Solitaire

"If that's all you care about then you're not enjoying the game and if you're not enjoying the game then what's the point of it?"

Writer: John Dorney 

Format: Audio

Released: June 2010

Series: Companion Chronicles 4.12

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Charley

Synopsis 

"What if there were a game you didn't know you were playing? Where you didn't know the aim and you hadn't seen the rules?"

Charlotte Pollard arrives in a toyshop, but she doesn't know where she is - or even who she is. The mysterious owner wants to play games. He's the Celestial Toymaker, and he has already defeated the Doctor, whose essence is hidden inside a ventriloquist's doll. 

The Doctor is gone. The TARDIS is lost. But the game is only just beginning...

Verdict  

Solitaire is an absolute gem of an audio story! By far the best audio I have listened to in the Companion Chronicles range, a real pleasure and ease to listen to. A fine hour of Doctor Who drama. As you may know from my previous posts, I'm a massive fan of Charley and I think she's an absolutely brilliant companion and suits the Eighth Doctor perfectly. But here, in her sole Companion Chronicle, she showed that she's just as wonderful on her own and I can clearly see already, at an early stage in my adventures with Charley, that she's going to be extremely high up on my list of favourite companions. And this was only my sixth story featuring her! The plot of this audio story was bloody superb. The Celestial Toymaker was back once again but this time, as it was beautifully revealed, he was the one playing the games. He's revealed to Charley upon her arrival to his domain that the aim of the game was finding the aim of the game. A confusing mouthful but it actually made perfect sense by the climax. Throughout, the Toymaker gave her subtle hints hidden in plain sight. The ones you'd think are far too obvious to be the answer but in actual fact they are. When you're dealing with the Toymaker, you need to think outside of the box but taking everything literally at the same time. This was easily my favourite story featuring the Celestial Toymaker and David Baile gave character's finest performance yet. I adored how the story began with the Eighth Doctor as a doll, already defeated by his long time adversary. So the scene was excellently set from the start with Charley, suffering from amnesia, taking on the Toymaker without knowing who the Doctor, or even herself, was. But wow! Didn't she give it an amazing go, defeating the Toymaker using his own clues. He'd been tricked by his very own game. Charley was the solution. Not any of the doors she'd cleverly 'exited' or the mysterious cash register and walls that led to the void. She didn't even need the answer. As the Toymaker stated, the one playing the game was the one who didn't know they were playing. There were some terrific riddles present here and once Charley had solved the lot, the Toymaker was shocked, defeated. The thing he called a disintegrator chamber, which caused for a historic audio cliffhanger, was in fact hidden from him by perception. It was a "blue cupboard". The TARDIS. The Doctor, despite being defeated, still laid down the groundwork for Charley to defeat the immortal being. I think it's wonderful how even as a defeated doll, the Doctor can still be of great help! The references to Nimon and The Celestial Toymaker were delicately placed and added to the tremendous relationship between Charley and the Toymaker. Pardon the pun, but he was toying with her superbly and it was lovely to see how pissed off Charley was getting at him! The moment she shouted at him "oh shut up!" at him was just awesome! I think I fell in love with the character all over again! Absolutely wonderful. The climax and realisation that Charley wasn't playing the game was just beautiful. The Toymaker was playing, and Charley had won. She entered the TARDIS as the toyshop shrunk to an oblivion with the Toymaker inside, refusing to go to safety like a sulking child. The Doctor was returned from a doll and again the Toymaker was defeated. It's clear the Doctor has his number...

Rating: 10/10