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"The Land of the Dead: A Promising Start That Loses Its Way"

Part 1 of The Land of the Dead builds tension effectively as the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa arrive in Alaska, slowly becoming entangled in the strange events surrounding Shaun Brett, his ambitious construction project, and his loyal assistant, Tulung. The remote Alaskan setting and eerie atmosphere hold great promise, supported by strong sound design that brings the snowy landscape to life.

Unfortunately, the story falters as it progresses. The initially gripping atmosphere is disrupted by uneven pacing, murky action sequences, and the introduction of reanimated dinosaur skeletons, which feel more silly than menacing. The limited scope of the narrative and the constraints of the audio format leave many ideas underdeveloped.

Stephen Cole attempts to weave in environmentalist and cultural themes, particularly Native American beliefs, but these often come across as heavy-handed. The concept of the Permians—a pre-dinosaur species with advanced evolution—sounds intriguing on paper but fails to translate effectively in execution. The dialogue, especially when describing the Permians, is clunky and detracts from the immersion.

Despite some dramatic tension, the final part never delivers a satisfying payoff. The climax feels rushed and lacks the impact needed to tie up the story's loose ends.

Peter Davison is, as always, a reliable lead, and Sarah Sutton slips back into her role as Nyssa with ease. While not the most dynamic companion, Nyssa works well alongside Five, making for a cohesive TARDIS team.

Shaun Brett stands out as the most compelling villain in the Main Range so far, with a well-explored blend of ambition, emotion, and flaws. Tulung makes for an effective sidekick, though Neril Roberts' accent occasionally feels forced. The rest of the supporting cast, including Andrew Fettes as Gaborik, is largely forgettable and similarly hindered by unconvincing accents.

The Alaskan setting initially shines as a unique and atmospheric backdrop, but the indoor focus of much of the story diminishes its potential. While the sound design helps establish the environment early on, the effect wears thin as the story progresses.

📝Verdict: 6/10

The Land of the Dead starts strong but ultimately fails to capitalise on its potential, leaving an uneven and underwhelming impression.

On the one hand, it's probably not a good idea to write reviews ~6 months after you listened to something.

On the other, there's something to be said for the what moments you can remember from a story after 6 months. Going back to review Whispers of Terror, I could remember how much I enjoyed it, I could remember the plot, the characters, the monster, the setting.

Land of the Dead, I remember absolutely nothing. Hell, going back to read what I said about it at the time on the forum also didn't help, even then I said I couldn't remember much and that it generally just felt a bit meh.

It's a story that just had exactly 0 impact on me.

Well this story was certainly interesting. I notice it's the lowest rated in the MR so far so forgive me for my contrarianism as I say I actually quite enjoyed it and certainly think it was a big improvement over the last two stories. To begin with I just want to say I absolutley love Five and Nyssa as a duo in this. In his TV run Five's TARDIS teams are always chaotic and based around some sort of form of squabbling or conflict, and while that works fantastically, particularly for how Davison plays the role on TV, his dynamic here with Nyssa is a wonderful change of pace. I think it works especially well because both Davison and Sutton's voices have aged quite a bit. Davison still brings the youthful energy but he's also got the manner of an aged professor and Sutton is perfectly playing the role of an inquisitive and intelligent student. It feels like they both appreciate each others knowledge and perspectives a lot and they work together in a functional way that would probably be totally derailed if you were to throw an Adric, Tegan or Turlough into the mix.

The story itself I reckon is fine. It's essentially a BUS, which is a format I love and I do really like the setting of an old house in Alaska. Unfortunately however this story did lose quite a but of steam for me as it went on. The concept of the Permians, skeletal dinosaur-like creatures is pretty cool and if this story had kept to being an atmosphere led BUS as it had been for the first half it would have been awesome. However as you enter the second half, things do get a bit muddled. Things just get needlessly complicated, especially when you start dealing bio-electronic fields and their associated techno babble. It's funny because one worry producers had about having very intelligent companions is that it would confuse viewers too much ass there was no reason to having things explained in basic terms. This is one of the reasons why they got rid of Liz Shaw at the end of S7. I don't happen to agree with this view, although it does come up as an issue here; I don't think this is a fundamental issue with having a very smart companion, I honestly think in this scenario it's just bad writing and poor communication. There's also some weird thing about spiritualism going on here. One of the characters believes this is happening because of some old supernatural superstition and I think the story is trying to execute some sort of theme about the spiritual vs the rational. Thing is though, this theme is so underdeveloped to the point where I don't even know what the story is trying to say. Is it trying to find a middle ground between the two, saying that a balance between them can exist, or is it coming down purely on the rational side? I don't know and this is one of the best examples of how the story here gets needlessly muddled. The side characters are also a bit ehh, none of them make much of an impression with the exception of Monica, who gets some great and lines and, in the absence of Tegan plays off and banters with the Doctor quite well. Overall this story has some elements I really enjoy but sadly a few things that let it down. I'm tempted to give it a 7/10 but I think that's just because of how much I enjoy this Doctor/Companion duo. So I'll give a 6.5/10 and in accordance round down to 3 stars.

10.01.2022
BFDW: The Monthly Adventures
e04: The Land of the Dead

Another meh. Conflict between Tulung and Brett is flat, the villain isn't of any interest, the rest of the side characters is tediously forgettable and the Doctor doesn't really do much. I will not remember this story. Another 1/5 for Five, I'm afraid

Well this... uh... certainly was a serial of Doctor Who. There's a primordial creature made out of bones awakening from the dawn of time and turning everything into amalgamations. Sounds interesting right? Not really. It's all a pretty straightforward base under seige story with an overly complicated monster for no reason.

It's a shame, too, because the first part was quite atmospheric. The concept of this house built with different Alaskan environments inside of it was quite interesting. As were some of the characters, although one of them becomes a Native American stereotype pretty quickly.

Five gets some nice stuff to do at least, he's muttering a lot less. He mostly takes charge of the situation and goes on with Nyssa about the history of Alaska, which is fun. The psuedo companion they give him is interesting, talking about her phases in a crisis. It's a bit different than his normal passivity. He gets a nice line when the owner of the house says "Aren't you being a bit proprietary with my property?" And he says "Aren't I just?" before moving on. He's still quite boring, though most of the time.

As is Nyssa. Nyssa's voice is just as monotone and lifeless as the Doctor's. I talked about it when I watched Classic, but Nyssa has the most interesting potential of all the companions and not much is ever used. In this audio there's a bit about her relating to one of the characters by saying she lost her father and her world, but that's it.

Also rude that Five gets a second audio before Seven even gets his first.