| THE IMPOSSIBLE PLANET / THE SATAN PIT |
| On a planet impossibly orbiting a black hole, aliens reminiscent of the works of HP Lovecraft worship the biblical Adversary. Simon Bucher-Jones, who wrote the acclaimed The Black Archive #5: Image of the Fendahl, analyses another post-Gothic horror story: The Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit (2006). |
| LOVE & MONSTERS |
| Niki Haringsma investigates Love & Monsters (2006) – an experimental story told by an unreliable narrator with a camcorder, which seems as much a commentary on Doctor Who fandom and its politics as on the elusive, often traumatic presence of the Doctor himself. |
| HUMAN NATURE / THE FAMILY OF BLOOD |
| Its unique source in a novel by Paul Cornell makes Human Nature and The Family of Blood (2007) a rich and profound TV story. Naomi Jacobs and Philip Purser-Hallard discuss how it treats war, school and family, humanity and divinity, and look at the adaptation process itself. |
| THE SOUND OF DRUMS / LAST OF THE TIME LORDS |
| The culmination of a complex season arc, The Sound of Drums / Last of the Time Lords (2007) has an unorthodox structure of its own. James Mortimer looks at its themes of faith, love and sexual politics, and its reinvention of the Master as an embodiment of toxic adulthood and masculinity. |
| SILENCE IN THE LIBRARY / FOREST OF THE DEAD |
| Steven Moffat’s last story before becoming Doctor Who’s showrunner introduces his signature character River Song. Dale Smith looks at what Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead (2009) says about men, women, writing, fear, and the nature of stories. |
| MIDNIGHT |
| Written in haste and mostly confined to a single set, Midnight (2008) is a masterpiece of minimalist Doctor Who, says Philip Purser-Hallard. Three times adapted as a stage play, it rejects the conventions of the series to examine the nature of evil and how it can corrupt human society. In the process it deconstructs and interrogates the nature of the Doctor himself, in an absurdist retelling of the myth of Echo and Narcissus. |