The Unwinding World

"There's a lot to correct in human nature."

Writer: Ian Potter

Format: Audio

Released: June 2015

Series: Companion Chronicles: First Doctor 1.02

Featuring: First Doctor, Ian, Barbara, Vicki

Synopsis

Office life is tough, the commute is a grind, nothing works quite as well as you'd like. Vicki seems to remember things being better once, before the little flat. It's time she put some excitement back in her life. It's just a shame the Doctor can't help.

Verdict

The Unwinding World was an excellent Companion Chronicles audio adventure to continue my way through the first volume of the First Doctor boxsets within the range! This was such a good little story and I really appreciated the unique way in which it was told. Maureen O'Brien was delightful in reprising her role as Vicki and the way the other TARDIS crew members were incorporated into the storytelling was very clever indeed. It almost had the feel of a full cast audio drama despite the entire thing pretty much being a conversation between Vickie and Connie. The way it started with the computer voices describing the actions of Barbara, Ian and the Doctor as workers was intriguing and I thought it was a good decision to not have Vicki talking straight away so we could establish the setting. Where they had arrived was a very unique environment and the TARDIS being taken almost immediately provided us with a good plot device and my imagination run wild thinking of how the First Doctor would react to his prized ship being taken away abruptly. I can't think of any incarnation that would react worse! The role of the TARDIS for this society was fantastic and I loved how there was descriptions of the same design appearing throughout time across the galaxy where there were disruptions and revolts. The indication that the Doctor had involvement in a number of those in his personal future and across a multitude of different incarnations was terrific and the caveat of the TARDIS dimensions not always matching was delightful, given how the exterior altered from time to time in different eras. Connie being a nickname for the Controller of the work environment was fantastic and I really liked how she was named to put more of a face on things and provide some sense of normalisation. I thought that was brilliant and made a lot of sense. Hearing of how the Doctor, Ian and Barbara had provided Connie with suspicions since their arrival was great and exactly what you'd expect and the little ways they were trying to gain information or change things was very good. Barbara trying to learn more of the history with un-archived information and Ian also going out of bounds was good and I loved hearing Vicki defend their actions. The use of lip-reading to include the Doctor without the need for an impression was superb and really subtle but made for a wonderful way to include him. I did have to laugh at how Connie even read a 'hmm?' from his lips! Excellent stuff. The computer system also describing the actions of Ian and Barbara was good and the mechanical feel of the adventure was terrific. I was a big fan. The discussion of memory was something I really enjoyed and Connie describing how we alter our own memories was mightily intriguing and somewhat sad. The Doctor fasting when realising that there was a chemical in the food that altered the memories was good and it made sense for the chemical to attack the way we programme and calibrate our own memories. I was mightily interested. Vicki being able to turn that on Connie by the end was excellent and I liked how their being there for a period of months worked to the advantage of the plot resolution as Vicki had a plan in action for a lengthy period of time, and had actually managed to end up manipulating Connie into providing the information she wanted and ensuring that what she should think of as odd wasn't. And that was odd. I really liked that. Vicki had freed the population and provided them with free thought and the system was defeated to ensure that there was no more control. It was a pretty simple and neat way to conclude what was an excellent audio! It was very close to full marks, perhaps with a better cliffhanger it might have got there. Regardless, a great adventure!

Rating: 9/10