The Butcher of Brisbane

"I know my future, it's already happened."

Writer: Marc Platt

Format: Audio

Released: June 2012

Series: Monthly Adventures 161

Featuring: Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan, Turlough

Synopsis 

Adopting the alias of Weng-Chiang, the 51st century war criminal Magnus Greel will one day arrive in Victorian London by Time Cabinet – only to meet his doom, his plans undone by the Time Lord known as the Doctor.

The Doctor never believed he'd meet Greel again. But when a TARDIS trip to companion Tegan's home town goes wrong, the Doctor ends up in the younger Greel's heyday – in a world on the brink of all-out war.

With the Doctor at the mercy of Greel's alien associate Findecker and his army of mutations, Tegan is about to learn just why they called Greel 'The Butcher of Brisbane'...

Verdict 

The Butcher of Brisbane was a fantastic story to continue the Monthly Adventures and conclude another strong trilogy for the Fifth Doctor, Tegan, Turlough and Nyssa! This was probably my favourite of the trilogy yet and I was very excited upon seeing a familiar foe on the CD artwork. Mr Sin didn’t have a hugely important role in this story, but his presence was very exciting! Of course, the story is all about Magnus Greel and his earlier days that would actually lead him to Victorian London in the time capsule. It’s quite incredible really that a comment about meeting a time agent in the 51st century by Greel in The Talons of Weng-Chiang leads to an entire story like we get here! It’s a brilliant one of that and having a story that’s both a sequel and prequel to that aforementioned Fourth Doctor classic is magnificent. The only issue with that is that we know the fate of Magnus Greel so he’s never really in danger. He’s obviously much different than the deranged and damaged figure encountered by the Doctor’s previous incarnation, but exploring his past in the future was superb! I was a huge fan of what was happening and the very idea of him marrying Nyssa was an element I didn’t anticipate. That was really fun. The way the adventure started with Nyssa and Turlough being ripped out of the TARDIS was shocking but injected immediate excitement and that trepidation brought some real emotion out of Tegan. She’d initially joked about the Doctor not being able to control the TARDIS when Turlough warned of it malfunctioning, but she was very quick to show her concern and appreciated the Doctor was doing all he could to locate the lost companions. That took us to Brisbane in the far future and that was quite tough for Tegan as this was her home and she didn’t like seeing it as the death zone it had become. I can’t imagine how that must have been for her seeing the familiar geography. From there, we had quite a political tale which I thought was excellent! The idea of an Earth Alliance seems impossible right now but thirty centuries into the future that was how the planet was politically made up and Magnus Greel ruled the justice system. He was doing things by the book publicly, but behind the scenes that was far from the case. The idea of victims being sent to the past was exciting and I loved that time travel was a desirable amongst the scientists of this time period. The Doctor posing as a time agent was great stuff and saved his life when Findecker threatened to have him killed. He was a superb villainous character and his obsession with time travel was clear to see. He was inundated with it and challenging the Doctor that his experiments went to the past as a means of results was excellent. We saw that with Ragan when Nyssa and Turlough encountered him withered and dead in the death zone, aged and sent back three years. The fact Nyssa and Turlough had to wait three years for the Doctor and Tegan to show up was quite the shock! They’d certainly been busy amongst the Icelandic Alliance. Iceland being the centre for an alliance was a bit of a surprise, but I liked that whacky nature! The Doctor’s relationship with Chops and using chocolate to change his allegiance was a little naff, but other than that I loved this adventure! Sasha was a great character and her fate was quite tough for Ragan to take given that she knew of his fate and destiny all along. That was hard for Ragan to discover and Tegan’s appeal to the Doctor about not holding the hand of Time on this occasion was admirable. I didn’t see that actually working though asthe Doctor helped protect him but he was aged anyway by the zygma energy. That energy was a good element of the story and I loved the use of time travel  Kkkk as a lure and something to bargain with. Greel and Findecker causing all out war was good and I loved how the Doctor had to see that they escaped in the damaged time cabinet, but he knew that one of them would survive the journey despite its condition. Magnus Greel had another destiny altogether. Overall, a fantastic story!

Rating: 9/10