Seasons of Fear

"I'm shopping around, trying out all the different cults..."

Writers: Paul Cornell & Caroline Symcox

Format: Audio

Released: March 2002

Series: Main Range 30

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Charley

Synopsis 

On New Year's Eve, 1930, the Doctor lets Charley keep her appointment at the Raffles Hotel in Singapore. But his unease at what he's done to time by saving her life soon turns into fear. Sebastian Grayle: immortal, obsessed, ruthless, has come to the city to meet the Time Lord. To the Doctor, he's a complete stranger, but to Grayle, the Doctor is an old enemy.

An enemy that, many years ago, he finally succeeded in killing. And this is his only chance to gloat.

The Doctor and Charley desperately search human history for the secret of Grayle's power and immortality. Their quest takes in four different time periods, the Hellfire Club, the court of Edward the Confessor and the time vortex itself. And when the monsters arrive, the stakes are raised from the life of one Time Lord to the existence of all humanity.

Verdict 

Seasons of Fear was an excellent audio adventure! It felt great to listen to my first Main Range story since September! I put off doing this story because I stumbled upon the knowledge that the Nimon were featuring and I was honest with myself in that I couldn't remember much at all about The Horns of Nimon or the Nimon themselves. I recently though rewatched that story after completing my Hartnell and Troughton Classic story run and to be honest, I kind of regret that decision now. I don't feel this audio really required any past knowledge of the Nimon as their aim was fully explained and there was nothing unique about them that you needed to watch their TV story to understand. But oh well. Time can't be changed. Speaking of which, I found it very intriguing how during this story the laws of time were suspended and the Doctor and Charley set out on purposely going back in time to alter the future! The story behind Sebastian Grayle was terrific and I enjoyed the continuity from Storm Warning with the Singapore references and the fact that Charley was intent on meeting Alex Grayle. I found the device the Doctor used of the TARDIS, gaining the Grayle DNA from Charley's mouth because she'd kissed him, most fascinating. Is there any kind of device the TARDIS doesn't have? I'm loving the Eighth Doctor audios from the Main Range though as at the time of release, these were the current stories and the Eighth Doctor and Charley were the current TARDIS team. They truly are wonderful together though and I'll be extremely surprised if the audios can reproduce a companion pairing that comes anywhere close to these two. I loved how they jumped across time and through history to locate Sebastian Grayle who was seeking immortality from his mysterious and anonymous masters. I loved how he'd changed between each meeting with the Doctor and Charley. From Roman times, where we randomly heard some Dalek voices that weren't explained, to just preceding the Battle of Hastings and then in 1806 during the time of George III and Pitt the Younger. With my love of History, I rather enjoyed the three different periods. From Romans to Edward the Confessor to merry old 1806. Not a bad coverage in two hours I must say. I found Sebastian to be a very good character but despite his wish he almost didn't seem to be a villain. I liked how he was growing increasingly difficult to kill though. The Doctor through him off a house far below into the sea but he just simply swam away. The Doctor's reaction to doing that though was stunning I must say. He couldn't believe that he almost wanted to kill somebody. It showed how much he cared about Charley as he imagined Sebastian having her blood on his hands. That's something that horrified him. I liked the Hellfire Club appearing once again with this pairing, albeit some time prior to Minuet in Hell. The obvious references to The Horns of Nimon were definitely welcomed and I really liked the subtle hints to the fact that they'd be returning. That's the one benefit of watching their only TV appearance beforehand I guess. Richard and Lucy were wonderful characters though their apparent demise was very confusing but intriguing. What was the creature that sounded like Charley but seeked both her and the Doctor? I'm sure we'll come to find out - just like why Daleks were heard in Roman times! The reference to The Chimes of Midnight was nicely included too. I also thought it was very interesting that the Doctor was narrating some of the events of this story. With the heavy references to Charley's survival that shouldn't have occurred, and the Doctor referring to the person he was telling the events as 'my lord', I get the impression the Doctor might be on trial for a third time! But time will tell. Here however, he'd thwarted the Nimon in another attempt of theirs to capture Earth. This time they had to use a time corridor but the Doctor saw to blocking that. The use of the rustless sword to drain the energy from Sebastian was excellent but I was quite shocked that the younger Sebastian killed what he'd become if he sought his desire for immortality. That put away an awkward situation for the Doctor. The Nimon sounded more impressive than they did on TV and I guess we've got time to thanks for that. After a relatively poor TV showing, I'm glad the Nimon got a second bite at the cherry and appear in a story to be proud of. Overall, a great plot with a lot of questions left to be answered! 

Rating: 9/10