For our very best from the Second Doctor, we come to what I was certain was going the be the last of The Early Adventures considering the First Doctor’s move to The First Doctor Adventures and the fact that the Second Doctor would inevitably follow suit, which would make this series practically redundant. I was wrong however as the series released two more stories later on in 2021 but has had no news of any follow up so I guess that’s that for The Early Adventures. Frankly it’s a shame this story wasn’t the one to end The Early Adventures because it’s one hell of a finale and to me is my favourite multi-Doctor story of all time.

The story follows that the Second Doctor’s TARDIS collides with another TARDIS of the same appearance in the vortex, the resulting crash leaves the crew stranded on a planet under attack. But before the Doctor can step in to defend this world, he finds that he’s already on the case as his first incarnation along with Steven and Katarina of Troy are coordinating the defence and evacuation of the planet. But something is very wrong as the Second Doctor knows that Katarina never properly travelled with the First Doctor as she died on her very first trip. What’s more is that the consequences of the accident that brought both TARDIS crews to the same place are far worse than they can imagine as some old friends of theirs are slowly conquering the galaxy with their fully functioning time destructor.

This story draws very heavily on the events of The Dalek’s Master Plan, particularly the first half of it where Katarina, having joined the TARDIS in the previous story, made history by becoming the first companion to die in Doctor Who. That said I wouldn’t say it’s entirely necessary to see The Dalek’s Master Plan first to get the appropriate context as this audio does an excellent job of bringing the audience up to speed through the events and dialogue of the story.

Throughout The Early Adventures and in most Second Doctor audios up until 2022, the voice of the Second Doctor was provided by Jamie’s actor Frazer Hines, and it’s got to be said, Frazer Hines is the single best impersonator of the Second Doctor of all time, nobody can touch this man! From the inflections to the mannerisms, it honestly feels like you’re hearing Patrick Troughton’s voice. Shouldn’t come as a great shock given how they were close friends throughout their time on the show. Since 2022, the mantle has been passed on to Troughton’s son Michael who is great in his own right at capturing the spirit of his father, but Frazer Hines will always be the best.

So as the cover and premise suggests, this is a multi-Doctor story where the Second Doctor encounters his first incarnation, while multi-Doctor stories are rare in the show, Big Finish have used the advantage of having all the actors at their fingertips to do plenty of multi-Doctor stories playing about with different combinations. But maybe a little too much as while multi-Doctor stories are always fun and are an instant buy from me, they have admittedly lost that air of feeling special. Not to mention the more cynical reality that multi-Doctor stories tend to coast on the premise of the Doctor meeting other incarnations rather than tell a story of any depth. I mean in 2020 we had David Tennant and Tom Baker team up in a story to fight the Daleks, what’s the plot? Who are the other characters? Is there any compelling drama to this Doctor pairing? Who cares!!! It’s the Tenth and Fourth Doctors fighting Daleks, what else do you need!!! Which is fine, I enjoy that sort of thing but none of the multi-Doctor stories have ever managed to make it into my all-time favourites. That is except for this one where the Second and First Doctors meeting one another isn’t played off as a gimmick but rather the means of adding to the drama of the story where the Second Doctor knows how to fix the situation and set time on its correct course, but having learned what that will mean for Katarina, the First Doctor will not accept that. This leads to some excellent interactions between the two Doctors and the two TARDIS teams as they weigh up the choices of what to do next. Speaking of the companions, another common thread in multi-Doctor stories is that the companions, on the rare occasions they’re even involved, tend to be more of an afterthought, not much consideration is really put into the interplay between different TARDIS teams. But in this one the potential is given the treatment it deserves as Zoe, Jamie, Steven and Katarina have great chemistry with each other and show that the companions of different eras meeting one another can also make for some exciting character moments. You do of course get a lot of the entertaining and even funny back and forth moments with the two Doctors and how their egos clash with one another, particularly when they’re caught and interrogated by the Daleks which reminded me of the “Don’t call me Junior” bit from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade where the two Jones’s had a full-on argument despite being held at gunpoint.

But the real star of this is Ajjaz Awad as Katarina, a character that despite making an impact in Doctor Who history, never had enough time to really make a connection with fans. Much like Sara Kingdom, it’s astounding how Big Finish have found a way to further develop such a short-lived character. Both writer David K. Barnes and Ajjaz deserve commending for fleshing out Katarina and making her inevitable fate all the more tragic. As well as showing what she means to the Doctor from the Second Doctor’s regret for losing her and the First Doctor’s guilt for how she came to join the TARDIS in the first place.

The two Early Adventures stories that followed in 2021 were good but this really should’ve been the proper finale to the series. There’s no better way of concluding a series that helped bring the show of the 60s back to life, Daughter of the Gods is a true love letter to the show in its infant years and is one of my all-time favourite Doctor Who stories.