The Shadows of Serenity

"They are strangers! They do not belong on Malgar."

Writer: Nigel Robinson

Format: Audio

Released: June 2015

Series: Short Trips 5.06

Featuring: Sixth Doctor, Peri

Synopsis 

The Guns of Malgar once defended their planetoid from any who stared too close; just one gun could obliterate an entire star fleet.

The Malgarians are known as a vicious, belligerent species - so when the TARDIS brings the Doctor and Peri to their homeworld, they are puzzled to be greeted by a pacifistic population.

Peri assumes the Doctor has just got his facts wrong, but he is reluctant to accept the Malgarians' uncharacteristic behaviour. What lies behind it, and what is the secret of the Sisters of Serenity?

Verdict 

The Shadows of Serenity was an excellent Short Trips audio! I thoroughly enjoyed this adventure from start to finish with it definitely ranking as one of the better stories of this range. It started nicely with establishing a barren wasteland as the planet of Malgar and the TARDIS being stuck thanks to a component needing recharging was pretty amusing and really set off the clashing dynamic between the Sixth Doctor and Peri. I liked that the stars were familiar to the Doctor and that led towards hinting at what was to come on the former battlefield. The narration from Nicola Bryant was good and I was impressed with how different she sounded to her character of Peri. That was important to differentiate. The Doctor identifying the four guns of Malgar was really good and I liked learning of them being destructive weapons that were pointing towards the stars to blast all incoming ships to pieces. That said a lot about their society and how aggressive and protective it was. The Malgarians feared all outsiders and they were protecting the Everware which was really intriguing as a race. The moments where the Doctor and Peri were seen and ran away was decent despite the moments of them being scented as blood having a chase scene that was somewhat too descriptive. Some sound effects would have been beneficial here, but I understand why that wasn’t happening in this format. It still worked nicely. Hess as a Malgarian was good and the shock of him claiming they were trying to help the Doctor and Peri from the beasts was nicely done. They questioned why they ran and that allowed the Doctor to explain his knowledge of them and their warlike nature. Their appearance in glowing was fascinating and I liked how that aura represented their emotions. That was an interesting concept and Peri was questioning whether they were actually as belligerent as the Doctor thought. It seemed they were once that way but Hess claimed that serenity had happened and they wouldn’t kill after the Sisters visited. I thought it was interesting that the Malgarians casted no shadows and Mount Serenity being the home of the Sisters’ abbey was great. They’d taught the Malgarians their errors and the position of a thinking element to explain their aura was good. I liked that when the Sisters were hiding something behind a door the Doctor just stormed his way through. That’s what they wanted though as they greeted his act with a chilling smile and comment that they would feast well. Crews was a strong character as one of the Malgarians not under the spell of the Sisters and he had a shadow which was really interesting! They still didn’t like strangers, but they agreed to help Peri find the Doctor because they thought he could help. They saw he was full of fire which was an apt description for this incarnation in particular! Mother Mercy and Sister Solace were tremendous names for the leading Sisters and we soon learned of the beast in the tank containing angry voices. Voices that were actually the anger of the Malgarians siphoned off! It was described as the darkness and that was good considering their shadows had been stolen. The aura generated now cancelled this out when stripped of belligerence. It was the Hirudex which served as an awful amalgamation of anger and the intentions of the Sisters were revealed as the stars were actually their ships and they were after the Everware. The Sisters feasting on the anger and aggression of the Doctor was terrific i but I loved that he was fighting back with thoughts of kindness in order to give back the Malgarians their shadows. The Hirudex was deprived of the hate that sustained and now the fiercest race in the Galaxy were coming for the Sisters. That was a fitting conclusion so it was a slight let down when they could just teleport away. The Doctor and Peri would leave the Hirudex on an uninhabited planet to see us out nicely. Overall, an excellent audio adventure!

Rating: 9/10