Doctor Who Review - "Babblesphere"
rating: 4.5
The best Doctor Who audios, and indeed the best adaptations in any form of anything, are the ones that really do a good job of capturing the feel of what was being done on the show at the time. With the Fifth Doctor audios, for example, one often hears the same kind of early 1980s music that was on the TV show. That really adds something to the experience. In the case of Babblesphere, one gets the feeling of a late Fourth Doctor adventure as written by Douglas Adams, or at least script-edited by him. This particular story features the Fourth Doctor, Romana, a strange computer, a duplicate of Versailles perched next to an active volcano, and robots shaped like chandeliers. But Im getting ahead of myself. The story features the Doctor and Romana (Lala Ward) arriving at the previously described volcano. There they find the inhabitants of an Earth colony where social media has gone very, very wrong. People essentially spend every waking second of every day linked into a gigantic telepathic network, updating their status and talking about whatever little thoughts enter their minds. Basically, Facebook. Of course theres always those who wont get with the program, so joining the network became mandatory. The Doctor and Romana stumble onto one man (Roger Parrot) who has escaped the network, and along some rebels, they work to bring the network down. This was a simple, yet enjoyable, story, complete with fun little asides to things like advanced, futuristic computer systems using reel-to-reel tape. The idea of the Doctor fighting against a tyrannical computer system is also very appropriate to the era, and having the Doctor and Romana together is always nice, even if it is just a one-sided affair (hey, Big Finish! How about some Romana II in the Fourth Doctor audios?). I did feel that the resolution was perhaps a little more elongated than it needed to be, and the now-common Eleventh Doctor cameo was a bit shoe-horned in. But otherwise story was solid and entertaining. As for the acting, Ward does her usual wonderful job channeling old-school Romana. For those of you who enjoy the character and havent yet heard it, I highly recommend checking out the Gallifrey series, where we follow her, K-9, Leela, and another K-9 as they all deal with Gallifreyan politics. Overall this is another solid addition to the Destiny series, and Im very much looking forward to seeing what happens when all the meddling the Eleventh Doctor is doing comes to fruition. NEXT TIME: Fifth Doctor excitement with Janet Fielding narrating!