Big Finish Main Range
This is rather an interesting story for the 7th Doctor, as he is facing consequences of actions he completed previously. 100 years before, precisely, on a planet called Prosper. We rarely see this type of thing, especially for the 7th Doctor! The story starts with Mel and the Doctor at a ceremony celebrating peace that he negotiated. I did wonder where Ace was at the time. Then it moves on to present day. And the team lands on the same planet, expecting paradise and instead finding colony ships and a wasteland. There is a war going on between the humans and the Mogera, which the Doctor didn’t expect at all. Nor Mel. So Mel and the Doctor end up going with the humans while Ace is stranded with the Mogera. And the investigation into what’s really going on begins!
I really don’t want to ruin the story so I’ll just say that there is a villainous mastermind of the destruction and war on the planet. And it’s been going on since the Doctor left. “Deserted them,” as some of the people are fond of saying. Ace is a role perfectly suited to her, captive but talking her way through the issues with Talpa, a Mogera. Meanwhile the Doctor and Mel work through the details in the human lab, finding all sorts of curious things. Ultimately, the foil the bad guys but since I wasn’t expecting certain bad guys to be the ones, it wasn’t as huge of a twist as it could’ve been. There are certain stereotypes stuck to in the script for characters that make it a bit too obvious that there’s something else going on here. Very well done overall!
Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Bonnie Langford (Mel), Sophie Aldred (Ace), Andrew Hall (Alonso/Caliban/Gonzalo), Lucy Briggs-Owen (Miranda), Rachel Atkins (Juno), Ewan Goddard (Talpa), Aaron Neil (Stephano/Klossi/Trink/Setebos). Other parts portrayed by the cast.
Writer: Matthew J Elliot
Director: Ken Bentley
Release: September 2016