The Mechanical Turk was a phenomenon in the 18th century, purporting to be a chess-playing automaton that played chess, beating many human opponents in its time.

Though it was outed as an incredibly clever illusion after it was destroyed in a fire in the 19th century, the machine, or rather its clandestine operators, were able to beat notable opponents such as Napoleon Bonaparte and Benjamin Franklin while still maintaining an air of authenticity.

It’s a recurring image for science fiction stories too, and it (sort of) forms the central plot device in this Eighth Doctor story.

I say sort of, because of course the twist, of what The Silver Turk actually is, is spoiled on the cover art here. Yep, it’s a Mondasian Cyberman!

In this story, the Doctor (the always excellent Paul McGann) has picked up a new travelling companion, Mary Shelley (Julie Cox), and accidentally ends up taking her into her own future, albeit still within the 19th century.

There, they encounter the titular Turk, who of course the Doctor eventually deduces to be a Cyberman.

Another Cyberman is involved, as well as human-sized, mechanical marionettes, and an extremely gruesome lullaby, as well as many, many other elements.

In fact, so much is thrown at the wall that very little actually sticks; there’s a vast array of ideas in Marc Platt’s script, but so much of it just feels underdeveloped, or goes nowhere.

McGann does great work, as always, with what he’s given, and Cox is excellent as Mary Shelley, in one of the few roles that does get some proper room for development.

It is a little tiresome that she’s repeatedly given ideas and material for eventually writing Frankenstein, however; this is ground that has already been covered in her previous appearance, in The Company of Friends, albeit to an even more blunt and unsubtle degree.

Though I was looking forward to the pairing of McGann’s almost Byron-esque Doctor with Mary Shelley, and the partnership itself is one of the few things that works in this particular story, there’s just too much going on here and too little in the way of resolution, or coherence, for it to be a truly enjoyable story.