Mindgame

The worlds of Terrance Dicks and Sophie Aldred collide in this semi-official fan production. It is a chamber piece which could have just as easily been a play, making the most use out of two sets possible and getting the most out of a limited budget. Happily the plot is tight and wraps up nicely at the end - nothing is rushed.

Sophie does a good job of inhabiting this older version of Ace who strangely has become a mercenary. I suppose the fact she likes to blow stuff up makes this a kind of logical continuation of her character arc.

Dicks' writing of two fan favourite monsters, a Sontaran and a Draconian, is on point. Is this where the official use for the Sontarans' probic vent was first established? If so, it was used in the exact way as described here in 2021's War of the Sontarans, giving this story a little extra credibility. Dicks has done a great job of boiling down their already established character into a list of traits which is copy/ pasted into the new series by later showrunners.

The voice of the Sontaran is disappointingly human and a little off brand, this makes the differences between the Sontaran and Draconian a little less distinct. This is a shame because as written on the page, the dialogue works consistently well.

Its not a perfect piece of Who, but again, considering this was not made for home media by fans it is a huge achievement that it stands toe to toe with a great deal of stories that came from the original run of the show. It is great to see a continuation of the series in this way.