Seizure

"You mustn't talk to it."

Writer: Guy Adams

Format: Audio

Released: October 2018

Series: Eighth Doctor Adventures: Ravenous 2.04

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Liv, Helen

Synopsis

As if it wasn't enough to be trapped in the labyrinth of a dying TARDIS and pursued by a ghost, the team find themselves face to face once more with the Eleven. But the Doctor has bigger things to worry about when he discovers they're being hunted by the only creature to strike fear into the hearts of a Time Lord: The Ravenous,

Verdict

Seizure was an excellent audio adventure to conclude the second series of Ravenous within the Eighth Doctor Adventures! After three episodes of essentially nothing in terms of the wider Ravenous story arc, this one went and smashed all the doors down! It was easily the best of this boxset so far and I just loved everything about it from start to finish. The follow on from Sweet Salvation and picking up where the Eleven was left stranded running from the Ravenous was terrific and the desperation that was evident from this tortured Time Lord in appealing to the Doctor for help showed just how dire his situation was. Liv was surprisingly callous in wanting to loop his plea for help in the TARDIS so she could dance to it, but I understand why after everything he’s put her and Helen through. The Doctor though can’t resist a call for help and despite all that, he won’t just let the Eleven die. Helen knew where things were going and didn’t even try to argue which was amusing because it was obvious the Doctor was always going to answer the call. The setting of Jaxa’s misconfigured TARDIS was excellent and the Doctor feeling the effects of the temporal leakage was great stuff. It’s a good job this wasn’t his TARDIS as the effects on him just from being a Time Lord were more than enough without a personal connection this particular model. Eight episodes into the Ravenous series and we finally learn who and what they are. The concept of something the Time Lords have nightmares about on paper sounds good but it’s a lot to live up to. Thankfully, I thought this episode did a stellar job in establishing just what kind of threat the Ravenous are. They weren’t interested in puny humans with lifespans of a century or less like Liv, they fed on Time Lords. And what a potential feast the Eleven would be! The Ravenous dialogue was really strong too in selling their own name because their hunger completely consumed them. The description of that was really eery and exactly what I would hope for. I like how their voice is quite raspy but even in audio their demeanour feels sneaky. It’s an intriguing quality but they certainly sound like something you wouldn’t want to be around. The fact that they are a species as well is fascinating rather than just one creature and I suspect that will play a part moving forward in the next two boxsets. I thought the plan of the Eleven was strong and I loved that he actually managed to steal the TARDIS! He was genuinely petrified by the Ravenous and even though he was the one who’d murdered Jaxa, her ghostly memories just added to the mysterious feel of the story. It was tremendous. I can’t quite place my finger on why this doesn’t get a perfect rating for me, perhaps it’s the sense of being incomplete with the cliffhanger finish? It’s a strong way to lead into the next series with the Eleven having the TARDIS and the Doctor, Liv and Helen all stuck in the abandoned and malfunctioning TARDIS. I’m looking forward to exploring more about the Ravenous as whilst we now know what they do, I’d like to know why they haunt the dreams of Time Lords! Hopefully I get the answer. Overall though, a fantastic finale to the boxset! I can’t wait for the next one already. 

Rating: 9/10