The start to the Fourth Doctor Adventures! Unfortunately, it's not the best of stories.

This takes place immediately after Talons of Weng-Chiang, which I watched last night, and I smiled at how the last lines of that story were the first lines of this one. Considering this was (I think) Tom's first role at Big Finish, he does a splendid job at perfectly recreating his 70s counterpart. Both the Doctor and Leela have a strong relationship going between them, but it's kinda annoying that she keeps forgetting what the Doctor says about touching the monsters. Aside from that, it's nice that it sets up the Doctor teaching Leela arc that is in the FDAs.

These are pretty solid villains with a good story. Not the most iconic, but it works for a small story which is meant to reintroduce the listeners to the era after 30 odd years. There were some clever plot twists about the character, but like the Helm of Awe, you need to make sure that you stay focused so you don't miss anything. It's good that this story is only 2 parts, because then it means that you don't need to retain the information from Part 1 all the way to Part 4. The way that they spread across the ship so quickly was really creepy, and reminded me of when the Wirrn were hiding on board the Ark in Season 12 (Man, that feels like ages ago...) Also, love the reveal with Lord Jack (played by Third Doctor impressionist Tim Treloar) and the British Empire.

Okay, so this story just feels like a big grab at nostalgia, unfortunately. Nerva Beacon and Talons of Weng-Chiang? I think that the BF team should've made a strong original story to show off what the 4DAs will be like. This story could've worked just as well without either of those to get it running. Just a regular spacestation with the Doctor and Leela in their normal clothes. However, I did like the musical continuity of Nerva Beacon, as the music that plays when the Doctor first arrives there is very similar to Nerva's theme from Revenge of the Cybermen.

The side characters aren't anything important, and have some very unnecessary backstory that doesn't really amount to anything. I think they're just there for exposition and someone to talk to really, nothing that improves the story.

It's an interesting story with a creepy villain, but nothing special. However, it's great to finally be on the Fourth Doctor Adventures.

A typical Briggs base under siege story. Not a particularly special story, but filled its purpose well. I quite enjoyed Alison and Leela's interactions, and though she didn't have an awful lot to do, Leela was never treated by the narrative as stupid which I appreciate. It is also interesting to me how often a Briggs script is very anti-empire. Here, British Empire is treated as savage and base - something that Leela is explicitly not in this episode. The British pillaging the alien ship and taking it to dominate the alien culture is very much treated as a bad thing in this script, so despite the generic plot beats, I still enjoyed the story overall as it made me think, which is better than being boring.

The way I was so bored yet invested yet didn’t care yet didn’t want too

thats a mix emotions audio haha

This is a perfectly standard story. Briggs delivers an alright script that takes place right after Talons of Weng Chiang, with the Doctor and Leela still dressed in Victorian garb... despite the story taking place in space. Alright then. The connection to Ark in Space is tenuous at best. It's Nerva Beacon but at this point it's just a space dock. There is no other connection from here. Baker is good, Jameson is good, the side characters are alright. The main villain is imperialists. Imperialists that are also a fleshborne disease that turn people into Cronenburg monsters? Alright then. And then it's all undone in the end by some random aliens. Ok.

There is truly very little to be said of this story. I don't hate it but I only listened to it a day or two ago and I've already forgotten most of it. And frankly, I have no desire to relisten. A somewhat disappointing start to the 4DAs and forgettable overall. For completionists only.