The Nu-Humans

"I always say science fiction can be educational."

Writer: Cavan Scott & Mark Wright
Format: Audio
Released: July 2012
Series: NSA 18

Featuring: Eleventh Doctor, Amy, Rory

Synopsis

The Doctor, Amy and Rory are awe-struck by their first sight of "Hope Eternal", a super-earth bugger than Earth itself with heavy gravity, volcanoes and a crust loaded with mineral deposits. But their wonder is cut short when they discover a body dumped on the ground – a huge figure with extraordinarily long arms covered in thick, purple scales. Yet the corpse is not alien: he's human, albeit unlike any human Amy and Rory have ever seen. The Nu-Humans have adapted their genes to fit their new environment, and formed a thriving colony. But now they are facing a terrible threat. Can the Doctor find out who is killing Nu-Humans and why – before he, Amy and Rory are themselves tried for murder?

Verdict

The Nu-Humans was a really good original audio adventure for the Eleventh Doctor, Amy and Rory! I'm enjoying making my way through the Eleventh Doctor Tales on BorrowBox and I liked the idea of the super Earth planet Hope Eternal very much. The concept of heavy gravity has always fascinated me and it would be something I would love to experience. I adored the Doctor reaction joyously to Rory's awestruck reaction to the planet and it just seemed like the exact reason why he has companions. He lived for moments like that which was lovely to hear. The Doctor explaining this point in human history to his companions was interesting and beneficial to the listener as we learned the planet was home to a mining colony. The finding of a dead body and the trio later being accused of its murder was typical Doctor Who, but the overlooking threat of the sky raptors was really good. Their ability to fly despite the gravity said a lot about them! Their being rescued by a gorilla-like Trevor Reardon was good and his offence at being referred to as alien was fantastic. The Doctor trying to calm him down and explain the situation to Rory who'd blurted out the offensive comment was terrific. He was of course a human and this led the Doctor to explain about the terraforming process of humanity and how they'd mutated to meet their surroundings. Claudia Mason as Governor made for a very good villainous character and I was fascinated that she appeared more human than her counterparts. Her being unimpressed with he TARDIS trio she dubbed pure human activists was great and I liked how Amy challenged her back passionately when called a terrorist. Their arrest based on the found body was expected, but I didn't expect them to be accused of feeding the sky raptors! The Doctor pouncing on the info that disappearances had been occurring for a month on the planet was wonderful, but his clanger at using the old dog expression to upset Trevor who thought he was likened to an animal was a stark reminder of the planet's society. Rory being faced with an operation table was brilliant and it almost seemed to be resembling the origins of the Cybermen. It wasn't quite that, with Amy and Rory being pure and impossible given the age they came from and that meant Claudia wanted to open him up for a closer look. The sonic being used by the Doctor against the crazed Harry for the gravity was very good and I liked how Amy managed to save Rory. Her blurting out what had happened to Harry intriguingly filled Claudia with anger and her experiments soon revealed themselves which was fun. The smugness of the Doctor there was excellent. Trevor turning his back against his governing aunt was nicely done as he knew his people could do better than what Claudia had done. The Doctor basking in her true nature being revealed was marvellous and I quite enjoyed the pantropy history lesson we got along with the Mason family history. It was established that pantropy wasn't precisely an exact science and proved difficult and had a lot of consequences. I'd have liked a bit more explanation on how it differed from terraforming, but it was still interesting. The acquisition of the genetic scanner was helpful and firmly established that Trevor was on the Doctor's side as it was found that Harry had a strand of rotating DNA that was aggressive and alien. The story of the first Nu-Human was really intriguing as it was a monster and deformed with organ failure following, and that was the case for the batch that followed. Claudia's grandfather had patched this up alien DNA and Claudia was following the family legacy and killing those that went crazed to cover up the truth. Trevor's outrage that followed was superb as he couldn't believe her actions were all because the planet only was granted colonisation rights when the process was done right. His use of the flare with Mason escaping was good and I thought the ending was fitting with her being taken by the sky raptor quite suddenly. Trevor wanting an Earth examiner to come and help find a cure was also good, although I was a little surprised by the end with the Doctor not revealing he knew all along that Claudia's plan was correct, it was just the means that were terrible. Well, I didn't get that insinuation at any point of the audio so I'm not sure I overly liked that. Amy and Rory offering themselves to help with a safe DNA extraction was a nice note to end on though. Overall, a really good and solid audio!

Rating: 8/10