To Kill a Nandi Bear

"The animals have been busy."

Writer: Paul Williams

Format: Short Story

Released: May 2004

Printed in: Short Trips: Past Tense 15

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane, Harry

Synopsis

The Fourth Doctor takes his companions, Sarah Jane Smith and Harry Sullivan, to what would be known as Malawi in the 17th century. They find a dead body, and whilst accused of murder, they have to prove that there is no such thing as the duba...

Verdict

To Kill a Nandi Bear was another decent little story to continue along my reading of the Past Tense edition of Short Trips from Big Finish. This one reunited the terrific trio of the Fourth Doctor, Harry and Sarah Jane and I thought the characterisation of all three was really good throughout. I enjoyed how well their relationship was captured on the page and it did have a slight feel of fitting into Season 12. The setting here was uncanny in Malawi some four centuries into the past, and I found it quite humorous that Harry's idea of an authentic African experience was for there to be an actual lion roaming about that they could see! Sarah disagreed quite firmly in that regard. One thing I really like in stories like this one is the realisation that there is so much danger on Earth. You don't need to have. a far off alien civilisation to be scary or anything. You can stay right here on this planet and have the Doctor and his companions interact with nature. Sarah Jane's reaction to seeing the dead body of Mwabi was fantastic and with it being quite graphic, it showed just how deadly the likes of cheetahs or hyenas could be. There's nothing quite like the threat of something that may actually greet you in life one day. The Doctor getting somewhat friendly with the locals was good and he was keen to demonstrate his knowledge of their customs and everyday life, but that did come to backfire a little as they were suspected of murder. It was either them or the mysterious Duba, a Nandi bear, and so to prove it wasn't the latter the Doctor and his friends had to rid the nearby surroundings of the wrestling beast. Sarah Jane getting left behind as the insurance if you like in a prison cell was good, though I wasn't too sure about the comment about the fella's behind that she didn't mind noticing when locked up. Harry's attitude throughout the adventure was intriguing and he really did seem to be enjoying where they were and leaning about their surroundings. I thought his profession as a doctor being acknowledged was great when it came to how he viewed dead bodies as it was quite distant from how Sarah Jane reacted. The plan of the Doctor's in having Harry dress up as a Nandi bear, which turned out to be a Big Foot costume, was a little poor but the ridiculousness of it had me laughing so I didn't mind it much in the end. Just the image of Harry locking himself in the TARDIS and then the Doctor proudly claiming to take the duba away, once he had Sarah Jane back by his side of course. He definitely wouldn't be going anywhere without her! I thought she was really good in this story and she even had a moment to reference The Monster of Peladon which was a nice touch. I thought the ending was funny with the trick not working on everybody, but at least the Doctor's prediction that holding back science would not have actually happened. Probably. The last paragraph containing an actual duba was a clever way to end. Overall, another good adventure.

Rating: 7/10