The Calendar Man

"I'm holding onto everyone's memories."

Writer: AK Benedict

Format: Audio

Released: August 2018

Series: Eleventh Doctor Chronicles 1.01

Featuring: Eleventh Doctor, Amy

Synopsis

Answering a cry for help, the Doctor and Amy arrive on a misty colony world – but nobody thinks anything is wrong. Nobody, except for one young woman, hiding in shadows and scribbling in her notebook.

Soon, Amy is on the trail of missing colonists, while the Doctor strides into the fog in search of a fairy-tale.

But time is running out, and the Calendar Man is flicking through the pages of their lives...

Verdict

The Calendar Man was a fantastic start to the Eleventh Doctor Chronicles! I received this audio set for Christmas and even though I am yet to blog them in their entirety, it completed my ownership of all of the Doctor Chronicles released thus far which I am thrilled by! I was very impressed with the start and I liked that for the opening adventure we kept things simple and just had the Eleventh Doctor travelling with Amy as a singular companion. It's weird to think that there are only those bunch of episodes in Series 5 where that was the case so to get an extra outing here to add to the list is a big bonus. I really enjoyed Jacob Dudman's narration and he really does do a masterful job in telling a story and brining the lead characters to life. His take on Amy Pond was even pretty darn good which is mightily impressive considering he's not even the same gender. Testament to that must also go to the author for capturing the era and her personality very well in the dialogue. Now, onto the most impressive aspect of Dudman's narration and that's his impression of Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor. It really was outstanding and if I was told that Matt Smith himself starred in this adventure, I really don't think I would bat an eyelid. It was superb stuff. Onto the episode itself and I thought it had a very good concept at its heart with Olivia being on a planet where people were dying, and she was the only one aware that it was happening. That made her an immediate focal point which was really good and I loved the concept of someone's memories also dying when they perished. That was quite hard to contend with and Olivia's predicament of continuing to tell relatives and loved ones of their losses whilst knowing that she would be ridiculed because the memories were already gone was emotional. But she felt a duty because those dying had always asked her to tell them one thing or another. I enjoyed the fog element that came with the deaths and Olivia working out that she could track with it was terrific. It also added to the eery feel of the adventure which was a positive. The cause of all of the deaths being revealed as the Calendar Man was brilliant and I thought the concept behind this particular being was superb. Filling up a calendar with lives was a wonderful concept and the Doctor working out who it was made for a fantastic moment! 35 had perished with 330 yet to come. The Doctor offering himself to the Calendar Man was great stuff and I loved that the enemy acknowledged that the Doctor was in his final incarnation. The benefit of writing stories set earlier than big reveals is why audios like this work so well for me. I also liked the aspect of the Calendar Man being a Time Lord fairytale. That showed just how important and I guess dangerous he was as someone to take on. The Doctor's past incarnations taking up pages of the Calendar Man was excellent but I would have loved for just a few little cameo audios! Why not take the chance to throw in some dialogue from Big Finish adventures with each incarnation? That'd have added a lot for me. I thought Olivia's role in the ending was really good and the Calendar Man's reaction to seeing that the Doctor's signature was already signed by someone else was terrific. Olivia really was a lovely character and the way she bore the responsibility of keeping everyone's memories and their stories alive was wonderful. I also liked her relationship with Amy. The Calendar Man being unable to kill an innocent and also keeping his end of the bargain in returning the memories of those taken was a fitting end to what was a really good audio adventure!

Rating: 9/10