Victorious II: Big Finish.

"No no, not JUST the Doctor, I'm entirely the Doctor, there's no 'just' about it, I am exceptionally the Doctor!"

The Doctor, Genetics of the Daleks

For Christmas this year, shipping issues resulted in my friend Colin sending me an Indigo gift certificate and the suggestion that he had wanted to buy me some Doctor Who books from the Time Lord Victorious series.  Intrigued by the idea of looking at some Doctor Who content from outside the series, I placed an order with Indigo, but was then faced with the inevitable shipping delay - the wheels grind slowly but presumably exceeding fine, as the proverb goes.

However, the Time Lord Victorious story is not just about the printed word:  the event takes place across a wide range of media, including audio books.

I've never been a big fan of audio books as a genre, but I have enjoyed a few audio dramas in the past - coincidentally, the Torchwood Golden Age BBC Audio performance from 2009 - so I decided to took a look, or more accurately give a listen, to Genetics of the Daleks, one of the Time Lord Victorious audio plays available from Big Finish Productions.

Big Finish produces a wide selection of audio books primarily based on science-fiction television series such as Space: 1999, Blake's 7, The Prisoner, Terrahawks, Captain Scarlet, Star Trek, and, of course, Doctor Who.  The Doctor Who catalog also includes stories featuring noteworthy characters from the Doctor's universe, such as River Song, The Master (and Missy), the 10th Doctor's daughter/clone Jenny, Lady Christina de Souza, the cat burglar from the 2009 Easter episode, as well as Torchwood and UNIT stories.

In the case of Genetics of the Daleks, the story itself was very much conventional Doctor Who fare: a starship with a small crew isolated in space, a Dalek assumed to be harmless who is anything but, and an unexpected appearance of a blue police box, but I quite enjoyed it.  I had expected an audio book, but Genetics of the Daleks is what I would consider to be an audio drama - a radio play, in the parlance of my youth, very well produced, and broken down into convenient seven to ten minute episodes.  I was also charmed to discover that Tom Baker, one of the best loved and most popular of the Doctors from the series, provided the voice of the Doctor for the audio production. 

Baker is not the only retired Doctor to return as a voice for Big Finish:  classic Doctors such as Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann are also involved, along with companions such as Nicola Bryant, Sarah Sutton, Bonnie Langford, and Sophie Aldred.  Most recently, the 9th Doctor, Christoper Eccleston, has joined the group, which is welcome news to those of us who felt that one season of Mr. Eccleston's performance as the Doctor really wasn't enough. Overall, I think this is a brilliant idea - time may have its way with our bodies, but I would need to do an actual real-time comparison to see whether or not Tom Baker's distinctive tones have changed that much over time. To my ear, it's very much the Doctor I remember from the episodes.

Individual audio books range from about $3.00 to $20 CAD - Genetics of the Daleks costs $7.99, with a run time of 66 minutes - and there are collections that cost up to $30.   Considering that Amazon's Audible™ audio books cost as much as actual hardcovers, Big Finish's pricing seems reasonable.  To be fair, you're not getting the same duration, but where else are you going to hear Tom Baker introduce himself as the Doctor one more time?

- Sid

 

P. S. I almost forgot what brought us here: the story's connection to Time Lord Victorious was quite brief, a passing mention as to the Doctor's future in a dark place, made by the damaged Dalek who is picked up by the ship's crew.  However, as when the series features a theme that runs through an entire season, sometimes the hints are quite subtle - remember all the background Bad Wolf graffiti from 2005?