The Skin of the Sleek

"I'm the one chained to time."

Writer: Marc Platt

Format: Audio

Released: August 2017

Series: Fourth Doctor Adventures 6.08

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Romana II

Synopsis

On the planet Funderell you can walk on the ocean. The surface holds you when you move, but if you stand still, you sink. Lights shift in the fathoms and great shapes move beneath your feet – schools of giant electric eels know as Sleeks. 

There is no solid land and the only locals are the Wavewalkers, hunters who live in floating villages. But recently some strangers have arrived, pursuing their own distinct agenda. 

When the Doctor and Romana lose the TARDIS to the deep, they need help. Which makes finding a fellow Time Lord on the planet very useful. The fact that Time Lord is Sartia, an old friend of Romana's, is even better! 

But this is a planet of secrets. Be careful when you explore its depths. You may just drown. 

Verdict

The Skin of the Sleek was a decent little episode to kick off the two-part finale of the sixth series of Fourth Doctor Adventures! I must admit I am a fan of the approach of making season finales in this range as two-parters because it allows for greater scope and depth in the storytelling. It also has that sense of a big feel, but for whatever reason this didn't quite have that finale feel. The stakes didn't feel big and that's a bit of a shame. The story in of itself was absolutely fine and I was quite interested in everything that was happening, even if it felt like a little bit of a set up. I do hope that the second half of the story is an improvement and as the actual sole finale ups the ante a little. The setting of Funderell was really intriguing and the concept of a planet that was essentially in flux was terrific. It definitely warranted exploration and it's no surprise that it was the home of an excavation group, but they'd been stuck for thirteen days. Only finding one settlement didn't give much hope of an escape and the moments where the TARDIS was lost were really great. I mention it a lot but the vulnerability of the Doctor and his companion with no TARDIS is exciting because it is unusual and takes away the safety net they so often have. The threat of the planet itself is brilliant as exploring something natural and it proving deadly is magnificent. I liked the idea of walking on oceans and a moving surface, but I don't think it was explored to its fullest potential. I do hope that it becomes more central in the finale, but I do like that standing still is very dangerous. The threat of drowning is obviously a frightening one so the cliffhanger with Romana seemingly going below the surface after being abandoned by Sartia worked well. She was a fascinating character and I admit I did have to research if she actuals had featured in a story before given she was an old friend of Romana's. That was a nice touch with her having a little nickname for our Time Lady in the form of Mana. She also had extensive knowledge on the Doctor which was good with a nice reference to The Invasion of Time and the Doctor being Lord President. I thought the reference to The War Games and beyond was a nice touch for the Doctor as well in mentioning how he had served his time in exile. The Sleeks were a little weird as giant eels and that's not a monster that excites me I must admit it. I'm not usually a fan of taking real life animals and making them slightly alien or giant and that was the case here. I probably would have acted in the same was as Sartia in killing the god of the Wavewalkers. I thought they were a weird old bunch and I think that was the intention, but at times I did find myself hoping for a little more. Linnis needed more time to shine as his relationship in seeing time was excellent. The way he was demanded to see and tell the future in the present was very good and I just wanted more of him to be honest. The shock that came from the shackles literally being off was brilliant. I liked the continuity to The Leisure Hive in explaining K9's absence on adventures in this series, but I must admit he does add something special to this already tremendous pairing. It's a shame they were split up for much of the episode as their chemistry really shines, especially considering how long it took for them to actually arrive as well. Overall, still a good episode to start the finale with a lot of interesting and fascinating ideas! I'm keen to listen to the next episode now.

Rating: 7/10