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“The Barbarians and the Samurai: A Historical Jewel with Familiar Flaws”

The Barbarians and the Samurai transports the First Doctor and his companions to feudal Japan, delivering an immersive and atmospheric pure historical. While the story’s setting is refreshingly original for the franchise, it also highlights the limitations of its narrative, relying heavily on tropes seen in earlier historical adventures.

A Captivating Setting and Strong Performances

The historical Japanese setting immediately distinguishes this story, evoking memories of Marco Polo with its intricate depiction of a richly textured culture. The sound design, including atmospheric music and soundscapes, creates an evocative backdrop that transports the listener to a time of political intrigue and cultural complexity.

Guest actors convincingly portray Japanese characters, though their exaggerated accents feel unnecessary and distract from the authenticity of their performances. Despite this, their efforts contribute to the high-stakes tension that runs through the plot.

The main cast fits seamlessly into the narrative. The roles assigned to each TARDIS member feel reminiscent of their TV-era counterparts: Susan and Barbara as captives, Ian engaging in disguise, and the Doctor employing his trademark cunning. This dynamic adds a comforting sense of familiarity while allowing the setting to shine.

Plot: A Familiar Framework

The story unfolds as a classic case of mistaken identity, leading the TARDIS crew into the heart of Japanese court politics. The script captures the nuances of the era and balances tense political manoeuvring with moments of action, including well-executed fight sequences.

However, the narrative doesn’t venture far beyond the surface of its historical setting. Its straightforward plot, while engaging, lacks the twists or deeper thematic explorations that could elevate it. Much like The Aztecs or The Crusade, the story leans more on its educational value than on delivering a compelling, character-driven adventure.

Strengths and Weaknesses

The setting is the story’s greatest asset, offering an original and immersive backdrop for the action. The Doctor’s cleverness and the ensemble cast’s chemistry help sustain interest, even during slower moments. Yet, the narrative’s pacing remains even to a fault, with little variation in tempo or stakes to keep the listener fully engaged.

The lack of a clear, overarching goal or major twists makes the story feel more like a cultural exploration than an adventure. While the historical accuracy and attention to detail are commendable, the absence of a deeper purpose or conflict leaves it feeling somewhat hollow.

📝71/100

The Barbarians and the Samurai is a solid pure historical that benefits from its unique setting and strong performances. While it doesn’t break new ground in terms of storytelling, it succeeds in capturing the atmosphere and intrigue of feudal Japan. Fans of historical Doctor Who will appreciate its educational value and thoughtful cultural depiction, even if the narrative lacks the excitement and depth of more layered adventures.

I had a good time with this audio.  I don't think I could ever quite fully accept this cast as the original TARDIS crew - they all sound and feel much to different for that to feel quite right to me - but there's so much to like here it easily overrides something like Ian sounding a little different.  I really liked the authentic casting of Japanese characters as a lot of them worked quite well, even when you could kind of tell this was written by somebody with a British perspective more than a Japanese one.  Still, it's a good story, featuring a lot of interesting characters from the historical Japan setting, having an easy-to-follow plot that was just as easy to enjoy, and most importantly, Ian actually got to behave like a chemist.  It's hard to go wrong in such a situation.

I was so wildly engrossed in this one, and I'm not sure why. Regardless, good story, good setting.

A little too long but appreciate how there looking for non British historical stories to do

Utterly dull. Almost 2 hours of pure filler, without any heart behind it.

I’ve mentioned before how historicals work best if there is motivation behind the characters that it present. This one has none of that. Characters are one-note, cliché and maybe even offensive.

It just feel thoroughly run of the mill. Party gets split up, they interact with some samurai, the word honor gets thrown around a lot, and we end it.

It just doesn’t really have a leg for itself to stand on. It only borrows. Barbara gets harassed? Keys of Marinus. The young girl wants to find true love, instead of forced marriage? Marco Polo.

The team uses smoke bombs? Marco Polo and Flames of Cadiz.

There’s just absolutely no creativity with the setting. Which is a shame, cause there definitely could be. This is a country which separated itself by closing all borders for ages! Why not focus on the reactions caused by western inventions? Why not focus on the benefits of mingling cultures? Take the Bushido to a true multicultural society for all I care! Do something with it!

Instead it’s a runaround with 0 character work for anyone. It’s also weirdly fetishistic towards Japanese culture. Why is the English translation full of Japanese sentences and words? Why do all the people have accents? This never happened in other stories. That’s not even mentioning the glorification of the English by making one English Samurai which is “The best samurai this bushido has ever had”. It’s just stupid.

So that leaves us with a mess of weird cultureblending without a true message, character discovery, or frankly, a point. A story that accomplishes nothing, yet takes 2 hours to do so. A waste.

Let’s hope the next time Susan goes swimming, there’s actually a good story connected to it.