Review of The Time Vampire by thedefinitearticle63
16 May 2024
This review contains spoilers
This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.
Previous Story: Return to Telos
The end to the Z'nai trilogy, and probably the strongest out of the 3. Unfortunately I think it works best if you listen to all 3 in a row, instead of the way I've done it. It continues a lot of the plot threads from previous stories and I found that a bit difficult as I struggled to pay attention with the first one. Otherwise it's a stand-out companion chronicle.
There's a lot to say about it, Jameson's performance is extremely good, further cementing Leela as one of my favourite companions so far. I feel like this solves the problem i had with the Doctor feeling mischaracterised in the previous parts, he felt too angry and distant when there was no real threat, this story adds context that really helps explain why the Doctor cares so much. Oh and, the Third Doctor shows up, though he doesn't really play an active role in the story, but I'm always happy to hear more 3.
I think the cyclical storyline leads to quite a sense of reward at the end and I always like stories that aren't afraid to play around with chronology. This is a strong story and an unexpectedly good ending to a trilogy which I wasn't the biggest fan of.
Next Story: Underworld