The World Traders

"You can't own people."

Writer: Guy Adams

Format: Audio

Released: January 2021

Series: Fourth Doctor Adventures 10.01

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Leela

Synopsis 

When a day out in 21st Century London leads to the TARDIS being impounded, the Doctor and Leela find themselves getting involved with the mysterious Amapan Investments, a company that's managed to become remarkably successful in a remarkably short amount of time.

So what's their secret? The Doctor and Leela are about to find out. 

The Usurians have come to Earth. And they have big plans.

Verdict

The World Traders was an excellent story to kick off the tenth series of Fourth Doctor Adventures! It's staggering really that we now have this many series of stories for the Fourth Doctor, especially with how late to the game Tom Baker was with recording for Big Finish! It's superb stuff and I loved the continuity here in revisiting an old species in the forms of the Usurians. This was not a sequel to The Sun Makers or anything like that, but exploring the intergalactic operations of the Company was magnificent! It's a bit of a shame that the synopsis spoils their appearance as it's a fun return for the race, and having them dive into the world of modern British politics was delightful. They do both love a tax! It's no wonder the British Government had Secombe working on their behalf with the Company. The fact that they'd given them essentially diplomatic immunity on company land was a lot of fun because it meant that any property left for over an hour on their land instantly became their property. So of course this was where the TARDIS would land. The Doctor was far from pleased at it being taken and he was rather impatient to get it returned. The manner in which he scoffed at the concept of him no longer being a TARDIS owner was brilliant. Leela wasn't a great deal of help when it came to getting it back either but her nose for a hunt got her into a fun situation with Max. The way she taunted him and wanted to hunt one another was terrific, she was right in her element and her confidence was tremendous. Some of the characters in this story were fantastic and the highlight of the bunch for me has to be the Director. She was a fine representative of the Company and certainly served its interests well. The legal bartering over contracts was good stuff and the idea of Secombe actually selling off the UK to the Heliari was quite something! That did lead to a lot of amusement regarding legality of the intergalactic sort and the timey wimey nature of the story in particular was great. The Doctor would exploit that to the maximum when it turned out he had it ratified in court that he owned the land that was initially sold all along, ratified in an intergalactic court, and the grin on his fourth incarnation's face was clear to see in audio form. I think the only element of the adventure that didn't grab me was Mozz and his whole consolidated being. It was a decent concept but I don't think it entirely worked when not the focus. It wasn't bad by any means though! Emma Freemantle was a fine character to serve as a semi companion for the scenes where Leela was separated from the Doctor, and her shift from being a journalist out to expose the truth surrounding Amapan Investments to following the Director blindly was superb. It showed the influence had by the Company and they would do anything to exploit. They were all for the business interests. The way timelines changed after Secombe cut the deal with the Heliari was fascinating and I always love looking into potential futures. Except this had happened and required the Doctor going back to fix it! Earth had never seen the evolution of humanity and New Heliari was a frightening place. The Director and Max only survived from being in the TARDIS which was good, but they didn't seem too bothered by everything. Follow the profit! The way things ended seemed a little harsh and something of a cliffhanger for the Director, but I would definitely be in favour of exploring anything more from this story. It was excellent, even if the Doctor didn't get any help from UNIT! That was good continuity with what we were seeing on screen in the Thirteenth Doctor era during this time period. Overall, a terrific listen! 

Rating: 9/10