Field Trip

"We're here to stop an invasion."

Writer: Una McCormack

Format: Audio

Released: February 2020

Series: Twelfth Doctor Chronicles 1.04

Featuring: Twelfth Doctor, Osgood

Synopsis

Osgood gets an offer she can't resist when the Doctor drops in – her first flight in the TARDIS!

The Doctor is calling on Osgood's expertise to stop an invasion, but what begins as a fact-finding mission quickly becomes something far more dangerous. Osgood's intergalactic field trip is about to get very hands-on!

Verdict

Field Trip was a very good little adventure to conclude the Twelfth Doctor Chronicles! This has been a great set of audios to further the stories of the Twelfth Doctor and concluding with him taking Osgood on a trip in the TARDIS is just wonderful! I have always enjoyed Osgood as a character and she fits in so well with UNIT, but having the Doctor land in her office and whisk her away to her first alien planet was magnificent. The moment where Osgood stepped foot in the TARDIS as she headed for her first journey with the Doctor was outstanding and definitely a highlight of the audio with the simplicity of her saying "at last" just magnificent. The continuity from The Day of the Doctor and The Zygon Invasion/The Zygon Inversion with the Doctor asking Osgood which one she was (of course meaning human or Zygon) was very good and made it fit in very well with the rest of the Twelfth Doctor era. The Doctor having a special mission with political connotations for Osgood was amusing because she literally does that for a living so that was fun for it to be her first venture in the TARDIS to her alien planet. Osgood expecting the Doctor to side with the rebels when it came to the issue at hand was very good and I did enjoy his slight of hand when it came to him mentioning how they were going to talk to the political leaders instead with the plan focused on consultancy. I'm not sure that this was what Osgood expected, but it worked well and she seemed to understand. Jacob Dudman shone once again as the Twelfth Doctor with a seamless Peter Capaldi impression that has just been tremendous to listen to. The revelation that none of the politicians were actually on the planet was good and they were in fact on their respective home worlds with communications travelling faster than the speed of light to ensure a seamless network. The Doctor and Osgood searching the communications for a mention of the planet Albencey (sp?) was intriguing and I liked that they were there to prevent an invasion of the planet and prevent it from becoming part of a galaxy-wide planetary conglomerate. I thought it was fun to have Osgood in captivity and what would the full Doctor experience be without getting captured? It was unusual for that to be of a 4* quality though! Sane Bell was a very good character and her position as a lone spy was something I really liked. The Doctor having been told to speak to her made for a good relationship between the pair and the humour that came with Osgood's inability to withhold information was fantastic. Blace was another decent character and his position at the end of the audio explaining how he wanted to incorporate Albencey for the Lisbann Corporation purely for his own bonus. That selfishness really irked the Doctor and Osgood. The latter's lack of remorse once she found out that fact was a nice development, especially considering the sale of the explosion. Their arrival on Albencey to stop the installation whilst hiding their presence worked really well and made a lot of sense for the plot. Lacer not being impressed with people on her land was more fun and the use of Osgood's signal blocker that ultimately saved the day was tremendous considering she stuffed it into her pocket quickly when the Doctor initially arrived at UNIT. That was a nice way to finish the episode and the conclusion after dropping Osgood back off was fantastic with the other Osgood, whichever one she was, arriving and mentioning the possibility of a trip was terrific. She wouldn't get it though! Overall, a really good audio to finish what has been a very enjoyable boxset. 

Rating: 8/10