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

Previous Story: Snakedance

While this is a fantastic story, it might be a bit overhyped. I definitely enjoyed it, and there were some all-time great moments, like Tegan's monologue in space. I really enjoyed the insight into the Doctor's past, how the story of the Nightjar was the first story he heard after leaving Gallifrey. The soundtrack is phenomenal and the cast are all really great. As mentioned before Janet Fielding as Tegan delivers a beautiful monologue, her characterisation is really on-point throughot this story and a vast improvement of the character she had on TV.

This story is an example of why I love Peter Davison's Fifth Doctor. He's selfless and kind, without hesitation to do the right thing. Davison always puts a great amount of effort into his performances and is especially good in stories like these that let the Doctor show a more emotional side that they wouldn't have done on TV. It was bittersweet to see the Doctor witness the tragedy of the Nightjar unfold whilst desperately trying to save it. Nyssa is probably the least interesting character here, a fault of how she was written originally mainly, but even in this story she gets a chance to shine, she gets to sympathise with Goben's family, a really sad but heartfelt moment.

I'd say there were two major twists in this story, the first one was very easy to predict as soon as the captain died and this led it to not be very shocking. I'll admit though, the second twist regarding the mystery of the identity of the visitors stumped me. I think that second twist added a profound sense of tragedy on top of an already tragic story. It really got me when I realised the full implications of that. I think the ending was as similarly bittersweet as the rest of the story. It was hard to imagine Captain Eslo doing that, atleast on the Doctor's advice given how spiteful she was the whole story. Still, it was on the whole set up really well.

Overall, this is a great story. The tragedy of the Doctor's desperation to keep events as they were, as he was first told them after he left Gallifrey was a highlight of this story. 5 always gets the awful stuff happen to him which feels unfair given how kind he is but I suppose that's the beauty of his character, how kind he is despite the tragic events in his life. While this story maybe didn't resonate with me as much as it did others, I can't deny how solid this adventure  is. Every performer brings their best and it's got a fantastic soundtrack to boot.

Next Story: Resistor

Doctor Who – The Fifth Doctor Adventures: In the Night

#4.01. Pursuit of the Nightjar ~ 10/10

◆ An Introduction

A couple days ago, I started a discussion about this range on Twitter, and one story has been consistently hyped up as the best thing since sliced bread! Tim Foley has been on something of a roll recently – following his excellent Cyberman outing for the Eighth Doctor and Audacity – so my expectations were high going into this one.

Time to see what all the fuss is about, as we tackle ‘Pursuit of the Nightjar’!

◆ Publisher’s Summary

The story of the Nightjar has been told for many years. A spaceship helmed by the legendary Captain Goben on a vital mission of mercy, delivering medical supplies to a distant colony in the middle of devastating war, an act of bravery that triggers the end of the conflict.

At her heels throughout the journey, her pursuer, the spaceship Nemesis, helmed by the dogged Captain Eslo, never quite able to catch her target. The Doctor has always wanted to witness these historic events. And now, alongside Nyssa and Tegan, he's got his chance.

But history might just have other ideas.

◆ The Fifth Doctor

Have we ever witnessed this incarnation squealing like a fan-boy before? His reaction to being aboard the Nightjar is one of pure glee: he heard about its legendary voyage during one of his first trips after leaving home, and he’s dreamed of witnessing this historic event ever since. Hearing him speak of Captain Goben with such reverence, while recounting his tale to his companions, is genuinely one of the most adorable images I can think of. Tim Foley might be onto another winner with this script, because he’s gifted the Fifth Doctor some stunning material!

‘Pursuit of the Nightjar’ has been a real show of force for Davison. You can hear the excitement and awe he channels into his performance: he could genuinely convince you that Goben was one of HIS personal heroes!

He never has bad thoughts, not with Tegan around. The Doctor recounts the tale of the Nightjar with breathless enthusiasm: he has always wanted to sneak a peak at these events. This was actually the first story he ever heard after leaving Gallifrey; maybe the third or fourth place they visited, a bazaar in the Garazone system. There was a teller who had a crowd enraptured with the Pursuit of the Nightjar! As he stood there, he realised just how many stories there were in the galaxy; tales of hope and triumph, though the ending of this tale would be bittersweet. The Doctor knows the Nightjar’s systems like the back of his hand. He’s not sure there is anything they can do this time, mind you, he’s not sure of anything anymore; the story of the Nightjar, it definitely didn’t go like this. He doesn’t mean to sound so defeated. This ship, it really meant a lot to him once. The Doctor was quite the collector back then, the console room used to be full of all sorts of things; chairs, clocks, antiques, far too much stuff. That day he heard the story of the Nightjar, Susan bought him a model of it, in the bazaar. A fine piece of work: the kind of thing that sits on an admiral’s desk, it still lives in the library. This model became something of a mission statement: it was everything he needed the TARDIS to be; an old ship repurposed from scrap against all odds, seeing the universe, doing some good! Maybe the Doctor instinctively knew never to visit the Nightjar, because if you build something up, it’ll all come crashing down eventually.

◆ Nyssa

One member of the main cast was always going to be pushed to the background, and Nyssa drew the short straw. That being said, she still received some excellent bits of character development: part three sees her discussing her parents back on Traken, and how they both got lost within their work. She can understand the grief Captain Goben’s family will feel once they realise he is long gone.

Sarah Sutton delivered an excellent performance for ‘Pursuit of the Nightjar’.

Astral engineering isn’t exactly her strong point. Nyssa has sat with death before: on Traken, they had what’s known as the Long Night, where they stayed with the departed till dawn.

◆ Tegan Jovanka

Our favourite mouth on legs gave a nickname to one of the Nightjar’s levitating vidicons, and a wonderful friendship was born! Tegan and Alfie make for an interesting team… which made it all the more upsetting when the latter was seemingly disposed of: genuinely would’ve been amazing to have him join the TARDIS as a new companion, in the same vein as K9. She also deserves kudos for bringing the Doctor back to his senses when he believed that all was lost. Quite the accomplishment for such an irrational cynic!

‘Pursuit of the Nightjar’ is one of the best outings I’ve heard all year, which makes me all the happier that Janet Fielding delivered her a-game; will definitely be getting this one signed when I meet her at EM Con!

You know when you try something a couple of times, like seafood or jazz, and then you know for sure that you don’t like it? Well Tegan doesn’t like spaceships, especially if she’s wearing a space-pack: she just can’t breathe in those things. Spaceships, space-packs; maybes she just doesn’t like things with space in the name. Her expectations are always managed around the Doctor. She knew a pilot once who called the trolley a “mobile refreshment unit”; she should introduce the Doctor to them! Tegan reckons there are boys and girls across the galaxy who have toys of their own: little blue boxes. And those little blue boxes, those rackety old things, they’re nothing without a hero of their own! Who cares what future history says? She just wants the Doctor to think of something brilliant, right now, for the present. Tegan ends up floating through space on her own… but finds herself reunited with Alfie, and I genuinely burst into tears at that point!

◆ Never Meet Your Heroes

That saying always comes into my head when I’m going to conventions, but luckily all the performers I’ve encountered have been genuinely wonderful. This adventure sees the Doctor meeting one of his heroes: Captain Goben, who piloted the legendary Nightjar through some of the most hostile places in the cosmos, in hopes of delivering medicine and aid packages to a planet displaced by war. The Doctor knows the tale of the Nightjar like the back of his hand, so he’s understandably shaken when the good captain drops down dead… leaving him to stop the spaceship falling apart!

What follows is an emotional roller-coaster for the Doctor: he genuinely thinks he can deliver the aid packages himself and keep the legend intact, but that’s more than a little difficult when Captain Eslo is pursuing in her own spaceship: the equally legendary Nemesis! There comes a moment, pretty late in the game, where the Doctor is totally defeated; all he wanted was to keep the legend intact, but now the Nightjar has been wrecked beyond repair. This incarnation has always been such an optimist, so you really know the wheels have fallen off if even he’s been broken!

◆ Sound Design

The Nightjar is travelling through one of the most beautifully hostile regions in the cosmos – dodging astral knots, like pockets of quicksand in space – and its long voyage is nearly over. Unfortunately, things are about to go pear-shaped for Captain Goben… as he drops down dead, and his spaceship starts falling apart! Howard Carter has earned a reputation for creating some stunning cinematic soundscapes, so he was absolutely the right choice for this story.

Crackling subspace transmissions between Eslo and Goben, as hunter and hunted get to know each other. A levitating vidicon – which resembles a giant metal bird – flutters past the Doctor and his friends, bleeping away. A synthesised horn echoes throughout the Nightjar, signalling an incoming communication from the Nemesis. Systems all over the Nightjar begin to fry; sparking electronics right across the ship, as the anomalies cause chaos. As the hull of the Nightjar starts disintegrating, creaking metal can be heard in the background. Tegan holds on to Alfie for dear life, as the two fly through space like a human comet!

◆ Music

If you ever needed proof that you could create a cinematic score using primarily synthesisers, then here it is! Throughout the runtime, I kept thinking of how much the music reminded me of the Metroid games.

◆ Conclusion

“This isn’t future history: this isn’t how it happened!”

The Doctor is given the opportunity to meet one of his heroes: Captain Goben, who piloted the legendary Nightjar through some of the most hostile places in the cosmos, in hopes of delivering medicine and aid packages to a planet displaced by war. The Doctor knows the tale of the Nightjar like the back of his hand, so he’s understandably shaken when the good captain drops down dead… leaving him to stop the spaceship falling apart!

‘Pursuit of the Nightjar’ embodies that old proverb about never meeting your heroes, by showing the worst case scenario. The Doctor’s initial reaction to being aboard the Nightjar is one of pure glee: he heard about its legendary voyage during one of his first trips after leaving home, and he’s dreamed of witnessing this historic event ever since. Tim Foley then proceeds to shatter the Doctor’s spirit throughout the adventure; there was even a moment where the Time Lord considered throwing in the towel. The material is simply jaw-dropping!

Thank you to everyone on Twitter who recommended this adventure to me, because it’s easily the greatest thing I’ve heard all year. And one last message to Mr. Foley: can we please have another adventure with the big bleeping metal bird? Alfie became one of my favourite characters over the space of two hours.

Pursuit of the Nightjar is written by Tim Foley, a name I could not have been more eager to see if I tried as he was previously responsible for The Auton Infinity, a story I have made no attempt to hide as my favourite Big Finish adventure, as well as Break the Ice which is one of the best from the Ninth Doctor Adventures range. Such a thing is a double edged sword, it comes with some really high expectations but I'm happy to report that those were absolutely met.

This story has the TARDIS team arrive on a spaceship known as the Nightjar, nearing the end of a historic three year voyage to bring a massive store of medical supplies to save a planet in need, an act of selflessness that will cost the one-man crew Captain Goben his life just weeks after his arrival, but will inspire a new age of universal peace. Throughout the journey, the Nightjar has been tailed by another ship known as the Nemesis, just one step behind, and with such high stakes our protagonists have to make sure history runs its course.

Alien to Tegan, Nyssa and the listener, this is a story from future history that the Doctor is absolutely enamoured with and his enthusiasm is infectious, you'll quickly be just as captivated by this heroic tale and there's so much joy in the Doctor getting to meet one of his heroes. It's all so wonderfully played and that really goes for the whole cast, the two guest performers (Paul Thornley and Fenella Woolgar, the latter of whom will be known to Doctor Who fans for playing Agatha Christie in The Unicorn and the Wasp) bring a lot to the story, but the focus lies mainly with our three leads and they all crush it, each of their characters get standout moments to themselves the actors really make the most of.

An example of particular note is Janet Fielding in the opening scenes of the final episode, I would be remiss to spoil a second of this adventure but the range of emotion you get out of Tegan here is so good and as bold as it is to say, I think this story may just be her best performance, my heart was racing through these moments but credit really has to go to the sound design and music too, as a production this is so well realised.

Cliffhangers are something you don't always think about with Doctor Who, many are deservedly iconic but they can sometimes feel obligatory, especially when you're in the habbit of watching or listening to stories in a single sitting or even just multiple episodes at a time, but this story is packed with standout ones, this seems to be a general strength of Foley's, he knows how to give the action a truly exciting cutoff point and pace plot developments just right and there is so much variety here.

On the whole this story is just so well mapped out, I find myself just as taken by it as the Doctor with the story of the Nightjar itself, every emotional beat lands and the whole thing comes together delightfully. The commentary on fans is really fun and I haven't even mentioned Alfie yet, the robot that Tegan names which even without dialogue you'll grow attached to.

This is the story that sells its box set, without hesitation I could encourage you now to give it a listen and I definitely want to see Tim Foley's name on future Fifth Doctor Adventures. This truly is an all-timer and I will come back to it time and time again.