Big Finish Main Range
A return to Vilaq where Evelyn now resides with her husband Rossiter. The Doctor hasn’t seen her since she left her there 2 years before. In this case, the villain here isn’t an evil alien but rather the evil scientist type, experimenting on aliens and humans alike. It’s amazing how much Rossiter loves her and for once, the Doctor sticks around for awhile and helps clean up after the tragedy takes place. And we get to hear how one of the Doctor’s companions leaves him and how he reacts. Predictably, if you ask me. The Doctor doesn’t like saying goodbye.
This audio is a cut above the rest but I have a hard time giving it a 5 jelloid rating. This is an excellent adventure but there are a few odd things about it—Doctor Szabo doesn’t cover his tracks very well and Mel is caught by the Doctor as she falls down an elevator shaft? A bit unbelievable there… And the manipulation of Sofia by Szabo is on such a grand scale! Jenner needs to be more of a factor, I think.
The heartfelt portions of the adventure are amazing and intense but it’s brought down a notch by the bad guy being more conniving than evil, as well as the fact that the people are just so ignorant of what’s going on in the basement of the hospital. No one noticed or wandered down there accidentally? Sure Szabo would’ve killed them but after awhile, the deaths would’ve been noticed, right? But perhaps it’s also because it’s been just 3 years since the attack, it’s been too short of a length of time for things to develop completely. How did he think that he would get away with it? It really is an excellent audio because of the wrap-up between Evelyn and the Doctor. We even find out about the heritage of Hex, which is really cool. Wrapping it all up in one audio adventure! Nicely done.
Colin Baker, Maggie Stables, and Bonnie Langford
writer: Paul Sutton
director: Edward Salt
Release: September 2005