The Evolving Dead

"There's nothing natural about any of this."

Writer: Doris V Sutherland

Format: Audio

Released: September 2021

Series: Eleventh Doctor Chronicles 2.01

Featuring: Eleventh Doctor

Synopsis

The dead stalk the corridors of research station Romeo. For a technician (dead) and her ex-boyfriend (also dead), the Doctor's their only chance to escape. For the rest of the crew, he's their only chance to feed.

Verdict

The Evolving Dead was an excellent start to the second series of the Eleventh Doctor Chronicles! I really enjoyed this opening gambit and I thought the shift in format by eliminating the narration is a massively positive step. I'm absolutely in favour of this new approach and after reading the preview in a recent issue of DWM, the recommendation from the man at the BBC to take this direction is absolutely the right way to go. Jacob Dudman's impression of Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor is stellar so there is no need for the linking narration that can hurt the flow of things on times. Of course, that eliminates the potential for a companion but there's plenty of wiggle room in the Eleventh Doctor's run for solo adventures. His arrival here was humorous as he looked to find his old chum Alfred on hs coronation day, but instead he was greeted by a deserted ship full of 45th century technology. Quite the way out time-wise then! The Doctor did have something to interact with though in the form of Evo which turned out to be a very fun computer intelligence. It failed to recognise that there were any lifeforms present, and I guess technically there weren't, as the emergence of Babs and Maxwell was a shocking one as they were dead. Yep, the Doctor was interacting with the dead! His reaction was wonderful at finally meeting what he assumed were zombies and his mentioning of the likes of vampires and mummies was a delight. It was great writing for the Eleventh Doctor. The relationship between Babs and Maxwell was an intriguing one and was actually how we started the episode with their breakup. The latter initially seeming like he wanted to eliminate the former for what she did in breaking up with him via comms was shocking, and his use of Headshot, the former George, was horrific. He was out for vengeance and you could hear that in his voice throughout which I thought was impressive. Babs soon came around to the Doctor, posing as an inspector for the gazilionth time, and he was keen to solve the mystery of the evolving dead. The use of nanobots was fun and things hadn't quite gone to plan, and there were a lot of familiar strands that tied together very nicely. The eery feel of the setting was also brilliant and well contained in the audio format. It was a fantastic use of the medium. Babs having to do the difficult thing at the end with Maxwell was an emotional listen, but she was soon stunned by the magic of the TARDIS which I thought was a lovely moment. I did feel sorry for her with how blunt the Doctor was though when saying he wouldn't be sticking around to help with the consequences. The Doctor's line earlier about the sonic screwdriver and how it started out with minimal features was tremendous though and something fun to think about. It was quite the medical marvel here! Overall, a fantastic way to start the second volume of Eleventh Doctor Chronicles! 

Rating: 9/10