False Gods

"You are heritage raiders!"

Writer: Mark Morris

Format: Audio

Released: November 2008

Series: Main Range 115a

Featuring: Seventh Doctor, Ace, Hex

Synopsis

In the blistering heat of the Egyptian desert, Howard Carter and his team search for the lost tomb of Userhat, a servant of the god Amun. What they discover sheds new light on the history of the world as we know it. 

Verdict

False Gods was a pretty decent start to the Forty Five audio anthology to celebrate Doctor Who's 45th anniversary! This is certainly an interesting way to celebrate the milestone by having four mini stories featuring the Seventh Doctor, Ace and Hex. I'm surprised that they didn't go with a multiplicity of Doctors and companions, but it does allow for some good continuity and a rare chance to get four back to back adventures with this trio. I liked the concept of the audio very much, but it just seemed a bit rushed to be able to get a higher rating which was a shame. There have been far too many times where a Doctor Who story has ended up falling victim to its own format or timing. That's a real shame. I really liked the use of time distortion as that's always something fun to play with and it was just really nice to actually get a lengthy TARDIS scene with our trio of main characters. I'm really not sure when that last happened! The time and space machine landing in Egypt in 1902 provided a really good and intriguing setting, but we didn't get a huge opportunity to explore it which was a little bit of a shame. What we did have though was a good historical figure in the character of Howard Carter. He is famous for discovering Tutankhamun's tomb some twenty years after this audio was set. Hex seemed inundated to be in the presence of such an important figure which was good dynamic to have on display. I loved that Benedict Cumberbatch was in a role as he's a great actor and I look forward to what I presume will be further appearances in the three remaining stories in the set. Hex continuing to hear different voices was terrific and I liked how he knew they shouldn't be dismissed as part of the time distortion as the Doctor wanted to infer. Ace and Jane ending up going forward in time as a result of all the time dislocation that was in place around them was very interesting as they were propelled to a time where the ozone layer no longer provided protection from the sun. Now that is a scary thought! I wasn't too sure how blankets were going to save them, but before that could be taken a further a TARDIS arrived! I really didn't expect it to be Jane's and finding out that she was in fact a Time Lord who had come to Earth centuries ago as part of a field trip for a module at the Academy was excellent. I was a big fan of that, but it was all done too quickly! Her and Antak had been hit by a time spike and ended up crashing to Earth in the Ancient times, becoming revered as gods as their arrival to the planet was witnessed. Antak became Amun and she became Thoth, a name Hex had heard already in the TARDIS. Jane needing to find the TARDIS was good and it had been disguised as a Shabtai figure through the chameleon circuit. Imagine trying to find a TARDIS for all that time without knowing what form it had disguised itself as! Impossible. The tomb breaking down as Antak was calling to them was again intriguing and the only way out was for Jane to kill her TARDIS. That involved piloting it directly into a star with the Doctor then materialising his TARDIS inside of hers to save her. He would then take her back to Gallifrey to answer for what she'd been doing all of this time. It seemed a fair compromise to set everything right. But time distortion provided trouble again inside the TARDIS with Jane thrown back through time and Ace commanding Hex to materialise them elsewhere. Jane was gone, but after some good reflection from Carter her being Thoth made a great deal of sense now. The Doctor would tell her story. One that was her destiny. Overall, a decent tale with a fantastic concept but it just needed some more time! 

Rating: 7/10