A review by kmccubbin
Doctor Who: The Spectre of Lanyon Moor by Nicholas Pegg
3.0
A mixed bag, to be sure. Let's start with the downside... This is the kind of Doctor Who that a lot of people treasure very highly, the early 70s, cut-rate Nigel Kneale, kind that would've featured Jon Pertwee and the staff of U.N.I.T. finding grander mysteries under mundane surroundings. While I like all of those people (I have a really sweet signed picture of John Levene somewhere.), I've never been a huge fan of those stories. I love Quatermass and don't really need my Doctor Who to be that so precisely. So this is that sort of thing which already puts it at a disadvantage in my mind.
Then, it also seems like a kind of odd jumble of ideas that feel a bit like a hash. A sort of building thrill rises in the first few episodes that leads to a reveal that's bland and obvious and, a little bit, dumb. And once revealed, it seems to take forever for the rest of the characters in the story to catch up to you. You even want to kick The Doctor himself in the pants a few times and move him along to where you already are. A bad sign.
But, lest you be wondering why the 3 stars, here's the upside. It's again the re-invigorated Sixth Doctor and Evelyn who are just a match made in heaven and a pure delight with each other (Shame they spend as much time apart as they do here.) and the always wonderful Nicholas Courtney as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (of the clan Stewart, you see...) just painting the corners of this whole thing with beautiful splashes of nostalgia and panache. As always, you get a star just for The Brig doing his Brig thing. And he's never let us down.
Then, it also seems like a kind of odd jumble of ideas that feel a bit like a hash. A sort of building thrill rises in the first few episodes that leads to a reveal that's bland and obvious and, a little bit, dumb. And once revealed, it seems to take forever for the rest of the characters in the story to catch up to you. You even want to kick The Doctor himself in the pants a few times and move him along to where you already are. A bad sign.
But, lest you be wondering why the 3 stars, here's the upside. It's again the re-invigorated Sixth Doctor and Evelyn who are just a match made in heaven and a pure delight with each other (Shame they spend as much time apart as they do here.) and the always wonderful Nicholas Courtney as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (of the clan Stewart, you see...) just painting the corners of this whole thing with beautiful splashes of nostalgia and panache. As always, you get a star just for The Brig doing his Brig thing. And he's never let us down.