Dreamtime

"Believe your eyes..."

Writer: Simon A. Forward 

Format: Audio

Released: March 2005

Series: Main Range 67

Featuring: Seventh Doctor, Ace, Hex

Synopsis 

'The Dreamtime is living Time. The Dreamtime is living myth.'

A city travels the stars, inhabited by stone ghosts. At its heart, an ancient remembrance of Earth. Mythical creatures stalk the streets and alien visitors have come in search of trade. But there is nothing to trade. Only fear. And death. And the stone ghosts.

For Hex's first destination in the TARDIS, it's about the strangest place he could have imagined. Weird and very far from wonderful. Adjustment to his new life could prove tough. But he will have to adjust and do more, just to stay alive, and Ace will have to be his guide through this lost city of shadows and predatory dreams.

And the Doctor is the first to go missing.

The Doctor has crossed into the Dreamtime.

Verdict 

Dreamtime was a terrific audio adventure and continued my listening of Big Finish's Main Range of releases in fantastic style. I've not listened to as many audios from this range as I would have liked to over the summer break from university with this just being my fifth (not including Her Final Flight) but I do hope I can squeeze a few more in before I go back next week. I was looking forward to this one prior to listening because I was interested to see how Hex would be following his arrival as companion in The Harvest. That story was referenced very nicely and I thought it was a very strong showing from Philip Oliver in his first story as a regular companion. Adding a third main character to the pairing of the Seventh Doctor and Ace is something I'm definitely in favour of as that pairing hasn't always been my favourite so I think Hex will help freshen things up. His reaction to seeing the aliens in this story was good and I really enjoyed his description of the inside of the TARDIS. His poetic wisdom regarding the TARDIS interior at the end of the story really was wonderful as well. I thought he did really well for his first adventure in time and space. Ayer's Rock, in space, was a mightily intriguing setting but it definitely worked well. There was a split setting really between the Doctor and his companion for most of the story which is good and that allowed Ace to show her maturity as the veteran companion. She was used to seeing things like the Galyari as she'd been travelling with the Doctor for a long time now. The Galyari returning after their stint in The Sandman was unexpected and I liked the continuation from that story surrounding the Doctor, despite the change in appearance. Their disapproval at being called lizards was quite funny and their love towards birds was most intriguing. I really enjoyed Sylvester McCoy's performance as the Seventh Doctor and although I would still say he's my least favourite incarnation, I'm liking him more and more as I listen to these audios. I do need to try and quicken my pace but there's just so much I still haven't blogged from other formats as well as ongoing commitments such as Doctor Who Comic. The Dreamtime concept was very good in this story and the Doctor experiencing it was terrific. I thought the cliffhanger to part one was superb as the Doctor had quite literally turned into stone. I found this story a little difficult to visualise but I did like that the explanation was quite clear so it wasn't so much of a problem. The story maintained excitement despite dropping off a little during the middle stages but I thought the overall pace was decent. I would imagine that Australian fans would have enjoyed this audio as there was a lot of referencing of their culture which was only natural given the setting. Ace and Hex got along pleasantly and I liked how he was still reluctant to call her by her preferred name of Ace. That allowed her to distinguish the fake Doctor later in the story. The way the Doctor solved the problem surrounding the Dreamtime was good and I was also glad that we got some terrific guest characters. Whitten and Baiame were probably the standouts but Vresha and Wahn were also very good. Overall, another fantastic audio that was consistently solid throughout.

Rating: 8/10