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Well, that was a redundant title for a review, wasn't it? Makes me wonder if this formatting of listing the range, set, and episode is always the best choice. Oh well. Today I'm reviewing the first story from the audio anthology by Big Finish: Blood on Santa's Claw, entitled, you guessed it, Blood on Santa's Claw.
In time for Halloween, I decided to listen to a relatively spooky episode of Doctor Who starring David Tennant and Catherine Tate and featuring the return of Wilf and Sylvia. The first time that I listened to this, back when it first came out, I didn't like it. I thought it was a boring episode, but upon relistening to it, I found it to be really enjoyable. It really feels like an episode from 2008, capturing all of the characters well. While the story may not be exceptionally fast-paced, it's well-paced for this story. It takes the time necessary to get to know Justin, the only real new character and gives enough time to hear from old characters such as Wilf and Sylvia. One of the especially delightful things in this story was the interaction between the Doctor and Donna. Though their banter is always a highlight of their stories together, it was especially a delight in this story since they were pretending to be a married couple, something that I don't believe we've seen them as in other stories. It was really enjoyable hearing them call each other pet names to keep up the ruse. The ending was satisfying and finished Justin's story well. I liked how it tied back to Donna's past and was more personal to the characters than the Doctor just defeating an alien. The ending was rooted in humanity, something that I really appreciated. The major flaw that I noticed in this story was that Sylvia Noble goes along with the Doctor and Donna, even though she didn't find out about their travels until The Stolen Earth. This continuity error is painfully clear through much of the story. It makes me wonder why she wasn't questioning them more. Even so, the story was rather enjoyable even with this flaw. Overall, this was a decent episode that was much better on a second viewing and is definitely worth listening to, though it may not be the best Tenth Doctor story. Animators have recreated this missing episode into a wonderfully animated story. I recently watched it and really enjoyed it and noticed some interesting links to literature.
I'm just going to be reviewing the little ten-minute bonus feature of The Wheel in Space included on the DVD for The Macra Terror.
As this story is only ten minutes, I don't have much to say. The animation is at about the same level as The Macra Terror. The story isn't especially gripping. The destruction of the TARDIS added a bit of excitement to the story but after that scene was over, the story slowed down a lot. The graphics were good and the spaceship was well designed. I'm interested in seeing what the full episode looks like if the animators ever finish the story. Overall, this was a rather enjoyable short that I'm glad I took eleven minutes to watch. I recently reread the 2019 Free Comic Book Day issue of Doctor Who and thought I'd share some of my thoughts on it.
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