An Ordinary Life

"Have you ever thought about stopping, staying in one place for a while?"

Writer: Matt Fitton

Format: Audio

Released: December 2014

Series: Early Adventures 1.04

Featuring: First Doctor, Steven, Sara

Synopsis

1950s London: newcomers arrive daily on British shores seeking a fresh start, new opportunities, or simply the chance o a different life. However, some are from much further afield than India or Jamaica...

After an emergency landing, the TARDIS crew must make the best of it, and look to their new neighbours for help. But the Newman family has more than the prejudices of the time to contend with. A sinister force grows in strength amid the pubs, docks and backstreets of London...

And without the Doctor, marooned in a time and place as alien as anything they've ever encountered, Steven and Sara may well face their greatest challenge yet. To live an ordinary life.

Verdict

An Ordinary Life was a great story to conclude the first series of the Early Adventures! I’ve certainly made the most of a Scribd free trial over the last couple of months but sadly this story is the last of what is available on there that I hadn’t yet blogged, but I definitely got my money’s worth! And that’s without spending a spenny. God bless the work email address. The Early Adventures are still in their infancy at this point in the run but this is a really strong adventure and it’s lovely to get more outings with Sara in the TARDIS. It’s clear that The Daleks’ Master Plan takes place over such a long time so getting sidesteps like this is brilliant and really adds legitimacy to Sara being a companion. In my mind, that was never in doubt but I do like how it’s always important to refer back to events with the Daleks chasing after them for the terrarium core. Steven taking that from the Doctor’s pocket was fun and I liked how for this range the latter was taken out of the story altogether almost immediately! He was in a bad way as Steven and Sara exited the TARDIS and the absence of the Doctor probably helped Peter Purves with his narration and take on his own character of Steven. He did a stellar job, whereas Jean Marsh still felt a little rusty as Sara but that certainly grew as the story went on. The pairing of Steven and Sara is fantastic and I think there’s definitely chemistry between them. The moment where Sara has the baby in her arms and the Doctor wonders how long he’d been frozen for was magnificent. There’s definitely potential for romance between Steven and Sara and they get on well here. The confusion over them not being married when it came to them potentially renting a room was good stuff and the whole racial atmosphere of the 1950s was superbly presented. It’s almost incomprehensible to think that such small talk was common as for the landlord to be asking Steven and Sara if they minded living above a black family. I thought Audrey was a lovely character with her uncle Joseph making a very nice pair of people to allow Sara and Steven a roof when they were in desperate need. The Doctor was obviously in a bad way too and needed the support which was appreciated. I liked how things did seem ordinary for quite a while, especially with Steven seemingly accepting his new life in the 1950s. It was fun for him to have a wage and earning currency to pay off the debts he’d incurred initially to the Newmans. I loved that with Steven and Sara both being from the future that the notion of racism was complete baffling to them. They couldn’t understand, and the Changelings also just saw them as humans which is exactly as it should be. But I’m playing that this made for a fine use of the era the setting was within. The Changelings were a fascinating enemy and I liked the use of duplicates. The TARDIS not actually being dematerialised and taken along with the Doctor in the goo substance was good and was quite a relief to Steven after that part one cliffhanger. The Doctor having been mentally awake all the time though and holding the memories of his doppelgänger was quite fun stuff! His emergence in part four was excellent and came just in time. He shone but so did Sara when it came to the heart node removal to take out the Changelings and revert everyone to normal. Pondering on an ordinary life was great to tackle and we actually got some serious glimpses of that for the companions which was unique. Overall, a great story!

Rating: 8/10