Get Andy

"Have you just rescued me or have you taken me hostage?"

Writer: Lisa McMullin

Format: Audio

Released: March 2022

Series: Eighth Doctor Adventures: Stranded 4.02

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Liv, Helen, Andy

Synopsis

The Doctor resolves to make a difference and save one life in particular. But someone else is making a beeline for Sergeant Andy Davidson.

Mr Bird has something to prove, and he will go to any extreme to do it...

Verdict

Get Andy was a strong episode to continue my way through the fourth Stranded series of Eighth Doctor Adventures! This was an eventful fifty minutes to say the least and it follows up the conclusion (that happened at the beginning!) of What Just Happened in sending the Doctor to pop out to save Andy. He of course was blown up with the spaceship and just about the rest of the human race in this awful version of the future partly thanks to Divine Intervention, but here we really did exploit the use of the time streams being intertwined and woven amongst each other. I think that's becoming fun to explore and take advantage of in terms of storytelling, but at the same time I'm quite glad that there's clearly a limited run as the series begins to wind to a conclusion. I think it's so typically Doctor Who that in a story that attempts to resolve his death, Andy just casually knocks on the door at Baker Street right after the Doctor departs in the TARDIS to try and retrieve him. He thought he had found the exact moment (ish) that would make him able to save Andy and not impact the timelines too much with them already being severely damaged, but the humour of him arriving and Andy not being there was fantastic! He couldn't quite believe it and that was intriguing to hear as he desperately hoped to find him. He only had seconds left before the ship exploded and hearing how causal he was with the countdown in those final seconds was baffling! It seemed to take him until there were only three or four seconds remaining until impact before realising that he himself was actually in danger! The way his speech just cut off was really good in selling the impact of the explosion and there really wasn't a way out. The fact he was clinging on to essentially debris after the explosion with the TARDIS gone as well painted quite the picture. I thought Helen and Liv initially phoning the TARDIS was fun and that was especially the case with the number being saved as 'The Missus'. The relationship between the Doctor and the TARDIS is always a great way to inject some emotion and humorous discussion. The Doctor finding the strength though to return the call at what he thought were his last moments was superb stuff and a defining moment for the Eighth Doctor in my opinion. The way they reminisced on everything that has happened to them since Doom Coalition onwards with the likes of Ravenous, the Nine, the Eleven and the multiple Masters getting mentioned before everything that went down whilst stranded was delightful. The Eighth Doctor really has had an extraordinary journey with Big Finish and that's been wonderful to listen to so this felt like a really strong moment. It honestly would have been fitting of regeneration and maybe if we stuck around with the alternate future longer that would have happened. With Mr Bird being the one to save Andy, using his dodgy device to get back to the ship at the moment of the Doctor's arrival and have Andy not go with Bird but the Doctor instead was clever. Helen being the one to do it after some hesitation by Andy made sense and I really did understand the positions of all parties involved. Andy had been saved and would be risking death all over again if he went back. But of course he would. His reaction though when time was being rewritten and this version of him just died again anyway as the alternate version took assertion was quite amusing. Poor old Andy! I do like how there seems to be a mission statement now in beginning to put the timelines right in ensuring that Mr Bird never comes to be as far as Robin's future is concerned, and I like that. It's a mission of intent. Overall, a strong episode to continue the series and it's good to have Andy back!

Rating: 8/10