Is the new AI Doctor Who better than the real thing? Review of The Curse of Kilmorag by The Unmade Season

 

With the BBC having put Doctor Who out to tender in search of a new production company, it could be as late as 2029 when the world's longest-running sci-fi show returns to the small screen.

In the meantime, however, a fan and aspiring scriptwriter called The Unmade Season has dropped a full-length AI episode called The Curse of Kilmorag online... and it's hard to imagine any Who fan except the most staunch opponent of AI not finding it the perfect substitute for the real thing.

Yes, you can see it's AI. But to me, it's like watching hyper-realistic animation. You know you're not watching real actors, but you instantly get so caught up in the story that you forget about the medium.

Because the all-human-written script - and especially the story and central concept - is strong enough to fit into any past season of Doctor Who. The plotting, and in particular the way everything comes together and makes perfect sense at the end, is better than many real episodes.

The story begins with an AI version of David Tennant's 14th Doctor regenerating into a completely new Doctor. The new incarnation has wild, curly black hair, speaks with a Scottish accent, and is instantly Doctor-like as he stumbles out of his crashed Tardis, high on regeneration energy.

Before the regeneration is complete, however, he is captured by the military, gassed unconscious and taken to a secure facility on a clifftop above a remote Scottish fishing village.

The underground base turns out to be full of incarcerated aliens including a Slitheen, a Meep, and an Ood called Vark who befriends the Doctor through the wall of the next door cell.

The base also has something odd about it. Thanks to a monster living in the sea beneath the base, time within the base moves at a different speed to time in the outside world, with a year for the Doctor playing out over just a night for his captors.

The top secret base is presided over by Mr Green, a sinister scientist with a vibe very similar to Nyder in Genesis of the Daleks.

Green has the Doctor tortured in a bid to gain access to the Tardis, which he has identified as a power source that could power the UK for a century. Because the Doctor's regeneration was interrupted, however, he can't remember how to open the Tardis. He doesn't even remember who he is.

In the meantime, a young fisherman falls into the sea in a storm and drowns... just before a barnacle-encrusted monster hoves into view beneath the waves. 

It transpires that the fisherman is one of many people lost at sea near the village in the past century, none of whose bodies have ever been recovered.

An old woman believes the nearby Ministry of Defence base is somehow responsible, but it's something the villages never talk about.

Lucy, a fishmonger's daughter who lost her twin sister at sea many years before, is intrigued by the hushed gossip and local fear of the base that overlooks the village.

She decides to investigate and breaks into the base, only to be immediately captured and thrown into the cell next to the Doctor's. As she converses with the Doctor and Jason, it's immediately clear that Lucy is going to be a future companion...

The scenes in the village and fishmongers are hugely atmospheric. The bleak, chilly location is a great setting for a Doctor Who story, bringing to mind classic ominous location stories like The Daemons and The Sea Devils from the Jon Pertwee era of the 1970s.

The characters of Lucy, her mother and the local policeman are realistically well drawn and full of heart.

The conversations between them are efficiently written, with every line moving the story forward. But they are also gently paced, allowing time for the characters to breathe and for us to feel like we have got to know them.

Although the 'actors' are AI-generated, it's ironic that these characters come across as more real than many side characters in the most recent two series of real Doctor Who.

That's all down to the writing, which is as character driven as it is tightly plotted, and the sure-footed pacing, which never drags but never feels rushed, in the way that some recent Doctor Who episodes have.

The same is true of the dark, claustrophobic scenes in the underground base, where the silkily polite Mr Green makes a superbly creepy villain, and Vark is another strong supporting character. Both are given plenty of time to fully develop on screen, as is the Doctor himself; a solid original incarnation who combines a little each of Paul McGann and Peter Capaldi.

All of that character building pays off in an emotionally powerful climatic scene that truly touches the heart.

It's hard to fault any aspect of this episode, which is hugely engaging and entertaining from beginning to end.

With a full season trailered, we can only hope future episodes are as good as this introduction.

I also hope that when the BBC brings Doctor Who back to television, it includes The Unmade Season among the writers. In fact, the corporation could do a lot worse than make a straight live action remake of this AI episode.

It really is that good.

Watch The Curse of Kilmorag at www.theunmadeseason.com