Big Finish, The Early Adventures, Season 3
4 out of 5 jelloids
This story is a classic first Doctor story where the audience knows more than the TARDIS team, though I did begin to doubt myself at times. When the team leaves the planet Verbidic, somehow there’s now a 5th traveler, Jospa. And I’m yelling at them “he’s tricking you!” in my head – don’t want to scare the people around me at work! And I just know throughout the story that Jospa is somehow fooling them. But luckily for the TARDIS team, they land on a planet with a psychic species who ultimately assists them.
The travelers land on a jungle planet, Arunde, where they immediately are lost, attacked, and separated. Though nothing is wasted – the bird attack on Vicki is used to help later, Ian “dying” allows the ape creatures to communicate. It’s a very tight structure over all and nicely written. I was a bit mystified why the TARDIS translation circuits decided to take a day off. Of course if they could understand each other, things would’ve gone a lot smoother. They can get away with it as the TARDIS may not have that circuit turned on yet – I’m not all that up on timelines and those types of details. This is a very nicely done story overall as they each face dangers, including the inhabitants of Arunde.
William Russell (Ian/The Doctor), Maureen O'Brien(Vicki/Narrator) Jemma Powell (Barbara/Fula), James Joyce (Jospa), Kate Byers (Sharna), Elliot Cowan (Gark) and Orlando James (Krube)
Writer: Philip Lawrence
Director: Lisa Bowerman
Release: October 2016