| COLDITZ by Steve Lyons |
| Story 25 Synopsis: The TARDIS lands in a gloomy courtyard. Despite the Doctor's hesitancy, Ace is quite gung-ho. Then some guards arrive, and shoot the Doctor in the shoulder. They are now prisoners in Colditz Castle, in 1944. Whilst the Doctor gets treatment, Ace makes herself a nusiance, antagonising Nazi officer Kurtz. The British prisoners warm to her spirit. She determines that she must escape. The bullet doesn't cause the Doctor too many problems, but things take a turn with the arrival of a senior officer, Klein. She demands the key to the TARDIS. She springs the Doctor from Colditz, taking him to a field a few miles away. But the TARDIS she expects to find has gone. It seems she has come from a 1965 where the Nazis won the war, directly from Ace & the Doctor's arrival at Colditz. The Doctor presumes that it is the TARDIS that causes the anomaly, as he has been forced to hand over the key. But Ace's rucksack was examined on their initial entry, and Kurtz took her CD Walkman. This is the nexus, and with the help of leading British prisoner Gower, the Doctor frees Ace and reclaims the rucksack, and the Walkman. Kurtz tries to prevent their escape, but is violently killed trying to enter the TARDIS as it dematerialises. Klein remains in 1944, with her future apparently gone. Ace decides to be Dorothy MacShane from now on. |
| Review:- Colditz was OK. The cover was nice, and the blurb was nice. Presumably this was what diverted the Doctor into thinking was the nexus. The blatantly obvious early scene where Ace's rucksack is examined, and Ace not only hands over the CD player, she even says what it is. Now, since in Remembrance Of The Daleks, she was told off for carrying a ghetto blaster in London, 1963, she might have known better, but no! And as for that Walkman - made by Sony, presumably. Why didn't Ace just throw in a comment about Japanese tech, that might have really put the wind up! But never mind, we've got the cop-out end. Genesis Of The Daleks made the recovery of the tape of equal priority to the recovery of the Time Ring. With most witnesses gone, that could be done. But did Kurtz really just confiscate the CD player, then forget to do anything more? Did he not send it off for examination? Did no other Nazis see the checking of the rucksack? Then, we have Klein, the mysteriously motivated paradox. She came from an alternate 1965, and returned in the TARDIS. Which disappeared completely (perhaps some German farmer knocked it off), forcing Klein to try to take the TARDIS still in the camp. Despite not having any clue about paradoxes, she drives away at the end, leaving a loose end. Now, this worked in Project : Twilight, as it seemed set up all along. Here, it's just tacked on. Kurtz dies, surprisingly graphically. Having given the whole "I'm the bad Nazi, I strike you down like pigdog scum!" performance, this is no loss. Schaffer is the nice Nazi, friendly (very?) with Gower. Hmm. The Doctor struggles through the story as if he knows Just War was more convincing, and that paradoxes concerning famous events in Earth's history are getting more frequent. Ace nauseates me still. I can't stand Sophie Aldred's so-called acting ability, and the whole "call me MacShane" crap just doesn't convince. Not to mention knowing that Oflag means a war camp, and having conveniently played a Colditz board game (this was a joke, surely? - I know there are a lot of board games, but really?). An insulting waste of time. |
| Disclaimer: I own a copy. |