Prison in Space

"Women appear to occur a privileged position."

Writers: Dick Sharples (Adapted by Simon Guerrier) 

Format: Audio

Released: December 2010

Series: Lost Stories 2.02a

Featuring: Second Doctor, Jamie, Zoe

Synopsis

A relaxing break for the Doctor and his companions Jamie and Zoe becomes something decidedly more sinister when they are arrested for trespass. But what has happened to the planet Earth? And how has the malevolent Chairman Babs gained control? As the Doctor and Jamie are incarcerated in a prison that they can never escape from, Zoe is forced to change sides...

Verdict

Prison in Space was great story to kick off the Second Doctor Boxset of Lost Stories! I’m such a big fan of this range because it’s an intriguing glance at what could have been and this almost feels like it would have been a Second Doctor version of Galaxy 4 with the female presentation, and I really like that so it’s a great shame that this story never did make it into production. Jamie’s thoughts on women aren’t exactly a secret and he’s very much of a traditional historic BBC viewpoint coming from when he does in Scotland’s history. Honestly, that’s not much of a defence but the Doctor is keen to point out that fact when his male companion blurted out lines like the woman’s place being in a kitchen! Zoe obviously didn’t take well to that although her comment about being from the year 2000 I’m sure will cause all sorts of continuity problems as that doesn’t quite feel right. The events of The Wheel in Space feel much more futuristic than that! I liked the placement of the story with it quite clearly coming after The Dominators in terms of chronology. There was more than one mention of the Quarks and the Doctor had recently obtained the device from the ship there on Dulkis which would come into play during part three. I thought the cliffhangers in this story were pretty strong with the first one in particular being a standout. Zoe sold it well when it appeared the Doctor and Jamie had been expelled to their death in space, but they were actually headed to the Outer Space Corrective Establishment. That would form much of the setting moving forward which was good and the Doctor and Jamie’s fellow prisoners were full of laughter in their claims that they’d escape. This place didn’t have the nickname of the place of no return for no reason! Babs didn’t wholly agree with that moniker, but who could argue with her if there weren’t any escapees? She was a tremendous character as the Chairman and she was revered by all. The position of women in the story was really good and whilst it did border perhaps a little too much on the line of humour, it was really great to explore. But is it really funny to think that women could rule a society? I don’t think so. Babs was proud of what she’d created with her female oriented society and that was quite impressive. It was women who’d eradicated the death penalty and men were simply not needed for protection now given that there was no war to fight. I thought Zoe going under the rehabilitation to show her the role of women was fun and hearing her regurgitate what Babs was presenting was very good. The moment at the end with Jamie slapping her on the bottom to check her back into order was hilarious, but something that just couldn’t happen today. I’m almost surprised it happened on audio in 2009! It really was quite the promise. Talk about asserting male dominance. It was nice for Zoe to be back to normal at the end, but crikey! Babs taking a fancy to the Doctor to the point of obsession was a lot of fun as it seemed to crumble down everything she’d built as the revolt ensued at the time of the trial. That was a powerful moment as Babs was instantly defeated. The scene at the end with the Doctor having to literally run away from her to get into the TARDIS and escape was quite something. I’d love to have seen Patrick Troughton pulling that off! Overall though, a really fun audio adventure.

Rating: 8/10