The Meaning of Red

"Peri was ready to admit defeat."

Writer: Rod Brown

Format: Audio

Released: October 2020

Series: Short Trips 10.10

Featuring: Fifth Doctor, Peri

Synopsis

The TARDIS accidentally strands Peri alone on the inhospitable world of Calleto. Taking refuge with the planet's only colonists, she waits and waits, but the Doctor doesn't return. Her only hope lies in discovering the secrets of this planet.

It's that, or she dies.

Verdict

The Meaning of Red was a great little Short Trips audio adventure! Well, I say little but at forty-five minutes long this was like a normal length audio from Big Finish which I really liked. Of course, we didn't have anything close to resembling a full cast story but Nicola Bryant did a terrific job with the narration and bringing Peri to life once again. Pairing her alongside the Fifth Doctor is fun and whilst I think Big Finish have exploited that little gap between Planet of Fire and The Caves of Androzani to the extreme, it's always good to get more adventures with a pairing we rarely saw on television. The way their relationship was portrayed at the start here was fun with the Doctor intending on arriving in England in the eighteenth century and introducing Peri to Capability Brown while he would go off and watch the first ever cricket match at Lords. This was hardly Peri's idea of excitement and she made that known which was really amusing. The Doctor changed plans and where the TARDIS arrived didn't exactly scream excitement with a rocky and sandy landscape greeting them. It was intriguing that it was in Peri's future and a new Earth colony, but Peri and the Doctor wouldn't get a chance to explore it together as the cloisters were heard and the TARDIS was forced into dematerialisation with the Doctor inside looking fearful and Peri locked outside amid tremors that left her all alone on a desolate world. That was quite the beginning! Peri having confidence that the Doctor would return was nice and I do wonder how those thoughts changed as the months ensued. Professor Richards was a great character and I liked how she was used to explain the situation on Calleto. The planet having experienced global warming at a much quicker rate than what happened on Earth was good and I liked how there was one bush that was an anomaly of life on the planet. Nothing grew there. The emergence of a creature causing victims within the colonists' group was interesting and Peri deducing that it would have needed food to survive before their arrival was excellent. Finding out that the planet's ecosystem was all codependent was brilliant and a fun concept and the planet actually defending itself against the TARDIS was terrific. I was a big fan. The way things developed and moved was fast paced and we could have done with an extra cast member to help with proceedings, but it was still great! Richards dying and being sucked into the planet was a shocking end to her and one I didn't see coming, but it provided a great return for the TARDIS in the knick of time before Peri, Rob and Alex followed suit into the depths f the planet. The idea that time passed much slower for the Doctor was intriguing and a highlight for me was the ending and the bush being red as a sign of remembrance. It was the only specimen the planet would allow to prosper which was a nice touch for all those lost. Overall, a very good listen!

Rating: 8/10