Quinnis - ★★★½☆

Fair warning that this review contains spoilers not only for Quinnis itself, but also for the Eighth Doctor and Lucie Miller adventures - season four.

This is truly a great horror story. Still traveling alone through the universe after fleeing their home planet, the Doctor and his granddaughter, Susan, ended up in a parallel universe – more specifically, in a village on the planet Quinnis. Parallel universes tend to be a trap in sci-fi stories like Doctor Who because there’s nothing you can tell in them that couldn’t be done in your main universe; oftentimes this takes away a bit of the weight of the world you’ve been building up and the apparent novelty ends up disappointing. In the same way, there’s nothing in Quinnis that couldn’t happen in the series’ main universe, but the direction, acting and script do an impeccable job of characterization and world-building that makes you feel like you’re actually in a place where the rules are different.

This is true in many ways, but perhaps the most interesting is the cultural aspect. The people of Quinnis are marked by absurd levels of superstition and are devastated by a drought that seems to be going on forever. The most precious thing anyone can have in a place like this seems to be, from the start of the story, water. At first, the arrival of the Doctor and Susan there is seen with great disdain, as a bad omen. At a certain point, this changes, when the Doctor jokes that he could make it rain without any difficulty and is taken seriously. He is soon co-opted by the leaders of this city, but this turn of events never seems optimistic. Susan becomes more isolated than ever in a hostile environment; the favor of these people is as fleeting as the wind and there is always danger lurking. As the two realize in the first few minutes, the man who was previously responsible for making it rain was thrown to his death when he seemed to have become of bad luck himself. It is under these circumstances that she befriends a local girl, Meedla, played by Tara-Louise Kaye – she is the only character in this story that Ann Ford does not voice, if I'm not mistaken.

It's been dry too long. The rains are late, but they will come soon. And that's when it all changes. The land will burst with hungry life. The misery will tear the world apart, and no one will tell the tears from the rain.

Meedla is a disconcerting character, it’s clear from the first moment she appears that there’s something wrong with her. She’s probably my favorite version of that old trope of the weird kid from horror stories. It’s easy to predict that she’s a Shrazer, a kind of local monster that people believe brings bad luck, but that doesn’t bother me – the fun of the story isn’t who the villain is, but how she's tormenting Susan. One of the elements that are explored in the TV series about Susan is precisely how she felt alone and wanted real connections, she wanted friends. And that’s exactly what Meedla takes advantage of as Quinnis unfolds. Susan’s loneliness and how easily she trusts people. One of my favorite moments in the story is at the end of the first part, when the rain finally reaches Quinnis – and even that turns out to be a bad omen, with the town almost being flooded – and Susan realizes that she’s being followed by the Shrazer. At one point the monster is captured by one of the traps that were set up there, but when Susan turns around it is Meedla who is trapped. She helps her friend, disoriented, but it is no use – she is swept away by the rain and, although it does not take long for her to realize who she really was, Susan carries a certain regret for her “death” until the end.

The sound work is impressive. I love the rains, it really seems like the city is about to be devastated, that you too will be swept away by the water. There is no way to characterize the monster visually, of course, but this is compensated by the noises it makes. It's chilling, with Meedla's voice mixing with the strange sounds of birds. Every time there is a chorus of a crowd, you can feel the depth of the sound; be it in a more ritualistic scene or after the death of a character, when the women of the city come together in collective mourning, wailing loudly. And although I can't explain why, there is something very effective in a nightmare scene with Susan, in which she believes that the Shrazer has invaded the house she is in. All these elements, bit by bit, build a very vivid image of Quinnis, almost like a cursed city in which you are trapped alongside the characters.

Meedla ends up being a remarkable character not only because of the horror setting but also because of the effect she has on Susan, who, even as an adult, according to the narration, seems to harbor some regret over the circumstances of this friendship – it is debatable whether Meedla had any genuine affection for her, but that does not prevent Susan from feeling pity or wanting to help her, despite everything. Almost against her own instincts, at several moments Susan helps her or prevents her from getting hurt even when she already knows Meedla is the Shrazer, that she is a murderer and that she was feeding off all the misery that was tormenting the city and Susan herself. And in these touches of characterization, this is a story that says a lot about who Susan is. Another positive point about Quinnis – and one that is common with another Platt story featuring the two of them for the Companion Chronicles, The Beginning – is that the script balances the Doctor and Susan's screen time well and in the end, although you have a very psychological story focused on the companion, you also feel like you've discovered a little more about her relationship with the Doctor.

There are also some cool little details about this story; the first is that Susan mentions in one of the first arcs of the first TV season some places she and her grandfather have visited, one being Quinnis. I find it fun when these little lines are expanded upon in the supplementary materials; the same thing happened with a band she listens to in An Unearthly Child – John Smith and the Common Men - in a much later Fifth Foctor story. The second is the setup for this release, which is structured as Susan talking to her husband, David, who has already passed away. Interestingly, both the real plot and the setup are well positioned in the timeline; the first takes place right before she and the Doctor go to London, 1963, when she enrolls Coal Hill School; while the other takes place between An Earthly Child and Relative Dimensions, stories in which she – and her son, Alex – meet the Eighth Doctor. Not only that, but a little fish she gets from her grandfather in Quinnis ends up being very relevant in that second story.

Perhaps my only problem with this audio is precisely the characterization of the Doctor and Susan regarding their trip to London. The Doctor says, twice, once at the beginning and once at the end, that Susan needs stability and friends her own age and things like that – I never felt, on TV, that this was a feeling from the Doctor but rather a desire from Susan, but in this story the behavior of the two is reversed. Evidence of this is his lack of goodwill when she threatens to stay alone in London during An Unearthly Child and that his arc throughout the travels with her is precisely to realize that she has grown up and needs to leave the nest.

I really like Marc Platt's writing. He disappoints every now and then, but as a rule a story of his is almost always a guaranteed good story. Quinnis is one of them.

Quinnis

I know I said scaredy cat was the worst audio I've ever heard but this was definitely the weirdest audio I've heard so far. I really want to see the recording process for this one.

Bridge town on the planet Quinnis in 4th universe, has had no rain for 2 years and suffers from "bad luck" haunted by a bird girl who feasts on misery.

This episode directly ties to the original show as they land at the junkyard in 1963.

The First Doctor #24

'Quinnis' (2010) from The Companion Chronicles.

More than anything this has made me excited for the future adventures with Susan and the Eighth Doctor with her son Alex, and the brief frame story of her mentioning that is cute. The main story itself however didn't really work for me. The setting was quite visually striking (at least in the way I pictured it - in a way very influenced by Elden Ring which I'm playing at the moment), but for some reason I found the rest of the plot quite disinteresting, with Meedla and the Shrazer - I also didn't pick up that the woman villager simply owned a piglet, and didn't herself look like a piglet, so I assumed all of the village people looked like pigs as well. More of a me problem there, although I kind of preferred that.

Susan narrates this story and it helps to have heard some of the eighth Doctor audios as she refers Alex - who you probably won't know otherwise. That said its only a reference at the beginning and end so it doesn't really affect the plot.

Quinnis - this is mentioned in the Edge of Destruction as somewhere the Doctor and Susan visited before meeting Barbara and Ian, so its quite nice to have an adventure that fits into continuety.

The TARDIS forfills its original intention here of blending in with the background, but not as indiscreetly as the Doctor would like, and again its a nice touch as you remember the lines in an Unearthly child where the Doctor mentioned it hasn't changed.

The Doctor and Susan arrive in Bridgetown, literaly a town built on bridges, and the people need the rain to come, its up to the Doctor be the rainmaker.

I quite liked this, the idea of the town is good, a simple setting for an early adventure. I would have liked this to have been longer, the town and its people explored more, the plot itself isn't particularly intricate. Susan makes a friend but isn't quite who she thought they were.

I do like the early stories - there's an innocence to them. I enjoyed this.

It opens with Susan having left the doctors years ago reminiscing about how young n reckless she was in a past adventures, when Susan accidentally put many peoples lives in danger. Instantly hooked in this story.

At the market place on Quinnis a character calls the Doctor a rain maker and Susan finds this rare fish in a bottle i love these slice of life scenes, even having jokes of the doctors pockets having extremely random things is a nice touch. As this girl watches on, this girl is called Meedla and she later befriends Susan.

After a few moments its revealed the town turned the old rain maker away, they saw them as bad luck. This scene continues leading to the people of Quinnis trying to burn the rain makers house down. The Doctor forcing the people to put the fire out with water which is very precious but the Doctor promises that he will make it rain for them. So the doctor is locked away as Susan is told to go back n forth to get the doctor equipment, on her way back to the Tardis Susan tries to save Meedla from a net but suddenly there washed away the Tardis included.

As the next part starts Susan has a nice scene of survivors guilt and her saviours let them stay with her. Turns out Susan saving Meedla was a bad thing as she was feeding on her misery I’m not gonna lie this story is very slow and this felt like it came out of nowhere. However Meedla is quite a good villain, probably the best part of the story even saying the future for Susan is dark and painful. I guess it’s reason for her feeding on Susan.

While all this is happening the Doctor spots the Tardis and tries to get to it as the vegetation starts to attack the town, the story start picking up again very Pompeii esc, but just as quickly as it’s picked up it’s dropped down. Meedla is killed and the Doctor says Susan must get some people to teach her to not be so reckless. The episode ending with the Tardis landing in London 1963 for the first time giving us a taste of what’s to come in the future.

I’m kind of shocked I didn’t click with this one cause, well it’s Marc platt he wrote some amazing stories at the start of this marathon. Oh well.

A fairly bland story that plays like an historical, without actually being historical.

The Doctor and Susan land on the planet Quinnis, where the people are suffering from droughts. Thanks to his stubbornness, the Doctor accidentally promises that he will be the new rainmaker for these people. With Susan as his assistant, the two of them unwillingly try to save the day. But trouble looms from above, as a crow-like creature seems to cause bad luck wherever it goes.

Quinnis has a bit of a mythical reputation, because it actually has its origin in the TV show. In “The Edge of Destruction”, Susan mentions that she and the Doctor visited the planet on one of their early adventures. So this story actually plugs an existing hole.

Which makes it a bit sad that I found the story to be dull in multiple places. I was hoping it would be more special.

The problem mostly lies in predictability. The story never really manages to feel tense. You never really wonder what will happen. This is mostly because of our “big bad”.

I’ve already mentioned the crow-like creature that is pestering the people and bringing bad luck, but I haven’t mentioned how obvious the story is about this villain. While in town, Susan meets a girl named Meedla, who mentions that she doesn’t belong and feels out of place. She also mentions upcoming cataclysmic events. At the same time, she manages to pop up every time the crow is seen. She is even found in a trap set for the crow-creature. I think we get the hint. Meedla is the crow.

Yet the story expects us to be stupid. We aren’t supposed to know who the creature is until the last 10 minutes. And Susan just can’t believe her true friend she’s known for 2 days could be a bad person, so it’ll take her a bit. We’re basically just waiting for Susan to get on our level and reveal the truth.

And it’s a long wait, because the story has very little to distract us. The world of Quinnis is not exactly imaginative. There’s just some superficial worldbuilding. The townsfolk act generic medieval, to the point of there being a woman who’s identifying trait is carrying a piglet. For an alien world, it all feels barebones and human to a fault.

The world itself sparks a little more imagination, consisting mostly of viaducts and stone structures, while being high in the sky. But this never really feels all that relevant. It’s just set dressing and not all that engaging.

I think it would’ve helped if there was a bigger link between the world and the society. We have this world high in the sky, yet there are basically people living there. How did that happen? Who built the structures? And why? What struggles do people these face at higher altitudes? What keeps them up there?

I think playing with these questions would lead to a better world overall. Right now, it just feels like we’ve settled for the basics. It could be way more!

Hell, our enemy is a bird. Why not make the people birdlike as well? Play into some avian behaviors! Crows are notoriously smart, but other birds have interesting traits too! A 2 minute Google shows me that Woodpeckers have multi-days wars that other birds like to watch! That sounds almost gladiatorial! I’d be on board with that for a story!

Or, if you want to keep your medieval setting, why not pull a “Mother Russia” and let the Doctor and Susan truly integrate in the society for a while? This story ends with them heading to 1963 to settle, so why not make this a similar attempt to live in one location for a while? The story mentions the idea that Susan needs people her own age, which matches earlier/later moments in stories. So why not go all in on that? It is almost a footnote as it is now.

To be clear, I am not saying I could write a better story, I’m just saying that this story could’ve had a lot more substance. The main mystery is incredibly obvious and there is nothing else that can keep your attention. If the world was fleshed out more, the story would have more to offer. A reason to stick with it.

Because right now, Quinnis feels bland. This mystical world that was fondly remembered in the tv show feels like one in a million, and that’s a waste. It has little worldbuilding, only a bit of tacked on character work and nothing that really gets its hooks in you. Quinnis is a drop in a bucket of stories, nothing more.