The Phantom Piper

"Sometimes we need to forget things."

Writer: Martin Day

Format: Audio

Released: April 2022

Series: Companion Chronicles: Second Doctor 3.02

Featuring: Second Doctor, Jamie

Synopsis

Life in the colony world of Sora is idyllic, thanks to a device implanted in all citizens which helps memory recall. As a human visitor, Jamie receives one too. But soon the Doctor has concerns about his friend which lead to the office of local scientist Dr Hunter, and into the past of James Robert McCrimmon...

Verdict

The Phantom Piper was a fantastic story to continue the third volume of Companion Chronicles for the Second Doctor! I have been really impressed with this set as I reach the halfway mark and it's fun to have the Second Doctor and Jamie together by themselves, with Victoria left alone atop the space station. That dynamic works well and allows Frazier Hines to shine in both lead roles. Starting with Jamie having an implant was intriguing and I liked the idea of Shard technology. Clearly, more had happened than we had experienced as listener but that allowed us to get to know Professor Hunt through her discussion with Jamie which was enlightening. I was a big fan of hers and the theme of memory was brilliant. It was fun to have the Doctor outside of the room whilst Hunter was essentially talking Jamie through a memory experiment and the urge to interfere must have been strong for the Time Lord! He'd escaped needing an implant by not being human and the format was established strong in setting up the Chronicle format with Jamie being told to state his memories and what he was feeling. I thought that was clever utilisation. The Sora setting was very good and I liked the uniqueness of everyone being given an implant when reaching the age of 21 to help with their memory when they were now considered fully developed. Jamie recalling the arrival to Sora was strong and I liked that there was a protest ensuing that they got involved in almost immediately. Jame mentioning how getting split from the Doctor was nothing new was a lot of fun and certainly correct! The little flashback cameo of events of The Highlanders was really nicely done and it was excellent to be exploring some of Jamie's past. The story of his best friend James Drummond and how they altered nicknames because they shared the same name was lovely, but learning about how he did in Jamie's arms was a sharp injection of reality. Jamie going back in his mind to the clan celebration was great and I was really intrigued to hear Jamie seeing his mum. Hunter explaining how childhood memories were more difficult to manage and control was nicely done and I enjoyed also hearing Jamie visiting his grandparents as a ten-year-old. The Shard implant actually causing an impairment to recall was interesting and I loved the idea of all of the memories feeling dark. The arrival of the phantom piper as the cliffhanger brought back vibes of The Moonbase and Hunter's belief that the McCrimmon legend of seeing the piper before death was a convenient one was brilliant. Jamie had different beliefs! Hunter forgetting about the note that Jamie gave us was magnificent because that showed the implant wasn't bulletproof when it came to recall. She admitted that the Shard tech was dangerous and as soon as it appeared that they were removing memories, my interest peaked! The implant removing Jamie's Culloden memories was fascinating and the concept of junk data for brain and memories was superb. They needed to override the blockers to get Jamie his memories back which was fun and logical. The talk with Jamie's granny on her deathbed was outstanding and full of emotion, and the suggestion that his grandad made up the piper story was terrific. The family history was wonderful. Hunter being the one to rewrite the code of the implant to ensure that consent was required before any memory removal was very good, and the Doctor suggesting that it was Hunter who implemented it in the first place because she was trying to forget a tragedy was fantastic. Overall, a really strong audio adventure!

Rating: 9/10