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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7-2. The Uncertainty Principle.

2 episodes. Running Time: Approx. 64 minutes. Written by: Simon Guerrier. Directed by: Lisa Bowerman. Produced by: David Richardson. Performed by: Wendy Padbury, Charlie Hayes.


THE PLOT:

Zoe remains a prisoner of The Company, scheduled for execution after refusing to divulge details she observed when traveling with the Doctor. Her advocate, Jen (Charlie Hayes), tells her that her only hope of saving herself is to remember something of value - and time is running out.

With guidance from Jen, Zoe recalls a disruption forcing the TARDIS to materialize on Earth in the year 2022. She, the Doctor, and Jamie trace the disruption to a prototype Feynman machine. The computer isn't working - and the same failed experiment that grounded the TARDIS also resulted in the death of Meg, one of the researchers.

The time travelers pretend to be mourners at Meg's funeral in order to gather information, where Zoe befriends Archie, who was in love with the ill-fated scientist. Zoe finds herself drawn to the awkward young man, who accompanies them to Meg's lab. There, Zoe discovers the machine, which somehow is drawing creatures from another dimension - creatures made of electricity, whose merest touch results in instant death!


CHARACTERS:

The Doctor: Blends in at the funeral through the simple trick of listening to other people's stories about Meg and then parroting back some of her qualities. He survives his first encounter with the electricity creatures thanks to his rubber-soled shoes, though he is disconcerted that his hair has been left standing on end. The description of him trying to hand-comb it back into place is one that perfectly evokes Patrick Troughton's Doctor.

Zoe: She feels romantically drawn to Archie. He is far from her intellectual equal, but his social awkwardness leaves him not quite fitting in, something that she can relate to. In the present, she is still grappling with the gap in her mind. She's facing execution if she cannot give the Company what they want - but when she realizes exactly what their goal is, she contemplates that it might be better to just let herself die and take the information with her.

Jamie: He gets less to do than in the previous two Zoe Companion Chronicles, likely because some of his normal role ends up going to Archie. He gets one great scene, however. When Archie's mother is jeopardized by the creatures and her house is set on fire, Jamie doesn't hesitate to rush into the flames to save her. He protects her from the worst of the smoke inhalation, even though doing so puts him in the hospital.

Jen: There's an urgency to her attempts to get information from Zoe, and it gradually becomes clear that she has a strong personal stake in this. By the end, she realizes that Zoe would have helped her willingly... but after Zoe's previous unreliable narration, Jen simply did not see her as somebody she could trust.


THOUGHTS:

The Zoe/memories arc continues with its strongest release yet. It's as if writer Simon Guerrier specifically corrected for the weaknesses of the earlier entries. The main story is more interesting than that of Echoes of Grey, and its ending is more satisfying than that of The Memory Cheats.

The frame story has consistently been this arc's strongest feature, and it continues to build. Zoe's subterfuge when telling her previous story directly impacts how Jen approaches her this time. Because Zoe made herself seem unreliable, she is treated as such. The malice of The Company is also further developed, with stakes rising for both Jen and Zoe.

As was true of The Memory Cheats, Guerrier constructs his story around a central idea. This time, the theme is uncertainty. The story directly invokes the principle of Quantum Superposition, that something exists in multiple states until it is measured and fixed as one thing or another. This is reflected by Zoe herself, who lives with two sets of memories: one in which she traveled with the Doctor and one in which she stayed on The Wheel. It also relates to the creatures in her story, and eventually to the state of one of the supporting characters.

This is a good story, and I have only a couple of small nitpicks. There's a minor inconsistency that I was surprised slipped through: Zoe references Jamie throwing a glass of water at the creatures - something that was actually done by Archie, while Jamie was elsewhere. When the characters investigate Meg's lab, an echo effect is applied that's a touch overdone, which I found distracting.

These are minor issues, though, and they don't stop this from being a very good story.


Overall Rating: 8/10.

Set during: Season 6

Previous Story: The Memory Cheats
Next Story: Second Chances

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6-7. The Anachronauts.

4 episodes: The Island, The Door, The Wall, The Betrayer. Running Time: Approx. 131 minutes. Written by: Simon Guerrier. Directed by: Ken Bentley. Produced by: David Richardson. Performed by: Jean Marsh, Peter Purves.


THE PLOT:

The Doctor, Steven, and Sara Kingdom have just left Liverpool on Christmas Day. They're still enjoying the moment when suddenly the TARDIS alarms sound. The Doctor realizes that they are about to collide with another timeship in the Vortex, and there's nothing he can do to avoid it!

After the collision, they find themselves on a beach. The TARDIS is nowhere to be found, but they are quite close to the other ship, which is now a wreck. The crew of that experimental vessel and their leader, Natalie Lang, reveal that they are from a time far in Steven's or Sara's future. They are at war with an enemy they call "The Wall of Noise," and their haphazard trip through time was a desperate attempt to stop this enemy.

The Doctor is appalled at the prospect of using time travel as part of a war. But the immediate problem is escaping this place - something that may prove easier said than done as they come to realize three things: they are on a desert island; the TARDIS does not appear to be anywhere; and they are not alone...


CHARACTERS:

The Doctor: He is initially pleased to meet Natalie's crew, praising them as "pioneers." His attitude shifts once he realizes that they want to use time travel technology as a weapon. The First Doctor has no control over the TARDIS - but even if he did, he plainly states that he would not take them home, detailing the horrific consequences of time travel being used to expand the war of Natalie's people to every point in history.

Steven: His attraction to Sara is clear, to the point that in a crisis, his first impulse is to demand to know where she is. He also knows that any romantic feelings he may have are not returned, a situation he accepts with grace. Peter Purves has been reliably excellent across every range he's contributed to, and that is very much the case here. There's a particularly strong scene near the end, when he realizes the nature of the situation in which he and Sara find themselves. Steven suddenly becomes cold and firm, and Purves makes this moment memorable.

Sara Kingdom: She was at war with the Daleks, and Steven's time also saw humanity at war. When she learns that Natalie's people, who are from a point far in both of their futures, are also at war, she feels despair. She has come to rely on Steven. He hasn't judged her for her actions under Mavic Chen, offering his friendship unconditionally. She does not reciprocate his feelings, but she also doesn't seem keen to discourage them either. Jean Marsh is quite good, with the four episodes allowing her to show different sides of Sara: strong determination, emotional vulnerability, and even abject terror at one point.


THOUGHTS:

The Anachronauts reunites writer Simon Guerrier with Jean Marsh's Sara Kingdom. This is not an extension of Guerrier's earlier Sara Kingdom Trilogy, but instead a standalone adventure that is specifically set right after "The Feast of Steven," the seventh episode of The Daleks' Master Plan.

As with Guerrier's earlier audios, the focus is kept on the characters. There are sci-fi concepts here, some of which I won't reference to avoid spoilers, but everything is in service to the characterizations of Steven and Sara. The script follows the preferred template of the 4-part Companion Chronicles, which is to say that it's really a pair of 2-parters with narrative links. Both halves study the Steven/Sara dynamic in slightly different ways.

The first two episodes separate them, using that separation to show the concern they have when each believes the other is in danger. By the end of the second episode, they are reunited, enjoying a moment of peace by the warmth of a fire. The latter half reverses this, keeping them together for the bulk of the running time, only with circumstances creating an emotional wedge. It's an effective contrast, and the performances of Jean Marsh and Peter Purves are strong throughout.

The story benefits from Simon Guerrier's skill at crafting vivid descriptions extremely quickly. There are two main settings, and both are brought to life quickly and effectively. The plot has one big issue, though: The resolution is too easy to see coming, particularly after the midpoint shift in setting from the island to the Cold War-era Berlin Wall.

I can't say more without spoiling it, but I don't think it's unparalleled powers of narrative perception that led me to see exactly where the story was going - I'm pretty sure a lot of listeners will make the same realization at roughly the same point.


OVERALL:


I would still rate The Anachronauts as a good story. It's well-told, the dynamic between Steven and Sara is wonderfully realized, and there are several clever flourishes throughout. But the story's direction becomes predictable, and I found myself left to wait for the characters to catch up with me.

Ultimately, it's the character interaction that carries this, and fortunately the Steven/Sara relationship is splendid... but the obviousness of the resolution keeps me from ranking this as highly as most of Guerrier's earlier Trilogy.


Overall Rating: 7/10.

Set immediately after: The Daleks' Master Plan, Episode 7

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6-3. The Memory Cheats.

2 episodes. Running Time: Approx. 65 minutes. Written by: Simon Guerrier. Directed by: Lisa Bowerman. Produced by: David Richardson. Performed by: Wendy Padbury, Charlie Hayes.


THE PLOT:

Zoe has been imprisoned and is facing execution in the wake of her refusal to share information with The Company.

She has one hope: Jen (Charlie Hayes), her defense attorney, dangles the prospect of leniency... but only if Zoe can remember her time with the Doctor. When Zoe insists again that she never actually traveled with him, Jen presents evidence: documents and photos that place her with the Doctor and Jamie in Uzbekistan, 1919.

This results in a breakthrough, with Zoe recalling that trip. She, the Doctor, and Jamie arrived in a village whose children were vanishing, one per night. Learning that the villagers are awaiting the arrival of Chebrakov, a Bolshevik official, the Doctor does what comes naturally: He impersonates the man in order to gain full access to investigate.

The children were taken from the poor and the privileged alike. At each house, the Doctor discovers a substance very like a spider's web. That night, the villagers remain awake and alert, and they are able to chase off what is either a badly deformed man or a creature. This leaves a trail for the time travelers to follow, to discover what became of the missing children.

Then the real Chebrakov arrives, and he has the expected reaction to the Doctor's impersonation: "I should have you all shot!"


CHARACTERS:

The Doctor: Impersonating a Bolshevik official grants him full access to investigate, and he swiftly notices the webs at the abduction sites. He's also able to connect the pieces of both the abduction and the still-recent war.

Zoe: She's the only person who isn't afraid of Chebrakov. She doesn't cow when he threatens to shoot her, instead calmly pointing out that it would be more to his advantage to use what they've already discovered to resolve the village's problem. She and Chebrakov genuinely like each other - which is not a point in her favor for Jen, who points out the types of deeds the Bolshevik would certainly have carried out to merit his position of power.

Jamie: He gains the trust of the village children by playing football with them. It's a bond that he solidifies when he stands up for a shy girl who doesn't want to talk to the Doctor, instead escorting the girl home so that they can talk to her mother. This is a terrific character scene that shows that while Jamie may not be as intellectually smart as the Doctor or Zoe, he is more emotionally intelligent than either of them.

Jen: Supposedly Zoe's defense attorney, Jen comes across more as an interrogator. She tells Zoe that she might gain clemency if she can provide The Company with information, and she guides her into first remembering, then telling the story. She is a mother herself, which makes her all the more invested in an incident involving kidnapped children.


THOUGHTS:

The Memory Cheats is a direct sequel to Echoes of Grey, with an older Zoe being prompted to remember details of her travels by people who want information from her. The frame creates tension, even more here than it did in the previous story, as Zoe is now in a much worse position than before.

Writer Simon Guerrier talks in the release's extras about the concept of investigating history. This is an area I've always found personally interesting. When you study past events, you're really having to interpret them using sources that are inherently biased: individual memories, often recounted decades after the events described; documents written by people serving their own agendas; and gaps that you have to attempt to fill through context. This is why, far from being static, history constantly changes: "accepted understanding" of the past shifts both with new discoveries and with changing standards.

The story plays with the idea of the unreliability of history. This is most apparent when Zoe challenges Jen, pointing out that from this point on, she could just make everything up and the other woman would never know it. The idea is also used when Jen prods Zoe's memory with records: the journal entries of a British doctor and his wife, or the likely (but unconfirmed) misdeeds of Chebrakov.

The first episode is by far the better of the two. There's just enough of the frame story to create tension, and writer Simon Guerrier does a splendid job of bringing the post-World War I setting to life. The village is still suffering from the ravages of war, and the citizens - rich and poor alike - are apprehensive of their new government. There are effective descriptions of how a poor family sleeps on the floor of their only room, with a contrast drawn between that family and another, more affluent one.

The second part takes the Doctor and his friends out of the village to find the children. It remains engaging. But for me, at least, once the characters leave the village, a lot of texture is lost.

The climax is my least favorite segment of the story. I like what it's trying to do, bringing the story to a close in a way that plays on the unreliability of Jen's sole source (Zoe). I also appreciate the way it draws parallels among the story Zoe relates, her life now, and Jen's own situation.

Unfortunately, I find the climax to be a bit of a jumble. Events are sketched rather than playing out, and critical moments seem brusehd over. This may serve the theme by stressing the unreliability of Zoe's account - but it comes at the expense of providing a satisfying conclusion, and I just don't find that to be a good tradeoff.


OVERALL:

A short epilogue between Zoe and Jen somewhat compensates, with each character challenging the other in a way that leaves the ongoing frame arc on a strong note. However, the resolution of the main plot remains disappointing to me.

The Memory Cheats is more ambitious than Echoes of Grey, with more intriguing ideas and a more detailed setting. But if pushed, I found Echoes more satisfying overall, simply because it felt more complete as a story.

I'd still rate it as a good release. But I was left feeling a little let down by the ending, which is enough to knock a point off my total score.


Overall Rating: 7/10.

Set during: Season 6

Previous Story: Echoes of Grey
Next Story: The Uncertainty Principle

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5-1. The Guardian of the Solar System.

2 episodes: The Old Men in the Clock, The Guardian of the Solar System. Running Time: Approx. 70 minutes. Written by: Simon Guerrier. Directed by: Lisa Bowerman. Produced by: David Richardson. Performed by: Jean Marsh, Niall MacGregor.


THE PLOT:

Decades have past since Robert agreed to stay in the house possessed by the consciousness of Sara Kingdom. Robert's daughter has grown and moved away, leaving him alone - and he has lost interest in going on with this life. Sara agrees to grant his final wish, but only after telling one last story of her travels in the TARDIS.

She relates a tale Robert has never heard before, though one that she has alluded to. The TARDIS materialized inside a mammoth clock, one that is tended by old men who seem completely unaware of the time travelers' presence. It becomes clear that they aren't merely tending to the machine - they are slaves to it.

"They are prisoners." So the trio are informed as they are taken into custody by a woman wearing the same Space Security uniform as Sara. They have arrived on Earth, one year before Guardian of the Solar System Mavic Chen makes his deal with the Daleks, and they have unwittingly stepped into the darkest secret held by Earth's government.

Sara's brother, Bret Vyon, is there, and he arranges a private audience between his sister and the Guardian. To her surprise, Mavic Chen is happy to have her input, agreeing with her that the exploitation of the old men is wrong and even offering her a position at his side. Sara begins to wonder if she might change the past to stop Chen's alliance before it ever happens - which would also prevent her own greatest regret, the execution of her brother! 


CHARACTERS:

The Doctor: He is fascinated by the workings of the clock. He slips into lecture mode, going into detail about how time is kept by the capture/escape of the mechanism - establishing some of the story's themes and allowing writer Simon Guerrier to show off his research at the same time. He shows faith in Sara's judgment by not going after her as soon as he and Steven free themselves from their cell, instead turning his attention to the clock and the old men who are being kept prisoner.

Sara Kingdom: Throughout this trilogy, she has been haunted by guilt over Bret's death. She's trapped in that moment, as much its prisoner as the old men are prisoners of the clock. Now, seeing him alive, she clings to the hope that she can change the past. Her meeting with Chen, in which he seems to take her concerns about the treatment of the prisoners seriously, encourages that belief - which only increases her despair when, inevitably, altering her own past proves impossible.

Steven: He and the Doctor are in sync, while Sara thinks of herself as an outsider and believes the Doctor still has doubts about her. She seems to envy Steven's certainty in situations, contrasting that with her own self-doubt. Steven remains focused on the well-being of his companions. When he and the Doctor get free, his first thought is to go to Sara's rescue. 

Mavic Chen: It may qualify as fan heresy, but I actually think this story provides better characterization for Chen than The Daleks' Master Plan did. Though actor Kevin Stoney's charisma made up for a lot, television Chen was quickly reduced to a paper tiger, failing repeatedly and often as a result of his own arrogance. By contrast, this Chen is a master politician, expert at picking out what people want before they're aware of it themselves (a neat echo with the house of the frame story). Chen plays Sara perfectly by telling her what she wants to hear and by making her feel valued and useful to him.

Bret Vyon: He is assigned to the clock, a classified operation that he could not reveal even to Sara. She observes in narration that they often did work that they could not discuss with each other. His fondness for her is clear in their interactions. After he takes her to see Chen, he is both amused and proud, assuming that she took the initiative to secure a meeting in order to advance her own career.

Robert: A theme of this story is people being trapped by their choices: Sara by her choice to shoot Bret, Robert by trading his own freedom for the sake of his daughter. Robert talks about having had no choice. When Sara points out that he didn't even try to leave with his daughter, if only to see if he could, he simply responds that he gave his word. He shows compassion when Sara breaks down at one point, telling her that what she did to her brother wasn't her fault, though she cannot make herself believe that.


THOUGHTS:

"There's never been any choice. I thought I had a chance to change things for the better... I can't change anything. There's nothing else to wish for."
-Sara Kingdom reveals the full extent of her own despair.

The Guardian of the Solar System brings Sara full circle. Her final story to Robert details a return to her own time, at a point just before everything went wrong. She sees her brother, she meets with a Mavic Chen who has yet to sell Earth out to the Daleks, and she deludes herself into hoping to change her own past - which proves ultimately impossible.

As good as this trilogy has been, I think this is its finest entry. The story is wonderfully written, with outstanding descriptive writing, such as when Sara describes the workings of the clock as a city made of blocks with individual mechanisms that are larger than rockets she's flown. The threads, both past and present, weave together much the way they did in Home Truths, and both threads are equally strong.

Early on, we're told how the clock operates: Each swing of the pendulum turns the cog a fraction, with the cog's teeth caught and then escaping from the mechanism only for the next tooth to be caught and escape. "The swing of the pendulum turned the cog, the turn of the cog swung the pendulum." And so the setting itself represents one of the main themes: the sense of being trapped.

Throughout the trilogy, Sara has observed how she had "no choice" in actions she has taken. This story pushes what has been a background motif into a foreground theme. Every character is trapped in one way or another, and their very attempts to escape just deepen their personal traps. The Doctor and Steven are captured and taken to a cell, which they of course escape. Standard Doctor Who padding... except that after he escapes, the Doctor returns to the clockwork, determined to free the old men - and in so doing, gets himself and Steven caught in the old men's prison.

Sara and Bret are prisoners of the inevitability of time, with Sara coming to realize that whatever she does, Bret is still destined to die at her hands. Meanwhile, the present-day strand has Robert insisting that he had no choice but to offer himself to save his daughter. Every so often, one will remind the other that they've had choices, albeit not always good ones, but each quickly slides back into the refrain of insisting that they had no choice at all.

The sound design for this release is particularly good. Within the great clock, we hear a constant, loud ticking that matches the oppressive nature of the mechanism itself. When the story moves back to the frame, there's still a ticking noise, the much quieter sound of the house's own clock - but the clocks of both past and present tick in the same rhythm, enhancing the sense of being trapped within mechanisms both cultural and mechanical. There is relief from the clock noise when Sara meets Mavic Chen, and the freedom from the sound of the clock may itself lower Sara's defenses when he justifies himself to her... but once that meeting is over, the ticking resumes.


OVERALL:

This is a splendid release, my favorite entry in a trilogy that's been largely excellent. A well-scripted tale is strengthened even further by the performance of Jean Marsh, who is at her best here. When she breaks down and decries that she's never had a choice in anything, the character's pain and anger is tangible.

It's not quite the end of my run through this mini-series, however, as this version of Sara would have one more appearance in a very different type of story...


Overall Rating: 10/10.

Set between: Episodes 7 and 8 of The Daleks' Master Plan

Previous Story: The Drowned World
Next Story: The Five Companions (not yet reviewed)

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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.

4-1. The Drowned World.

2 episodes: The Rising Tide, The Drowned World. Running Time: Approx. 68 minutes. Written by: Simon Guerrier. Directed by: Lisa Bowerman. Produced by: David Richardson. Performed by: Jean Marsh, Niall MacGregor.


THE PLOT:

It has been some time since Robert (Niall MacGregor) heard the story of how the consciousness of Sara Kingdom came to possess the house in Ely. Throughout that time, Robert has advocated to for "Sara" and her right to exist. He regularly returns to listen to more of Sara's stories, and he decides to record one in particular: the account of the real Sara's visit, with Steven and the Doctor, to a mining colony on a world covered in water.

A recent earthquake had shaken the mining facility, leaving the laboratory half submerged. The TARDIS materializes in the lab, only to rapidly slide from its slanted perch into the water. Above, the colonists await rescue, as their supply of oxygen dwindles.

While the Doctor sets to work on repairing the life support, Sara and Steven enlist the aid of three miners to retrieve the TARDIS. But the water turns out to be acidic, dissolving the rope they hoped to use to lift the box to dry land. Then the water begins reacting to their presence. It is alive and sentient - and it wants them dead!


CHARACTERS:

The Doctor: He doesn't hesitate to use his skills to save the colonists, setting to work repairing their life support while chuckling that he will "warm up the cold equations." When the water comes to life and begins engulfing the lab, with Sara still inside, he knows that he needs to close off the compartment separating the larger colony from the lab, but he can't bring himself to actually do so, with it ultimately falling to Sara to secure the seal.

Sara Kingdom: She continues to define herself by her oath to protect and serve. After she witnesses one miner's horrific death to the deadly water, she proclaims, "No one else is going to die!" She keeps the remaining two miners moving, focusing on the slim hope of climbing outside to a higher level and getting in through an airlock. She is a little too willing to sacrifice her life to save these strangers, her soul clearly shredded by guilt over shooting her brother.

Steven: Climbs easily up and down the tilted surfaces, his time in space having taught him to disregard the natural instinct to compensate when off balance. He leads the attempt to lift the TARDIS with rope, which seems to be working until the acidic nature of the water is revealed. He goes back to the Doctor to try to find something that won't dissolve, only to watch in horror as Sara shuts herself into the lab. The Doctor shouts down his attempts to interfere, pointing out that the rising water leaves nothing for them to do.

Robert: Like Sara, he took an oath to uphold the law, and he remains devoted to it. He genuinely believes that she might be considered an exception to laws against the supernatural, and he plans to record her voice on a phonograph so that the council of elders can hear her for themselves. When Sara acts to promote her own self-interest, he judges her harshly, though this does not stop him from turning her to help when he needs it.


THOUGHTS:

2008's Home Truths was a successful release, a fine story that found a clever conceit to allow Jean Marsh's Sara Kingdom to tell tales from her time in the TARDIS despite the character's death in her sole television story. With Marsh willing to reprise the role, Big Finish commissioned a sequel from the same writer, Simon Guerrier.

The result is another good story, though in my opinion not quite as good. Home Truths impressively weaves the Sara/Robert frame story and the narrative their scenes surrounded into a single, seamless narrative. That was always going to be a hard trick to repeat, and Guerrier wisely doesn't attempt to do so. Instead, he tries to thematically connect the past and present strands. This is effective at the end - but those connections really only become clear at the end, which makes the divide far more apparent.

By far the stronger of the two threads is the frame. Robert's world is greatly expanded from the first story, giving a greater sense both of the political structure and of the forces that threaten it. The added detail makes this world more real, with events unfolding outside the house that impact the interactions between Sara and Robert. The script creates an arc for the two characters, introducing tension into their relationship and shifting the power dynamics back and forth. All of this combines to make the frame feel larger and richer than the mining colony plot.

The past storyline, with Sara trying to rescue the miners from the deadly water, is still engaging. The planet of water makes for an inherently visual setting, and Guerrier's descriptions are concise yet vivid, helping to bring that setting to life. Pacing is also a strength. Just as the core situation, of the dwindling oxygen and the submerged TARDIS, has been established, the water itself becomes a threat. Sara's efforts are complicated and outright thwarted throughout, with her having to take additional risks to keep everyone alive.

The issue with this release is that, unlike Home Truths, the two strands don't come together to form a stronger whole. Even with the thematic parallels, I still felt like I was listening to two different stories - both of them good, but still distinctly separate.


OVERALL:

Sure, Home Truths was better. Then again, Home Truths is better than most Big Finish releases. The Drowned World is still a good story, one that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend, and I eagerly await the conclusion of this trilogy (yes, I listened to it on release - but that was a long time ago, and I don't remember a thing about it).


Overall Rating: 7/10.

Set between: Episodes 7 and 8 of The Daleks' Master Plan

Previous Story: Home Truths
Next Story: The Guardian of the Solar System

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3-5. Home Truths.

2 episodes: Dream Home, Home Truths. Running Time: Approx. 68 minutes. Written by: Simon Guerrier. Directed by: Lisa Bowerman. Produced by: David Richardson. Performed by: Jean Marsh, Niall MacGregor.


THE PLOT:

Rational, respectable Robert (Niall MacGregor) travels across the water to the isle of Ely to visit a deserted house, a house that has been the subject of whispers and rumors. He comes to talk to its proprietress, Sara Kingdom (Jean Marsh), and to hear her story.

Sara's story is also of a house: a home that she comes to with the Doctor and Steven. The house runs on psychic energy. Basic mechanisms, from doors to water faucets, respond not to physical manipulation but to thought. If you want a door to open or the water to turn on, thinking it will make it happen. A fascinating curiosity - until the trio comes across the corpses of the young couple who lived here.

Sara inspects the scene with her investigator's eye. There's no sign of a struggle, no sign of any violence at all. She observes that it's as if the two were alive right up to the moment of their deaths. An anxious Steven wants to leave. The Doctor thinks they should at least inform the local constabulary before moving on. And Sara, presented with a crime scene, wants to do her old job and solve the mystery.

But they aren't alone in this house - and the danger increases every moment they stay!


CHARACTERS:

The Doctor: Sara sees him in two ways: as an aging authority figure with wisdom and resources she can't comprehend, yet also as a kindred spirit who is as eager as she is to solve the mystery of the dead couple. He doesn't allow his own interest to override his judgment, however. Once he realizes that they are in danger, he is willing to leave - at least, until circumstances dictate otherwise.

Sara Kingdom: She is driven by her own regret at shooting her brother rather than hearing him out. She loved being a security agent, a job she viewed as bringing order to chaos, and she resents that corrupt politics tarnished that. Presented with an old-fashioned murder mystery, a part of her delights in getting to use her skills, even as she chides herself for finding joy in the deaths of two people. Jean Marsh is splendid, convincingly presenting both an older and younger Sara in the frame vs. the main narrative.

Steven: The Doctor and Sara are intrigued by the dead bodies, but Steven is just disturbed by them. The instant he thinks there's danger, he begins prodding the others to simply leave. Outside of that, and some amusing business as he struggles with the mechanism of a psychic water faucet, he's mostly the "extra character" of the main trio.

Robert: The man in the frame story, rescued from the storm to hear Sara's story. It's evident early on that he's not here by accident. He addresses her as "Miss Kingdom" before she introduces herself, and he reveals that he paid well to be brought here in this weather. We learn steadily more about him as the story progresses. Suffice to say, he's a counterpart to the Sara of the past, a man who values truth and has no time for superstition. Niall MacGregor is good, and Robert gets a more prominent role than most of the range's "frame story" voices.


THOUGHTS:

Home Truths mixes a haunted house story with a locked room mystery. It works well as both, the creepy elements and the mechanics of the mystery feeding each other, the eeriness lending atmosphere to the mystery. Writer Simon Guerrier plays fair with the plot, providing enough clues that I was able to guess what was behind the deaths by the end of Episode One. Even after I knew where it was going, the story remained strong enough to hold my attention.

Part One is a slow build. This is appropriate to both of the genres being invoked, and everything that happens during this initial phase is needed: The house and its mechanisms are explored, the mystery is introduced, and plot points are carefully set up to pay off in Part Two. Descriptions are effective and, combined with excellent (and restrained) sound design, the atmosphere carries the narrative to a strong cliffhanger. Still, I suspect some listeners may grow restless.

I think the second episode is the better of the two, with all the devices of the plot so carefully set up by Part One finally paying off. The sense of danger increases, and the pace picks up as the regulars work to resolve the mystery while escaping from the house that's now become their cage. Ideas about careless thoughts, regrets, and judgment weave into the main narrative in ways that make them not just interesting but urgent, and the story's climax has some real tension.

This is a more internalized story than most Companion Chronicles. By this point, the range had already become less a range of "enhanced talking books" and more of a hybrid between audio book and play, but Home Truths tilts more toward narration than action. This suits the nature of the story, and it helps to make the bookends with Robert a stronger part of the narrative. It also suits Jean Marsh's strengths, with the emphasis on Sara's inner turmoil allowing Marsh to bring stronger emotion to bear than her brief televised tenure had time for.


OVERALL:

I've mentioned before that The Companion Chronicles may be my favorite Big Finish range, and Home Truths is one of the better of its releases. Jean Marsh gives an excellent performance, and the production enhances the story while remaining simple enough to avoid distracting from the actors and emotional content.

It may require a bit of patience from some listeners, but I think the end result is well worth that initial effort.


Overall Rating: 9/10.

Set between: Episodes 7 and 8 of The Daleks' Master Plan

Next Story: The Drowned World

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