December 2012 saw the subscriber special Night of the Stormcrow, written by Marc Platt,from Big Finish. If you have a main range subscription this is a free story, others will have to wait for December 2013 before it is available for sale generally.

The last few years have seen some strong stories in the December Specials – did this story live up to expectations?

The Story

The Fourth Doctor and Leela appear on a mountain which is home to an observatory. The observatory and staff are attacked by a space dwelling creature the Stormcrow and a host of creatures made of nothing which play tricks with time and perception.

The story sidelines The Doctor who gets possessed and allows Leela plenty of time to shine (she even gets to offer jelly babies at one point!).

A good choice?

Recently the December specials have something quirky / distinctive going for them; we have had Four Doctors, Five Companions and the Earthly Child. The original December special was to have been Voyage to Venus but that changed allowing this story to be dropped in. I am not sure if this was unused from Series 1 of the Fourth Doctor Adventures or would have been in series 3.

Louise Jameson is also strong though this had to compete with the December Companion Chronicle The Child. Tom gets to play with his performance as well doing a great scene where he cares for nothing when possessed.

That all said this is a decent story just lacked a bit of Christmas magic for me.

Other comments

Interesting Chase Masterson appears in this and is very strong which bodes well for Vienna. 

On a picky note, the Stormcrow is meant to occupy a particular point in space yet appears over the observatory at the same time every day – not sure that would happen.

Overall for me good but not great. What did you think?