Doctor Who review: The New Counter-Measures: The Movellan Manoeuvre

The Counter-Measures team meet the Movellans for the first time, in the first of two special releases for the Doctor Who spin-off.

Yesterday saw the release of not one but two brand new stories in the audio series The New Counter-Measures. While the Doctor Who spin-off had initially been canceled by Big Finish, it was decided to end the series properly in a big way, by having the Counter-Measures team face not one but two major foes from the Classic Series: the Movellans and the Daleks!

Well, I say “major”. The truth is that the Movellans didn’t exactly have much screentime, only featuring in one story, Destiny of the Daleks. (They also had a brief cameo role in Twelfth Doctor episode The Pilot.) But they still had an impact. For one thing, they proved themselves to be quite a match against the Daleks onscreen, as they each tried to destroy each other in a huge war.

But more than that: in the pepper pots’ next story, Resurrection of the Daleks, it was revealed that there was eventually a victor: the Movellans! Yes, the Movellans actually won in a war against the Daleks! (Completely off-screen, of course.) As a result, it’s always great to see them featured in a story, even if it’s surprisingly rare. And even if it takes a while for them to actually show up…

Lady Clare (Carolyn Seymour) returns once more to face the Counter-Measures team (Hugh Ross, Pamela Salem, Simon Williams and Karen Gledhill)!

Image Courtesy Big Finish Productions

Arch-enemy

Despite being the monster of the title, it takes a long while for the Movellans to show up in The Movellan Manoeuvre. This is why, during the first half of the story, the focus is on an enemy more personal to the Counter-Measures team: Lady Suzanne Clare.

A specialist in using alien tech for both weaponry and profit, Lady Clare has proven herself to be Counter-Measures’s biggest enemy. This is partly because of the writing, which from the beginning aimed to give the group a real challenge to beat, and also because of a consistently brilliant performance from Carolyn Seymour. You can tell that Seymour always has a lot of fun with the part, and the same proves true in this release.

Bringing her back was definitely a smart move, especially considering how long it takes for the Movellans to appear in the story. It’s clear that writer John Dorney has been more than a little inspired by several stories from the Classic Series, in which a major monster or villain would be named in the title, but not show up until the end of the first episode.

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Big surprises

Now, I won’t spoil how the Movellans eventually turn up or what role they have in the story. But I will say that the long buildup to their reveal surprisingly pays off. Despite knowing they’ll appear from the start, how it’s done still provides plenty of surprises.

And when the Movellans do arrive, they very quickly establish themselves as the main threat of the episode. There are surprisingly very few stories where the Movellans are clearly in charge (even in Big Finish, the only other example I can think of is Fourth Doctor audio The Movellan Grave), so it’s great to be reminded of how they’re a dangerous threat in their own right. (Despite the disco hairdo.)

The Movellan Manoeuvre is a highly entertaining story for The New Counter-Measures. There’s plenty of humor and excellent dialogue, but there’s also some great sci-fi action and clever storytelling thrown in there, too. A strong story, one that very neatly leads into the next: The Dalek Gambit…

Do you think the Movellans should have appeared in more Doctor Who stories on television? Do you think they should return at some point (beyond the cameo role that we saw during Peter Capaldi’s era)? Let us know in the comments below.