The Child

"We can't all be warrior girls."

Writer: Nigel Fairs

Format: Audio

Released: December 2012

Series: Companion Chronicles 7.06

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Leela

Synopsis

"Tell me another story, Leela. Not the one about the walking doll or the creepy mechanical men. A new one. I want to hear a new one..."

Leela is dead but her soul lives on. She has been reborn as a young girl, Emily, whose 'imaginary friend' tells her amazing tales about a great Wizard and the warrior who accompanies him on his adventures through time and space.

Emily prepares to tell her parents the story of a cold, grey world whose people are ruled over by a Glass Angel. The Wizard is her prisoner and only the warrior girl and her three peculiar friends can save him...

Verdict

The Child was a decent Companion Chronicles audio adventure, and a very intriguing look into Leela during this range. She had an eventful trilogy in the first few series of the series and whilst she makes a welcomed return here, I'm still not sure how her 'death' has been handled. It seems a little weird for Leela to supposedly be dead only for her to have several stories and talking back. Here she took the form of an imaginary friend to Emily which was quite a fun concept in isolation, but we never really got an explanation as to how she was alive to tell the stories. It didn't really feel like she was reborn as the story suggests and for imaginary friends, Emily didn't half bicker with Leela! To be honest, I felt the child was a little annoying and whilst it was fun for her to talk about mechanical men and walking dolls to provide nice references to The Robots of Death and The Talons of Weng-Chiang, her wanting to skip over some of the details she considered boring got a little tedious. What I did enjoy about her was that the Doctor was considered a wizard in the stories as that just feels right, especially when it comes to the Fourth Doctor. The addition of the sonic screwdriver to that title was a nice touch and it was fun for Leela to be telling the story at times in the third person and referring to herself as a warrior. I did like the idea of The Map of Life and its scale was really fascinating and it was always going to provide a lot of questions from Leela. Her interest in the meaning of life was fun and that seemed to consume the mysterious and frankly weird glass woman that took on the role of the villain, even though she didn't arrive until the second part which was a bit odd. I thought the snow actually being little fibres of glass was good and a nice touch with a feel of Alice in Wonderland which I really enjoyed. I liked how the Doctor was taken out of action and tasked with the mathematical theories in finding the meaning of life, but I wasn't overly fussed with the desire. Emily explaining how her purpose was as a lady and to marry a respectable man reminded me of just how much life revolved around conformity in the past and Leela failing to understand that was all she desired was terrific. That was the complete opposite for her! Leela trying to be taught about the appreciation of art was nice and I loved the humorous reference to The Face of Evil with her realising that the Doctor's giant face carved into the rock would be considered art. The Doctor's reaction to that was excellent. I thought the use of the snowdrop to explain the little delicacies in life and what can be appreciated was a good way to provide a representation of the meaning and how life didn't need to be understood. Just enjoy it, and I think that's a fine attitude. Overall, this was an intriguing listen and whilst I thought the format of the story being told to Emily was a little off, especially with her talking over the pre-titles and the cliffhanger, but it was more than decent. A good listen!

Rating: 7/10