The Invention of Death

"How can you have a world without fear?"

Writer: John Dorney

Format: Audio

Released: July 2018

Series: First Doctor Adventures 2.01

Featuring: First Doctor, Susan, Ian, Barbara 

Synopsis

After an experimental flight, the TARDIS crew find themselves on one of the strangest worlds they have ever encountered.

Alien life takes many forms, and on Ashtallah the travellers find all their preconceptions tested.

But this world is about to make a discovery – and it could mean the end of everything.

Verdict

The Invention of Death was a very decent start to the second volume of First Doctor Adventures! I must admit that I'm still getting a little used to the quartet of the First Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara being completely recast and played by the actors who played the original actors portraying the roles (yep, that's confusing!) in An Adventure in Space and Time, but I'm more than happy to plough on and add to the extensive library of adventures for them. I must admit that I thought David Bradley was really impressive as the First Doctor here and he more than made the part his own whilst having those favourite little characteristics and idioms associated with William Hartnell. I thought the humour that came from the attempted time slingshot to get Ian and Barbara back home was fantastic and him completely disregarding any such theory at the end of the story was terrific, as it had far from worked on this attempt! The setting of Ashtallah was certainly alien and I liked that Ian pointed out that even for them and all they'd seen, this was particularly different to anything they had ever encountered. That was demonstrated early on as the local inhabitants couldn't quite be seen, or at least were approaching something like transparency. It painted a good picture and whilst I wasn't initially a fan of the Ashtallans, they grew on me as the audio unfolded. We were introduced to Sharlan and Brenna as our focal points of the species and they were really quite something. Their insistence on playing games made them a little childlike but the cliffhanger to part one with Barbara being thrown a particularly sharp object because it made it harder to catch showed that they had no fear of injury, or worse. We soon learned of their quick self healing abilities and the concept of anyone or anything else not sharing that was a huge surprise to them. This species was very alien indeed. The Doctor trying to explain the concept of mortality was brilliant and I liked how once it clicked, the Ashtallans almost envied humanity because they had a deadline on getting things done with their short lifespans. That's why they had transportation and machinery whereas life on Ashtallah was a little dull. That was a fascinating insight. The coincidence of the TARDIS arriving and the first Ashtallan dying was obviously more than just that, and discovering that it was Barbara's blood that was the poison was intriguing. She'd been healed when blending some of the Ashtallan flesh with hers, but when the process was reversed the result was devastating. I thought Sharlan's experiment was logical at first, but for her to continue with it in the hope of bringing technological development to her race went a bit far and she was just out of her depth which was a little sad to hear. She refused to be called a murderer and referred to her victims as test subjects, but it had got out of hand and the death was now contagious. The Doctor referring to his regenerative abilities a little offhandedly was amusing as Ian understood as simply referring to cuts and bruises healing. Ian discovering what Sharlan was up to was great and I loved the cliffhanger to part three with him being thrown out of the window, although his easy survival was a little bit of a let down. Still, the Doctor and Susan were quick to isolate the 'poison' and conjure a vaccine, but it was too late for Sharlan as she took the infection to ensure that the first newly produced child Ashtallan survived. The concept of love and compassion was thriving, and that was touching that Brenna and company refused to leave the side of Sharlan after she passed with a firm belief that she would heal and return. That was a sad way to leave the planet, but onwards and upwards into a traditional cliffhanger ending of the era as we returned to Earth and encounter Samurais! A fun set up for the next story in the volume. Overall, a good adventure! 

Rating: 7/10