The year is 1770, and daring explorer Captain James Cook and his crew on the Endeavour are navigating the Pacific Ocean. Into their midst come strangers: the Doctor and Ian Chesterton, who are believed to have come from Venus. But the TARDIS is lost to them – along with both Susan and Barbara – and Ian makes an enemy of the ship’s chief scientist, Joseph Banks. A new adventure for the First Doctor as told by his companion, Ian Chesterton.
THE COMPANION CHRONICLES: THE TRANSIT OF VENUS
After a brief sidestep into the Peter Davison era, the fifteenth Companion Chronicle returns to the black and white days with Jacqueline Rayner’s “The Transit of Venus,” a first-season story that also features William Russell’s debut in the range. Given the author and the narrator, you’d expect excellence from this story, and that’s exactly what you get: another contender for “best Companion Chronicle thus far.”
Presented with the problem of a crowded TARDIS and a story with a limited setting, Rayner does the smart thing: she writes two of the characters out of the action almost immediately, leaving the Doctor and Ian to get involved in the plot. By setting the story immediately after “The Sensorites,” she is able to incorporate some disharmony between the characters and, in the process, show both characters coming to appreciate each other. Ian and the Doctor are both stubborn and headstrong, but compelled by their situation to work together, their mutual understanding comes to the fore. I loved the little moment when Ian describes his disbelief and happiness at the Doctor talking up his skill, especially as he’d been reluctantly returning the favor throughout the narration!
Setting the story on Captain Cook’s Endeavour was another fantastic idea, as the Doctor is naturally at home with explorers. Stranded from his TARDIS but able to spend time with his navigation charts, you can feel the Doctor’s delight at standing on the periphery watching. Ian, of course, is more directly involved, helped by a convenient lie about his origins. His relationship with Joseph Banks is complicated: he clearly admires the scientist, but disapproves of his pragmatism even before he suspects his possession. It’s ironic considering Ian’s beliefs that he apparently inspires the idea to use Botany Bay as a prison colony, but that doesn’t stop the Doctor taking great joy in pointing it out! If there’s a complaint to be had, it’s that the telepathy plot is too easily (and ludicrously) resolved, but then the story isn’t about the plot so much as it’s about Ian grappling with his perceptions and his responsibilities to history.
And then there’s William Russell, who returns here to the role of Ian for the first time since the 1960s, video links for “The Crusade” excepted. There’s no framing device here – Ian is simply telling a story to an unknown audience – and Russell turns in a brilliant performance, giving every line proper depth and emotion. His Hartnell is instantly recognizable even if the voice isn’t perfect, but his other voices are most impressive: he slips so easily into them that it’s easy to forget the story only has two actors. As one of the most accomplished performers to grace Doctor Who’s fifty-year history, it’s not surprising to hear a presentation like this one, but it brings a grin to the face to hear a man in his 80s with such an easy command of the material. We’ll hear him again in future stories, of course, but it’s important not to lose sight of what a privilege it is to have William Russell still willing and able to contribute to Doctor Who.
The production is successful – the performances speak to Nigel Fairs’ direction, and David Darlington’s sound design ably supports the story. Rayner’s script expertly captures the era while allowing it the wider canvas of the open ocean, and her prose is perfectly suited to this medium, never sounding forced or clunky. And the central performance is exceptional. This is great Doctor Who – pick it up and listen if you haven’t already.
Highly recommended.
9/10