Big Finish, Companion Chronicles
Romana, the Doctor, and K-9 land and find themselves at Vita Novus Health Spa. They are cornered by the proprietor, Emonserat Karna, who suspects them of being investigators looking to shut her down. So she immediately tries to kill Romana while the Doctor, apparently, heads to the gift shop for most of the story. She tries 3 times while Romana is wandering the spa with Isabella Bing, a rather rotund guest there to lose some weight. Apparently Karna is transforming fat people into thin people using a machine that reconstitutes them with the fat and problem areas missing, with a little brainwashing thrown in for good measure. So she’s decided to take over the universe one fat person at a time.
The concepts are a bit more down to Earth, so to speak, than I’m used to for a Companion Chronicle. And season 2 of the Companion Chronicles seems to be a big leap in story quality as this story is a fun listen but not a magnificent story overall. Romana ends up being the hero, with Isabella Bing as her companion. And the Doctor shows up at the end to help with the final moments. K-9 is pretty much useless for the whole of the story, too, hanging with the Doctor in the gift shop. So it’s overall good but I won’t listen to it again as I didn’t love it.
Lalla Ward (Romana II) and Marcia Ashton (Karna)
Writer: Jonathan Morris
Director: Mark J Thompson
Release: January 2007