7-10. The Library of Alexandria.

2 episodes: The Library of Alexandria, The Pathway to the Stars. Approx. 61 minutes. Written by: Simon Guerrier. Directed by: Lisa Bowerman. Produced by: David Richardson. Performed by: William Russell, Susan Franklyn.


THE PLOT

The TARDIS brings the Doctor and his companions to 5th Century Alexandria, home of the great Library of Alexandria, a center of knowledge and study in the ancient world. Barbara is thrilled, and begs the Doctor to let them stay for a while. It's a request he's happy to grant, and they enjoy a few weeks of rest during the height of ancient scholarship.

Ian strikes up a friendship - and flirtation - with Hypatia (Susan Franklyn), a female philosopher who teaches and lectures at the Library. While looking at newly-arrived books found in the hold of a Roman ship, Hypatia shows him the strangest of them: A book not in scroll form, but in the (to Ian) more familiar form of pages attached to a binding. The writing is alien, and the astronomical diagrams clearly beyond Earth's current knowledge.

The Doctor recognizes the book the work of the Mim, an advanced alien race, and declares they must take the book away before it does any damage to the timeline. But it's already too late. Just as the time travelers prepare to leave, enormous sea monsters rise from the port, laying waste to the city. Their target is the Library - and the Doctor knows there's nothing he can do, because the destruction is already fixed in history...



CHARACTERS

The Doctor: Insists that they cannot interfere with what is destined to happen to the Library. But when Susan points out that they don't actually know what happens, he's willing to exploit that loophole to limit the damage. The greatest single image of the story takes place in the second episode, with the elderly First Doctor facing down the enormous Mim armed with little more than courage, intelligence, and a tremendous amount of innate authority.

Ian: Though his friendship with Hypatia is flirtatious, he enjoys her company at least as much for the chance to debate with a fellow scientist (something he really can't do with the Doctor) as for her attractiveness. He insists to both Hypatia and himself that he and Barbara are only friends - though Hypatia is quick to point out that the evidence doesn't really support his statement. In the fashion typical of the character, he marshals several of the Library's scholars to defend the building using the surrounding artifacts and the one weakness Susan is able to reveal about the Mim.

Barbara: When she realizes they are in the Library of Alexandria, she is in awe at actually standing within such a significant institution. She revels in the chance to soak in the long-lost documents on the Library's shelves. When the Mim attack and the Library begins to burn, she risks her life to save as many of the scrolls as possible... Which results in a funny final gag that would not have been at all out-of-place in one of the television stories featuring this team of regulars.

Susan: Also very much in keeping with stories of the era, Susan gets the least to do of the regulars - Though unlike most writers of the era, Simon Guerrier remembers that she possesses knowledge far beyond that of Ian and Barbara. Since the First Doctor is tight-lipped about his knowledge of alien races, Susan is used to let their companions (and the listeners) know the necessary exposition about the Mim, and her observation that they are entirely nerve tissue leads to Ian's heroic stand at the end.


THOUGHTS

The two halves of The Library of Alexandria really shouldn't fit together. The first half is a character-based historical, with us observing the regulars' interactions with this time period and particularly Ian's interactions with Hypatia. The best scenes in this episode are the conversations between the two voiced characters, with Guerrier's well-crafted dialogue making talks focused on ancient theories about the relationship between planets and the sun into genuinely absorbing drama.

It's quite jarring when the Mim appear just before the cliffhanger, and what had been a pure historical suddenly becomes a Godzilla-like tale of monsters on a rampage. But somehow, it continues to work. The script doesn't lose its intelligence when the monsters show up. The Doctor uses scientific knowledge and a couple of items readily available to draw the Mim's attention and keep them at bay, and Ian does the same in his stand against them at the end. This, and the smartly-written debate between the Doctor and the Mim about interference in timelines, means that even with the sharp change of tone it still feels like the same piece, even with monsters laying waste to the city.

There's a lovely tag that witnesses the First Doctor interacting with children, giving a science lesson of his own that you just know is a scene in which William Hartnell would have excelled. William Russell does his usual terrific job as the primary narrator, and guest actress Susan Franklyn is also excellent as Hypatia. I give the story points for alluding to the subsequent Library, by having the scholars save a lot of the material. They may make the first Library's fall into a monster movie, but the definitely manmade destruction of the material that survives still lies ahead.

I still prefer the pure historical first episode, which creates an authentic-seeming Alexandria, and I love the way Guerrier opens on action in a way that fits the story and setting without creating confusion. But even in the second half, this remains a terrific story, one that I enjoyed enormously.


Overall Rating: 8/10.

Previous Television Story: The Reign of Terror
Next Television Story: Planet of Giants

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4-9. Shadow of the Past.

2 episodes. Approx. 64 minutes. Written by: Simon Guerrier. Directed by: Lisa Bowerman. Produced by: David Richardson. Performed by: Caroline John.


THE PLOT

Radar warning barely gives UNIT enough time to quarantine an alien ship that has crash-landed in an unpopulated area outside London. Arriving at the wreckage, Liz is worried about the possibility of contamination, the spectacle of the Silurian plague still fresh in her mind. But the Doctor sees that the ship was landed intact in a populated area - indicating a skilled pilot, one who might be able to help him to free the TARDIS from the Time Lords' restrictions.

When they investigate the ship, it appears that the pilot was killed on entry into the Earth's atmsophere, reduced literally to jelly by the heat and gravity. "Spam in a can," as the soldiers ghoulishly joke. Then UNIT detects more ships, coming toward Earth in a spearhead formation. It can mean only one thing: Invasion.

That's when the Doctor jumps into action. He identifies the ships as Mim warships, and coordinates Earth's nuclear defenses. Then he communicates with the invaders... and what he says sends a chill down the spines of both Liz and the Brigadier:

"Earth's defenses have been disabled... You can start the invasion!"


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: Though it's now been a few weeks since the incident with the Silurians (and, presumably, one adventure with the Brigadier later), the Doctor is still nursing a grudge against the Brigadier's decision in that story. He even announces at the crash site that he will not allow UNIT to turn this into a repeat of that situation. His eagerness to escape his exile leads him to rush in recklessly. Liz spells it out for us: Seeing the skill of the Mim pilot in crashing the ship in an unpopulated area, the Doctor has hopes that the Mim will help him to break his exile if he helps them. When the Mim proves hostile, however, the Doctor refuses to leave the Earth to it. That price is simply too high for him - though his moment of temptation, in which Liz sees something wholly alien in his eyes, shows how strong the lure of freedom is for him.

Liz: This audio offers some outstanding character moments for Liz. Writer Simon Guerrier effectively mines Liz's background as a scientist with multiple degrees, and has Liz use her scientific knowledge as a shield against strong emotion. At several points while telling the story, Liz begins to get too close to moments she finds personally affecting. At these moments, she will suddenly go off on tangents, describing details about sponges (the sea animal, not the cleaning tool) or other scientific information. At one point in the second episode, she even has to pull herself back on track, admonishing herself to press on with the difficult details. It's well done, and fits perfectly with the character we saw on television, remaining so icy cool by using her own knowledge as a buffer between herself and harsh realities.

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart: As Liz observes, the Brigadier and the Doctor are still sounding each other out at this point in their working relationship. The Brigadier doesn't miss any opportunity to reinforce his own authority over the Doctor, something that inevitably makes the Time Lord bristle. However, as a key moment in the story shows, the Brigadier isn't always wrong. He stops the Doctor from barging into the alien ship in an uncontrolled environment not simply by giving an order, or even backing it up with armed soldiers. He puts it to the Doctor with one simple challenge: "Tell me that it's safe." When the Doctor can't meet that challenge, he gives in - and even later admits to Liz that the Brigadier was probably right (as later events seem to bear out). For all of that, the Brigadier does trust the Doctor's judgment, and sees the Doctor as the best chance to stop the Mim.


THOUGHTS

Shadow of the Past is a Season Seven story. Of course it is - Liz is the Doctor's assistant, after all, and that was only true of one television season. But more than just in setting, this audio really recreates the feel of that particularly fine Doctor Who season. The characterizations fit seamlessly into the surrounding television stories. The Doctor is compassionate with Liz, but he desperately wants away from his exile and has no hesitance in showing harshness to either the Brigadier or his troops. His relationship with the Brigadier is marked by frequent clashes, and only occasional moments of softness. The Brigadier himself is no sidekick, but a man of genuine intelligence, authority, and even ruthlessness - the Season Seven Brigadier, in other words, not the dumbed-down one of later years. In tone, character, and general detail, this is completely identifiable as Season Seven Doctor Who.

That proves to be the case with the story's overall quality, as well. The 2-part structure allows Simon Guerrier to neatly divide his story, with Part One emphasizing investigation of the crash site and building the mystery, while Part Two lets rip with the action. The division works startlingly well, with the slow build of Part One allowing Part Two to move at a run without ever feeling rushed. Good character moments are given to all the principles, while nods at the incoming character of Mike Yates and the advancement of Benton unobtrusively tie the story to the television series' continuity to good effect.

Caroline John is simply outstanding, both in recreating Liz Shaw and in narrating the story. She did a good job of reading The Blue Tooth, one of the very first Companion Chronicles. Returning four years later to record this story, she is even better. The vividness of John's performance takes a well-written script and gives it an added dimension, making Shadow of the Past a strong entry in a very strong range.


Rating: 8/10.