The Harvest

"Once you've given them an order, they're very single-minded."

Writer: Dan Abnett

Format: Audio

Released: June 2004

Series: Main Range 58

Featuring: Seventh Doctor, Ace, Hex

Synopsis 

On the morning of 12 October 2021, Hex woke up. He was expecting to go to work at St. Gart's in London as. Kemal and, that evening, have a great time in the bar of the White Rabbit, celebrating his 23rd birthday. 

But after his ex-flatmate is wheeled into A&E following a bike accident, and the strange young woman from Human Resources tries to chat him up and an eight-foot-talk guy in a Merc tries to run him down, Hex realises things are not going quite as he expected. 

Then in a Shoreditch car park he meets the enigmatic Doctor, who explains that he's an extra-terrestrial investigator and something very strange is going on up on the thirty-first floor of St. Gart's.

Therefore, aided and abetted by the Doctor, and his other new friend, 'Just McShane', Hex decides to investigate. Trouble is, everything that goes on at the hospital is being observed and noted by the occupants of the thirty-first floor; occupants who are none too pleased that people are poking their noses into business that doesn't concern them; occupants who will go to extraordinary lengths to ensure that no one discovers the truth...

Verdict 

The Harvest was an excellent audio adventure and continues what is becoming a very good little run of Big Finish Main Range stories. I've been very impressed lately with The Axis of Insanity and Arrangements for War that have come as a breath of fresh air really following the very mixed standard of Eighth Doctor, Charley and C'rizz stories in the Divergent Universe. I don't mind story arcs in the televised format and to be honest I like them on audios when it comes in a boxset but I think I've enjoyed the recent stories because they're standalone and I think that's how Classic Doctor Who worked best. This story serves as being important for two reasons as we see the return of the Cybermen in a way we have never seen them before and we also saw another brand new companion! I think it's good that the Cybermen returned for another audio adventure as it seems a long time since their only other outing in Sword of Orion and with the Daleks having featured in five stories in the Main Range so far, a Cybermen return was certainly due. I really liked the fact that their part in the story was kept hidden from the audience with no mention of them in the story title, synopsis or even cast list. That's how a story with a returning villain works best. The Cybermen didn't get a mention until the very end of part two in a fantastic cliffhanger in which Ace confirmed their presence, but they were barely heard which just showed how much of a threat their presence carried. They didn't do much at all but yet they sparked a fear factor that I thought as magnificent. This served as a superb introduction story for Hex to join the Seventh Doctor and Ace as a second companion and I'm sure it will provide a freshness to a pairing I have been critical of in the past, although my opinions have recently been changing. The last Seventh Doctor and Ace story I blogged also featured the Cybermen in a more familiar role and I think this audio did have similarities to Illegal Alien which I enjoyed noticing. I loved the heavy referencing to Spare Parts and I love how previous Big Finish stories are becoming hugely important. A Cyberman origin story is right up there when it comes to important stories and the amount it was talked about here was superb. There was also a very good reference to The Tenth Planet which is one of my all time favourite stories so I enjoyed that very much. I thought Doctor Farrer was a very good character and I liked the pre-titles tease about him actually being the Seventh Doctor. Subject One as he was dubbed was also a great character and I was mightily intrigued by the idea he was a former Cyber Leader who wanted to head the Cybermen's return to being an organic race. That idea, even if it wasn't wholly true, is staggering and I commend Dan Abnett for including it. It was really good though I'm not sure the methods were feasible. The relationship between Ace and Hex was great and I'm now excited to see where the dynamic of the TARDIS team will go in the future with him now firmly on board. His reactions to everything that went on with the Cybermen and the TARDIS were great but he does genuinely seem like he's going to be a brilliant companion. The 2021 setting was good and I also liked the humour around the Doctor's hacking of System. The cliffhangers were all good but part two definitely stood out! Polk wasn't the best character in the world but Garnier and Mathias made up for him. Overall, an intriguing return for the Cybermen and a fantastic introduction for Hex as companion! 

Rating: 9/10