A Small Semblance of Home

"I don't what day it is anymore."

Writer: Paul Phipps

Format: Audio

Released: September 2018

Series: 8.09

Featuring: First Doctor, Susan, Ian, Barbara

Synopsis

It's become his obsession. Through the hottest of deserts and the coldest of snows, the TARDIS crew have searched for the one remaining piece of the Doctor's most important experiment. But now Barbara's exhausted. Why hasn't the Doctor learned his lesson? What's so important that his scientific curiosity outweighs the safety of the crew once again? And will his latest arrogant trespass be the last he ever makes?

Verdict

A Small Semblance of Home was a tremendous little Short Trips adventure! I thought this was an excellent story from start to finish and it explored a lot of what makes that first TARDIS quartet so brilliant. I liked how things were clearly still early on for Ian and Barbara after stumbling aboard the TARDIS during the events of An Unearthly Child and it was still a little difficult for them to adjust to their new lives. Barbara in particular was getting exhausted by the Doctor's latest crazed plan and her struggles with dealing with the concept of time on board a time and space machine were mightily intriguing. I was a big fan of that and I loved her efforts to try and keep track of time and what day it was in order to maintain some sense of normality. Would it be possible to achieve that travelling in the TARDIS though? I really do have my doubts, especially with the first incarnation and when he gets in an obsessive mood like we heard here! I thought Carol Ann Ford did a wonderful job as the narrator of the episode and I really liked her take on William Hartnell's First Doctor. It was very impressive and definitely one of the best takes for his incarnation from a female narrator! Nothing can come close to Peter Purves though! The connections this story had to The Daleks and the Doctor trying to achieve some scientific goal or experiment and supposedly not caring for the safety, concerns or even desires of his companions was magnificent. That's exactly what I would expect of the early First Doctor so that was fun to see another example of here. The First Doctor being up to no good and keeping nobody in the loop is definitely one of my favourite elements of the incarnation. He's so mischievous and even without Hartnell in the role here, it's still great imagery to have him chuckling in my head. Susan trying to defend the actions of her grandfather only to later regret not stopping from exiting the TARDIS was good and I enjoyed how ebullient the Doctor was after landing on the planet with its acidic qualities. His experiment was a closely guarded secret which I liked and the end result was not anything I was expecting in the slightest! The use of the tribe and Nylok as its head worked very well and I enjoyed the Doctor taking advantage of their somewhat lack of intellectual qualities. The soil on the ground coming from Earth but the planet not being Ian and Barbara's home world was an intriguing occurrence and I really liked how that suited the Doctor's plans. The tribe having guarded the plant of camellia sinuses was good and finding out what this was Latin for was an extradorinary revelation. This plant having evolved over the generations with the tribe forgetting why they were guarding it was terrific and it supposedly having the powers to take you back in time was magnificent with the double meaning if it taking one back to normality and home. It was tea! Tremendous stuff. Barbara was delighted to have a cuppa and reminisce about her Sundays which was lovely and I really liked how the Doctor's experiment was all centred on appraising her and making her feel somewhat normal in the TARDIS and having something to remind her of home. The way everything tied back at the end was delightful. Overall, an excellent audio!

Rating: 9/10