Companion Piece

"Every companion the Doctor's ever had in my own private museum."

Writer: John Dorney

Format: Audio

Released: April 2019

Series: Eighth Doctor Adventures: Ravenous 3.02

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Liv, Helen, Charley, Bliss, River

Synopsis

When the evil Time Lord known as the Nine comes across a rare and valuable item floating in the space-time vortex, his acquisitive nature means he can't resist the urge to complete the set. 

Soon a wicked scheme is underway. Only the Doctor's friends – past, present and future – will be able to stop him.

But without the Doctor around will even the combined skills of Liv, Helen, River Song, Bliss and Charley be enough to save the day?

Verdict

Companion Piece was an excellent audio to continue my way through the third Ravenous series of Eighth Doctor Adventures! As irony would have it though but not a huge surprise given the episode's title, this barely featured the Eighth Doctor himself but he wasn't missed! That goes to show the strength of his friends because the Eighth Doctor's companions in particular combined very nicely here to take on a quite deranged and tyrannically obsessed villain in the form of the Nine. He almost seems a little madder than the Eleven who has come to be the main incarnation faced of this regeneratively challenged Time Lord and that was actually quite exciting. Playing into the events of Doom Coalition was really good with the Nine having the Clocksmith's TARDIS and disguising the exterior as the blue wooden police box most famously associated with the Doctor's version was just wonderful. What better way to obtain the Doctor's companions? The premise behind this story is quite extraordinary but it really works because it's not just being done for the sake of it. The Nine is evil but he has a collective nature about him which I quite liked. He was also prone to stealing but in being something of a completist, he couldn't go about just having a couple of the Doctor's former companions kicking about the place. He needed the entire set! Now, I'm sure there would be some deliberation on that but there wasn't much argument to be had with some of the cameos we heard! They were quite delightful. The agony of Jamie saying he only met the Doctor and didn't know him that well was a stark reminder of just how damaging his fate at the end of The War Games is and I loved the playful jabs that came from Romana II being captured. The Nine wasn't all that comprehending of Gallifreyan chronology which is quite fair and I loved how he asked Romana how she managed to get out of E-Space. Staying ambitious there was the right move for sure. I liked Liv and Helen's reaction to seeing that the Nine was the one who had 'rescued' them because it didn't exactly improve their circumstances, and it was wonderful for them to meet Charley initially. Her being there as an earlier companion of the Eighth Doctor was terrific and I liked the C'rizz mention. The Nine didn't seem all too keen on obtaining him for the collection just yet! Charley being moved around corridors and essentially displays of each incarnation was quite amusing, although a little namedrop of who else she had encountered there would have been such a simple improvement. River kind of steals the show here and to be honest, when doesn't she? Her aiding of the Nine whilst under duress was fascinating and I was surprised that it was her who threw Bliss into the equation. Hearing her outside of the Time War was brilliant and her expertise were well utilised, even if they weren't quite the ones River was expecting. She had been taken prior to ever meeting the Doctor! Her continued lack of understanding of who the Doctor was and what Time Lords were made for some good entertainment, and it was a delight to learn that River was assembling the perfect team for an escape. The Nine initially took great pleasure in witnessing an escape attempt but that soon died out when Charley was shot by a droid. The concept of their guns increasing in damage levels up to fatal with each shot was pretty daunting! River also buying the companions more time by sending the Nine on a wild goose chase against her younger self was tremendous and if there was a companion who didn't care about timelines then it was her! Although, is River really a companion? The suggestion that she wouldn't be doesn't quite sit right with me but it prompted some very fun discussion! Would the penguin (Frobisher) really count? River seems to and that's all the confirmation I need. I thought the way things ended was unexpected but the suggestion of Katarina being the one from within the Vortex and having a brief return to life that saved the day was quite incredible! She's certainly not the source of companion I envisaged saving the day, but it caught me off guard in a very positive way. As did River being disappointed she didn't have to use her lipstick on Liv and Helen to ensure the safety of the timelines. Overall, an excellent listen! 

Rating: 9/10