Shadow of the Past

"We can't drop a H Bomb on Kent! Think what it would do to the house prices!"

Writer: Simon Gurrier

Format: Audio

Released: 30 April 2009

Series: Companion Chronicles 4.09

Featuring: Third Doctor, Liz

Synopsis 

There's a secret locked up in UNIT's Vault 75-73/Whitehall. Dr Elizabeth Shaw is the only one left who knows what that secret is. Returning to UNIT for the first time in decades, she slowly unravels the past. The vault contains the remains of a spaceship that crashed in Pennines in the seventies. For the young Liz Shaw, the priority is to ensure the thing's safe. However, the Doctor is more concerned about the alien pilot and the chance this ship offers for escape. Can he resist the temptation, or will the Third Doctor turn on his friends? 

Verdict 

Shadow of the Past was another very good Companion Chroncile adventure and I was optimistic that this would be a better Liz story than my last tale I listened to her in, The Blue Tooth. And it was. I thought the Series Seven setting was perfect for the story (it always had to be of course for Liz to feature) but it worked particularly well because of the Doctor still suffering from his recent exile in The War Games. Caroline John really reprised her role terrifically well and she showed how much the Doctor meant to her. Humorously unhappy at how, despite her numerous qualifications, all she was doing was passing the Doctor test tubes. But she knew how vital he was to saving the Earth, countless times. I liked how the Doctor was still extremely angry at the Brigadier for his actions in Doctor Who and the Silurians and the relationship between the pair at this point was probably at his lowest. So much so that the Brigadier gave an order to shoot at the Doctor! Of course, that was at the reprise of the brilliant cliffhanger where the Doctor announced to the invading (yes, another Third Doctor story with an attempted invasion of Earth) Mim that Earth's defences were down. I really liked the brave attempt of having a shapeshifter story in the audio format. Could it really work? The answer was, thanks to the limited meeting of the two Third Doctors (so, a multi-Doctor story on a technicality) yes. It did work well. The Mim were interesting villains and their spongy description was certainly unique. I like the idea of them returning after appearing in a few Bernice Summerfield Audios and also a few novels, but this was my first encounter with the menaces from the Mim Sphere and to be honest, I don't think they did that much. They didn't sound great but the mystery of their crashed ship and the shape shifting abilities (Zygons, anybody?) did make them pretty good. The way the Third Doctor just ran off after an encounter with the ship was surprising but I adored how he ordered her protection. Robin was a heroic character and his death was really a highlight. The tie in with the older, present day Liz was actually fantastic and played a good part in the story. The Marshall she was telling the events to was actually an amalgamation of Robin and a Mim! Quite a shock. The plot climax was good and I really liked Liz's revelation that she still had a TARDIS key. Imagine that, how would say, the Ninth Doctor for example, react if Liz just opened the doors to the TARDIS? It would be quite a moment, and despite its unlikeliness, I love the fact that it is possible. Overall, a very good and strong tale. 

Rating: 8/10