Faithful Friends: The Dying Breed

"You will be ripped apart like the animals that you are."

Writer: Tim Foley

Format: Audio

Released: January 2025

Series: Classic Doctors, New Monsters 5.02

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Leela, K9

Synopsis

When the Doctor, Leela and K9 land on the Lupari homeworld tracking a temporal anomaly, they find a kingdom in disarray. 

The Great Lord Garzan's son has been attacked, and strange beasts roam the frozen landscape. Whilst Leela spars with the new heir, the Doctor and K9 must work out how all these strange events are connected.

Little do they know that their discoveries will shake the Lupari to their core...

Verdict

The Dying Breed was a somewhat average continuation of the Faithful Friends fifth series of Classic Doctors, New Monsters. I thought this episode was absolutely fine but a little lacking in terms of excitement which was a shame. At only sixty-eight minutes I did feel that the episode went very long and at the forty-five minute mark it felt like things were drawing to a close so I was stunned to see that there were twenty-three minutes remaining! I think it's a really good decision to jump into the era of the Thirteenth Doctor although I must admit I was quite surprised when the Lupari were to be the monster for a Classic Doctor to encounter. I must admit that I was really impressed with how the episode gave a lot more backstory to the Lupari and the concept behind the Loop itself was intriguing. The description of it being a giant dog collar in space was almost laughable in how ludicrously hilarious that was. I couldn't disagree with it but it just sounded a tad silly. I thought the idea to have K9 alongside the Fourth Doctor and Leela was a stroke of genius and I was kicking myself for not putting the canine connection there between the robot dog and the Lupari! Hearing K9 take on the role of being the Doctor and Leela's master was an absolute treat and he really did step into the role with ease. I thought given his logical make up as a computer he would need a little more convincing, but he understood the assignment with ease which was amusing. It was without the doubt the highlight of the story for me, especially when he was referring to them as no good riff raff. I could just picture the smile on the Fourth Doctor's face! I thought the Great Lord Garzan was a decent character and arrive on the Lupari homeworld at a time where his heir had just been killed was typical timing of the Doctor. His sister Kira was quick to point the finger at the Doctor and Leela, and who could blame her given the timing of the strangers' arrival? She could see the fighter in Leela right from the off which was good and it was fun for the savage to not exactly hide that trait about her! Their relationship was frosty from the off and it never really showed any signs of improving. I thought the Doctor and Garzan seeing more eye to eye was good and the trust the Great Lord put into K9's word despite his animatronic makeup was most intriguing. Surely a robot dog would be a good means of infiltration to the Lupari homeworld? His trust in strangers was a little odd though I must say. I thought the whole premise of the conclusion there was a bit of a let down as just when Kira and Leela were going to fight it out, Garzan accepted the fate of his son and wanted to ensure that his new heir also trusted strangers. But why would you? Sure. I like the link between man and Lupari and the natural tear in space/time to the Ice Age on Earth made sense, but it was just a bit dull to be honest. The Soothsayer was a really strong character and it was her pondering at the end about the Doctor that I really liked. She knew about his past and future and everything in between with regards to the Lupari. What he would do and had done, and would forget and had forgot. I thought the Fourth Doctor returning to check in on things later in life when he was travelling with Adric was a nice touch to conclude and her marvelling at his red attire was a nice nod to that Season 18 attire! Overall though, this was lacking in excitement for me. It was good to expand on the Lupari and there is certainly potential there, but it just went a bit long for my liking. Still, not bad. 

Rating: 6/10