Lucie Miller

"We had to be as insane as the Daleks to defeat them."

Writer: Nicholas Briggs

Format: Audio

Released: February 2011

Series: EDA 4.09

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Lucie, Susan, Alex

Synopsis

'Hello! Doctor, it's me. Lucie. Lucie Miller...'

Lucie Miller needs the Doctor's help. The whole planet Earth needs his help. But he is nowhere to be seen.

While Lucie struggles to survive a terrible sickness, an even greater threat to the human race is about to be unleashed.

And this will be the second Dalek invasion of Earth the Doctor's granddaughter has had to endure.

'You must accept the reality of your situation. You have been defeated.'

Verdict

Lucie Miller was an outstanding adventure to kick off the finale of the fourth series of the Eighth Doctor Adventures! This really did have it all and served as a fine opener to what I am sure will be an excellent finale as a whole. I liked the little recap of Lucie's message that we heard at the end of Prisoner of the Sun and the Daleks describing how they had been destroyed by the Doctor was excellent. The permutations of the timeline for that with where Lucie was massively intrigued me. The pace at which things went wrong in this adventure was sublime and the sickness coming and infecting Lucie whilst she and Alex were holidaying in Thailand was great stuff. It was spreading fast and before we knew it there were mass deaths on an awful scale. Lucie was narrating events after they had happened which provided an intriguing dynamic and some safety for her character, and I liked how she described the pain from the sickness and how it still haunted her. Susan and Alex being safe from the sickness because of their Gallifreyan DNA was good and the call from the former companion to her son and Lucie was really good and full of desperation amid the current predicament on Earth. Lucie having the gizmo to contact the Doctor and it being created by Nyssa was really nice, but I was shocked to find that the Doctor didn't actually answer her call! Lucie and Alex returned to England in quickly described events and the narration worked well in moving the story forward at a quite frantic pace. Lucie was suffering partial blindness which I thought more was going to come of, but for me it was all about the Daleks and their repetition of the events of The Dalek Invasion of Earth. That's one of my all time favourite serials so almost a sequel here was magnificent. They'd weakened the planet with the sickness before invading. Susan dreaming of the Doctor being killed by the Daleks added to the fear factor but I loved the comfort she had in the TARDIS key and feeling the power of the impending TARDIS arrival. Alex had a good episode and him working with Seb as part of the rebellion suited him. I loved that the Robomen returned and the mirroring of the plan with the mine shaft and propulsion unit was delightful. Only this time the scale was off the charts as instead of Bedfordshire, they were using the whole of North America. Lucie and the rebels building small victories whilst encountering deaths was excellent and I liked how there was a lot of radio interference and interceptions. Thousands were en route to the shaft site from all different directions which was quite an image. The return of the Monk alongside the Daleks was fantastic and I loved how they demanded rebel extermination whereas he surprisingly didn't seem so keen. The chaos that came with the attack on the Daleks was superb and I loved the revelation that the Dalek Time Controller was here! How had he survived Patient Zero? The simplicity of Lucie's description of Seb's death was chilling and the overdue arrival of the Doctor having him greet Tamsin was a nice shift. Susan remained convinced that the Doctor would come to save them which I admired, whereas Lucie had given up until Susan descried the glow of the TARDIS key. Then all of her will returned and she recorded her forgiveness to the Doctor for what happened with Aunty Pat and wanted to travel with him again. I do hope she gets that opportunity. The Monk ID'ing the Doctor to the Daleks was hilarious and Tamsin not realising that Lucie was still alive and becoming unsure about him was something I'm sure we'll come back to. The cliffhanger finish was magnificent with the rebels launching a missile at the Dalek base that so happened to contain the Doctor and there being no ability to abort. The emotion that came from its destruction was incredible. Overall, a sensational listen!

Rating: 10/10