Having been separated from Lucie in the first half of Series 4 of the EDAs, the Doctor is now travelling with new companion Tamsin Drew, who has been an interesting replacement for Lucie and brings a completely different view of the universe to their various adventures. Although she has only been in the TARDIS for a short time, Tamsin seems to be picking up the ropes fairly quickly, and by all accounts it seems like the Eighth Doctor has found his new companion. Brace yourself though, as the final stories in the EDAs are a twisted subversion of the New Series formula that delivers a satisfying yet devastating conclusion to the era.
4.5 – Deimos
This audio is the first in a two-part story that features the return of the Ice Warriors, in a memorable opening cliff-hanger set in an Ice Warrior tomb on Deimos that has since been converted into a museum following human colonisation of the moon, and a team of Ice Warriors emerge from suspended animation to attack the guests. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Tamsin are taking part in a tour of the Deimos museum, and as soon as they discover that there are living Ice Warriors at large, the Doctor immediately attempts to open communications with the Ice Lord. In many respects this audio is similar to the later TV stories Cold War and Empress of Mars, as the Doctor recognises that the Ice Warriors are capable of diplomacy and compromise, one of the things that makes them a unique enemy.
Tamsin is also given more of a chance to develop as a companion in this story, as while the Doctor plays hostage negotiator, she gets a chance to operate independently and it is nice seeing her moving the plot forward of her own accord as up until this point Tamsin has been swept up in events surrounding her since she was accepted as the Doctor’s new companion. She is put in a situation in which she disagrees with the Doctor on his handling of the situation, as the Ice Warriors are intent on killing all the humans on Mars but the Doctor constantly passes over opportunities to destroy them. This audio does a good job of creating a moral dilemma for the Doctor as he is once again put in the position where he must take lives in order to save more lives, a situation that never sits right with him.
The sound design in this audio is excellent, and the return of the Ice Warriors is well-realised. Nicholas Briggs does a fantastic job with their voice, and the use of authentic sound effects from their TV appearances in the Second and Third Doctor eras makes this all the more immersive. The supporting cast are great, and there are some memorable side characters in this story who are reminiscent of the kind of characters from classic Second Doctor base-under-siege stories. This one also ends on a great cliff-hanger which weaves the plot of this story into the overall plot arc for the series as a whole.
4.6 – The Resurrection of Mars
Lucie Miller’s reintroduction into the series is an unexpected twist in this two-part story, as we get an insight into her experience since she left the Doctor, which includes a brief period travelling with the Monk. After he buried a village under an avalanche as part of one of his schemes, Lucie left him, and she was dumped on Deimos just as the Doctor was about to detonate the explosive to destroy the Ice Warriors, hence her unexpected appearance at the end of the previous audio. The Resurrection of Mars also solves several other unanswered questions, such as why there was a time-travelling companion X-factor in Situation Vacant, and why the Monk was in 1006 Ireland in The Book of Kells, so it resolves many of the plot threads running through the series so far whilst also setting the stage for the final set of audios in the series.
The cliff-hanger to part one of this story delivers quite an effective gut-punch, as it seems all hope is lost for the Doctor, though he is reunited with Lucie in a heart-warming reunion, and thankfully her involvement in the Monk’s plans are completely circumstantial – in fact, the Monk used Lucie to derail the Doctor’s plans to defeat the Ice Warriors, and then tricks Tamsin into travelling with him by framing the Doctor as an irresponsible meddler. This audio does a great job of exemplifying the Doctor’s moral sense of right and wrong, as initially the listener might disagree with his decisions initially but through the Doctor explaining his actions his true intentions become clear.
Paul McGann does a fantastic job with these sorts of scenes, as his portrayal of the Doctor lends itself well to long musings on his morality and motivations as his character is a romantic at heart, and this audio captures this essence of the Doctor perfectly. The ending to this audio mixes up the status quo of this series a fair bit, though soon all becomes clear as the events of this story tie directly into the finale. Overall, The Resurrection of Mars is essential listening both for its importance to the overall series arc of the final series of the EDAs, but also for its numerous twists and turns that keep the listener guessing until the very end and deliver an exciting outing for the Ice Warriors as a final cherry on top.
4.7 – Relative Dimensions
This audio is another Christmas special of sorts, and focuses around the Doctor’s efforts to create the perfect Christmas for Lucie after her last one in Death in Blackpool didn’t turn out as expected. As such, they choose to have Christmas in the TARDIS, and the Doctor invites his granddaughter Susan and his great-grandson Alexander. This is definitely a cozy story, as the thought of the Eighth Doctor’s gothic Victorian library TARDIS decorated with a huge tree, warm lights and shining tinsel, with Christmas carols echoing through the hallways is a lovely setting and it is odd that the New Series has not decorated the TARDIS for Christmas in any of the Christmas Specials.
Lucie and Alex get a chance to explore the TARDIS, as the Doctor unlocks several old rooms to let Susan revisit her old bedroom. This leads to some excellent sequences where we get to explore a corridor of rooms belonging to several old companions, and there are some great interactions between the Doctor and Susan which fans of the early First Doctor TV stories will appreciate. As the cover of this audio suggests, there is a threat in this story – a gigantic electric fish is stalking the corridors of the TARDIS, feeding on the bat-like pests that inhabit the high-chambered halls, and the sound design illustrating the creature stalking its prey in the corridors is exceptional.
This story starts as a whimsical Christmas story and unfolds into a temporal tale of predestination and the importance of family. One of the most compelling aspects of this story is the Doctor’s growing relationship with Alex, as he starts to view his great-grandson as a surrogate heir, which is an interesting aspect of the character to explore. By the end of the story, it really seems like Lucie, Susan and Alex are the family that the Doctor has always wanted, and fans of the early Moffat era of the TV Series with Amy and Rory acting as a sort of Earth-grounded family for the Doctor will appreciate this story. As a nice cherry on top, there is even a nice reference to the very first ‘Christmas Special’ of the series, The Feast of Steven, which aired in 1965.
4.8 – Prisoner of the Sun
This is a very interesting audio that makes good use of the premise that the Doctor is travelling alone now and can therefore be caught up in longer-running conflicts than he could with a Human companion. In this case, the Doctor has spent years imprisoned in a facility by a trio of creatures made of mercurial liquid, in order to maintain equipment that keeps a sun stable to prevent the deaths of 2 billion people. However, a group of rebels attempt to infiltrate the facility to rescue him, and the Doctor is unsure who he can trust. This is an intriguing exploration of the Doctor being imprisoned by his own sense of responsibility, as the Doctor is capable of escaping at any time but feels obliged to protect the people on the two planets in orbit around the sun.
Another great aspect to this audio is the Doctor’s ‘assistant’ – an android who he has reprogrammed to sound like Lucie Miller and, through several ‘expansion packs’ installed during her activation gives her some human-like qualities, making her essentially his surrogate companion for this story. Not only is this a great illustration of the fact that the Doctor needs companions in order to stay sane, but it also reflects how much the Doctor still misses Lucie after she decided to stay on Earth with Susan and Alex.
This audio keeps a sense of intrigue throughout, and there are constant twists and turns that make every character’s motivations questionable. Like the Doctor, the audience aren’t sure who to trust, and there are a few surprises in this story that make it a fun listen. Overall, for a low-key story Prisoner of the Sun is one of the stronger audios of the EDAs, setting the stage for the incredible yet devastating finale.
4.9 – Lucie Miller
This audio is a devastating opening to the two-part finale, that depicts the second post-present day Dalek invasion, as a horrendous plague sweeps across planet Earth and wipes out a significant portion of the population. This is particularly devastating as Susan has spent her life helping the human race rebuild after the first Dalek invasion, only for everything to come crashing down again. The disease has topical relevance today that the writers at the time could not have imagined, so this audio is even more gruesome to listen to than before. This audio portrays a Dalek invasion just as ruthless and apocalyptic as the one seen in The Dalek Invasion of Earth, only this time the Doctor’s companions live through it – alone. The tension throughout this audio is intense, as Susan, Alex and Lucie are in constant danger and as characters are killed all around them it seems that any of them could be struck down at any minute.
As Lucie is the central character in this story, her personal journey through the Dalek-devastated Earth is gripping. With help from Alex and Susan she is able to send a message to the Doctor, though he does not arrive for some time and the trio eventually flee to caves with rebel forces in order to survive. Eventually, they are able to link up with other rebel forces and launch a desperate attack on the Daleks, though the Daleks have an unexpected ally who helps tip the balance in their favour. Ultimately, this audio tells a story about a desperate attempt to retake the planet from a hostile occupation, and it doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to depicting the horrors of war.
The Daleks themselves are depicted very strongly in this story, with the Supreme Dalek speaking in a hysterical screech as it directs extermination patrols from its control room. They attack Earth as well as its alien allies, wiping out an entire fleet of starships before instigating a complete takeover of the planet, transforming Earth into a huge factory and enslaving the Human race. When it comes to depictions of a Dalek invasion, Lucie Miller is one of the top contenders, and it almost comes close to outdoing its inspiration, The Dalek Invasion of Earth. As a first part to the finale of not just Series 4 but the EDAs itself, Lucie Miller is a fantastic story.
4.10 – To the Death
The Eighth Doctor’s adventures with Lucie Miller come to a cataclysmic end in To the Death, arguably Big Finish’s most ambitious Doctor Who finale to date, and perhaps one of the greatest finales in the history of Doctor Who. The plot elements that have been laced throughout the series come together magnificently, as the Doctor, Lucie, Susan, Alex, Tamsin, the Monk and the Daleks are all thrown into the mix – and not everyone gets out alive. The deaths in this audio are devastating to listen to, and without spoiling anything, it is safe to say that the Doctor is deeply traumatized by the events of this story. The last story of the EDAs represents a huge character shift for the Eighth Doctor, which has a lasting impact on future stories.
It is worth mentioning that Lucie’s theme, which has been used throughout the series. It is an emotive piece that fits her character perfectly, and it is used well for moments when Lucie genuinely opens up to the Doctor about how much their friendship means to her. Sheridan Smith does an exceptional job as Lucie Miller throughout this series but her performance in this audio is particularly moving. Her farewell to the Doctor is still one of the most impactful companion departures in the show’s history, and those who compare Lucie Miller to Rose Tyler are bang on when it comes to how deeply their departure influences the Doctor. In fact when we next see him in Dark Eyes, he is a broken man.
The Monk and the Daleks are used excellently in this audio, and the Daleks are as menacing as ever, racking up a significant body count by the end of the story. Those who were invested in the Monk and Tamsin’s subplot throughout the series will be satisfied by the ending, which illustrates how his meddling ultimately comes back to bite him, mirroring the fate of the character in his original appearance in 1960s Hartnell stories. We see that the events of this story deeply impact him as well, as this incarnation would later show up in the Fifth Doctor story The Secret History, blaming him for the events of this story despite the fact that, for the Fifth Doctor, it hadn’t happened yet. The Dalek Time Controller who first appeared in the Sixth Doctor story Patient Zero also features here, and the events of this story kick of a sequence of events which play into the story arc of later Eighth Doctor audios.
Overall, To the Death brings the EDAs to a close with one of the strongest conclusions to a story arc in the Eighth Doctor’s run so far. The Lucie Miller era is brought to a definitive close with a fantastic Dalek story that neatly bookends the era that began all the way back with Blood of the Daleks. The Doctor’s business with the Daleks is far from over, however, as the next series in the Eighth Doctor’s run begins the Dark Eyes saga, an ambitious 16=part space opera featuring Ruth Bradley as new companion Molly O’Sullivan. Before that, however, the Eighth Doctor’s run of audios takes an unusual turn, as between the end of the EDAs and the start of Dark Eyes, Paul McGann briefly returned to the Main Range to do a few more stories set before the Eighth Doctor met Charley, in a strange set of adventures in which he travels with none other than Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein.
Next – Eighth Doctor Big Finish Audios Review – Mary Shelley Plays
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