Decline of the Ancient Mariner

"Events here are somehow mirroring some old poem."

Writer: Rob Nisbet

Format: Audio

Released: March 2020

Series: Short Trips 10.03

Featuring: Third Doctor, Sarah Jane

Synopsis

When NASA has a problem they can't quite understand, they quickly turn to the Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith to investigate. Their Mariner 10 probe disappeared for 30 minutes, with no apparent explanation. What starts out as quick investigation ends up having catastrophic consequences for the time travellers.

But the reason for the probe's disappearance sounds a little too familiar for the Doctor...

Verdict

Decline of the Ancient Mariner was a very good little Short Trips audio! I recently bought this one as part of the Big Finish sale on UNIT adventures and whilst the only involvement from UNIT was the familiar setting of the Third Doctor era and the Doctor himself being sought after for his knowledge, I still thoroughly enjoyed this story. I liked Ross as a representative from NASA and I loved how when they couldn't quite work out what had happened to their Mariner 10 probe close to Mercury, they turned to the Doctor as he was UNIT's Scientific Advisor. That was a lot of fun. Mark Reynolds did a very good job as the narrator of the story and playing Ross and I also thought his take on both the Doctor and Sarah Jane was pretty decent! That definitely helped things. I think that was also aided by how good the characterisation was from Rob Nisbet. He really did write well for the two lead characters. The reference to The Time Warrior was good and I liked how that made it seem that this was very early on for Sarah Jane, but she was clearly still quite comfortable in her new life and surroundings. The Mariner 10 picking up detailed pictures of Mercury was intriguing and the idea of a number of craters and an explosion sounded very exciting. Of course, these were just new photos and the Doctor indicated that the explosions may have happened long in the past. The Doctor's curiosity regarding the Mariner 10 going missing for half an hour got the better of him and he took the TARDIS to last Friday, from the story's perspective in 1974, to Mercury and in sight of the probe. That caused a paradox though as it turned out that it was the TARDIS itself that drew the Mariner 10 off course! I loved the idea of the Doctor's meddling going wrong. I also liked the details we got of Mercury itself and how, even for the TARDIS scanner, at the proximity they were to the planet closest to the Sun the light would just be too much to bare. That's almost incomprehensible to imagine, but I love thinking about it. Mercury isn't exactly a planet that can do a lot in Doctor Who, but along with Mercury from the Short Trips books now, we are getting a bit more which is terrific! It's a familiar planet and that adds a lot to the story in my opinion. The idea of a Vortex craft was terrific and is definitely something I would like more exploration of in a longer in-depth story format. Host made for an intriguing villainous character and her capturing the Mariner 10 was intriguing for her to assess the technology. The potential of a Jagon invasion was very good and I liked how they would disguise themselves as technology to take over. In this case, they would be disguised as humanity to take over Earth and that was what we saw with their personalisation of Ross. Sarah Jane believing that this was the Ross they'd met from NASA on Earth was good and the Doctor had to keep reminding her that it was not the same person. The idea that Earth was rich in minerals and resources wasn't exactly unique, but it does work well. What I wasn't expecting was for Marilyn Monroe to manifest as the TARDIS in a sort of opposite of what Ross represented as the Jagon Vortex craft. I wasn't sure if I enjoyed that so much, as the lack of reaction from the Doctor was quite a surprise. What I did enjoy was the linking between the classic poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and the events of this adventure. They seemed to be mirroring which was good and I actually always remember the poem well from a project I did in comprehensive school some nine years ago now. Overall, this was a very good story and I wonder if there will ever be any development on the potential relationship between Sarah Jane and Ross.

Rating: 8/10