Fugitives

"Do you go in for this time travel lark all the time?"

Writer: Nicholas Briggs

Format: Audio

Released: November 2012

Series: Dark Eyes 1.02

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Molly

Synopsis 

With the first objective of his mission reached, almost nothing is going to plan for the Doctor. He finds he cannot contact or return to the Time Lord's home planet, Gallifrey. And just when Molly O'Sullivan thinks she's escaped one conflict, she finds herself in the thick of another one.

What is it that connects the Doctor, the Daleks and the mysterious Ides Scientific Institute?

Verdict

Fugitives was another excellent episode to continue my way through the first series of Dark Eyes within the Eighth Doctor Adventures! After only two adventures I must say I am absolutely loving it so far. This story really gave us a fine plot that furthered the mystery of Molly O'Sullivan whilst also continuing the intrigue of what direction things will head towards as the rest of the series and beyond unfolds. Following on from the cliffhanger at the end of The Great War, Molly gets to escape with the Doctor inside the TARDIS and her familiarity with it is very interesting. I was a huge fan of Molly's already just from her opening story, but now she really is quite the enigma! Her Irish accent and being from the First World War are brilliant qualities in themselves, but now she can fly the TARDIS? The Doctor was as perplexed as this listener was. It wasn't that big of a deal initially that she could open the TARDIS doors as that's a singular control and she certainly wouldn't have been the first to replicate that, but to actually take off and dematerialise in quick time to get away from the Daleks? That required skill and immense calculations which she just did by instinct. Whilst all the information is far from being out there, it's no wonder the Daleks are after Molly too. Getting a bit more of the conversation Straxus had with the Doctor about giving him hope and providing the mission to save Molly was good, but with her on board the TARDIS the inability to contact Gallifrey was proving difficult. She'd have to stick around. I really enjoyed how Molly came out of her shell throughout the course of this episode and the Doctor was not holding back in being sympathetic to her lack of knowledge regarding time travel and when she was from. The jump to 1940 was good and Molly dealt with that somewhat well, even though she learned there was a Second World War, but the jump to 1972 was where things got really interesting. That was a bit too far in the future for her liking, but they were expected! The Ides Scientific Institute being at the Doctor's old residence of Baker Street was very good, especially when the Doctor had unknowingly sent them £1 billion for an experiment! The message coming in the top secret computer system was good fun too. I liked how the seeds were dropped on what's to come and I really do look forward to discovering how everything ties together. The Daleks didn't do an awful lot in this episode but when they were present they were rather deadly! Molly was scared to see them again so soon which sold their fear factor, not that it was required! I loved how she deduced that the Doctor had lost people to the Daleks before and that he'd been fighting them for a very long time. I also loved the Gallifrey being in Ireland line featuring again here, but this time it actually works in a non-cliche way! I absolutely adored Molly constantly referring to the TARDIS as the tardy-box and her sarcastic nature of emphasising 'the' Doctor is glorious. She's an instant hit as a companion. So what makes her so special to the Daleks and the mysterious Kotris? Getting a glimpse of him with the Daleks was intriguing and the suggestion of their actions falling everything into plan was very good. They do seem to have control which is terrific. Molly getting to grips with time travel and the potential of the TARDIS was tremendous and I really loved her bonding with the Doctor when she asked to go somewhere fun as they waited for the Time Lords to come calling. The humour of the anti-gravity waves and Molly being thrown about was just lovely. The Doctor was finally able to let his hair down for a bit, but there's still so much more to come. Overall, an excellent episode! Let's keep the dark eyes comments coming.

Rating: 9/10