’t shown in ‘The Power of the Doctor’ featuring Tegan and it isn’t mentioned nor referred to in ‘Destination: Daleks’ set after this episode.
Even in the closing scene of the ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode of ‘Earthshock’, Nyssa doesn’t get mentioned again. The Doctor doesn’t even ask about Nyssa when chatting to Tegan, which you think he would considering he had adventures with her as well as Tegan.
For all I know, the “I said goodnight to Nyssa…” dialogue could be that Tegan was saying goodnight to her cat whom she named Nyssa. Or her dog. I don’t know. Think what you will! It isn’t that clear as to whether Tegan actually said goodnight to the real Nyssa or not.
And even if it was the real Nyssa that Tegan was talking about, how come she’s not there in the Remembered TARDIS when the Fifth Doctor and Tegan reunite? Why single Nyssa out, even if the behind-the-scenes reason was that Sarah Sutton couldn’t be in the story?
I probably wouldn’t have mentioned Nyssa in the ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode at all if it wasn’t going to be explored any further beyond one reference. I would’ve made more effort in explaining Nyssa’s absence compared to what RTD did in writing these scenes.
As Tegan enquires about what’s going on, the Doctor tells her that he thinks the TARDIS they’re in happens to be a memory – a Remembered TARDIS. He works out that it wants them to tell stories. Soon, two chairs appear in the middle of the small TARDIS interior. 🙂
Plus, in the centre, is a miniature version of the Thirteenth Doctor’s TARDIS console, with its appearance mimicking a campfire. I don’t know if that’s the actual Thirteenth Doctor TARDIS console or a memory of one to resemble a campfire. You’d have to decide that. 🙂
When deciding what story to tell, the Doctor suggests they need to tell ‘the strongest’ story ‘of all’. Thus, he and Tegan start talking about when they fought the Cybermen and how their young friend Adric died. We then cut to the ‘Earthshock’ portion of the episode.
Apparently, RTD wanted to write the ‘Earthshock’ episode of ‘Tales of the TARDIS’, since it focused on the character of Adric and his death in the story. It’s something that wasn’t heavily addressed in the classic TV series and he wanted to resolve that in this episode. 😐
Now I do appreciate that, considering Adric’s death wasn’t talked about much following the end of ‘Earthshock’. It was briefly dealt with in ‘Time-Flight’ and Adric was brought up now and again in certain TV stories afterwards like ‘Terminus’ and ‘The Caves of Androzani’.
In the Big Finish audios, Adric’s death was touched upon in stories like ‘Spare Parts’, ‘Warzone’ and ‘Conversion’ involving the Cybermen. I touched upon Adric’s death in my Cybermen story featuring the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Billy called ‘Neptune Connect’. 🙂
Would I have chosen ‘Earthshock’ as the Fifth Doctor story for the ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ series? Probably not, as I would’ve chosen ‘The Visitation’ or ‘Black Orchid’ as my favourite Fifth Doctor era stories, as they’re certainly more cheerful than ‘Earthshock’. 🙂
Then again, I understand why ‘Earthshock’ was chosen as the Fifth Doctor era story for ‘Tales of the TARDIS’, since it’s one of the most popular stories in the Fifth Doctor’s era on TV. Either ‘Earthshock’ or ‘The Caves of Androzani’ would’ve been selected, quite frankly.
And it does come full circle for me in terms of being a ‘Doctor Who’ fan. After all, ‘Earthshock’ was my first encounter with the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Adric as well as the Fifth Doctor era overall. Thus, it makes sense it got chosen for ‘Tales of the TARDIS’.
Once the Fifth Doctor and Tegan finish reminiscing about what happened in ‘Earthshock’, they talk about Adric and how they never stopped to talk about him. The Doctor reflects he never looked back. Thus, Tegan wonders if that’s the point of the Remembered TARDIS.
That the Remembered TARDIS is to help heal old wounds for those who have travelled in Space and Time. The Doctor remarks that talking about what happened in ‘Earthshock’ has done him good. He then asks Tegan to tell him stories about her life since leaving him.
After a brief recap of the end of ‘Resurrection of the Daleks’, Tegan starts telling him about her campaign for the environment. No reference to ‘The Gathering’ (of course. 😐 ) as well as ‘The Power of the Doctor’. No reference to the dream she had in ‘The Passenger’ either. 😐
RTD doesn’t even use the end scene of this ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode as an opportunity to share on whether Tegan is with Nyssa or not. 😐 I believe that ‘Destination: Daleks’ – the mini-episode for the Season 21 Blu-ray box set – happens after this episode.
This is especially when you consider the Fifth Doctor and Tegan arrived on Butler’s Wharf in London in the 2020s via TARDIS – I assume that’s the Remembered TARDIS they came in. But I’m getting ahead of myself. I’ll share my review on ‘Destination: Daleks’ another time.
The ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode of ‘Earthshock’ has been enjoyable to watch. It was nice to see Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor and Janet Fielding as Tegan reunited for this series, and I’m glad I got to see this episode properly via the Season 21 Blu-ray box set. 🙂
I’m disappointed Sarah Sutton isn’t in this ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode, as it would’ve been nice to have seen Nyssa and Tegan reunited with the Fifth Doctor rather than just Tegan. Had Sarah been given more notice, I’m sure she would’ve appeared in the episode.
I’m glad I included Nyssa in my two 60th anniversary stories for ‘Doctor Who’ – ‘Interdimensional Rescue’ and ‘The Thirteen+ Doctors’. And seeing Sarah at conventions, including at Scarborough for November 2023, fulfilled my 60th anniversary celebrations.
That’s more than what ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ and the actual 60th anniversary TV specials did, as far as I’m concerned. But there’s the rest of the ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ series to talk about. 🙂 Surely, they’d be enjoyable and satisfying compared to the ‘Earthshock’ episode.
‘Tales of the TARDIS: Earthshock’ rating – 7/10
‘THE MIND ROBBER’
N.B.: ‘The Mind Robber’ episode of ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ is currently available on BBC iPlayer.
In the second episode of ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ focusing on ‘The Mind Robber’, we have Frazer Hines as Jamie reunited with Wendy Padbury as Zoe. The new Jamie and Zoe scenes are by Pete McTighe, who has also contributed to the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series.
I admit, I did wonder how Jamie and Zoe were going to remember each other when seeing this ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode. That’s because Jamie and Zoe had their memories wiped by the Time Lords in ‘The War Games’ with only their first adventures remembered.
But then, it makes sense that they would remember each other as they reunite in the Remembered TARDIS where all memories are kept intact. Thus, it was lovely to see Frazer Hines and Wendy Padbury as Zoe reunite with each other and remember who they are. 🙂
Mind you, I do wonder how and why they got into the Remembered TARDIS, as it’s never explained. Maybe they got into the Remembered TARDIS via dreaming just like Tegan did in the ‘Earthshock’ episode and maybe the Remembered TARDIS reached out to them. 😐
I suppose it doesn’t matter because the point is Jamie and Zoe get to reunite with each other after so long and they recall the Doctor and their travels with him before they had their memories wiped. It’s so reassuring to see that after so many years in this episode. 🙂
In fact, when I wrote ‘The Thirteen+ Doctors’, I reflected on the fact that Jamie and Zoe would soon have their memories of their Doctor wiped after they returned to resume the final episode of ‘The War Games’. It’s the same with Donna Noble losing her memories. 😐
But for the 60th anniversary, we have that resolved with Jamie and Zoe in ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ and with Donna in ‘The Star Beast’, the first 60th anniversary TV special. Funny how Jamie, Zoe and Donna have their memories back for ‘Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary.
Jamie and Zoe notice the Second Doctor’s absence in the Remembered TARDIS. And it’s a shame that Patrick Troughton isn’t with Frazer Hines and Wendy Padbury in this ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode, as I’m certain he would have enjoyed reuniting with them for this.
The two friends then discuss how they’ve been in terms of family. Jamie happens to have had five daughters since he returned to Earth in the 1700s. Five daughters?! And he’s also had nineteen grandchildren. Wow! Jamie must have been very busy since he returned. 😀
Zoe tells Jamie about her son James. I really like that they touched upon the notion of Zoe naming her son after Jamie. It’s really sweet. Zoe also tells Jamie that she married a man she met on Earth, in Australia of all places. Jamie’s reminded of ‘The Enemy of the World’.
Zoe also happens to be in her third inauguration as president. Good for her! President of what though? Earth? It’s never explained where she came from, apart from a futuristic city in the 21st century. In fact, what part of the 21st century does Zoe Heriot come from?
I suppose it’s the late 21st century and if the TARDIS Fandom page for ‘The Wheel in Space’ is to be believed, the events of that story take place in 2079. But it’s never established where exactly Zoe came from on Earth and what she’d be the president of. 😐
Jamie and Zoe discuss how their experiences with the Doctor still influenced them in their lives. Even though they couldn’t remember those experiences, they kept going and managed to survive through the hurdles they faced whilst they grew up in their own times.
Zoe suggests that they keep the Doctor alive by telling their stories whilst in the Remembered TARDIS. Soon, the lights in the TARDIS whirl and two chairs appear as well as the miniaturised Thirteenth Doctor TARDIS console acting like a campfire in the series.
Jamie and Zoe take a seat, and they begin to share their memories of the Doctor. Jamie doesn’t want to be reminded of the Cybermen though. Aww, and I was hoping we would get a retelling of ‘The Invasion’. Even if two episodes of the eight-part story are still missing. 😀
Zoe recalls the Krotons, but she doesn’t go any further with that adventure. She then recalls the Quarks. Thankfully, we’re spared ‘The Dominators’, as Jamie and Zoe recall the TARDIS swallowed up by lava before we cut to ‘The Mind Robber’ story in black-and-white.
I like how we transition from colour in the new Jamie and Zoe scenes to black-and-white in ‘The Mind Robber’ story. I prefer seeing 1960s ‘Doctor Who’ stories in black-and-white, not colour, especially in the latest efforts we’ve had for ‘The Daleks’ and ‘The War Games’.
Talking about ‘The Mind Robber’ for a bit, it’s interesting that a five-part ‘Doctor Who’ story from the Patrick Troughton/Second Doctor era is used for the ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ series as opposed to a four-parter. Don’t me wrong! I’m glad ‘The Mind Robber’ was selected. 🙂
It’s one of my favourite ‘Doctor Who’ stories from the Patrick Troughton era and I know it’s one of Wendy Padbury’s favourite stories. But it’s interesting that ‘The Krotons’ wasn’t selected, as that’s a four-part story. 😐 Then again, ‘The Krotons’ isn’t regarded highly, is it?
‘The Tomb of the Cybermen’ could’ve been another contender, but then that doesn’t have Jamie and Zoe in it, as it’s Jamie and Victoria in that story. Mind you, the episodes for ‘The Mind Robber’ are shorter compared to the other ‘Doctor Who’ stories featured in that era.
So, I suppose it’s fine for it to be included in the ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ series. Then again, certain aspects of ‘The Mind Robber’ are omitted in its ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ counterpart when being made into an omnibus. This includes the opening for ‘The Mind Robber’ story.
You know, when the Doctor and Jamie see the lava approaching before they enter the TARDIS. Plus, the recaps of certain episodes like the recap for Episode 4 in Episode 5 isn’t used. And the recap for Episode 1 is merged with the recap at the beginning of Episode 2.
Would I have chosen ‘The Mind Robber’ to represent the Second Doctor era of ‘Doctor Who’ in the ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ series? Yes! Yes, I would. I consider ‘The Mind Robber’ and ‘The Invasion’ as my favourite ‘Doctor Who’ TV stories from the Patrick Troughton era.
I know I joked about ‘The Invasion’ not being told in the ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ series, especially with two episodes missing, but I wouldn’t have minded seeing that story in the spin-off series. I’m sure the animation Episodes One and Four would’ve been nice to see.
After ‘The Mind Robber’ story, we return to Jamie and Zoe in the Remembered TARDIS where they discuss the events of the story. Zoe remarks on Jamie getting a different face in ‘The Mind Robber’. I like how they talked about that in the closing scene of this episode.
This could be seen as a little homage to the late Hamish Wilson who played Jamie in Episodes 2 and 3 of ‘The Mind Robber’. This was when Jamie’s face was altered due to the fact Frazer Hines had chicken pox and Hamish Wilson portrayed Jamie at the last minute.
Sadly, Hamish Wilson passed away on the 26th of March 2020 due to Covid, which is a real shame. I never meet Hamish Wilson sadly, though I did see him at ‘Dimensions 2013’ in Newcastle in October 2013. I’m glad he gets to be remembered in this episode.
Zoe says that the Remembered TARDIS she and Jamie are in has restored their memories for good. I hope that is the case, because I hate to think that once they leave the Remembered TARDIS, they’ll forget reuniting with each other to recall ‘The Mind Robber’.
They settle down to tell another story. They begin to discuss the Ice Warriors. I suppose if we had another ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode with Jamie and Zoe, we’d be getting an omnibus edition of ‘The Seeds of Death’. I don’t mind that, since that’s a really good story.
At the mention of the Ice Warriors, Jamie recalls Victoria Waterfield, played by Deborah Watling. Once again, we have another tribute paid to a ‘Doctor Who’ star who sadly passed away in 2017. I’m pleased Jamie and Zoe get to talk about Victoria in the episode.
Zoe reassures Jamie that Victoria will have thought of him every day. I like how that’s presented in the episode. I don’t think Jamie ever told Zoe a lot about Victoria in their travels together, though maybe that was off-screen or in some of the Big Finish audios. 🙂
Thinking about it, I’m wondering if Jamie and Zoe will ever talk about Polly and Ben whilst in the Remembered TARDIS. I’m sure they will. Another story that could’ve been told is ‘The Moonbase’, but then again, Jamie doesn’t like to be reminded of the Cybermen here.
This ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode ends with Jamie and Zoe becoming quiet, as they reminisce and become confident that they will never forget their travels again. Like I said before, I hope that is the case. Perhaps they’ll stay in the Remembered TARDIS forever. 😀
I liked it when Jamie kissed Zoe’s hand whilst sitting in his chair and Zoe kissed Jamie on the forehead. It goes to show how much Jamie and Zoe care for each other and it’s a sign of the deep friendship they have, thanks to the memories of their TARDIS travels restored.
I’m glad I’ve seen this ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode with Jamie and Zoe. It’s a lovely way to resolve Jamie and Zoe’s memory loss from the end of ‘The War Games’. I’m glad it was done to celebrate 60 years of ‘Doctor Who’. It’s a good instalment in ‘Tales of the TARDIS’.
‘Tales of the TARDIS: The Mind Robber’ rating – 8/10
‘VENGEANCE ON VAROS’
N.B.: The ‘Vengeance on Varos’ episode of ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ is currently available on BBC iPlayer.
In the third episode of ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ focusing on ‘Vengeance on Varos’, we have Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor reunited with Nicola Bryant as Peri. The new Sixth Doctor and Peri scenes are by Phil Ford, who has written for ‘The Sarah Jane Adventures’ spin-off series.
It was nice to have Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant back as the Sixth Doctor and Peri for this ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode. Considering what happened to Peri in ‘The Trial of a Time Lord’, I’m pleased she reunited with old Sixy and on good terms after all these years.
That’s of course reflected in the friendship Colin and Nicola have, especially after doing the Big Finish audios together. The reunion between the Sixth Doctor and Peri takes place before the events of ‘The Eternal Mystery’ mini-episode, which I’ll readdress eventually. 🙂
In the Remembered TARDIS, the Sixth Doctor is already there, seated in a chair and reading a book whilst the Thirteenth Doctor TARDIS console acting like a campfire is already present. And Sixy happens to be wearing a different outfit compared to his usual.
Colin Baker never liked his Sixth Doctor’s outfit on TV, so it makes sense for him to be wearing a more subdued but bright suit with a rainbow pocket hanky for this ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode. 🙂 This is especially reflects the Sixth Doctor being older in this episode.
We do see the Sixth Doctor’s multi-coloured outfit at the beginning once we’re inside the Remembered TARDIS, which is a nice touch to start off the episode. I checked and, apparently, the little book that the Doctor is reading happens to be called ‘Lost Locket’. 🙂
I’m not sure who the author of that book is, and I doubt it’s ‘The Lost Locket’ by Carol Matas. It might be a fictional book created for this ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode, I don’t know. Anyone who can clarify the details concerning ‘Lost Locket’, please let me know. 🙂
Anyway, the Doctor is interrupted when a woman suddenly appears in the Remembered TARDIS. The woman turns around and it happens to be Peri. I like how these two reunite with each other, as they’re clearly very happy to see each other again when they embrace.
Peri comments on how older the Doctor’s become and the Doctor answers that he got bigger and ‘beardier’. You know, I didn’t really want to comment on how big Colin Baker had become since he played the Sixth Doctor in the 1980s. Thankfully, I didn’t have to. 😀
He did it for me. 😀 And yes, I’ve seen Colin Baker with a beard at the conventions I’ve seen him at over the years. I’ve even had photos with beardy Colin. I like the idea of Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor having a beard in his old age compared to when he was younger.
Like the Fifth Doctor in the ‘Earthshock’ episode, I assume this is the spirit of the Sixth Doctor in the Remembered TARDIS rather than the actual Sixth Doctor. I also assume that that this is Sixth Doctor from the Guardians of the Edge scene in ‘The Power of the Doctor’.
With Peri, I assume she got into the Remembered TARDIS via a dream like how Tegan, Jamie and Zoe got into the Remembered TARDIS in their ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episodes. It’s not explained, quite frankly, and I guess we’re left to speculate on how all this is possible.
The Doctor goes on to talk about the adventures that Peri has been on since she became the Warrior Queen with King Ycarnos. Apparently, Peri has had songs written about her and the Doctor has heard minstrels singing them. 🙂 Some of those songs are ‘very catchy’.
Considering that five Peris have been established since ‘Peri and the Piscon Paradox’, I’m not sure if this is the prime Peri or one of the other four Peris. I don’t think that matters, since Peri is Peri and it’s great that she recognised the Doctor and recalls him very fondly.
Peri and the Doctor discuss the reasons why they happen to be in the Remembered TARDIS. The Doctor says that the memories of the stories they’ve shared live on and sometimes return to their owners. 🙂 Very soon, a second chair appears for Peri to sit in. 🙂
Yeah, I wondered why the Remembered TARDIS systems were starting up, as the Doctor was already seated and reading a book, and the Thirteenth Doctor TARDIS console campfire was already there. But, of course, Peri’s chair wasn’t there before she appeared.
So, it makes sense for the Remembered TARDIS systems to start up and provide Peri with a chair. 😀 As they sit, the Doctor tells Peri she’s always been in the Remembered TARDIS due to the ship’s ability to remember everything, which, again, makes sense in context. 🙂
Peri shares that she never forgot the Doctor and used to look up at the stars and wonder which star the TARDIS was moving around whilst asking herself if she would ever see him again. 🙂 I like Peri still regards the Doctor very fondly after everything they’d been through.
It’d be easy to have the Sixth Doctor and Peri bickering with each other like they did in the classic TV series. But of course, they don’t do that, as they’re older, wiser and very fond of each other than they’ve ever realised, and I quite like how that’s reflected in the writing.
The Doctor and Peri begin to ponder on some of their memories, including some Peri wishes to forget like her first encounter with Sil on Varos. This of course ties-in to what happened to dear Peri in ‘Mindwarp’ in ‘The Trial of a Time Lord’, involving Sil and Lord Kiv.
But of course, the Doctor tells Peri that good can come from the darkest of places. And very soon, we transition from the opening Remembered TARDIS scene into the ‘Vengeance on Varos’ omnibus itself. And quite a clever transition, if I’m perfectly honest.
We sort-of move from right to left of the Sixth Doctor talking to Peri before we cut to the planet Varos itself and then we see Jason Connery as Jondar being tortured. I’d even say the transition of music from ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ to ‘Vengeance on Varos’ is very good too.
Talking about ‘Vengeance on Varos’, I understand why that story was chosen for the ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ spin-off series. This is especially as the story ties-in to what happened to Peri in ‘The Trial of a Time Lord’ and being reunited with the Sixth Doctor as a result of that.
Would I have chosen ‘Vengeance on Varos’ as the Sixth Doctor story for ‘Tales of the TARDIS’? Probably not, as I enjoyed ‘The Two Doctors’ more and I would’ve preferred a fun adventure and not a dark, somewhat depressing story, which involves TV violence.
But again, I understand why it was chosen. And it is considered a popular Sixth Doctor story among fans. And the point of the ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ series is to tell the ‘strongest stories’ to its audience, which the Fifth Doctor established in the ‘Earthshock’ episode. 🙂
After recounting their adventure on Varos, a feather drops lightly into Peri’s hand, which unsettles her as she’s reminded of the feathers that had grown all over her during the cell mutation process when she became a bird. Fascinating how that stood out for Peri more.
Peri then talks about when she got back to 21st century Earth, she found it had become a lot like Varos. That’s an interesting observation on Peri’s part and I can see her point on that. We’ve gone more into the age of video violence than we could’ve possibly imagined.
This is in both how entertainment provides violence to audiences in various ways as well as how it’s reflected in real world conflicts. It shows how significant a story like ‘Vengeance on Varos’ is with its themes and messages about how our world can turn pretty violent. 😦
The Doctor then tells Peri that it’s events like Varos that gave Peri the drive to fight evil wherever she found it, leading to her ultimate destiny to become the Warrior Queen. I do like how that gets touched upon after all these years concerning Peri’s character journey.
This is a reflection on the classic TV series in general, as it wasn’t always a priority concerning how regular characters like companions were developed when travelling with the Doctor. But here, it’s so nice to have it addressed when companions like Peri are older
After sharing their adventure on Varos, the Doctor then invites Peri for more travels aboard the Remembered TARDIS, to which she agrees. I’d like to follow this up in a 70th anniversary series someday on my blog. How I’ll do that, well, I’ll have to work on that. 😀
Peri also requests for them to visit King Yrcanos’ memorial once a year to check how things are going on the planet Krontep. This is why I established that this ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode is set before ‘The Eternal Mystery’ mini-episode instead of afterwards. 🙂
I did wonder from seeing ‘The Eternal Mystery’ mini-episode in the Season 22 Blu-ray box set trailer for classic ‘Doctor Who’ why Peri happened to be travelling with the Sixth Doctor in the TARDIS. And it turns out it’s the Remembered TARDIS that they travelled in. 🙂
The ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode with the Sixth Doctor and Peri ends with them embarking on new adventures. And I like the idea of the Sixth Doctor and Peri going on new adventures. I wonder if we’ll ever see them again in a future ‘Doctor Who’ adventure.
It was nice to see Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant reunited as the Sixth Doctor and Peri for this ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode. Whilst I wouldn’t have chosen ‘Vengeance on Varos’ for this series, I appreciate it was chosen to tie-up what happened to Peri in terms of her fate.
‘Tales of the TARDIS: Vengeance on Varos’ rating – 8/10
‘THE THREE DOCTORS’
N.B.: ‘The Three Doctors’ episode of ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ is currently available on BBC iPlayer.
In the fourth episode of ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ focusing on ‘The Three Doctors’, we have Katy Manning as Jo reunited with Daniel Anthony as Clyde. The new Jo and Clyde scenes are by Phil Ford, who previously wrote the ‘Vengeance on Varos’ episode for this series. 🙂
This is a rather unique instalment in the ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ series, as it features a character who wasn’t in ‘The Three Doctors’ at all and wasn’t in the classic TV series. That is of course Clyde Langer, who appeared in ‘The Sarah Jane Adventures’ spin-off TV show.
Now, of course, Jo would know who Clyde is because she met him in the ‘SJA’ story ‘Death of the Doctor’ where Jo met Sarah Jane along with Rani and Clyde, was accompanied by her grandson Santiago and they had an adventure with Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor.
Regarding Clyde’s inclusion in this ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode, I don’t mind at all. It’s nice to see him reunite with Jo, as they get to reflect on all the adventures they’ve had with Sarah Jane and the Doctor before Jo gets to tell Clyde about ‘The Three Doctors’ story.
Mind you, I do wonder if Clyde was the first choice for this ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode to be reunited with Jo. I wonder if John Levene who played Sergeant Benton in ‘The Three Doctors’ had been invited to be in this episode but he wasn’t able to make an appearance.
Whether because he was unavailable, he didn’t want to be in this episode or because he was unwell, I don’t know. It’s a real shame, since it would’ve been interesting and nice to see Jo reunite with Benton and they could reflect on the times they’ve had with their Doctor.
It would’ve also been nice if Jo had her husband Clifford Jones join her in this ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode, considering they’ve been in two mini-episodes together for the Seasons 8 and 10 Blu-ray box sets of ‘Doctor Who’. Sadly, that wasn’t possible for this episode. 😦
Stewart Bevan, who played Clifford Jones, sadly passed away in February 2022. It’s sad, as I would have liked to have seen Jo and Cliff exploring the Remembered TARDIS if they appeared together in this episode. It would’ve been amusing and very exciting to see indeed.
At least tributes are given to Clifford Jones and Stewart Bevan in this ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode. 🙂 This is especially when Clyde makes his condolences to Jo to establish that Cliff passed away, which was also established in the ‘Defenders of the Earth’ mini-episode.
Clyde, of course, has been in the TARDIS before, as he got to be in the Tenth Doctor’s TARDIS in the ‘SJA’ story ‘The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith’ and in the Eleventh Doctor’s TARDIS in ‘Death of the Doctor’. Good thing the Remembered TARDIS remembered Clyde. 😀
As Jo and Clyde reunite, they explore the Remembered TARDIS, including finding a drawer housing a lot of sonic screwdrivers. This includes the Eleventh Doctor’s sonic screwdriver, the Second’s, the Twelfth’s, the Third’s, the Thirteenth’s and the Seventh’s. 🙂
Jo attempts to have a go at using the Third Doctor’s sonic screwdriver, but it causes trouble when the Remembered TARDIS’ systems go haywire. Clumsy Jo, I guess. 😀 Luckily, Clyde assists to switch off the Third Doctor’s sonic screwdriver to stabilise things.
Apparently, Jo is wearing one of the Third Doctor’s smoking jackets in this episode, which is a nice touch. And it was nice to see Jo find a stuffed toy owl that once belonged to Sarah Jane. 🙂 Incidentally, that toy owl was in ‘The Hand of Fear’ when Sarah Jane left the TARDIS.
Very soon, the chairs and the Thirteenth Doctor TARDIS console acting like a campfire appear for Jo and Clyde. Jo and Clyde eventually sit in those chairs and they get to share their stories on how they’ve been lately, including updates on some of ‘SJA’ characters. 🙂
This includes Luke Smith, who now happens to be working for U.N.I.T. and is still married to his husband Sanjay. There’s also reference to Rani Chandra, who happens to be busy with work on climate change and stopping corporations benefiting from the dangers of it.
Clyde also shares how busy he’s been with his ‘Blood River City’ comic series being made into a TV series in Los Angeles. Blood River City was established in Clyde’s comic ‘The Silver Bullet’ in the ‘SJA’ story ‘The Curse of Clyde Langer’. Good it’s made progress since.
I must say, this is a better depiction of finding out what happened to the ‘SJA’ characters like Luke, Clyde and Rani compared to the ‘Farewell, Sarah Jane’ webcast story. Instead of having it being told to us from that webcast story, Jo and Clyde do get to talk about it. 🙂
Incidentally, the cube thing Clyde accidentally sat on and is holding in his hands happens to be a Verron puzzle box which appeared in the ‘SJA’ stories ‘Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?’ and ‘The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith’. Fortunately, no Trickster appears.
Jo soon shares with Clyde that she once met three incarnations of the Doctor all at once, but then corrects herself to ‘two and a bit’. This leads on to her recalling her memories of ‘The Three Doctors’ and thus, we get into the omnibus edition of the classic TV adventure.
I admit, I’m happy that ‘The Three Doctors’ was selected for the Third Doctor instalment of the ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ series. It makes sense, considering it’s the 10th anniversary story for the series. What better story to have in a 60th anniversary spin-off series as that?
It also comes full circle for me, since the first Third Doctor era story I saw on DVD was ‘The Three Doctors’ after seeing Jon Pertwee in ‘The Five Doctors’. I guess if one of the anniversary stories had to be selected for ‘Tales of the TARDIS’, it’d have to be the first story.
Mind you, another contender could’ve been ‘Carnival of Monsters’. Both that and ‘The Three Doctors’ were selected for ‘The Five Faces of Doctor Who’ repeat season in 1981. And I believe they’re very popular and well-loved stories from the Third Doctor era. 🙂
Also, ‘Carnival of Monsters’ would’ve just featured the Third Doctor and Jo as opposed to featuring the first three Doctors, Jo, the Brigadier and Benton. Then again, I suppose U.N.I.T. needs to be represented in the Third Doctor era, so I guess it’s okay for this series.
I don’t know if it’s me, but the “Contact” moments between the three Doctors when they mind-link seems different in the ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode compared to the actual four-part story. The editing for their “Contact” moments seems different when viewing the episode.
‘The Three Doctors’ is also more cheerful as a ‘Doctor Who’ story compared to ‘Vengeance on Varos’, which was previously shown in the ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ series. But then, ‘The Three Doctors’ is permitted to be cheerful with celebrating the TV show’s 10 years.
After Jo shares her story of ‘The Three Doctors’ to Clyde, they reminisce about the Brigadier, whom Clyde met in the ‘SJA’ story ‘Enemy of the Bane’. It’s nice Nicholas Courtney as the Brigadier is paid tribute to here as well as Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane.
Clyde asks Jo if she loved her Doctor and, of course, she admits she did love him. But she clarifies that her love for the Doctor isn’t the same as her love for Cliff. Just as much as Clyde’s love for Sarah Jane Smith is different to her love for Rani, which Jo has noticed.
I like that it’s acknowledged that Clyde loves Rani, as I’m sure that would’ve been the case, as it was built up in the friendship they had in the ‘SJA’ series. Jo encourages Clyde to go and find Rani and tell her how much she loves her. Clyde is hesitant but eventually, he agrees.
Clyde soon leaves the Remembered TARDIS whilst Jo decides to stay behind for a while. Again, I assume that the Doctor’s companions and allies end up in the Remembered TARDIS via dreaming. Otherwise, how would Clyde be able to return to Earth to see Rani?
Once by herself, Jo finds the wedding present that was given to her by the Doctor in ‘The Green Death’ – the blue Metebelis crystal. The crystal that she sent back to the Doctor in ‘Planet of the Spiders’. 😐 I assume that’s a memory of the blue crystal, not the actual one.
As Jo continues to reminisce in the Remembered TARDIS, she’s soon joined by her husband Clifford Jones. We don’t see him, of course, but we do get to hear an archive recording of Stewart Bevan as Cliff saying “Oh, Jo!”, just as he said it in ‘The Green Death’.
And the reaction on Jo’s face says it all to know that it’s him. I think that’s a nice way to end this ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode. Especially to commemorate certain characters who have passed on and they return via an archive recording in the Remembered TARDIS.
The ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode for ‘The Three Doctors’ has been very enjoyable. It was nice to see Katy Manning as Jo reunite with Daniel Anthony as Clyde, and it’s nice to have follow-ups to ‘The Sarah Jane Adventures’ compared to what’s in ‘Farewell, Sarah Jane’. 🙂
The tribute to Stewart Bevan as Clifford Jones is also very touching, especially in the closing moment where Jo sees Cliff appear before him. One wonders where that will go next and whether Jo will ever leave the Remembered TARDIS, but we’re left to speculate.
So far, the ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ series has been very commemorative and sentimental in bringing back characters from the classic TV series in reunions that we probably wouldn’t see in the new TV series. And it’s very good that Clyde from ‘SJA’ gets to be in this episode.
Despite my issues with how ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ is set up, especially in being last-minute, it’s good certain classic ‘Doctor Who’ stars were willing to come back, even if it’s to be in new scenes bookending omnibus editions of classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV stories for this spin-off series.
‘Tales of the TARDIS: The Three Doctors’ rating – 8.5/10
‘THE TIME MEDDLER’
N.B.: ‘The Time Meddler’ episode of ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ is currently available on BBC iPlayer.
In the fifth episode of ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ focusing on ‘The Time Meddler’, we have Maureen O’Brien as Vicki reunited with Peter Purves as Steven. The new Vicki and Steven scenes are by Phil Ford, who previously did ‘Vengeance on Varos’ and ‘The Three Doctors’.
This is a very special ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode to showcase the First Doctor era and it’s lovely to see Maureen O’Brien and Peter Purves back as their ‘Doctor Who’ characters after so long. I love it when Vicki and Steven reunite full of joy in the Remembered TARDIS.
Steven even says, “I’ve got my little sister back!” when he’s happy to see Vicki again. It’s a very touching reunion and I’m glad it happened in the ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ series. This is especially since Vicki and Steven’s final two ‘Doctor Who’ TV stories are still missing. 😦
Vicki’s swansong in ‘The Myth Makers’ is still missing and Steven’s swansong in ‘The Savages’ is still missing. Yes, we’ve had the animation version of ‘The Savages’ lately, but still. And it’s really lovely to see how Vicki and Steven have fared since leaving the TARDIS.
Vicki’s had her family of children and grandchildren since ending up with Troilus in ‘The Myth Makers’ and no doubt Steven has had a family of his own since becoming a king in ‘The Savages’. The clothes they wear reflect that and I like it matching to their characters.
And just to point out, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen an older Vicki in Ancient Troy-like garb. We’ve seen what Vicki’s life was like after the Doctor in ‘The Storyteller’ mini-episode for the Season 2 Blu-ray box set of ‘Doctor Who’. 🙂 Nice to see her like that again.
Ironically, in the TV series, Vicki and Steven weren’t in the TARDIS as a duo with their Doctor for a long time. They did ‘The Time Meddler’, ‘Galaxy 4’ and ‘The Myth Makers’. The Big Finish audios have helped to enhance their relationship, and I’ve heard a few of them.
It’s funny when Vicki and Steven look around in the Remembered TARDIS, Steven comes across the Sixth Doctor’s multi-coloured coat and doesn’t think highly of it. I just have to laugh at that, as it’s a contrast to how things were in the 1960s compared to the 1980s. 🙂
But of course, Vicki is convinced that this is the Doctor’s TARDIS since she found the First Doctor’s fob-watch at the episode’s beginning. I like how Vicki is very keen to see the Doctor again, since she has so much to tell him about what she’s been doing with her life. 🙂
Vicki soon finds the Viking helmet that she, the Doctor and Steven found in Northumbria in 1066 when the TARDIS landed there in ‘The Time Meddler’. I’m amazed that helmet is still around after all these years. Or maybe it’s a painstaking detailed replica of that helmet. 🙂
And I’m still amazed that after all this time, that helmet still has horns on it. 😀 I mean, Vikings don’t usually have horns on their helmets, right? It’s astonishing that for this ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode, they managed to keep that aspect for the Viking helmet intact. 😀
Very soon, the Remembered TARDIS provides Vicki and Steven chairs for them to sit on as well as the Thirteenth Doctor TARDIS console campfire. As they sit down, they begin to recall their memories of the Meddling Monk and the plot to alter the Battle of Hastings.
I like how Peter Purves plays it out with Steven recalling the day they found the Viking helmet and being unconvinced by the Doctor and Vicki that the TARDIS is a time machine. It’s a lovely moment, especially when adding it had been a busy week regarding ‘The Chase’.
In some respect, I would’ve liked it if ‘The Chase’ had been chosen as the story to represent the First Doctor era in the ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ series, as that’s one of my favourite stories. But that would’ve made this episode longer due to it being six episodes.
I appreciate why ‘The Time Meddler’ was chosen as the story to represent the First Doctor era in the ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ series, considering it’s the only one intact to feature Vicki and Steven together. I mean, ‘The Romans’ could’ve been chosen to represent that era. 🙂
Though that would’ve required William Russell as Ian reuniting with Vicki instead of Steven, and I don’t think William Russell would’ve been able to reprise his role of Ian, as he wasn’t very well then. And this was made before he sadly passed away in June 2024. 😦
But with regards to ‘The Time Meddler’, it’s a very fitting story to be selected for the First Doctor era in the ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ series. It represents Steven starting off his journey with the First Doctor and Vicki in terms of their TARDIS travels, which I find really touching.
I like the transition that happens in the ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode where we cut from a clock in the Remembered TARDIS before we fade into black-and-white, going into the omnibus edition of ‘The Time Meddler’ and we begin with a clock that ticks in the TARDIS.
The clock in ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ doesn’t match to the one in ‘The Time Meddler’, but I appreciate the transition in cutting to the omnibus edition of the story. Of course, the recreations of cliffhangers from previous episodes into the next ones are omitted here. 🙂
Plus, we don’t have the individual episode titles being shown when ‘The Time Meddler’ is presented to us as an omnibus edition. It means the loss of certain footage from the four-part TV story, but it doesn’t matter, as the story should be seamless in its omnibus version.
One thing I’ve noticed in the omnibus edition of ‘The Time Meddler’ is the omission of Edith being attacked by the Vikings in ‘Part Two’ of the story. I wondered why it was cut and apparently, it was to create a more streamlined, audience-appropriate omnibus edit.
Apparently, there’s the implication that the Viking scouts raped Edith in the story. Whilst I appreciate that, I don’t think it was that strongly evident when viewing the story, particularly in black-and-white. It was brief when the Vikings attacked Edith in the story. 😐
It also loses sense of clarity when you cut from day to night with Vicki and Steven getting into the monastery and you wonder why the Saxons are attacking the Vikings and how they knew about it. After all, Edith told her husband Wulnoth that the Vikings attacked her.
There’s also the loss of Eldred reinforcing his suspicions that Vicki and Steven were responsible for the state Edith was in when he and Wulnoth found her unconscious. I know it doesn’t sound like much, but it’s noticeable when you’ve seen the story more than once.
There’s also the omission of the Saxons killing off the Viking scouts Ulf and Sven in ‘Part Four’ of the story, which has been found recently and included in the Blu-ray version of the story. But honestly, I’m not so bothered that it isn’t in the ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode.
It wasn’t in the DVD version of the story, so it makes sense for it not to be included in the ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode, as that is a violent moment. It’s interesting how these decisions were made to not include unpleasant moments in this story’s omnibus edition.
When we cut back to Vicki and Steven in the Remembered TARDIS after ‘The Time Meddler’ is finished, we end on the Monk screaming “Doctor!” after his TARDIS has been put out of action. The last shot of the Doctor’s TARDIS dematerialising isn’t included here.
Nor is the closing moment of Steven, Vicki and the First Doctor’s faces before the fourth episode’s end credits roll up. Makes sense, as it would be unusual to see that in the ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode before going back to Vicki and Steven in the Remembered TARDIS.
There’s another echo of the Monk screaming “Doctor!” once we’re back with Vicki and Steven in the Remembered TARDIS. I think Vicki and Steven heard that as they finished recalling the story of ‘The Time Meddler’. It’s unnerving when you hear that in the episode.
As Steven ponders whether the Doctor lost his own dimensional control as the Remembered TARDIS seems small on the inside – Glad, it’s not just me thinking that 😀 – Vicki locates the dimensional control for the Monk’s TARDIS, which the Doctor pulled out.
Vicki is convinced the Monk is still looking for it, but Steven informs her he isn’t, as he and the Doctor (as well as Sara Kingdom) met the Monk again in ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan’. Nice it’s mentioned in this ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode concerning the Monk’s situation.
I like how Vicki and Steven talk about their reflections on the Doctor, including how Steven had more adventures with the Doctor after Vicki left. They also talk about how the Doctor never came back to check up on Vicki. Steven reassures her that he loved her regardless.
As the episode draws to a close, Vicki and Steven wonder if they can wish the Doctor to appear with them in the Remembered TARDIS. As they do so, we hear the First Doctor’s laughter. An archive recording is used for William Hartnell to reprise his role as the Doctor.
It’s clear from seeing Vicki’s face that the First Doctor has appeared with her and Steven in the Remembered TARDIS. I would’ve liked to have seen that continue. It would’ve been great to see the First Doctor reunite with Vicki and Steven in the final scene of the episode.
The ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode of ‘The Time Meddler’ has been great to see and it’s lovely to see Maureen O’Brien and Peter Purves back as their ‘Doctor Who’ characters. Despite omissions in the omnibus edition of ‘The Time Meddler’, this is a good instalment.
My Dad certainly enjoyed this ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode considering the William Hartnell/First Doctor era was his era of ‘Doctor Who’. After all, if it wasn’t for William Hartnell, ‘Doctor Who’ wouldn’t be where it is today and it’s good it’s acknowledged here.
‘Tales of the TARDIS: The Time Meddler’ rating – 8.5/10
‘THE CURSE OF FENRIC’
N.B.: ‘The Curse of Fenric’ episode of ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ is currently available on BBC iPlayer.
In the sixth episode of ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ focusing on ‘The Curse of Fenric’, we have Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor reunited with Sophie Aldred as Ace. The new Seventh Doctor and Ace scenes are by Pete McTighe, who did ‘The Mind Robber’ episode.
At the time in November 2023, ‘The Curse of Fenric’ would’ve been the last episode in the six episodes released in the ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ series for ‘Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary. 🙂 That was before the ‘Pyramids of Mars’ episode was released in June 2024.
It’s lovely to see Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred reunite in this ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode, and properly this time, considering Ace last met the Seventh Doctor as a hologram in ‘The Power of the Doctor’. Their reunion has them reconcile after many years.
Like with the Fifth Doctor in the ‘Earthshock’ episode and the Sixth Doctor in the ‘Vengeance on Varos’ episode, I assume this is the spirit of the Seventh Doctor appearing in the Remembered TARDIS and is from the Guardians of the Edge scene in ‘The Power of the Doctor’.
There’s also something else that’s mentioned when Ace comments on the Seventh Doctor being so old, and he cryptically replies how ‘time streams are funny things’ and that his regenerating is ‘all a matter of perspective’. This is a very fascinating thing he says.
His worlds imply, though not explicitly state, that he comes from a timeline where he didn’t regenerate. Not sure how that’s possible, but you might have to tie it into the Guardians of the Edge from ‘The Power of the Doctor’ to comprehend how it all works.
The episode begins with Ace appearing in the Remembered TARDIS and having a look around. She finds both the Seventh Doctor’s hat and the baseball bat which she used to beat up an Imperial Dalek in ‘Remembrance of the Daleks’. I like how that’s touched upon.
To be honest, ‘Remembrance of the Daleks’ is my favourite Seventh Doctor era story from the classic TV series, and I would’ve liked that to have been selected for ‘Tales of the TARDIS’, especially since there aren’t any Dalek stories featured in this celebration series.
The Cybermen are in the ‘Earthshock’ episode, so, why not have the Daleks for ‘Tales of the TARDIS’? But I understand why ‘The Curse of Fenric’ was chosen, as part of the appeal of Ace and the Seventh Doctor is how she learns to grow as a character when with him. 🙂
‘The Curse of Fenric’ is a story that has Ace facing her ‘present’ fears about her mother when encountering her as a baby. It’s also a story that explains how Ace ended up meeting the Doctor on Iceworld in ‘Dragonfire’, due to the Doctor’s long battle with Fenric.
So, it makes sense for ‘The Curse of Fenric’ to be selected for the ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ series, as it’s a chance for Seven and Ace to talk about the hardships they endured during that story. This also ties in to when Ace left Seven on bad terms in ‘At Childhood’s End’. 🙂
I haven’t read that ‘Doctor Who’ story in a long while, but going by how it’s established in ‘The Power of the Doctor’, the TV series seems to be going with how Ace left Seven on bad terms in that book story compared to how Ace left him on bad terms in ‘Love and War’.
Mind you, there’s confusion on my part, as there’s one point where the Doctor mentions the Rani and suggests she may have played a role in his and Ace’s falling out. I don’t recall that being in ‘At Childhood’s End’. I believe this is something that Pete McTighe added in.
Who knew there was more to Ace and the Seventh Doctor’s falling out, according to ‘At Childhood’s End’? Maybe I’m misinterpreting things when identifying what’s established as mainstream continuity for Ace and the Seventh Doctor with how they parted, but still. 🙂
I love it when Ace embraced the Seventh Doctor before he took his hat from her, saying, “Mine, I believe,” echoing when he took his hat off her head in ‘Survival’. 😀 It also illustrates how great Sylvester and Sophie are as friends in real-life when watching them.
Ace explains that she was in a meeting when she appeared in the Remembered TARDIS. Was she sleeping in that meeting before she appeared in the Remembered TARDIS? I’m still going by the theory that you can appear in the Remembered TARDIS via dreams. 😀
The Doctor then explains to Ace that they’re in a ‘Memory TARDIS’ where old friends come together to remember stories. At that, we have the two chairs appearing for Ace and the Doctor to sit in as well as the Thirteenth Doctor TARDIS console campfire in the centre. 🙂
There’s also a table where a chessboard is on it as well as chess pieces. This, of course, ties into the game of chess that the Seventh Doctor and Fenric were playing in ‘The Curse of Fenric’, which I do appreciate, especially in terms of setting up the story in the episode.
It also sets up the Seventh Doctor as a character, considering that he’s a master-manipulator of certain events that happen in that story. It also reminds Ace of the painful ordeal she had to go through when discovering how she came to be in being with the Doctor.
I liked it when Ace shared that she wished she never left the Doctor, even after they parted on bad terms. The Doctor tells Ace that he thinks of her every day, and he also tells her that the Remembered TARDIS is forever and that they can return to it whenever they wish.
As Ace recalls how she ended up on Iceworld as part of Fenric’s game of traps, she soon becomes reluctant to remember her encounter with Fenric. The Doctor then tells her that they should both remember it, as pain comes to define them along with the joy they have.
The Doctor and Ace soon remember the day that they met Fenric at Maiden’s Point in 1943, and we then cut to the omnibus edition of ‘The Curse of Fenric’. And what’s interesting is that this is the Special Edition version of that story, not the original four-parter.
You might think that’s a bit strange to mention, but you see, the original four-part version of ‘The Curse of Fenric’ is a truncated version of the story. Fans and behind-the-scenes crew, including director Nicholas Mallett, weren’t happy with the final version of the tale.
So, when the Special Edition version of the story came out on DVD in 2003, it was a chance to see ‘The Curse of Fenric’ at its full potential with all the story’s deleted scenes put back in as well as the editing being sharpened and having brand-new CGI effects in it. 🙂
I believe this is the first time where the Special Edition version of ‘The Curse of Fenric’ is shown outside its DVD and Blu-ray range in the ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ series. And it’d be the first time that newcomers to ‘Doctor Who’ would see ‘The Curse of Fenric’ in this form.
It makes sense that the Special Edition version of ‘The Curse of Fenric’ would be shown in ‘Tales of the TARDIS’, considering it’s an omnibus edition of the story anyway. I’m glad it’s included, as I prefer extended versions of those stories compared to shorter versions.
Once ‘The Curse of Fenric’ Special Edition omnibus is over, we return to the Seventh Doctor and Ace in the Remembered TARDIS, as they finish recalling the story with Fenric. They reiterate how they never talked of the things they experienced during their travels. 😐
Maybe they wouldn’t have fallen out because of that. The Doctor admits that he did things that he’s not proud of, including when manipulating Ace in his own schemes to save the universe. Ace also remarks she ‘walked off in a strop’ when leaving the Doctor back then.
She then recalls the deaths of people she met in her travels, including Sorin from ‘The Curse of Fenric’, Mike from ‘Remembrance of the Daleks’, Kara from ‘Survival’ and Bellboy from ‘The Greatest Show in the Galaxy’. This is one of the factors of Ace leaving the Doctor.
Apparently, the Doctor dropped off Ace in the wrong place when she left him. He left her in London in Ontario, not in West London in England. I checked and there is a city in southwestern Ontario in Canada called London. Hmm. 🙂 That’s the first I’ve heard of this.
Who knew there was more than one London city in the world? 😀 And yes, this happens to be an echo of the Doctor leaving a departing companion in the wrong place like he did with Sarah Jane in ‘The Hand of Fear’. 🙂 You’d think he would’ve afforded that same mistake.
I liked it when Ace shared with the Doctor that she visited Kathleen Dudman in her old age in a care home before she died. It’s nice when Ace recalls how Kathleen recognised her as the young woman who helped her to flee from Maiden’s Point to London in 1943. 🙂
The way Sophie delivers those lines as Ace with emotion as her voice breaks from recollecting is so touching and it’s nice to see how Sylvester as the Doctor reacts to that. It’s an aspect of the story I didn’t consider being readdressed and I’m glad it gets to be. 🙂
I like how the episode ends with the Doctor and Ace saying they love each other as a father and daughter. And it’s nice Ace and the Doctor take turns to quote the Doctor’s speech at the end of ‘Survival’ where they were leaving Perivale and ‘the tea’s getting cold’.
Like with the ‘Vengeance on Varos’ episode, the Seventh Doctor and Ace go off to have another adventure in the Remembered TARDIS. And we see the Seventh Doctor playing the spoons on Ace as well as himself, as that is Sylvester McCoy’s party piece in real-life.
The ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode of ‘The Curse of Fenric’ is good in reuniting Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred as their ‘Doctor Who’ characters in the Remembered TARDIS scenes. I’m also happy the Special Edition of ‘The Curse of Fenric’ is used for this episode.
‘Tales of the TARDIS: The Curse of Fenric’ rating – 8/10
So, at this point in the ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ series, this is where we come to a kind of a conclusion. The first six episodes of ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ were to showcase previous Doctors and their companions as part of the ‘Doctor Who’ 60th anniversary celebrations.
On reflection, this is not an entirely bad celebration of ‘Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary. It’s nice to see classic Doctors and companions back for this spin-off series, even if it’s to bookend the omnibus editions of classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV stories for newcomers to watch.
I just feel that this spin-off series could’ve tied in more to the 60th anniversary TV specials themselves instead of just being considered as a supplementary companion series to ‘Doctor Who’. This is especially as it’s considered as a last-minute series being put together.
I’m disappointed that Sarah Sutton didn’t get to be in the ‘Earthshock’ episode of ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ with Peter Davison and Janet Fielding, as I’m sure, with more time and notice, she would’ve enjoyed playing Nyssa again for this 60th anniversary spin-off series.
It’s nice to see Frazer Hines and Wendy Padbury reunite with each other, as well as Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant, Katy Manning and Daniel Anthony, Maureen O’Brien and Peter Purves, and Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred. Those reunions are worthwhile to see.
I appreciate that when it comes to big anniversary celebrations like this, the expectations of fans don’t always match to what a show’s creator can come up with. ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ is a very enjoyable 60th anniversary series, but it didn’t tick all the boxes for me.
There have been rumours and discussions circulating about the possibility of a second ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ series being made. Whether that’s going to happen or not is another matter, though it would be good to see more reunions of past ‘Doctor Who’ characters. 🙂
I would welcome it if a ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode featuring Sarah Sutton as Nyssa and Matthew Waterhouse as Adric is possible. I would welcome it if a ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode featuring Louise Jameson as Leela and K-9 – voiced by John Leeson – is possible.
I’m sure there are many possibilities for reunions to happen between past Doctors and companions in ‘Doctor Who’. Though, frankly, I would like it if we had more brand-new ‘Doctor Who’ shows that featured certain Doctor and companion teams-ups happening.
There seems to be hints of that with the Fifth Doctor and Tegan having their own adventures, according to ‘Destination: Daleks’ – both the Season 21 Blu-ray box set mini-episode and its comic book follow-up. Same thing for Six and Peri as well as Seven and Ace.
I would like to find out what happened to Jamie and Zoe and whether they ever had adventures of their own in the Remembered TARDIS. Perhaps the First Doctor, Vicki and Steven had more adventures in the Remembered TARDIS. The possibilities are endless. 🙂
So, whilst ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ doesn’t exactly meet my criteria in terms of celebrating the 60th anniversary of ‘Doctor Who’, I’m glad it was put together to acknowledge the TV show’s past. 🙂 It’s something more than what the actual 60th anniversary TV specials did.
‘Tales of the TARDIS’ has inspired me with what I hope to put together for a 70th anniversary series of ‘Doctor Who’ on ‘Bradley’s Basement’. What it’ll end up being by the time we get to 2033, well, you’ll have to find out yourself. But this series did inspire me. 🙂
I’m pleased I’ve been able to see the ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episodes in their entirety, especially considering they’re omnibus editions of classic ‘Doctor Who’ stories bookmarked by new scenes of the classic Doctors and their companions as they are now.
Regardless of whether ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ worked as a 60th anniversary series or not, it’s good to know this was made to acknowledge the TV show’s past. It’s also great to have six episodes about the show’s past and containing classic stories for viewers to remember.
And if ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ had just been six episodes, it probably would’ve made the series unique. This is especially when with the six episodes alone, they didn’t seem to connect to the new TV series. It’d make you wonder why the series was put together to begin with.
But…it’s not over yet…
‘PYRAMIDS OF MARS’
N.B.: The ‘Pyramids of Mars’ episode of ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ is currently available on BBC iPlayer, on Disc 4 of the Season 13 Blu-ray box set of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series and on Disc 7 of the Series 14/Season One DVD/Blu-ray box set of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series.
In the seventh episode of ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ focusing on ‘Pyramids of Mars’, we have Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor and Millie Gibson as Ruby. The new Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby scenes are by Russell T. Davies, who created the ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ spin-off series.
This is a very unusual instalment in the ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ series, created after its initial six-episode run was done in November 2023. This ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode was specifically created for the two-part story ‘The Legend of Ruby Sunday’/’Empire of Death’.
In fact, this ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode takes place during the Series 14 two-part finale – ‘Empire of Death’ specifically. This is when the Fifteenth Doctor, Ruby and Mel entered the Remembered TARDIS after escaping Sutekh who turned people to dust on Earth in 2024.
The episode was shown on BBC Four on Thursday 20th of July 2024 before it was available on BBC iPlayer. This was a day before ‘Empire of Death’ was released at cinemas with ‘The Legend of Ruby Sunday’ as well as via BBC iPlayer in the UK and Disney+ in non-UK parts.
Interestingly, the ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode of ‘Pyramids of Mars’ wasn’t released on Disney+ to coincide with the release of ‘The Legend of Ruby Sunday’/’Empire of Death’ on that platform. Thus, I wonder how non-UK people would get to know Sutekth as a villain.
I mean, I suppose non-UK viewers would have to check out ‘Pyramids of Mars’ on a platform where the classic TV series is available like Britbox or Tubi. But it’s not a good sign when they don’t make ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ available to non-UK viewers in that way.
Thankfully, there are YouTube videos featuring the new ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ scenes for people to watch, even if you live outside the UK. But it’s a shame not everyone in the world can watch the ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ omnibuses unless you’re clever in getting around that.
I’m digressing, of course. This ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode is unique, as it features a current Doctor and a current companion in the opening and closing scenes bookending ‘Pyramids of Mars’ – namely Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor and Millie Gibson as Ruby Sunday.
Honestly, I don’t mind Ncuti and Millie being in this ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode. It makes sense, considering that Sutekh in the main baddie for the Series 14 two-part finale and the Fifteenth Doctor would be telling Ruby how he fought Sutekth in the ‘Pyramids of Mars’ story.
With that said, you could be forgiven into thinking, “Why are the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby in the Remembered TARDIS to begin with?”. This is especially if you saw this ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode between ‘The Legend of Ruby Sunday’ and ‘Empire of Death’. 😐
I mean, I know why they’re there considering that I’ve seen ‘Empire of Death’ afterwards to establish how they got into the Remembered TARDIS. But on its own and if you saw it between the two episodes of the Series 14 two-part finale, you might be very confused.
One thing that’s baffling when watching this ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode is, “Where’s Mel in all this?” She should be in the Remembered TARDIS with the Doctor and Ruby by this point. How come she’s not there listening to the story the Doctor’s telling Ruby about Sutekh?
I suppose you could say Mel was asleep by this point, as she did seem very tired when travelling with the Doctor and Ruby in the Remembered TARDIS by the middle of ‘Empire of Death’. But it’s odd Mel isn’t mentioned when watching this ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode.
Then again, that might down to the fact that the opening and closing scenes of this episode featuring the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby are very short. Because we don’t spend so much time with them when we go straight into the ‘Pyramids of Mars’ story at the start.
When ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ was originally released in November 2023, I found it odd there wasn’t an episode featuring Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor. I would’ve thought Tom Baker would have been able to reprise his role as the Fourth Doctor in ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ itself.
But then, as it turned out, that Fourth Doctor episode in ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ was being saved for later as a special episode to tie into the two-part finale featuring Sutekh with Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson. Again, it makes sense why that would be the case here. 🙂
All the same, it’s a shame we never got a reunion between Tom Baker’s Doctor with Louise Jameson as Leela and K-9 for an episode. Or a reunion between Tom Baker’s Doctor with Lalla Ward as Romana and K-9 for an episode, though I don’t know if the latter is possible.
Maybe it was thought Tom Baker was elderly and couldn’t do a ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode, whether in the original six-episode run or for the Series 14 two-part finale. But I don’t know, I think you could have inserted Tom Baker’s Doctor somewhere very cleverly.
Whilst the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby are chatting in the Remembered TARDIS about Sutekth, maybe the Fourth Doctor could’ve appeared to tell them about ‘Pyramids of Mars’. Or Tom Baker could’ve reprised his role as the Curator from ‘The Day of the Doctor’.
It’s clear that the ‘Pyramids of Mars’ episode for ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ was put in a rush or that it was part of the production for ‘Empire of Death’, since Jamie Donoughue is the director of this episode, as he directed ‘The Legend of Ruby Sunday’/’Empire of Death’. 🙂
Regarding the omnibus edition of ‘Pyramids of Mars’ in this ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode…well, again, it’s unusual. This happens to be a heavily-edited version of the TV story. Meaning that certain scenes are edited out from the original version into the new one.
This includes Professor Marcus Scarman calling someone in Egypt a ‘superstitious savage’ when he and his lot were fleeing the tomb of Sutekth at the story’s start. I can understand why that was cut, as that wouldn’t be appropriate to hear in modern times. 😐
There’s also the moment where the Doctor talks about Victoria (played by Deborah Watling) when talking about the white dress Sarah Jane’s wearing whilst she thought he was talking about Queen Victoria. I’m saddened that’s not included in the new version. 😦
A lot of scenes are re-edited to have us cutting back-and-forth to varying characters in certain scenes. This includes when the Doctor, Sarah Jane and Laurence hide from Professor Scarman in the mansion and when the Doctor and Sarah Jane disable a jar. 😐
These re-edited scenes aren’t distracting like the colour versions of ‘The Daleks’ and ‘The War Games’. But they’re noticeable. It’s contrast to when checking out the other ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episodes, as the omnibuses for those classic TV stories aren’t re-edited.
Apparently, additional music is used from the 1993 album ‘Pyramids of Mars: Classic Music from the Tom Baker’ in the ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode. It’s something I didn’t realise on first watch. Though thinking about it, more music is used than usual in the story.
This is especially when a small piece of music from ‘Logopolis’ is used for the scene where the Fourth Doctor and Laurence Scarman are discussing Laurence’s radio telescope. Foreshadowing for the Fourth Doctor’s demise in falling from radio telescope?
Frankly, it’s quite nice to hear the small piece of music from ‘Logopolis’ in the ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode for ‘Pyramids of Mars’. Though Paddy Kingsland’s electronic music for ‘Logopolis’ is a contrast to Dudley Simpson’s orchestra-like music for ‘Pyramids of Mars’.
There are new CGI effects to be found in the ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode of ‘Pyramids of Mars’, especially for the time vortex moments. It was nice to see those new CGI effects. I believe they’ve been transferred to ‘Pyramids of Mars’ in the Season 13 Blu-ray box set. 🙂
After the Fifteenth Doctor finishes telling the ‘Pyramids of Mars’ story to Ruby in the Remembered TARDIS, there’s a sense of sombreness between them as well as for the end of the episode. This is when the Fifteenth Doctor doesn’t know how to defeat Sutekh.
In his current form, I mean. The giant-CGI form. Not the man-shaped form, which I enjoyed more in ‘Pyramids of Mars’ than in ‘The Legend of Ruby Sunday’/’Empire of Death’. Seriously, Sutekh is terrifying in ‘Pyramids of Mars’ than in the Series 14 two-part finale. 🙂
Judging from the seeing the ‘Pyramids of Mars’ episode, this chronologically takes place during the origins of the Remembered TARDIS. It takes place before the rest of the ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ series. This does make sense when you’re thinking about the series overall.
I did wonder how the Remembered TARDIS came to be and how it was created when watching the first six episodes of ‘Tales of the TARDIS’. So, I’m glad this episode and ‘Empire of Death’ answered my question on how the Remembered TARDIS was created.
Going back to the sombre atmosphere of the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby scenes in the ‘Pyramids of Mars’ episode, it’s a huge contrast to the rest of the series where the ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ scenes featuring classic Doctors and companions are far more cheerful. 🙂
There’s a level of anxiety and uncertainty on the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby’s part when watching their scenes in the ‘Pyramids of Mars’ episode. That is to be expected, as this shown was shown between ‘The Legend of Ruby Sunday’ and ‘Empire of Death’ episodes.
Incidentally, the Fifteenth Doctor tells Ruby that he used to travel with Sarah Jane in the TARDIS. This contradicts a scene between Ruby and Fifteen in ‘Empire of Death’ where Ruby enquired who the Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane were on the monitor that Fifteen had.
This was when Fifteenth was showing scenes of ‘Pyramids of Mars’ on a monitor in the Remembered TARDIS. He said, “They just…travelled in the TARDIS”. I would’ve thought the ‘Pyramids of Mars’ episode took place before that certain scene in ‘Empire of Death’.
Clearly, there’s a continuity issue concerning this, unless Ruby forgot the story Fifteen told her about meeting Sutekh in ‘Pyramids of Mars’. I hope that isn’t the case, but it’s clear that quality checks between ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ and ‘Empire of Death’ weren’t done. 😐
Regardless, I enjoyed checking out the ‘Tales of the TARDIS’ episode of ‘Pyramids of Mars’. It was nice to see Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson as their characters and I enjoyed ‘Pyramids of Mars’ with Sutekh more than ‘The Legend of Ruby Sunday’/’Empire of Death’.
‘Tales of the TARDIS: Pyramids of Mars’ rating – 7/10
‘Tales of the TARDIS’ series rating – 6.5/10
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For the First Doctor was For Vicki was
For Steven was
For Jamie was
For Zoe was
For Jo was
For the Fifth Doctor was For Tegan was For the Sixth Doctor was For Peri was
For the Seventh Doctor was For Ace was For the Fifteenth Doctor was For Ruby was |
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For Vicki is
For Steven is
For Jamie is
For Zoe is
For the Fifth Doctor is
For Tegan is
For the Sixth Doctor is
For Peri is
For Ace is
For the Fifteenth Doctor is For Ruby is |
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Bradley's Basement 