"I wasn't going to let this happen. After all we'd been through, the Doctor wasn't going to die like this, on his knees, in the mud."
Writers: Cavan Scott & Mark Wright
Format: Audio
Released: October 2011
Series: Companion Chronicles 6.04
Featuring: Third Doctor, Jo, Brigadier
Synopsis
When Jo Grant was very young, her grandmother told her that there was a time for everything. A time to laugh and a time to cry. A time to live and a time to die.
Since meeting the Doctor, Jo has laughed till she thought she might burst. She has also shed a few tears along the way, but has lived more than she ever thought possible.
But now, as a strange spaceship materialises over UNIT HQ and a heavily injured Doctor returns to Earth, it is Jo's time to die. Again, and again, and again...
Verdict
The Many Deaths of Jo Grant is an excellent listen! I thoroughly enjoyed this Companion Chronicle and thought Katy Manning did a stellar job in reprising her role as the joyous Jo as well as performing the story and bringing in all the traits of both the Third Doctor and the Brigadier. I really loved the concept of the story with Jo being hooked up to a mindscape creating false scenarios in her mind, but to her seem and almost are extremely real. And she dies at the climax of every scenario. I loved the risk taken by the Doctor to rescue the Xoanthrax baby due for execution, but now he'd caused the aliens to follow him to presumably 1970s Earth to retrieve what is theirs. I adored how despite injured, the Doctor was willing to sacrifice himself for the baby and in return Jo actually did sacrifice herself for the Doctor, throwing herself in front of the Doctor when he was about to be shot. It was really great how the concept of self sacrifice was illogical and alien to the Xoanthrax, so much so that they wanted to do tests on Jo. And that's exactly what the audio was based on, scenarios created from Jo's own mind to see if she would sacrifice herself again. Throughout all the different scenarios, the mysterious and excellent Rowe was turning up (actually the Xoanthrax conducting the test) and he never seemed normal. A touching moment was the fact that the Doctor risked burning out his own mind to enter the mindscape and help his loyal and trusty companion. The references to how Jo died 412 times was quite shocking! Some by Daleks, Ice Warriors and even the Master, it was clear that Jo had had an eventful time whilst being tested. But it was fantastic how the Xoanthrax weren't actually all that evil, they just wanted to test why Jo sacrificed herself for the Doctor which was good. She did it because it seems she genuinely loves this man (not in the relationship sense) and couldn't bare it without him! I also liked the references to by entering the mindscape himself, the Doctor's sacrifices were relived. He'd made them for Liz, Jamie, Zoe and Susan (as well as countless others as we know). Overall, a wonderful concept and a terrific performance from Katy Manning!
Rating: 9/10
Synopsis
When Jo Grant was very young, her grandmother told her that there was a time for everything. A time to laugh and a time to cry. A time to live and a time to die.
Since meeting the Doctor, Jo has laughed till she thought she might burst. She has also shed a few tears along the way, but has lived more than she ever thought possible.
But now, as a strange spaceship materialises over UNIT HQ and a heavily injured Doctor returns to Earth, it is Jo's time to die. Again, and again, and again...
Verdict
The Many Deaths of Jo Grant is an excellent listen! I thoroughly enjoyed this Companion Chronicle and thought Katy Manning did a stellar job in reprising her role as the joyous Jo as well as performing the story and bringing in all the traits of both the Third Doctor and the Brigadier. I really loved the concept of the story with Jo being hooked up to a mindscape creating false scenarios in her mind, but to her seem and almost are extremely real. And she dies at the climax of every scenario. I loved the risk taken by the Doctor to rescue the Xoanthrax baby due for execution, but now he'd caused the aliens to follow him to presumably 1970s Earth to retrieve what is theirs. I adored how despite injured, the Doctor was willing to sacrifice himself for the baby and in return Jo actually did sacrifice herself for the Doctor, throwing herself in front of the Doctor when he was about to be shot. It was really great how the concept of self sacrifice was illogical and alien to the Xoanthrax, so much so that they wanted to do tests on Jo. And that's exactly what the audio was based on, scenarios created from Jo's own mind to see if she would sacrifice herself again. Throughout all the different scenarios, the mysterious and excellent Rowe was turning up (actually the Xoanthrax conducting the test) and he never seemed normal. A touching moment was the fact that the Doctor risked burning out his own mind to enter the mindscape and help his loyal and trusty companion. The references to how Jo died 412 times was quite shocking! Some by Daleks, Ice Warriors and even the Master, it was clear that Jo had had an eventful time whilst being tested. But it was fantastic how the Xoanthrax weren't actually all that evil, they just wanted to test why Jo sacrificed herself for the Doctor which was good. She did it because it seems she genuinely loves this man (not in the relationship sense) and couldn't bare it without him! I also liked the references to by entering the mindscape himself, the Doctor's sacrifices were relived. He'd made them for Liz, Jamie, Zoe and Susan (as well as countless others as we know). Overall, a wonderful concept and a terrific performance from Katy Manning!
Rating: 9/10
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