The Starship of Theseus

"That's just a gun, I've got a screwdriver."

Writer: John Dorney
Format: Audio
Released: October 2017
Series: The Eighth Doctor: The Time War 1.01

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Sheena

Synopsis

The Doctor and his companion, Sheena, land the TARDIS on the glamorous luxury space-liner Theseus just as it's about to leave the Jupiter space-port. An opportunity for a holiday presents itself - and it's one they're very glad to take.

But when a disturbance catches their attention, they realise sinister events are taking place on board. Passengers are vanishing on every trip. And unless they're careful, they may be next.

Can the Doctor and Emma solve the mystery? Or is there something else they should be worrying about?

Verdict

The Starship of Theseus was a very good audio and a great start to the Eighth Doctor's beginnings in the Time War. Now, this is not the first release to depict Paul McGann's eighth incarnation in the Time War as we had The Sontaran Ordeal as part of the Classic Doctors, New Monsters Volume 1 set last year but the fact that we get a brand new boxset, and it is just the first volume, excites me very much and I do hope that it can be as successful as the War Doctor's four boxsets. It's intriguing for me listening to the Eighth Doctor at this stage of his incarnation as I have skipped most of his tenure at Big Finish to get here. Now, I hope that decision won't come back to bite me as there is so much of his era that I have yet to listen to but I'm hoping that the fact he is now in the midst of the Time War will provide some form of separation from his normal adventures. I assume that these boxsets concerning the Time War will lead up to The Night of the Doctor in which we saw the Eighth Doctor regenerate which makes it all the more interesting as we listen to this incarnation nearing the end of his life. Anyway, the role of the Doctor's companion in this story was utterly confusing but I have to say that I rather enjoyed it. Sheena seemed good for what we heard of her but then her name suddenly became Emma and later she was Louise. Sheena had seemed like she'd been travelling with the Doctor for a while but as the audio went on, the Doctor couldn't even recall meeting her! I loved the confusion because it had me invested in the story and that's something I always look for. The temporal disturbances on board the Theseus were so great that the Doctor even forgot about the Time War. The arrival of the Daleks soon saw to those memories being restored though and I liked how he contacted them with absolute confidence. There was something very special about hearing the Eighth Doctor battle the Daleks during the Time War. I loved it because it's just something we have not seen before. The concept of the hyperspace jump requiring a sacrifice was horrifying but the cruise liner's history changing to become a Time War refugee transporter requiring volunteers was just as horrid. The arrival of Bliss was terrific and I think she'll settle into becoming a wonderful companion. The reference to The Faceless Ones was fantastic and I also really liked the inclusion of the psychic paper. This really did feel like a Classic Doctor in the modern era because I guess, essentially, that's exactly what this boxset is going to be. Koloth was a good character and I liked the continuation from the Time Lords in referring to the Doctor as the Renegade. He was the coward who would not fight for his people and that really did seem like a perfect fit. The cliffhanger finish was very good with the weakened Dalek threatening extermination and I look very forward to continuing this boxset in the coming days. Overall, a very good start!

Rating: 8/10