The Same Face

"Success in a system of government built on assassination."

Writer: Julian Richards

Format: Audio

Released: June 2019

Series: Short Trips 9.06

Featuring: Third Doctor, Jo

Synopsis

No one survives in politics on Samael. Felicity Morgan has learnt this the hard way, as she keeps being assassinated. However, she has a secret. A secret that has kept her alive. A secret that has propelled her to the top job. When the Doctor and Jo arrive on Samael, they learn the impossible truth.

One woman. One face. Many lives.

Verdict

The Same Face was a very good little audio adventure in the Short Trips range! I'm all for the length of stories in this range being similar to this one as at forty-two minutes long, there definitely felt like ample time to develop an adventure with a bit of depth which was definitely the case here. I liked the political theme of the story and I thought the Third Doctor and Jo were a good pairing to throw into that given they are usually contained to a contemporary setting of the 1970s with UNIT which of course naturally gives rise to political connotations. Samael was a very good and interesting setting and the peace treaty showed us just where things were at as the Doctor and Jo arrived on the planet. Things were progressing and finally moving forward after a time of war, but inevitably things were going to go wrong. I thought Felicity Morgan turned out to be a fantastic character and the surprise that came with her regenerating was a real treat. The description of it being like an explosion intrigued me because it would be a long time removed from the Third Doctor era that we would see a regeneration depicted in this way but the continuity was certainly appreciated. I mean, it was just fun to have the Doctor and Jo talking openly about regeneration at this point given that it wouldn't get named on screen until Planet of the Spiders. The synopsis really caught my attention with Morgan continuing to get assassinated but I never clocked that she might be a Time Lord so that was great. It was even better that she was a Time Lord with a twist as despite regenerating her face never changed which was terrific. Her being a former member of the Celestial Intervention Agency made sense and I loved that her Time Lord title was to be the Minister. It was a fascinating concept and changing her personality through each regeneration to match the role of office she held within the political system was brilliant! That was so unique. I never suspected that the Master would also be involved in the adventure so the delivery of his reveal as the Ambassador was excellent. He didn't stay around for too long which was a shame, but it was still so much fun for him to be donning yet another disguise. The Doctor realised before it was too late. I felt like there could have been slightly more jeopardy with the Master around and the Doctor got the upper hand in relatively quick style, but that might have something to do with the time factor. Maybe his appearance wouldn't have been so impactful without the building of the setting. I really liked how Samael was depicted. The Master's interference with the Minister's TARDIS and how that linked in with the regeneration was good and the simplicity of the Doctor putting a psychic barrier on her to ensure her next regeneration would go smoothly and in a more traditional manner was good and what was needed. Katy Manning did a fine job with the narration and I liked how Jo was on hand to comfort Morgan with her post-regenerative symptoms. Overall, this was a really good little audio adventure! 

Rating: 8/10