The Wreck of the Titan

"Since when did officers on the Titanic carry guns?"

Writer: Barnaby Edwards

Format: Audio

Released: May 2010

Series: Monthly Adventures 134

Featuring: Sixth Doctor, Jamie

Synopsis

It's the biggest ship the world has known – and in just twenty minutes' time it's going to hit an iceberg the size of Ben Nevis!

The North Atlantic is a treacherous place at the best of times. 14 April 1912 is the very worst of times. The Doctor and Jamie find themselves trapped aboard the RMS Titanic, 400 miles off Newfoundland and heading towards a conclusive appointment with destiny.

But the iceberg isn't their only problem. Down in the inky depths, something is hunting: something huge, hostile and hungry. This should certainly be A Night To Remember. 

Verdict

The Wreck of the Titan was an excellent audio adventure to continue my way through the Monthly Adventures and the quartet of stories featuring the Sixth Doctor and Jamie! This followed on nicely from Night's Black Agents and I liked how Jamie referenced that story with it being part of the Companion Chronicles range. It was good to establish its role in the series of events unfolding for him and the Sixth Doctor, but the ending is what gives a lot of answers. Or so it seems. We'll get there shortly though, as first I thought this was a brilliant story in its own right. The Doctor intending to take Jamie to sea in the 1930s was a fun prospect but the truth being that they had landed on the Titanic twenty minutes before it was due to collide with the iceberg. That was so fun to play with and it was an intriguing dynamic to have Jamie having no knowledge of the events. That allowed the Doctor to explain the significance of them, and the part one cliffhanger was tremendous as the crash and impending sinking loomed. The naval setting shifting throughout the story was excellent and I liked the theme of the ships being indestructible. The Titanic of course is infamous for being the ship that would never sink, and then did, and the Doctor describing how the precautions for damage still didn't prevent it was great. I liked the shift to the Titan and the way the scenery around the Doctor and Jamie changed was fantastic. The other people remained the same, but they were playing different characters. Tess transitioning into Myra worked well and I thought she was a brilliant character. I really enjoyed her relationship with Jamie and the moment that he emerged from the Nautilus submarine. The Doctor realising that this was only part of fiction was intriguing and with the ending, I could appreciate the inclusion of books including the one of the audio's title that eerily predicted the events of the Titanic's sinking. It having a 1912 reprint here was superb. I thought John was another good character alongside the Doctor who had a strong showing and it's interesting to hear him alongside a familiar companion that isn't part of his era (The Two Doctors not counting). The Doctor's deduction of events towards the end of the story was marvellous and his confidence in realising that everything was part of a video game was terrific! I would really have liked that and I think it would have been logical and worked well given the minor cast not having character names and only having roles. Instead, what we got was the reveal that the Doctor had once again entered the Land of Fiction! The emergence of the White Robots to finish things was brilliant, and they weren't who I was expecting to show up. The build of the story heading towards the centre whirlpool was very good and the mystery of the powers that were being appeased was great for the plot. As a whole, I thought this was a really strong adventure and definitely the best of the trilogy thus far, with a wonderful cliffhanger to send us into the next story! A fantastic listen.

Rating: 9/10