Skip to main content

Asking For a Friend                                 


The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield 4.2                                       


The Doctor is having a hard time being president of the universe - a doomed universe at that, maybe some counselling will help….

The structure of this audio is that it’s a series of sessions with the Doctor and therapist intercut with a number of interactions with Benny, flashbacks and such. There is no plot as such, being more of a reveal as to why the Doctor is behaving the way is, and “not the Doctor’ according to Benny.

The Doctor is having to use diplomacy, negotiations, and bureaucracy to try and save people, planets and the universe, and its not easy. Gone are the days when’re he could sweep in, set the world to right in a day and swan off again. Now he has to stick around and deal nicely with people.

Benny’s frustrations are explored here. Her dissatisfaction with the Doctor, that cropped up in the last episode, are still present. But you do get to see what the Doctor is dealing with, and its not as easy and straightforward forward as it's thought to be.

Annette Badland plays the therapist, better know for playing a Siltheen, and is great. Again the relationship develops with her adds to the message of the story. She herself not immune to the Doctors behaviour and ways of dealing with an impossible situation.

There are mentions on the Emporium and other previous adventures. One or two great moments. It was a surprisingly good audio, and well recommended. 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Last Days of the Powell Estate The Ninth Doctor Adventures 4.2 The Doctor and Rose find themselves in the future, 2036 , to be exact. Though, when Rose discovers that the run down, derelict building they’ve arrived at is what left of the Powell estate , she starts to worry about her mother… It feels like quite a wait since the last episode. I’m not one for binge listening, but with Chris and Billie back together, you just want more. They meet a guy doing a video about strange places who tells the Doctor and Rose about an entity dubbed ‘ Mr Fingers ’. People feel a hand on their shoulder but when they turn round no ones there, feel it twice and you’re gone. The idea would make quite a nice horror film. It has the ingredients, the empty building, the sense of something unreal, people disappearing. The fact that once there felt the hand, if they turn around next time, they’re a goner.  The entity exists both in Roses time and the future, so we get Jackie and her friend in 2006...
Post a Comment
Read more
The Skeleton Quay                        Jago and Litefoot 6.1                                 Jago and Litefoot arrive back in their own time and are immediately accosted. The Queen needs their services. Ghosts are seen at a village lost to the sea. So if you didn’t know or had forgot, J&L spent the last series in the 1960’s. Here they are back where they belong, but we don’t get to catch up with Ellie , Sgt Quick etc. As they're off straight away. So the village of Shingle cove was washed away by the sea during a storm, but something would seem to be amiss as J&L start to see ghosts and visions of how the village was, and someone is out to stop them. Its does fall into that trope of small town by the sea, 73 yards does it, the Stuff of Legend also. Not that its necessarily a bad thing, but it sets the tone for the episode. The sea, cli...
Post a Comment
Read more
 The Three Companions I had intended to listen to Sirens of Time Redux after Once and Future Coda, however as it still hadn’t been released I went for the next audio on my list The Companion Chronicles: The Three Companions. This originally came out as 10 minutes parts, tacked onto the Monthly range, in 20009/10. The three companions being Polly, the Brigadier and Thomas Brewster, and consists of three, 40 minute episodes. Polly writes to the Brig, wanting to find out about the Doctor, having read an article by Mrs Jo Jones that mentions him, and tells a story of when she knew the Doctor. The thing that got me into the Companion Chronicles was the Mahogany Murder’s, I had tried them before and hadn’t taken to the the narration style. With the Mahogany Murder’s, it was Jago and Litefoot meeting and each recounting their recent events. This takes a similar approach. Though they are writing/emailing to each other there are interjections, comments from the other, which is a little odd,...
Post a Comment
Read more