Black and White · Main Range • Episode 163

The TARDIS arrives in the land of the Danes, where a young warrior seeks to rid the kingdom of Hrothgar from a cruel and terrifying demon. The brave young warrior is Beowulf; the monster is Grendel ... or so his name will one day be written.

But what's written down in black and white is sometimes very far from the truth — as the Doctor knows, and his companions are about to discover.

This review contains spoilers!

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: Protect and Survive

I'm not sure I'm liking this whole "Elder Gods" arc. I'm definitely enjoying quite a bit of it but there are some thigns that I really can't get behind. The main one being the Doctor. Maybe he has some grand plan that needed everything to be like this but frankly I think that'd be a stupid writing decision and to me it feels like he's just being an awful person for no reason. I get that this is part of 7's whole "chessmaster" shtick but even then it feels excessive to have him be this callous.

I also think the story is really messy. We've got two TARDISes with two people each in seperate places (or times) while still being linked. And on top of all that there's a toad mercenary and did I forget to mention this story is based on the ancient epic of Beowulf. Sure, it's makes for some fun moments but I don't think even with 110% attention I would've grasped what was really going on in this story let alone while doing the things I normally do while listening to Big Finish.

Fingers crossed it all has a good conclusion.

Next Story: Gods and Monsters

thedefinitearticle63

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Review last edited on 12-03-25

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Agora que já conferimos as aventuras que antecede a conclusão do arco da Black TARDIS, chegou a hora de darmos continuidade nos eventos de Protect And Survive com Black And White, e olha... confesso que esperava mais. O áudio começa a nível de sua primeira parte, temos o tão aguardado encontro já anunciado anteriormente entre os dois TARDIS Team “Sally/Lysandra e Ace/Hex”. Logo de cara vemos um conflito hilário entre as duplas, o interessante é observar as distintas características de ambas as duplas, Sally e Lysandra tem um comportamento mais militarizado e formal que entra diretamente em conflito com a personalidade rebelde de Ace (ela chamando a Lysandra de “Sergeant Barbie” foi impagável kkkkkk) – Essa dinâmica fica ainda mais interessante quando as duplas são divididas e cada uma delas recebendo um plot, Sally/Hex viajam na White TARDIS e Lysandra/Ace na Black TARDIS. Ambas as naves tem seu destino em um cenário nórdico em terras dinamarquesas onde um jovem guerreiro chamado Beowulf busca livrar seu reino (Hrothgar) de um demônio cruel e terrível - Cada TARDIS se encontra em um ponto diferente da Time Line desse evento, a Black TARDIS (Ace/Lysandra) no passado conhecendo a versão jovem de Beowolf, já a White TARDIS (Sally/Hex) no futuro se deparando com a versão envelhecida do guerreiro. É nesse exato ponto onde as coisas começaram a ficar estranha pra mim, eu super reconheço e achei muito bem bolado a ideia de entrelaçar os eventos do passado e do futuro para que depois os dois laços se unam para concluir a problemática, isso não foi um problema para mim - Mas sim, ambos os plots e seus respectivos personagens não me cativaram tanto, confesso que me peguei muitas vezes mais interessado nos Flashbacks do 7° Doctor contando e mostrando o surgimento da Black TARDIS relatando aventuras anteriores do que na problemática principal. A justificativa do sumiço do Doctor é bem aceitável, o motivo da criação e existência da Black TARDIS também - E o vilão Grendel...é...na grande parte do tempo achei ele bem irritante.

KnuppMello

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Review last edited on 15-01-25

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After Protect and Survive, and as with many of these little connected triplets in the Main Range, Black and White feels a little transitional. Although it was enjoyable in itself, following a corker of an episode like Protect and Survive would always have been hard, and Black and White very much gave me the sense of moving pieces around the board to get all the players in place for the final episode.

And yes, that metaphor was on purpose - this episode sees the return of Fenric, right at the very end. As I say, positioning all the pieces. I was pleased to see the return of Sally Morgan and Lysandra Aristedes (even if I did have to tardis.wiki them as a refresher), but they were both characters I enjoyed earlier in the range. Certainly, this is an episode that requires the background reading and I am glad to have done it.

That said, I didn't 100% follow the Beowulf plot (possibly more due to the fact I was using a belt cutter at the time than the story itself), but I found all the characters in the story to be robust and full - something which sometimes doesn't quite hit for one off characters. I also felt the black/white Tardis resolution to be quite neat, and I liked how you can feel the strings coming together.

Overall, pretty good for a transition episode, but if Gods and Monsters is as good as Protect and Survive, then Black and White will be yet another case of the weak middle episode.