The Great Beyond

"How do you escape from a prison that's always evolving?"

Writer: James Kettle

Format: Audio

Released: September 2024

Series: Fifth Doctor Adventures 08

Featuring: Fifth Doctor, Adric, Nyssa, Tegan

Synopsis

The Doctor has been sent to Beyond – for the rest of his natural lives.

In the years after a devastating intergalactic war, a prison facility was set up on a distant planet. To preserve the fragile peace, the most dangerous former combatants are sentenced to life in Beyond. Like the notorious Starclair sisters, whose involvement on both sides of the war is the stuff of legend – as well as a certain Time Lord with a reputation for interfering in things that don't concern them. 

But there's something else on the planet too. Something that adds an infinite variety of agony to a life sentence on Beyond, and makes the inmates wish for the relative comfort of death. Because what's coming to those who stay too long in Beyond is almost too hideous to contemplate. Alive and conscious, deprived of your senses and all movement. Just locked in, alone in a darkness that lasts forever.

Verdict

The Great Beyond was a bit of an average story to continue the ongoing releases of the Fifth Doctor Adventures. I must admit that I find it difficult to get excited about there only being one story that takes up an entire release as I prefer variety and just more stories. I would much prefer three stories comprising an hour as that feels like more of a series, whereas this just feels like a bit of a long Monthly Adventure. And it was a little too long by the end. I think the idea on paper is strong and the first part in particular worked really well. I loved the idea of the Doctor, Adric, Nyssa and Tegan already being contained within the galactic prison that was Beyond. It sounded ominous and a name like that made it enticing. The fact that nearly everyone there was begging for execution was also rather incredible, but I didn't really think I got anything that sold that communal feeling. I think the story definitely needed more of a darker vibe and whilst it was good to have Tegan forgotten by her fellow TARDIS crew, I felt that was resolved far too early for a six parter. It turned out to be some clever trickery from the Doctor as a sort of defence mechanism which would have been fine but we should have built more towards getting her remembered. I do think this adventure would have worked better with a smaller cast of main characters as there wasn't always a lot for each character to do. Adric in particular didn't feel like was offering too much physically and was just there for some quick intelligent remarks. I did think the cliffhangers were very strong in this story which is a huge positive as whilst I did think it went a bit long in terms of duration, they kept me wanting to come back. Hearing the Doctor like we never have before when fear itself had consumed him was excellent. We never really hear the Doctor in a vulnerable state like that so that worked really well for me. The world in which Beyond existed was good and I liked the situation that the Starclair sisters had found themselves in socially. There were conflicting views on everything and that was a good situation to throw the TARDIS team into. I like the idea of the evolving prison and it was put into perspective with the Doctor even questioning how you could escape it when it was constantly evolving. Walls added, corridors going missing and doors all over the shop. I think the visuals there were brilliant. Again, somehow with the length I thought more trepidation could have been created regarding the constant changes. Ivan was a strong character and I'm not sure why but when his significance to Beyond was revealed it felt like his name was on constant repeat! It was uncanny but of course not a problem. I did think it was a little predictable to have Beyond as actually being an organism and there before its guards which was a bit of a shame. I'm not sure why but I just knew it was coming and it wasn't a shocking reveal. I like the concept and it did work relatively well, but it was built as something when I was anticipating it anyway. I thought the discussions in part six between the Doctor and Beyond were a little off and never felt like they were clicking for whatever reason. I also thought things dragged on a little with a couple of false finishes towards the conclusion. There was definitely a sense of lingering. For whatever reason despite a strong idea at its heart, this didn't wholly appease my appetite. More focus on the Doctor being imprisoned and actually having a reason or being framed rather than a simple lure would have been better. Still, a decent listen. 

Rating: 6/10