The Veiled Leapord

"Follow the Leopard through time..."

Writers: Ian McLaughlin & Claire Bartlett
Format: Audio
Released: March 2006
Series: Special Release 05

Featuring: Peri, Erimem, Ace, Hex

Synopsis

Monte Carlo, 1966:

Four time travellers. Two missions. One costumed ball. The Doctor has sent Peri and Erimem to prevent the fabulous Veiled Leopard diamond from being stolen. Which is odd, seeing as the Doctor has sent Ace and Hex to steal the diamond. How will the two teams cope with this contradictory task? Will Peri's asp slip? Why does Ace have to pretend to be a French maid? How will Erimem cope with Pharaoh Rammalamadingdong? And can Hex really "do posh"?

Verdict

The Veiled Leopard was a great little audio adventure and an excellent bonus to the mass of Big Finish stories that I have already blogged on here. It actually scares me how much more I have of the Main Range alone but I knew of (and have actually listened to) this story and it seemed like a rough placement of where it might fit in with the rest of the stories so after a day of travel and dissertation research trawling through archives, this was a lovely audio to be doing. I really like the mix and how the first and second parts, whilst completely separate, take place at the same time. Peri and Erimem worked wonderfully together again and I was actually quite glad to hear them in a story without the Doctor present. The way they talked about him was good and I loved the description of the Fifth and Seventh Doctors meeting. I really would love for there to be more multi-Doctor stories like The Two Doctors where it is just two different Doctors such as the fifth and seventh incarnations meeting. This is about as close as we get for now. I liked the humour in this adventure and the Monte Carlo setting of 1966 was terrific. The dinner party presentation of the famed Veiled Leopard was a nice backdrop and when Ace arrived on the scene with Hex for the cliffhanger, the change in direction was a pleasant surprise. We didn't actually get to hear the companions all meeting which was perhaps a bit of a shame as I'd have loved to hear their comments about their respective Doctors but sadly the story cut short before that could happen. I was quite surprised with how much reference there was to sex and I was a little taken aback by Peri and Erimem being referred to as 'stock' in the second half of the audio. Hex was good in this story and I liked how he mentioned the 1966 World Cup. Even if he is English, I'm happy the Doctor has a companion that's a fan of football. His, along with Ace's, impression of the Seventh Doctor was pretty awful though. I really liked that the two sets of companions had no idea that fellow time travellers, sent by the same person with the same mission, were attending the same event as them. There was some beautiful irony about that. The reference to The Harvest was good and I also like how this story had contradictory elements in that the Doctor seemed to give each pairing of companions a different backstory to what the diamond actually was. Erimem though knew a lot about it and I liked how Peri left her to make the decision regarding what was to be done. The conclusion was quite funny with the kerfuffle of swapping the actual diamond with a counterfeit and Lilian, Peter and Gavin all getting muddled up in the melee. Overall, a terrific little story!

Rating: 8/10