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TARDIS Guide

Review of Night of the Stormcrow by sircarolyn

21 March 2025

This review contains spoilers!

This story was kind of dull to me until about 50 minutes in. The premise itself is not disinteresting - a creature that feasts on the dark and time and provokes apathy in people. We're introduced to a cast of relatively uninspiring side characters who waffle back and forth about turning the lights on and catching the Stormcrow creature.

It's only when the Doctor gets overtaken by the creature that things get a little more interesting. He immediately rejects Leela and humanity as being annoying clinger-ons, and seems to abandon her, much to her surprise. One of the things that intrigues me most about Leela's character is the way she does not and has never belonged. Though she clings to the Sevateem, she never really fit in there, and many of her most interesting stories dig into these ideas. So when Leela said 'I may never find the place where I belong', I sat bolt upright, suddenly intrigued.

Without thinking, this story manages to cut straight to the thesis of Leela's character, giving us a touching scene where she reflects that she will probably never see the place she was born again.

And then it goes back to being a little dull. A shame, but goes to show that every episode can have a hidden gem in it.


sircarolyn

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