War Against the Laan

"This is a massacre."

Writer: Nicholas Briggs

Format: Audio

Released: March 2013

Series: Fourth Doctor Adventures 2.03

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Romana I, K9

Synopsis 

'Just a taste of Armageddon, Romana. It's what happens when acquisitive minds are left unencumbered by conscience.'

The Doctor, Romana and newly elected President Sheridan Moorkurk take on the all-consuming powers of business tycoon Cuthbert and his vast Conglomerate. But the situation goes beyond a struggle for political power. Cuthbert is intent on revenge on creatures he feels have attacked his interests. But when his revenge looks like leading to inter-war species war, the Doctor knows the stakes couldn't be higher.

The Laan are on the move. Is it too late to prevent the destruction of all life on Earth?

Verdict  

War Against the Laan was a great story and conclusion to the adventure already started in The Sands of Life to continue my way through the second series of the Fourth Doctor Adventures! It’s rather odd to be getting a five-part story over two releases, but it’s a very solid adventure. I do think it’s a little odd to basically just continue as if nothing happened and there wasn’t a break of a month between releases, as even though I only listened to the first three parts yesterday a recap would definitely have been beneficial. Instead it just picked up immediately where the previous story finished as if we were just changing discs which wasn’t the case. Anyhow, that’s not a knock on the story itself but rather the scheduling format from Big Finish. It seems a little like cheating. I think the Laan were more of a threat in the story now they were established and whilst I’m not a massive fan of their appearance from the CD cover artwork, I did like how Romana was used to communicate with them. She had a very strong outing here and whilst it’s sadly clear to hear that Mary Tamm is somewhat noticeably older with her performance, she did well with that telepathic link. It saved them from near destruction when she was able to convince them that she and the Doctor were not part of the Conglomerate that were trying to kill them. It was fun for the Doctor to cotton onto the fact that Moorkurk was new in her role as Earth President and learning that she won unexpectedly because of a surge in the protest vote against the Conglomeration was terrific. She would utilise that and show to the media that the organisation was actually being used to help combat the threat of the Laan. The telepathic link between over three hundred women on the planet was intriguing and the female connection being exploited was excellent. Cuthbert was a bit of chauvinist and didn’t buy the theatre act he thought it was. He was only interested in business and his history with the Laan was a good revelation and helped explain his irrationality. They’d prevented a previous experiment of his so he had meddled to make them think that the sands of the Sahara Desert were where they had birthed, giving him an excuse to commit genocide. The Doctor was horrified and it just made him an even stronger villain. The fact that even after the Laan were saved from destroying the Earth that nothing could really be done against Cuthbert was fantastic as he was just too powerful. Business really is politics. The Doctor and Romana pressing hard on Tallister for his defence of just following orders when he killed a member of the Laan species was really good and I just love how disgusted they were by this action and the potential result of war. I really enjoyed that one by one the elder Laan were giving birth which provided some jeopardy as we headed towards the third and final birth which would trigger disaster. The brain pattern of the Laan being similar to that of the TARDIS was intriguing and explained how Cuthbert was able to shape things up for them and have them believe that Earth was their sands of life. Cuthbert was as mentioned not really going to see justice, and that leaves things open for him to return which very much excites me! K9 being damaged is a shame but this was a strong showing for the Fourth Doctor and Romana I. Overall, a great story!

Rating: 8/10