The Maltese Penguin

"I think this could be the continuation of a beautiful friendship..."

Writer: Robert Shearman 

Format: Audio

Released: June 2002

Series: Main Range 33.5

Featuring: Sixth Doctor, Frobisher

Synopsis 

"My friends call me Frobisher. My enemies call me Mr. Frobisher. And the junk mail department of the Galactic Readers' Digest call me Mrs. F R Rubbisher - but that's neither here nor there."

It was just another quiet day on the mean streets for Frobisher, private eye. But then a dame walks into his office and into his life. A dame who is drop dead gorgeous and drop dead deadly, offering him a case he just can't refuse.

Well, he could refuse it. If he really wanted to. But he has to pay the rent.

When their paths cross, Frobisher finds himself involved in a web of mayhem and intrigue. A web of gangland killings, corrupt cops, sentient bloodstains and very rude hotel receptionists. A web of murder and deceit, treachery and fisticuffs.

That sort of web. You know. The sticky kind. 

Verdict 

The Maltese Penguin was a pretty good story but it could have been a lot better. It sees the return of popular comic strip companion Frobisher into the performed world of Doctor Who after first appearing in this format in The Holy Terror. Now I enjoyed that story but I just didn't like the dynamic of the Sixth Doctor and Frobisher and with a severe absence of the Doctor in this story, it definitely scores lower than the penguin companion's first audio story. I do hope that by doing the audios before the comic strips to feature Frobisher, I prefer the companion in print as I've just purchased the graphic novel of Voyager. Funnily enough though, the only comic strip I've done to feature Frobisher is actually his last regular appearance! A Cold Day in Hell saw Frobisher battle the Ice Warriors alongside the Seventh Doctor but he was sad that Peri was no longer travelling with them after the events of The Trial of a Time Lord. That made me find some of the events in this story strange but maybe when I read through the Voyager graphic novel things will become clearer. The character of Alicia was intriguing but I wasn't sure on why they made her out to be so unbelievably attractive for an audio story! We couldn't see her so I don't think such a big fuss needed to be made to be honest. It was clear Frobisher was smitten with her, why couldn't it stop there? The dialogue between the pair was certainly interesting but at times it seemed a tad repetitive. I thought it was really nice how the Doctor came to Frobisher a couple of times during the adventure to see if he was ready to return to TARDIS duty. His pride stood in his way as he wanted to show the Doctor that he could be a private eye and be successful. I thought it was rather sad though how the penguin was annoyed that it was the Doctor who always triumphantly saved the day. He was the one with the bigger on the inside time machine to be fair! Whilst Frobisher had found a missing cat, the Doctor had saved the universe twice, and he wasn't afraid to gloat which was superb. It's lovely seeing the softer side of the Sixth Doctor in audios and when starring alongside Peri, they're definitely my favourite audio TARDIS pairing, though the Fourth Doctor & Leela and the Eighth Doctor & Charley run them pretty close! Dogbolter was a pretty good enemy but I wasn't a fan of the voice at all. It didn't fit a Doctor Who story in my opinion. The character was quite humorous at times though and I liked the friendly banter at gunpoint. Mr Wiseass was striking again. The moment where Frobisher was thrown off the cliff and quickly needed to revert to a form that would take the landing in water fine, what else other than a penguin? A great moment and it was definitely the highlight of the audio. Calling the something that Dogbolter was after just that - the something - didn't please my appetite at all. Surely something even slightly more creative could have been thought of, no? The fact that it was joke was actually a clever twist though. I wasn't all that struck on the revelation about Alicia though. She was actually Frobisher's wife. It was supposed to be this wonderful moment but I just can't buy into the character in the audios. He left his wife to travel with the Doctor which was quite sad though. Overall, an interesting story but with Frobisher basically the lead character it didn't work as well as it may have. I did love the taking of the Sixth Doctor's form though. Probably a generous rating!

Rating: 7/10