As the very first independent Doctor Who spin off, Wartime did an excellent job of paving the way for several other films, books, and audio dramas (without needing the approval of that pesky BBC).
As far as supernatural B films go, Wartime isn't too shabby. Although it's only half an hour long, we receive a lot of character development for Benton, which we didn't get to see much of in Doctor Who. With John Levine reprising the lead role, it's gratifying to see him able to explore more of the character.
While on a trip for UNIT, Benton visits the grave of his brother, whose death he believes to be his fault, when the ghost of his brother appears from behind the tombstone and begins to play games with Benton's mind. Benton's Jeep then breaks down and he decides to explore the area where he and his brother used to spend their childhood, along with the place of the accident.
From there it's a spiral of Benton confronting his emotions, where we see scenes of him yelling at the ghost of his father, trying to save his brother, and wanting to prevent the death of his father, which is what made him go into his line of work. Overall, a great display of finding oneself and facing regrets.
But with great concepts, a great storyline wasn't completely evident. The film was far too short for an entire plot to form, and leaves us with many unanswered questions, such as "Why were these events occurring?", "Who was the man trying to rob the car, and why was he with the ghosts?", "How does a prick from a rose cause that amount of blood?", and "How was anything actually resolved?"
Yes, Benton's inner struggles and hardships were beaten, but assuming that the ghosts were real (or some temporal anomaly), then why did they stop without Benton having to fight them?
In the end, you're left with many unanswered questions and a little confusion, but Wartime brings great character development to a Doctor Who character who deserves more love, and if anything brings us more theories...
As far as supernatural B films go, Wartime isn't too shabby. Although it's only half an hour long, we receive a lot of character development for Benton, which we didn't get to see much of in Doctor Who. With John Levine reprising the lead role, it's gratifying to see him able to explore more of the character.
While on a trip for UNIT, Benton visits the grave of his brother, whose death he believes to be his fault, when the ghost of his brother appears from behind the tombstone and begins to play games with Benton's mind. Benton's Jeep then breaks down and he decides to explore the area where he and his brother used to spend their childhood, along with the place of the accident.
From there it's a spiral of Benton confronting his emotions, where we see scenes of him yelling at the ghost of his father, trying to save his brother, and wanting to prevent the death of his father, which is what made him go into his line of work. Overall, a great display of finding oneself and facing regrets.
But with great concepts, a great storyline wasn't completely evident. The film was far too short for an entire plot to form, and leaves us with many unanswered questions, such as "Why were these events occurring?", "Who was the man trying to rob the car, and why was he with the ghosts?", "How does a prick from a rose cause that amount of blood?", and "How was anything actually resolved?"
Yes, Benton's inner struggles and hardships were beaten, but assuming that the ghosts were real (or some temporal anomaly), then why did they stop without Benton having to fight them?
In the end, you're left with many unanswered questions and a little confusion, but Wartime brings great character development to a Doctor Who character who deserves more love, and if anything brings us more theories...