Kidnapped!: Spinvasion

"Don't think too much about the corpses."

Writer: John Dorney

Format: Audio

Released: March 2020

Series: Donna Noble 1.02

Featuring: Donna

Synopsis

Donna and Nat have been stolen – along with the TARDIS – and they find themselves crash-landing on an alien world. 

On the planet Valdacki a very successful invasion is already underway. And it's one that has the very best PR.

Verdict

Spinvasion was another great story to continue the first series of Donna Noble’s spinoff series! We had a quick start with the deaths at the hands of the PR company executives and establishing the importance of public relations to the story quickly was very good. Following on from where the opening episode left off, Donna having no real knowledge of the TARDIS controls was amusing and whilst she wasn’t sure which control was the right one, she knew one made a coffee! She did manage to get the TARDIS flying which was quite something and something I imagine was a fun continuation of what we saw when she was flying it during The Sontaran Stratagem. Valdacki made for am intriguing setting and the idea of it being subject to the Collectors was terrific. I was more interested in local affairs though and the wishing of a Happy Factory Day was excellent. The promotion of employment was fantastic. The Can Torn hoard and the glorious invasion made for great story elements and I thought the idea of enslavement and PR saying it was in their best interest was terrific. Donna planning to take down the Parsnip & Cox Head company given what they were doing and promoting was really good and it was fun for her to use her PR experience. Nat being the one to get offered a job at Parsnip was terrific and I was intrigued by the fact nobody was really interested in rising up against the Hoard with the Free Maniacs. Donna heading to the factories after failing in her bid to get a job was nicely done and her arrival there was pretty emphatic. Parsnip having an exclusivity contract with the Hoard was great and quite the power trip had ensued which meant they could really live in luxury amidst a PR stunt reign of terror. The fact that the factory workers could leave at anytime they wished was a big surprise but they were so willing to stick around despite not gaining any money as they were more concerned about their tax going to those on benefits when they did receive it! That was pretty bonkers but it was a strong message given the current political climate and some parties’ awful comments towards the likes of refugees and asylum seekers. Donna being the one to stand up and leave was expected and she made quite the scene whilst doing so! The Hoard plan to execute half of the planet to ensure the planet stayed profitable and enslaved was extraordinary and the calmness in which Parsnip just needed to come up with a campaign was quite horrifying! Donna going to Coleridge who was in hiding and trying to spark some resistance was good stuff and I loved that she took it upon herself to become the new marketing manager! She just needed to improve the image of Coleridge and the broadcast that followed was magnificent in how it immediately appealed to the gullible population. They’d eat up anything if it was marketed even half decently! The factory workers really were consumed by propaganda and their inability to believe that the fire culling that was coming wouldn’t consume them because they simply worked hard. Of course, that’s not exactly what happened. The sheer volume of people dying meaning that disapproval rate was decreasing was quite funny despite the scale of cruelty that was going on. Donna taking it upon herself to transmit a message and feign being part of Parsnip was terrific and her claim that all interests were in the firm meant that it had a profound impact. Ganthak falling for the broadcast was very good given his ludicrous nature and Nat’s role in using Parsnip’s computer to verify the broadcast was brilliant. She’s a fun companion to Donna. Ganthak terminating Parsnip and the entire building was a neat end to finally see off the firm and with that a rebellion followed to see the Hoard presence eliminated. I was a little surprised that Donna didn’t react a lot to the scale of death that occurred whereas this was all new to Nat and she was incredibly concerned. Donna offering her the chance out was very mature and a nice way to end things as they aim to get back to the present. Overall, another fun adventure!

Rating: 8/10