The Revenants

"Legends are the stories that last."

Writer: Ian Potter

Format: Audio

Released: May 2012

Series: Companion Chronicles Special

Featuring: First Doctor, Ian, Barbara

Synopsis 

The present day: the Orkney Ferry, where Ian Chesterton meets a stranger who he is able to confide in.

Decades earlier: the TARDIS lands on Orkney, and Ian and Barbara are abandoned when the Doctor and his ship vanish in front of their eyes. As the pair head for civilisation, something is stirring in the treacherous bog lands.

And only the ancient Wissfornjarl can protect them...

Verdict

The Revenents was a great little Companion Chronicles audio! I must admit that before this was re-released as part of the recent Big Finish 12 Days of Finishmas, I had no idea it even existed so this was a much welcomed treat! There are only a couple of stories in the Companion Chronicles range that I am yet to blog, so having an addition is a real treat! I liked having William Russell as the narrator as he’s wonderful and it’s always a delight to revisit Ian. The storytelling perspective in the modern day with Ian recognising a familiarity with Jeannie was fun and I thought the Orkney setting worked well. The suggestion of time moving differently there set things in motion for what was to come in the episode, and the discussion about Janet provided some strong backstory to her character before she even featured. She was Jeannie’s aunt and a witch of sorts which was fun! She had passed and Ian was here to pay respects after their encounter, which is the story he would tell her niece of how he first came to Orkney! The recollection of the events seen in An Unearthly Child was brilliant and I imagine was there for the benefit of readers of DWM perhaps not familiar with the Classic era and its origins. It was also good to get some story placement during Season 2 with Susan having recently departed putting this somewhere soon after The Dalek Invasion of Earth. That would prove important later in the episode. I thought it was nice that the Doctor now firmly believed he could get Ian and Barbara back home to London 1963, and their arrival here was met with excitement as they both firmly agreed they were on Earth. They could smell actual sea air! The image of Ian and Barbara being locked out of the TARDIS in similar fashion to how Susan was on her forced departure was excellent, and it dematerialising meant Ian and Barbara had to seek out civilisation. The village they found themselves in was mysterious and the smell of decay really set the scene for their surroundings! Janet’s arrival was brilliant as a spay wife and her belief that the island was safe due to magic was a fun element to have Ian tackle as a science teacher. He’d try and find rational explanations to her beliefs. The Wissfornjarl keeping the peace was fun to play with, especially once the Marsh-Wains emerged! Their description was terrific as bog creatures dripping with mud and the gurgling was a good effect in audio. The defence of running water being superstitious did not exactly thrill Ian which was fun, but not as much as the cliffhanger with the Doctor himself revealed as the Wissfornjarl! That was glorious. The explanation that the TARDIS hadn’t fully materialised to allow the keen Ian and Barbara to exit was good and the Doctor was pulled to the past by a strong force, meaning he’d been waiting for time to catch up for years all along! Barbara’s reaction to that in particular was lovely. The realisation that they had never been closer to home being in Scotland 1956 was superb to play with and I thought it was fun to imagine the First Doctor keeping a low profile due to the police box design not having reached this far north yet. Having to apply the legends to their situation in order to find a resolution was fascinating for the Doctor to suggest, and I liked the makeup for the Marsh-Wains moving as one being and the ground even mounding with them. That was a distorting image! It was seeking a mind to give it structure which seemed logical and the science behind it was good to explore with it being made from peat. The only things used against it would be cold iron, running water or the bible, and I loved how the latter made the Doctor audibly laugh. The ambiguity regarding the catastrophic event in the past that created the creature was a little disappointing, especially with it also pulling in the TARDIS. Janet being protective of the Marsh-Wains was really good though and I liked that she thought of them as newborns looking for form. Her comment about them needing a nurse rather than a doctor was magnificent though and a story highlight. The combined psychic template of the TARDIS trio along with Janet being enough to send the creature off into defeat was decent, if not still a little ambiguous, but it was more than sufficient. The temptation for Ian and Barbara to stay in 1956 was sublime and I liked how they know they owed the Doctor more time given that Susan had recently departed and he’d waited years for them. Overall, a really strong audio!

Rating: 8/10