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The Helliax Rift                               

Doctor Who The Monthly Adventures 237                       

A solo outing for the Fifth Doctor.  Mid 1980’s, woods in England, the Doctor is investigating a crashed spaceship, and a signal, and so are UNIT. The Doctor and UNIT together again dealing with aliens: just like old times or is it?

Though the Doctor and UNIT run into each other, its not quite the reunion that The Doctor (or we) would hope it to be. Lieutenant-Coronel Lewis Price, isn’t as enamoured with the Doctor as the previous leaders of UNIT were. In fact he seems to actively dislike the Doctor, the discord between them makes for an interesting set up. Also on the UNIT team is Daniel Hopkins.

The cliffhanger at the end of part 1 is quite interesting as you really aren’t sure as to which way it's going to go. It does suffer from the resolution though, as with a number of Doctor Who episodes, in that, its diffused so easily and removes all tension that led up to it.

Speaking of the end of episode 1, you are left with the fact that, after an episode worth of story, you realise that very little has actually happened. With part 2 events move on and the plot gets underway. Its discovered that a local clinic has been capturing aliens and experimenting on them.

Part three has the Doctor conducting a police interview. I’m not sure if the Doctor’s ever done it before, certainly being interviewed, so its quite refreshing. But the fact is that the intrigue is still there, though we’ve learnt more, by this point we still don’t know all there is about what’s going on. So you’re still one tenter hooks waiting for the reveal.

Part 4 is taken up with a protracted battle. The main nub of the story is known and to be honest I lost interest a little here. Fighting sequences aren’t the most interesting, and even less on audio. Knowing what been the driving force behind the whole affair, takes the wind out of the sails, and its become more run of the mill.

So Daniel Hopkins, I’m aware he comes back, but as far as this audio is concerned; he quite forgettable. I can only assume he’ll play a more important role next time.

On the whole I enjoyed it. 

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