The Shadow Vortex is a thrilling historical action-adventure... though it never quite gets started.
WRITTEN BY
David Llewelyn. I'm not familiar with his works at all, but I like his choice of setting. I can't think of many films set in 1960s Berlin(though that probably just shows my own ignorance).
PLOT
The Doctor pursues Dalek agent Lara Zannis to Cold War-era Berlin, only for both of them to get arrested. When Lara escapes, it's up to the Doctor to convince the Soviets that Earth is facing an imminent invasion from the Time War...
ANALYSIS
The Cold War lies at the heart of spy culture today thanks to phenomenons like James Bond, so it's pretty much ripe with intrigue from the get-go. And whilst The Shadow Vortex never really uses it for anything more than a backdrop... well, it's a damn good backdrop. It's just a neat era to have a story set in, and my only complaint is that we didn't get nearly as much material out of it as we did.
I mean, the story introduces a Russian version of UNIT, which is all kinds of kickass, and for a moment it looks as if it's about to go to war with the Daleks. That could've been a whole box set in of itself, but then I suppose the disappointment when it's all handwaved away would've hit considerably harder. I love the alternate timeline stuff and I feel like this would've been the perfect place to implement it, but at the end of the day, Earth has to stay safe.
The ending seemed to riff on The TV Movie a lot, which I didn't expect, although it executes the concept much better and without any "temporal orbits"(though I wouldn't have resented a direct callback).
CHARACTERS
John Hurt is reliably melancholy and warm as the War Doctor, this time accompanied by Timothy Speyer's mesmerised fusspot Lt. Kruger(who, funnily enough, looks exactly what I imagined him to in real life - a small, balding bespectacled man). Kruger's a great character, naturally under pressure from the times he finds himself in, but with an inner humanity and sense of wonder brought out by the appearance of the Doctor.
Neve McIntosh(known best to Doctor Who fans as Madame Vastra) portrays the subtly smug Lara. I liked her little catfight rivalry with professor Crane(Helen Goldwyn) and she made for a good foe against the Doctor, being able to take advantage of the Earth environment to trap him. Interestingly, the Doctor does point out the inherent madness of her allowing her own past to be destroyed by the Daleks, but it's never actually explained why she's loyal to them(brainwashed?). So again, there's a strong fundament for something there, but it should've been pushed a notch further.
I was disappointed to hear so little of Jacqueline Pearce as Ollistra this time around, but the cliffhanger suggests we'll get much more of her next time! They also introduced her assistant Heleyna, but I've yet to form any sort of opinion on her besides incredulity at the actress's name: Honeysuckle Weeks. I mentioned James Bond, didn't I? Yeah.
NOTES
*After watching Blake's 7, it is amazing how Jacqueline Pearce's entire post-Servalan career seems to consist of doing Servalan impressions. Not that I mind.
*Interestingly, just as in Legion Of The Lost, the story is introduced to us in the form of flashbacks. It's slightly confusing on audio, but it does give the series a more modern feel.
*How exactly did Lara escape from the KGB prison? Just saying she's a Dalek agent isn't really good enough. She's still human, there's no tech on her that's ever mentioned.
*It technically fits with his character, but I didn't care for how the War Doctor kept pointing out the 'new companion cliches' like the TARDIS reaction disparagingly.. It just kind of spoils the fun.
*Kruger points out that "Oxbridge university" doesn't exist, and whilst as a separate university it really does not, it is a legitimate term(although I suppose he might've been unaware of it).
CONTINUITY ADVISOR
1) The Doctor mentions that Lara was responsible for the attack on the Draconian embassy. It's not clear whether this is a direct reference to Frontier In Space or not, but still. Nice little detail.
2) Time travel rules are quickly explained along with the way with RTD's usual "fixed points" speech.
3) The Doctor quickly summarises the Dalek origins for Kruger.
4) Another encounter with the Dalek Time Strategist. Chronologically, the Doctor's previous known encounter with him took place in The War Valeyard.
5) Lara uses "paradox stabilizers" to maintain her existence, presumably similar technology to the Master's paradox machine in The Sound Of Drums.
BEST QUOTE
TIME STRATEGIST: "You are violating the rules of your own kind."
DOCTOR: "This is war. The rules are off the table!"
CONCLUSION
Let's go balls-to-the-wall next time!
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