Dead to the World

"Nobody saw it coming."

Writer: Matthew Elliott

Format: Audio

Released: December 2015

Series: Monthly Adventures 207d

Featuring: Seventh Doctor, Ace

Synopsis

Tourist spaceship the Daedalus hangs suspended in space, all but three of its passengers having fallen victim to a bizarre infection. But if the Doctor saves those last survivors, he risks destroying the entire human race.

Verdict

Dead to the World was a decent story to conclude the You Are the Doctor collection comprising the two-hundred-and-seventh Monthly Adventure! I must admit, I am not the biggest fan of these releases within this range as they'r essentially just four Short Trips with more cast members, and I just feel like there's often a missed opportunity because of the duration. I do feel like that if this adventure was told over the course of two hours or so, it would have been vastly improved! The idea is solid but there just wasn't enough time to get a full backstory that did things justice. It was all rushed a little which is a shame because as my rating reflects this was good stuff! I was a tad disappointed in how things started because the Doctor was already on the Daedalus ship and it felt like we had been building towards something with Ace piloting the TARDIS and it just seemed skipped over which I assume is down to the minimal time available. For the first few minutes I didn't think Ace was going to appear at all with how much the Seventh Doctor was dominating things. I liked the predicament on the ship with just three survivors left from a terrible spree of deaths. Just hearing the word liquefied in relation to human death was horrifying as that must be a pretty terrible way to go. And the word was elongated and highlighted in a pretty disturbing way which really sold the situation and how dire it was. I thought the Doctor realising he was in the midst of a disaster by the name of the ship was fun and it put him within events he knew as established history. That's always fun but it feels a little different with this incarnation as he does like to meddle and play games. Ace being on the ship despite the Doctor saying he was alone was good and she would actually play an important role. I thought the Doctor pondering on the gender of his sonic screwdriver was incredibly random and whilst I would generally agree that it would be male, why would something like that need to be assigned? I'm not really sure what the purpose was there but it was certainly interesting! The Doctor utilising his title to try and help with the virus that was wiping out the population of the ship was good and it was fun that a couple of the survivors had very differing opinions on his presence there. Was he actually there to help or was he a stowaway? Adriana was a fascinating character who had some rather questionable motives in wanting to destroy Earth. The whole idea of the Galparians having Earth listed as real estate is a fun concept that I think could be much more beneficial to have more time to play with. I think there's real potential with that idea and I would love to know who the contractors are they could recommend to fill up some of the oceans if there was a slight aversion to water! That's a big percentage of the planet fit for redevelopment. The Doctor posing as a buyer to the Galparians was fun because it was always going to end one way in him firmly establishing that the listing be removed. Ariana saving the world by accident was good too and I thought Cynthia was a good character too as one of the tourists. Space tourism goes wrong is always a strong basis for the story. I thought referencing the events of Signs and Wonders with everything that happened with Hex was a strong emotional pull and it's good to know that the feelings are still profound. It was also weird to try and link the stories in this collection by the identity of a Ms Zingiber who had been around the previous three adventures. It never felt like they were connected and insinuating that the TARDIS was tracking her and not letting Ace pilot her correctly felt off. Overall though, a good listen to conclude the set! 

Rating: 7/10