Lost in Translation: Inertia

"It's just another roll of the dice."

Writer: James Goss

Format: Audio

Released: September 2020

Series: New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield 6.03

Featuring: Unbound Doctor, Bernice

Synopsis

A remote island on a dull world. Some boring natives, some uninteresting ruins. Can two time travellers manage to do nothing for a month?

Verdict

Inertia was another very strong episode to continue the Lost in Translation sixth series of the New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield! This feels like something of a pit stop ahead of the finale because given how things ended at the end of the previous episode of The Undying Truth, I thought we head straight into a double billing of the Unbound Doctor involved with the Time Lords. Of course, this entire episode was having the Doctor and Benny deal with being on the run from the Time Lords, but it wasn't until the end that actual involvement would be heard. It's set to be an explosive finale which I am incredibly excited for, but this was a decent way to stall and keep the listening wanting more. The umbrella theme was utilised very well in having Benny try and use her archaeological skills to decipher the story of the planet they were on. I thought the Doctor switching the TARDIS off completely was exciting because that provided a strong sense of vulnerability. The Doctor without the TARDIS as something to fall back upon feels a little wrong and a tad scary. I like that a lot. I thought Benny wanting the TARDIS on for the help it would provide in her research was fun but the Doctor was having none of it. He wouldn't even have the heating on, but he would pop back for a wooly scarf which was quite amusing. I liked the logic though in not wanting the Time Lords to be able to track them. That was felt more especially at the end with the Doctor being referred to as an abomination! That was quite a drastic tone and it's clear the Time Lords mean business here. Benny knows of them as the most powerful species in creation so having her involved will be fun too. I thought the premise of the episode from the synopsis actually sounded quite boring and whilst it was basically what it said on the tin in having the Doctor and Benny sitting around twiddling their thumbs, that became very entertaining! Just days and days of the Doctor and Benny playing board games was hilarious with the former always cheating or changing the rules to ensure he won. Even at snakes and ladders he was inventing new rules when it came to rolling a double. Of course it would mean you go down a snake! It was really good though and the dynamic between this pairing is just good fun with them bickering. I thought the song of the natives was intriguing and it was fun to learn right at the end thanks to Benny's deductions that they were counting down. This society would not advance by choice and I liked that it was because of alien involvement in their history and the destruction of a spaceship causing explosive and widespread damage. It happened twenty-seven days after the aliens arrived, so their society would only tolerate outsiders for that long. And Benny just so happened to work that out on day twenty-seven. That was a little too coincidental for my liking, but the concept was unique which I always appreciate. It was a very different kind of translation! I thought the way things ended in being extremely reminiscent of The War Games was fascinating as the Doctor called in the Time Lords for a cleanup job whilst knowing full well that he would be captured in the process. But he was expecting this. He'd actually planned for it. There's something more at work for the Unbound Doctor and I'm very fascinated by that! I can't wait to hear this version of the Doctor on Gallifrey and it's great to have Narvin featured as well. I can't wait for the finale! Overall, a really strong listen as the series heads to a close.

Rating: 8/10