The Doctor's Tale [AUDIO/2014.10.17]

★★★★☆

  Marc Platt is the perfect writer for pure historicals, when one takes into account his usual penchant for poetic, rich dialogue and his ability to imbue his stories with a fairy-tale sensibility. The Doctor's Tale has these two element in droves, aided by the fact that the setting — 1400 England — allows for the inclusion of one Geoffrey Chaucer. Fittingly, the story is filled with delicious chases, knightly exploits and a tragic reunion with a bereft queen with the body of her deposed husband.

  It's astonishing just how accurate this is to the serials of the William Hartnell years, as well as being a bloody great story on its own. William Russell and Maureen O'Brien, respectively, portray the Doctor and Barbara with such ease and love at this point that it's hard to believe that Hartnell and Jacqueline Hill aren't the ones on the mic. Ian gets to have a few swordfights, just like he used to, and Vicki acts as the beating heart of the TARDIS crew, just like she used to. The crew is split up, acting on their own accord to find one another and get out of the sticky situation they're in while history is shaped around them... just like in the old days. Heck, Platt even wrote Barbara off during episode 3 just like how the TV show used to when actors were on their holiday! The amount of detail on display here is insane; for a First Doctor nut like me, especially one who loves historical serials, listening to this always means two hours of pure bliss.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ  

  There was bound to be a pure historical about Geoffrey Chaucer and his Canterbury Tales, and the result here is staggeringly good. Ian and Vicki prove to be more than capable of leading a story mainly on their own, and even the comparatively sidelined Doctor and Barbara are wonderfully written and acted (the resolution in episode 4 proves just how much of a trickster the First Doctor was). With brilliantly evocative music (flutes and choirs, oh my) by Toby Hrycek-Robinson, The Doctor's Tale proves to be a smooth-sailing and lyrical ode to history in Doctor Who.