Ah Big Finish, where would Doctor Who be without you?

For those who don’t know, Big Finish is a company that specializes in producing radio plays… radio plays that are listened to on CDs and MP3s instead. With the resurgence of podcasts recently, radio plays have come back in vogue, but Big Finish was out there decades prior still plugging along.

They primarily produce audios for old sci-fi and fantasy franchises, along with the occasional audiobook. However Doctor Who is their bread and butter. They helped keep the show alive during it’s 16 year long hiatus, and are still making new content for older eras of the show to this day.

The Companion Chronicles are a ‘spin-off’ series that focuses on the Doctor’s past companions recounting previously untold tales of their travels. Unlike the ‘main-range’ with it’s full cast audios, CCs tend to only have one to three actors at a time. They’re paired back, more intimate affairs, but they tend to be longer than Short Trips, hence why I place them in the full audio category.

Besides, for earlier Doctors they tend to be more abundant than full cast plays.

But enough background, what is this particular audio play about?

More or less, yes.

Steven, Vicki, and the Doctor land in Britain in 1912 during the height of the Suffragette movement. In a quarry they find the bones of a physic alien that can possess women. It’s goal? To destroy all men.

Not just mankind, but anyone male specifically. Basically the alien is a radfem, who becomes worse than the very thing it supposedly hates most, as it subjugates people and forces them to fight against their will.

It’s not a very subtle message, and it conveniently ignores the existence of trans people who would throw a monkey wrench into the idea of an alien who feeds off of ‘female energy’, as if such a thing could even exist. However, I did enjoy this outing more than the previous Steven and Vicki adventure I read last week.

For starters, the inclusion of the original actors does heighten the material. I won’t lie, books have their place, but they can’t recreate the chemistry of two real live people interacting. Steven and Vicki have a fun sibling dynamic that was lost in The Empire of Glass, but shines here front and center as they retell the story together.

Another thing in the audio’s favor is that it’s smaller scale. It feels like something that could have feasibly happened in the show proper, even if the approach is different because of the medium. It’s also more focused thematically speaking, as well.

I also enjoyed the humor and the insights into how classism and sexism intersects. How women themselves can uphold systems of oppression against them if they feel it will protect their own power, and how men can be important allies too. I also enjoyed the critique on what types of political protests are most effective or not. While the message isn’t subtle, it does have layers.

Honestly I would have enjoyed these aspects of the story more, but they are mostly only focused on in the second half of the story, which also features a lot of exposition dumps. They’re important info dumps as they explain the main villain’s goals and motivations, and being an audio there’s no other way to get that information across, but still it’s a bit uneven pacing wise.

Overall though, this has been one of the more enjoyable stories so far. It’s no Crusade and I liked Set in Stone more, but it was a fun romp itself.

(PS. I love how the story unintentionally implies that Steven is actually a trans man who is offended by the alien mistaking him for a woman constantly, only to try and kill him whenever it figures out he’s actually a guy. lol)

What an amazingly told story I love the framing device and a scene in part 4 makes me tear up every time

Quite a varied story that has a lot of tones, but knows how to nail them all.

First things first, this is the first audio I’ve listened to with Peter Purves. I’m glad to say that he’s just as good at storytelling as Maureen O’Brien, which is a great sign for the audio’s that are coming up.

The banter of our two main characters also feels very natural and different now. We now have to future-people in the lead. That changes the way we look at history. A lot of comparatively recent history for us, is centuries away for them.

And this story hooks right on that fact. We land in the middle of the suffering, where women are pleading for the right to vote. Vicki and Steven are unaware of women ever having fewer right than men, and are baffled by the primitivity of it all.

Shortly after landing, the party finds a skull in the sand, but it seems to react quite strangely to Vicki and other women. Bringing out a strong, innate hatred for men.

It turns out the skull can create a psychic link for a creature that suffered in a society where men ruled, and she wants revenge. She does this by creating a web experiences among women (and Steven) and driving up the hate.

It’s a decent concept, although psychic links and webs are getting a bit routine now (The unwinding world, The fifth traveller and the web planet come to mind). But the way it is used here allows for some great insight in the history of both our main characters. Looking back on their own suffering as they remember their separate crashes and loneliness. They actually have a lot in common there, so that helps too.

The overall handling of the topic is done well too. This is a 60’s doctor, so feminist movements were not as widespread as they would later be. But the story never decides to take the ambivalent route. The doctor is completely in favor of equal rights, and that’s a good call. He takes people at face value, regardless of gender.

Of course our other leads do so too. They’re far more advanced than we, the listeners, are. And yet the story still makes it very clear why this subject matters. It’s a very serious topic that is handled astoundingly well. I dare to say it’s one of the most nuanced portrayals of a topic yet. Making clear what matters, while giving its own take without sounding preaching or disingenuous.

Frankly it has a lot more depth than I can explain. I am a white guy in my twenties. I have inherent privilege, and am probably not the person people want takes about feminism from. Just know that I am completely on board with equal rights. Hate is always foolish, and love is always wise, after all.

But the topic does have a lot of nuance here. It asks several important questions. Why equal rights instead of women above men? What should the role of violence be? What’s the difference between equal rights and complete equality? Tons of important questions are asked and answered. It genuinely makes me feel more aware of the topic.

And that’s what makes this story special. It has so many things it wants to do, and manages them all while giving them the layers they deserve. It hits emotional notes, is informative about the time period and gives its own perspective. It’s one of the deepest stories so far, but still has some fun sci-fi elements. The only downside, is that it is dragged down a little by the threat. Its powers of psychic links are generic, and the twist the story has about her origin falls a bit flat. This is relatively minor, though. It is still absolutely worth a listen for all it adds to the characters and the history of the event. It’s wonderful.