NYSSA, POLLY, IAN CHESTERTON, STEVEN TAYLOR AND SARA KINGDOM JOIN THE DOCTOR, BATTLING DALEKS, SONTARANS AND DINOSAURS!
The Fifth Doctor meets up with his distant past – the schoolteacher who settled down, the space pilot who became a King, the security agent who died and lived again and the swinging Sixties secretary who has made her own way in the world.
THE FIVE COMPANIONS
The 2010 Big Finish subscriber bonus release, “The Four Doctors,” took an alternative approach to a multi-Doctor story, with one character encountering each Doctor at different points in his life. The 2011 bonus release, “The Five Companions,” is in every way a traditional anniversary release: much like “The Five Doctors,” it throws multiple characters together to see how they react – and it’s glorious fun.
Nominally, this is a Peter Davison story, and rightfully so given that it is literally set during “The Five Doctors,” rather improbably suggesting that the Doctor is pulled out of his teleport back to the Capitol and deposited into another part of the Death Zone. But the story doesn’t focus on him, opting instead to prioritize five companions: Ian, Steven, Sara Kingdom, Polly, and Nyssa. Author Eddie Robson doesn’t shy away from the obvious: Ian, Steven, and Polly all openly acknowledge that they’ve aged, and the reasons why Sara is alive at all are left deliberately unclear. Supposedly these are explained in the Companion Chronicles; as I have not listened to any at this time, I cannot comment. Nyssa, however, is left in her young form – presumably she’s there to serve as an anchor to the Doctor for the others, but her role seemed mostly superfluous to me.
William Russell and Peter Purves are the standouts here. Russell, of course, sounds nothing like he did in the 1960s, but for a man in his late 80s he brings a remarkable amount of energy to the production. It’s audibly the same character, just older – there’s the same pragmatism coupled with the same reckless love of adventure. Purves, meanwhile, doesn’t sound much different, and he, too, slips back into the role like a pair of old shoes. There’s a brief mention of how Steven was unequipped to lead an entire society as a young man, something that deserves exploration at some point, but Robson uses thse background details to add color without becoming overbearing.
Anneke Wills gets perhaps the most interesting role, as Robson writes Polly as more mature and reflective than the young girl from the TV series. It’s hard to discuss too much about changes in a character whose only complete, extant story is her first, but there’s a wonderful little conversation with the Doctor that helps the listener understand what he sees and appreciates in each of his companions. Jean Marsh, on the other hand, openly admits in the extras that she doesn’t even remember her character, and why should she, given her stature and the fact that Sara Kingdom was a guest role in only one serial. I’ve often wondered why we even consider her a companion, as she doesn’t fit any workable definition that doesn’t also include H.G. Wells – but then the answer isn’t any more complicated than “because Peter Haining said so,” so I’m not going to fight it. I’ve only seen the existing episodes of “The Daleks’ Masterplan,” but based on those, Marsh is playing what is recognizably the same character, and develops a quick rapport with Purves.
Of course, since it’s the Death Zone, there must be enemies to fight – and Robson quite appropriately thinks “why not Daleks, Sontarans, and dinosaurs?!” Why not, indeed! Nicholas Briggs provides the Dalek voices, as usual, while Dan Starkey portrays the Sontarans – and much like the Daleks and Cybermen in “Doomsday,” it is an absolute delight to hear these two warmongering races get together. The Daleks are a bit ineffectual – getting torn apart by dinosaurs seems a bit much – but it’s easy to picture the Sontarans as a match for them, and realize what a boon the endless Sontaran-Rutan war is for the universe.
It’s difficult to comment on the production, since I can’t find information on who directed the story or who was responsible for the sound design, but this is a delight of an “anniversary”-type story with an excellent pace and effective design. Robson handwaves the continuity issues with brief, yet workable explanations, and Davison holds the whole thing together as necessary. Silly? Yes. Rushed? Sure. Confusing? In places. But this is, at its heart, an opportunity to spend time with beloved characters, and even decades later they show they can still delight.
Great stuff.
9/10