I remember years ago John Dorney said in an interview that he was practically begging to do a story with the Dominators and that he was “serious” when people thought he was joking. I was intrigued, especially as Mr. Dorney is probably my favourite writer in the Big Finish stable, and finally: here we are, and you know what? It’s an extremely predictable and by-the-numbers “resistance group fighting against invading aliens” story. Huh? Mr. Dorney could’ve written this exact story with any number of other alien races, why did this prove the Dominators “needed” a second go around? Oh well… At least the Fourth Doctor / Naomi / Harry stories are over now, it hasn’t been a great run. Let’s take a look!
The Doctor (Tom Baker), Harry (Christopher Naylor) and Naomi (Eleanor Crooks) arrive on Taleeria looking for a holiday (again…) only to find it a barren wasteland, it soon becoming clear that it’s the work of the Dominators and their loveably-unthreatening Quarks. As you’d imagine, especially since my opening paragraph described how unoriginal everything felt, the first episode or two feature companions and The Doctor getting captured and escaping here and there, plus a meet up with some resistance people. Eventually though The Doctor smuggles himself on board the Dominator ship to get one over on them but fails, and soon unlike the original TV serial the Dominators actually successfully blow up Taleeria before moving on to a neighbouring planet, leading to a time skip. It’s an interesting twist, but it doesn’t lead to anything new. Instead The Doctor is working for the Dominators and trying to take them down from within while Naomi and Harry work with the resistance fighters to free Dominator slaves to join their cause.
The resistance fighters are all cookie-cutter and Nala (Emily Woodward), the female scientist who is forced to work alongside The Doctor isn’t all that original either, though the death of her family back on Taleeria and how she sees the Doctor helping her foes is at least enjoyable. No, the only real highlight here, and what I assume was the reason for Dorney wanting to write a Dominators story, is the Dominators themselves and how sniping and backstabbing to their own people they are. Director Draaga (Clive Wood) sees himself as Overseer material but is constantly put down by his actual Overseer Valtor (Clive Hayward) due to his “letting” the resistance keep striking at him. When he catches The Doctor taking out the Quarks to help his friends (who he thought were dead by the way, though poor old Tom Baker didn’t really get across much sadness is expressing this, though his delight that they’re alive was good!) he doesn’t kill him outright, and in fact sees potential in the idea…
The ending is extremely predictable as well, which I’ll get to in the spoilers, obviously, so overall it’s fine, it ticks the “sequel story with the Dominators and Quarks in” box, but man is it ever by-the-numbers in every other aspect, and just in case you haven’t read any other of my Naomi story reviews, Eleanor Crooks just doesn’t have the chops, she sounds like someone reading in a booth with no emphasis or emotion during scenes that really need it. If this is among your first Who audio stories you’ll love it, but if you’ve listened to a lot of invasion/resistance stories over the decades like I have by this point, it will hit a lot less.
The Continuity:
Harry being in a Dominator uniform is one of the “unoriginal plot points in the final episode” I allude to in the Overall Thoughts paragraph. Just for the record, when you get there…
The Dominators first appeared in, well, “The Dominators”, a Second Doctor TV story. The Dominators and their Quarks have made a few comic appearances, including the Tenth Doctor’s issue of the crossover “Prisoners of Time” and the Twelfth Doctor comic “The Terror Beneath”, which has one of my favourite Who-puns ever, but this is their first audio return.
The Doctor drops Harry and Naomi back on Earth at the end of this story, but it’s the wrong year, just like with Sarah all those years ago in “The Hand of Fear”. They work for UNIT for a bit, including a spin-off boxset I don’t know if I’ll ever get round to, before they’re picked up by the Seventh Doctor and have adventures with him, starting with “London Orbital”, which due to how far the Fourth Doctor audios are recorded, came out a few years ago, meaning this surprise cliffhanger was anything but!
Overall Thoughts:
“Dominant Species” has some fun scenes with the Dominators themselves, but otherwise is an extremely paint-by-numbers resistance-meets-invaders story, complete with several overused Who plot points in the final episode. The amusing cliffhanger was spoilt several years ago too, thanks to this story’s sequel coming out ages ago, so in the end there isn’t much here. It’s not bad, just extremely familiar, and for a John Dorney script that’s especially disappointing.
Director Draaga uses the Doctor and Nala’s tech abilities to take control of the Quarks and get them to eliminate Overseer Valtor and take control of the Dominators in the local area, but the other Directors want the Overseer chair for themselves, so it starts something of a Dominator civil war, which is a fun idea. The Doctor, Naomi and Harry, plus copy-and-paste resistance characters, are stuck in the middle until they sneak onboard Draaga’s ship thanks to Harry impersonating a Dominator (classic! … again) There The Doctor and Nala manage to cook up a way to destroy the remaining Dominator ships and free the solar system but someone has to stay behind and do it personally, so of course The Doctor decides to do it, gets suddenly locked out of the room and has to watch as Nala sacrifices herself instead. How many times?
That then leads to Harry and Naomi casually wishing to return to Earth and getting dropped off at the wrong point in time, as mentioned.
Hogan Reviews 