Seabird One: Dark Side of the Moon

"Don't interrupt me when I'm being sincere."

Writer: Alfie Shaw

Format: Audio

Released: July 2022

Series: UNIT: Brave New Worlds 1.03

Featuring: Bambera

Synopsis

A new British space station, the Britannia, is due to be launched at the end of the week, but Bambera, Rix and Savarin fear that some kind of psychic entity is trying to sabotage it. Is it really the spirit of Helena McNamara, deceased astronaut and old friend of Rix? And does it speak the truth when it warns that something terrible is waiting for humanity on the dark side of the moon?

Verdict

Dark Side of the Moon was an excellent episode to conclude the Seabird One opening series of UNIT’s Brave New World spinoff! This has been a really impressive boxset and it’s definitely exceeded my expectations prior to listening. I’m a big fan of the 1990s setting and just exploring UNIT in an era where we haven’t really seen or heard them before is a lot of fun. Brigadier Bambera is a strong character to lead them but I really think she is well complimented by Savarin as her sergeant and Rix as her scientific advisor. The latter is really growing into the star of the series for me and I look forward to hearing her even more in the next series following how things concluded here. I liked exploring the idea of there being something alien on the dark side of the moon and tapping into the different space programs of nations was fun. This was obviously centred on the BSP which was good and I liked that something was clearly being hidden. Rix having a connection with Helena as an astronaut that was thought dead and her remains had even been buried was emotional stuff, but having her actually survive was incredible! She was tapping into the lives of people to take over their mind, at least partially anyway. The moment where she was trying to prove to Rix that she was actually Helena but was struggling with different people’s memories being all in her mind was terrific. Colin Carter being the first of those we were introduced to was fun stuff and the police didn’t really know how to handle the suggestion that he was actually a dead astronaut. UNIT were rightfully called and what we got was massively entertaining. The hour absolutely flew by and I liked the way the nickname of Lou was almost confirmation to Rix that her old friend was the true article. However, the moment where she revealed she’d switched the omega-4 and said the real person would visit her if she knew her address after all. Maybe not straight away, but absolutely within the year s lolr ince the crash that saw her perish. I liked the mystery that came from Bambera getting warning calls that couldn’t be tracked and the importance of the Britannia making the trip or not was crucial. She was warned, and the threat that faced humanity was strong! Helena knowing that there must be something alien despite all readings suggesting otherwise was great stuff and I liked the threat of the Grey Men to potentially come in the next series. Any enemy from the Moon is exciting in my book! I thought the cliffhanger finish with Helena realising that it was the aliens who’d given the all clear once again was good and they weren’t messing around this time knowing she was from the first ship. They killed her suddenly and reported to the superiors that the advance and subjugation of Earth could begin. I thought Rix having some love interest with McManus was nice and the flirtation was there early on so Savarin pushing her into getting a date was really good. I’m liking their dynamic and I think they’ll continue to gel moving forward. Dame Lydia featuring once again was good and I loved how she defended UNIT when they were told to leave after accusing the BSP of sabotaging their own astronauts. Overall, a brilliant finale! 

Rating: 9/10