Day of the Vashta Nerada

"Vashta Nerada. It eats. It lives. That's it."

Writer: Matt Fitton
Format: Audio
Released: July 2017
Series: Classic Doctors, New Monsters 2.04

Featuring: Eighth Doctor

Synopsis

As the Time War rages, Cardinal Ollistra of Gallifrey seeks to create ever more dangerous weapons to deploy against the enemy.

When the Doctor stumbles across Synthesis Station, he discovers that the Time Lords have sponsored a project to weaponise already-lethal creatures. But in doing so, Eva Morrison and her team have unwittingly used a colony of Vashta Nerada with a very unfortunate history of humanoid contact.

The Doctor finds himself leading a desperate race for survival, in which the shadows may be the least of their worries...

Verdict

Day of the Vashta Nerada was a very good story and a great conclusion to the second series of Classic Doctors, New Monsters. I must admit that I had been looking forward to this story for a while now and even though it's slightly a letdown that the same monster appears twice in the same boxset, the idea of the Vashta Nerada in the Time War is very intriguing. The Eighth Doctor had arrived ahead of the intended Time Lord party on Synthesis and that posed some interesting questions. He soon learned of the breeding of Vashta Nerada that had been going on and he was hardly impressed. This story probably predates the recent Eighth Doctor Time War series but I honestly don't understand why this story could not just be part of a Time War boxset, something we have had plenty of now, instead of taking up a slot here. We could have easily had the Eighth Doctor encounter a monster like the Gelth, Slitheen or the Silence. Anyway, a standalone story in the Time War is not unprecedented following The Sontaran Ordeal so I can't have any real complaints. The relationship between the Doctor and Ollistra was good and I liked how she thought she could handle him by herself. She was though most worried about him when he was right in front of her which I liked. The Time Lords hoping to utilise the Vashta Nerada and manipulate them to devour Dalekanium was hardly surprising but it's a concept I love. It's brilliant and the deadly monsters could prove to be a devastating weapon. How would the Daleks be able to adapt against them? The Doctor's continued abhorrence towards the Time War was good and I liked how he refused to be conscripted by Ollistra despite her being convinced that he could find a way to end it all. Of course he would do so in The Day of the Doctor and I liked how that was foreshadowed. I did not expect this story to be a loose sequel to Night of the Vashta Nerada and the references to that audio were terrific. Eva was a wonderful character and her death was very emotional and quite gutting to be honest. She deserved better. I was quite shocked by the Doctor's reaction to Raldon's death as he seemed dismissive of it if he could just place the blame on the Time War. Maybe our Doctor was becoming something of a warrior at this point? Roxita was an excellent character and his devotion to the cause and the safety of Ollistra proved to cost him his life but would ultimately end up contributing to the demise of the Vashta Nerada. That came with a simple ejecting of a TARDIS room after they were brought on board via a staser. Dendry's scheme was interesting but I must say that I loved the concept behind the Nerada Vashta and I think the negative take on them is something that can definitely be explored further in a future story. Overall though, a great story!

Rating: 8/10