"They want to come and hurt us, and to watch us slowly die..."

Anyone else find it slightly ironic? The month of Bowie's birthday and death and we're greeted with a story with a tile borrowed from one of his songs? Well regardless, that's where the Bowie references end. Cause if you had Ziggy Stardust on the mind going into this thing, you were about to get an almighty shock.... and then a bloody good story!

DOCTOR WHO MAIN RANGE REVIEW

221: THE STAR MEN

By Jack Ryan

BEWARE: THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK

Let's make this other assumption for a moment. Let's say Doctor Who is like an awards ceremony like the Oscars (just bear with me a minute here). If you get into it, your work would tend to have a certain quality to it. (Debatable nowadays) That said, there's always that one genre or story that everyone knows is the best shot to go for to get in there. For the Oscars, that would be the historical biopic or docudrama. For Doctor Who, it would be the classic 'base under siege' story. But simply doing a basic one won't cut it. You need to add something of your own to it, make it unique, stand out from the rest. And boy, does this one deliver on that!

Flying the TARDIS is tricky, especially when you're a member of the race that created them. So imagine how hard it is for two adolescents? Wanting to hone their skills, The Doctor takes Adric, Nyssa and an irascible Tegan to Gallius Ultima, a research station and educational complex far in the futuristic galaxy. But they have problems of their own; a missing ship has inexplicably returned and the crew devoured by a unknown red coral. With the crew split up to study the coral and journey to the area the crashed ship emerged from, everyone's troubles are only just beginning. Because the Star Men have arrived. And they do not come in peace...

Have I gone on about Andrew Smith enough on this blog? Looking back on his previous work, I can see why I possibly haven'. He has an impressive bibliography of stories bu there's only a short few of them. But that's good in this case. That means that whenever he's brought into the fold, he's able to bring something utterly unique to each of his works. And this is no exception. Being able to write once again for the character he introduced long ago, Smith gives us a classic but unique base under siege tale that's able to escape from the base and go to a bleak, dead universe under siege. Under the helm of director Barnaby Edwards, the two build up a believable futuristic world under threat by a terrifying new enemy.

And helping out is the cast of this audacious and spectacular piece. Of course, we have the leads of Peter Davison, Janet Fielding, Sarah Sutton, and, fresh from the Fifth Doctor boxset tester, Matthew Waterhouse, who not only manages to slip back into his role effortlessly, but also unbind himself from the shackles of the criticisms of his character in the eighties. Also assisting near effortlessly are the supporting cast, comprising of Only Fools And Horses' Sue Holderness, Fresh Meat's Sophie Wu, Dreamland's Peter Guinness, plus Damian Lynch, Kris Dyer and the director himself. All do a beyond stellar job of bringing their characters to life and being determined, sorrowful and terrifying all at the same time. Not to mention, couples with the sound and music work of the great Steve Foxon, everyone involved helps to make this an absolute pleasure to listen to.

I said before that if Quicksilver is anything to go by for 2017's quality, then we're in for something good. After hearing this, I can safely say that that hasn't changed a bit. Wonderful script, perfect casting, stellar sound and masterful directing, The Star Men is a bona fidé classic from the moment you hear that Howell theme music.

VERDICT: 5/5 "They went to come and show us, and they went and blew our minds..." ;D

If you want to hear my very quick thoughts on the free first episode, check out my Freebie Fridays episode here.