The Awakening

On a trip to visit Tegan’s grandfather, the Doctor actually manages to get the TARDIS to take everyone to the correct time and place for a change. However, after escaping from a crumbling church, the Doctor and his companions are arrested by some 17th Century soldiers. It turns out there’s a war game going on in the village and everyone is taking it very seriously, a little too seriously perhaps. Has the historical re-enactment brought about some collective madness or is there something far sinister lurking in that decaying church? So far in the Fifth Doctor’s run, two-part stories have been a bit of a mixed bag. Black Orchid largely worked by telling a smaller story, while The King’s Demons suffered from trying to cram ten pounds of crap into a five-pound bag. Even though the plot of The Awakening is far from watertight, so much so that even the Doctor can’t explain why some things happened the way they happened, the pacing is brisk and all of the supporting characters are well defined.

Rating: Now everybody stay perfectly calm and still%