The Emperor of Eternity

"Eternal peace for eternal terror? Where anyone who doubts him is burnt alive?"

Writer: Nigel Robinson
Format: Audio
Released: March 2010
Series: Companion Chronicles 4.08

Featuring: Second Doctor, Jamie, Victoria

Synopsis

After colliding with a meteor in space, the TARDIS is forced to make an emergency landing on Earth.  The place is China around 200 BC, during the reign of the first emperor, Qin.

When the Doctor is taken away to the imperial city, it's up to Victoria and Jamie to save him. Their friend is now a prisoner of Qin, who intends to extract the secret of eternal life, so that he may rule the world forever...

Verdict

The Emperor of Eternity was a good adventure but not the great story it could have been. Now with it being a Companion Chronicle, the focus was all on Victoria, and that's how it should be as that's the purpose of this series of audios. But here, I feel that the script really misrepresented Victoria to the companion she was on television. I just can't imagine her sacrificing her life for a would-be emperor whom she'd barely met. The story itself was actually fantastic and it started off with a flyer (pun intended). The TARDIS crashed with a meteor that fell to Earth causing havoc and death in China. Indirectly, the Doctor was responsible for a natural massacre. Victoria realised that and was actually quite horrified which I liked. Jamie's role in the chronicle could have been enhanced but as shown on the CD cover, it's Victoria's story so I guess that was the intention, although I do think a more predominate role wouldn't have hurt at all. The setting was reminiscent of Marco Polo with a Chinese ruler seeking for something special. Although with this story set a millennium before the First Doctor serial, Qin's role was much better than Kublai Khan's. The way the Doctor was captured and separated from his companions (always inevitable) was rather weak but it allowed the companion focus this series thrives upon. The moment where Jamie thought there was the possibility of encountering the Yeti in Tibet once more was terrific! The outlay of the plot somehow seemed to slow as the audio went on which was a slight disappointment as I prefer things to go in the opposite direction. I've given a lot of criticism so far, but I actually enjoyed the adventure very much! Great setting, bewilderment of the TARDIS and the Doctor playing his recorder were three fantastic highlights. However, the climax was a mixed bag with the TARDIS trio simply being let out of the cave in which they were trapped only to be chased and caught by Qin, who had a wonderful sudden revelation that immortality was not desirable, something Victoria had taught him. An excellent occurrence but I don't think that's the character of Victoria! A big misrepresentation which wasn't good. Just because a story takes place in an unseen medium that doesn't mean you can alter a companion's personality! Anyway, a really good story with a great cliffhanger but some negatives hurt it for my final rating.

Rating: 7/10