The First Doctor #5

'The Beginning' from The Companion Chronicles.

As my first ever Big Finish I can't say this was a great introduction, although Carole Ann Ford's performance was plenty fun. Can't say I'm a huge fan of the narrator-style storytelling - not sure if Big Finish is gonna be more like this or more like audio-only television episodes, but I'm hoping more for the latter in future listens. The sequence of The Doctor and Susan's escape is great albeit just about on a par with The Exiles, but once Quadrigger Stoyn and the main narrative is introduced, it becomes quite bare and I was finding myself gradually more disinterested as it went on. The Archaeons are whatever, and - maybe it's because it's so similar to the Caged story from this year - the themes of a race creating another race, here specifically the Archaeons creating humanity, just doesn't do much for me. Stoyn is pretty irritating also, although I do like how The Doctor is instantly shown to be pretty cold by locking him out of the TARDIS at the end, but perhaps he gets better in the two Big Finish stories that narratively follow this one. I suppose I'll see whenever I eventually get around to them.

To call it out again though, Susan's alien-type powers arise here once more with her being able to pick up The Doctor's thoughts as he's laying unseen beside her, so it's exciting to know that this is something that's going to be explored in the extended canon much more than it was too-briefly touched upon in The Sensorites.