8-5. The Beginning.

2 episodes: The First Flight, Red Lightning. Approx. 62 minutes. Written by: Marc Platt. Directed by: Lisa Bowerman. Produced by: David Richardson. Performed by: Carole Ann Ford, Terry Molloy.


THE PLOT

In the beginning, there was the Doctor and his granddaughter, Susan - two people who didn't fit within their rigid society. For reasons unspecified, but related to his disagreements with those in authority, they are forced to flee. They take refuge in an old time ship scheduled for the scrapheap. When it's clear their pursuers have found them, the Doctor decides to take off, launching himself and Susan off to places unknown.

But they are not alone - Quadrigger Stoyn (Terry Molloy), a member of a work crew dismantling the time ship, fell asleep near the engines, only to wake to the ship's departure. Stoyn insists they must return, but for the Doctor return is not an option. He destroys the man's homing device, making it impossible to contact their home world, and sets off to explore the world on which they have landed...

A world populated by The Archaeons, beings seeding life onto the infant Earth, determined to create a perfectly ordered society. When the Archaeons attemt to dismantle the TARDIS, the ship's defenses activate, sending the experiment out of control. The human race emerges, in all its disorder and violence, leaving the Archaeons determined to repair their experiment the only way they know how: By eradicating the human race!


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: It's strongly indicated that he's fleeing arrest because his opinions have been deemed dangerous/subversive by those currently in power... Something that fits very well with what we know of his character. He falls instantly in love with the TARDIS, and is certain that with enough time he'll be able to figure out how to fly it perfectly (which is true enough - though he probably doesn't expect it will take several lifetimes). He's appalled at the Archaeons' plan to destroy the human race, but is willing to feed them power for at least long enough to distract them for a getaway, which fits with the more selfish Doctor of the early television stories. As soon as he's had the distraction he needs, however, he makes sure to cut their power, ending their aggression.

Susan: She falls in love with Earth the same way the Doctor falls in love with the TARDIS, which foreshadows that she will eventually find a home there the same way he will find one in the time ship. She's excited at the prospect of visiting alien worlds. At the same time, she's a very young woman who has just been uprooted from the only home she's ever known. She misses that home, and admits to wishing she could return. She is disgusted by Stoyn's willingness to destroy all life on Earth. When Stoyn tries to get her to come with him and leave the Doctor, she makes clear that she will not abandon her grandfather under any circumstances.

Quadrigger Stoyn: Bound by rules and procedures, he is aghast that the Doctor and Susan would take this obsolete time ship off their world without proper clearance. He is terrified by the unfamiliar, afraid to leave the ship without encasing himself in a protective helmet even when it's clear the Doctor and Susan are walking around on the surface with no ill effects. He is not just willing but eager to save his own skin at the expense of not only the Doctor and Susan, but the entire human race. Not because he's a villain with an evil plan - but because he's a petty, small-minded man who can't conceive of anything more important than his own life and well-being and his place in society.


ANNIVERSARIES AND CONTINUITY

The Beginning is one of several 2013 Doctor Who projects commemorating the series' 50th anniversary. Telling the story of the Doctor's flight from Gallifrey and his first flight in the TARDIS - A natural enough idea, and one that's had groundwork laid in the multiple pre-Unearthly Child stories Big Finish has already recorded. With this, Quinnis, and Hunters of Earth, you have a pretty decent mini-season acting as a prologue to the television series.

Writer Marc Platt is the perfect choice. He not only wrote Quinnis, he also wrote the "Doctor-who-never-left-Gallifrey" Unbound audio Auld Mortality (which, with a few minor rewrites, could almost act as a prequel to this). He's made almost a sub-career out of exploring the Doctor's pre-series background, and has created a consistent tone to the early Doctor/Susan dynamic across these stories.

He's also careful with his continuity. The Doctor's mythology as it's been created over the decades gets plenty of play. We recognize Gallifrey in the descriptions of the Doctor's home world, but names such as "Gallifrey" and "Time Lords" are never uttered - Nothing that hadn't been named in the Hartnell stories is named here, which makes it feel properly of a piece with the early television stories, and additional information about the Doctor's exile from his home is kept vague.

Platt takes care to reconcile his story with other bits of continuity from the television series. The Name of the Doctor saw Clara steer the First Doctor to the TARDIS. Platt has Susan pushed into a different vessel and hearing what we know is that very conversation... But at the same time, it's not intrusive if you're not familiar with the scene in question. Later, Susan comes up with the name "TARDIS" while wandering the corridors, explaining why she insisted in An Unearthly Child that she named the ship... While the Doctor clearly knowing that the ship IS a TARDIS reconciles that with the word's common usage later in the series. Again, done quickly and, to someone not aware of the continuity, largely invisibly.


THOUGHTS

The first part of the serial, focusing on the Doctor's escape from Gallifrey, is excellent. It opens on action, making us eager to know what's going on. We learn enough to justify the Doctor's hasty departure, with enough mystery left for another potential story at some later date. The opening scenes are drenched in atmosphere, and seeing the Doctor and Susan discover the TARDIS for the first time, and listening to their first-ever dematerialization, are things that are an absolute joy.

Much like the previous "beginning," An Unearthly Child, this outstanding opening is a prologue bolted onto a standalone story. About halfway through the first episode (a quarter of the way through the story), the TARDIS makes its first landing, signifying the start of the story involving the Archaeons.

The Archaeons represent the type of rigid order and conformity the Doctor has fled. They do not tolerate dissent, labeling the Doctor's arguments against them as "heresy." To them, absolute order is perfection. The chaos of life on Earth horrifies them as much as it delights the Doctor, and - appropriately enough - the Doctor's first encounter with an alien menace involves him saving the human race from them, before he's so much as properly met a human being.

It's all very enjoyable, and a fitting enough first step on the long journey to come. It's not up there with the great stories - the Archaeon story fits nicely, but it just isn't as gripping as the opening flight. Still, it's well-done and highly entertaining throughout. A fine new "beginning" to celebrate the series' anniversary.


Overall Rating: 8/10.

Next Television Story: An Unearthly Child

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8-2. The Alchemists.

THE PLOT

The Doctor and Susan's travels bring them to 1933 Berlin - just prior to Hitler's rise, in a time when Germany is in chaos. The Doctor is aware of the dangers of this time and place, but he is also excited about a gathering of scientists at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute. Though Einstein has already left for America, several other luminaries are still present: Heisenberg, Planck, and Fritz Haber, whose work with ammonia revolutionized the production of fertilizers for farming (as well as explosives for war and terrorism).

The Doctor takes some gold coins he received in the Roman era and changes them for local currency to reach the Institute. He talks his way inside very easily, his scientific knowledge acting as a calling card. But when a kidnapping attempt on Haber fails, the criminals settle for taking the Doctor instead. Susan is left to search for him on her own, and the money she received draws all sorts of unwanted attention: from shady British expat Pollitt (Wayne Forester), to crooked jeweler Strittmater (also Forester), to the force that has in many parts of Berlin taken the place of the corrupt police - the fascist Brownshirts!


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: The Doctor is so eager to meet the scientists at the Institute, he is oblivious to caution. He happily accepts Strittmater's offer to drive them to their destination and ignores Susan's wariness of the jeweler. His joy at discoursing with other scientists seems to be more one of conversing with men of intellect than an actual desire to learn; Susan observes that he spends as much time engaged in conversation on a theory that he knows to be absolute nonsense as on other, more potentially valuable conversation. He trains a gun on Pollitt at one point, declaring his intent to shoot - Something Susan insists is a bluff, though evidently a convincing one.

Susan: An outsider in a time and place she knows nothing about. She does not even know the value of the money in her possession, drawing quite a few eyes by giving it out a little too freely. When she meets Hans, a member of the Brownshirts, she finds him ridiculous: an awkward boy in a poor-fitting outfit, pretending an authority beyond his years or intelligence. She scoffs at the Brownshirts' claims that all the city's crime is the work of a single, organized enemy, and argues against the idea of any mastermind behind a situation driven purely by the poverty and desperation of individuals. Carole Ann Ford is superb, and particularly impressive in her recreation of her 1960's performance - When voicing Susan's dialogue, she sounds as young as she did in the series' early stories.


THOUGHTS

The Alchemists is another addition to the increasing library of stories set before the series. Per the writer's notes in the CD insert, this was because the pre-World War II setting would have made it too much Ian and Barbara's story had they been present. World War II was still quite recent history when Doctor Who premiered, putting it too much in the original companions' living memory for it to be Susan's story - leaving no choice but to set the story before their arrival.

This makes it evident that the setting of 1930's Berlin was Potter's starting point for the story, and he brings it to life effectively. Susan's descriptions of the beggars who interfere with their drive to the Institute effectively shows how widespread the poverty was in this time and place, and the discussion of why so many of the beggars are drunk reinforces the hopelessness that was the lives of too many of German's people. The lack of any strong government, the corruption of the authorities, and the flourishing of seedy nightclubs that attract criminals of all stripes... The decay of Berlin society is an ever-present character in itself. You can see how so many people to support the fascists, if only for the promise of order and safety.

The Doctor's kidnapping leads to Susan spending time in the company of a group of Brownshirts, and shows just one of many situations in which people would turn to them for help instead of the police. We are also shown their potential for brutality in their harsh questioning of a minor criminal who's singled out simply because he's too drunk to get out of their way.

Susan's desperation to find her grandfather also makes it just plausible enough that she would go along with Pollitt when she should know better, leading to the most vivid scene of the story - In which Susan is herself captured, and threatened with violence unless she provides information she doesn't actually possess. Carole Ann Ford's performance makes tangible the horror, as Susan cries over and over that she knows nothing and that she just wants her grandfather.

The actual narrative is fairly thin, with the kidnapping plot more a justification to get Susan into the company of various shady characters, and it takes a fair bit of time to build momentum. But even before the story proper starts moving, the tone is very true to 1960's Who; and it should be said that while it takes its time, it's never dull.

Not among the very best of Big Finish's Companion Chronicles. But if it's not great, it is at least generally quite good. The strong sense of setting and Carole Ann Ford's performance combine to make it highly worthwhile listening.


Overall Rating: 7/10.

Next Television Story: An Unearthly Child

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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.

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7-7. The Flames of Cadiz.

4 episodes: The Morisco, The Justice of God, The Doleful Knight, The Queen's Pirate. Approx. 121 minutes. Written by: Marc Platt. Directed by: Lisa Bowerman. Produced by: David Richardson. Performed by: William Russell, Carole Ann Ford, Nabil Elouahabi.


THE PLOT

The Doctor and his companions find themselves in Spain, 1857. The war with England is at its height, with Catholic Spain in a fervor in the wake of Queen Elizabeth's execution of her Catholic half-sister, Mary. The Spanish Armada is preparing to set sail for English waters, and paranoia about foreign spies soon lands Ian in front of the Inquisition.

With Ian facing the auto de fe, the Doctor determines to free him by marching straight up to the king's palace, disguised as a Cardinal from Rome. It's a daring disguise - and a dangerous one, with the King Philip's royal secretary instantly suspicious of this strange old man who has appeared, demanding the release of a condemned prisoner.

Meanwhile, Sir Francis Drake draws ever closer to Spanish waters, awaiting a rendezvous with an agent who will tell him which target he should attack: Lisbon or Cadiz. History tells that the decision will result in a massive shift in world power, one which see England's influence rise as never before. But the Doctor's own actions may unintentionally put that history in peril...


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: A combination of arrogance and fallibility is a large part of the First Doctor's early characterization, and writer Marc Platt uses that to good effect. The Doctor makes a serious error in judgment in the second half of the story, taking a dangerous situation and making it much worse - all because he refuses to take a moment to make sure he has his facts straight! He does apologize for his error (eventually), and Barbara admits that she understands why he did it, but she also doesn't hesitate to point out that the misunderstanding was something that could have been cleared up with a five-minute conversation.

Ian: Though he's normally a fairly pragmatic sort, he despises injustice. When he sees the Inquisition soldiers beating Esteban (Nabil Elouahabi) after burning his house, he acts before he thinks, putting himself directly in harm's way. His bond with Barbara remains evident. When he faces public execution, his strongest hope is that she does not see it. His outrage at the Inquisition is matched by his disappointment when he finally meets Sir Francis Drake, a childhood hero of his. The real Drake is little more than a pirate, in Ian's view, and falls so far short of the man he wants him to be that he cannot stop himself from denouncing Drake's shortcomings to his face.

Barbara: Barbara visited Spain in the early 1960's, and as a history teacher she is familiar with both the Inquisition and the Spanish Armada. She recognizes very quickly that they have not come to a safe period in history. When the Doctor makes his snap judgment about protecting history, Barbara is furious - not at his error, or even at his reasons, but because of his continued mistrust of his companions. She is also consumed with worry when Ian is arrested by the Inquisition, becoming withdrawn and snappish to a degree rarely seen. Marc Platt's script keeps the character feeling alive and organic through all these layers demanded of her by the story, and Carole Ann Ford continues to do a splendid job of bringing Barbara to life.

Susan: Oddly, for a story that's half-narrated by Susan, this is not a very strong Susan story. She largely acts as an observer of the more interesting interactions between the Doctor and King Philip and the Doctor and Barbara. The first person narration does give some insight into how she views her relationship with her grandfather, however, as she observes how her role is to protect him - sometimes from himself. She attempts to urge him to talk to Barbara, and tries to dissuade him from rash action, though she keeps his confidence when he refuses to heed her advice.


THOUGHTS

It's almost surprising that Doctor Who never attempted to do a story about the Inquisition. I say "almost," because any halfway serious treatment would inevitably be a bit strong for family viewing.

Even presenting a relatively sanitized portrayal, The Flames of Cadiz presents us with descriptions of torture implements and an unexplicit but still disturbing mention of victims "twisted with the signs of torture." We get sharp whip cracks on the audio track, sharp and loud enough to truly startle. This isn't Doctor Who villainy, with people locked in rooms with villains gloating at them for a bit. This was a real life horror, and the hopelessness of the situation as Ian describes himself and his fellow prisoners as cattle led to the slaughterhouse is chilling.

The Flames of Cadiz is at its strongest during the Inquisition material, which is at the center of the first half or so of the story. The Inquisition fades to the background during the second half, which is more concerned with the Spanish Armada and Francis Drake. But other than a somewhat clunky transition in Episode Three between one phase and the next, writer Marc Platt does an admirable job of keeping the serial unified. This doesn't feel like a pair of two-parters slapped together; it feels like one story that simply shifts gears halfway through.

The tone is appropriately somber. The Inquisition material speaks for itself, with fear and despair dominating particularly Ian's scenes. The Cadiz scenes near the end are also grim, the chaos of Drake's attack on the city described vividly enough to reflect Ian's horror at witnessing the loss of life. The climax is a fairly standard confrontation, with a villain holding Susan (of course) hostage - but the details of the surrounding chaos and the surrounding flame and smoke lends it an added dimension, and the way Ian uses the villain's religious fervor against him is memorable.

I also like the way the script creates a scenario with no real heroes. As Ian observes, who's in the right or wrong is dependent entirely on which side you are on. Drake is as callous and bloodthirsty in his way as the Inquisition is. The Inquisition is responsible for massive loss of life, but Ian reflects on the oppression of Catholics in England during the same time period. No one here is innocent, and the only particularly likable characters are the members of the relatively powerless family that shields the Doctor's group.

In the midst of a war that would shift the global balance of power, this portrayal feels right - and thrusting this particular TARDIS crew into such a grim scenario is strikingly effective.

On the whole, an excellent story, one that I will certainly revisit. Highly recommended.


Overall Rating: 9/10.

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6-10. The Wanderer.

2 episodes: The Dark Pilgrim, The Scorpion Men. Approx. 64 minutes. Written by: Richard Dinnick. Directed by: Lisa Bowerman. Produced by: David Richardson. Performed by: William Russell, Tim Chipping.


THE PLOT

When the TARDIS materializes in Siberia at the turn of the twentieth century, the time travelers observe lights in the sky. The Doctor instantly sees that these are not shooting stars.  Something alien has come to Earth, crashing in the nearby wilderness. All who have come in contact with it have been struck by a bizarre illness. The villagers have turned to Grigory (Tim Chipping), a wandering holy man, for help. The illness is outside Grigory's experience, however... but not outside the Doctor's.

The cause is chronon energy, radiating from a surveillance probe sent by the alien Dahensa. The probe has malfunctioned, the chronon energy causing it to absorb information not about Earth's present but about its future. The result is devastating to anyone who touches the probe, who receives a mind-destroying vision of everything that is to come.

This is poison to the Doctor and Susan. But to Grigory it is a tantalizing prize - a chance to realize his destiny!


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: Portrayed as a guardian of history, a role which fits the First Doctor very well. The man who proclaimed, "You cannot rewrite history, not one line" is easily recast as insisting that you must not rewrite it, much as he indeed was by Season Two's The Time Meddler. As soon as he recognizes the alien probe's threat to not only human lives but to human history, it becomes a matter of urgency for him to see it neutralized. When Grigory attempts to use the probe for his own ends, the Doctor reacts with moral outrage, making it clear that he views the Russian's actions as an obscenity.

Ian: The last part of Episode One sees Ian revealing the full truth about himself and his companions to Grigory... a moment I simply cannot buy into. The only occasion I can think of on television in which Ian told someone about being a time traveler was in The Reign of Terror - and then it's as a slap in the face, telling the full truth to an interrogator he knows full well will not believe it. Here, he tells Grigory the truth expecting to be believed, and then seems surprised when there are consequences. I don't know who this idiot is, but he isn't Ian Chesterton.

Thankfully, this scene is the only one to break my suspension of disbelief. William Russell does his usual splendid job of recreating his old television role, and the rest of Richard Dinnick's script portrays Ian more suitably. He's selfless but not stupidly so. Even when he rushes into a dangerous situation, he does so after having realized that he has no other alternative if he wishes to save lives. He is protective of all his traveling companions, but is especially so of Barbara, and he clings to the bond he and Barbara share to keep him grounded during his wanderings with the Doctor.

Barbara/Susan: Are very much the "extra characters" here, though the story does use them much as the television series tended to. Susan manages to put herself in danger multiple times, and the major part of Episode Two's action is devoted to Ian finding and rescuing her from the Dahensa. Barbara also requires rescue, but the story takes care to note her rationality and emphasize the role she plays as a support to Ian. Both characters have been used better elsewhere but, in fairness, they have also been used far worse.


THOUGHTS

Having already crafted a solid First Doctor/Ian adventure in the audio "Short Trip" A Star Is Born, writer Richard Dinnick returns to the Hartnell era with The Wanderer. Dinnick is a good fit for the First Doctor. He has a sense of the feel of that era of the show, with its measured pace and more reflective tone, and he has a particularly strong grasp of the First Doctor's persona.

This is a clever story. It manages to reference Doctor Who as a franchise while setting itself at a point in the show's run before there was a franchise, and it does so in a way that fits perfectly within the narrative. It has a neat twist at the midpoint, one which is possible to see coming - though I freely confess that I did not. It's also a rare two-part story in which the second half is actually better than the first. Part One does its job of establishing the setting, characters, and overall plot, but Part Two raises the stakes and quickens the pace.

Nor does the ending let it down. The main conflict is resolved in a way that works within the story, but the strongest beats are in the well-developed epilogue. Here, the parallels and contrasts are msot clearly drawn among the story's wanderers - not only Ian and Grigory, but the aligned pairs of Ian/Barbara and the Doctor/Susan. These final passages show that there's more here than just a clever little tale, well-told. There's also that extra little something that elevates one story above another.

A quality best described simply as, "Heart."


Overall Rating: 8/10.

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5-6. Quinnis.

2 episodes. Approx. 65 minutes. Written by: Marc Platt. Directed by: Lisa Bowerman. Produced by: David Richardson.  Performed by: Carole Ann Ford, Tara-Louise Kay.


THE PLOT

In the early days of his travels, when the Doctor is traveling with only his granddaughter Susan (Carole Ann Ford), he decides to take the TARDIS into the fourth universe to explore. They materialize on the planet Quinnis, a world gripped by a years-long drought. Materializing in Bridgetown, which actually is a town made up of a series of half-finished bridges, the Doctor is quickly mistaken for a rainmaker by the desperate townspeople.

He is taken away to make rain. In theory, he's pretty sure he can do this. In practice, the lack of a single cloud in the sky seems to make his efforts hopeless. Meanwhile, Susan acts as his go-between, bringing him various items and equipment from the TARDIS. She is accompanied by a new friend, Meela (Tara-Louise Kaye), an orphan girl who survives only on what people give her, and "they don't give much." But Meela has a secret - one which will soon leave Susan bargaining for her grandfather's life!


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: Writer Marc Platt proved as far back as the Geoffrey Bayldon/Carole Ann Ford "Unbound" stories, that he has a unique feel for the Hartnell Doctor and his era. Quinnis again sees Platt bringing the First Doctor to life, both in his intelligence and in his flaws. The Doctor admits near the end of Part One that he "got (them) into this mess."  His arrogant response to the plight on Quinnis that "making rain should be no great matter" effectively sealed Bridgetown's view of him as a rainmaker. He is fiercely protective of both Susan and his TARDIS. He shows great ingenuity in dealing with the situation in which he finds himself, but - much like the Doctor of the first couple of televised stories - he doesn't display much compassion for anyone other than Susan. Carole Ann Ford does a good job in suggesting some of Hartnell's vocal mannerisms. She's no vocal dead ringer, but it's easy to visualize Hartnell, which is the most that can reasonably be asked of any reader.

Susan: Ford is also reasonably successful in recapturing the innocent, sometimes foolish young Susan. Susan's compassion is boundless, and she is too trusting of Meela - a mistake her grandfather doesn't make, as he warns Susan against allowing the girl in the TARDIS even before he is aware of her secret. Susan is very emotional, and her rapid attachment to Meela and lack of judgment is used by the story as an explanation for why the pair went to 1960's London and stayed there for so long at the start of An Unearthly Child.

THOUGHTS

In The Edge of Destruction, we were given the series' first-ever reference to an unseen adventure. Susan recognizes the planet Quinnis on the monitor, and mentions that they had briefly lost the TARDIS there.

Building a story around a throwaway line from a 50-year-old TV show could be considered the pinnacle of fanwank. But Marc Platt is arguably the best of Big Finish's regular stable of writers, and he seems to have a particular feel for the Hartnell era. In his hands, Big Finish manages to deliver a story that is effective as a prequel to the television series, while at the same time being a story well worth a listen simply on its own merits.

As is typical of Platt, the setting for this audio is strikingly visual: a city of half-finished bridges, with houses whose fronts resemble the bows of boats. The reason for that last comes clear at the Part One cliffhanger. The half-finished bridges overlooking a low plain creates a genuinely interesting visual element, as well, because there are levels. Lower bridges, higher bridges, the lowest point (the plain), an even higher point (the mountains). It's fun to make your brain "see" this setting. It's certainly more interesting than just having characters in a room, talking.

It's also structurally very sound. The second episode sees the city come under attack from a most unlikely and bizarre source. But enough is seeded into the first episode, with enough hints about the "hungry ground," that it doesn't feel like a bizarre left turn when it comes. The groundwork has been laid, so it all works dramatically.

The first episode is a bit slow, with little initial sense of threat. It's still absorbing, though, and Meela's warnings and some smart sound design and music choices build in a feeling that Something Ominous Is Going to Happen. The momentum builds considerable steam in the second episode, which sees a pretty decent amount of action that is very well-conveyed. And there's a good payoff to a haunting prediction about Susan not being able to tell the rain from her own tears.


Rating: 9/10.

Next Television Story: An Unearthly Child

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3-7. The Transit of Venus.

2 episodes: Voyage of Discovery, Dangerous Endeavours. Approx. 50 minutes. Written by: Jacqueline Rayner. Directed by: Nigel Fairs. Produced by: David Richardson. Performed by: William Russell.


THE PLOT

The Doctor holds firm to his edict to put Ian and Barbara off the ship at its next stop. He materializes and declares them to be on "Earth, where you belong." But when Ian and Barbara emerge from the TARDIS, they are not in 1960's London. They are on an 18th century ship - and the superstitious crew reacts violently to their arrival. Barbara retreats into the TARDIS, but Ian is knocked unconscious, and the TARDIS is thrown into the sea.

Fortunately, the Doctor emerged before the crew discarded his ship, and he is able to ingratiate himself with the men of the HMS Endeavour and its captain, James Cook. When Ian comes to, the Doctor fills him in on their situation. Some delirious mumbling of Ian's has convinced the crew that they are from Venus, whose transit across the sun had only just been observed when the TARDIS materialized. As the Doctor stays close to Captain Cook, Ian is assigned to work with Dr. Joseph Banks (Ian Hallard), a near-obsessive naturalist. It is hardly an arduous task for Ian, who warms quickly to the other man's scientific enthusiasm.

Then strange events begin to surround Banks. Ian hears him recite lines from a poem that has not yet been written, then hears him describe events that have not yet taken place. Is Banks an alien in human guise, or a meddler from the future? The Doctor dismisses Ian's concerns. But little by little, Ian becomes convinced that Banks intends to destroy the ship - with his first victim none other than Ian Chesterton!


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: Gruff and arrogant, as befits his Season One persona. He dismisses the men of Cook's time as "credulous fools." He also disregards Ian's fears about Banks, countering each incident with some rational explanation. Several touches keep him from becoming too unlikable or aloof, however. There is a lovely scene in Part Two in which Ian gets just a glimpse, quickly covered, of how alone the Doctor feels cut off from Susan, as the two men sit together providing silent companionship to each other. William Russell does an excellent job performing the Doctor, and it requires no great leap of imagination to picture William Hartnell when the Doctor's lines are delivered.

Ian: This story fulfills the Companion Chronicles' promise of telling stories that are intimate and personal for the companions. Ian isn't just relating some random adventure. This story is deeply personal, for reasons that come clear when the twist is unveiled near the end. The story explores what Barbara means to him, without becoming soppy in doing so. It also sees Ian making his first real attempt to understand the Doctor's point of view, rather than either clashing with or humoring him as has been the case. We also see a nice contrast between the Doctor and Ian. While the Doctor would as soon just disappear to their next destination once the TARDIS is recovered, Ian wants to take care to make sure that no one from the ship will endanger themselves searching for them, as would probably be the case if they simply vanished without a trace.


THOUGHTS

When this was first released, I had severe doubts about cramming an audio story in between The Sensorites and The Reign of Terror, given that one story directly follows on from the other. But writer Jacqueline Rayner knows her Hartnell, and weaves it together all but seamlessly. Indeed, in some ways it makes the start of Reign of Terror work better. Here, the Doctor makes good on his Sensorites threat to simply dump Ian and Barbara, without stopping to check that they're in the right place and time - and it backfires spectacularly. This could be taken to explain his lingering at the start of Reign of Terror, to make sure nothing like this happens a second time.

The Transit of Venus is leisurely paced, particularly Part One. This mostly works in the story's favor, as the details of the sea voyage, the crew, and Banks' obsession with specimens envelops the listener in the story's world.  As Banks grouses about the realities of sea travel interfering with science, I found myself reminded very much of Patrick O'Brien's Aubrey/Maturin series, and for close to half of its length this story does evoke some of that atmosphere

...Which makes it that much creepier when we get the first "eerie" scene, with the albatross. Then there are several more minutes before the next such moment. By having the strangeness of Banks build slowly through the first episode, it makes the historical setting much more vivid, and Banks' "episodes" that much much more effective by contrast with the fairly calm events surrounding them.

William Russell does a superb job as narrator throughout. As Ian recalls the story, he is at times emotional, reflective, and instructional (as an ex-teacher would be). He even allows himself a few minor digressions. The best of these is a wonderful bit in which he recalls his interactions with a student in his science class, a memory that he connects to the sailors and their wagering over whether the land mass they are exploring is or is not a true continent.


OVERALL:

Writer Jacqueline Rayner clearly researched her subject, and she slips a lot of historical detail about Capt. Cook, Joseph Banks, and the voyage of the Endeavour seamlessly into her narrative. The story feels very much of a piece with early 1960's Who, without recreating it to such an extent as to make it a pointless exercise. Transit of Venus is not quite a great story - Part One is noticeably better than Part Two, as Ian's suspicions about Banks prove less interesting than the actual historical journey.  Still, it is a very good story, one of the better Big Finish Companion Chronicles. Recommended.


Rating: 8/10.

Previous Television Story: The Sensorites
Next Television Story: The Reign of Terror


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3-1. Here There Be Monsters.

2 episodes: The Hole in Space, Messages from the Other Side. Approx. 73 minutes. Written by: Andy Lane. Directed by: Lisa Bowerman. Produced by: David Richardson. Performed by: Carole Ann Ford, Stephen Hancock.


THE PLOT

The TARDIS materializes on the Nevermore, a spaceship run by Rostrum, an artificial plant lifeform that acts as captain and crew. Rostrum's mission is "benchmarking," using singularities to thread space like a needle through cloth, effectively embedding navigation points so that no space traveler need ever worry about getting lost.

The Doctor is appalled. He realizes instantly how dangerous it is to poke holes in the fabric of space/time, revealing that there are other realities, and that these holes might give the creatures that live in those realities a way to enter and wreak havoc.

While the Doctor argues with Rostrum, Susan wanders off and encounters another crew member in the engine room, apparently the ship's First Mate (Stephen Hancock). He prods Susan about her over-reliance on her grandfather. But the longer she stays in his company, the weaker she becomes. When Rostrum insists that there is no crew other than himself, the time travelers realize that this man Susan saw must be an intruder!


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: This was the first Companion Chronicle set during Susan's time in the TARDIS, and writer Andy Lane seems to have been determined to capture the irascibility of the early First Doctor. He goes a little overboard, with the first episode overstuffed with the Doctor behaving competitively toward Ian. Susan's narration is filled with asides about how selfish and difficult he is. To an extent, this is a fair piece of the Doctor's character - but this characterization seems more in tune with the Doctor of the first three televised stories than of the Doctor post-Season One! Carole Ann Ford's Doctor is terrific. This is her first Big Finish audio reading, and she already does a superb job of capturing Hartnell's vocal tics, something she would do consistently well in many audio stories to come.

Susan: Doesn't get much involved in the Doctor's conversations with Rostrum, mostly just observing him as she observes the interactions of Ian and Barbara. Her best material comes in the fully-dramatized scenes between her and the First Mate, with their conversations intended to pave the way for her to leave her grandfather. She stands up for herself to him and the others just before the organized search for the First Mate, insisting that she be part of the search... at which point the Doctor realizes for perhaps the first time ever that his granddaughter is becoming an independent young woman, a transformation he's not entirely comfortable with.

Ian/Barbara: Ian responds to the Doctor's jibes by being deliberately competitive, even as he approaches each new situation in an aggressively rational manner. Confronted by concepts he can't understand, such as the fabric of space/time itself, he keeps trying to draw analogies between it and something within his experience, fumbling each attempt. Susan views Barbara as the peacemaker, doing her best to defuse arguments between Ian and the Doctor, and later between the Doctor and Rostrum.


THOUGHTS

Here There Be Monsters kicked off the third "season" of Big Finish's Companion Chronicles range, and also kicked off the range's continuous, year-around run (the first two seasons having been a mere four releases each). It proved to be a good choice for this, rapturously received on initial release and still standing as a well-made, well-structured story, that balances telling a good science fiction story against being a character piece for Susan.

There is no denying this is a well-crafted piece. The script captures the regulars well, even if the First Doctor's worst traits are a bit overdone. New information is revealed at just the right pace to hold attention, and the character material for Susan works wonderfully, fleshing her out as a character well beyond what the television series ever managed to do while at the same time creating context for her departure in The Dalek Invasion of Earth.

The idea of the sentient plant, with its tendrils acting as sensors all over the ship, creates a strong mental image. The dead leaves create an interesting hook even before the regulars meet Rostrum and the story begins to unfold. The benchmarking process works well in creating a reason for both the Doctor and the First Mate to be involved. The reason for the benchmarking - aiding navigation - makes sense, and the details of the process make it believable as a potential threat, with an episode-bridging confrontation working both as a dramatic cliffhanger and as a way to raise the stakes.

I would rate this even higher except that I still have the same problem now that I did at the time of first release: That I find myself appreciating it intellectually without ever really connecting with it emotionally. I don't know exactly why this is the case... But while I enjoy the story, it is one that every time I've listened to it holds me at just a bit of a distance.

Still, it's a fine script, impeccably produced and wonderfully performed by Carole Ann Ford. It will never be a personal favorite of mine, but it definitely rates highly among Big Finish's works.


Overall Rating: 7/10.

Previous Television Story: The Reign of Terror
Next Television Story: The Dalek Invasion of Earth

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