The Day of the Comet

"It is like the clouds are on fire."

Writer: Jonathan Morris

Format: Audio

Released: January 2021

Series: Fourth Doctor Adventures 10.02

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Leela

Synopsis

The TARDIS brings the Doctor and Leela to the ruins of a once-great city racked by earthquakes, where they find a giant rocket on the side of a mountain. The planet is due to be destroyed by a comet in a year's time and this ship is the only way off world.

But is everything quite as it seems? At least one person in the city thinks the comet is going to come to obliterate the planet much sooner than people believe. 

Which would be bad enough – if there wasn't a far worse secret hidden behind the scenes...

Verdict

The Day of the Comet was a great story to conclude the first half of the tenth series of Fourth Doctor Adventures! It's a shame there appears to be no overlapping arc for this boxset at the moment and instead just serves as four solo stories in their own right which is fine, but I do think a longer arc would be beneficial and definitely more appealing! I'm a huge fan of the pairing of the Fourth Doctor and Leela but I do think we have listened to countless one off stories with them now. They do need something of a little refresh but that's just a personal preference. The story itself was a really strong one and I was engaged throughout. I never felt like it was going to be any higher than the rating I did award, but I also did know it wouldn't drop. This was just a really solid story from start to finish. I thought the setting worked very well and the threat of a comet wiping out the people and planet of Actonese was brilliant. Of course, the people thought they still had three months before any kind of impact but the reality was actually just three days. At least the people had hope, that was the argument of Tynax at least who had arranged the whole sham regarding the fake ship to take the population to safety. The ark was unfortunately incomplete and wouldn't take off, but giving that hope had prevented anarchy with someone in charge and that was something I actually agreed with. What I didn't like was how she was taking goods off people as payment for transport and also setting them to work with strict disciplinary punishments. She was using the Actonese people for her own benefit. The people themselves were very intriguing and for them to be renowned by even the Time Lords said a lot about them! The description of their immunity to almost all illnesses and essentially being immortal felt very much like an explanation about Time Lord regeneration which was good. And that's why they delved into their convenient policy of non-intervention when it came to the comet destroying the people. Those that did get off in arks vanished without a trace, and I liked the Doctor's involvement here to send them to the far future where they wouldn't be traced. His departing message to Verkuvia about not having any involvement should the Time Lords somehow come knocking was very amusing. I thought she was a lovely character as the astrologer. The arrival of Lendrik and Vengis posing as being Actonese people from the future come to save their ancestors was intriguing but they were never convincing which was amusing to hear. The Doctor was onto them in a flash! The throwing around of the TARDIS key in the story was almost extraordinary and I am not entirely sure there's ever been a story where it was more important! Perhaps Father's Day? I was a big fan of Corsha and the relationship she garnered with Leela was terrific. I was a little surprised that Massey passed away early on though as he seemed like a character set to stay for the duration. Sullerman was a strong character as well and I liked his involvement with the TARDIS key at the end and his trepidation on whether the Doctor would take him with them in the TARDIS. This was a really emotional story in parts with the fate of the Actonese people and the Doctor having to stick to established history, for the most part! The way he changed some of the small details to keep history and the Time Lords off his back was fun stuff and a nice way to conclude. Overall, a really good listen!

Rating: 8/10