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“SUNLIGHT: KRYNOIDS, CORPORATE GREED, AND A FROSTY FIRST ACT”

Big Finish’s Sunlight marks the opening salvo of Planet Krynoid, a 50th anniversary celebration of one of Doctor Who’s most unsettling villains—the plant-based parasites that first terrified viewers in 1976’s The Seeds of Doom. Swapping English country gardens for a frozen colony world, this latest encounter with the Krynoids delivers classic body horror with a corporate sci-fi edge, blending Alien-esque paranoia with a desperate survival tale.

Set on an icy, struggling human outpost, the story wastes no time plunging listeners into its bleak world. One of the colony’s essential sun satellites is destroyed by a meteorite, bringing with it the mysterious pods that kick off the Krynoid nightmare. Characters come thick and fast, and while the rapid introductions make it difficult to latch onto everyone immediately, the broad strokes of the setting are quickly established: a harsh planet, failing infrastructure, and class divisions between the privileged elite and the slum-dwelling workers.

A GOVERNOR WITH A CONSCIENCE

At the story’s core is Reece Shearsmith as Governor Robert Hodan, a refreshing twist on the usual colony leader archetype. Hodan is not a corrupt official or a cowardly bureaucrat—instead, he’s a man genuinely trying to do the right thing. His immediate instinct is to destroy the alien pods for the safety of the colony, a decision that earns him opposition from those more concerned with profit than preservation.

Hodan’s moral conflict becomes even more compelling when the pods are discovered to possess healing properties—capable of curing disease and extending life. Suddenly, this is no longer just a matter of protocol, but of personal grief, as the possibility of saving his ailing wife throws his principles into sharp relief. It’s a grounded, emotionally resonant dilemma that gives the horror real weight.

CORPORATE INTERESTS, SCIENTIFIC AMBITION

Opposing Hodan is a company representative who wants to monetise the pods, drawing clear parallels with the Alien franchise’s android antagonists—cold, calculating, and ultimately reckless in pursuit of a bottom line. The story doesn't linger too long on these tropes, but their familiarity helps create a sense of unease and inevitability.

Dr Faith Costello is another standout—an ambitious, protocol-driven scientist who truly believes she’s doing something revolutionary. Her curiosity is as dangerous as it is sincere, and her blind trust in the pursuit of scientific acclaim puts her in the classic Doctor Who role of the well-meaning but fatally misguided researcher. She follows orders and procedures, but not always wisdom, which makes her fall from grace all the more poignant.

TENSION IN THE TUNDRA

While there’s not much time to explore the class divide in depth, the worldbuilding is effective: luxury domes for the rich, crumbling ruins from past settlers, icy wastelands, and a growing sense of unease beneath it all. The story’s horror ramps up gradually but surely, beginning with the classic sci-fi mistake—alien pods are found, no one destroys them, and everything starts to go terribly wrong.

Piotr, the first infected colonist, becomes the lens through which we witness the Krynoid invasion from the inside out. His transformation is grotesque and tragic, and the tension builds with each step the base crew takes in trying to contain the threat. The structure cleverly allows the horror to simmer rather than explode immediately, with a growing sense of dread that mirrors the Krynoid’s creeping spread.

INTO THE RUINS AND ONTO THE HORROR

The final act turns from paranoia to full-blown panic. The infection is loose, the colony is on the verge of collapse, and a team is forced to venture into the ruins of the original settlement in search of answers. Here, the audio leans harder into its horror roots—mutations, madness, and plant-zombie attacks that owe more than a little to The Thing and Invasion of the Body Snatchers. There’s even the unsettling suggestion that this has all happened before, with buried records and warnings lost to time.

The ending arrives abruptly, with the Eighth Doctor appearing out of nowhere and leading directly into the next chapter of the saga. It’s a jarring moment, but it also confirms what was already clear: Sunlight is only the beginning. The true devastation is still to come.

📝VERDICT: 8/10

Sunlight is a gripping, chilly reintroduction to the Krynoids, combining body horror, corporate satire, and classic sci-fi paranoia in an atmospheric first act. Reece Shearsmith’s Governor Hodan is a sympathetic, morally complex lead, and the icy setting offers a refreshing twist on the usual Krynoid formula. While the story rushes through its ensemble and doesn’t fully explore its class conflict, it sets the stage for an epic three-part tale with creeping dread, effective horror, and a haunting sense of inevitability. This Krynoid saga is only just beginning—and it's already showing its thorns.