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selenakThe Companion Chronicles is a series by Big Finish in which various of the former companions get to narrate an adventure from their time with their respective Doctors, centered on them. I've previously reviewed Old Soldiers, in which the narrator is the Brigadier. This time, the Companions are Jo Grant and Sara Kingdom, from the Third and First Doctor's era respectively.
The Doll of Death: In which Marc Platt uses the inherent creepiness of dolls to great effect and captures the zany UNIT era quite well, complete with Brig/Three arguments because the Brig wants the Doctor to fill out tax documents, Jo responding to being patronized with smiling sweetly and heading off to do her own thing, Benton solidly and stoically supportive, and that signature piece of the late 60s and early 70s, go-go boots. I have to say I thought the most delightful touch was the present day narration. As opposed to most fanfic and one of the novels, Platt doesn't have Jo divorced from Cliff but being still married to him, and being his practical manager while Cliff is as ecologically minded a professor as ever, writing furious papers. They're in England for a conference and Jo after years in warm South America promptly catches a cold, which gives her the opportunity to catch up with her blog in her hotel room and to tell the adventure we're hearing. Of course Jo blogs. She so would. And probably has all the former companions friended she could get a hold of.
The ending is a bit abrupt and nonsensical, but I don't really mind; odd endings are a grand DW tradition, after all. *veg* Katy Manning has audibly fun not just reprising Jo but channelling the Doctor and the Brigadier. And Benton. And Mike Yates. Awwww, Pertwee era. (That reminds me: I had hoped there would be a dedication to Barry Letts in the latest special, as there had been one for Verity Lambert when she died, and was glad to see there was indeed.)
is the first audio to bring back Sara Kingdom, one of the few Old Who companions who died (and very gruesomely, too) on the show. Sara belongs in the late One era and to my knowledge was the first companion who had a redemption story, as she started out as a zealous security officer, even killing her own brother in the service of the state. She played by Jean Marsh who decades later also played Morgan Le Fay in the Seventh Doctor era. Her companion status is the matter of some debate, as she was only in one story, but that story went on for nine episodes, which was more, as the audio leaflet points out, than Kameleon and Dr. Grace from the movie of doom ever got, both of whom are counted as companions. I didn't have a position on the Sara = Companion? question one way or the other before, but after hearing Jean Marsh give a fabulous performance for this story, I'm definitely on the "she so was!" side of things.
This performance is a layered one, as Home Truths is a story with a twist, a narration within a narration, and even under the spoiler cut, I don't really want to give the twist away. Suffice it to say the audio does a great thing with the haunted house archetype and does the narration-within-narration/unreliable/or reliable?/narrator better than Master does. The fact that Jean Marsh's voice isn't that of a young woman anymore is used to great storytelling effect, and both Sara's character, her dealing with what she did to her brother, and another character are richly conveyed. This is my favourite of the companion chronicles I've listened to so far.
The Doll of Death: In which Marc Platt uses the inherent creepiness of dolls to great effect and captures the zany UNIT era quite well, complete with Brig/Three arguments because the Brig wants the Doctor to fill out tax documents, Jo responding to being patronized with smiling sweetly and heading off to do her own thing, Benton solidly and stoically supportive, and that signature piece of the late 60s and early 70s, go-go boots. I have to say I thought the most delightful touch was the present day narration. As opposed to most fanfic and one of the novels, Platt doesn't have Jo divorced from Cliff but being still married to him, and being his practical manager while Cliff is as ecologically minded a professor as ever, writing furious papers. They're in England for a conference and Jo after years in warm South America promptly catches a cold, which gives her the opportunity to catch up with her blog in her hotel room and to tell the adventure we're hearing. Of course Jo blogs. She so would. And probably has all the former companions friended she could get a hold of.
The ending is a bit abrupt and nonsensical, but I don't really mind; odd endings are a grand DW tradition, after all. *veg* Katy Manning has audibly fun not just reprising Jo but channelling the Doctor and the Brigadier. And Benton. And Mike Yates. Awwww, Pertwee era. (That reminds me: I had hoped there would be a dedication to Barry Letts in the latest special, as there had been one for Verity Lambert when she died, and was glad to see there was indeed.)
is the first audio to bring back Sara Kingdom, one of the few Old Who companions who died (and very gruesomely, too) on the show. Sara belongs in the late One era and to my knowledge was the first companion who had a redemption story, as she started out as a zealous security officer, even killing her own brother in the service of the state. She played by Jean Marsh who decades later also played Morgan Le Fay in the Seventh Doctor era. Her companion status is the matter of some debate, as she was only in one story, but that story went on for nine episodes, which was more, as the audio leaflet points out, than Kameleon and Dr. Grace from the movie of doom ever got, both of whom are counted as companions. I didn't have a position on the Sara = Companion? question one way or the other before, but after hearing Jean Marsh give a fabulous performance for this story, I'm definitely on the "she so was!" side of things.
This performance is a layered one, as Home Truths is a story with a twist, a narration within a narration, and even under the spoiler cut, I don't really want to give the twist away. Suffice it to say the audio does a great thing with the haunted house archetype and does the narration-within-narration/unreliable/or reliable?/narrator better than Master does. The fact that Jean Marsh's voice isn't that of a young woman anymore is used to great storytelling effect, and both Sara's character, her dealing with what she did to her brother, and another character are richly conveyed. This is my favourite of the companion chronicles I've listened to so far.
