| TIMELASH by Glen McCoy |
| Story 141 Synopsis: The TARDIS comes across a Kontron time tunnel, and the Doctor follows it to Karfel, where he once visited. There is a fierce ruler, the Borad, who rules through people appointed as the Maylin. The latest, Tekker, manipulates the Doctor into rescuing someone who stole an amulet and travelled into the Timelash, the source of the Kontron tunnel. He does so, but on his return, Tekker orders the Doctor thrown into the Timelash. The Doctor escapes, and in the ensuing chaos, enters the Timelash to retrieve a couple of Kontron crystals. He uses these to create a couple of weapons. Armed, he goes to confront Tekker and the Borad. The Borad is a scientist, Magellan, who as a result of a failed experiment with Mustakozene-80, is a mutant, half-Morlox, half-Karfelon creature. He intends to cause a similar mishap to befall Peri. Tekker objects to the Borad's powergames, and is killed. The Doctor uses his Kontron device to kill the Borad. He then uses the TARDIS to deflect a Bendalypse warhead fired by the Bandrils, which was all a part of the Borad's plan. The Borad is revealed to have been hiding behind a clone, but the Doctor knocks him into the Timelash. |
| Review:- From adventures with old enemies in Spain, the TARDIS arrives on Karfel, where the Doctor is respected and revered. Quite a change... This is not a well-liked story. Whether the thin-ness of the plot, the clunkiness of some of the dialogue, the overacting or the underacting, dodgy puppetry, there are plenty of problems which fans are wont to slag off. However, having just watched this for the 1st time in almost 19 years, I have to say it is rather unfairly written off. True, it's a slight tale, but succeeds with surprise and charm. On the negative side, Vena and Herbert are pretty tiresome to watch, the latter evoking memories of Matthew Waterhouse. Paul Darrow, on the other hand, is a man wronged. Far from over-acting, as many, many believe, he merely gives a token baddie performance. Tekker becomes not a man you feel has much depth to him, but that doesn't mean he is badly acted, far from it. Nice to see the bloke with the moustache, who I should have noted the name of, but is recognisable as the angry Yorkshireman of a thousand sitcoms and telly dramas. A lesser name, maybe, but no less welcome for turning up here. [EDIT - it's the great Dicken Ashworth, of course!] The Borad's scheme is well presented, and moves with deft skill towards a conclusion. I am, in fact, reminded now of The Creature From The Pit, but that's another story (ouch!). The androids make for a nice touch, with their weedy voices belying their steely resolve. Also, it's amusing that when one is pushed into the timelash, we see another turn up, lending credence to the idea that these are all identical robots, despite being played by 1 actor. The Doctor and Peri seem like a decent pair of time-travellers, warming to each other after some testing times. Overall, quite a nice effort. |
| Disclaimer: I've seen the video, and read the book. |