Gods and Monsters

"Let the chains of Fenric shatter."

Writers: Mike Maddox & Alan Barnes

Format: Audio

Released: September 2012

Series: Monthly Adventures 164

Featuring: Seventh Doctor, Ace, Hex

Synopsis 

The TARDIS travellers arrive in a bizarre landscape seemingly immune to the physical laws governing the rest of the universe. Ace, Hex, Sally and Lysandra battle to rescue the Doctor from the trap he's walked into... soon realising that the odds are stacked against them.

Because the Doctor is playing an old adversary again: Fenric, shatterer of worlds. But the gods and monsters who inhabit this strange realm loaded the dice against them long ago, in the dim and distant past – and defeat's their only option.

Verdict 

Gods and Monsters was an excellent Monthly Adventure! This really has a lot going for it and certainly had the feeling of being a finale. As if being a sequel to The Curse of Fenric wasn’t enough, it tied up a long going arc in the Monthly Adventures for the Seventh Doctor dating back to The Angel of Scutari and beyond. It’s been a long time coming, we’ve had two different TARDISes and two different colours, the Doctor basically absent for two whole stories and now four companions! There was a lot to wrap up here but it never felt like it got convoluted which was impressive. And it stayed very high on quality throughout! The theme of the Elder Gods that have consumed the Seventh Doctor stories in the range recently was good and it doesn’t come better than Fenric. Ace’s reaction to realising that he was back was brilliant and I really enjoyed the reference to Dragonfire and how Ace ended up on Ice World thanks to a time storm and unknowingly acted as Fenric’s agent. She was scared but not afraid to fight him and that was magnificent. This also followed on nicely with the theme from Black and White of mythology and Ace having what was essentially a version of Thor’s hammer was good fun. Fenric getting to tease her was amusing and the line alluding to Rey from Delta and the Bannermen possibly being the one that could have been taken by the time storm was tremendous. A really fun line given she was basically written as a companion! Hex’s wound returning from Scutari was good and really helped sell the scale of how long the game was being played. I was a big fan of the continued analogies to chess and the Doctor soon realised that he was a pawn in a much bigger game if that was scarcely possible! Lysandra and Sally realising that they were on a flat planet and that actually being the board for the game was superb. I really liked that. Fenric describing mortals as dust was a powerful moment and really did help sell how insignificant us normals were. But the Doctor was quick to pounce on that and realised that in the games they were still needed. The revelation that the Blacksmith was at hand was sublime and I loved the reveal of him as the opponent to Fenric. The idea of him creating the shield of Weyland’s was really strong and just the idea of him making weapons for the gods was tremendous. I hope we haven’t heard the last of him! The impact of Weyland on Hex was incredible though and the emotion at the end made for an excellent conclusion. It was exciting and full of power especially when it was revealed that Hex was only being kept alive by him. The sacrifice he made at the end was brilliant and full of admiration as he wanted to ensure that the God was defeated once and for all. The anger in Ace was palpable and just when she got the Doctor back, she was absolutely livid with him. We’ve seen and heard her be quite angry with the Doctor but the way he accepted that Hex had to sacrifice himself so easily and Lysandra aiding him was too much. I don’t think I’ve heard her angrier! I’m really not sure where we move from here but I do hope that this is the last of Hex as companion. This is such a fitting finale for him and the fact he referenced his mother at the end was lovely. I’m really not sure where we go from here but I’m excited to hear it! The title really did have it all and was apt. A brilliant adventure!

Rating: 9/10