Search & filter every Whoniverse story ever made!
View stories featuring your favourite characters & track your progress!
Complete sets of stories, track them on the homepage, earn badges!
Join TARDIS Guide to keep track of the stories you've completed - rate them, add to favourites, get stats!
Roadmap and blog returning soon...
Lots more Guides are on their way!
13 August 2024
This review contains spoilers!
🙏🏼(6.7) = FINE!
Thworping through time and space, one adventure at a time!
Leviathan transports Sixie and Peri to mediaeval times, immersing them in Dark Age folklore, where the malevolent Herne pursues those destined for death. The Lost Stories range has adapted the original story, written by Brian Finch and reworked by his son, Paul Finch.
The story kicks right off in a surprisingly busy and occasionally messy opening installment, which immediately introduces Herne, the poor hunted Gurth, and the villagers tracking down Herne. As it settles down, though, it mostly revolves around the same characters biding time, discussing their plans, and wondering about the Doctor and Peri. There's no deeper exploration of the era than Peri dropping a few words here and there that the locals don't recognise.
Only the presence of anachronistic weaponry and the baron's mysterious presence add to the mystery. These make up a story that ends up being disappointingly familiar.
The second part is more action-packed, and while the scope of the story is greater because there are no budget limitations, it is sometimes difficult to visualise the events.
The mediaeval setting feels a bit similar to The Time Warrior or The Masque of Mandragora, but with a slightly darker twist. Though the presence of androids feels closer to The Androids of Tara or Robot of Sherwood.
Colin Baker exudes positive energy in this one. Nicola Bryant is also good, but she lacks anything substantial to do until the very end.
The guest actors play multiple roles, and Beth Chalmers is particularly engaging (as usual) in her roles (Althya, Eada). Frequent Big Finish collaborators John Banks (Herne, the Baron) and Jamie Parker (Wulfric) are also excellent. It's actually fairly impressive that only a handful of actors manage to handle such a stacked cast of characters—sometimes we have the same actor having a conversation with themselves!
If this had been a pre-existing adventure, we would likely have classified it as middle-tier. Although the story follows a traditional structure, it features some compelling themes and an ambitious production that the audio medium doesn't fully justify.
Not a member? Join for free! Forgot password?
Content