Hive of Horror

"We are going to face the Hornets on their own level."

Writer: Paul Magrs

Format: Audio

Released: December 2009

Series: Hornet's Nest 05

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Yates

Synopsis

As a new day breaks over Nest Cottage, the Doctor and Mike know they have to face their enemy for a final confrontation. Reduced to miniature size, and with Mrs Wibbsey along as an unwilling adventurer, they venture inside the hornets' nest itself. The Queen lies in wait for the enemy which she and her brood have faced so many times over the millennia. If she is to guarantee the survival of her alien hornet race for another thousand years, this is a battle she must win! The loyalty of the Doctor's friends will be tested to the limit. And perhaps, at last, they will all understand why Mike Yates is so important...

Verdict

Hive of Horror was a decent conclusion to what has been an intriguing little collection of Hornet's Nest stories. I must admit that this wasn't quite the finale I was hoping for after a big build, but it was still a decent adventure in its own right. I thought it worked well in having Yates recall the events of the previous four stories and how we had led up to this point rather than a 'the story so far' which is essentially a 'previously on Doctor Who' inclusion. The Doctor turning off the force field in the house was intriguing and the use of his machine was unexpected as I couldn't understand why it needed to be done at dawn. There was only a small timeframe once the field was off as everything previously kept safe would be free, but the efforts were all focused on the zebra that the Queen of the swarm was inside of. That was a bit random which is something of a common theme in this anthology, but the Doctor's device miniaturised all of he, Yates and Mrs Wibbsey as they entered the zebra to take on the Hornets at their own level. I liked that Yates was suspicious of Wibbsey once within and one of the highlights of the audio for me was the Doctor's reference to The Invisible Enemy and mentioning when he was shrunk and entered his own head. Really good continuity. I thought it was interesting that Wibbsey realised that their entry and journey throughout the zebra was unimpeded and it was clear that the Hornets were letting them in. Yates claiming his mind was impenetrable after the events of his breakdown in Invasion of the Dinosaurs was great and I knew that it was going to be tested. His thinking that Wibbsey herself was the Queen was an intriguing concept and his efforts to arrest her with his tie were amusing if not a little silly. Yates had become rather erratic since the miniaturisation which was fun as the Queen had clearly entered his mind already. The Doctor taking over the storytelling from that point was a clever move and I liked how when faced with the Queen's physical presence for the first time he thought she was beautiful. Yates bowing before the Queen was very good and I liked how she lured him with the prospect of knighting him. He resisted at first, but it didn't seem to last long. The Doctor questioning if the Queen was all she said she was worked well with him questioning why there was no flesh and just the feeling of her influence. The Hornets being drawn to damaged individuals playing a part again was good and I liked the idea of them wanting to pilot people to take over the world. Wibbsey was a bitter and old woman and that's why she had been susceptible in The Circus of Doom. The Queen's questioning of the Doctor to Mike and whether he actually did travel in time was interesting and I liked how she used the Nest Cottage as her evidence. I was less fussed on her appealing to his ageing whilst the Doctor regenerated because Mike knew he was a Time Lord and had literally seen the process happen. The Queen offering Mike the Doctor's body in return for the world was audacious to say the least, but I'm not sure it made a huge amount of sense with the overall arc of the series. Their efforts to infiltrate the world through Mike's military contacts was also unexpected given that Mike was a mere Captain that was forced to resign. What possible contacts would he still have all this time later to allow the Hornets to take over the planet? That seemed odd. Them wanting to improve the world was good though and I did enjoy how Mike was invigorated by the prospect of becoming the Doctor. It was fun when the Doctor realised that he had placed the advert under the Hornets' control and from there we had a good encounter. I loved that the Doctor used Yates' knowledge of the Hornets after being under their influence to locate the source but I was less a fan of the use of fire against the swarm. The Queen needed to be stopped and the whole royal jelly interference wasn't exactly the big conclusion I had hoped for. The swarm and young just reverting back to normal insects if the influence was gone was good, and it was nice that the Doctor wanted to dissuade the Queen rather than kill. The slipper coming back into play was unexpected but good continuity at least. The Queen snatching the slipper and slurping the jelly was quite sudden but the Doctor using the sonic screwdriver to adjust the slipper and shrinking the Queen who had lost her grip on the swarm was decent and weird at the same time, all happening pretty quickly! The Doctor expelling the Queen to the micro-verse was something I was a huge fan of though with the swarm left in anarchy as the hive burns. The remaining Hornets would be expelled far away from the zebra and everything seems to have been tied up. Overall, a decent listen and conclusion!

Rating: 7/10