I didn't hate The Revenants.  It's not going to be anything too substantial - I mean, it originally came free with a magazine, but it does have some moments in the story I did appreciate.  It's a fun little adventure where the Doctor winds up waiting many years for Ian and Barbara, a touching little character moment informed by Susan's recent departure.

I think it really informs the Doctor's relationship with Ian and Barbara and gives a little more warmth between them, which I think works in giving The Revenants a basic sense of substance.  That's something, at least, and the audio does a great job at establishing mood and atmosphere, leading to a nice and cozy listening experience.  There's this framing device where Ian is remembering the story that felt completely unnecessary, but otherwise not a whole lot I found wrong with The Revenants.

A narração do finado William Russell é maravilhosa, ele carrega todo peso e tom narrativo de uma verdadeira contação de história vinda de um senhor de idade com inúmeras vivências fantasiosas e inacreditáveis, entregando performances incríveis, principalmente como Primeiro Doutor. A história é ok, arrasta bastante (apesar de ser só 1 hora de duração) e de fato não constitui elementos memoráveis. O pequeno fato do áudio apresentar que o Doutor esperou anos por Ian e Barbara devido a um desencontro temporal, é curioso e engraçado visto que isso vai se tornar um acontecimento bem repetitivo na New Who, inclusive no especial de natal recente com Ncuti. No geral, é um áudio que não promete muita coisa, visto que seu lançamento se deu como um extra, e de fato não entrega tanto, por mais que apresente certo brilhantismo que desperta um sentimento nostálgico dos ouvintes que adoravam o Sr. William Russell gravando para a Big Finish e fazendo isso por puro amor a franquia.

R.I.P

The best thing about this has to be William Russell’s performance as Ian and The Doctor. His Hartnell is surprisingly convincing. A gentle, era appropriate tale. Unfortunately it didn’t quite keep my attention throughout and I found myself getting a little lost here and there. Enjoyed the flow of the story though.

Interesting how this is in that small gap between daleks invasion of earth and rescue so not much in my opinion is really added to the characters unfortunately

Okay story. Nothing much of note happens.

This story takes place just after Susan leaves. Before Vicki. The party of Ian, Barbara and the Doctor land in a swamp on earth. They might be close to Ian and Barbara’s home, so they rush out to check their surroundings. But when they step out, the tardis suddenly disappears.

From what I’ve seen of Ian Potter, he tends to put stories in pretty unique positions. He’s also the one who wrote several stories before “an unearthly child”, but now he has a rare moment where the Doctor is alone with Ian and Barbara. This approach can be a bit of a gimmick. But this is actually a great location for some extra tales, since it allows for new dynamics, while not inherently undermining aspects from the TV show.

After a little exploration of the Swamp, Ian and Barbara get taken in by a woman called Janet McKay. She is often seen as a good witch by locals, so magic is her jam. It turns out the doctor is also with her!

Apparently the tardis landing went awry, and the doctor landed a few years before Ian and Barbara. He actually waited a few years for them, reading some books and generally just killing time until they’d show up. It’s a rather sweet note, that doesn’t get as much attention as it should. The doctor was rather reluctant to let Ian and Barbara go in “The Chase”, so it would be nice if this built on the idea of leaving them behind.

Instead, we’re focusing on another local threat. Mud monsters are appearing in the swamp and homing in on them. A discussion arises. Should these monsters be fought with science or magic? Or are those two actually the same? It turns out the story doesn’t really have any interesting takes to add onto that discussion.

Mud monsters in a swamp is hardly an original concept too. And I know this story bases that concept on Scottish myths, but that doesn’t make it less standard. It’s just living mud, and that concept has been done to death. Adding some very, very slight real-world mythology does not make it original, even if it fits. There’s no real layers to the threat, even if they’re given some alien origins.

And that’s true of the whole story really. No layers. While it touches on some interesting points, both characterwise and storywise, it refuses to expand. It’s really flat and has no real sense of threat. It feels like this story is written to be a 6, rather than something completely new. It was made to be passable.

And I suppose it is passable. But should you really listen to a story if it's just “fine”? Shouldn’t it show a little more spunk? Look at how many stories this show has. Why go for the complete middle of the road stuff?

The fact that it has the tiniest of good ideas in there makes this even worse. We could have had some real new ground covered here, if the story decided to have a real goal. But it doesn’t. It takes some ingredients, but doesn’t use a recipe. Just throwing it all in there. And sadly, that hasn’t led to anything of value. This story is, fittingly, completely bog standard.