Beachhead

"The TARDIS is stone cold dead."

Writer: Nicholas Briggs

Format: Audio

Released: March 2016

Series: Doom Coalition 2.01

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Liv, Helen

Synopsis

In an attempt to recharge his batteries after his confrontation with the Eleven, the Doctor takes Liv and Helen to the sleepy English seaside village of Stegmoor. But they find the village in turmoil and, to make matters worse, their arrival uncovers a mystery from the Doctor's past which threatens the future safety of the planet. Can the Doctor prevent the Voord from invading Earth? And more importantly, why have they come in the first place?

Verdict

Beachhead was a strong episode to kick off the second volume of Doom Coalition within the ongoing Eighth Doctor Adventures! I was delighted when I saw the cover artwork for this story as the Voord are such an exciting race to be bringing back. I am an almighty fan of The Keys of Marinus for their debut and with just one other performed appearance by Big Finish, it's great to hear them encounter another incarnation of the Doctor. I like the mystery of their home world being destroyed and them needing a new place to rebuild in the form of planet Earth, but who could be responsible for such a change of history? That's quite dramatic and it sets us up nicely for the rest of the boxset, as this was far from a holiday for the Doctor and his companions. I liked how disappointed Helen was by the prospect of going to Stegmoor because with the TARDIS they literally had all of history and space at their fingertips, but the Doctor wanted to go to a small English village? That didn't exactly sound exciting on paper. She was though rather interested in being in the year 2017 which was in her future, but not too far. Her first thoughts being to get in contact with people she knew was fun stuff and I liked her inquisitive mind. I thought the coming of a flood was brilliant and the TARDIS getting pulled along for the ride was good, but the real life cataclysm of several of the population drowning was horrifying. It was a very real world threat and those often work best. The Doctor sharing a history with Phillipa Gregson was nice and I liked how he'd met her before during his third incarnation with UNIT. I did have to do some quick research to see if this encounter exists anywhere, but alas it remains an unseen adventure. That's absolutely fine, and I liked how the events still haunted her. She'd signed the Official Secrets Act and because of it had eventually lost her husband, and even then she wouldn't tell her own daughter too much of what had happened. That was quite sad. I liked how she slowly accepted thanks to the police box and the nature of what was happening that the Eighth Doctor was still the man she had met, even though he was now younger. I thought the Doctor pondering on the days with Liza Shaw and the Brigadier was a nice touch as well. He genuinely seemed to remember them fondly which is lovely. I enjoyed the build to the Voord appearing and Liv showcased her medical abilities in deducing that they were far from human. Ishtek was a good front for the race and the theme of water feels right given their proximity to the acid water back on Marinus. I did think they were perhaps defeated a little too easily with the shots from anti terrorist police, but it was rather emphatic! The Doctor's explanation of crushing the ship with rocks was quite fun and I liked the subtle mockery of some past explanations at the end of story. Some scientific jargon from the Doctor wasn't going to be sufficient for Helen and Liv which was really fun. We've got quite the TARDIS trio on our hands here and I'm excited for what's to come next! Tellat was a decent addition as another Voord and he seemed a little more dangerous. One thing I would have liked to have been improved for the episode was the voices of the Voord. They sounded just a tad too human without the visual aid, but it wasn't a big issue. The humour of the Doctor trying to sneak away and having no issues in dematerialising the TARDIS in front of anti terror police was great. They had more important things like an alien corpse to deal with! Overall, a really strong story to kick off the series! 

Rating: 8/10