The BF Time Warp 025: Colditz

[SiHart]

October 1944: As World War II draws towards its conclusion, a Nazi defeat begins to seem almost inevitable. But that might be about to change...

Two intruders are captured in the grounds of Colditz Castle, the most secure POW camp in Germany. At first, the guards think they're dealing with British spies. But the strangers arrived in an advanced travelling machine, the like of which they've never seen before.

With this TARDIS in their hands, the Third Reich might triumph after all.

What do you think of this adventure from 2001?

[Jon Masters]

"Nazis....I hate Nazis"

[Rob McCow]

I'm really strugling to remember anything about this one at all! Was there somebody with another TARDIS roaming about? That German woman.

[stuartdg]

Horrible sound design aside,this is only memorable for Tracey Childs as Klein and a certain Mr Tennant,the time paradox storyline failed to engage me however

[SiHart]

It was a pretty decent story, with some spirited performances that was let down dreadfully by the production. I found the production really takes you away from the story- possibly the only time BF's quality control let them down (other than the first Thomas Brewster one). The music didn't work, the echoing effects of the castle didn't work and took you away from everything that was good.

[Anthony Williams]

Does anyone think that this story is more than "average"? After I finished listening to it this morning, I went and looked up what people had said about it online. No-one seems to love it, no-one seems to hate it. It would seem that this one is the ultimate "meh" Doctor Who story.

So, let's start by examining the good. Well, there's the oh-so-recognisable voice of David Tennant. Obviously, back in 2001, no-one knew that he would go on and become the Tenth Doctor. But, listening eleven years later, his voice is extremely recognisable, even hidden behind the faux-German accent. Yet, despite that, he's still wonderfully menacing all through this, determined to get his night of "fun" with Ace. Nasty to the core, and brilliantly played by that familiar voice.

One thing that I really love is the sense of terror once The Doctor realises where he's landed. He strolls out of the TARDIS with his usual come-what-may attitude, and then realises it's Colditz. That's a true "oh s**t!" moment. Throughout the story, he's his usual manipulative self. While I'm not always a massive fan of paradox storylines, this is definitely one of the better, and the Seventh Doctor is left playing a game of chess, with the timeline at stake. The relationship between himself and Klein is one of the most interesting Doctor-protagonist relationships that I've ever come across, and it's no surprise to me to know that she's later brought back for a trilogy of stories.

Anyway, that pretty much sums up what's good about this play. Now, onto the bad. Firstly, there's Big Finish's staple of the time paradox. This is one of the better ones, but I mean, really? Do they really have so few ideas that they have to keep coming back to them? Anyway, that's not really my biggest bugbear. That's Ace.

Yes, Ace. This is a really, really poor portrayal of the character. Certainly, I can see how difficult it is for someone in their late 30s-early 40s to portray a cliché of a teenager. Yet, this is the play that tries to make her "grow up". Sadly, it's just not done very well. "Grown-up" Ace (wait, no, sorry... McShane) is merely just an intensified version of younger Ace. There's nothing new to her character, she's just exaggerated to such an extent that she merely comes across as a parody of herself. Extremely disappointing.

At the end of the day, this has just enough good aspects to prop it up. It does a few things well, and a few things very badly. To me, this is merely a 3/5.