The Curator's Egg

"A talking dinosaur that turns out to be my brother, that I didn't expect!"

Writer: Julian Richards

Format: Audio

Released: June 2018

Series: Companion Chronicles: Second Doctor 2.01

Featuring: Second Doctor, Polly, Ben

Synopsis

Zoltan Clarkson (Eccentric Billionaire, Cybernetics Tycoon, Museum Curator) had a dream of a domestic dinosaur in every home. He bought the empty county of Dorset to work on this dream and develop cyborg dinosaur hybrids in a safe, contained environment.

Now Clarkson lies insensate in the infirmary, his twin brother Andrew struggles to hold things together and dinosaurs walk the Earth. With the Doctor and Ben chasing monsters at sea, Polly has only a socially awkward scientist and the world's friendliest dog to help her prevent the rise of the ultimate predators...

Verdict

The Curator's Egg was a great story to kick off the second volume of Companion Chronicles for the Second Doctor! This was a pretty barmy adventure to kick us off and whilst I wasn't sure about the mix of dinosaurs and the 1960s era of Doctor Who, the audio format really helped here. There is just no way this story would have worked on screen during Season 4 and I suppose that's part of the beauty of Big Finish. One thing this opener definitely had going for itself was that it was extremely fun. I thought the second part was definitely better than the first but it was a solid opening instalment to set up the ingredients and introduce us to the likes of Andrew and establish the setting. I was a massive fan of the setting and whilst Ben and Polly were a little disappointed to be back on their home planet but three centuries into their future, I thought the proximity to the aftermath of The Dalek Invasion of Earth was outstanding and it was tremendous to revisit the Earth as it was rebuilding. The fact that the entire county of Dorset was subjected to chemical weaponry from the Daleks during the invasion wasn't a surprise and it was a clever way of getting Zoltan the room he needed to try and mass produce dinosaurs. That was a wild concept and having commercial dinosaurs is not a new idea. They're popular in films and for toys, but the real article? That was another thing altogether! The fact they were a bit of cybernetic and organic was intriguing and the scope element of working on the dinosaurs was very good. The simplicity of that showed the futuristic setting well. I thought Andrew was a lovely character and I really enjoyed the relationship he built with Polly. She was magnificent and just another reminder of why she is one of my all-time favourite companions, and why we named our cat after her! Her constant encouragement to Andrew to back himself and his scientific ability was brilliant. I thought the arrival of Zoltan into the story was a lot of fun as I really didn't expect it as a dinosaur. Not only that, but he ended up being in the head of every dinosaur. Quite literally. That was extraordinary. He'd been keeping it secret that his mind had swapped places with a raptor but it explained a lot about the condition of the human brother. The description of just eyes watching must have been a very scared dinosaur. I thought the presence and involvement of Scalp the dog was decent and his role in the conclusion and freeing the dinosaurs of Zoltan in their mind was terrific. I thought it was wonderful to have Frazer Hines taking on the role of the Second Doctor here and also having an actual actor for Ben was a rare treat of a multi-cast for this range, even if both the Doctor and Ben disappeared randomly for most of part two. I did like the proximity to The Power of the Daleks though and the Doctor still getting used to his regeneration and struggling slightly with some memory loss. That was nicely done. Ending things with a T-Scalp was amusing and the image of Polly riding a dinosaur was tremendous. Overall, a great story! 

Rating: 8/10