The Beast of Kravenos

"It's odd that the Doctor has two friends with the same unusual name."

Writer: Justin Richards

Format: Audio

Released: January 2017

Series: Fourth Doctor Adventures 6.01

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Romana II, K9, Jago, Litefoot 

Synopsis

A stunning new star act is wowing the audiences of the New Regency Theatre. The modern mechanical marvel of canny canine charisma – the automated dog that can answer any question – the incomparable – the unbeatable – K9!

The Doctor and Romana have returned to Victorian London and been reunited with their old friends Professor Litefoot and Henry Gordon Jago. However this is not merely a social visit. A terrifying crime spree is sweeping the capital, and the burglaries of 'The Knave' defy all logic. 

Something impossibly dangerous is taking place amid the fog. Only the time travellers and their friends can stop it... but can they be sure they're all on the same side?

Verdict

The Beast of Kravenos was a great story to kick off the sixth series of the Fourth Doctor Adventures! After a rather eventful fifth series finale of The Pursuit of History/Casualties of Time, I quite liked that this was a lighthearted affair and having the Doctor and Romana paired up with Jago and Litefoot again was a terrific treat. They offer so much with their humour and wit and just getting anything further on from The Talons of Weng-Chiang is great in my book. This one didn’t mess around and we didn’t get any sort of arrival for the TARDIS and its occupants with the adventure starting with the Doctor and company already taking residence in Baker Street. That was nicely done and the idea of Jago having K9 do a theatre performance was tremendous. For a Victorian age audience, that must have been quite the show! A talking mechanical dog would be some act. I thought the inclusion of Sergeant Quick was a nice touch and strong continuity with the Jago and Litefoot spin-off range which I’m all for. Mixing series is all good in my book and gives credence to each one. The search for the Knave was good and I liked the idea of a killer wanted by the Victorian police also being the subject of the Doctor’s investigations. The inclusion of a transmat would certainly explain how the Knave managed to escape the crime scene before being caught, especially when his special touch was to leave from within the locked room. It certainly had the local police force confused! I liked the idea of a transmat going wrong and Jago actually becoming transformed just from one use of it was brilliant. But the Knave had used it on countless occasions so he was going to be even more effected! The beastly transformation was quite quick and it was good that there could be a temporary reversal. It would have been a little better if we knew more about Kravenous from a past adventure for example, but it was still good and fascinating. The Doctor could fill that gap for us. Romana encountering Jago and Litefoot once again was a lot of fun and the former’s comment about the Doctor having another friend with the same uncommon name was delightful. Of course, last time they met Romana in The Justice of Jalxaar she was in her first incarnation. More from Romana on that would have been nice, but she just learned to stay quiet and not try and explain things. That was probably best as far as Jago was concerned, although he has been on a couple of TARDIS trips with the Sixth Doctor so I think he would have understood! Still, a humorous moment. The Doctor laying a trap for the Knave was good and him knowing quite early on that it was Nicholas Asquin because of his alien items in the collection was good. I always enjoy when the Doctor is one step ahead of the game and it seems that the fourth incarnation is particularly irritable when it comes to that. He revels in it. I thought the simplicity of the ending was good in simply fixing the component in the transmat and that provided the cure. It was neat and tidy for sure. The line at the end from K9 about electrical currents when it came to his cake consumption was fun, and I also enjoyed his line about not going for walkies and rather wheelies. Overall, a strong story!

Rating: 8/10