My first review of contemporary Doctor Who for DWM was The Waters of Mars, in DWM #417. One hundred and four issues later…
(From DWM #521)
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Twice Upon A Time
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Category Archives: TV episodes
After Image…
And here we are. My last thing published under Tom Spilsbury as DWM‘s editor. ‘End of an Era’ said the cover line, for all sorts of reasons.
Tom is the person who invited me to become the magazine’s ‘new series’ reviewer. I can’t remember why. I can just recall being at a press screening for ‘The Waters of Mars‘ and he asking me if I’d enjoyed it. I think I’d been gently pestering him for a while whenever I saw him at events. Either dropping hints or asking outright if I could do ‘something’. Suddenly, I was through the door, and completely thrilled about it.
I still am.
Along the way, he proved hands off in terms of moderating what I wrote, but a brilliant sounding board whenever I needed it. We spoke a lot about ‘The Caretaker‘ review, for example, and he helped me find a way to say what I wanted to.
Thanks again, Tom – you were my Doctor Who Magazine editor.
This is from DWM #515.
World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls
Oh dear. Look at me trying to ladle on the portent in those opening and closing lines.
From DWM #515.
The Eaters of Light
In which I coin a new, very lumpy synonym for ‘quite good’.
Last one from DWM #514.
Empress of Mars
I had to go Googling for gender-neutral pronouns for this one, settling on the one that seemed to be most commonly accepted. But, how nice, to be writing about Alpha Centuri.
Another from DWM #514.
The Lie of the Land
The Pyramid at the End of the World
See me belabouring for some kind of pithy pay-off. And getting nowhere near to that.
My last one from DWM #513.
Extremis
God love DWM which, when this was printed in the magazine, rendered the appropriate bits in the correct ZX Spectrum font.
Another from DWM #513.
Oxygen
Oh dear. That plot point where the Doctor turns blind. I have a real problem with storytelling based around arbitrary obstacles, like this. Because you just know the character will be blind, until the show requires him not to be again.
Anyway: Another from DWM #513.
Knock Knock
At the time of writing, I still haven’t got around to listening to the binaural audio version of this story. And, in all honesty, I’m still not entirely sure what ‘binaural’ is.
Here is the first of my reviews from DWM #513.
