Our next chunk of Big Finish catch-up is a trio of Ninth Doctor adventures followed by a trio of Thirteenth Doctor adventures, getting us caught up with the monthly singles ranges in three batches of two. “Pandemonium” continues both the “we keep getting brought to the Powell Estate” story arc as well as the idea of being set after the TV story “Father’s Day” as it features more Rose and her Dad related grief. Let’s take a look!
The story opens with The Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) and Rose (Billie Piper) being pulled back to the then-modern day Powell Estate (so 2006, somehow 20 years ago…) and while Rose is a little confused but not that bothered The Doctor is getting fed up of not being able to travel away from one block of flats in the middle of London. Things get more interesting for the pair though when they find out historical figures have started appearing one after another in people’s flats, and local history buff Glen (Clive Hayward) has taken on the responsibility of helping the surprisingly unphased historical people settle in. As Rose talks to her mother Jackie (Camille Coduri) and her new flatmate Edith Nesbit (Kate Harbour) who keeps trying to push for more women’s rights despite Jackie trying to tell her they’ve already happened, The Doctor finds out a few interesting facts: the historical people are aware of the days they died and quote them like interesting factoids about themselves, and they arrived on the estate in the order in which they died from earliest to most recent.
As if to prove the point Glen’s dead lover Paul (Nick Denning-Read) is the next to arrive, and while Glen is over the moon The Doctor is worried, even more so when Rose wonders if this means her Dad will be brought back leading to him becoming convinced she’ll make the same mistake she did last time she was face to face with her father…
It’s a good story, starts off very much a humourous “romp” but slowly turns more emotional and ends with some good drama.
The Continuity:
A good cover, though that shot of the Ninth Doctor feels like one of those promo shots I’ve seen 100 times, like that Sixth Doctor one where he has his hand outreached…
Apart from heavy links to Ninth Doctor TV story “Father’s Day” and obviously being connected to previous Ninth Doctor and Rose audios, there isn’t much here.
Overall Thoughts:
“Pandemonium” is a good little one hour slice of Doctor Who. Starts off full of fun gags with obscure historical figures and then turns into an emotional roller coaster of lovely reuniting and painful parting. Now let’s see how this “Powell Estate Arc” comes to a close in the next story, and then maybe, finally actually start moving around a bit more…?
The Doctor soon figures out that everything is linked to a book Glen wrote about all the historical people who had come through the Powell Estate that included a section on his lost love, and did indeed mention Rose’s Dad, but the celebration soon turns sour as the historical figures suddenly turn angry and try to kill the current day residents. The Doctor surmises that a deadly creature is trying to pull itself to the Powell Estate by creating versions of people in Glen’s book and using them as anchor points and that the last anchor it needs will be Pete Tyler. Rose very nearly let’s the creature in purely to see her father again but manages to pull herself away and allow The Doctor to seal it. Rose, Glen and Jackie agree that grief is something you have to accept and move on from and that trying to go back to the past doesn’t work, meanwhile The Doctor is worried about what powerful creature is responsible for all these incidents they’ve been dealing with at the Powell Estate…