The Abandoned

"Nothing makes sense today."

Writers: Nigel Fairs & Louise Jameson

Format: Audio

Released: July 2014

Series: FDA 3.07

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Leela

Synopsis 

The Point of Stillness. A place the Time Lords are forbidden to go. It cannot be drawn, it cannot be whispered, it cannot be thought. And yet somebody is very keen to reach it.

Deep within the TARDIS, something unusual is happening. One of the ship's oldest secrets is about to be revealed, and once it is, nothing will ever be the same again.

As danger materialises deep within the ship, spectral strangers lurk in the corridors and bizarre events flood the rooms, someone long-forgotten is ready to reappear. The Doctor and Leela are soon to discover that their home isn't quite the safe stronghold they thought.

Verdict 

The Abandoned was an outstanding audio adventure and may just rank as my favourite Fourth Doctor Adventures audio so far. This was simply superb. I've listened to a decent amount of the range, albeit in a jumbled order after the first series, but I think this is definitely the best of the lot so far. This past weekend, Big Finish offered every story from the first three series of the range to download for just £2.99 and whilst I was only able to buy one due to university upcoming and all the fees that go with that, it was simply an offer I could not refuse and I was actually a little disappointed that I couldn't purchase at least another one. However, after listening I am certainly delighted with my choice! I thought it was terrific. I loved that the story was set entirely in the TARDIS and the idea of exploring the history of the TARDIS itself is fantastic. I was intrigued by the fact that Louise Jameson co-wrote the story and I must say now that I am mightily impressed with her skills. She's just wonderful and the relationship between Leela and the Doctor in this story was at its very best. The humour was there in abundance and that's exactly what you want when these two are the TARDIS pairing in a story. I think it was only natural though that given the events of the story that comedy would be a factor. In parts, it was completely bonkers but that was what made it brilliant. Importantly, it wasn't silly but it was barmy and there's a fine line between those two types of story but this one worked beautifully. It just had to feature the Fourth Doctor and Leela and it really could not have happened with any other pairing, past or future, that have stepped foot inside the TARDIS. The story was written for this brilliant pairing and I think that's very good because it definitely didn't seem generic. It was absolutely unique and that's always a good thing in a Doctor Who story. I love the formats of these hour long stories with the cliffhanger breaking things up in the middle and the build up to the cliffhanger was sublime. It was just pure craziness and that was absolutely the way it should have been. The border between fantasy and reality was explored wonderfully and the focus on the Point of Stillness was superb. The Doctor trying to explain that to Leela was great as she initially seemed to understand the concept but things didn't really stay easy when it came to mathematics and paintings. I thought the way Leela read the poetry was adorable and I didn't expect that to be as pivotal to the plot as it was but it created a link with the former owner of the TARDIS and would set her free from her imprisonment at the centre of the TARDIS. The fact that Lady Marianna was the previous owner of the TARDIS was incredible and it's something I've not even given a thought to previously but it seems so obvious now that before the Doctor stole her she had a previous owner. Even in The Name of the Doctor it's stated that the TARDIS is in the repair shop and was faulty and that could be as a result of Marianna's going to the Point of Stillness. The imaginary characters in the story were excellent and I really liked that we got to meet the Doctor's imaginary friend. I liked the references to The Face of Evil and hearing the emotion behind Leela seeing what she thought was her father again was quite striking. His death must have hit her hard and she felt uproar towards Marianna for laying claim to creating the beast that killed him. The volume of laughter and pure insanity in this story was incredible and everything worked tremendously well. Everything just clicked and I really liked the ending with Marianna actually resetting time and ending up back in her imprisonment. The Doctor and Leela were back in the control room and were drawing their breath after some quite chaotic events. Overall, pure and brilliant insanity. Absolutely barmy but absolutely brilliant.

Rating: 10/10