Doctor Who and the Invasion From Space

"The One is all around us."

Writer: J. L. Morrissey
Format: Audiobook
Released: October 2018
Series: Special Release

Featuring: First Doctor

Synopsis

The Doctor lands in the futuristic world of The One. Along with the Mortimer family, whom he rescued from the Great Fire of London, he finds himself recruited to lead a galactic invasion from Andromeda - with the TARDIS instrumental in the plan!

Verdict

Doctor Who and the Invasion From Space was a decent audio adventure and my first experience of an audiobook reading of an actual story. It is highly unlikely that I will ever come across (and be able to afford) the printed edition of this story so when I saw that the recently released audiobook was available through my library on BorrowBox, I just had to listen to it! I’m not entirely sure why there wasn’t some adaptation when it came to the Doctor being continuously referred to simply as ‘Doctor Who’ and the TARDIS being mentioned without the ‘the’ in a way reminiscent of the Peter Cushing Dalek movies. However, by retaining those sentiments the story did have a nostalgic feel which I can appreciate and it certainly did feel like a story from the 1960s. The First Doctor’s characterisation was absolutely perfect and with a family he rescued from the Great Fire of London travelling with him, he was quick to have it on record that he categorically did not save them from burning and it was nothing more than a coincidence that he landed where and when he did to save them. Just when in the chronology of the televised show that the First Doctor was travelling alone I am not sure, but he was very much the centre of attention which wasn’t always the case during the 60s era. George and the rest of the Mortimer family were very much just background characters and barely featured at all in the second half. They weren’t really missed though but they did serve as an intriguing look at how different this incarnation of the Doctor is compared to the modern version. He’d inadvertently left the family behind with the One and the Aalas but there was nothing he could do about it so he just quickly forgot about them in flash! It was quite shocking but perfectly in line with the very early days of Hartnell’s Doctor which was fantastic. The whole concept of the One was really good and the dialogue between the Doctor and the enigmatic voice was certainly a story highlight. They bounced off each other well and the Doctor’s desire to learn what it was featured prominently. Peter Purves gave an assured performance as the story’s narrator although I had wished he adopted more of his Hartnell impression that he does so well for Big Finish. The story had a good pace and transitioned well into an audiobook format and it really didn’t seem like someone was just reading lines. The Andromeda setting was very good but the confusion over whether it was a ship, planetoids or asteroid (or neither!) needed a tad more elaboration for my liking. The Aalahs having the intention to invade the Milky Way and the place of their ancestors of man was a really intriguing prospect but it wasn’t developed more and definitely warranted further exploration. It just became a battle between them and the Doctor and his disbelief over the lack of control he had over the TARDIS. I really liked that as he really was astonished that someone else could control it and that he couldn’t escape. The Doctor being likened to a wizard was good and I just wish things were left clearer with him and the Mortimers. I thought the ending with Ida throwing her bowl and basically just sending the Aalas into breakdown was a little weak and needed more explanation but what followed with the Doctor pondering over the word ‘galaxy’ was wonderful and just one of those great little moments in Doctor Who. Beautifully written and then realised in audio. Overall, a very intriguing story that had a great deal of good but some elements just needed some developing but I guess that’s a consequence of it initially having a page count limit in its original format. Still, a very decent listen! 

Rating: 7/10