Originalmente escrito por John Lloyd e adaptado por Nev Fountain, "The Doomsday Contract" foi um roteiro descartado durante a produção da 17ª Temporada, abandonado depois que Douglas Adams deixou a série no final de 1979.
Inicialmente ao me deparar com um Julgamento, logo veio lembranças de experiências não tão agradáveis com essa proposta narrativa (Parte "Sentence Of Death" de The Keys Of Marinus, Parte 4 de The Stones Of Blood & The Trial Of A Time Lord). Mas o que aparentava seguir caminhos mais técnicos e monótonos, acabou entregando uma história muito versátil e leve de se acompanhar, principalmente em comparação ao seu "companheiro" de lançamento o "Return Of The Cybermen" (que por sinal, eu gostei demais 😁).
Sabendo disso... fique tranquilo, não havera "burocracias" em seu caminho (kkkk o humor desse áudio é contagioso hein).
O ponto forte de The Doomsday Contract está nos diálogos que apresenta uma excelente mescla entre a seriedade e um humor sutil com uma sagacidade amarga muito bem desempenhada pelo seu ótimo elenco.
A dinâmica entre Tom Baker (4° Doctor), Lalla Ward (Romana II) e Leeson (K9) é tão perfeita que ouso dizer que talvez supere até mesmo a dinâmica apresentada na série de TV.
Falando no Tom, cara...Como o 4° Doctor esta engraçado nessa história kkkkk várias vezes ele me fez gargalhar muito alto (acho que isso nunca tinha me acontecido ouvindo áudios da Big Finish).

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

Previous Story: Casualties of Time

This is a lost story that I would have loved to see make it to screen. It's got that Douglas Adams wit that I absolutely love. The Doctor and co having to go through all sorts of legal loopholes to protect the planet is such a refreshing format for a story. The way it all ties together at the end with the parking ticket is brilliant. All the cast here are great and the story is full of plenty of fascinating concepts. I'd gladly have taken this over The Horns of Nimon.

Who knew bureaucracy was the Doctor's greatest enemy.

Next Story: The Well-Mannered War (Audio Adaptation)

This audio, that never made it past the scripting stage, is absolutely wonderful. It absolutely reeks of that Hitchhiker's charm mainly because of the, albeit little, input that the late great Douglas Adams had on the original idea and how closely he and John Lloyd worked together on other projects. The main plot of this audio is that Earth is about to be demolished (sounds familiar right?) and the Doctor is the star witness chosen to defend it. The main cast all play the audio very well and give convincing performances laced with subtle humour and acerbic wit. It's good to hear Baker, Ward and Leeson on audio together (as this is my first experience of them) as they bounce off of each other very well. I found myself laughing out loud on many an occasion during this audio. Nev Fountain had done a very good job adapting this audio and it makes me curious to experience his other audios.

Overall, I have found The Doomsday Contract to be a thoroughly enjoyable listen throughout, full of nice references to the rest of the Whoniverse. I will almost certainly be checking out Fountain's other work and the other story in this series of the Lost Stories