The Foe from the Future

"You can't be harmed by superstition." 

Writer: Robert Banks Stewart (adapted by John Dorney)
Format: Audio
Released: January 2012
Series: Lost Stories: Fourth Doctor Boxset 01

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Leela

Synopsis

The Grange is haunted, so they. This stately home in the depths of Devon has been the site of many an apparition. And now people are turning up dead. The ghosts are wild in the forest. But the Doctor doesn't believe in ghosts.

The TARDIS follows a twist in the vortex to the village of Staffham in 1977 and discovers something is very wrong with time. But spectral highwaymen and cavaliers are the least of the Doctor's worries.

For the Grange is owned by the sinister Jalnik, and Jalnik has a scheme two thousand years in the making. Only the Doctor and Leela stand between him and the destruction of history itself. It's the biggest adventure of their lives - but do they have the time?

Verdict

The Foe from the Future was an excellent audio adventure! I was delighted to receive an email a few months ago from Audible enticing me to sign up by giving me a free credit and whilst I was never going to commit to their monthly plan, I utilised that free download and put it to good use with the Lost Stories boxset of the Fourth Doctor Adventures. I used a free credit last summer too on the second series of Cyberman and I was delighted to save myself a sizeable sum of money. This story was brilliant and whilst it was quite different listening to a story in six parts, it definitely helped speed up my train journey. I had planned on a novel but with the busyness that comes with this time of year, I couldn’t guarantee I could dedicate the appropriate time to it. Considering this was Tom Baker’s first reprisal of his role as the Fourth Doctor for Big Finish, I thought he was absolutely wonderful. Alongside Leela, the pair really do shine. The concept of this audio was terrific and I could tell from the start that I was going to enjoy it. The dual setting of 1977 and the year 4000, linked by a tear in the time vortex, was brilliant and I liked how well the story was paced in revealing its details. Jalnik was a terrific villain and the scale of his plan was quite drastic and rather dangerous to the fragments of reality. With the human race at an end in 4000, and the world ravaged by Pantophagen, his plan to save humanity was to evacuate into the past. I love that idea and I thought it was utilised wonderfully. The Doctor’s reaction to finding out that 2,000 people had departed into the past was fantastic and he really didn’t appreciate the idiocy behind that decision. Butler, who was actually a butler, was another good character and I loved his demise at the hands of Leela. He had gone blind and whilst he was immune to the laser gun she was using, his realisation that Leela was shooting at the second bell was a sublime moment. Harpin was a good character whilst he lasted and I also enjoyed the many references to The Face of Evil. Charlotte was a lovely character and her relationship with Shibac ended happily which I certainly approved of happening. The Doctor also shared a nice relationship with her. The description of the TARDIS sounding like an elephant was another brilliant moment in the story as that really did tickle me. It actually does resemble one though which is what I think made it even funnier. The cliffhanger to part 5 was outstanding and must rank as one of my very favourites. There seemed absolutely no way back to the past and Leela also was presumed dead. I loved it and even though I listened to all six parts consecutively, I couldn’t wait for the sixth and final part to start. The resolution was clever and I thought the conclusion of the story as a whole was very good. The results of the Doctor’s actions were terrific as he’d set history back on its right course, defeated Jalnik and the Pantophagen and ensured that the whole timeline of the year 4000 didn’t even happen. Not a bad day’s work. Knowing this was intended to close season 14, I must say that I think this would have worked excellently on television and whilst we did get The Talons of Weng-Chiang in its place, it’s a shame that this never got to be produced for the television screen. The love story between Jalnik and Kostal was quite disturbing and the former eating the actual lover of the latter was a pretty gruesome occurrence but it definitely enhanced my liking of the story. Burrows was another good character too and Leela’s annoyance at the “blue guards” of Earth was terrific. Overall, I thought this was a brilliant story from start to finish and whilst it doesn’t quite gain full marks from me, it went very close!

Rating: 9/10