Fear

"They're not like us and they're not human..."

Writer: Nicholas Briggs 

Format: Audio

Released: October 2005

Series: Cyberman 1.02

Featuring: Samantha, Barnaby

Synopsis 

There is a conspiracy at the heart of Earth's Government.

The Orion War is worsening by the day. The human race is sleepwalking towards extinction. Now, the time is right for the next phase of the Cyber plan to begin...

THERE IS NOTHING TO FEAR...

Verdict 

Fear was an excellent audio story and much improved continuation of the Cyberman spinoff series! After a good but shaky start I was delighted with the quality in this story and it absolutely topped the first story in this first series of the audio spinoff. Once again, I was surprised by how little the Cybermen featured but that wasn't a problem because after getting familiar with the characters in the first story, I loved the development here. The audio was mainly focused on Samantha, making a more prominent appearance than in the previous story, and Barnaby who was just sublime. The dialogue between the pairing was nothing short of brilliant and really was the highlight of story. The revelation that Samantha was actually an android was fantastic and I loved the humour that came with Barnaby finding out that piece of information. Just as he was starting to find Samantha attractive, she spilled the beans on her actually being an enemy spy. His reaction to that was superb as it highlighted just how much hatred the humans have towards the Android Horde and I think that was really important in getting people interested in the story being told. I must admit I was not expecting the premise of a Cyberman spinoff series to be a war between humans and androids and in my blogging of Scorpius yesterday I questioned what the role of the Cybermen in that war would be. The previous story was nicely referenced in this audio and my questioned also got answered. The Cybermen were what the humans, or rather what Earth Government, wanted to become. The war against the androids had gotten so desperate that the human race was willing to become something else to ensure victory. I was quite surprised with how little Brett appeared in this story but I liked how that provided some heated discussion between Paul and Barnaby. The latter really doesn't like the former and is rightfully suspicious of him. Just what he's up to is to be fully revealed but I do look forward to it. Barnaby soon became desperate to stay alive after surviving one attempt earlier in the audio and I liked how the Cybermen weren't too pleased with Paul for not killing him. They weren't aware of Samantha's true identity though and I liked that. Contradictory to my comments in yesterday's blog, I think she'll be the strong female character I love similar to Suz in the Dalek Empire stories. She really was terrific but it got a little uncomfortable with how much kissing she engaged in with the Prime Reordin. That made me realise just how similar the androids are to humans which was very good. There were excellent references to The Invasion and Sword of Orion which I always love and I thought the Cybermen sounded fantastic here. The ending was terrific with the Cybermen beginning their conversion of the human race, something rarely if ever depicted in the Classic era (which is where I would place these audios despite the futuristic setting). Barnaby and Samantha look to be in considerable trouble and I do hope they get out of it! I'd rather not see them become Cybermen as I think they're brilliant! Overall, a much better audio that was full of pace and, ironically, emotion. The humans want to become Cybermen. Oh how the times have changed. 

Rating: 9/10