Zero Space

"You want to go and explore the nothing?"

Writer: Adrian Poynton
Format: Audio
Released: June 2018
Series: Jenny: The Doctor's Daughter 1.04

Featuring: Jenny

Synopsis

Out in deep space, in the middle of – quite literally – nowhere, Jenny and Noah believe they've found a safe haven. And, very possibly, some answers. But the space station holds many secrets, and it won't be long before Jenny's past catches her up.

Bounty hunter COLT-5000 is on her trail and will stop at nothing to hunt down its quarry... even in Zero Space!

Verdict

Zero Space was a brilliant conclusion to what has been a wonderful little boxset for Jenny! I have been hugely impressed by this spinoff series and would really love for there to be a second series. I feel like that is where things were left with the ending and not knowing the truth about Noah, but with the series having come out over a year ago now, I am not sure whether sales were sufficient to warrant another boxset. Fingers crossed though! I really enjoyed the setting of Zero Space and I was very much fascinated that Jenny and Noah did in fact find something in nothing. That was some nice wordplay and The Eye of the Storm turned out to be a very interesting research facility. They wanted to find the answer to everything – nothing big then! – and this was the place to get as close to true fact as possible. I thought that the concept worked well and I liked finding out that the Zero Space itself had been engineered by accident during some wormhole experimentation. Cal and Dreyda were good characters and I use their names loosely given everything that was revealed about the clones and their individuals. I must admit that I didn't expect the originals of Cal and Dreyda to still be alive so long after the initial duplication, but it was a revelation that I enjoyed hearing. I definitely didn't see it coming! I haven't been a huge fan of the COLT-5000 despite my enjoyment of this series, but I thought it/she was actually really good as an enemy in this audio. I think part of that is down to the fact that it was the threat of her arrival rather than her actual presence that was providing the fear factor. That is something that often works well and is something I tend to enjoy as it can give credence to a villain or enemy. That was the case here as you could tell that Jenny was absolutely frightened by the prospect of the cyborg arriving at their location with all of the cloning facilities available. Rather than sell off Jenny the Time Lord and Noah the who knows what to jus the highest bidder, with what was on board the Eye of the Storm she could sell to every bidder! It was an excellent plan and a really good plot device. I was a big fan. I thought Georgia Tennant was sublime as Jenny once again and I loved it when she had her moment in the sun for a big Doctor-like speech towards the story's conclusion. She absolutely nailed it! One negative I have to mention is that we didn't get to find out the truth about Noah despite Jenny setting sights on finding some answers with only a few minutes to go. The use of the other clones and the originals to overthrow the COLT-5000 and send it into a vacuum of nothingness was fantastic and was a fitting fate for an enemy that has proven troublesome. The talk of being united with her dad again was good and I liked how she had no rush or desire to make that a goal. She firmly believed that they would run into each other one day if the universe desired it. The Doctor's TARDIS seemed to also want that as the cameo of the Tenth Doctor was a delightful treat! I was stunned and thrilled to hear David Tennant's voice and the double-over of both the Doctor and Jenny going onto the next adventure and allons-y was a perfect ending! Overall, a brilliant conclusion to a terrific series. I hope there's more!

Rating: 9/10