Prisoners of Fate

"You let me think you were dead for twenty-five years!"

Writer: Jonathan Morris

Format: Audio

Released: June 2013

Series: Monthly Adventures 174

Featuring: Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan, Turlough

Synopsis

Twenty-five years ago, with Richter's Syndrome running rampant throughout the galaxy, the brilliant biochemist Nyssa, formerly of Traken, bade a painful farewell to her young family... and set off into the space, in search of a cure for this deadly disease. 

She never returned.

Now, her grown-up son continues her work on the penal colony of Valderon, still desperate to make the breakthrough that eluded his presumed-dead mother.

So when the TARDIS lands on Valderon, bringing the Doctor, Tegan, Turlough and Nyssa to its fortress prison, the scene is set for a painful reunion... but not only for Nyssa. The Doctor's past is about catch up with him too...

Verdict

Prisoners of Fate was an outstanding story to continue my way through the Monthly Adventures of Big Finish! I think this has been the best release in the range for quite some time and was a fitting conclusion to both the recent trilogy of stories for the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Turlough, as well as the arc involving Nyssa’s search for a cure to Richter’s Syndrome going all the way back to Cobwebs which seems a very long time ago now. I thought the emotion on show in this story was excellent and that’s where the basis of the rating comes from in my eyes. Nyssa at this point in time looks how she did when she was a companion on screen, but from The Eye of the Tiger onwards she was rejuvenated and looked young again despite being some half century older. So the emergence of her son Adric was magnificent! I loved that she had told him of her adventures in the TARDIS and he was certainly knowledgeable on a number of events. That was fun stuff and hearing the accuracy in which he told Turlough about the events of Mawdryn Undead was wonderful. Adric here was forty years old and amazingly it had been quarter of a century since he’d seen his mother. That was tough to believe but once Nyssa had stepped out of the TARDIS she became a part of history and she wouldn’t be able to return. She really was gone for twenty-five years! Her son had grown into adulthood and beyond believing his mother was dead and so many had died of Richter’s Syndrome whilst she had the cure. That was equally difficult for her to accept and who could blame her? The fact she then had to live through those twenty-five years was honestly shocking and the Doctor didn’t have much to say other than exclaiming he was grateful. But considering what she’d gone through he didn’t seem that thankful or considerate. He put that right at the end though which was a welcomed nice touch. I liked that Nyssa’s familial connections came out for the Doctor and his reaction when he found out that Tegan knew already was hilarious. It was a nice shift in dynamic for the Doctor and Tegan to be working in unison on the same page when they realised the situation regarding Nyssa and needing to leave in the TARDIS right away. Turlough was angered at not being let in on the secret though which was quite amusing as he behaved like a little child really storming off to find Adric himself for the answers. I thought the concept of the chronoscope was intriguing and having a legal system that would punish based on a prediction seemed quite scary! The cliffhanger of Turlough and Tegan being sentenced with the preempt to murder was very good but I also enjoyed the Doctor acting as their defence and showing that the chronoscape couldn’t possibly be 100% accurate because now what it had predicted wouldn’t come into fruition. Of course, that was the whole point as far as Sibor was concerned. She made a strong villain, but the true enemy of the piece amazing was the Doctor’s first TARDIS! That was the truth behind the chronoscope which was quite something and its description as a white cabinet was great. But learning of its history and the fact it was jealous of the Doctor running from Gallifrey in a Type-40 with it being a superior 50 was spectacular. The Doctor conversing with his old TARDIS was magnificent and hearing how it separated itself from its recall device and escaped Gallifrey looking for its pilot was superb. I love the idea of the Doctor’s TARDIS not being his first but I was a little surprised he claimed to the Type-50 that the chance for adventures wasn’t over! They did get a final journey together in order to flesh out the paradox and set things right which was nice. Adric was a terrific character and the way he appealed to his mother Nyssa to not change the past because that would mean he wouldn’t be the man he was now was an incredibly strong scene. Nyssa didn’t want a world or timeline where she wasn’t there for her children, but the timelines were set now and Adric was who he was. The first TARDIS couldn’t feed on a paradox that has been prevented, but the second one involving The Caves of Androzani was just spectacular. I loved that link with the Doctor’s future regeneration and how he reached out to his companions for help to move on. The prospect of those future incarnations being lost was excellent and I loved the flashback cameos of the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Doctors as a hint of the future. The emotion of Adric’s final line about being the last time he saw his mother was poignant as it seems she never made the date of meeting one month in the future. Overall, a spectacular story!

Rating: 10/10