Downtime

I came into this with extremely low expectations off the back of Wartime, but this second effort from Reeltime Productions is a great leap forward in terms of quality. More importantly it *feels* like Doctor Who and builds on characters we love with care. If you think about how uselessly Sarah-Jane, the Brigadier and Victoria Waterfield were used in Dimensions in Time - you can't even compare what they managed to achieve here.

Marc Platt and Christopher Barry lend a professional touch to the production. It’s exciting to see what the classic series would have looked like in 1995. Very different from the revival the world would discover the following year. The only thing that really dates Downtime (given that 90s clothes are back in fashion) is the alien fascination with "personal computers" and the "internet". Hilarious.

As a fan of The Abominable Snowman and The Web of Fear it is rewarding to see this long overdue sequel. The Yetis could look better, but sensibly most of the action is kept to the humans (possessed or otherwise) and the invisible Great Intelligence. The plot serves the characters well and the drama builds nicely. I'm not a huge fan of the "mysterious" black and white scenes, but they make sense. Kate Lethbridge-Stewart works a charm and getting a sense of how this down and out Brigadier is fairing is exciting. It feels both true to the character and like their pushing the envelope.

We are so lucky that fans worked so hard for us to have this gem, even if it is a bit rough around the edges.