Ringpullworld

"That's what we call a cliffhanger. It's about narrative suspense."

Writer: Paul Magrs

Format: Audio

Released: November 2009

Series: Companion Chronicles 4.05

Featuring: Fifth Doctor, Tegan, Turlough

Synopsis 

Vislor Turlough is in trouble again: piloting a stolen ship through a pocket universe on a mission that is strictly forbidden by the Doctor. He would be going it alone, but there is unwelcome company in the form of Huxley one of the legendary novelisors of Verbatim Six, who is narrating and recording Turlough’s life.

As they hurtle towards unknown peril, Turlough recalls his arrival in the TARDIS, and the circumstances that propelled himself, the Doctor and Tegan into the Ringpull universe. He has a story to tell. But only Huxley knows how it might end…

Verdict 

Ringpullworld was sadly a bit of a mixed bag of an audio story. I must admit that prior to listening to the adventure, I wasn't expecting much in terms of quality due to the character who would be the focal point of the story. Turlough is way down near the bottom in terms of my favourite companions and this just highlighted why. Usually in this range you can see how good a companion is as here they're on their own. In the main range or any type of full cast story of you dislike a companion usually the presence of the Doctor or possible other companions can make up for the poor character but here there was no such luck. I don't think it was narrated badly but the character of Turlough is just so boring. He even managed to be quite boring in print during Lords of the Storm! I really disliked the presentation of Tegan in this story. They've basically just said she was a whining, moaning Australian bitch. And despite her having a bitchy element with the Fifth Doctor, she does have her qualities. But I think we were told to forget that here which was something I refused to accept. I've always pretty liked Tegan and I remember my shock when first watching Time-Flight with her apparent displacement. It left a huge gap in terms of Fifth Doctor and Nyssa audios and novels but I was hoping a good companion would get a sendoff that was worthy. Of course, I'd later get that in Resurrection of the Daleks. The story itself wasn't massively great. Not much of a plot or danger, just a Ringpull that was a gateway between universes. The concept is good and I did like what came of it. But the tolerance levels of mine had to be pretty high here! I wasn't impressed at all. I shared Turlough's annoyance at Huxley. I just couldn't bare a novelist talking next to me describing everything that was happening to me in my life! How frustrating that would be. The reference to The Five Doctors was nicely put in and accounted for some elements of the story but the reference I favoured most was that of Earthshock with the death of Adric. Despite the indifferent relationship, Turlough always expected the Doctor to come and save him whilst in danger. But then a reference was made to Adric's death that was just beautiful. The realisation soon came that the Doctor doesn't always save those close to him. We only have to look at The Daleks' Master Plan for that! The bickering between the TARDIS trio was poor and despite the reputation I really don't think the Fifth Doctor era was all that bad inside the control room. The climax here wasn't too bad but I really disliked the loose ending. Why did the events shown have to be a dream? I wasn't a fan of that. And I'm guessing that we just have to assume the third future possibility was the one that occurred because that's what we were shown in detail? Overall, a good idea but average execution. A poor ending and just all in all a poor lead character. 

Rating: 6/10