It’s time the truth was told. About UNIT. About the Cybermen invasion. About the so-called ‘Doctor’. About what happened all those years ago, at Warlock’s Cross. About the man they keep locked up in a cage, in a secret prison…
It’s time. Because UNIT scientific adviser Elizabeth Klein is going to help ensure the truth is brought to light.
Today’s the day… that UNIT falls.
WARLOCK’S CROSS
Everything about “Warlock’s Cross” is promising: it’s the conclusion of the UNIT/Daniel Hopkins trilogy, it features late-period Sylvester McCoy, it involves the return of Klein, the cover blurb is thrilling, and it’s written by Steve Lyons. And yet, despite all these reassuring elements, it’s every bit as weak as the rest of the trilogy, wasting its opportunities just as much as its predecessors.
“Today’s the day… that UNIT falls,” promises the synopsis, and absolutely nothing of the sort happens in the story. To be sure, UNIT has never been presented in a worse light – everyone involved in the organization seems to dislike it, their methods are questionable at best, and even the Doctor doesn’t escape criticism – but it never “falls.” There’s a problem, the Doctor and UNIT come together to solve it, and the Doctor leaves, just like usual, even if the tone is different. Oddly, the story sets up a “fall of UNIT” framework with an activist, Gregory Lord (Tom Milligan), trying to reveal UNIT’s secrets with Klein’s help. He’s also the audience identification character – Lyons tries to show how bad UNIT looks from the outside, and how even the Doctor’s heroics don’t look so beneficial in a certain light. But Klein leads him into a trap, and he fails.
This also completes Daniel Hopkins’ story, and unfortunately, he’s at his least interesting. While it was heart-wrenching to watch his fall from optimistic young officer to emotionally distraught survivor in “Hour of the Cybermen,” in this story he’s declined even further. Now he just wants everyone to be so miserable that they beg the Cybermen to return, and he latches on to any world-ending scheme he can find in order to do that. This sets up the main plot of the story – a crashed spaceship with a damaged AI leaking mental energy and corrupting the thoughts of those who come near it. The ship wants to leave Earth, and threaten the planet in the process – so naturally Hopkins wants to see this happen as well. Lyons tries to create a paranoid atmosphere, where you never know if the Doctor, Klein, or the rest of UNIT are possessed by the ship at any given moment – but ultimately all that tension (which isn’t much) is defused in a remarkably easy conclusion. Even a surprising fourth episode doesn’t do much to enhance the story.
As I’ve mentioned above, Klein is in this story. What a great opportunity – finally, it’s the return of the ex-Nazi scientist, or at least the alternate universe equivalent thereof. Surely, she’ll have a dramatic run-in with the Doctor? Perhaps her alter-ego’s Nazi philosophy will bleed through at the worst possible time? Maybe she actually does want to bring down UNIT from the inside? Alas, none of those things are true. Yes, everyone calls her Klein, and yes, she’s played by Tracey Childs, but otherwise this is a generic UNIT scientist character. So what’s the point of bringing her back? If Steve Lyons himself couldn’t come up with anything to do with her, maybe that should have been a hint that it was a bad idea? What a disappointment.
Ultimately, “Warlock’s Cross” fails to accomplish its goals. It’s clear that this is supposed to be a slow burn, a claustrophobic story where a group of characters slowly build tension amongst themselves until a shattering climax. But that tension never builds – director Jamie Anderson and sound designer Simon Power struggle with the uneven tone of the script. The performances are good across the board but none come in memorable roles. Even McCoy, who is at his best playing this version of the Doctor, doesn’t leave an impression. The seed of a good, entertaining story is here, but unfortunately it hasn’t bloomed.
4/10