Story Title: The Massacre Of St. Bartholomew’s Eve
Episode Count: 4 Series: 3 Story No: 5
Doctor: 1st Companions: Steven & Dodo (although she’s not officially a companion here)
Date(s) Watched: Tuesday 16th June 2009 (Episode 1), Sunday 21st June 2009 (Episode 2-4)
A bit of a strange story seeing as not 1 second of footage remains (known) in the world & considering what LC had to work with, the recon is absolutely marvellous. As for the story itself, it’s ok but at times it just didn’t “feel” like Who to me (this is the first & probably only historical that I feel this way about).
That’s not to say that there’s anything wrong with it, acting is yet again spot on (as it with 99% of Hartnell’s stories) sets, spot on, musical cues, spot on. It’s just that, for me, the story doesn’t hold my interest that much at all. Maybe the subject didn’t hold me too well, I don’t know, but what I do know is that the two episodes where Hartnell was The Doctor (Episodes 1 & 4) where more enjoyable than the episodes where he’s the Abbot. That’s not to say that there’s anything wrong with his performance as the Abbot (it’s rather good IMO) just that I suppose with a companion down in this story it feels a little “empty” at times.
However Steven does do well in those two episodes & manages to carry the story through those two episodes but, because of a lack of The Doctor, when Steven wasn’t on screen my interest started to wane.
The last episode though I really enjoyed as it all seemed to get into gear. First off The Doctor turns up, and then they make a dash for the Tardis as it all starts to kick off round them. Here we get some brilliant dialogue between First & Steven, with them arguing over the morality of “leaving people to their deaths” & that “history shouldn’t be interfered with”. Steven then storms off only for Dodo (with a rather t’broad North West English accent for the end of the episode) to run inside the Tardis & then for Steven to bluster back in & decide to stay put when he realises that Dodo could possibly be a descendant of Anne Chaplet.
The final episode & the excellent reconstruction by LC helped bump up the score a bit, I’ll be honest that at one point near the end of Episode 3 it was hovering around 3/5.
Overall Rating: 4/5 – Brilliant recon, well acted & Episode 4 helps lift the story a quite bit, which at times does feel a bit “empty” for me.
Episode Count: 4 Series: 3 Story No: 5
Doctor: 1st Companions: Steven & Dodo (although she’s not officially a companion here)
Date(s) Watched: Tuesday 16th June 2009 (Episode 1), Sunday 21st June 2009 (Episode 2-4)
A bit of a strange story seeing as not 1 second of footage remains (known) in the world & considering what LC had to work with, the recon is absolutely marvellous. As for the story itself, it’s ok but at times it just didn’t “feel” like Who to me (this is the first & probably only historical that I feel this way about).
That’s not to say that there’s anything wrong with it, acting is yet again spot on (as it with 99% of Hartnell’s stories) sets, spot on, musical cues, spot on. It’s just that, for me, the story doesn’t hold my interest that much at all. Maybe the subject didn’t hold me too well, I don’t know, but what I do know is that the two episodes where Hartnell was The Doctor (Episodes 1 & 4) where more enjoyable than the episodes where he’s the Abbot. That’s not to say that there’s anything wrong with his performance as the Abbot (it’s rather good IMO) just that I suppose with a companion down in this story it feels a little “empty” at times.
However Steven does do well in those two episodes & manages to carry the story through those two episodes but, because of a lack of The Doctor, when Steven wasn’t on screen my interest started to wane.
The last episode though I really enjoyed as it all seemed to get into gear. First off The Doctor turns up, and then they make a dash for the Tardis as it all starts to kick off round them. Here we get some brilliant dialogue between First & Steven, with them arguing over the morality of “leaving people to their deaths” & that “history shouldn’t be interfered with”. Steven then storms off only for Dodo (with a rather t’broad North West English accent for the end of the episode) to run inside the Tardis & then for Steven to bluster back in & decide to stay put when he realises that Dodo could possibly be a descendant of Anne Chaplet.
The final episode & the excellent reconstruction by LC helped bump up the score a bit, I’ll be honest that at one point near the end of Episode 3 it was hovering around 3/5.
Overall Rating: 4/5 – Brilliant recon, well acted & Episode 4 helps lift the story a quite bit, which at times does feel a bit “empty” for me.
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