Written By: Nicholas Briggs
Director: Nicholas Briggs
Sound Design:
Joe Kramer
Music: Joe Kramer
Cover Art:
Tom Webster
Number of Discs:
2
Duration:
120′ approx.
Available on BigFinish.com
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The following synopsis comes from bigfinish.com:
“Jo Grant is shocked to find most of her colleagues are missing. Then she discovers that the Doctor has inexplicably changed.
But there’s no time to worry about it, as she and her misplaced Time Lord friend are whisked to the mysterious Delphin Isle on a matter of national security. There, they encounter a disturbingly odd form of local hospitality and learn of a highly classified incident that took place during the Cold War.
Why exactly have they been brought here? And what is the truth concerning the bodies in the harbour and the vast project being undertaken beneath a cloak of secrecy?”
I’ve been eagerly anticipating the start of these stories in fact this block of stories were my impetus for purchasing my current subscription. This opening story did not disappoint.
Some of my favorite parts:
- The Dynamic between Jo and Seven. That was really pretty brilliant. You don’t always realize just how different the doctors act until you displace them. It was really fun and done really well.
- The ambiguous mystery of what is happening and why. You don’t know WHY the seventh doctor is in the place of three, that mystery makes this story all the more compelling.
- The Pertwee tie in, they kind of tie things up at the end of the story and explain how things will return to normal, it’s a bit what you’d expect but it’s not overly clunky and fits pretty well.
This list of favorites is a short one this month but that shouldn’t dishearten you, this story was a welcome bit of escapism in a hard day. I genuinely enjoyed this little mashup of timelines.
This Locum Doctors trilogy could have really fell on its face and felt gimmicky but at least in this first story it does not. Nicholas Briggs delivers us a deftly woven tale that absolutely sells the trilogy and proves that even with 50 years of back catalog that Big Finish can and will deliver on new story ideas.
Admittedly I only have a handful of Seventh Doctor stories but this may be my new favorite.
It works as a standalone you don’t need previous stories and you wouldn’t need to follow it up with the next two Locum Doctors stories (although you’d be crazy not to!). The only gripe I have is the villains… the creatures behind it all weren’t particularly memorable… I know that’s part of it, but even if they wind up to be an ultimately throw away monster you might as well try to make them a monster people might want to hear from again. While you might sympathise with these creatures I don’t know that anyone will be writing in for more stories about these critters from Jupiter’s moon, but seriously in the grand scheme of things what was done with these creatures was still a very clever moral conundrum, in a supremely captivating narrative.
I’d give it 4 stars, I went in without expectations for this first one but it really delighted me. Sylvester’s Big Finish stories are fun, but somehow having him in the 3rd doctor’s timeline was even more fun! I definitely recommend this one, I can’t wait for next month’s (sixth Doctor in the 2nd Doctor’s Era?! GOLD!!) I have a feeling 3 Locum Doctors stories are not gonna feel like enough but I’ll take what I can get!
Agree with Me? Disagree with me? What would make some great Locum Doctor mixes we WISH they’d do? Leave us a comment below and let us know what you think!
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Doctor Who: The Defectors (Big Finish Audio Play)
Reviewed by
Jesse Kiefer
on Apr 16, 2015
Rating: 4I’ve been eagerly anticipating the start of these stories in fact this block of stories were my impetus for purchasing my current subscription. This opening story did not disappoint.
