Shockwave

"These worlds are going to burn..."

Writer: James Swallow
Format: Audio
Released: July 2013
Series: Destiny of the Doctor 07

Featuring: Seventh Doctor, Ace

Synopsis

In the far future, the inhabitants of Tarsus Six face a desperate struggle to evacuate their world before their sun, Tarsus Ultra, collapses into a cataclysmic spatial anomaly.

When the Doctor navigates the TARDIS to a space station orbiting Tarsus Six, Ace assumes that he intends to offer their assistance. But it soon becomes clear that the Doctor has an agenda of his own.

With the TARDIS immobilised, Ace realises that their own lives are as much in danger as those of the fleeing inhabitants. The race is on to escape the destruction of Tarsus Six and the devastating shockwave that will follow, reaching out and destroying everything in its wake.

Verdict

Shockwave was another great audio adventure in the Destiny of the Doctor series to celebrate the show's 50th anniversary. There was considerable development in the overarching story with the Eleventh Doctor finding a unique way to contact his predecessor in his seventh incarnation. As well as that though, we had a good story in its own right and I thought Sophie Aldred did a tremendous job narrating. Her impression of the Seventh Doctor was surprisingly excellent and she really did manage to capture all the quirks and tones of Sylvester McCoy's voice which was a real treat. The 45th century setting worked well and I liked the concept of a world coming to its end. That was the fate that had befallen Tarsus Six but I was quite shocked by the Doctor's revelation that the reason they had come was to rob a bank. He didn't seem too interested in the fact that a world was going to disintegrate and many people would lose their lives which is uncharacteristic of our Time Lord hero. Ace showed her disapproval very well and I thought she was terrific throughout the audio. Her relationship with NineJay was really good but the way it was revealed that she had been responsible for preventing the ship from escaping the clutches of Tarsus Ultra. The concept of the Senders was intriguing but as an atheist, I couldn't help but find the whole concept laughable and just plain stupid. I just can't comprehend how intelligent people could believe they would ascend into spiritual life and be at one with the universe. However, that belief turned out to be crucial for the Doctor and his future as she transferred places with OhOne and saved the ship from the clutches of the expanding sun. The Voice of Stone was very good and I liked how it turned out to be a Time Lord hypercube. I've loved them ever since they're first appearance in The War Games and for this one to contain a hologram of the Eleventh Doctor was great. He had his instructions and they were carried out and I thought it was good that Ace immediately knew that he was a future incarnation of the Doctor. His comments that the Seventh Doctor should treat Ace better were excellent too. I thought the pace of the story was very good and the way the shockwave differed throughout, from impending doom to delayed destruction, was very good. The hasty goodbye to OhOne was a little surprising given that the Eleventh Doctor had instructed that he get home safely but his reaction to the TARDIS dematerialising was wonderful. Overall, this was another very good audio adventure!

Rating: 8/10