The Plague of Dreams

"Belief in the story is everything."

Writer: Guy Adams

Format: Audio

Released: June 2017

Series: Companion Chronicles: First Doctor 2.04

Featuring: First Doctor, Polly, Ben

Synopsis

"Pray welcome, one and all, to this, a fantasy in two acts, presented, most humbly, for your pleasure. We bring you drama and magic, angels and demons, a tale of mysterious plague... of nightmares made flesh... of a war fought both in this world and those immeasurably distant. A war, in fact, fought through the mists of time itself. It will make you gasp! It will make you weep! It may even make some of you wake up..."

Verdict

The Plague of Dreams was a good little adventure to conclude the second volume of Companion Chronicles from the First Doctor! After little hints of time distortion throughout the three preceding stories in the boxset, we got an answer as to why that had been happening which was nice. However, this story didn't start in the way I expected as the Player emerged on the scene apparently centre stage and was introducing Polly to an audience of darkness which seemed strange. The mention of a war across time seemed unbefitting of the era the story took place in, but I liked the fantasy element of magical worlds and impossible places. That seemed very Doctor Who! The setting of Wild Heath for the adventure involving the Doctor and his companions worked well and I liked the involvement and theme of dreams. The Player having to reiterate that telling the story could save those the story was about, namely Ben and the Doctor, was great and I thought the brief Ben impression and Polly's reaction to hearing the likeness was fun. Polly was instructed to play along and her doing an impression of the Doctor was fun and somewhat self mockery of the Companion Chronicles in a nice way. The village suffering from sleep sickness was great and I liked how the trio were unwelcome until they got sound of the Doctor's title. His recognising of the Player was excellent because it told us straight away that he was a Time Lord, and the confirmation of that with them being from the same distant kingdom was good storytelling. I think things got a bit over the top and stale with the storytelling format though and I think it would have worked better if Polly was always playing along. The dreams coming to life around the village was good and the emergence of a dragon and the fire being real was terrific. The psychoactive virus itself made for a good enemy, if it can be called that, with it feeding on visions to make them more real. That worked pretty well. Ben catching the virus was a nice development and the need to keep telling the story to ensure everyone was okay was interesting, if not leaving me wanting more information as to why. The Player being press ganged into targeting the Doctor was fascinating and I loved the idea of enemies, of course meaning the Daleks, attempting to interfere in the Doctor's timeline at a time when he was weakest. This body of the first incarnation was worn out and the Doctor had pushed it too hard, but he couldn't die now as the consequences for the future would be catastrophic. The Doctor supposedly dying made for a fantastic cliffhanger, but the second act starting with it just being exaggeration really turned me off. That seemed very lame. I liked the subtle way of addressing the audience with admittance that some would have lost interest by now, and the continuity following from The Smugglers with Ben imagining some pirates was good but didn't last long enough. The Doctor being weak and susceptible to the virus was a rare sign of vulnerability, but any positioning in the timeline close to The Tenth Planet was always going to be the opportunity for that so I liked how it was exploited. The potential of the creatures he could dream up was exciting and something I'd love to have heard! The Player making contact with the Doctor's mind in an effort to infect the virus from within was interesting and I loved the idea of believing in the cure as I'm a huge advocate and believer in self mind, but it all seemed a little quick despite the fun knock on unnecessary scientific explanations. The Player having used Polly as a puppet for conversation with the Doctor was a little odd, but we got more insight into the Time War and efforts of the Daleks. The Doctor was always going to the South Pole and that's where he was needed to regenerate on the journey to becoming the face the Time Lords needed in the Time War. Overall, some great ideas but a little bit of a strange format. A great listen though! 

Rating: 7/10