Zone 10

"It was Torchwood who invited the Committee here."

Writer: David Llewellyn 

Format: Audio

Released: April 2016

Series: Torchwood Monthly 08

Featuring: Tosh

Synopsis

They call it 'Pulse' – a radio signal which has puzzled the world for 40 years. But now Toshiko Sato has solved it.

She's uncovered a message which leads her to Russia, and into an uneasy alliance with the KVI – the Russian equivalent of Torchwood. Toshiko needs to get into Zone 10 – a frozen wasteland which officially doesn't exist. 

An intergalacitw war was once fought in Zone 10. And it turns out there's a survivor. 

Verdict

Zone 10 was an excellent audio adventure to continue making my way through the monthly releases for Torchwood under the Big Finish banner! For whatever reason I was slightly sceptical prior to listening to this episode purely because it seems like it has been forever and a day since I blogged anything involving Tosh as a main character. Of course, I did mention her in my relatively recent rewatch of Aliens of London but that was a time before even Russell T Davies had conjured up the character we would come to love as part of Torchwood. Any worries I may have had were instantly quelled as I began listening and remembered just how great of a character Tosh is! I think it's wonderful that this series has allowed a full episode where she can shine on her own and I loved that the Torchwood team didn't actually know she had undertaken this mission. I liked how she had been attempting to decode the Pulse that had been emitting 62 miles above a point in Russia for over four decades despite the likes of Russian intelligence and NASA trying to decipher it whilst putting the blame and transmission on the other party. That was quite the show of confidence in her own abilities which I really admired. I liked how everything centred on the mysterious Zone 10 and placing an adventure in modern-day Russia seems perfectly Torchwood and not exactly something Doctor Who itself could do so that was a refreshing change and a nice dose of reality. The influence of the Committee on the audio without actually appearing was excellent and I liked how Russia seemed to be the common feature for a number of those dying around the death of Neil Redmond. I adored how Tosh's time lock was utilised following on from it saving Gwen and Ianto from extermination in Journey's End and it was the perfect device to have in the zone that was ruptured temporally. I loved the idea of Zone 10 having layers of fragmented space and the onion analogy was terrific. The message that Tosh decoded actually being for her was really intriguing and I liked how things came full circle with her and Ana creating the words at the story's conclusion. I thought Volkova was a really good character as the first woman in space – from 1965! – which was a great revelation and the idea of the Russians winning the Space Race was a lot of fun. Maxim was a fantastic character and I really liked his relationship with Tosh before selling her out in order to get to Volkova in order to silence her. Ana initially having no knowledge of the Pulse that she was at the centre of was intriguing but her knowledge of the Committee and her having a gift for Torchwood was brilliant. Learning of the KVI battle with the Committee at the site of Zone 10 was superb and Ana being the last evidence of that was really interesting. A 32-minute war in which the Committee showed their strength and used the time bomb as a small scale warning. I thought the audacity of that said a lot about the mysterious Committee, but their capturing of Ana seven months after conflict as a final message and bargaining chip was cruel. Ana having been conscious of living the same day over and over must have been torment and I liked that she didn't know it had been forty years! The emphatic nature in which Maxim was shot after Tosh orchestrated the getaway to save Ava was extraordinary and a really sudden moment. Tosh being confident in her abilities to repair the ship was wonderful and I loved the use of the dampener to help Ava escape into the stars, as that's where she'd rather go than face what was down here. A line I really liked. Overall, this was a really intriguing and exciting audio adventure, a sheer delight to have Tosh back! 

Rating: 9/10