The audio and comic companion debut marathon reaches one of my favourite companions and an era of Who I’m looking forward to revisiting: Evelyn Smythe. The kindly older lady is the antithesis of what you expect from a companion, but she works so well alongside the Sixth Doctor, and her being responsible for his eventual softening is really well done. So let’s look at how it all began with The Marian Conspiracy…
The main range of Doctor Who audios gears up for a marathon run of Seventh Doctor stories, starting with a return to the Doctor-Ace-Mel combo that has so far been… well, pretty poor. Is this an improvement?! Well, it’s certainly an improvement over “The Silurian Candidate”, but talk about damning with faint praise! Seriously though, Red Planets is a good story with some fun ideas, but never really kicks into second gear. Let’s take a closer look at any rate…
Eye of the Scorpion introduces us to Erimem, the should-be Pharaoh who ends up travelling with The Doctor and Peri (yes, the Fifth Doctor and Peri, which is a rare combo nowadays!) It’s also very nearly a pure historical, though the run of Doctor/Peri/Erimem has several actual pure historicals, so if anything it having a sci-fi element in its plot is more note worthy… Anyway, let’s have a look at Eye of the Scorpion then, shall we?
Thomas Brewster is an odd companion, in that his two stints in the TARDIS are less Doctor-Companion and more “person forcing himself on The Doctor for a while”. It’s an interesting concept, but Brewster can be on the obnoxious side… As for his debut story? It’s good, full of atmosphere and some fun characters, though the music lets in down, especially when it’s played by itself for 20 seconds… Anyway, let’s take a look!
Kicking off the “Audio and comic companion debut marathon” is the only black and white era new companion to be introduced (unless you include the very old comics from TV Action, but I don’t have access to that stuff, so… sorry!), that being Oliver Harper. Creating a new companion for the First Doctor was met with wide raising of eyebrows, but it’s pulled off well in this trilogy (the other two parts of which I’ll get to down the line…) So let’s have a look at The Perpetual Bond, not only the first in this marathon, but the first Companion Chronicle I’ve reviewed!
Hour of the Cybermen is two things. First it’s the second in a loosely connected trilogy based on 80s UNIT (or possibly a specific member of 80s UNIT), and it’s also the long-awaited return of the more talkative, fist-clenching “EX-cellent!” shouting 80s Cybermen! On top of all that, it’s actually a really good story, so let’s take a closer look!
The second half of the second “series” (or boxset, let’s face it) of the Eighth Doctor’s Time War adventures is a pair of pretty standard stories. Neither “In the Gardren of Death” or “Jonah” will make you jump out of your seat and praise how great they are, but neither will leave un-entertained at the same time. In fact they’re both good stories, but they just lack that spark of originality… so let’s see what I mean!
The Time War returns with the second series of Eighth Doctor stories set during the universe-altering period. These first two stories are entirely stand alone, with the first one being quite dark and dramatic, and the second being quite campy and fun (while still being the Time War, so not all laughs, obviously…) It’s a good double bill, so let’s look at them a bit more deeply, shall we?
The monthly range continues with a second “Sixth Doctor paired with a sort-of new companion for one story” … story, as The Doctor becomes paired with famed civil engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel during the time he was excavating the Thames Tunnel with his father. Sounds dull? Well, there are some ghosts… and an alien world connected to London via a bunch of portals… Also, there’s a good story as well! Hooray! Let’s have a closer look then!
Series 7 of the Fourth Doctor Adventures comes to a climax with a traditional four-part story featuring the return of Sutekh! This actually the second time Big Finish has brought the character back, but there is something special about hearing Gabriel Woolf voice the evil Osiran opposite the Fourth Doctor once again. Plus Sutekh-aside, there are some fun new characters as well! So let’s dig in, shall we?
Hogan Reviews 