Iterations of I

"They believed that God was a number."

Writer: John Dorney

Format: Audio

Released: August 2014

Series: Fifth Doctor Adventures 1.02

Featuring: Fifth Doctor, Adric, Nyssa, Tegan

Synopsis

The house of Fleming's Island had been left to rot. Ever since a strange and unexplained death soon after it was built, and plagued with troubling rumours about what lurked there, it remained empty and ignored for decades until the Cult moved in. As twenty people filled its many rooms, the eerie building seemed to be getting a new lease of life.

But now it is empty again. The Cult found something in its corridors... and then vanished. 

Trapped on the island one dark night, the Doctor, Tegan, Nyssa and Adric look into the building's mystery, its storied of madness and death. Their only chance is to understand what terrible thing has been disturbed here... before it consumes them utterly.

Verdict

Iterations of I was another strong story to conclude the Fifth Doctor Boxset! This first batch of Fifth Doctor Adventures really has set the tone for what does become an excellent range and I like how things have moved on chronologically from the Psychodrome opener in terms of the timeline for the Doctor and his companions. I thought the start in the TARDIS was good fun and the prospect of Adric trying to pilot in the Doctor’s absence was magnificent. After so much of the early Fifth Doctor era being spent trying to get Tegan back to Heathrow, it’s audacious for Adric to try and get the TARDIS there after the Doctor has failed several times. Only Adric would pick that as the destination in trying to fly the TARDIS! Nyssa being pretty certain that the equations were correct and they knew what they were doing was fun when the Doctor emerged from reading Black Orchid. I thought that was good continuity and it’s nice for the Doctor to get around to reading it after the events of Black Orchid. The arrival to Fleming’s Island in 1981 was good and the smugness from the Doctor at Adric not getting to where he intended was delightful. His frustration was evident and right in character which was great. His dealing in negative numbers by being from E-Space was good rationale for him getting it wrong. With this boxset being the first for Matthew Waterhouse in reprising Adric as companion, I think this is a brilliant use of his character. His mathematical ability is used wonderfully well and the whole theme of numbers was just fascinating. I can’t say I’ve ever thought of numbers in a way like was presented here and that was magnificent. I loved the concept of God being a number and humanity searching for that was good, but they overshot in thinking they could control it if it was found. Imogen and Martin starting things off as the students studying was good and the fate of the former after the latter died was sadly a tad predictable for me. The focus on the letter I was intriguing and a letter representing a number is all good with me, but I just clicked right away that it stood for Imogen. I think there could have been a way where we didn’t hear her name confirmed until Jerome confirmed it was his girlfriend. It was still fantastic and a really interesting concept! Sentient numbers sounds a tad baffling and that was even more so the case when the Doctor explained how numbers weren’t exactly anything tangible. They only exist in relation to something else and that is wonderful to think about! There was a lot of time to stop and think in this story which was impressive. I thought the twist with DeValley turning for greed was a nice surprise and I liked the simplicity of his reasoning. Money talks! I thought Adric getting shot was a pretty big surprise but his moment to explain that he wasn’t human and healed quickly before jumping from the helicopter was quite spectacular! The conclusion with Jerome going into the sequencing was a little predictable also which was a shame, and the way the predator was defeated in terms of the mathematical chaos was decent but it didn’t feel all that final with the Doctor’s comments at the end. It seemed like a temporary solution so for them to leave didn’t feel quite right. Things may not have ended how I would have liked, but this was still a really impressive story. I loved the concept and the use of numbers was really clever. A brilliant concept! 

Rating: 8/10