Big Finish Lost Adventures, Season 1, April 2010
Well, to make up for the previous episodes, the Doctor and Peri go back to Elizabethan England and hit one out of the park! Though I’m not sure about this Velez character, what his real purpose is except standard alien’s lackey but other than him, I rather enjoyed the whole thing. Walsingham believes in “the evil” of the Doctor a bit too easily for me, especially with the sworn enemy of the country in Velez telling him the Doctor’s evil. And he cracks pretty fast for a tough leader of the intelligence agency. That bugged me quite a bit.
We’ve previously visited with Kit Marlowe in a later time period, with a different Doctor, when he’s a bit more rational and making sense. The astral plane must be incredibly wacky for him to be so obsessed with it! The story holds together rather well, despite the fact that things are bit mysterious and chaotic for awhile, almost until part 4, when the explanations come fast and furious. Well, the Doctor figuring things out happens, that is. I could imagine this one playing out on TV and doing very well, though the budget for the special effects might be a touch heavy duty for the 80s budget. Very good episode all around!
(Colin Baker is everywhere this month!)
Rating:
Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant
writer: Barbara Clegg and Marc Platt
director: John Ainsworth