The Black Hole

"It takes a meddler to know a meddler."

Writer: Simon Guerrier
Format: Audio
Released: November 2015
Series: The Early Adventures 2.03

Featuring: Second Doctor, Jamie, Victoria

Synopsis

On a research station near a black hole, time keeps standing still. Investigating the phenomenon, the Doctor, Jamie and Victoria discover a power far greater than any of the monsters that have challenged them on their travels... The Doctor's own people.

With the safety of thousands balancing out the need to flee, and a policeman from his home planet working at his side, the Doctor reluctantly finds himself involved in a race against time.

But nothing is ever as simple as it appears. And if you can use the Doctor's compassion against him, you have the makings of a perfect trap...

Verdict

The Black Hole was a very good story to serve as my first Early Adventure featuring the Second Doctor! Frazier Hines was simply sublime as both the Second Doctor and Jamie and he really did bring back the era gloriously. It was so well suited to its time and whilst I thought Deborah Watling was somewhat questionable as Victoria, I enjoyed the tale as a whole very much. In hindsight, I'm probably a little disappointed that I knew that Rufus Hound was actually the Monk, but that moment at the end of part two was still just wonderful. Hound is obviously a renowned actor and we even saw him on television during the Twelfth Doctor era, but his incarnation of the Monk really was magnificent. It was a good level of balance between maniacal and cunning and that is exactly what I would expect the Monk to be based upon his appearances in The Time Meddler and The Daleks' Master Plan. I have been longing for a return and whilst I did get that randomly in a recent short story with the Twelfth Doctor, a performed adventure is always that bit better. The basis of the plot was quite intriguing and I was delighted that we got a full adventure exploring the concept of a black hole. It has always been something that has fascinated me and whilst my knowledge of science in action is rather inefficient, I liked the explanations we got from the Doctor here. The idea of it being a gateway from another universe for the Seeth was intriguing and it was good how the Monk had put together an alliance between them because they'd ran out of things to conquer in their own universe. That made them seem pretty daunting and whilst they were never going to live up to their reputation once arriving in the final part, their leverage over the Monk was good to see. Pavo was a fantastic character throughout each iteration of the Time Lord constable and I loved that we got a regeneration during a Second Doctor era! I think they're overdoing it a bit in terms of the political correctness, but it actually worked superbly well in revealing that he was actually Flail all along! I definitely didn't see that one coming and really enjoyed the moment of realisation for the Doctor and Jamie. They'd arrived back at the habitat a little earlier and they were able to use their future knowledge to their advantage and thwart the Monk from opening the black hole. The theme of the Time Lords permeating throughout the audio was superb and the explanation for the Doctor and Jamie's presence and knowledge in The Two Doctors was most unexpected! I liked it a lot, even if it does contradict a past novel but keeping things coherent throughout all of Doctor Who over the years is near impossible. It's a nice take on things though and definitely works well. It also tells me that I would love for a solely Second Doctor and Jamie story where they were pitted against the Sontarans. The ending was pretty exciting and whilst I think the battle of extending the TARDIS reach and how that counterbalanced the black hole, or didn't, was overplayed one too many times, the fate of the Monk at the hands of Pavo was pretty brutal! He's a meddler though and will be able to find a way out I'm sure. The memory loss at the end was kind of necessary to keep true the televised continuity during the Second Doctor era, and the foreshadowing of the The War Games especially, but the story it allowed us was fantastic. Overall, a great audio!

Rating: 8/10