Doctor Who:
The Awakening
By Eric Pringle
“Yes, the trouble is, I
don't think he can have any idea of what he's doing. The Malus is pure evil.
Given enough energy, it will not only destroy him, but everything else. Cheer
up.”
The English Civil War,
Roundheads, and Little Hodcombe under siege it’s 1643. Well no actually it’s 1984 and The Doctor,
Tegan and Turlough have thought to have landed in the village for a relaxing
visit with Tegans Grandfather. But
unfortunately he has gone missing and something very strange is going on with
the village of Little Hodcombe and with the reenactment of the war games of the
English Civil War.
Something evil that seems
to strive on conflict and hate, an evil that projects deadly images, people
from the past and is rearing its ugly head in the old church of Little Hodcombe.
The evil being that is known as the Malus. The
problem is the Malus is feeding off the psychic energy of the war games. The
war games is allowing the Malus to feed off the energy of the violence and hate
that is being spawned from it. The
Doctor must find a way to stop the Malus and the war games but unfortunately
Sir George is too far gone into the influence of the Malus to see sense to stop
the war games reenactment.
The Awakening is a nice
story. Not too long and not to
short. I can see this type of story
working in today’s Doctor Who as it is a simple story with your basic alien of
the week. What also makes it work is
that predates all the family stuff that is in new Who. The fact is that The Doctor makes it a point
to take Tegan to Earth to visit her Grandfather. So before Rose, Martha and Donna’s family
made it a common thing in Doctor Who it actually started in the 5th
Doctor’s era with Tegans Grandfather. So
that is another thing classic Who did first.
I liked the story of The
Awakening as I enjoy watching the reenactment of the war games and seeing the
villagers in the dress of 1643. I also
liked how time is seeping into modern day and the character of Will. Yet again another character from the past
that might have made an interesting companion just like Richard Mace from The
Visitation. It would have been
interesting to see him traveling with The Doctor for a few adventures.
The Malus looked pretty
cool also. It was a giant head in the
wall of an abandoned church that blows smoke out of its mouth. I think it looks neat and for the 80’s it
looks pretty dam cool. Plus what is cool
about this story is that they tried doing something different by having a story
in present day with the time streams mixing in.
It was also different in that they used psychic projections and had an
alien use your mind against you.
The Awakening is a nice
and simple story that is pretty enjoyable to watch. It is one of the hidden gems of the Davison
era as it doesn’t get the recognition as it is in the same season as The Caves of
Androzani and Resurrection of the Daleks and a certain story that has Peri in a
bikini. Anyway if you are looking for a
fun story to watch that doesn’t take too much time then you couldn’t do worse
by picking The Awakening.
Grade B –
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