Hunters of Earth

This is a really strong story, especially to listen to now in the context of things like Black Lives Matter. It's an adventure that sees Susan's friends at Coal Hill School mind controlled by a mysterious piece of alien technology, and subject her and her grandfather to abuse because they are aliens and 'don't belong here'.

It's a unique take on immigration with a Doctor Who twist, the Doctor and Susan obviously being from Gallifrey and not Earth, so residing on the planet away from where they really come from. The way that Susan's friends and the gang of youths turn on the Doctor and Susan is nasty and abhorrent, and you really find yourself feeling for them.

I loved the stuff with the sinister teacher at Susan's school too, Mr Rook, who at one point I actually suspected to be the Master because of the mention of him carrying a fob watch and was surprised when he just turned out to be a human being who previously served as a colonel in World War 2.

Overall, a very strong start to this collection of special fiftieth anniversary stories.

The range Destiny of The Doctor is very much a longer Companion Chronicle story. The episode starts amazingly, the atmosphere is on point one night the Doctor gets followed home. Mr Rook one of the teachers of Coal Hill School, Susan recognising him as he walks away. Cut to the next day at school I feel the story perfectly describes the way Susan acts at school to how I envisioned in the books. She bumps into Mr Rook at school, taking extreme interest in her setting up this big over looming character watching her though out the next scene. A school boy Cedric walks up to Susan and invites her to Rosa's with a group of friends, one being Mavis. I love the dynamic of Susan and her for just these two scenes. Rosa the owner of the cafe comes over and talks bout what its like being an alien, alien meaning not from England in this context. Mavis changes the music to something more modern, the music turning to static. Mavis jumps up and attacks Susan in an out of character way saying, "get back to where you came from" Rosa turns the music off and Mavis returns to normal she is taken away by some of Cedric's friends. Later the Doctor walks into Rosa's as the radio plays a message from the Doctor from the future saying, "its all in the beat" after the message, Cedric asks to walk Susan home the Doctor forbidding it. I love how protective of Susan the Doctor is in this audio.

After the Doctor goes to a shop called Magpie Electronics ran by a man called Bernie to get some parts for the Tardis. He leaves but Mr Rook was in the back and heard everything now knowing the Doctor is defiantly in Totters Lane. On the way back the Doctor is confronted by some youths, while Susan enters the junk yard. The junk yard was ransacked with words on the wall saying aliens out. The Doctor soon enters the junk yard after the confrontation saying they suddenly stopped, apologised and said they could give him a lift home.

the next day Susan and Cedric meet up heading to the train, but there soon cornered by people looking for Susan the matter made worse when Susan gets a headache and this mind control thing seems to have effected Cedric too. as the music stops though the mind control stops, Cedric had no idea what happened. Later Cedric and Susan listen to a record talking about his uncle in the army while the doctor picks up his pieces from magpie electronics. Its a trap however planned by Mr Rook, trapping him in the shop warehouse thinking the Doctor is an alien. I love how much of a presents Mr Rook has, as he's trying to enlist the Doctor to help in the cold war. Mr Rook going off nothing but superstition but when he threatens Susan the Doctor becomes more on edge. Meanwhile Susan and Cedric are chased again, a huge hunt. While running noticing Rosa's being attacked too. They run into magpie warehouse and revelation, Mr Rook is Cedric's uncle. Cedric is revealed to be a spy for him, This further creates distrust around people for the 1st doctor. Soon they work out the mob don't mean Aliens as in the Doctor and Susan but aliens as in people not from the uk. They also remember the message of its all in the beat realising something is in the sound waves is manipulating people minds. So the Doctor builds a old fashioned radio reviser to find the signal, turns out the sound was using the Beatles to control everyone, with help of Susan and her transistor radio the doctor works out a plan. The mob push into the warehouse advancing in, Susan manages too hold them back but not for long. The Doctors plan works though saving the day. I love how edge of your seat these final parts are very zombie film esc, I also love how Susan stands her ground and doesn't forgive Cedric as he doesn't deserve it Susan again is left alone an unearthly child of coal hill school. The Doctor also convinces Mr Rook to forget about them both and leave the area as they do.

I loved this story honestly one of my favourites of the S0b era so far might be because it feels like that small gap in between this and the TV series is starting to fill. Overall pretty good story,

This is a bit of a different one. The first story in the ‘Destiny of the Doctor’ line of stories.

The Doctor and Susan have settled in London, 1963, but we’re still a few months away from the start of the real adventures. We see how Susan is settling in at school, while the Doctor is working on repairing the Tardis. Life seems good for a while. However, when people suddenly start getting aggressive, things may not be what they seem….

For me, the best part of this story is the start. Simply because it has the most character focus. We see Susan struggling to fit in with other classmates, yet slowly finding her footing. Trying to fit in with a society she hasn’t been part of, but definitely wants to be. She gets on well with her classmate Cedric in particular, as he takes her to the local café and introduces her to other people.

And sadly, while this is the best part of the story, it is also where the flaws start to show up.

When the owner of the café changes the radio station, the teenagers suddenly become hostile towards Susan. Wanting to push her away and even kill her for being “different”. With that exact setup, I think you might have already found the cause of the different behavior: The radio playing in the background. It’s a very predictable threat, but like the last story, it will take Susan a while to catch on.

The difference with Quinnis is that this story has more worldbuilding around it’s central plot. London 1963 has the benefit of being more familiar to ourselves than a completely alien world, after all. Although I do think the time and place could still have been presented better.

As you might’ve guessed from the radio, there’s quite a focus on music within this story. Yet at the same time there’s only really a focus on one particular kind of music: the Beatles. They just keep chucking that particular band at you. I wish they had cast a bit of a wider net or gone a bit deeper.

I mean, I get it, we are with a cast of teenagers in the sixties and they were the most influential band of their time. Beatlemania and all that. But maybe they could’ve played with that idea a little more. The music from the Beatles helped to bridge the gap between young and old people. It made people feel included. Yet now, within this story, it is made to have the opposite effect. That’s a blatant contradiction, yet the story never addresses it. There’s some unexplored depth there, which would have added more layers to the story.

Other than that, there really isn’t much that this story has going for it. The world is pretty bland altogether, and the story is, once again, painfully obvious. I wish there was just more of something. Anything that keeps you hooked.

Like, for example, the villain of the story. One of Susan’s teachers turns out to be a secret agent, sent to investigate mysterious phenomena. It has a real sense of mystery at first, but he turns out to just be “the human with a gun”. You probably get what I mean with that stereotype, but imagine what could’ve been with the Doctor against a spy!

The same potential goes for Cedric, who turns out to be the guy’s nephew! While I’m glad Susan is immediately done with his betrayal, I think more could’ve been here. This story has the benefit of knowing how Susan’s journey ends. Why not treat him more like a potential David? One who couldn’t keep up? After the reveal, he is shoved aside so hard that any sense of nuance of deeper emotion between them is lost. Which, for me, is the final nail in the coffin for this story.

Hunters of earth is, in a word, basic. Its storytelling is competent, but not interesting. The best thing it has going for it, is the early scenes with Susan. Trying to find her footing amongst a new group of peers. But that is quickly shoved aside for a bland, predictable plot that never really surprises, intrigues or entertains. It’s just fine. Nothing more.