Persuasion

"We are the gods of old and new."

Writer: Jonathan Barnes

Format: Audio

Released: July 2013

Series: Monthly Adventures 175

Featuring: Seventh Doctor, Klein, Will

Synopsis

The Umbrella Man is back. But when the Doctor recruits UNIT's Scientific Adviser Elizabeth Klein for an off-the-books mission to the apocalyptic final days of Hitler's Germany, he isn't expecting Klein's hapless young assistant, Will Arrowsmith, to be joining them too.

The Doctor isn't the only alien creature seeking to loot a very particular secret from a Nazi base in Dusseldorf, however. Strange and sinister beings are converging on the same time/space location in search of the scientist Schalk, whose experiments are the key to a devastating power...

The power of Persuasion.

Verdict

Persuasion was an excellent story to continue my way through the Monthly Adventures from Big Finish! It feels quite surreal to finally have less than one hundred of this range left to conquer and even though I started listening to it over a decade ago now, this feels like progress. And this was a fantastic story to kick off what looks set to be another fascinating and mysterious trilogy with the Seventh Doctor! I think Elizabeth Klein is a fine character and is the right kind of personality to act as companion to this Doctor. Her having the Doctor’s old position of scientific advisor at UNIT is tremendous and I loved that the organisation had on file that the Doctor with the umbrella was perhaps the most dangerous of them all. It’s difficult to argue against that with his conniving and manipulative ways. You only have to look at the relationship with Ace to know that. I thought this story’s proximity to the Seventh Doctor we see in The Movie was great stuff and fine continuity. It’s almost like an entirely new era for this Doctor and it was clear that the TARDIS desktop theme update to that iconic Victorian design we saw in 1996 was a new occurrence. I really liked that and it’s a TARDIS interior that has such scale, even on audio. Klein following the Doctor after her meeting with Will was good and her assistant actually inadvertently joining their adventures to Düsseldorf in 1945 was terrific. He was a really fun character especially considering the fact he was deemed not fit for the field at UNIT. More of an office desk guy. So having him meet a loyal German after the Second World War was over was a really strong dynamic. I really enjoyed Klein not believing that the Doctor wasn’t up to anything despite his claim of just keeping tabs. It would never be that simple. That was confirmed when Hinterberger reacted to her on arrival with awe and shock, so much so that he offered her his gun. Will was saved, but Klein had questions that we didn’t get the answer to. There’s more to play out there I’m sure. Hearing the conversation between the Shepherd and Shepherdess at the start of each part and their arrival into this universe was tremendous and really gave the story a powerful feeling. It felt more than which was terrific and the way they spoke almost in Shakespearean rhyme was a good quality to go with. They were full of mystery. Their position as gods was brilliant and the moment Casta willingly gave herself showed they had serious power. The hunt for Kurt Schalk across the universe was really intriguing and I thoroughly enjoyed the concept of the persuasion machine. It was certainly catchy! And with its powers it would certainly be the envy of anyone who didn’t have it. The potential it would have for changing history and just the course of any race was incredible. Imagine having one will and pushing that? The consequences could be off the scale. I thought the Doctor trapping the gods on a prison planet was good although the holographic element was the only part of the story I wasn’t a huge fan of as it just felt like cheating, even for the seventh incarnation. The Khlecht were a fun element in the story too with their communication being via what were basically advertising announcements. Their obtaining of the Struwwelpeter empire by just saying they had it was marvellous. I liked them a lot without them actually doing a huge amount. It was really unique. Overall, a really strong story! A thoroughly enjoyable listen. 

Rating: 9/10