I really enjoyed the second story in the third 9DA box, Lost Warriors. It has so much going for it in the characterization department with the difference between the dramatic myth and the historical reality of Lady Macbeth and husband (Neve McIntosh is simply fabulous here, Anthony Howell is great, David Rintoul is great, all given so much juicy stuff to do, every character goes through changes across the story), and Chris Eccleston is meta-textually the right actor for the story with his general Shakespeare credentials and very famous theatre run as Mr Macbeth, plus his Doctor strikes up exactly the right kind of friendship founded on respect with Ru (the nickname he develops for Mrs M). She is a great one-off companion, and the turn of the story around her inability to destroy the changelings for compelling character reasons is just very satisfying. The nature of the creature was a bit vague to me, the resolution was a little abstract in a way I wasn’t sure about, but I still appreciated the outcome, 9 fans all love a Doctor Dances ending. The 9/Ru chemistry is so strong and the characters so well-drawn by Lizzie Hopley that I really liked it even with some fuzzy plot bits. Strong 3.75/5

The Ninth Doctor #13

'Lost Warriors: The Curse of Lady Macbeth' (2021) from The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Series 1.

It's a shame that this is such a nothing story because the setting and the characters are a really fun idea. Seeing the true characters of the Macbeth play is a great idea for a historical, but it's all just a bit boring and leaves me feeling really indifferent about it all. I had little-to-no connection with any of the characters or the way that the story was told, which sucks because the Fuath is a cool concept for a villain, but I couldn't tell you anything about it because this really didn't grasp my attention at all unfortunately.

You know, at least the last story kept my attention for the full runtime. I was largely uninterested in the entire story here, though again, the setting is not something I would have been interested in.

D.

Interesting setting and ideas, but can’t help but feel that 9 is a little out of character here and primitives assuming he’s a demon is a trope I’m pretty tired of.