Due to more Big Finish website / app issues and a long period where I just haven’t felt like doing… much of anything, I’m WAY behind on Big Finish, so don’t mind me if I double or triple up some shorter, less-detailed reviews in the next few months! Kicking this off is a double bill of Fourth Doctor and Sarah adventures, with both stories featuring the Brigadier and Harry, giving this a more Season 12 vibe than 13, which while isn’t necessarily a bad thing does kind of fly in the face of the idea of this run of stories… Let’s take a look!
The Ministry of Death starts off as a fun UNIT mystery as the Brigadier (Jon Culshaw) calls The Doctor (Tom Baker) and Sarah Jane Smith (Sadie Miller) to Earth when a man is seemingly struck by lightning in the middle of his office, a strange act that is then followed by more deaths each odd and each related to the victim’s profession of choice. The mystery is soon solved though as we find out a female scientist called Stravius (Carolyn Seymour) is getting revenge on everyone who was present when an experiment herself and her husband were working on went awry and ended up with her lover frozen in time. She begins new experiments to revive him, ones that have a high likelihood of destroying large parts of greater London if not stopped, but Stravius is laser-focused on reviving her love, like a gender-swapped Mr. Freeze from the Batman Animated Series. The Brigadier was present as well, heading up security, so he ends up targeted by Stravius’ mind-dead cronies and has to deal with a bomb issue at one point, which The Doctor helps him with (and admits he sees Lethbridge-Stewart as a friend despite all the bickering in a nice scene). The final few scenes are exciting but honestly the whole two hours were rather… plain. Nothing bad, but nothing attention-grabbing either, and Sarah and especially Harry (Christopher Naylor) didn’t have a lot to do for a lot of it either.
I still have the thumbnail from when these were going to be separate, so… waste not, want not!
The Inhuman Empire sees Sarah’s “old friend” Allison (Jayne Ashbourne) contact her when the museum she works for is bringing in more and more confusing artefacts that she and other staff aren’t being allowed to see. The Doctor soon tags along and gets to the bottom of things, finding out that the mysterious objects in question were part of the Nestene Consciousness and that the Autons were planning a new invasion. This leads to a “Night at the Museum” style “exhibits come to life” action both with The Doctor, Sarah and Allison on the inside and The Brigadier and Harry on the outside. At two episodes nothing outstays its welcome and generally it was a bit of fun. Can’t help feel Autons as museum exhibits coming to life is a concept wasted on audio, but hey-ho…
The Continuity:
A good cover, even if “The Ministry of Death” might be a little too generic, even if it fits the time period!
In terms of “Ministry of Death” there isn’t much. The Brigadier calls The Doctor to Earth via the Space-Time Telegraph, something The Doctor gave him sometime before “Terror of the Zygons”. Inhuman Empire-wise then obvious one is the Autons, who first appeared in the Third Doctor’s debut story “Spearhead From Space” and reappeared in his second with “Terror of the Autons”. They’ve made a few appearances since, including the Ninth Doctor’s debut story “Rose” and a few comic stories, but have only made a few appearances audio-wise, which makes sense given they tend not to talk and everything. The Eighth Doctor audio “Brave New Town” is a good example of how to use them though!
Overall Thoughts:
“The Ministry of Death” is a good four-parter with some fun ideas but does drag a little, and “The Inhuman Empire” is an equally fun story and at only two parts doesn’t have time to drag. Basically neither story will leave you disappointed but I doubt either story will particularly stick with you for any length of time afterwards…
The Ministry of Death:
The Inhuman Empire:
