The Quintessence

📝10/10 → FAVOURITE!

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

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: “THE QUINTESSENCE”

The Quintessence begins with an atmospheric Part 1, which sees Jo Grant led into a huge and seemingly empty manor house by a strange and playful child in a chilling dream sequence that sets up the narrative. I like how we then get into the adventure straight away when Three and Jo decide to investigate the alien planet with the mansion.

Doctor Who has always done spooky tales well, and The Quintessence taps into that with the stormy weather, the dimly lit Gothic mansion house, its inhabitants, who seem to know Jo from before, and the slowly unravelling alien presence. The talk of angels, seances, and heavenly songs only strengthens the creepy atmosphere before the brilliant cliffhanger reveal in Part 1—it’s the Cybermen!

The cast is pretty small, so we learn to know the Pepperdine family quite well and understand their situation, their motivations, and their actions. And all members are superbly performed, but especially Chris Larkin (the son of Dame Maggie Smith!) as Arthur and Felicity Cant as his daughter Emmeline. The character arc Arthur and Emmeline go through in this audio is powerful and made me feel revolted and heartbroken at the same time.

Part 2 further adds to the tension by revealing that the Cybermen have been instructing the Pepperdines to convert themselves into Cybermen remotely, and this is both creepy and heartbreaking to hear the partly converted Emmeline. Part 3 then further complicates things when we learn about Arthur’s scientific tinkering, leading to one of the more effective cliffhangers I’ve heard in a BF release in a long time.

Part 5 delivers another twist and effectively messes with our heads by completely changing the narrative (and introducing the lovely dog Houdini; what an apt name). Jo and Emmeline seemingly live a peaceful life together, but this simulated reality is constantly disturbed by the dark reality pushing through. Felicity Cant steal the show in this part with that unnerving performance of hers. This entire part is increasingly unnerving to listen to and is one of the creepiest single parts I’ve heard from Big Finish in a long time.

Part 6 sticks the landing with a great emotional turnout that pits Jo and the Cybermen against the Doctor. This is where Tim Treloar steps up as he tries to convince Jo that eternal life without death and suffering isn’t worth it.

We return to Mondas in this story, and it’s always exciting to see the people and the development on the planet.

Katy Manning is back as the older Jo, and she fits very naturally into the story. She delivers one of the strongest performances for Big Finish here, especially in the second half of the adventure. Tim Treloar is superb as the Third Doctor, and together with Manning, he easily taps into the lovely relationship between Jo and the Doctor.

The Cybermen are made very effective in the story and not overused like in many other instances. The Cyberplanner is great, especially once we learn that it’s Emmeline inside the casing.

The performances and sound ensign perfectly evoke the early 70s era, and the regular twists and tense moments make this six-parter flow extremely well. There are also several quite unnerving scenes of emotional and physical torture that are difficult to listen to, giving The Quintessence an effectively palpable, creepy, and stressful atmosphere.

RANDOM OBSERVATIONS:

• The mix of Victorian and Gothic aesthetics with robotic foes using portals to break through from their world to ours brings to mind a similar setup in Evil of the Daleks, while the slow conversion of people into Cybermen shares vibes with the Big Finish Main Range release Spare Parts.

honestly stewart pringle and lauren mooney need to write in every range cause their talents are incredible. as a big fan of their torchwood stories, i was really excited to hear how their third doctor outing would go and this was one of my favourite cybermen story i've experienced. the body horror was done so well, and it really felt dark and a different direction for the third doctor range, loved it from start to finish.

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

Previous Story: The Iron Shore (Unreviewed)

A fittingly spooky story just in time for Halloween. The vibes here are incredible. Victorian manor house on an endlessly stormy planet far from any civilisation, inhabited by an odd couple and a creepy singing girl. I mean, what more could you want. Tim Treloar and Katy Manning arrive on the scene with their fantastic chemistry and uncover the mystery behind the house. Manning gets a lot of time with the little girl, Emmeline Pepperdine (played by Felicity Cant) and it's sweet to hear her adopt a grandmotherly role (literally at one point). Treloar on the other hand is busy interrogating the couple, he inhabits the Third Doctor so well. While it's obvious he's not Jon Pertwee, he brings 3 to life in his own unique way and as usual captures him perfectly here.

This is a refreshingly unconventional Mondasian Cyberman story, largely ignoring them in favour of deepening the relationship between the Doctor and Jo. If I'm being honest, I prefer it this way. I absolutely love this version of the Cybermen (their voice in particular is haunting, and it remains so in this story) but by not focusing on them too deeply it prevents them from becoming generic robot soldiers. I wouldn't say this story is quite on Spare Parts level, but if you enjoyed the body horror and tragedy of that story, then this one feels quite similar. It's similarly set towards the beginning of the Cybermen.

I enjoyed the ending, and I'm looking forward to seeing how this Jo Jones arc progresses. I think Jo Jones is 3's best companion on audio right now, so I hope they give her a proper ending rather than keeping her in Big Finish limbo. Overall, a great, spooky little adventure.

Next Story: (Unreleased)