Heritage: The Cars That Ate London!

"What we require is your non-cooperation."

Writer: Jonathan Morris

Format: Audio

Released: June 2019

Series: Paternoster Gang 1.01

Featuring: Vastra, Jenny, Strax

Synopsis

The advent of electric carriages on London's streets causes a stir – until they start careening out of control. Elsewhere, factory workers lose their senses, while a brand-new power plant suffers mysterious outages.

Genius industrialist Fabian Solak has a vision of the future – free from pollution, running on clean electricity. But Madame Vastra knows such ideas are ahead of their time...

Verdict

The Cars That Ate London! was a great start to the first volume of Heritage and the Paternoster Gang spinoff series! I am so delighted to have gotten started on this range as I think the trio of Madame Vastra, Jenny and Strax were so good on television and it really is a no brainer to give them their own series. I loved the vibe that the title music provided and it was so in line with my expectation for the series. It was a fun start in Victorian London with Jenny buying some racing pigeons before an out-of-place electric carriage burst into explosion. I like how Vastra is clearly the one in charge as Jenny was quick to recall events to her. From there, I really liked how Inspector Cotton was on hand to request the urgent assistance of the Paternoster Gang following a mob attack on Beckett. I thought straight away that the Sumatran he described was actually going to be Strax, and it took a little while for the Sontaran to arrive on the scene. Vastra's questioning of the prisoner left over from the attack was good and I liked how she was using the effect she had on humanity to get answers, but he didn't have any memories. The prisoner had been emptied after searching for factory work with Solak. I liked how the Solak Factory was engaged in new electrical power which seemed a little ahead of its time, and that's what provided the intrigue. Strax being with Beckett for a bargain in trying to reenergise himself with the electrical current was terrific. The lack of subtlety in Strax causing a distraction at the factory was magnificent and it allowed the Gang to set off investigating after Solak. Strax's admiration for the efficiency of the factory and how it was stretching human resources was superb characterisation. Their plan to head to the management level on the top floor was good and I liked how Vastra recognised they were being observed in their quest to find what happened to those deemed with high intelligence. Strax's comment about wanting hand-to-hand combat with a car and thinking they had a tactical advantage because cars didn't have hands was excellent. The idea of what was essentially transformers in the Doctor Who universe pt a smile on my face. I also liked how Solak was getting the Gang's intelligence assessed, but Vastra was quick to challenge Solak on his contact with the future that she suspected. I liked the management structure and how it was a sphere containing the minds emptied of those deemed intelligent. The threat of Jenny being next would have made a perfect cliffhanger, but this one was all the way through. Solak having seen the future and what it would mean if fossil fuels were the power source for technology was fascinating, and I liked how there was something in his head opening a window to the future for him. Strax mustering the workforce at the factory to rebel was the perfect role for him and he was utilised well throughout. Madeline was an unfortunate character as she was interested in Solak, but he was married to his factory. The reveal that an extrapolator of a Sontaran battle computer was within Solak's head didn't seem like the big reveal it deserved, but it did make sense for it to follow the default objective of taking over the world. That explained the Automates search and the very idea of automobiles that could eat people was quite ludicrous! Solak having his mind emptied was a fitting result for his character, and Madeline would follow suit as sufficient intelligence was gathered for phase two of the project. Vastra didn't want to allow that though and her appeal to the humanity within was admirable. The downfall being that Strax's mind was attempted to be absorbed, but that just meant all of those minds already taken was filled with Sontaran aggression and they were fighting amongst themselves from within which caused the management sphere to overheat and cause detonation. The factory was rubble and the cars deactivated with no guiding intelligence to bring things to a neat end. Overall, a really strong start to the series! 

Rating: 8/10