Revenge of the Swarm

"You want to revisit your own birth."

Writer: Jonathan Morris

Format: Audio

Released: August 2014

Series: Monthly Adventures 189

Featuring: Seventh Doctor, Ace, Hector

Synopsis

The Doctor thought he had defeated the microscopic Nucleus of the Swarm in his fourth incarnation. He was wrong. It survived within the TARDIS, and now it has brought it back to Titan Base, back to the point of its own creation. It has a plan that spans centuries, a plan which will result in the Nucleus becoming more powerful – and larger – than ever before. 

To defeat it, the Doctor, Ace and Hex must confront the Nucleus within its new domain – the computer-world of the Hypernet, the information network crucial to the survival of the human empire. But if the Doctor is to save the day, he has to risk everything and everyone he holds dear...

Verdict

Revenge of the Swarm was a great little story to continue my way through the Monthly Adventures! After a quartet of short stories that made up the Breaking Bubbles release, it's nice to get back to normality and having a returning foe is always something that excites me. I must admit, I don't think the Swarm would be high on my list of wants or expectations when it came to returning monsters from the Classic era, but here we are! I'm all for it though. The whackier the better as far as I'm concerned! I thought this was quite clever in being both a prequel and sequel to The Invisible Enemy and it's also amazing to have John Leeson voicing the Swarm after all these years. He is of course no stranger to the world of Doctor Who being the voice of K9 also, and it almost feels like a bit of a shame that the robot dog didn't feature here. It would have felt a more complete reunion, but alas it didn't matter. I thought it was good in terms of pace and action to just get thrown straight into the story here. There was no dawdling or messing around that's for sure. I'm not entirely convinced by the manner of the Swarm's survival by being in the TARDIS memory banks for all the time since its apparent defeat, but it's so whacky I can almost let it slide. Hector here is a fascinating character and coming off the powerful events of Afterlife, it's a very new and different dynamic in the TARDIS. I do find it weird that Hex has died, sort of, but now we have someone who sounds and looks exactly like him. He essentially his him just minus the memories of travelling in the TARDIS. It feels off and I'm not exactly excited by the future with him, but it is good for Ace and he to share a romantic relationship. The small challenge she presented to the Doctor on if it was a problem for them to be together was good and it's nice to get a companion relationship in the Classic era. It just feels real. Getting Professor Kilbracken to feature in the first half of this story that was set in 4920 was just magnificent and hearing her explain about her cloning technique and the fact the copies could only survive for around ten minutes was brilliant and tied in nicely with the televised serial that saw the Swarm debut. This time around it wanted to duplicate itself though and interfere with its own creation. That was a strong concept and the fact we then moved to the future for the second half was really intriguing. The scale of the story was massive! I thought Shafira was another really good character and I liked how she was very knowledgeable on the Doctor's history with Titan Base. Even when he looked different and wore a long scarf. That was great and she wasn't afraid to challenge him. The threat of the plague was strong and I liked how Ace was in the early stages almost immediately. The Doctor was almost accidentally smug when it came to his immunity which I guess remains despite numerous regenerations. I thought the Doctor's efforts to risk Hector's life in a huge way without him giving permission was perfect for this sneaky seventh incarnation, but the Scouser wasn't having it when they returned back to the TARDIS. Ace was on the Doctor's side which actually surprised me a little bit as she knew he always did save people and always was there, but Hector was outraged. Sure, his immunity was transferred into the computer that wiped out the Swarm as he was downloaded, but the risk was too great for him. He was also sick of hearing about Hex which I could completely understand. He was a different man now and we're going to have to get used to it. Overall, an action packed story across the Hypernet and it felt very much an outer space adventure which was fun, and a quirky villain returns! Good stuff, if not a little whacky. 

Rating: 8/10