Big Finish Lost Adventure 2.04, May 2011
Sometimes I wonder if they “talk up” a character and actor so much in the extras in order to reassure the audience that really, it’ll be fine. It’ll be great even! It seems that all the writer and other actors, and even Beth Chalmers herself, can talk about is how fabulous Raine is as a character and how wonderful everything will be now that she’s arrived. They don’t talk about the story, which is just as well because it’s fun but not as epic as the title would imply. Just Raine, Raine, Raine. I’m not to the point of “Raine, Raine go away…” but it’s not making me anticipate more so far.
The Doctor now has two females to help him out, both of which are armed for battle, as it were. This is the deceptive doctor and hopefully now that he has a full toolkit of spying and destroying at his beck and call, he will be able to have even more shenanigans up his sleeve. More hidden agendas and plotting and conniving. That and some funny stuff to come! I miss some of the older audios where he gets to do the comedy bit: Bang-Bang-a-Boom and Shadow of the Scourge. Even The Juggernauts, though it wasn’t a great story, had him being comedic at times. I rather enjoy that of the 7th Doctor.
We get to encounter some of the characters from Thin Ice again, 20 years later, which is a rarity in Big Finish. Other than The Forge episodes, we really don’t get to go back and revisit people, to see how they’ve changed. Usually for the worse, mind you, but still have changed. No one ever seems to have improved their life or made the world a better place… But there would be no need for the Doctor to come in and save the day then, would there? So this story has some interesting aliens, some sword play which doesn’t translate well on audio, mind you, and the full repertoire of gun battles and explosions and locations. But the heart of the story is a bit of redemption but it just feels like it’s Raine’s story, not the Doctor’s or Ace – they’re the incidental characters. Raine sets the tone and just like that, things are changed. Eh, not loving it, I have to say. Others may but it’s not how I like my Doctor who stories to go, what can I say?Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred, Beth Chalmers
writer: Andrew Cartmel
director; Ken Bentley