Doctor Who Mega Review - Big Finish's August Releases
Destiny of the Doctors 1.08 "Enemy Aliens"
rating: 3
1935: a message from a Time Lord in trouble sends the Eighth Doctor and Charlotte 'Charley' Pollard to the streets of London's West End, in search of a mysterious alien adversary unaware that something monstrous is already on their trail. They soon discover that an insidious conspiracy is indeed at work, its tentacles extending the length of the British Isles. Proving its existence won't be easy, however, after a confrontation in a music hall ends up with the Doctor under arrest and Charley on the run, suspected of murder. All their hopes rest in a musical clue and a man named Hilary neither of which are much consolation, with the two time travellers the object of a nationwide manhunt. And all the while, the enemy aliens are drawing closer and closer still...STARRING: India Fisher (Charley Pollard), Michael Maloney (Hilary) Charley! Charley, Charley, Charley! With the Eighth Doctor, even! *swoon* Ok, let me recover for a moment...ah. There we are. Anyhow, so the delightful Charley Pollard is in this story, and if you're a fan of Big Finish's Eighth Doctor main range stories, that should be enough of a motivation for you to purchase this. It's been quite a while since any stories with her have been released, and the last time we saw her, she was wandering around with the Sixth Doctor, so putting her back home is a nice change. It is a slight pity that McGann isn't along for the ride, but Fisher does a good enough job impersonating him that we hardly miss the man. Now, that obsessive amount of fan-boy praise out of the way, let's move on to the meat here. Yes, we have yet another pre-WWII story, but at least this one doesn't take place in Germany. The story itself is good, but feels rather basic and rushed, and the one hour format doesn't help. Something does feel a bit off, but as with last month's Destiny story, it is hard to say what. Still, if you've already listened to the first parts, I think you'll be at least reasonably happy with this one.