Doctor Who review: The Lives of Captain Jack: Piece of Mind brings Jack and the Sixth Doctor together

When the Sixth Doctor is out of action, Captain Jack Harkness has to take his place in Piece of Mind, just one of his adventures from his own Doctor Who spin-off series The Lives of Captain Jack! (You can imagine the results.)

So, let’s talk about the elephant in the room. Captain Jack and the Doctor. We know that the first time they met each other was in the latter’s ninth self in The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances. Neither made any mention of any prior meetings. So how come Jack meets the Sixth Doctor in the first story of The Lives of Captain Jack: Volume Two?

I’ll be honest, I was initially very skeptical about this. Sometimes, it’s fun for characters from Classic and New eras to meet, but it can also be frustrating, too. Especially if the only way to keep continuity tidy is for one or both of them to forget by the end, anyway. Would Jack meeting the Sixth Doctor really be worth it if Six was going to forget their meeting entirely?

Of course, I really needed to ask myself the same question in a different way: Is the idea of two of Doctor Who‘s most larger than life characters meeting worth anything? Having listened to Piece of Mind, it’s a definite yes.

A lot of fun

After featuring one hell of a stunt opening scene (plus a fantastic variation on the intro, as you can hear above), writer James Goss immediately proceeds to have a lot of fun with this story. If Jack meeting one of the most colorful Doctors ever wasn’t exciting enough, Jack also has to take his place while the other is out of action.

This is just as brilliant as it sounds: not only does Jack put on the coat, but he even has his own take on the Sixth Doctor’s voice! It’s exactly as hilarious as you think it would be, especially when Jack makes one or two choices in this story that this Doctor certainly wouldn’t do.

Jack and the Sixth Doctor

But the best scenes have to be when Jack and the Doctor talk to each other. The earlier scenes in the episode are hilarious, as the Sixth Doctor is continually shocked by the choices Jack makes while pretending to be him, while Jack makes it clear that he doesn’t rate this Doctor as highly as the Doctor he knows (which at this point is only Eccleston’s, as this is set during the long period when Jack was waiting for the Doctor to return).

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However, the later scenes are also great in a different way. You get the sense that each of them at least appreciates the other’s methods, even when one or two major mistakes are made over the course of the episode. Moments like these are pretty satisfying to listen to, and it’s great to get a different kind of interaction between Jack and the Doctor in general, even when the Doctor doesn’t know him yet.

Overall, Piece of Mind is a strong opening episode for the second volume of The Lives of Captain Jack. While I was initially worried about this pairing, I must admit – it is an extremely fun one to listen to. A pretty fantastic clash between Classic and New that works very well.

Have you listened to Piece of Mind? Do you think the combination of Captain Jack Harkness with the Sixth Doctor works well? Let us know in the comments below.