Fear is a Superpower

"Somewhere along the way he forgot to be scared."

Writer: James Peaty

Format: Webcast

Released: 20 May 2020

Series: #DoctorWhoLockdown

Featuring: Danny

Synopsis

Danny Pink is scared. But what's wrong with scared? Scared is a superpower. It's your superpower!

Verdict

Fear is a Superpower was a unique little webcast to wrap up the #FearIsASuperpower watch-along of Listen. Unfortunately, I didn't really enjoy this webcast as it didn't really seem to be anything new and that kind of defeats the object of the bonus content to go alongside the watch-alongs in my opinion. Of course, I shouldn't start negatively and I have to acknowledge the incredible effort made my all involved to produce this little webcast and I am definitely glad to have watched it. The artwork was quirky and I liked how it was trying to do something new amidst the current climate. We have had a lot of short stories and narrated adventures, so it was nice to get something in between here. I think a lot of why I didn't enjoy this one so much was because I am not a big fan of Danny Pink. When the whole story centres on his run in Series 8 and his life, I am not going to think it is a great one! I just never really did like his character and it's pretty much as simple as that. The first part of the webcast literally just recaps the event of the episode that everyone would have just watched which I thought was a bit of a shame. Even Gemma, who I took a lot of convincing to watch this one with me because she is not a fan of comic strips or animation in the slightest, said at the end that it was literally just a recap of his life. I would have expected at least something new! Maybe if it was Danny who narrated it? I think that would have improved things for sure. I thought the narration we did get was fine, but I was confused as to why they didn't just include a voiceover of the Twelfth Doctor's comment about fear and being scared rather than a somewhat average impression of Peter Capaldi. It was all just a bit strange if I'm being honest. The only 'new' thing we got was an image of Danny on the road after being hit by the car with Clara's image on the phone. Despite the harrowing moment that occurred at the start of Dark Water, that was a powerful image and a reminder of what happened to him. I'm still not sure how Orson came to be if this was his fate, even if he did go on to become a Cyberman as we were reminded, and that's a tad annoying. The tie in with the comic strip element of the story in having Danny's superpower being scared was admirable, but I think the name of the adventure itself should be changed! Scared is a little different to fear in my opinion and a distinction would have been better. I fully appreciated that it was tying in with the hashtag of the tweet-along, but it just didn't sit right with me. There's not a great deal more to say about this webcast, other than that it serves as a reminder of Danny Pink's story in Doctor Who and that essentially, he was a scared man. He became Dan the Soldier Man but that wasn't enough. It made him more scared. He cared for Clara and was scared of rejection, but that was never seriously on the cards if we're being honest. Overall, an impressive story from a visual perspective and big props for doing something different to go alongside the Doctor Who Lockdown, but I think my dislike of Danny meant I was never going to really enjoy this one which is a bit of a shame.

Rating: 5/10