My “problem” with it in Curiosity Shop besides it can get a bit confusing about which “Doctor” is speaking, is that Dudman is emulating the way “the Doctors speak” a bit too much (as in the tones used) and it can sound a bit of a caricature.
Which could work anyway but I don’t think is the best fit for the atmosphere of this story.
It’s still fine. Works well enough for the purposes of Curiosity Shop, but Valarie is who really carries it for me.
Wow. Just wow.
Every great companion should have a story where we see how they can do more on their own, Donna gets Turn Left, Martha gets Sound of Drums, Amy gets The Girl Who Waited, etc, and this is an incredible one of those.
Valarie’s determination is put to the test, waiting and waiting for The Doctor even as there’s a war about to start in the sky, as she’s having to sell herself piece by piece, as she’s scrounging for scraps of food. Despite everything, despite how much she loses, she still holds onto that hope that the doctor has given her.
And then I adore how her progression is mirrored with The Doctor. She’s slowly breaking down, piece by piece, and all the while he’s slowly building himself back up, Dudman’s impressions of Eleven’s takes on the previous doctors is just brilliant, and I love how they sound more like the actual doctors as time goes on. I love how with Nine we see some glimmer of hope, almost for it to be nearly fully dashed away with Ten.
Like I said the way our two lead’s journeys mirror each other as the story goes on, one breaking down, one being built up, it’s spectacular.
I also can’t go without talking about the stories that Valarie tells about her travels with the doctor, each feeling so real even from the tiny glimpses we get. I love the tiny moments of Eleven coming back through as she tells the stories. I love all of it.
Easily my favourite of the range so far. This story is incredible.
And very much unsurprised it’s written by Goss
…I think I have a new favourite Eleventh Doctor story
Day of the Doctor counts as a multi-doctor, not an Eleven
Ohhh I need to listen again!!
To be fair, it’s Goss on the script, of course I’m going to love it lmao (though only realised when listening to the interviews)
Really looking forward to reading your take on Broken Hearts!
Also, if you like doing it, please submit Quotes for 11th Doctor Chronicles, we don’t have any/many because I wasn’t adding them much at that time!
But some of the lines are so beautiful.
I’ll try to keep an ear out!
All of Time and Space - lovely bit of fun with some intriguing questions being set up. Dudman and Inghar continue to be amazing but it was a slightly odd performance from Leroy Bonsu as Ellery Quest.
Utterly adored puppet 11 and Valarie.
I’ve even submitted a quote - Mr Clever met Mr Tickle. 
That’s correct, but I found some of them difficult to identify.
Do…
Do I have another new favourite Eleventh Doctor story right after saying Curiosity Shop was it?
From the start of my review
Do…
Do I have another new favourite Eleventh Doctor story right after saying Curiosity Shop was it?
Eleven does often get written as a surprisingly manipulative, even cruel, incarnation of the doctor, and while others that are done the same (e.g. Seven, Twelve) often get called out for it, Eleven never really seems to face any repercussions.
Seeing a companion call him out on his BS then, especially when they’ve been treated as poorly as Valarie was in Curiosity Shop, is just so satisfying.
Even more than that though, this story is written perfectly for this. The threat being Empathetic Weather, created by the Time Lords in The Time War is just brilliant. Pathetic fallacy is always a great tool in a storyteller’s arsenal, but taking that as a concept and weaponising it? Especially in a story like this where emotions are just so high, it’s incredible.
Then there’s the sideplot with the robots, they really do just feel so real and you do just get so attached to them. If the robots didn’t work, the story could fall apart, but they just do work. I love how they also somewhat mirror Eleven and Valarie, going around and trying to help people even if it feels pointless, and then being voiced by Dudman and Ingar, while presumably done for budgetary reasons, also just adds so much.
Also goddamnit, McMullin steals a twist I wanted to use if/when I ever get round to writing Doctor Who stories/fanfic. Oh well, the three life signs being the three heartbeats of Valarie and The Doctor is done reall
Just read the synopsis for Curiosity Shop!
Curious is the right word!
This is getting listened to tomorrow!
This isn’t just my fave 11 story, it’s honestly one of my fave DW stories ever
Currently listening to Curiosity Shop and so far its been pretty obvious who the Doctor ‘impressions’ are supposed to be (Hartnell, Pertwee and TBaker). Enough obvious vocal tics to quite quickly place them.
And now he’s obviously done Five, Six and Nine..
Dudman is amazing - doing impressions of the various Doctors is clever. Doing an impression of Eleven doing impressions of those Doctors is next level.
Finished Curiosity Shop on the way to work. Inghar and Dudman were amazing and I liked the conceit of Valarie having to take herself apart so that the Doctor could rebuild himself and, as I’ve said above, Dudman’s voice acting was phenomenal.
My only issue is that the structure became a bit too repetitive with Valarie going back and forth from the Doctor to Golas. I liked the idea of being stuck on a world which is just collateral damage for a war going on above but beyond Valarie and the Doctor, everything felt a bit nebulous and vague. So it’s getting 8/10 from me because I would have liked maybe just a little more ‘stuff’ going on in the episode to break up the scene structure.
A delightful little christmas story that belongs more to the ‘Last Christmas’ line of them than the ‘Christmas Invasion’ one.
I’m realising with this story that this ‘season’ hasn’t done a single ‘true historical’, The House of Masks tricks you into thinking it is, but isn’t, and this features some historical settings and characters from history, but definitely isn’t a true historical.
That aside though, I absolutely loved this story. The concept of an alien kidnapping people to harvest fear has been done before, but the sheer delight that ‘Clara’ takes in doing so, and the idea that it’s not feeding on fear, but almost making a ‘fear-art-piece’ to sell make it stand out amongst its contemporaries.
Bringing back Valarie’s mum is also a great choice, it’s a great way of showing her fear, and a brilliant way to give her a single episode arc. Especially with the last story featuring multiple phone calls ‘to her mum’ (I think this is the most quotation marks I’ve ever used in a review), it ties nicely into the overall narrative of the season, leading on from that and (presumably) leading into next episode with her meeting back up with Roanna in the next story.
The side cast in this are also great, again, using these stories to bring in historical elements with one person from the 1500s, and another from 1995. I think it’s also really interesting how they play with faith here. One character is a christian monk, the other mentions Diwali, implying they’re Hindu. It’s nice for a ‘christmas special’ to touch on other faiths, and I think the interplay between faith and fear that we see here is a really interesting one.
Also bonus points for bringing back the flying shark.
DOCTOR WHO SAYS BI/POLY RIGHTS!
I mean, not quite, but it’s close enough.
In all seriousness, I absolutely loved this story. Finally getting a true historical story, starting to get some answers about the ongoing mystery and the character stuff… god the character stuff is on point.
I swear every single story Valarie keeps moving up my companion ranking, and she was already starting solidly high. I love her and Roanna’s interactions at the start, how the date has gone just so well, I love Eleven interrupting just to show off, and then just everything that comes after. Hayden is just such a great character, he throws a spanner right into the works of a romance plot I was really enjoying, but you can’t hate him for it at all.
In fact you do just end up loving the guy, he’s a normal guy who just kind of got dragged into all of this, but he goes above and beyond, and you can hear how much he loves Valarie, his fondness for her. The scene with him and the young Valarie talking about his past, her future, is just so good. I love the way that she’s talking about her as herself (using first person pronouns when talking about her), where he never once says ‘you’ about her even when talking to her past version, just what you can tell about the characters from little moments like that is great. (Also sidenote, I love the nod to 7v with the virus name).
Then there’s everything with Roanna, her relationship with Hayden is great, they don’t hate each other because why would they, things are just what they are, what’s happened will happen, and there’s nothing that she can do about that. You could very easily write a character with that knowledge of the future to just feel completely defeated, and to some extent she does, but I love that right from the start she’s still wanting to just make the most of the moments they have, even if she’s got a shorter view on how long those moments will be.
And then there’s the villain here. Going right back to the start of the series as we start to tie things together, I absolutely adore how this story uses it’s precise place in the timeline to its advantage. The daleks are back, so the villain’s overarching goal is to wipe them out once and for all, something The Doctor failed to do, and the fact that because the daleks don’t know who The Doctor is anymore (post-Asylum) they’re even more deadly is an interesting one. That moment in Asylum is one that never has any ramifications on the stories at all even though it definitely should (granted we got a fun minisode out of it), and it also brings back memories of Clara which is what this whole series started because of.
And Valarie gets killed. It really does just feel real here, the villain gets away, and our companion (albeit the future version of our companion) is killed. Eleven’s despair, reasoning that it must be a robot or a clone or something, just to confirm that it’s real. It’s a real Empire Strikes Back moment for the series (coming abut 2/3rds of the way through, too).
And then lastly, I think my favourite part of the story is the ending. After the villain gets away, after Valarie dies, after everything. We just get to sit a moment with our cast. They get to talk about how they’re feeling. They get to figure out what they’ll do now. I was already liking Roanna, but I think here especially is what’s now really sold me on her. I love her inviting Hayden back with her. I love the talk about the towers after being trapped in bunkers for so long. I love Valarie and Roanna’s talk about making the most of the now, not just making the moment good, but making the moments last. I love her inviting Valarie back to hers.
I love the characters, and I love that we can just sit with them.
Also with how Valarie and Hayden’s timeline is, it’s criminal if we don’t even get a River mention at some point going forward
You know, I might have a new favourite companion…
She’s so delightful!!!