The Shadows of Serenity (5.6)

    Big Finish - Short Trips Season 5


It’s stories like these that remind you of just how good of an actor Nicola Bryant really is. She plays the part of two sets of aliens, the Doctor, and herself. Peri and the Doctor land on Malgar, the planet with one of the most hostile aliens around the galaxy – hostile to all intruders, that is. But they’ve all suddenly lost their taste for violence and their shadows due to the intervention of the Sisters of Serenity. So the Doctor goes to investigate the sinister sisters and find out exactly what happened while Peri snoops around the village of the Malgarians. Things go awry, naturally, and Peri rescues the Doctor from the ministrations of the sisters. And he sets everything right again, of course!

While I found this story to be a perfect length, nothing felt left out, there was an oddness at the end. The sisters were waiting to subjugate all of the Malgarians before swooping in with their ships yet when some “free” Malgarians show up at their temple, they seem very confused how this could happen. Otherwise, this story has a cohesive plot and the usual running around storyline and saving everything. Though there doesn’t seem to be a penalty for the Doctor being drained of his negative thoughts/energies by the sisters. Doesn’t he feel better? Does he feel worse? It wasn’t really finalized but a small complaint for this story. A very good one!


Nicola Bryant

Writer: Nigel Robinson

Release: June 2015

© Laura Vilensky 2019