Fugitive of the Daleks

a really fun 6 parter it’s very chase esc at the start and then plot threads start to get tied up all into one big scarf and omg and it does somthing to I will never spoil to anyone cause it’s the best twist ever

Very very fun. The continuity nerd side of me was grinning so much at every reference.

A grip at the past that can’t quite recapture the same magic as the original.

This story starts in ancient Greece. We sit down with Vicki, now an old woman, reminiscing about her travels with the Doctor. Her past seems to catch up with her, however, when the Tardis lands in a shrine near her home. She finds a wounded Doctor inside and they quickly escape together. However, soon they discover the Daleks are hot on their trail!

I didn’t really see it coming, but this story quickly turns into “The Chase 2”. The Doctor and Vicki travel through all kinds of time periods to lose the Daleks that are close behind.

And on paper, it should work. The areas they visit are unique. The scenario’s they come across are interesting. Yet it doesn’t really recapture the magic of the original chase. It’s missing something the original had in spades: Character.

The original Chase was more than just a collection of locations. It was also a collection of character moments. Our Tardis team was chilling in a desert with 2 suns. They were goofing around with a man from Alabama. They met Steven in an incredibly moving character introduction. There were loads of little moments that made you believe in our little team of 4. Which also strengthened the heartbreak when they split up at the end.

Except this time, we don’t have that team. This time we have Vicki, a few decades removed from her last appearance and we have the Doctor, who is presented very flatly by design for story reasons. Later on, Dodo gets added to the mix, but let’s be real: No one is bringing Dodo to a character depth party.

Let’s look at every character in a bit more detail. Starting off with our main attraction: the return of Vicki. Overall, I think Vicki is one of my favorite first Doctor companions. Because she defined the era she was set in. Vicki was bright and optimistic as the travelled with her found family. The grandfather-granddaughter dynamic with the Doctor is obvious, but even outside of that, she always had a close relation with the other companions around her. She was the glue that made our team stick together as they went on fun adventures through time and space. When she eventually left, the show immediately grew very dark and strained. People died in cruel ways and Steven and the Doctor could not stand each other.

Now of course, not all of that rests on Vicki alone, but the point stands: Vicki was a bit of an optimistic force. So my question is: What has decades of life done to this person? What has become of her? What has changed and what has stayed the same? That’s why you bring back a character when they’re older, right? Because you want to see how they’ve grown.

But the story doesn’t really have answers to those questions, because we have to keep on running. The Daleks are close! We can’t stand still for a minute! So Vicki becomes stereotyped very quickly as “old woman”. None of what she originally brought to the table returns. Nothing new takes its place. We learn nothing about her life, except that she had children and grandchildren. There wouldn’t be much difference if we replaced her with, say, the old cave woman from “an unearthly child”.

And the same goes for the other main member of our crew, but in a way that was, oddly, by design. The Doctor in this story in a fairly flat character. Yelling a lot (a LOT), grumping, the whole spiel. Again, the depth is missing, except this time there is a story explanation, as this turns out not be the Doctor, but the Doctor Duplicate from the end of “The Chase”. He is superficial because he was just a copy. Which makes for a decent story twist, but at a cost. The Doctor went through a lot after Vicki, but this can’t be addressed, because this clone only has the Doctor’s memory up to “The Chase”. On top of that, all the new interactions with Vicki now lack impact, because this fake Doctor cannot react appropriately. In his mind, this woman never disappeared from his life, so how can this be a touching reunion?

Of course, at the end, the real Doctor does show up and we get exactly one moment of connection. A short thank you between the Doctor and Vicki, who helped each other at a time they both needed it most. It is beautiful, but also sort of depressing. Imagine if this stuff was sprinkled in, instead of being limited to one short section at the end. We would have had an all time classic.

Outside of the character work, the story is pretty competent. It could have gotten a bit more creative with it’s locations (as there’s no Dracula in this story), but it is all passable. I did think the last location, Brussels, was a bit of a weak spot. The character goals got a bit confused as both Dodo and Vicki didn’t really know what they should be doing and were contradicting each other a little, but it’s one segment among many. The last twist surrounding the Doctor Duplicate made up for it.

But as it stands, this story reinforces a frustrating trend among the recent First Doctor Adventures, where they refuse to explore or expand the characters in their stories. Something all their previous stories used to do in some capacity. I wish I could like this story more, but it’s complete lack of depth brings it down hard and makes the whole package forgettable. Let’s hope this is not the last time we see Vicki, as she deserves so much more.

Whilst it may seem on initial reading of its synopsis just a re-hash of The Chase, this audio proves to be so much more. Full of charm and really evoking that 1960s feel, the Stephen Noonan led First Doctor Adventures continue to be one of my favourite ranges showcasing just how good Big Finish can be at accurately recreating eras on audio.

The basic premise of this audio is as already stated a loose re-hash of The Chase with seemingly the main wrinkle being that of a much older Vicki returning for one final adventure with The Doctor, but upon closer inspection all is not as it seems. Whilst featuring The Daleks, they are not the main villains of the piece. In a wonderfully executed twist, the main villain of the piece is revealed to be the robot duplicate of The Doctor from The Chase. The inclusion of RoboDoctor provides the piece with a fascinating discourse of the nature of being alive and free will and his scenes with Vicki where he truly believes himself to be The Doctor are wonderful.

Vicki being so much older in this story also provides the story with a nice bit of closure for her as she gets to say a 'proper' goodbye to The Doctor in what is a really heartfelt moment. The scene where The Doctor laments that he is the one being left behind instead of his companions is heartbreaking and really does portray The First Doctor as being a lonely wanderer (something never really touched upon in the TV show).

The additional wrinkle in the story is Dodo dealing with the Doctor's sudden disappearance at the end of The Incherton Incident, I can tell that this specific plot thread will run on for a while maybe not being resolved in the immediate future. Although The Doctor mentioning that he was taken out of time does indicate to me that we may well get some answers when Deathworld is released in July

Now, the contentious point with these audios is always the recasting of deceased actors. Personally, I'm a big fan of Noonan and think his take on Hartnell is perfect with the mannerisms nailed and he has the cadence of speech on lock too. His performance has gone from strength to strength with each boxset and I'm sure he can only improve with further exposure in the role.

Overall, this was a delightfully charming audio further cementing the First Doctor Adventures as one of my personal favourite ranges in the Big Finish repertoire.