Fantasy Review: Blood Stew

Blood Stew
The Windshine Chronicles Book 3

By Todd Sullivan
ISBN 978-1737132028, 323pp, pb, Mocha Memoirs Press
Available from Amazon in paperback and on the Kindle

Nam-Gi raised the scroll before him, his dreams inscribed in flowing black letters on the rolled parchment.

Okay, it’s not as dynamic an opening as those of Hollow Men and There Will Be One, but the words have a potency all their own and let us know that this is very much its own volume, one that the reader has before them because they have enjoyed those first two volumes and is willing to trust the author to entertain them a third time. After all, if you haven’t read and enjoyed those two volumes, why pick this up? (Although, to a large extent, I think a reader new to the series could fully understand events without the necessity of reading them.)

Indeed, not only is the pace of the book different – in a good way! – but, the volume is different because it is longer than the first two volumes combined. Where they were sword and sorcery romps, this is more like a standard fantasy novel, offering more background and development with multiple threads that, eventually, come together in an exciting climax.

The main plot follows the misadventures of a disabled youth, Nam-Gi, who is studying magic under a dark elf, but is made to feel a burden for his family, the meagre income from their failing restaurant being used up in buying the medicine that eases his pain. He attempts to use his nascent skills to assist his family’s fortunes, but things go awry and, not unexpectedly, he finds himself caught up in an adventure – but, not the sort he imagined he might experience…

I must say that, as much as I enjoyed the adventure in the previous two volumes and that which filled the second half of this, Todd Sullivan’s evocative descriptions of the restaurant and Nam-Gi’s family life seized me in a way that fantasy fiction seldom does. I would happily have read more! Adventure is fun, but this added real depth to the world and made me much more invested in Nam-Gi’s story.

Of course, some readers, drawn in by the action in the first two volumes, might feel that life in a failing restaurant doesn’t sound that entertaining and, whilst I would say, give it a try, there’s no need to worry as Nam-Gi’s trials are interspersed with the discovery of a mysterious body in the ocean that leads to unforeseen tragedy and the arrival of a Cloud Elf with a powerful enmity towards the Dark Elves that have settled in South Hanguk.

Now, I will admit that I initially didn’t care much for the Cloud Elf, probably because I was more invested in Nam-Gi, but I think it’s a testament to Sullivan’s writing that such an obnoxious character managed to be repellent without actually damaging my enjoyment of the story. (Like those who might find the restaurant tale tedious, I think I benefited form the fact that events kept switching between the different strand means you don’t have to wait too long before the story moves onto something else.)

Surprisingly, Windshine the Dark Elf only appears in the second half of the volume, when she once more accompanies the young heroes she observes on a quest, this time in a race against those from other districts, including a group observed by Nam-Gi’s mentor, to destroy a monster unleashed in the first half of the volume. Of course, the Cloud Elf intrudes into their affairs, intent on slaying the Dark Elves for the crime of leaving their homeland and infecting the humans of South Hanguk with their ‘evil’, complicating things and leading an epic showdown, as well as revealing a little more about the mysterious Dark Elves.

Blood Stew isn’t quite the same as the earlier volumes, so might not be to everyone’s taste, although I think that everyone who enjoyed Hollow Men and There Will Be One will appreciate the second half, making it well worth reading, even if the first half isn’t quite what they want. However, I do think that the first half will prove to be what most of them want, even if they don’t know it going in!

In many ways, I would say this is a more mature book, the series having come of age, so if you enjoyed the first two volumes but wanted more depth, this will be just right for you. It certainly leaves me thinking that Todd Sullivan has a lot of potential. Personally, I would him explore South Hanguk – or, some other fantasy realm – in the style of his depiction of Nam-Gi’s family’s restaurant.

Like There Will Be One, Blood Stew manages to be both a good sequel and a good stand-alone story. It is an excellent fantasy tale that builds upon being different and, regardless of your view of its individual strands, I am certain you will find that, together, they form a compelling whole. Highly recommended.

Poetry Review: Heaven

Heaven
By Duane Vorhees
Hog Press, 978-1941892466, 164 pp
Available in paperback and on the Kindle

Although I haven’t counted them, there must be around 160 poems in this collection, and, as Duane ventures into a variety of lengths and styles, there is likely to be plenty here to please your poetical palate, no matter where your particular tastes fall. It is a collection that dances with deft steps through spirituality, the beauty of nature, and even that of the seemingly-humdrum, everyday world, rendering it all into poems that beguile with their simplicity or entertain with their playfulness, as he tries on different styles, before casting them off in favour of yet another form.

Personally, it was the shorter poems that really caught my attention, where Duane draws a sharp image or striking idea with a minimum of words. Ones that particular stood out for me included Spider Is Poet, which defines the collection by portraying poetry as a web that entraps the mind, the cosmic baptism of Elemental Sanctification, the haiku Riding the Seoul Metro, which paints a vivid image in so few words, the sweetly-observant Dog, and the misleadingly-titled Safe.

Of the longer poems, my favourites were Song of Autumn, a love song to a season, and the beautiful Sunshower, although I can say that there were no poems in this collection that failed to entertain or stimulate my mind’s eye.

If you have encountered Duane’s poetry before, I am certain you will want to investigate this collection without any endorsement from me, but if you are unfamiliar with his work, this would be a good place to start, as it showcases his breadth of ability and depth of insight. Highly recommended.

The Feathertale Review Reviewed

Before I begin telling you about issue 25 of this Canadian magazine, I must admit to having a horse in the race as my poem, Magnetic, appears on page 129 and, naturally, I would like you all to grab copies and read it.

The Feathertale Review issue 25 begins with a editorial discussion of whether this is actually the 25th issue or the 27th (clearly, they took inspiration from the same playbook that I did with early Monomyth…), before moving onto the real meat (or, for vegetarian readers, the veg) of the issue, which consists of a zany mix of poetry, fiction, and comics.

First comes a public service announcement/rant from Jacob Pacey which sets the tone for the issue (if you regard pee and COVID as unfit topics for a prose poem, this may not be the magazine for you). At over 150 pages, it’s a chunky little zine with great variety. Amongst my favourite pieces were The Managers by Jess Taylor, a tale of a dreary future of plastoblock buildings and isolated management, a dystopia of malaise, Superhost by Laura Clarke, a story of sex, relationships, self-loathing, and the desire for intimacy, plus the cartoon How to avoid unwanted small talk. I also really liked the comics Strange Times by Charlit, in which the narrator’s teen self is summoned to the present during lockdown, and The Most Adventurous Man in the World by Erin Clark, in which Han proves a little less adventurous than he claims, but to his benefit nonetheless.

The issue finishes with the fun poem A Field Study by Mitchell Gunn about a literary beast that “ate Darwin for breakfast / alongside Defoe and Diaz” and “At feeding times” eats “… another volume / hard-bound, anniversary edition”, much like the way this wonderful magazine devours what it receives to regurgitate something amazing.

Although it won’t be for everyone, this is a magazine that I would recommend to anyone who is seeking the strange and sublime with a little commentary on the madness of the world in which we live today. Try it.

Fantasy Review: There Will Be One

There Will Be One
The Windshine Chronicles
Book 2

By Todd Sullivan
ISBN 9780999852293, 135pp, pb, Mocha Memoir Press
Available from Amazon in paperback and on the Kindle

Woo Jin had been trained to kill opponents in honorable combat, so the government official’s assignment made his stomach clench.

Assassination.

So begins the excellent sequel to Hollow Men. Indeed, I could probably end the review right there – if you enjoyed the first book, you’ll want to read this, and if you haven’t read it yet, whilst you don’t need to in order to follow the plot of There Will Be One, I’d recommend starting at the beginning regardless. But, for those who would like to know a little more before buying a copy, here we go…

Although one mustn’t judge a book by its cover, There Will Be One has an advantage over the first volume of The Windshine Chronicles, in that its cover hints that this is no run-of-the-mill, quasi-European fantasy, but one set in a fantastic version of Korea. The characters of Windshine the Dark Elf and elven-sword-wielding hero Ha Jun return, but the focus is upon the youthful archer Woo Jin, facing the dilemma of whether to follow his orders and carry out an act of murderous betrayal.

Woo Jin joins a special quest, observed by the Dark Elf, to rescue the women and children of a village on the border between North and South Hanguk before the soldiers of the God-Child, ruler of North Hanguk, can seize them as breeding stock for a new generation of warriors.

It’s an interesting and unusual quest and one complicated from the outset by the honourable youth’s dilemma of whether or not to follow orders and assassinate the Dark Elf, removing her taint of foreignness from the land. The question of if and when he will make the attempt – and whether he can pull it off – adds an additional layer of tension to the story and things are further complicated when the villagers they are supposed to be rescuing turn out to have converted to  a strange, foreign faith – one that has kept them safe from the God-Child’s forces, but which threatens to strip away the heroes’ magical ace in the hole, necessary to rescue them… as well as threatening further foreign contamination, forcing Woo Jin and his companions to decide just how far they will go to protect the purity of their homeland.

I found the unusual quest and the dilemmas and jealousies facing Woo Jin made for a good story that avoided cleaving too closely to the plot of the first book. Windshine’s magic towards the end also had a somewhat different feel to a lot of fantasy.

I did find a reference to speaking Korean, at one point, odd (Hanguk is a real Korean term for Korea and the placenames are real places, but actually putting ‘Korean’ seems too real-world, pulling me out of the fantasy ever so slightly. It would be like saying Tolkien’s Hobbits, in book, were speaking English rather than Common.) This combined with the way North and South Hanguk parallel the present division of Korea and the fact that the foreign religion is a form of Christianity did make me wonder for a while if there was going to be a twist that this was a futuristic fantasy, but nothing came of this (and, Christianity is well-entrenched in South Korea, making the introduction from the West here unlikely in such a scenario). Instead, it seems the setting is a much-closer, magical alternative reality than I first imagined – although how the Dark Elves fit into this remains to be seen!

Those niggling thoughts are about as close to a flaw as I can find with the tale, quite minor and a sign that I was engaged with the story and setting and wanted to learn more. I hope that more will be revealed in future instalments in The Windshine Chronicles!

There Will Be One manages that rare feat of being a good sequel and a good standalone story at the same time. Another solid fantasy story for those seeking something a little bit different. Recommended.

Review of Skywalker

Wherein I review the conclusion to the Star Wars sage, Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker. Expect to find spoilers if you read on; so if you’d prefer to form your own opinions before reading mine, go watch it, if you haven’t already done so…

First The Good News…

To be honest, this review is going to be negative, but I want to start with something positive. With Carrie Fisher’s death and the news she wouldn’t be recreated digitally, I was pleasantly surprised to see how much of a part Leia played in the movie thanks to cunning repurposing of unused footage from the previous instalment. It’s not quite perfect, but it works well enough and gives the character a decent send off, rather than seeing her awkwardly dropped.

The Return of Palpatine

I was enthused when I learnt that the Emperor would be returning for the final instalment, but what should have made the film amazing actually made it a disappointment. A big red flag was the way in which his broadcast to the galaxy – something that should have been a major plot point, either as a shocking cliffhanger for the previous movie or a sudden twist during this one – was reduced to a ‘by the way’ in the opening crawl (itself, the worst opening crawl of any of the movies by far).

Part of the problem, compared to the original trilogy, where the Emperor was mentioned early on, despite only playing an actual part in the third film, is that his return is from out of nowhere, rendering the intriguing but underused villain Snoke as, almost literally, a puppet. Then, we have Kylo Ren and the Emperor: After his rage in the opening crawl, Kylo Ren joins with him, only to plot his overthrow – I’m not sure if we were supposed to take this as factored into the Emperor’s plot to get Rey, but it seemed as if he were either ignorant of it or just didn’t care, despite Vader’s spontaneous (if predictable) betrayal having already cost him one empire, making Palpatine seem incompetent.

Overall, the Emperor does little, and nothing that couldn’t have been done another way, thus adding nothing to the plot, whilst devaluing the franchise’s big villain.

Plot? What Plot?

Indeed, the plot is the problem. Or, rather the lack of a real plot. The problem, of course, goes back to the fact that there was no overarching plan for the sequel trilogy, so that nothing was properly foreshadowed, subplots and character arcs get abandoned, and there are flipflops galore. Except that, compared to The Last Jedi, The Rise of Skywalker is riddled with these same flaws within itself, not just in comparison to the rest of the trilogy.

Indeed, the movie has the feel of a first draft written by committee with no editorial control into which ideas have been tossed without any real throught. You can almost see a good movie, a glorious conclusion to the sequel trilogy, struggling to break through. Almost, but not quite.

Beyond the problems created by not having an overarching plan for the trilogy, the final film was rushed, with three months less production time than the previous instalment, further compounded by Carrie Fisher’s death derailing the original plans (such as they were…) – and, it shows. The film is a jumble of random events that don’t really coalesce into a whole and lack emotional resonance.

In fact, I would say that the lack of emotional resonance is the key problem. I had a similar reaction to the opening of Revenge of the Sith, the lack of a ‘Star Wars feeling’, but that didn’t last for the entire film. Here, it does. Things happen, but they don’t mean anything. For example, the capture of Chewbacca takes what could have been an exciting scene and makes it bland, literally at a distance, so that his apparent death – something that should have had me going “Ah! What? No! They killed Chewie?!” – evoked a response of “Oh. They killed Chewie?” Dull surprise rather than shock. That it, shortly after, turned out he was still alive further undercut that.

What makes it worse, is that there are some great moments and even some good scenes, but they don’t tie together and, as a whole, go nowhere. Not only is that a disappointment for a Star Wars film, but, as the conclusion to not only the sequel trilogy, but the entire Skywalker Saga, it’s a massive anticlimax.

Woke, But Worthless

Throwing a same-sex kiss into the background adds nothing, but was easy to miss. But, the film ups the number of black characters in a galaxy that was once rather lacking in diversity, adding a returned Lando and… I never did catch her name as major characters alongside Finn. (Seriously, Zorii was more memorable in her role as this trilogy’s Boba Fett, despite doing less.) The problem is that these characters don’t do much. It’s ironic that the black and female imperial officers are more relevant to forwarding the action just by speaking their lines, whilst Finn, a decent character, gets less to do (especially after his barnstorming role in the previous film).

Like the female Ghostbusters, it feels as if the filmmakers were more interested in proving how ‘woke’ they were than actually producing a good film. It’s as if filmmakers want to show they aren’t racist, sexist, etc, but can’t figure out what to do with the characters, or can’t bring themselves to care for them. We should probably be glad that Rey didn’t get demoted and ignored!

Phoning It In

Perhaps it’s because Finn was largely sidelined that it felt as if Boyega wasn’t really inspired in his acting. Isaac’s Poe even more so. At points he seemed to exist solely to try and get us excited by telling us we should care or be excited in lieu of a scene actually being exciting or having emotional weight.

Adam Driver was trying, but it frequently felt as if Daisy Riley was the only one who was really putting in any effort to playing her character. Indeed, if I’m honest, if it wasn’t for her, I don’t think I would have found anything much to enjoy in the film at all, and I’m not even that big a Rey fan!

Compare and Contrast

I recently watched Rogue One for the first time and the contrast couldn’t be greater with The Rise of Skywalker. Despite, in many ways, seeking to be its own thing, Rogue One captured the feel of Star Wars in a way that this film failed utterly. It had a good plot that held together (and melded almost seemlessly with the original trilogy) and characters that I liked played by actors who made me care about them. As much as Daisy Ridley was the stand-out talent in The Rise of Skywalker, Felicity Jones plays a similar sort of character much better and it’s a shame she wasn’t cast as Rey. (Or, perhaps, it’s a blessing for her, as she got to play a brilliant character in a great film rather than a mediocre character in a degrading trilogy.)

In every way, Rogue One shows what the sequel trilogy could, and should, have achieved and which The Rise of Skywalker utterly failed at. Despite only having seen it for the first time a couple of months ago, I’ve already watched Rogue One mutliple times and can see myself rewatching it many times to come in the future. I can barely see myself watching The Rise of Skywalker again, let alone repetitively…

Final Thoughts

Disappointing. Although there are some people who rave about it, mainly for its ‘wokeness’, this was a terrible film that shows Disney’s contempt for the franchise. It’s a shame all the characters from Rogue One died and we didn’t have a sequel to that instead… We’re likely to see more Star Wars films, even trilogies, but I’m not sure I care.

Fantasy Review: Hollow Men

Hollow Men

By Todd Sullivan
ISBN 9780999852279, 129pp, pb, Mocha Memoirs Press
Available from Amazon in paperback and on the Kindle

Every year, the heroes got younger.

Hollow Men opens with a tantalising first line that certainly had my attention, wondering at its meaning and provided a story that deservedly kept it throughout.

Todd Sullivan has managed to write a fantasy book that fits exactly with my tastes. It explores a different sort of setting and isn’t as thick as a brick (literally or metaphorically). Lengthy fantasy novels are frequently a turn-off for me and it’s great to read a novel that doesn’t outstay its welcome, but gets on with telling its tale.

If this book has a weakness, it’s the title and cover, which are rather generic fantasy fare and don’t really do justice to the words within. Yes, the plot is a fairly standard fantasy quest and, had Todd Sullivan set his story in a standard fantasy setting, it wouldn’t be anything special. But, the setting is far from the sub-Tolkien worlds of much quest fantasy.

Hollow Men (the title refers to the undead-like foes the heroes face near the climax) is set in a fantasy version of Korea in which going on a quest is a rite of passage for the youth of the kingdom used to establish social status (hence the meaning of that enchantingly-enigmatic first line). We meet a band of such young people, including Ha Jun, the only person who can wield his mighty and exceptionally-heavy glyph sword, who are about to set off on an adventure, namely to face and defeat the titular monsters and the Ak-ma, or demon, that commands them. They are accompanied, as all such adventurers are, by a Dark Elf, named Windshine, whose duty, being so much longer lived than a human, is to record their deeds.

The Dark Elves, foreigners who arrived in a ship generations before and have been split up amongst the provinces of South Hanguk to prevent them from wielding their great sorcerous power against the human realm, are initially an enigma. Indeed, although a meaning might be inferred from their warlike past, the descriptor of ‘Dark’ remains enigmatic given no other Elves, or other non-human races, seem to exist in the setting, but that is a minor quibble and it does fit with the distrust of certain humans as to their intentions. Are the Dark Elves all they appear or are they truly subverting the human rulers of the kingdom (whose positions of authority stem from their success on the quests the Dark Elves oversee)? Certainly, their initially superfluous-seeming presence is soon revealed to be a major part of the setting and adds a further layer to the adventure as we wonder about Windshine’s motivations and the efficacy of the human plots against her.

There really isn’t much to criticise here. It is a little slow to get started, but the world and characters are interesting enough that it isn’t an issue and once events get moving, it’s fun and fast paced. Some people might find the Korean-based setting a little off-putting, but although different, it isn’t so exotic as to be difficult to understand and the character names are no more difficult than those found in many fantasy settings.

No, this is a solid fantasy story for those who want something a little bit different. Recommended.

The Doctor Returns…

So, Doctor Who is back for a new series with an epic two-part opener called Spyfall. Only, it’s not so epic and might better be called Spyfail…

Spoilers Ahead

If you haven’t seen Spyfall and plan to do so, stop reading here!

Aliens are killing spies in order to prepare the way for an invasion in which they will reformat human DNA to serve as hard drivers for them to inhabit. Or, something vague and unsatisfying like that. Still, plenty of excellent Doctor Who stories have been built on such tenuous foundations. Throw in the return of the Master and it really could have been great.

Except, it wasn’t. The plot was hackneyed and half of episode two veered off for a pointless trip through time that might have been better spent on the main plot. Despite having shown real potential in some epidosdes of her first series, the Doctor was just irritating in these two and the Master, whose initial appearance seemed excellent, became almost as irritating in the second half, as well. (Missy was so much better!)

The second episode also threw Ada Lovelace and Noor Inayat Khan into the mix – two fascinating historical figures who could each easily have been the focus of an adventure, but here had no real role to play and were wasted.

The only part that really excelled was the plane sequence, which was also when we had the revelation that the Master had returned (prior to him becoming irritating) and the Doctor, in an appearance on a screen guiding her companions to survival, where she actually seemed in character.

Given that she could act like a credible Doctor in that one scene, with a couple of other flashes elsewhere, I’m still inclined to see the problem as not being Jodie Whittaker, but the scripts and, maybe, direction. Indeed, given that the story was rubbish and wasted what potential it had, I think it’s clear there is an ongoing problem with the quality of writing for the series that began before she took over but is preventing her from having a real chance at establishing her incarnation as a credible Doctor. Very disappointing.

Another Worst Witch

Yes, there’s been another (third) series of The Worst Witch on BBC iPlayer, and it introduces a new contender for the title of ‘worst witch’ in the form of Indigo Moon.

This series is just as good as the previous two, full of fun adventures and amusing moments. Mildred begins the series at the peak of her popularity, but manages to throw it all away in the very first episode, starting a series of events that threaten her place at Cackles, as well as the existence of the academy and even the entire magical world itself!

Sybil and her friends have more of a role to play this reason, taking on substantial secondary plots that interweave with Mildred’s adventures, and we have a new character who has never appeared in the books. While there is a risk in introducing such an original character, I have to say that not only did Indie fit perfectly into the storyline, but she is a great character played by an excellent actress, and I hope she’ll return if there is a series four.

This series has a lot of other upheavals, including a wedding, the revelation of Miss Hardbroom’s dark secret, and major changes at the academy, and the excitement never flags. If you enjoyed the first two series, I can wholeheartedly recommend this one, too. Indeed, it may be the best of all!

Ghosts Busted?

Having reviewed the first series of Doctor Who to feature a female Doctor, ITV obliged me by showing the female-led remake of Ghostbusters, allowing for comparisons.

Now, the remake wasn’t high on my ‘to watch’ list as the trailers didn’t make it look very good, but the concept of casting female leads wasn’t problematic for me in the way that it was with Doctor Who: The characters were new ones, rather than male characters changed to female, and the characters in the original films didn’t fulfill the same male rolemodel that the Doctor did.

Thus, despite a degree of negativity from the trailers, I sat down to watch the film with interest and a willingness to enjoy it.

And, I did, to an extent. There was definitely a good movie in there, trying to put on  show. The biggest problem it faced was being a reimagining of the franchise, meaning that, inevitably, it is compared to the brilliant original even more than a sequel would be. Had it been a third film in the original continuity or an unconnected film on same theme, unconstrained by comparison, it might have found it easier to achieve success as, inevitably, the comparisons proved negative, undercutting its strengths.

Given that it was promoted as a female-led film and was dogged by disputes as a result, I can’t say that the two main characters, Erin and Abby, were good ones as they struck me more as negative female stereotypes than proper characters for much of the film. On the other hand, Patty and Holtzmann were wonderful characters and were a major reason I enjoyed the film as much as I did. (I suppose there is some truth to claims that Patty is a stereotypical ‘sassy black woman’, but there were more aspects to her than just that stereotype.) Had the other two characters been as good, I may well have been raving about the film, instead of mildly positive.

Not that the male characters were any better. I’m not sure if they were just the result of cheap comedy or bad writing, but they weren’t amusing.

Which brings me onto the writing. The original film was brilliantly written with witty and entertaining characters, whilst the remake was lacking in wit and failed to make most of the characters engaging. Poor writing is the same problem facing the new series of Doctor Who – it’s not that female leading characters are, somehow, innately less good than male ones, nor that women are less skilful at acting than men, but they do seem to be let down in these prestigious roles by their writers.

I don’t know if there is an intersection between making female-led remakes rather than original creations and poor writing ability in creators, or if the writers are too fixated upon diversity at the expense of story, or if the controversies surrounding these remakes draw attention to these flaws, which might be less noted if they had retained male characters. (After all, Doctor Who suffered poor writing during Peter Capaldi’s tenure, but that merely fed into debate about the general quality and direction of the series, while flaws in the recent series feed into discussion about Jodi Whitaker’s role as a female Doctor.)

But, whatever the reasons, it’s a shame that such prestigious roles haven’t attracted the quality writing they deserve. There are lots of great films and TV series with female leads, but it is inevitably these ones, in which women are directly compared with their male predecessors, that produce the most noise about the quality of female acting.

I also wasn’t very impressed with the special effects. (Indeed, it was these that put me off the film when I first saw the trailers.) Obviously, as a special effects heavy film, this is a problem, but it wasn’t as bad as I’d imagined from the trailers and it’s definitely a case of subjective taste and others may like them.

Overall, if you haven’t seen the movie, I think you will enjoy it. Not as much as the original, but it’s still quite good and worth a look. It’s just a shame it didn’t match its potential.

The Doctor Who… Succeeded? Or, Failed?

Well, we’ve reached the end of Jodie Whitaker’s first season of Doctor Who, albeit with a New Year special to come, but was it any good?

Now, I wasn’t keen on a female Doctor for a couple of reasons, but resolved to keep an open mind. So…?

Well, I’ve no problem with the new companions who are all great characters played by great actors. The only downside is that they have sometimes been let down by substandard scripts (for example, separating them and, thus, denying us their wonderful interaction). So, that’s a positive.

I’ve certainly found no fault with Jodie Whitaker’s enthusiasm and acting ability, but haven’t really been convinced by her as the Doctor, although I think the lacklustre quality of the scripts must shoulder much of the blame – it’s difficult to come across as the Doctor if the script is hampering you – and, the fact that I was convinced by her in the episode It Takes You Away, the only episode that really felt like a Doctor Who episode to me, shows that she could work in the part. I still wish they’d kept the Doctor male for reasons of continuity and as a rolemodel for small boys, but a female Doctor isn’t ruining the show and, if only they would give her the scripts, I think Jodie Whitaker could probably pull the role off.

So, the scripts… They’re the problem. The biggest reason is that too many lack proper stories, as well as the wit, artistry or invention that would allow them to get away with it. And, too often, they fail, as noted, to deliver on the potential of the companions or to portray the Doctor convincingly. Yet, the better ones aren’t too bad and It Takes You Away worked well. Better scripts with stronger stories could have made this a brilliant series that would have allayed doubts about Jodie’s tenure. Instead, a lot of people aren’t keen, and many of them are probably aiming their ire in the wrong direction.

It Takes You Away was, by far, the best episode as it actually felt as if I were watching an actual episode of Doctor Who (I think the last time was Mummy on the Orient Express, which probably sums up all you need to know about my feelings towards the series in recent years). Jodie Whitaker was the Doctor in this episode, there was an actual plot (and a good one at that), it was inventive and it hit all the right notes that define the series.

So, to answer the titular question: It doesn’t fail, but it doesn’t quite succeed, either. Which, in the end, amounts to a great deal of promise that went unfulfilled, save briefly. Still, the New Year special does look as if it could be good and, if only they can find some good scripts, the next series, over a year away, could actually live up to its potential. I hope it does.