"Brigadier, a straight line may be the shortest distance between two points, but it is by no means the most interesting."
Robert Holmes is Doctor Who's most prolific and respected writer, yet in my experience, this story of his is rarely discussed. Why, before having watched these episodes, I didn't even know that Robert Holmes had created the Sontarans. Holmes is obviously very good at character profiling and writing, and I wouldn't be surprised if the executives at the time chose him to introduce Sarah Jane on purpose because of this. The plot and events in the story are quite basic, and would have the possibility of being dull and boring if it weren't for the amount of compelling and lovely secondary characters. It's very rare for a Doctor Who story to have you engaged in every single one of it's plot threads, but every time a scene would cut away I'd be sad that I was leaving those characters, but would immediately get entrenched in the scene that followed. This cycle would constantly repeat itself with the likes of Linx, Irongron and Bloodaxe, Edward, Meg and especially Professor Rubeish. I'm hoping this continues with Holme's work, and I assume it does seeing that people found two of his side characters from The Talons of Weng-Chiang so delightful that they were given an audio spinoff that lasted thirteen series. While its nothing game-changing or emotionally moving, The Time Warrior takes the idea of a 'fun romp' to a new admirable level.
Part One - June 20th Part Two/Three/Four - June 23rd
Robert Holmes is Doctor Who's most prolific and respected writer, yet in my experience, this story of his is rarely discussed. Why, before having watched these episodes, I didn't even know that Robert Holmes had created the Sontarans. Holmes is obviously very good at character profiling and writing, and I wouldn't be surprised if the executives at the time chose him to introduce Sarah Jane on purpose because of this. The plot and events in the story are quite basic, and would have the possibility of being dull and boring if it weren't for the amount of compelling and lovely secondary characters. It's very rare for a Doctor Who story to have you engaged in every single one of it's plot threads, but every time a scene would cut away I'd be sad that I was leaving those characters, but would immediately get entrenched in the scene that followed. This cycle would constantly repeat itself with the likes of Linx, Irongron and Bloodaxe, Edward, Meg and especially Professor Rubeish. I'm hoping this continues with Holme's work, and I assume it does seeing that people found two of his side characters from The Talons of Weng-Chiang so delightful that they were given an audio spinoff that lasted thirteen series. While its nothing game-changing or emotionally moving, The Time Warrior takes the idea of a 'fun romp' to a new admirable level.
Part One - June 20th Part Two/Three/Four - June 23rd