ThatOneStoreGuy

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An Alien Werewolf in London

The Seventh Doctor has taken Mags to somewhere new (London) to meet up with an old friend (Ace!). But Ace hasn’t just summoned the Doctor for a social call. She’s gotten word that an alien is being held prisoner at a swanky mansion. She’s got a plan to get them out, but since when does a plan ever go right?

This adventure goes a lot of places over its four episodes. It certainly has the grand scope of a finale in terms of the scale of the adventure. A classic example of something that would have been unfilmable in the 80s and a challenge even today just from a location perspective. Camden Market in the 90s, stately manors, London hospitals and tacky soap opera sets all play an important role. The twists and turns of a Doctor Who adventure can sometimes feel quite random, but even as this adventure goes from freeing an unknown alien from an evil conspiracy to stopping the broadcast of a world ending television special, everything still smoothly runs together. The adventure feels big, but is still tightly plotted and the final twists are exciting and payoff what has come before.

Mags is of course the star of this trilogy and that’s no different here. It’s neat to see Earth from her perspective. To Mags, London is a truly alien world and all the pop culture references that the other characters share go right over her head. We get to see Mags on her own for large portions of the story which again reaffirm the traits that make her a great companion. Ace is also brought back into the fold for this story. It’s an interesting period in Ace’s chronology. She’s back on Earth and seems to have parted from the Doctor, but perhaps only recently. The story doesn’t focus on it, but there is something different about her and the Doctor’s relationship. There’s something that goes unsaid between them even as they remain on good terms. It’s a new dynamic for the characters which is always nice to see in such a long partnership.

Mags has yet to return as a companion which is a shame given the quality of this trilogy and this final piece in particular. Mags wouldn’t be my first choice of classic era side characters to bring back, but she’s proven to be a fascinating choice. Her struggle against her inner beast and her alien nature make her a fresh type of travelling companion for the Doctor. I can only hope this is not the last we’ve seen of this pair.

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The Moons of Vulpana

Mags continues to have trouble controlling her transformations, so the Seventh Doctor decides to take her on a trip home. During Mags’ time Vulpana is mostly abandoned, having been invaded several times, but the Doctor knows of a shining time in Vulpana’s past. Little do they know, Vulpana’s ‘Golden Millennium’ is about to come to a screeching halt.

We continue exploring the character of Mags with a trip to her homeworld. The setting here is extremely interesting. Much like last time, the characters live in a sort of medieval-esque fashion, but are very aware of the greater universe. In this case, the werewolves of Vulpana simply do not care about space or technological advancement since they have full faith in their powerful wolf forms to fend off any attackers and wish to live somewhat animalistically. It’s also very interesting for Doctor Who to explore an alien planet’s past. Exploring the past of Earth is commonplace, but alien worlds tend to exist outside of the time travel aspect of the show. This is the first audio adventure set on Vulpana, but the presence of Mags helps to sell this as a historical adventure. This is to her the same as when a modern human companion travels back to Victorian times and the story highlights this at several points.

The actual plot has a few different modes the story rotates through. There’s some palace intrigue and romance elements, but the core of the story is Mags’ relationship to who she is. The Vulpanas of the past live free with no fear of their transformations. While that freedom is presented at first as powerful, its drawbacks and limits soon become evident. Just because they do not resent their transformations, doesn’t mean they have any more control over them. In many ways, the culture that Mags at first relishes in is just trappings that get dropped when the monster takes over. It’s not what Mags wants for herself. The audio also focuses a lot on the blindspot the Vulpanas have when it comes to their own vulnerabilities. They are so focused on their animalistic side, they neglect science and brush off the threat of the greater universe. Mags knows this will one day lead to Vulpana's downfall, though she has no idea when that downfall will come. 

There is a lot going on in this adventure. The setting and the characters feel fully realized. Mags continues to be a fascinating character study. This story on its own justifies bringing her back.

[thatonestoreguy]

The Monsters of Gokroth

Mags has come to the planet Gokroth seeking a cure for her ‘condition’ from a mysterious doctor. The people of Gokroth live in fear of the monsters that live in the forest unaware of the monster they’ve welcomed among them. A doctor is here to help Mags, though it might not be the one she was expecting.

This adventure reintroduces Mags from the Seventh Doctor serial The Greatest Show in the Galaxy. Mags is a Vulpanian, which is essentially an alien werewolf. She’s an interesting classic character to bring back, since in the adventure she featured in there weren’t really hints that she even wanted to travel with the Doctor. In fact, this adventure says she was happy with the Psychic Circus until her transformations became less and less controllable. The Doctor popping up here to help her in her current state allows us to take a deeper view of the character. Mags proves herself to be heroic and selfless, but she also doesn’t get close to people easily and has a very dangerous beast within her. It’s an interesting concept for a companion for sure. 

The setting this week also shines as a strange sort of backwater planet set up somewhere between Frankenstein and The Island of Dr. Moreau. Mags brings with her this classic horror atmosphere that will persists throughout the trilogy, but finds an interesting balance here. The hapless medieval peasants are allowed to be full characters. I particularly like how they might seem primitive, but they are more than aware of the greater universe and are use to alien visitors. They treat them like outsiders and are suspicious of them, but not unaware of their existence. It’s a neat setup that doesn’t show up in sci-fi that often outside of say colonialism metaphors. It’s also a bit of a hint to the secret at the heart of Gokroth that propels the second half of the adventure.

This works as both a reintroduction to the character of Mags as well as a fun adventure in its own right. The twists are somewhat telegraphed, but the story itself is well told with lots of moving parts that work well together. 

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Kamelion Empire

After a series of harrowing adventures, Kamelion receives a summons to return to his home planet. The Fifth Doctor reluctantly agrees to return Kamelion and takes him, Tegan, and Turlough to an underground facility on the planet Mekalion. What they find there is a ruin, long abandoned. What has become of the Kamelion Empire and how can the crew stop history from repeating itself.

This adventure aims to provide an origin for Kamelion. When he first appeared, the Master gave a vague origin for Kamelion as a former weapon he found, but beyond that very little was known about the robot. Here we get a whole cast of characters and a history of the species who mass produced the Kamelions. It’s an interesting story that expands on the core premise of the last few dramas. Kamenlion is easily taken over by strong physic forces and so of course his makers are exactly that type. Honestly, while I’ve enjoyed these adventures, it does feel very much like Kamelion has fallen into the same trap of the Eight Doctor and amnesia stories. He only has the one type of canonical story and so the trope gets overused. It would have been nice to get even one story where Kamelion was not taken over. Though at least here, Kamelion does a much better job of fighting off the overwhelming force than in previous stories.

This is definitely Kamelion’s show, but the other characters also get plenty to do. In the absence of Kamelion’s makers, Mekalion has been taking over by a race of metalhead gorilla men who mostly ride around mad max style. It’s a fun diversion that classic Doctor Who does so well, but also gives Tegan and Turlough something to deal with as the Doctor and Kamenlion dig deeper into the latter's origins. They come off as a very legitimate threat, which gives gravitas to the true villain of the piece when they appear in the adventure’s second half.

The adventure ends with an explanation for Kamelion’s unexplained absence following his debut. It’s a touching moment and an underscore of what this series of audios was all about. It took a frustrating prop and thinly sketched idea of a character and turned him into a true companion. Overall, a fun experiment for Big Finish that flushes out one of Doctor Who’s little known characters.

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Black Thursday/Power Game

The Fifth Doctor’s attempt to take Tegan, Turlough and Kamelion somewhere relaxing backfires when they find themselves in a Welsh coal mine. Disaster begets disaster as the crew find themselves wrapped up in a crisis.

Continuing with our Kamelion redemption tour, Big Finish blesses the robotic companion with a “pure historical.” Though it might only be on a technicality, since Kamelion is the sci-fi element that ignites the story. Still, there are no secret alien plots or invasions, just a very stark mining accident. The guest cast does a great job of bringing realism to the story. You feel the grief of the characters as they suffer from great and sudden loss. Kamelion only complicates the situation because the emotions of the crisis overwhelms and takes control of him. Even though this release is only half the length of a standard monthly, it still takes its time and allows the character’s emotions to breathe.

This is a short but well handled drama. It continues the trend of Kamelion being a liability, but also gives a deeper view into the character’s psyche.

Power Game

In 1984 York, The Incredible Power Game is the new hot program. The Doctor, Tegan and Turlough are busy looking for a lost Kamelion, but even they are soon swept up in the mysterious game show. 

This adventure is a send up to a certain era of British game show, most notable The Adventure Game. The titular Power Game seems like a show where contestants compete in different tasks to earn gems. Except, what seems to viewers to be sci-fi trappings meant to heighten the experience are instead very much real. Of course the Doctor and crew are immediately pulled in and Tegan and Turlough end up as contestants. It’s a fun and light affair especially after the first half of this release. Even when the stacks of the game are revealed to be life and death, it still feels more whimsical than anything else. Kamelion doesn't get much to do in this one, but it does continue the themes around his character started in the other adventures.

With the shorter runtime, this one feels like a more modern Doctor Who entry. It introduces a fun concept, explores that concept from a couple angles, and doesn’t overstay its welcome.

[thatonestoreguy]

Devil in the Mist

Tegan is having a hard time accepting new companion Kamelion. The Fifth Doctor and Turlough wish she’d give him a chance, but they soon all have bigger things to worry about. They find themselves crash landed on an alien planet alongside a prison ship carrying an exceptionally dangerous individual. They’re all going to have to learn to trust each other, or else they'll never get off this deadly world.

So begins the Kamelion trilogy. Kamelion was a very interesting companion from the Fifth Doctor era. He was a robot shapeshifter who was introduced working for the Master. Unfortunately, the Kamelion prop was constantly malfunctioning which made actually using it a huge headache. Kamelion would accept the offer to travel with the Doctor, and than disappear into the TARDIS with nary a mention until many episodes later when he would be destroyed. This adventure, being an audio drama, is free from the technical difficulties presented by Kamelion and can therefore explore the character. He’s voiced here by John Culshaw who is an apt choice for the mercurial robot as an expert impressionist. Certainly in this adventure alone we get a much better idea of Kamelion as a character than in either of his brief original series serials.

The adventure itself is very good at testing the character’s limits. Something on this planet is making the cast paranoid and the lifeforms are hostile with no exception. Add to that the potential of an escaped killer who can influence your mind and turn into mist. Also his jailers, two hippo-like aliens with no reason to trust our crew. The story puts the feelings of mistrust and suspicion front and centre which helps in getting the audience to empathize with Teagan and her own misgivings about her new travelling companion. 

We're off to a good start on the “Kamelion rehabilitation tour” as it were. The focus here is more on how others feel about Kamelion than about his own feelings, but the adventure itself is solid. If anyone can take a long forgotten companion who was always more of a trivia answer than a character and make them interesting, Big Finish can.

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The Hunting Ground

The Sixth Doctor arrives in modern Iceland only to immediately find himself at the centre of a murder investigation. Someone is killing people out on the ice, and the Doctor believes the killer is of alien origin. He has an unexpected ally on his side in the form of police inspector Yrsa Kristjansdottir. Yrsa believes the deaths are the tip of a conspiracy with ties to her own past.

This adventure sort of comes from nowhere as a solo and stand alone Sixth Doctor story. It’s a shame too, because the characters and action are really good. Yrsa is a great pseudo-companion. Her keen detective skills play a crucial role in the story which she is in many ways the hero of above and beyond the Doctor. She is also very accepting very fast due to her own belief in the supernatural. The Doctor does have plenty to do in the adventure, though nothing about the set up or story requires this to be a particular Doctor. Colin Baker of course makes the Doctor his own, but nothing in particular makes this a “Sixth Doctor story”. 

The setting of the story is also very unique. Iceland doesn’t get a ton of representation in global media, so it’s welcome to set a story there. I’m not sure exactly how well done the representation is here though with my own limited knowledge of the country. Certainly, some lip service is paid to the mythology and heritage of Iceland, but the casual way in which residents just believe in trolls and hidden folk seems a bit suspect. It’s still nice how the story tries to make the setting feel more than just a snowy English town, even if they could have pushed it a bit further.

Despite my criticisms, I really enjoyed this story. I thought the unwinding of the central mystery was handled really well. The alien threat is as much a problem because of the physical danger they present as the conspiracy that enables them to be there in the first place. I wish this story was part of a more standard trilogy so that we perhaps could get more of these characters or this style of adventure.

[thatonestoreguy]

Muse of Fire

Paris in the 1920s is a variable hot bed for artistic genius. At least, that’s what the Seventh Doctor was hoping to show Ace and Hex, but the painters, writers, and poets who should be all around are mysteriously absent. The Doctor soon believes he knows who to blame, once he learns that an old acquaintance is present in town. Iris Wildthyme’s salon is open to everyone.

This adventure reintroduces us to Iris played by her regular voice actress and former Doctor Who star Katy Manning. It also features her companion Panda, a sentient stuffed bear with high minded ideas. Iris always injects a sort of whimsy and a satirical and metatextual bent to any story she’s in. In this case, the high art world of Paris in the 20s. It’s a great setting that the story uses to its full advantage. The international and bohemian air of the time washes over everything, even as it becomes clear that something is very wrong and that events are not unfolding as they should be. The Doctor suspects Iris of meddling, and it certainly seems like she is, but it’s also very clear to the audience that there’s more going on. 

As a larger than life figure, Iris can take over a story. She certainly plays a main role here, but the fact the audience can’t know her motives until near the end means she remains in the background for large stretches. Ace and Hex both get storylines to themselves as they take sides in the Doctor and Iris’s conflict. We also get a very meaty storyline for the adventure’s guest cast. The American couple of Isobel and Kevin Archer chasing Kevin’s failing dream to be a great poet is central to the narrative. As is the mysterious woman in a nun’s habit. Regular and guest cast alike give great performances here that help to make the story feel grounded even in its more whimsical moments.

Wildthyme stories can be a bit of an acquired taste. They certainly bend towards the more fantastical and comical end of Doctor Who stories. This one strikes a fair middle ground though that allows the action to feel grounded even as the satirical elements of the story play out. 

[thatonestoreguy]

Warlock's Cross

Elizabeth Klein is hard at work at one of UNIT’s black sites when the Seventh Doctor decides to drop in. Where the Doctor goes, trouble follows, and it just so happens today is the day the base is under siege. At the root of all of it just might be the original reason the Doctor is here, the prisoner in UNIT's base, and an old friend, Danial Hopkins.

This adventure wraps up the trio of UNIT adventures featuring what can perhaps be summarized as the 90s-era UNIT. In this case, we get a mix of the UNIT personnel from the previous stories as well as the return of Klein. The story of Klein and her complicated relationship with the Doctor picks up right where it left off and makes these UNIT stories feel connected to the past Big Finish works. It also introduces some new aspects to UNIT such as how their secrecy can breed conspiracy theories which their enemies can use against them. It’s an idea explored during the recent 15th Doctor era, though here the conspiracy theorists are treated more sympathetically even if their actions kick off the adventure’s threats.

Of course, this trio of adventures has been as much about UNIT as they have been about one single officer. Daniel Hopkins. Daniel has changed a lot over the course of these adventures and that adds some real ambiguity to his current situation. How much he can be trusted is central to the drama. When we actually get to the alien threat at the story’s core, it’s Daniel who serves as both a mirror to the alien and also perhaps the ultimate linchpin of whether the Earth deserves to exist. Hopkins also clashes nicely with Klein. They have in different ways been both friend and foe to the Doctor and have struggled with morality.

Bringing Klein back for the finale of this trio was a genius move. Altogether, this was a fascinating way to tell a new story about one of the oldest aspects of Doctor Who canon. They really add and grow to the long history of UNIT.

[thatonestoreguy]

The Quantum Possibility Engine

The Seventh Doctor and Ace have been betrayed by Mel! They’re locked up and the TARDIS is in the hands of old enemy Josiah W Dogbolter, or rather, President Dogbolter. Using his titular engine, Dogbolter has become president of the Solar System. Now he’ll do anything to stay in power. Including possible ripping the space time continuum to shreds.

Dogbolter is an old Doctor Who Magazine comic strip character and so he brings with him the sensibility of those old strips. He has an air of classic British satire about him. He’s capitalism incarnate and his silly name is only made sillier by the fact that he’s also a fat toad-like alien. Of course, none of that offsets the seriousness of the situation he has manufactured. By leveraging Mel’s debt, he’s managed to build his engine which essentially lets him have a redo on anything he wants whenever he wants. It’s let him stay in power and essentially stripped the Solar System of its free will. It also obviously is playing absolute havoc on the time stream, which the Doctor is not happy about. Nor is another surprise guest with a deep connection to Big Finish’s Doctor Who.

This is also the culmination of Mel’s arc every since she first rejoined the TARDIS crew. The darker edge that Mel has had up to this point is explained. The adventure also ties together several disparate parts from previous adventures that didn’t seem out of place at the time, but now clearly build towards this adventure. It’s nice for Mel to really have a meaty roll to play since she was so thinly sketched on the TV series. I’m not sure if the adventure does the best job though in fully explaining why she felt she couldn’t fully trust the Doctor. While the Seventh Doctor does have a penchant for schemes and his own darker impulses, this series of adventures has also gone out of its way to point out that those aspects of the Doctor only really came out after Mel departed. Ultimately though, I believe the character’s actions in this particular drama well enough.

All of that doesn’t even get in to the character work done by the rest of the cast, especially in the adventure’s second half. It also doesn’t touch on the criticism of the media and media obsessed culture. This is a very dense story that rewards long time listeners. 

[thatonestoreguy]

The Dispossessed

The Seventh Doctor, Mel, and Ace track a mysterious signal to an abandoned tower block somehow hidden from everyone around. Once inside, they are cast into a perpetual night in a strange place where nothing is as it seems and the dead walk.

This adventure goes hard on location very early. The tower block of the story feels like a location ripped from a horror game. The crew manage to figure out how to navigate the place fairly quickly thanks to the two remaining locals who have not been turned into mindless creatures. However, it remains equal parts eerie and surreal. From the start, the place is a mystery and that’s what drives the story. Everything has an explanation by the end, as sci-fi and spurious some of those might be, but it works in the context of Doctor Who.

The title of the story has multiple readings which become more clear as the story continues. One of those meanings is fairly obvious from the beginning, with two major characters who are unhoused people squatting in the apartment block. Ruck and Jan are seemingly the only two unaffected people in the block. The drama humanizes these characters and allows Ruck in particular to be a hero which is not the way unhoused people are usually depicted in media. Still, when the story began by focusing on them, I did think we were going to get a deeper exploration of homelessness than what is ultimately presented. It’s unfair to criticize a story for something it isn’t, but I do think Doctor Who has the potential for a really interesting exploration of the topic.

This is a good adventure with a tight structure and some really good twists and turns. It’s weird that for an adventure that goes deep into psychic stuff that my chief criticism is that I wish it was more cerebral. There’s no time for that though, as this story leads immediately into the last of this trilogy. 

[thatonestoreguy]

Red Planets

The Seventh Doctor and Mel are in London 2017, but not 2017 as it should be. To Mel, everything seems normal, which only worries the Doctor more because this timeline should not exist. Meanwhile, Ace is taking a break in 1961 Berlin, but the city is engulfed in a strange fog. A mysterious man Ace meets might be the key to everything.

This adventure is a very time travel based one. Whether or not the main characters are responsible for affecting time is a little ambiguous. Instead, the more important thing is how they will affect time now. The Doctor is the most immediately against the new timeline because of his Time Lord nature, but Mel is initially completely OK with it. This is a present where communism spread much more widely across Europe. At first, it seems not that much is different, but we soon see the dark underbelly of this kind of world. Meanwhile, Ace is at what seems to be the nexus of this change. Berlin is being chipped away at as time is rewriting, and Ace doesn’t have the Doctor to explain what is going on around her. 

A lot is left ambiguous during this adventure. It introduces a threat from the future as well as a modern resistance movement for the Doctor and Mel to get involved with, but the Doctor never really gets a handle on what exactly is happening with time. He might be able to explain more if he was with Ace. Ace being alone leaves much of what happens in Berlin unexplained. It gives the whole section an eerie and unreal feeling. The Doctor and Mel are mostly fighting to survive, unaware how much their survival hinges on Ace’s actions.

Red Planets takes a lot of big swings that I think it mostly lands. It features some neat twists on some time travel tropes. It has faith in the listener to figure out the full picture that the character’s lack. 

[thatonestoreguy]

Hour of the Cybermen

The Sixth Doctor arrives in London to find the populace fighting over the most valuable commodity, water. The whole of Britain is experiencing a completely unexplained drought. UNIT is on the case, but they need the Doctor’s help. Especially when one of the Doctor’s oldest enemies rear their heads.

This adventure brings back the UNIT crew first introduced in The Helliax Rift, but they aren’t quiet how we remember them. The changes in personality help to sell the passage of time and that the Doctor is a guest in these peoples’ lives. Still, the Doctor tries to pick up where he left off with Daniel Hopkins as he enlists him once again to help track down the source of this bizarre crisis. This brings them to an alien space ship and then, as the title gives away, to the Cybermen. 

The Cybermen here are using some standard infiltration techniques. They are causing the drought to weaken humanity, but they’ve also managed to infiltrate Earth and set up several unwitting spies. It’s an interesting approach for the Cybermen to take and the adventure hits all the classic tropes of the Cybermen. We see their coldness and the horror of cyber-conversion. Though the real strength of the adventure is its human cast and the sometimes unexpected ways they react to the cyber-threat.

This is a pretty standard Cyberman story, but what makes it shine is the returning guest cast. We get to see the characters in a new light and the twists feel very earned and shocking in a way they wouldn’t be without that previous adventure.

[thatonestoreguy]

Iron Bright

The year is 1828 and the construction of the Thames Tunnel is well underway. The project is already plagued by delays and money issues, and now they can add haunting to the list. A spectral woman walks the unfinished tunnel and wreaks havoc. The Burnel’s don’t know what to do, but perhaps the Sixth Doctor does. 

This story is very much in the style of a New Series episode that combines a famous historical figure with an alien threat. In this case, the figure is Isambard Kingdom Burnel, an incredibly important figure in the Industrial Revolution. As a genius engineer, he’s a good fit for a Doctor Who story and the adventure picks an interesting point in his life to visit. The Thames Tunnel is not his project, but his father's. Isambard is only 22 and has not yet made a name for himself. It doesn’t just lead to some fun jokes when the Doctor has to retract some statements that hint at Isambard’s future, but allows Isambard to be a person who feels like the could be great, but does not yet have the confidence to try to be great. Isambard act’s as a pseudo-companion here, but he still feels like a real person and not like the adventure is just tacking on a famous name to a standard type.

The threat the character’s face adds to the general metaphor of the story. The Industrial Revolution is just getting started, which means that England is becoming something new. The enemies both personify and are the victims of the same things that are happening to the country. Colonialism, the bloody gears of progress, and the effects on the environment that this era brings are all explored here in a way that feels organic and not at all preachy. It sets up a very interesting moral quandary on top of an alien threat. It also does a great job as a historical piece that teaches the listener about the specifics of the history they are exploring.

This is a great story to show anyone who is a big fan of New Who and is interested in getting in to the audios. It’s a fast-paced adventure that still manages to explore a interesting historical period and historical figure. 

[thatonestoreguy]

The Lure of the Nomad

The Sixth Doctor and new companion Mathew respond to a distress call from an ancient abandoned space ship. The ship has been empty for a long time, but a property developer is looking to turn it into a hotel. The Nomad holds a lot more mystery than anyone knows.

This adventure starts by throwing a lot of stuff at you. We have Mathew Sharpe as our new companion. As a sort of adventure from the future type, he seems more like a companion from the 1st or 2nd Doctor era. He’s a space pilot who has apparently been travelling with the Doctor for some time when they pick up the Nomad’s distress signal. We don’t really have time to process that before we’re thrown into this old generation ship and the man trying to develop it. There’s a dead Banksy pastiche, the construction workers are weird octopuses in robot suits, and the designer is a gaseous being in a transparent mannequin body. All of this comes at you so fast that you have to just accept it all when suddenly a greater threat emerges.

To talk too much about this drama would be giving it away. The whole story is built on a couple of twists that come in the second half. I try not to spoil the climax of these stories, and I won't start here. I will say this story is more straightforward than the fast start suggests. There’s an ancient alien threat with a plan and some time dilation nonsense, but the true strength of the story is its characters. The cast stands out in some great ways. The characters all have more depth than they might first appear to have.

This is a great adventure, but one that is difficult to talk about. First impressions aren’t always correct and people can surprise you. It’s worth giving this one a listen. 

[thatonestoreguy]

The Helliax Rift

The Fifth Doctor arrives in rural England to investigate the site of a supposed spaceship crash. He’s not the only one interested in the UFO. UNIT are on the scene and not too happy with the Doctor’s involvement, but the real mystery is what the crash has to do with a local health spa closed to the public.

This begins a trilogy of UNIT stories featuring a brand new batch of UNIT soldiers interacting with the various incarnations of the Doctor. Chief among them is medical officer Daniel Hopkins who serves as this story’s pseudo companion. The Doctor latches on to him as a medical man who, despite being a soldier, is not interested in killing. This sets him apart from this particular branch led by Lieutenant-Colonel Lewis Price who is much more gung-ho and quick to shoot first. Price is more concerned with securing the area and doesn’t trust the Doctor. This UNIT is definitely not the default ally that is present in newer stories.

The story itself digs in to a few interesting questions about the world of Doctor Who as a setting. It introduces a new group who is aware of the strange attraction aliens seem to have to Earth and are taking advantage of it. In many ways, it’s about three very different approaches to dealing with extra terrestrials. There’s UNIT’s way of only being interested in assuring the safety of the people of Earth. There’s the spa, who is also interested in helping humanity, but at the expanse of alien life. Finally, there’s the Doctor, who’s approach is to treat everyone like people and try to find a solution that helps everyone. Of course, things become more complicated as the mystery deepens, but the real crux of the story is the difference in perspective and approach and how they clash up against each other.

Even with the various twists the story takes, this is narratively the most straightforward of this trilogy. It’s a fun adventure that introduces us to some new characters. It’s the other adventures in the trilogy that really dig deeper into these new additions, but we’ll have to wait to get to that.

[thatonestoreguy]

Serpent in the Silver Mask

Intergalactic mining magnate Carlo Mazzini is dead. The Fifth Doctor, Adric, Nyssa, and Tegan are cordially invited to his funeral on the planet Argentia. All of Carlo’s potential heirs and demi-clones come out of the woodwork to see what piece of the pie they might inherit. When the heirs start dying one-by-one, the TARDIS crew will need to figure out who is behind the murders, before they become the next targets.

The Fifth Doctor’s large TARDIS team makes for a fun era of the show, but having so many regular actors does tend to be a limitation in the audio format where cast size has to be constricted for budget. This audio makes a creative solution to this problem by having almost the whole cast played by one man, Samuel West. Apart from two important side characters (Carlo’s secretary and the local police superintendent) the rest of the players are the Mazzini family who are all essential clones of each other. Despite this, West does a great job of making each character interesting and easily identifiable. A lot of them seem like caricatures, but their sketched in quality is somewhat intentional and in keeping with the genre. This is a murder mystery story, and most of these people are not long for this world.

The Doctor is often called on to play detective. In this case, it’s clear the drama is playing with the tropes of classic Christie. The cliches of the genre are a little dissected, but mostly played straight. It’s hard to say how ‘fair’ the mystery is on account of the multiple sci-fi twists applied to the story as it progresses. One particular twist is incredibly ‘Classic Who’ in tone. A bonkers left field bit of sci-fi nonsense is introduced seemingly just to set up a cliffhanger only to end up being important in the story’s conclusion.

This adventure is a fun romp. It takes the characters and the stakes very seriously, but playing them straight only makes them more absurd. More than anything, this one feels like Doctor Who in a quintessential way.