🙏🏼5️⃣ = MIDDLING!

Thworping through time and space, one adventure at a time!

The 13th season of Big Finish Fourth Doctor Adventures continues with a historical adventure on the sea and a rematch with the Dominators and their deadly Quarks.

“SEXIST DOMINATORS: A COMMENTARY”

This story gets underway right away by taking a traditional route: the companions are imprisoned and try to work out a way to escape. At the same time, the Doctor begins piecing together what is going on and why. This familiar story trail continues throughout, making for a pretty predictable, not overly exciting adventure.

At the end of Part 3, John Dorney injects some excitement into the story, as a power shift within the Dominators puts everyone and everything at risk, leading to the concluding fourth part of the story. He delivers a pretty straightforward climax before concluding this chapter of the Fourth Doctor Adventures by having Harry and Naomi depart the TARDIS (in a scene that leads directly to the Seventh Doctor story London Orbital, released in 2022).

I’m not a fan of The Dominators or the cheap Dalek copy that is the Quarks, but it’s pretty fun to have them here facing Four, Harry, and Naomi. One of the better scenes is in Part 4 as Harry goes through the classic “companion having to impersonate the villain to get the other to the villain’s HQ” schtick.

The three regulars are well-oiled by now. I'm a bit bummed about Naomi, who barely received any characterisation during her time with the Doctor before being written out.

The supporting cast is fine, but nothing remarkable. Nala is the only character I felt was interesting in her rebellious nature.

Here at least, the Dominators are recognisable in how they are bickering and trying to oust each other. They're not any more interesting here than in their original appearance, though. Draga turns out to be slightly more well-rounded than the two Dominators present in The Dominators (1969).