isn’t that an exciting cover? Shame the story it is attached to is not overly compelling! This is a nice setting in theory for the 9th Doctor, an Upstairs/Downstairs situation in the 1930s where he will of course side with the staff over the snooty gentry, and there is a nightly visit from a pack of alien creatures on horseback shouting about “flesh.” The things that happen in the story are quite predictable, and not played with enough fun or wit for that not to matter; also the class stuff, which is very promising 9 material, doesn’t really marry to the sci-fi stuff in a way that illuminates either. There are opportunities to get into 9’s post-Time War psychology, but they are firmly not taken, plus some really awful characters get away with no real comeuppance. Annette Badland is in this, and her voice is so great, her scenes with Eccleston are why I still rate Boom Town very highly as an RTD script, but she is not given much of a character here, nobody is really, even the villain reveal is too late to really get into what they are about. Some good Doctory bits though, of course, he’s very sarcastic. Disappointing one. 3/5

The Ninth Doctor #12

'Lost Warriors: The Hunting Season' (2021) from The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Series 1.

Putting Nine in a wartime setting is always so lush. His characters works wonders in that period with his fresh Time War grief, as shown in The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances, as well as in Battle Scars, which this story actually bears quite a few similiarities to, with the villain being a hard-up kind of arsehole who turns out to be an alien. Some cool stuff in here with that, and the relationship between him and his daughter and the way that The Doctor perceives that is quite fascinating. Not sure if I find this as enjoyable as Battle Scars, I just think the characters aren't quite as well performed, but the Fleshkins are a nice little idea and serve as a well-done switcheroo revealing the true villain of the story.

This one was... alright. Nothing particularly bad about it, but I think that I'm just not really interested in this setting in general.

C.