Doctor Who Review - "The Scorchies"
rating: 4
So, puppets. We all know them. We all love them. Except, apparently, for James Goss, who wrote this story about homicidal alien puppets hell-bent on taking over the Earth. Its an odd little story, with singing, and cheerfulness, and of course all sorts of unpleasantness. Its told in the form of a childrens TV show, with Jo Grant (Katy Manning) talking with the host of the show (Merlyn Hayes) and acting as sort of a special guest. As the show progresses we learn more and more about the Scorchies, listen to a few songs (Jo Making a Thing is a bit of an earworm), and are treated to one of the more interesting explanations for an alien species that Doctor Who has ever provided. In a sense, theres shades of The Idiots Lantern here. We have a TV show thats a front for evil badness. Much the same thing happened in series five of Jago and Litefoot as well. Its far more entertaining than the former, and not quite as great as the latter. This is one of the sort of Companion Chronicle stories that I like. Theres nothing in the way of narration, just some excellent dialogue between Jo and the baddies. I always feel that makes for a stronger story in general, and this audio is no exception. Manning does her usual excellent job channeling Jo Grant, and voicing at least one of the Scorchies. Shes really good at voice over work. Seriously, if you havent heard any of her audios before, theyre a real treat, especially her one-woman show, Not a Well Woman. Hayes does an equally excellent job and quite often sounds rather like the Second Doctor. Should Big Finish ever be interested in casting someone for that role, he might be a good choice. If I had to complain about something, its that the ending feels a bit rushed. I think this story could have benefited from being a three-parter. Having a bit more time to build up the motivations for the Scorchies actions would have been nice. Im also not entirely clear what was going on with the Doctor at this point. But those complaints aside, this is a good, solid audio story, and I one I recommend wholeheartedly. NEXT TIME: The Doctor, Ian, Barbra, and Susan head to the library of Alexandria.