Mel-evolent

"There was a snake in her smile."

Writer: Simon A. Forward

Format: Audio

Released: February 2018

Series: Short Trips 8.02

Featuring: Sixth Doctor, Mel

Synopsis

Mirror mirror on the wall, something stalks the TARDIS halls...

A glimpsed reflection in a dark and dusty corner leads Mel on a journey Through The Looking Glass.

Witchcraft and shadows reign. 

Mel must face the evil at the heart of it all, while the Doctor battles to save a TARDIS determined to prove it's not only bigger on the inside, but darker. Much darker.

Verdict

Mel-evolent was a really good little Short Trips audio! I have been intrigued by this story for quite a while based on the title alone and after reading the synopsis, I was sure that this would be a fun and entertaining story – and I was not wrong! I am always happy to get more stories featuring the Sixth Doctor and Mel as their run together for the second half of The Trial of a Time Lord was definitely far too short. Any chance to develop their relationship is certainly welcomed and I liked how that was established early on with the mentioning of the famed carrot juice. I thought that was quite nice. I found it interesting that there was very little narration in this story and even though Bonnie Langford was the sole actor performing the story, for large parts it had the feeling of a Companion Chronicle which is definitely a positive! I thought she told the story really well and brought Mel back to life in a great way. The idea of a TARDIS theatre was excellent and something that just seems so perfectly suited to the Sixth Doctor. He was clearly having a lot of fun which was wonderful to hear. The image of him performing in front of a collection of mannequins really was tremendous! Mel catching a glimpse of herself in a corner of the TARDIS was intriguing and I really liked how it was her, but not quite her. She was a darker version with black and poison seeping in her eyes. It was quite the description, and she saw it within the time-space visualiser! Having that return after being seen in The Space Museum was magnificent and the twist that it had been on standby all of this time was wonderful. The Witch Queen from beyond having stolen bits of Mel's face was quite something and the threat posed by the deconstructive goblins who were taking bits of the TARDIS corridor was great! There was a lot of fun going on. The time-space visualiser having been hacked was brilliant and it worked well to have it repurposed as a portal. Mel was to be sent through in a disguise as the Witch Queen which was interesting and from there, she arrived in a place that was far from Wonderland. She was surrounded by gloom, ruin and decay and the music that accompanied that moment was very good.  The imagery that was formed in my head of the goblins fusing the TARDIS roundels with medieval design was excellent and something I would like to see. Mel impersonating the Witch Queen was decent, if not quite unoriginal. The description of Lady Tamira, as we would learn, as being beauty morphing into beast and back again in flux as a portrait of 1,000 subjects was quite something and I was stunned to find that she was in suspended regeneration! I thought more of the story should have hinted towards that, but the emergence of an Ancient Gallifreyan and Type-2 TARDIS was pretty great. The Doctor's TARDIS was being cannibalised for repairs which was good and I also found it very humorous to have him using the exercise bike to provide the power required to enable communications with Mel. The reveal of the Thrusk was good, if not a little late, and I enjoyed the concept behind them being a race that once mined the Time Vortex. The Doctor's telepathic link with Tamira worked well and the Thrusk had planned to collide the two time ships with them becoming the substance of the universe. That never came into fruition as the goblins realised they would be destroyed and ensured that the plans never came into fruition with some fierce flocking. Overall, a really good story with some fun concepts! 

Rating: 8/10