Paradoxicide

"You are female. You are valid."

Writer: Richard Dinnick

Format: Audio

Released: August 2011

Series: Monthly Adventures 150b

Featuring: Sixth Doctor, Peri

Synopsis

On the legendary lost planet of Sendos, the Doctor and Peri find themselves caught up in the hunt for the cache of galaxy-busting super-weapons stored inside its fabled Armoury.

Verdict

Paradoxicide was a another very good story to continue the one-hundred-and-fiftieth Monthly Adventure! Whilst I maintain my sentiment echoed in my blog entry of Recorded Time that I would have preferred a single adventure comprising the two hours, this was another fine little short adventure. It is essentially a Short Trip with a larger cast and that format can certainly work well when the right story is provided. That was the case here as I thought the style of adventure was perfect for a 32-minute tale and there wasn't much room to mess around. I liked how the Doctor and Peri entered immediately with some danger as they were in spacesuits and needing to take an atmospheric reading in person rather than the usual TARDIS systems, which let's be honest weren't always the most reliable! The relationship between the Doctor and Peri was a lot of fun in this story and they really are an underrated pairing, largely due to the discontent surrounding their time together during their television run. There's so much potential there and the humour that came with the softer side of the Sixth Doctor here was delightful. I was a big fan of those on Sendos seemingly being female dominated and the Doctor's totally unsubtle puns in getting Peri to realise she could also have voice control was terrific. The use of Su-Peri-or to get that message through to her was very amusing, although she didn't seem overly happy with it! The 'Peri' puns that followed as the story concluded were a lovely touch as well and there was that father-daughter kind of feel to the Doctor and Peri's relationship there which was really nice. Peril being used for a Peri pun was just so bad it was funny and you could just hear that the companion wanted to curl up into a ball. The setting of Sendos was very good and I liked the mystery and legend surrounding the Armoury. What I wasn't expecting was the time loop that followed and the Doctor and Peri actually getting involved in that all happening. I suppose I should have seen it coming though when Peri's voice was mysteriously heard emanating from the planet. That was all a plan to thwart the Volsci though and it worked very well actually! They were extremely threatening and demanding in their efforts to gain more super weaponry, and they weren't buying the Sendos position of not having those kind of weapons. The Doctor believing the sincerity was great and I enjoyed the irony of how the Volsci fell into a trap of essentially their own making. The use of the TARDIS to jam with their own ship and attempt to try and retrieve the weaponry before it was put in the Armoury was a sound plan, but the temporal nature of events worked well in thwarting that. Peri having a pivotal role was a nice touch and I loved her commands in ensuring that male voices would also be answered to as well. Overall, another really good and entertaining little story to continue this collection of adventures! 

Rating: 8/10