The Founding Fathers

"A man is a sum of his memories."

Writer: Simon Guerrier

Format: Audio

Released: June 2015

Series: Companion Chronicles: First Doctor 1.03

Featuring: First Doctor, Vicki, Steven

Synopsis

The TARDIS lands in Leicester Square in the summer of 1762. When the Doctor, Steven and Vicki find themselves locked out of the TARDIS, only one man can possibly help them. But the American, Benjamin Franklin, has problems of his own...

Verdict

The Founding Fathers was a really good little audio adventure to continue my listening of the first volume of Companion Chronicles for the First Doctor following the discontinuation of the range as single releases. This also follows on nicely in a narrative point of view from The War to End All Wars which was really great and I'm loving that we are simultaneously getting brand new adventures for the First Doctor and Steven, whilst also continuing events post-The Savages. It's terrific to explore Steven as an older statesman now and with him being old enough to have a grandchild in the form of Sida, his distain towards the Doctor's mind copy that featured heavily here was really interesting. It must be quite hard for Steven having spent so much time travelling with the Doctor who I am sure he would consider a friend to now have this alternate version of his old friend playing such a big role in the society he now found himself in. Steven getting free travel as a former King was nice and I enjoyed the relationship he had with Sida again here. She's a lovely little character who I am growing to enjoy and I am looking forward to her potentially meeting the Doctor in the next episode after where things were left here. Steven using the core story as a basis of proving that the Doctor in the jar was not the real Doctor was an intriguing development and I liked how throughout that the jar-Doctor wasn't understanding what was being gained by Steven from this example. The idea of the First Doctor and Benjamin Franklin meeting was delightful and not only did that happen, they ended up inside the TARDIS which was a lot of fun. I really liked how the Doctor just wanted to meet the historical character and get to know a renowned figure whilst they were stuck in one time period. The issue of the TARDIS being locked and the Doctor, Steven and Vicki being stuck outside was magnificent and I was surprised that the Doctor wasn't more frustrated! It was a nice issue to have and quite different for any TARDIS related problems in the past. Steven and Vicki being companions from the future is a fun dynamic and I liked their reaction to the eighteenth century London. They didn't recognise many landmarks which was good. Vicki didn't have a massive role to play in the story and I was a little surprised to find that she featured, I was expecting Dodo after the previous Chronicle in this loose trilogy. The Doctor trying to use science without revealing scientific developments beyond their time to get back into the TARDIS was good and the attempt to fly a kite and harness the lightning during a storm was great. The Doctor and Franklin being short-circuited into the TARDIS was terrific and a really fun cliff-hanger. I thought the mystery of Abigail Holt was very good and I liked how after all of the hints over the course of the story, she didn't turn out to be a time traveller. She was in love with Franklin but was actually in the employ of the Penn family who the would-be founding father was engaged in a butter legal dispute. That was brilliant and I enjoyed Steven and Vicki being in the carriage and picking her up when she was in her lady disguise. It was a sad tale in the end for Holt as she would be forgotten by history and Steven using her example and how the jar-Doctor claimed she wasn't important as a prime example of why he was not the Doctor he knew. That was really well done. It was a nice touch for Sida to have then stood and won election and then elude to Steven's experiments being a success in order to bring the Doctor back. Overall, a really good audio! 

Rating: 8/10