This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: The Apocalypse Element

Charles Darwin and the Silurians, a pair so perfect for each other that they're doing it again in a book coming out this month. This story is actually really interesting in how it handles Darwin encountering the Silurians, at the start he's skeptical of God, but still believing in him and by the end he believes that religion is a lie. It's fascinating to hear this happen over the course of the story and Miles Richardson's excellent performance as Darwin really helps this story stand out. Colin Baker and Maggie Stables remain an extremely fun pair to listen to.

I was surprised to find out that this was one of few Classic Silurian stories on audio, they feel like such an iconic villain that you'd expect them to appear in more. I do really like how accurate this story is to the sound design of the Silurians. The voices are on point and this story even includes the infamous third eye laser noise responsible for so many ridiculous Classic Who cliffhangers. While the inclusion of Darwin definitely makes this story stand out, it still follows the typical format of a Silurian adventure. There's always one good Silurian and one bad one that argue a bunch. The Doctor tries to be the voice of reason. Somewhere along the way a virus gets released and it ends in explosion.

Overall, I like so many things about this story (the atmosphere, the way it uses Charles Darwin, the accuracy to the TV show no matter how silly) but I can't help feeling it's a bit derivative.

Next Story: Project: Twilight

15.06.2022

Meh. Charles Darwin is in this story and he comes up with a theory of evolution throughout the course of the play. It is realised with a subtlety of a brick. Also Homo Sapiens were created by one Silurian guy, like kettle. Not naturally evolved. Specifically crafted. One could even say, divinely. A strange idea to put into the same story as Darwin's Origin of Species creation.

As for the plot, it's forgettable and skippable. The villain is a bleak evil scientist. The culmination is a stuff of kindergartens. 1/5

MR 022: Bloodtide

The thing I remembered most from this audio is the way that lady says "Devils." Still pretty B tier coded, but at least Colin and Evelyn are here so that's pretty nice. It's also the first use of the Silurians. Unfortunately, it's pretty standard as far as Silurian stories go, especially classic who Silurian stories.

The Beagle is doing its tour of the Galapagos Islands with Charles Darwin, yes, that Darwin. They end up uncovering some Silurians that have been woken up from their slumber and are working on killing all of humanity with a plague. Again. That's really all there is to it. The thing that makes it pretty standard and definitely too long, like a classic who story, is that it has the Doctor get captured... and then Evelyn goes after him with Darwin and they get captured. And then the Doctor escapes and he goes after them. It's just a waste of time. It could have easily been cut down to an hour, again, like a lot of classic who.

That said, there's some good ideas here. I particularly liked Darwin in the middle of having an existential and religious crisis of faith in the middle of being captured by the Silurians. Indeed, juxtaposing Darwin himself with the Silurians is a great idea. The story does the correct thing in comparing natural selection with artificial selection or animal breeding. Darwin talks about the way that animals are domesticated, becoming more calm because of human intervention. And he compares that to the finches becoming more afraid of humans over time by their presence on the islands.

It's particularly interesting because the story says that humans used to be the Silurians' food and that one Silurian decided to advance their evolution and give them intelligence. So humans themselves are a product of artificial selection, breeding by Silurians. That would absolutely send Darwin into a crisis of faith.
I also found the myrka pretty hilarious considering, you know, Warriors. Just don't drop kick it. They do manage to make it feel threatening as an actual giant sea monster rather than two guys in a panto horse costume. It just is pretty superfluous.

The Doctor gets to make some fun jabs at humanity. How can humans be intelligent when they enslave each other ect ect. How is eating humans any different than eating cattle. Stuff you'd expect of Six, which I'm here for. I enjoyed the outraged ship captain trying to come up with reasons to justify why eating humans is wrong and eating cows is ok. It is so good to finally have Colin back. It's been EIGHT audios since we had him. And not coincidentally Holy Terror was the last truly good one. And yes, I do like Paul McGann quite a lot, who doesn't, but his first four audios here left a lot to be desired.

The Monthly Adventures #022 - "Bloodtide" by Jonathan Morris

As we go through the Main Range, we’re bound to run into some pretty notorious writers that have gone on to make a massive name for themselves in Doctor Who expanded media. One of these names happens to be Jonathan Morris, who has become somewhat of a favourite of mine over my years, famous for his bleak writing and horror notes. His highlight that I’ve thus far experienced would absolutely be Protect and Survive, that is one bleak little horror story, but his first audio outing was here: a historical half-remake of Doctor Who and the Silurians.

Visiting the Galapagos Islands, Evelyn finds herself making friends with Charles Darwin as the Doctor discovers familiar enemies at work deep beneath the Earth surface and a secret that could change the course of history.

(CONTAINS SPOILERS)

Bloodtide, aside from having an incredibly cool name, is not a stand-out story by any means. It traipses through a number of clichés and feeds off the plot points of a number of more iconic stories to build its narrative, but it is certainly an interesting entry. When I call it a remake of Doctor Who and the Silurians, I mean it traverses most of the same narrative beats except for basically any of the Hulkian political subtext; human accomplice, Silurians with conflicting morals, a deadly plague set upon the Earth people, you can see where Morris drew a lot of inspiration from easily. It actually does emulate a similar tone to that story, the Galapagos Islands make for a great setting and very naturally slide into that grungy, prehistoric atmosphere the Silurians give off. Not to mention the incidental score and the voices of the Silurians feel like a somewhat improved version of the 70s episode. However, I’d say that the most interesting part of this story by far would be our historical figure Charles Darwin. He is absolutely the best character here, which I can rarely say in stories with a person from history featured, as usually they’re just somebody for the Doctor to fawn over, but Darwin has a genuinely great little character arc and a really likeable personality. It’s not often the historical figure gets this much praise from me so I can definitely give Morris props for that. Also, he managed to make the Myrka an actual threat, so well done to him, he’s clearly a talented writer.

However, I’ll say again, Bloodtide is nothing special. The plot, which, as I mentioned before, is almost parasitically feeding off Malcolm Hulke’s original script, feels oddly aimless, like the Doctor and Evelyn just walk in on this situation and wander around in it until it’s over. I've definitely heard tighter stories. Also, the part three reveal that the main Silurian - Torka - genetically engineered the human race and is basically now our lizard god is really strange, because that feels like a step too far scientifically; a real “the moon is an egg” situation. Not every single event in human history needs to be a conspiracy, guys. Also, we just so happen to have some classic bad Big Finish accents. Jane Goddard as Greta was absolutely painful to listen to and her vague South American accent was teetering on offensive.

Overall, Bloodtide is not a special episode. Jonathan Morris would go on to write more interesting and more original stories than this in the future and this early work of his is definitely one of his weaker one’s. There are a couple diamonds in the rough - the episode is dripping in atmosphere and there are a couple great characters - but it’s not a story that will stick with you like some of Morris’ other works.

7/10

Pros:

+ Charles Darwin is a surprisingly interesting character

+ Emulates the feel and tone of Doctor Who and the Silurians incredibly well

+ Unique and interesting setting

+ The Myrka is actually quite threatening

Cons:

- The reveal that Torka engineered the human race was confusing more than anything

- The story feels somewhat aimless

- Greta was ceaselessly annoying

🙏🏼(6.4) = OKAY!

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

Part 1 deftly establishes the mood, with a Silurian facing retribution for his unsuccessful scientific experiments and a human captain administering a similar punishment to one of his crew members. Meanwhile, the TARDIS transports Six and Evelyn to the Galapagos Islands during Charles Darwin's expeditions. This is a pseudohistorical narrative that serves as the Big Finish introduction to the Silurians.

Since this is a reintroduction to the Silurians, we meet another isolated society that has awakened from deep sleep, unaware of the other colonies. This serves as both a sequel and prequel to The Silurians (1970), and it also spins some of the same themes.

It's fun to hear about an adventure centred around Darwin's work at Galapagos and his formation of the theory of evolution, which is a pivotal part of scientific history. Morris also explores the setting and era fairly well, and the actors do a fantastic job of bringing it all to life.

The opening installment is quite a slow start to the story. It then concludes with a very classic cliffhanger.

Bloodtide doesn't grow very exciting, and aside from its unique setting, surprisingly stringent atmosphere, and characters, there's little here that sticks.

Colin Baker is in top form, and Maggie Stables is so warm, eager, and wonderful. Jane Goddard (best known for her many turns voicing Alpha Centauri) is back from Dust Breeding, voicing Greta Rodrigues. Miles Richardson, a frequent collaborator with Big Finish, appears in one of his earliest roles as Darwin in this story. I appreciate his frequent appearances, the integration of his philosophical and scientific debates into the dialogue, and Evelyn's indirect assistance in formulating his renowned theories.

The portrayal of the Silurian characters is excellent, and I appreciate the Doctor's interactions with them. I also appreciate how the story gives them a pivotal role in mankind's evolution.

Part 4 reinvigorates the plot somewhat and amps up the tension for the final stretch.