Synopsis: This set contains two new E-Space adventures for the Fourth Doctor, Romana, Adric, and K-9.
Review: I enjoyed The Fourth Doctor Adventures Series 09 Volume 2 even more than Volume 1. The two stories provided great parallel commentary on the Tardis crew’s quest to leave E-Space.
Story
“The Planet of Witches” by Alan Barnes gave us the first chilling look at how the obsession to escape E-Space impacts an E-Space culture. I really appreciated Barnes’ world-building and his subverting the witch and witchfinder tropes. I also liked the realizations The Doctor comes to about natural selection.
Throughout, Barnes made fantastic use of Adric and K-9. Their interactions with Tiresias are worth the price alone. I also really enjoyed how Barnes planted and paid off clues in the story, which ensured Adric and K-9’s organic roles.
In “The Quest of the Engineer,” Andrew Smith dialed the theme of obsession up to infinity. The Engineer was very clearly insane in an Edgar Allan Poe meets Mary Shelley meets The Borg way. It’s one of the best stories of its kind Big Finish has ever done, allowing all the regulars room to shine.
Acting
Tom Baker, Lalla Ward, Matthew Waterhouse, and John Leeson were all in top form. They were assisted by yet another awesome supporting cast.
In “The Planet of the Witches,” I especially liked how Samuel Clemens varied his multiple roles of Yggra, Tiresias, and The Familiars. For her part, Abigail McKern also did an excellent job playing Crone and The Moirai.
In “The Quest of the Engineer,” the standout was Nicholas Woodeson as The Engineer. I was also greatly affected by Sarah Woodward as the righteously angry woman who would end him.
Overall
Thank you, Big Finish, for yet another excellent Fourth Doctor box set. I hope to hear many more.
- You can purchase The Fourth Doctor Adventures Series 09 Volume 2 here.
- Story9.0
- Performances10
- Audio Production10
