Big Finish debut a new range of shorter narrated tales, with stories for the First and Third Doctors.
In addition to their full-cast audio dramas, audio producers Big Finish launched their narrated Doctor Who Audio Novels back in 2021. We reviewed the first of these, Scourge of the Cybermen, as well as last year’s The Lord of Misrule and the 60th anniversary multi-Doctor adventure The Box of Terrors.
Now, the company are adding to their offering with a range of shorter tales, Doctor Who – The Audio Novellas – a project born of the Covid 19 Pandemic, which has been lurking on the shelf awaiting a release date. Taking us from the Moon to Antarctica, this first offering pairs up a First Doctor, Stephen and Dodo tale with a Season 7 outing for the Third Doctor and his early UNIT crew.
The Time-Splitters
The Doctor, Steven & Dodo find themselves in an adventure at the Lunar University, with a time experiment gone away leaving Steven separated from the TARDIS by an eight-year gap. This clever tale plays out in two time zones, with Steven investigating the aftermath of a terrible disaster, while the Doctor and Dodo become involved in the build up to it.
Across the story, writer Colin Brake keeps all three time-travellers busy. Steven gets to play action hero in the future. Meanwhile, Dodo uses her street smarts to investigate among the student population, and the Doctor ingratiates himself in the lab where the experiment is taking place.
Brake also roots the story in continuity, referencing the Doctor’s toothache and alluding to both Steven’s leadership qualities and the Doctor’s fears about his future.
Peter Purves has a good read on the characters, and reprises his charming take on William Hartnell’s Doctor.
Dimension 13
The second tale takes place during Jon Pertwee’s first season, albeit with the fawn uniforms swapped for parkas here. It begins with the Doctor, Liz Shaw and the Brigadier, with a couple of international scientists and some UNIT troops, bound for Antarctica. On the way to the remote Shackleton Base, with which all contact has been lost, Liz spies a giant black cube out of the aeroplane window – surely, she’s seeing things?
With reports of unexplained phenomena, including mermaids, a missing whaling ship crew and a wild animal attack, the UNIT crew find a deserted base. Odder than that, elements of the base have been seemingly put through a mirror…
Writer David Llewellyn creates an atmospheric tale rife with tensions between the military and the scientists. There’s also a serving of good old-fashioned mutant monster horror to boot, as well as a provocative eldritch threat and the danger of the Brigadier calling on humanity’s ultimate weapon. Early on in their relationship, there’s still friction between the Doctor and the Brigadier over the fate of the Silurians too.
As ever, the multi-talented Jon Culshaw ably voices the Doctor and the Brigadier, as well as filling out the ensemble with various accents.
In Summary
Running to approximately two hours a piece, these audio novellas provide something in-between the snacky Short Trips and the full meal of the Audio Novels. It’s great to have a medium-length format, as well as another venue to explore the parts of Doctor Who where many of the original cast are no longer with us.
Both of these stories are immersive and engaging, well-rooted in their respective eras and well worth a listen. Let’s hope there will be more.
Doctor Who – The Audio Novellas: The Time-Splitters and Dimension 13 is out now on download from Big Finish.