Army of Death

"How do you kill the dead?"

Writer: Jason Arnopp

Format: Audio

Released: December 2011

Series: Monthly Adventures 155

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Mary Shelley

Synopsis

The TARDIS brings the Doctor and Mary Shelley to the continent of Zelonia, on the frontier world Draxine – where, many moons ago, the twin city-states of Garrak and Stronghaven bore testament to mankind's colonial spirit. 

That was before the sinister death cult of Garret's President Harmon took hold – and Garrak annihilated itself, utterly, in an apocalyptic explosion. Before the bones of Garrak's dead come back to life, and its skeletal citizens began marching, marching, marching on Stronghaven. 

But what do they want, this army of death? And can anything stop them? In search of answers, the Doctor and Mary must journey into the dead heart of a dead city to face a terrifying adversary, whose ambitions transcend the stuff of life itself.

Verdict

Army of Death was a great story to conclude this trilogy of Eighth Doctor and Mary Shelley adventures! For a Monthly Adventures trilogy, something of the norm for where I am in my current run, this was a really strong set and an intriguing glimpse into the travels of the Doctor with a famous figure from history. Whilst I have enjoyed Mary Shelley travelling in the TARDIS, I'm glad that she hasn't stayed for too long as that might have been slightly unbelievable when it came to the rest of her life post-teenage years and writing Frankenstein. It's quite fitting that she would see an army of the dead in her last TARDIS trip and the entire concept of that was tremendous. Just hearing Harmon as the dead President was glorious and really fitting for a typical bad guy. The question that posed my opening quote was a lot of fun and whilst the dead are not new when it comes to Doctor Who, the question of defeating them when killing is not an option is always fun to tackle. Mary being from the past and a more religious and traditionalist time meant that she reacted in a fun way to the dead and seemed to be slightly on the side of caution which was more than understandable! The relationship between her and the Doctor took an unexpended twist when he mentioned her missing Percy, only for her to retort that every time she thought of her husband he was soon replaced by the Doctor, even in her heart! A building romance, perhaps? It's a shame that Mary did seem to depart for that to not get expanded upon as I wonder if the Eighth Doctor would have acted upon it. If there was any incarnation of the Doctor to do so, it might be this one! One thing I have forgotten to mention in my blog entries for the previous two stories in the trilogy is how much I absolutely love the take on the traditional Doctor Who theme. It's almost like a rock version and I think it's glorious. It really makes an impact which I love. The setting of Zelonia amidst the conflict between Garrak and Stronghaven was brilliant and I loved the idea of war between the two following a presidential assassination of a fanatic. The politics was very much already in the past, but it worked well as the backdrop and the Doctor using his own experience of being framed in The Deadly Assassin was very well done. He had sympathy for Nia as the media-labelled assassin, but she was innocent! Her position as going in and out of jail didn't seem to be the most likely background for a friend of the Doctor, but they blossomed a fine relationship by the end! The sacrifice made at the end was stunning and I loved how Mary realised the Doctor was willing to do the same for people he didn't even know. That was admirable. That was the Doctor. I thought Karnex made for a good enemy of the whole piece and just having an entire army of the dead was fantastic as a means at one's disposal. There was a lot of political turmoil in the background, and it was fun to not refer to those taken out as dead because that wouldn't be permanent. The post-credits scene with Mary writing in her new journal after returning from the TARDIS was nicely done and rounded out her little trilogy in a great way! Overall, a really good audio!

Rating: 8/10