Wirrn Dawn

"This is the way it used to be. The way of nature."

Writer: Nicholas Briggs
Format: Audio
Released: June 2009
Series: EDA 3.04

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Lucie

Synopsis

"This is full scale war. Wirrn and Humankind locked in a deadly struggle for survival. When did that happen?"

The Doctor and Lucie land right in the middle of one of the human race's bloodiest periods of history. Trying to make a difference here would be like standing up and calling for a cease-fire on the Somme. Certain death...

Or worse.

Survival can be a messy business.

Verdict

Wirrn Dawn was a decent continuation of the third series of the Eighth Doctor Adventures! I really enjoyed the pairing of the Doctor and Lucie again and they really have blossomed into a favourable TARDIS pairing. The return of the Wirrn was why I recently read Doctor Who and the Ark in Space to affiliate myself with the enemy once again, but I was quite surprised and somewhat disappointed by how far removed they seemed from their televised appearance. I'm all for developing on a villainous monster that only made one appearance on television, but they just seemed completely different which was strange. I really liked the idea of the TARDIS arriving amidst a terrible period in human history with their war against the Wirrn, but I think there was a lot of potential here that wasn't realised. There really ought to have been more of a link to The Ark in Space surrounding the war, but there was actually more of a link to The Sontaran Experiment which was strange but not at all a bad thing! I found it great that Daniel Anthony appeared in a Classic era Doctor Who story given that he played Clyde Langer in The Sarah Jane Adventures and I thought he gave a good enough performance. Paul McGann was very good as the Eighth Doctor and I loved the humour at his and Lucie's arrival with her wanting to turn around and depart immediately because of the muddy surroundings. The Doctor had promised! Of course, they didn't end up leaving at all. I wouldn't have expected anything else! I thought the first part was definitely the better of the two with it being a bit more tense and exciting, with the second instalment sadly dragging out a little towards the end. It seemed that the war had been resolved a little too early with the installing of a new Wirrn Queen, and then the speeches that followed were unnecessary. I liked the development of the Ingens (spell check needed) stemming from the indigenous species of Humankind and the history of that was really interesting. The Wirrn swarm was very good and the imagery that came into my head when they were in space and essentially slicing through some of the Humankind was excellent. If they had stayed that way then I think they would have been more of an effective enemy, but I genuinely believed they were hurt a little by the format of the story. Once they started talking, and thankfully that was mostly kept to a minimal for the most part, they just didn't seem able to be taken seriously which was a big shame. It felt a bit normalised by the time the Queen started speaking during the conclusion, but we knew the threat was over by then. Their voice just wasn't impactful in an audio format and I think their look was so distinctive and crucial to them being quite a famed monster. The story that came with the TARDIS being lost is always fun and I liked hearing how desperate Lucie found the situation. Of course, this has happened to the Doctor several times so he was rather calm. The comedy surrounding his location of the TARDIS key after they were out wearing spacesuits was brilliant. I really am enjoying the dynamic between the Doctor and Lucie in this range, but I am a little surprised there doesn't appear to be a story arc for the third series. Admittedly, I have done this series much more on a sporadic basis than the first two series, but even so I thought there would be some threading through. Regardless, that's not what is always needed and this remained a good little audio. Overall, a decent tale that brought the Wirrn back, but I think they were slightly impacted by the format.

Rating: 7/10