Am I getting soft or are the Big Finish plays getting better? It just seems like there's been a fair few of late that have been pretty good rather than tedious and incomprehensible (bar any eighth Doctor story with Lucie in it).
Anyway, we've reached the last of the second season of The Companion Chronicles, Big Finish's audio book range in which old companions read stories because the Doctors in question are MIA. After Steven, Jamie and the Brigadier, we now have Leela as the companion of choice for Tom Baker. Like Romana II before her, you'd have thought the Gallifrey range of stories would have mined Leela's character pretty thoroughly by now.
But we haven't, because there's always the question of what happened to Leela after Gallifrey - both the series and the planet.
Plot
The pride of the Z'nai matches that of Leela of the Sevateem. Why would the Doctor imprison one in such an unlikely place, and what terrors will be brought about by letting it loose?
Is it any good?
It is actually. Okay, so Louise Jameson's accent tends towards EastEnders at times, she can't do a Tom Baker impression at all and you'll be left with more than a few questions by the end of it (how exactly did Leela become 'the catalyst' being the most glaring). And I don't know about you but I could happily go the rest of my life without hearing the words “Janis Thorn” again.
But other than that, it's really very good. It's a dark and pretty original piece of work, full of death and interesting concepts (how far would the Doctor go to stop evil from being done? And what if he and his companion disagreed?). It fits in well with season 16 and captures both the fourth Doctor's and Leela's characters well.
Jameson turns out to be more versatile than many have given her credit for. Timothy Watson is a suitably creepy adversary. And, of course, it does answer the “what happened to Leela next?” question.
At £8.99, it's worth the price - no download version that I could find, though. The best of the second series of Companion Chronicles by far.
How much should you have to pay?
Actual price: £8.99
Actual worth: £8.99
Cast
Louise Jameson (Leela)
Timothy Watson
Writer: Nigel Fairs
Director: Nigel Fairs
Available from the Big Finish web site
Updates and related entries
October 31, 2008: A review of the Big Finish Doctor Who audio play, Empathy Games, part of the Companion Chronicles range
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