Big Finish Special Release
Psychodrome – Jonathan Morris
By allowing this to be a long story, we get more of a long and winding tale of life for the companions after the 4th Doctor has regenerated into the 5th and how the team is getting along (answer – not very well). We start in a catacomb with the Doctor and Adric wandering one way, Tegan and Nyssa wandering another. They each discover different groups in this huge space station and slowly, but slowly, the mystery of what is really going on unfolds. It’s a fun tale to listen to, that’s for sure!
Though Matthew Waterhouse seems to be trying hard, at first, to get back that rhythm and “kid” voice of Adric, he eventually gets into the rhythm of the character and finds equal footing with the ladies. They have been working with Peter Davison much longer so they are at a bit of an advantage… The characters introduced are many and varied though only one is truly dastardly. The ending is a bit of an anticlimax as belief in the Doctor is all that it takes to bring the castle crashing down. A bit too easy there but it’s pretty good overall.
Iterations of I – John Dorney
A rather fascinating tale of strange goings on in a old mansion on a haunted island, or so the story goes. The Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan, and Adric have moved on from the taunting of the first story and seem to be able to cooperate in a more normal way. And Adric isn’t the least bit annoying! He’s grown up without really seeming to and it’s a welcome relief to the whining. I have a 3 year old and I hear enough of it at home, thanks…
I won’t do the spoiler-ee bit but this was a bit reminiscent of “ish…” for me, just in the mathematical realm instead of the verbal one. And there are your invisible monsters, killing people just in the air! Yowza. Scary in the dark for sure. It’s pretty atmospheric and well thought out, though it gets a bit tedious at moments. Yes, math is bad in terms of this story so move away from the computers! I just wanted to yell at the characters who took stubborn to a new level. And of course we can’t go anywhere without the one psychotic character who turns everything to his own advantage, regardless of the consequences. Fun fun!
Peter Davison (The Doctor), Janet Fielding (Tegan), Sarah Sutton (Nyssa), Matthew Waterhouse (Adric); Psychodrome: Robert Whitelock (Rickett), Phil Mulryne (Magpie), Camilla Power (Perditia), Bethan Walker (Javon); Iterations of I: Sinead Keenan (Aoife), Joseph Radcliffe (Jerome Khan), Andrew Macklin (Robert DeValley), Teddy Kempner (Donal Dineen), Allison McKenzie (Imogen Frazer)
Writers: Jonathan Morris and John Dorney
Director: Ken Bentley
Release: August 2014