The Fifteenth Doctor #11

'Sting of the Sasquatch' (2024) from BBC Audio Originals.

Great stuff here - fits in with the fantasy theme of Season 1 really very well with dimension-hopping telepathic sasquatch. Nice to have a bit of Doctor-heavy story - his interactions with the main sasquatch are good and form a nice couplet of this and On Ghost Beach with similar themes of travelling aliens meeting. I especially love the ending with the two extra companions for the episode actually joining the sasquatch in their spaceship at the end, a really bold move that I can't recall seeing before in the modern era of the televised show. A big winner here.

📝7/10 → ENJOYABLE!

Thworping through time and space, one adventure at a time!

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: “STING OF THE SASQUATCH”

Darren Jones takes the listener on a trip to the snowy landscapes of northwest America (Washington State), where the Doctor and Ruby join a ranger trying to solve a case of missing people and two Bigfoot hunters hoping to glimpse the mythical creatures. They slowly unravel the extraterrestrial truth behind the sasquatch.

The setting and the ape-like creatures make for some really nice action scenes, especially in the scene where the sasquacth kidnap Ruby and he launches himself after them.

The story turns high concept sci-fi when we learn that the sasquatch are a friendly telepathic and highly advanced alien race from another universe. They are here to treat an aliel infection, which has infected Ruby. The third act is then a pretty straightforward and standard race against time, but it brings in the supporting characters and gives them stuff to do while allowing the Doctor to shine more than we are used to seeing from this incarnation.

The parasitic worms attacking people are nasty business, especially once they take over Wade as well.

Genesis Lynea (Harriet Arbinger from The Empire of Death/The Legend of Ruby Sunday) narrates with a sort of lazy style that I’m not very fond of and doesn’t quite capture the Doctors' and Ruby's vices.

RANDOM OBSERVATIONS:

• Susan Twist appears in the story as one of the missing people, spotted by Ruby.