paulopaperbooksonly's review
3.0
It depicts an incident which happened to the First Doctor, Steven and Dodo during the Napoleonic Wars in Russia. It's 1812 and they are ready to spend their winter in a Russian village even when they know the French are on their way, but that's not the only invasion the travellers will have to deal with.
For what I know, the Doctor always loved the Napoleonic wars (I remember he said it the last episode of the first season - Reign of Terror). As the time advance they discover some ship that had crash near Moscow and so all of them must stop the alien (shapeshifter) that is impersonating the Doctor as it helps Napoleon on his conquests.
Nice little tale - 1H20m. It is a nice tale of mostly Steve.
For what I know, the Doctor always loved the Napoleonic wars (I remember he said it the last episode of the first season - Reign of Terror). As the time advance they discover some ship that had crash near Moscow and so all of them must stop the alien (shapeshifter) that is impersonating the Doctor as it helps Napoleon on his conquests.
Nice little tale - 1H20m. It is a nice tale of mostly Steve.
nwhyte's review
Mother Russia, the first of the new set of Companion Chronicles takes us to almost the same time as the first of the previous set - 1812 rather than 1814, Russia rather than London, and Dodo rather than Vicki as the companion accompanying Steven and the Doctor. Again, it is by Marc Platt, and again it is the best of the four. The comparison in my mind, however, is not with Frostfire but with Martin Day's novel Bunker Soldiers, which also features One, Steven and Dodo (though in Ukraine rather than Russia and a few centuries earlier) and indeed is also largely told from Steven's point of view in the first person. Mother Russia is certainly better. Partly it's that Platt has yet again gone for a fascinating plot of identity-switching complexity, partly also that Peter Purves is very good - he does a fantastic Hartnell, but also seems generally well engaged in the story.
kmccubbin's review
4.0
Platt again proves that he is the person to come to when you want to hear a First Doctor story. The plot here is a bit flimsy, but it is descriptively rich in a way that I wish more Bog Finish stories were and the Doctor, Stephen, Dodo relationship is perfect. Just perfect.
Purves is quite brilliant doing this read and his Hartnell impression is almost as strikingly good as Frazier Hines' Troughton.
Purves is quite brilliant doing this read and his Hartnell impression is almost as strikingly good as Frazier Hines' Troughton.
sshabein's review
4.0
Peter Purves is always very good as Steven and standing in for the First Doctor, and this story is a good little side jaunt where the team accidentally find themselves in 1812 Russia. It's a semi-historical, and those vary in interest for me, but this is a good one.
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