8-11. The Elixir of Doom.

2 episodes Running Time: Approx. 72 minutes. Written by: Paul Magrs. Directed by: Lisa Bowerman. Produced by: David Richardson. Performed by: Katy Manning, Derek Fowlds.


THE PLOT:

The Doctor's former companion, Jo, is now accompanying a new time traveler: the irresponsible, frequently inebriated Iris Wildthyme, whose time machine takes the form of a double decker London bus. Iris takes Jo to 1930s Hollywood. She insists they're just going to enjoy a fun romp, shopping for fancy clothes before crashing a Hollywood party.

Naturally, that's not the truth. Iris is on the trail of Vita Monet, a glamorous horror movie queen famous for her array of monsters - and infamous for her sharp tongue and her five ex-husbands. On a previous trip to Hollywood during the Silent Age, Iris had misplaced an alien elixir. It's been in Vita's possession ever since - and as Jo and Iris soon discover, she's been using it to literally make the monsters in her movies.

Unlike most movie monsters, however, these creatures are genuinely dangerous - something Jo discovers when she gets caught snooping where she shouldn't be...


CHARACTERS:

The Doctor: The Eighth Doctor, that is, despite the photo of Jon Pertwee on the CD insert. I don't consider this a spoiler, since his first scene comes all of fifteen minutes in. Though Iris is careful to keep the Doctor and Jo from meeting, the Doctor actually receives a pretty decent role. He fearlessly faces down a monster near the start, using the same Venusian lullaby that the 3rd Doctor used on Aggedor. He also joins Iris in confronting Vita at the end... though his indignation at the villain gets sidetracked by his almost equal annoyance at Iris's carelessness.

Jo: She tries to restrain the worst of Iris's excesses, such as stopping her from drinking behind the wheel of the bus. When she wrestles a drink away and the glass breaks, Iris laments its loss. Jo shoots back a sharp: "Good!" She retains her primary traits from her television era: a sense of basic decency and a reckless streak. These end up combining in a way that creates chaos at the story's climax.

Iris Wildthyme: "Chaos" is the word that best describes Iris. Sure, she's trying to do the right thing in this story... but that right thing basically amounts to cleaning up her own mess. Without her past carelessness, there would be no story. She gets some choice lines. When it's revealed that Vita made her ex-husbands into monsters, Iris all but rolls her eyes: "Blokes often use that excuse, I've had that one chucked at me before."

Vita Monet: Jo met her once with the Third Doctor, on a trip to 1970s Hollywood. She was a horrible and selfish old woman then. After meeting her when she's young and beautiful, with her career at its height... Jo realizes that she was always horrible. Vita is the villain, using the elixir she stole from Iris to advance her career by destroying the lives of others. She is definitely not a charming villain. She's unpleasant as a default, sneering at everyone around her. Katy Manning adopts a gratingly harsh American accent, one that helps to make this human monster be as easy to hate as she deserves.


THOUGHTS:

Find and Replace ended with Jo and Iris going off on their own adventures. Three years later, The Elixir of Doom finally followed up on that premise. Though the Doctor is present and plays a key role, this almost plays like a backdoor pilot for an Iris/Jo spinoff... which, frankly, I wouldn't have minded listening to, as the two characters are great fun together.

Iris and Jo are equally headstrong but they also have sharply contrasting personalities. Jo is idealistic, Iris is self-absorbed and seems often oblivious to the world around her. In this story, both are trying to do right in their own ways, and both of them frequently make a mess of it.

The characters are enjoyable in themselves, and Paul Magrs adds a layer to that with his use of the narration. Scenes are divided between Jo's viewpoint and Iris's. In plot terms, this allows Magrs to write scenes featuring each character and even cut between them. The alternating narration also drives home the differences between them, with Jo earnestly describing people, places, and situations, and Iris giggling her way through and lending an exaggerated broadness to her moments.

Of course, Magrs also subverts audience expectations with the Doctor. The story is billed as a Third Doctor entry, complete with Jon Pertwee's face on the cover... all the better to tweak the audience's nose when it's the Eighth Doctor who appears.

The 1930s Hollywood setting is nicely realized. Vita's stable of creatures is an evident stand-in for the old Universal monsters, right down to crossover films; instead of Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, we get Leopard Boy Meets the Human Jelly. Historically speaking, the 1930s is a touch early; Universal's crossovers didn't materialize until the '40s, to keep up audience interest in a franchise that was starting to wane. But accuracy isn't the point. The fun is in Jo and Iris visiting classic Hollywood, crashing a glamorous party and then sneaking onto a set in which torch-wielding extras are primed for a big action sequence against painted backdrops.

As ever, Katy Manning is a joy to listen to. Jo, Iris, and Vita all have distinct voices, making scenes involving all three characters feel almost like a full cast release. The story moves along nicely, with plenty of humor and a decent amount of action. It also ends well, and in a way that takes care to maintain consistency with Jo's off-screen previous meeting with Vita.


OVERALL:

Unlike Find and Replace, there are no wellsprings of emotion in The Elixir of Doom. This is just good, escapist fun. But I happen to enjoy good, escapist fun. I also well remember the classic monster movies, which a local television station aired weekly during my childhood, so this engaged me through nostalgia almost as much as it did through the actual storytelling.

If pressed, I think Find and Replace is the better story, but I had a fine time listening to this. I only regret that there are no more Iris/Jo stories to look forward to.


Overall Rating: 8/10.

Preceded by: Find and Replace

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5-3. Find and Replace.

2 episodes Running Time: Approx. 60 minutes. Written by: Paul Magrs. Directed by: Lisa Bowerman. Produced by: David Richardson.


THE PLOT:

It's been roughly 30 years since Jo left the Doctor, and she's lived a happy life. One day, while shopping for Christmas presents, she finds herself sharing a lift with a peculiar man named Huxley (Alex Lowe). He seems entirely harmless at first... until he begins narrating her thoughts.

Huxley is a Novelisor, a species that forms a mental link with subjects in order to narrate the lives of those they find interesting. Huxley is enthusiastic about meeting Jo, wanting to narrate all of her old adventures as assistant to that traveler in time and space - Iris Wildthyme.

Jo protests that he has it all wrong. Then Huxley introduces her to Iris, who warns her to play along. Iris sets the coordinates of her time and space bus to take them back to the 1970s, where Jo resolves to find the Doctor and become disentangled from this bothersome alien. But there's an added complication waiting for all of them...


CHARACTERS:

The Doctor: His actual role is small, with him mainly featured in a single scene, albeit a long scene. That still provides time to showcase how he reacts differently to different characters. He's instinctively gentle with Jo. He's scornful of Iris to her face, but there's a certain indulgence, and (once she's safely out of earshot) he includes her when he talks about friends. Meanwhile, he's authoritative and confrontational with Huxley. Katy Manning's Third Doctor performance is good, as always, capturing many of the characteristics of Jon Pertwee's Doctor.

Jo: She looks back on her time with the Doctor and UNIT as her "best time." This makes her protective of her memories when Huxley calls them into question. Huxley's powers are persuasive, and she begins to doubt her own mind, but she refuses to let go of the part of the past that means the most to her. When Iris takes her back to the 1970s, she is overwhelmed at returning to the UNIT base. She treats with wonder the simple act of walking into the Doctor's lab, something she used to do without even thinking about it. She's so entranced at returning to this golden period that she briefly argues for staying, though she quickly realizes the impossibility of that.

Iris Wildthyme: I've consistently enjoyed Manning's performances as Iris. Everything about Iris is garish, which gives Manning license to go over-the-top, delivering her lines with a broad accent at a high volume, while slurring the words just slightly to suggest a semi-permanent state of inebriation. Of course, Iris is also wily. She recognizes the danger Huxley poses and warns Jo to keep on his good side. She's vain and flirtatious with the Doctor, but she also knows how to use her surface foolishness to do good. The Iris/Jo combo is a lot of fun to listen to, and - as with many of Manning's Big Finish performances - it's easy to forget that both roles are played by the same actress.

Huxley: Writer Paul Magrs makes the Companion Chronicles format work in a way that an unnarrated audio wouldn't. As Jo shares an elevator with the unassuming Huxley, she describes her thoughts - only for her narration to suddenly be picked up by Huxley, with it made clear that he is narrating direclty in front of her. The effect is sinister, even though Huxley himself is entirely mild mannered. Alex Lowe reprises a role he originated in the 5th Doctor story, Ringpullworld - a story I remember enjoying even though I don't actually remember anything else about it. Happily, no knowledge of the other story is required to enjoy this one.


THOUGHTS:

I have usually enjoyed Paul Magrs' Big Finish stories, and Find and Replace is no exception. Like much of Magrs' writing, it blends clever concepts with a sense of whimsy in a way that I find appealing. It captures nostalgia for the Pertwee era in a way that feels entirely natural - because it's not just the listener feeling nostalgic (or worse, the writer trying to force a feeling of nostalgia) - It's Jo herself who finds herself missing that part of her past.

Iris as a character lends herself to comedy, so it's no surprise that Find and Replace is funny. More surprising is how genuinely emotional it was. There's a hint of this in the first episode, when Jo refuses to allow Huxley to overwrite her memories, stubbornly clinging to that precious time. But when Jo is finally reunited with the Doctor at the end, the depth of Jo's feeling becomes clear. She has a moving speech when talking to the Doctor near the end, one that's beautifully written and wonderfully delivered by Katy Manning.

The story zips along at a fast pace. There's barely a pause as we go from Jo's encounter with Huxley to her meeting Iris, and from there to the trip back in time to the 1970s. Enough information is given to comprehend that Huxley can overwrite others' memories, but there's no lingering on exposition. There's also a late twist that is surprising but that also makes sense given the characters involved, and it ties in nicely with both the plot mechanics and the emotional material.

It ends with a closing sting that teases potential future adventures with Jo and Iris, at least one of which - The Elixir of Doom - was later released by Big Finish. After how much fun I had with this story, I don't think there's any question about me moving directly on to that one.


Overall Rating: 9/10.

Set After: The Green Death
Set Before: The Death of the Doctor

Followed by: The Elixir of Doom

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3-3. The Doll of Death.

2 episodes. Running Time: Approx. 73 minutes. Written by: Marc Platt. Directed by: Lisa Bowerman. Produced by: David Richardson. Performed by: Katy Manning, Jane Goddard.


THE PLOT:

Jo Grant is meant to be attending a UNIT-mandated training session that the Doctor derisively labels "spy school." But when the Doctor detects a temporal anomaly at the National Museum, he insists on her accompanying him.

They find the anomaly in the office of Professor Harold Saunders, who has come into possession of an alien tablet. He refuses to let the Doctor examine it, fearing that the Doctor might be a professional rival looking to steal his work. Reluctantly, the Doctor and Jo leave - only to run straight back after an explosion in Saunders's office.

Saunders is dead and the tablet destroyed, but there is one clue: Mrs. Killebrew (Jane Goddard), an aging hippie they encounter at the museum. Killebrew runs a toy repair shop (a "toy hospital") in London.

The shop is in ruins, apparently gutted by an explosion that Mrs. Killebrew says hasn't happened yet. Jo and Sergeant Benton find a room of old dolls, which seem to come to life in their presence. Then time catches up with the explosion - and for Jo and the others in the shop, time begins running backwards...


CHARACTERS:

The Doctor: Early on, he clashes with the Brigadier over having to fill out something as mundane as tax forms, a reminder of the sort of thing that makes him very frustrated with his exile. He hopes that the tablet's time properties will help him to escape his confinement, and he seems genuinely tempted to use it for himself. Despite the usual Third Doctor prickliness (and seriously, how did the often giddy and giggly First Doctor end up getting dubbed "the grumpy one?"), he remains compassionate at his core.

Jo Grant: Skilled at running interference between the Doctor and normal people. After the Doctor alienates Professor Saunders, Jo gives the man a warm smile and is friendly and respectful until he calms down enough to speak with them. She's also very impulsive, however. After Benton rescues her near the end of Episode One, she rushes right back into danger to help him. She also has a cheerfully materialistic side. During the long walk across a reverse-time London, she pauses to admire a pair of boots in a shop window. Killebrew sneers at her for being brainwashed by bourgeois capitalism, prompting Jo to reply that she simply likes the boots - which, inevitably, end up as part of her wardrobe.

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart: One of the few "off" character beats is the level of antagonism between him and the Doctor. Even in Season Seven, when they frequently did clash, the Brigadier wouldn't have accused him of "playing games" once dead bodies started showing up - and by the end of Season Eight, when this story is set, he was barely questioning even the Doctor's most bizarre impulses. This is made up for in Episode Two, however. When he, Jo, and Benton find themselves cut off from the Doctor, the Brigadier refuses to be ruffled, pointing out that this was the exact type of situation UNIT was created to handle even without the Doctor.

Sgt. Benton: When Jo insists on following up the lead on Mrs. Killebrew, an off-duty Benton offers to help. He rescues Jo twice in the toy hospital, first saving her from spectral hunting dogs and shortly after shielding her from gunfire. He ends up wounded but, despite increasing blood loss, continues to carry on, insisting that he's fit for duty.


THOUGHTS:

The Doll of Death benefits from some effectively creepy imagery. There's a reason that "living dolls" have become a horror movie staple. There's something intrinsically unsettling about seeing this thing that's human-like but not human suddenly turn its head. Writer Marc Platt makes this even better by choosing to use a Victorian doll. If you've ever seen one in person, you'll wonder that anyone would ever have put such nightmare fodder in a child's bedroom.

Somewhat to my surprise, this story didn't turn out to be a horror romp with living dolls. The doll is part of a more complex story involving parallel timelines, one moving forward and one moving in reverse. That's even connected to the doll via its palindromic name: Hannah, a name that's the same forward or back.

The story has some fun with the reverse timeline. Jo describes the difficulty of attempting to dodge people and objects moving in reverse. Damage is done not by an explosion, but by an implosion, with Benton's injury the result of a bullet going backward from a wall and into the gun that fired it. Key scenes from Part One are glimpsed again in Part Two when events hurtle back toward the beginning of the story.

Katy Manning's performance provides a considerable boost. When she reads the Doctor's lines, it's a bit surprising just how much of Jon Pertwee she captures. Manning is startlingly good at recreating some of the patterns of his line deliveries, to the point that I almost forgot that Pertwee wasn't actually present. Her Brigadier is also good, always sounding one increasingly miniscule step away from exasperation. With Manning changing her voice and delivery style for each character, this becomes less of a reading and more of a one-woman show (well, with a guest appearance by Jane Goddard).

My only serious reservation is the ending. The story just sort of... stops, abruptly cutting from the climax to the present day. It plays as if someone said, "We're at 70 minutes, and this is a one-disc release. Quick - wrap it up!" I emphasize that the ending isn't actually botched - you can easily enough put it all together - but I think a quick tag scene would have made it a bit cleaner.


OVERALL:

Outside of the rushed ending, The Doll of Death is a very good story, one of the Companion Chronicles' best. The story is clever and well-paced. The visual descriptions are strong.  Most of all, Katy Manning's performance is outstanding. The Third Doctor can be a difficult incarnation for audio performers to capture well, and Manning makes it look easy.


Overall Rating: 9/10.

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