Invocation

"Flee from the fingers of the little grey man."

Writer: Roy Gill

Format: Audio

Released: November 2017

Series: UNIT: Encounter 5.02

Featuring: Kate, Osgood

Synopsis

It's Hallowe'en and Josh finds himself at a party where phantoms are becoming all too real. Osgood is working late and hears a voice from the skies making strange incantations. The next day, Kate has gone missing in the Scottish Borders, and the team head north to investigate. Ghosts from the past are haunting UNIT, and now they threaten the whole world...

Verdict

Invocation was another excellent audio adventure to continue the Encounters fifth series of the new UNIT adventures! I thought it might be tough for the series to follow up from the fantastic The Dalek Transaction, but this one did a stellar job! The concept of the Voxtail 3 broadcast was really intriguing and the idea of it still sending a signal after originating over fifty years ago was terrific. That got me interested from the start. The Halloween setting didn't really play a big part, but there was definitely an eery feel to the audio which was unique for the UNIT spinoff. Kate being in a room and the description of the twisted fingers and the grey man was superb. I liked how the signal changed to Latin and the invocation used to summon the spirit fitted the feel of the audio brilliantly. Josh being at a party with Phoebe for Halloween worked well and I enjoyed how everyone at the party saw a mysterious ghostly figure, but Josh was immune to its effects. Osgood deducing how Phoebe's flat used to be a TV centre was fantastic  and provided a good link between that and the events of the broadcast. Osgood and Josh heading for the Borders to find Kate after she had gone off grid was great and I liked the idea of her investigating an old UNIT property that should have been abandoned but was still on the UNIT books and being funded. Eeldon House made for a superb setting and I liked how Kate realised she had been there before with her dad. The rhyme she heard as a child being repeated with the recurring mentions of the grey man was magnificent. Donnelly as the caretaker was a fantastic character and I also liked Ben as her son and being the child that Kate ran around this very house with as a child. The long gallery room was a really good part of the house and I thoroughly enjoyed the strange atmosphere that came within it. I liked the history of how Lord Eeldon died in strange circumstances and his dying words made mention of the grey man. It was clear that Ben and Donnelly were in on something more with the house and the arrival of UNIT forces made that even clearer. The tongue and cheek comment about Donnelly vanishing was terrific and I liked how Osgood was trying to locate the Voxtail signal, but was soon joined by Ben who revealed he was a computer expert. Osgood feeling nausea within the long gallery was good and I liked the continuity going back from the Extinction first series with Josh's physiology involving Auton makeup with his skull being made of different material and incurring a different frequency that didn't impact on him mentally. I thought that was very good and I liked how Josh then changed the room to break the resonance of the frequency. The computer printout of the invocation was good and I liked how the broadcast was spreading with a number of reports in London that Shindi was reporting on. The concept of infrasound was brilliant and I loved how there was a natural makeup to the room that when mixed with the weather essentially created ghosts! The idea of someone finding and targeting the broadcast to weaponise sound was fantastic. I was a huge fan. Kate confronting Donnelly about the project she had shutdown in this house before sneaking back in as the caretaker was magnificent. Once the threat came of the physical files that she had edited out of the files to ensure funding still came was really nicely done. It tied everything up nicely. Donnelly being the one that sent the signal up 40 years ago but now she wasn't involved and there was something more. The idea of the satellite speaking Latin was good and I liked how Donnelly revelled in realising her experiment was correct all those years ago. The way the invocation was finally finished with Kate's Latin knowledge was wonderful and the links with the demonology was marvellous. I thought it was a great deal of fun. The demon was never dismissed, but thankfully it was all powered down with Donnelly paying the ultimate price. Overall, an excellent audio!

Rating: 9/10