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“Doctor, I couldn’t even say most of those let alone recognize one.”

A haunted abandoned spaceship with a creepy robot butler? This month on Scooby Who… Doctor Doo… WHOOBY DOO!

According to the Big Finish Solicit:

“Today should be much like every other day for Hargreaves, the computer consciousness that co-ordinates daily life aboard the spaceship Aquitaine, stationed on the outer fringes of a black hole. Water the plants, run the diagnostics, cook the Captain’s breakfast; then tidy the plates away, rotate the ship, clean the windows of the observation deck. When at last the day’s work is done, Hargreaves will dim the lights in the sleeping quarters. But no-one will sleep aboard the Aquitaine tonight. Because the Aquitaine’s crew is missing.

But today will be different. Today, a space/time ship called the TARDIS will materialize in the botanical section, bringing the Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan aboard the Aquitaine. Together, they’ll seek to discover the truth of what happened to Hargreaves’ crew…

… if only the ghosts will let them.”

Tegan yells at the doctor, Tegan yells at ghosts, Tegan yells at a robot. Yep! It’s a fifth Doctor adventure! All joking aside this is a classic story and the characters all feel right at home.

This story continues in that space of continuity right after Tegan rejoined Nyssa and The Doctor after having left the TARDIS for a time. Where The Waters of Amsterdam did a nice job of setting the stage for us this story made a wonderful follow up as we see Tegan returned to her friends only to see all three of them completely separated from one another in a bizarre and seemingly haunted spaceship.

My quips about Tegan and Scooby Doo aside… I’m really enjoying this run of 5th Doctor stories.

A Few of my Favorite Things From This Month’s Release:

Tegan, I’ve really gotten to the point where I think Janet Fielding is playing up the typical Tegan-isms for laughs. The script even makes fun of her inability to wear sensible shoes. Too Funny!
Hargreaves the robot butler was awesome! This month’s cover art really gave an interesting visual aid and going into the story I had suspicions about what was going on with him and how he would factor into the story and I’m delighted to say I was not able to predict it. The resolution was quite satisfying as it related to Hargreaves. There even seemed to almost be a nod to the 11th Doctor companion “Handles”.
Wibbly Wobbly time travel stuff- boy if you like strange time anomalies then this story is perfect for you. There were times where it’s just a little tricky to track what exactly is going on but still… shouldn’t time travel be just a smidge confusing anyhow?

There are some elements of the script that felt a little forced to me… as if time jumps and a black hole were not trouble enough for our heroes there had to be yet another layer of threat to contend with. I understand why it was included but the plant life threat was not my favorite element of the script it felt like a minor distraction to aid the actual plot and thus felt a little padded at times. That being said though I really liked the plot over all and I was honestly only able to notice this kind of thing in hindsight so it didn’t effect my enjoyment of the story in the moment of its telling at all. I think I’d be quite keen to revisit this story down the road and might even include it as one of my of 5th Doctor Big Finish faves. I’d give this one a 4 out of 5 stars.

This one was heavy on the haunted house elements while throwing a clever twist to it, do you have a favorite haunted house style episode or story of Doctor Who? If so let me know in the comments below or by shooting us a message to letters(at)grawlixpodcast.com.

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