MR 013: The Shadow of the Scourge

Well that was horrifying. This is definitely the first real horror story in the main range and it works very well.

An eight dimensional army of beings called the Scourge emerge from another universe and feed on the fear of humans. What makes this story really horrifying is what they can do. They're so far beyond humanity that they can force humans to kill themselves or each other just by speaking to them. They come through into this universe by inhabiting and transforming the bodies of humans, preying on their fears and insecurities to push their way in. So you've got body transformation and mind control horror.

The Doctor has a plan to deal with them, but that plan fails and halfway through the story he gets transformed himself in a pretty horrific second episode cliff hanger. It's wild to see this Doctor, the one who plans and lays traps and always seems like he's in control, very much so NOT in control. We get to see the Scourge playing on the Doctor's insecurities. I love the characterization here of this Doctor being someone who constantly tests his companions to see if they'll leave because they always inevitably leave him anyway. So he pushes them away before they have a chance to hurt him. I relate to that so much cause I do the same thing.
Ace does something rather insane here. She has someone bash her ears in and thus ruin her eardrums so she can't hear the Scourge's commands. Which is certainly one way around the mind control if you can't deal with the insecurities that they cause. It's pretty wild. We get to hear her shouting and not hearing anything for most of the backhalf of the story.

Bernice also says things like "by the goddess" a lot, I assume she's from a world where they worship a goddess.

The story also starts off in a very interesting way with three different conventions going on. A mystic conference to the great god Om (which is the spark to let the Scourge in), a time travel demonstration, and a cross stitch convention. I don't know about the characterization of cross stitchers being desperate and depressed but sure. It works for what they're going for here.

In the end, the Doctor pushes back by crawling to the top of the Scourge hive mind after he's been transformed. And when he's about to succumb to the Scourge entirely, Bernice comes back for him and pulls him out of it. They get the humans to push back, to not be afraid, to admit their insecurities and failures and not be afraid of hiding them anymore. It's a great ending to a great story.

Also, this cover does not in any way do the Scourge justice. Not sure what they were thinking with preying mantis people. Does this scream "the embodiment of human fear and insecurity and the conception of hell" to you? No. No it doesn't. Nice shades for Ace though. Still, great audio, easily the Seventh Doctor's best so far.