Doctor Who – The Fifth Doctor Box Set

#1.01. Psychodrome ~ 9/10

◆ An Introduction

I still remember the days when BigFinish box sets were reserved for special occasions, not counting McGann’s factory of releases. The Fifth Doctor had been coasting along nicely, with a handful of sublime monthly adventures – stories such as ‘The Emerald Tiger’ and ‘The Kingmaker’ – but something was missing…

I still remember the days when BigFinish box sets were reserved for special occasions, and there is nothing more special than reuniting the Season 19 TARDIS team!

◆ Publisher’s Summary

Shortly after surviving the perils of Logopolis, Castrovalva and the machinations of the Master, the new Doctor and his new crew could be forgiven for wanting to take a breather from their tour of the galaxy. But when the TARDIS lands in a strange and unsettling environment, the urge to explore is irresistible... and trouble is only a few steps away.

The world they have found themselves in is populated by a wide variety of the strangest people imaginable – a crashed spacecraft here, a monastery there, even a regal court. And not everyone they meet has their best interests at heart.

With the TARDIS stolen, and the very environment itself out to get them, the travellers face an extremely personal threat. They'll have to work as a team if they want to get out alive... but can you really trust someone you barely know?

◆ The Fifth Doctor

I often hear the Fifth Doctor being described as nothing more than a wet weekend, which is frankly unfair. He remains the most morally righteous incarnation to this day; someone who holds a keen interest in science and exploration, but who always has time for his love of cricket. The show never gave us an opportunity to become properly acquainted with him, because almost every episode featured his companions arguing like spoilt brats! ‘Psychodrome’ – an adventure which is supposed to take place directly after his debut outing – more than gives us that opportunity. Jonathan Morris remains one of my favourite writers for this incarnation, and for good reason too.

I think the prospect of being reunited with his original TARDIS team must have been quite invigorating, because Peter Davison delivers one cracking performance in this adventure.

The Doctor isn’t the man he used to be, but he feels sure he has many admirable qualities that will more than compensate. He has a feeling that curiosity will be one of his defining characteristics. According to Adric, controlling the TARDIS isn’t his forte. The Doctor is scared of all sorts of things; Daleks, Cybermen… dentists! His greatest fear is that his companions lose faith in him, that those closest to him reject him. Adric believed his previous incarnation was unpredictable, to say the least; quite intimidating and enigmatic, but brilliant! That was when he was with Romana: they even had a robot dog called K9. The Doctor has always feared letting his companions down, it’s given him something to live up to. But he has brought death into their lives, he has caused them suffering, and they’re not the first; the latest in a long line. Many of his best friends have been stowaways: he takes it as a sign of enthusiasm.

◆ Adric

A mathematical genius who stowed away in the TARDIS, and was instantly considered annoying by at least seventy percent of the fanbase! Adric has always been something of a marmite character, but BigFinish have given him some amazing scripts ever since they added him to their roster. Jonathan Morris was the one tasked with bringing him back into the fold, with what can easily be described as a character study of the Season 19 TARDIS team. He receives some excellent material here.

Matthew Waterhouse was offered a role in the BigFinish audios shortly after they started, but turned down offers for many years. This was not due to a resentment of the company, but rather a belief that he couldn’t capture the youthful essence of the fifteen year old Adric at his age. Only after recording some Target audio books did he change his mind, and agree to reprise his role in this very box set: definitely a special occasion then! Waterhouse does sound older – of course he would – but he genuinely gave his all in ‘Psychodrome’, which you have to give him credit for. It was a brilliant performance.

Adric is described as being insufferable and patronising by Tegan, who also can’t forget that he created Castrovalva! He believes that the colonists’ society, which is based around rational scientific principles, sounds positively idyllic; though this doesn’t stop him suggesting that Zaria rebel against it. He is capable of many things, but not coercion. Adric’s greatest fear is one of failing; he genuinely believes he wont be good for anything if he can’t solve an equation, can’t save his friends. He stowed away aboard the TARDIS because he wanted to see a whole new universe, and he did. Adric still believes in the Doctor: he doesn’t resent him, and he knows that he’s saved whole planets! He has never for a moment regretted meeting the Doctor, and he never will. The Doctor will not abandon him, nor will Adric abandon the Doctor: he will stay with him no matter what, even if it means sacrificing his own life, because the Doctor is good!

◆ Nyssa

Having recently witnessed the genocide of her people, brought about by someone walking around in her father’s body, it would be fair to say that Nyssa has been through an awful lot in an incredibly short span of time. ‘Psychodrome’ does an excellent job at unpacking some of this recent trauma, whilst also demonstrating how she really feels about her fellow travellers.

I actually had the pleasure of meeting Sarah Sutton a couple of years back – Newcastle Unleashed 2022, to be exact – and she was one of the most down to Earth people you could ever encounter. Her performance in this adventure was immaculate.

Nyssa doesn’t think she has really taken it in yet – the destruction of Traken and the genocide of her people – but unlike Tegan, she has nowhere to go and nowhere to return to. Travelling with the Doctor is her life now. When asked what her world was like, Nyssa claims that Traken was the most advanced planet in the Union, but with the most ancient traditions: it was civilised, prosperous, and utterly peaceful… before the Master came! Nyssa was taught not to feel hatred for evil, only pity.

◆ Tegan Jovanka

Tegan is someone who really benefited from the audio adventures. They managed to make her into a fully developed character, whilst keeping all her defining traits intact: if you lost that wonderfully acerbic wit, then she would just be any other generic companion, and that just wouldn’t do! Jonathan Morris has given her some brilliant material in ‘Psychodrome’.

Janet Fielding is going to be one of the many Who-related guests appearing at Em Con, and I am very much looking forward to meeting her. She delivered an excellent performance in this adventure.

It’s only been two days since her Aunt Vanessa died, so she hasn’t had a chance to take it in. When she was small, her family lived on a cattle station, which was about as far away from civilisation as you could get. Upon discovering they could’ve landed anywhere in time and space, Tegan is far from impressed: she doesn’t remember signing up for a magical mystery tour, but they might as well see what this place has to say for itself. The Psychodrome is bringing it all back: when Tegan was a little girl, about seven or eight, her mum took her to see the Aboriginal cave paintings in Arnhem Land; her idea of a fun kids day out, but then they got there and had an argument – she can’t remember what about – and she ran off into the caves on her own. She was probably only there five minutes, but it felt like hours; lost in the dark with these paintings of crocodiles, snakes, and insects. Her mum eventually found her, after she’d screamed the place down! Then later that day – or another day, but she remembers it being that day – her mum took her to see a corroboree: a traditional Aboriginal dance which they put on for the tourists. By that time it had gotten dark, so they were all gathered round a campfire when these men appeared out of the night, their faces and bodies covered in chalk paint: they looked like skeletons, and the dance was more like they were transforming into wild animals – shaking, and making these strange noises. It was the most terrifying thing she had ever seen. For years afterwards, she had a recurring nightmare about that day; of being back in those caves, lost and afraid, with these strange white figures coming out of the dark. All Tegan ever wanted was a quiet life, prompting Adric to ask why she became an air stewardess; she wanted to travel and see the rest of her planet… just one planet, not half the galaxy! Her life has been turned upside down since she joined the TARDIS: she doesn’t even know what day of the week it is anymore. Tegan may regard the Doctor as an incompetent idiot, but her crew-mates think she is an irrational cynic!

◆ Story Recap

Shortly after escaping Castrovalva, the TARDIS arrives in a cave system, and our travellers soon become separated form each other. Whilst Nyssa and Tegan encounter an eccentric galactic adventurer and his companions, the Doctor and Adric are rescued from a group of natives by the occupants of a crashed colony ship. So many different societies in such a small area… can hardly be a coincidence, can it?

◆ The Travelling Misfits

A common complaint with Season 19 is that the TARDIS crew were all pretty catty with each other, which is understandable; the Doctor has just regenerated and is still trying to find his feet, Adric has been used as a puppet by the Master, Tegan saw her aunt murdered two days ago, and Nyssa was recently witness to the genocide of her entire civilisation! Two of them have went through a traumatic ordeal, whilst the other two are grieving. It’s not at all surprising that they’re so spiky with each other.

On top of all that, none of these people really know each other: you could argue that Adric and the Doctor have a rapport, but the latter is an entirely different man now. What this bunch of misfits really needed was an episode that took a deep dive into their characters, something to really unify them… and Jonathan Morris does exactly that.

◆ Monsters of the Id

‘Psychodrome’ is based entirely within the eponymous space station, which basically turns the memories, desires and fears of its occupants into a reality: all the characters in this adventure are based on the TARDIS crew’s perceptions of each other, which is an ingenious idea!

The team of gormless galactic adventurers are based on how Tegan sees her newfound travelling companions; Professor Rickett is based on the Doctor, Magpie on Adric, and Perditia on Nyssa. Within this group, you can really see the distorted personalities of our protagonists. The same can be said of the crashed human colonists, who are all based upon Adric’s perceptions. Take Zaria, for instance: uptight and serious, clearly based on how he sees Nyssa.

The core idea of this adventure is beautifully creative, and allows Jonathan Morris to flesh out the TARDIS crew by having them confront how they feel about each other; Adric is conflicted over the new Doctor, while Nyssa and Tegan both harbour resentment towards him over the deaths of a loved one – Tremas and the latter’s Aunt Vanessa.

The antagonists of ‘Psychodrome’ exploit these doubts, and quite literally force our heroes into facing their fears. We really needed this kind of adventure during the TV series.

◆ Sound Design

The eponymous Psychodrome has an air of the Crystal Maze about it: with various different landscapes, like the downed colony ship and the dwellings of King Magus, simply slotted into a mundane cave system. Fool Circle have done a terrific job with this soundscape.

Stones crunching under foot; calcified equipment crumbling at the slightest touch. An energy weapon is fired at a group of primitive cave dwellers. A firefight breaks out between the natives and Prof. Rickett’s group; swords are swung and pistols fired. The colony ship is filled with bleeping instruments. The royal fanfare of King Magus is accompanied by the clanking metal of knight’s attire. The Citadel collapses in on itself, as the TARDIS crew deny their doubts.

◆ Music

Something that Fool Circle have always been good at is conjuring the spirit of an era, and their score for ‘Psychodrome’ sounds like something straight out of Season 19. It’s like a beautiful slice of nostalgia pie!

One track from this adventure, titled Entropy, also manages to be reminiscent of the Portal 2 soundtrack: there is an extended mix of the track available on their SoundCloud, and I highly recommend giving it a listen. Easily one of my favourite composers.

◆ Conclusion

“You’ve all faced your fears, it’s time I faced mine…”

The TARDIS arrives in a cave-system, populated by people modelled on the crew’s perceptions of each other. None of the crew really know each other: you could argue that Adric and the Doctor have a rapport, but the latter is an entirely different man now. These monsters of the id will force them to confront how they feel about each other, and they’ll hopefully come out the other side stronger.

Jonathan Morris has given the Season 19 TARDIS crew some much needed depth, by exposing them all to their greatest fears. It does veer into ‘Castrovalva’ territory on occasion, but the performances and atmosphere in this adventure are far superior.

‘Psychodrome’ is a character study masquerading as an adventurous romp, yet it succeeds at both gloriously. I can highly recommend this story: one listen, and you’ll realise why this box set is held in such high regard.

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

Previous Story: Castrovalva

Now this is the character exploration that was missing in Castrovalva. The idea of a place made up of people based on the TARDIS team's thoughts of each other makes for some excellent drama. This story has immediately sold me on Peter Davison's Fifth Doctor where his introduction story didn't.

I also want to say how brilliant the main cast are. They have all aged really well and perfectly encapsulate their roles. This story really feels like it could have been broadcast in the 80s, with the right amount of surreality and 80s flair present in this story.

Next Story: Four to Doomsday