Doctor Who: The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Ravagers – Review

When Doctor Who returned to our screens in 2005, I doubt anyone thought it would be the hit that it became. At the time, I expect it was greeted with the same level of excitement as other reboots. Luckily though, Who was an instant hit, and a large part of that was due to how successful the leading man, Christopher Eccleston, was.

Over the years many people from that solo series of Who have returned to reprise their characters and since he left the show in 2005, it seemed that Eccleston would never return. There have been a few factors that led to Big Finish doing what seemed the impossible and The Ninth Doctor has finally returned. But is it Saturday tea time all over again?

The opening story of this set, Sphere of Freedom does a good job of kicking proceedings off and the author of the entire box set, Nicholas Briggs revels in bringing the Ninth Doctor back into the fold. What I really liked was that it wasn’t some big build-up to his triumphant return, instead, the story opening with him quietly investigating a series of time-eddies that have been opening up across a solar system. There is an instant air of Russell T. Davies writing in how this episode is handled, in particular, the Doctor meeting his companion for the set, Nova, just bumping into her and then turning her life upside-down.

There is also something familiar with the Ninth Doctor’s era in that he’s investigating what those time-eddies have to do with a new gaming company are up too, a corrupt company that are working on immersive games. That is an aspect that will come into play in the final instalment, but it seems that the Ninth Doctor is destined to have something to do with gaming stations.

Anyone expecting an explosive comeback will be disappointed. While there is plenty of things going on, I did find this a little talky, with the Doctor having to explain to the Nth-degree what time-eddies were and why they are dangerous. Luckily, Briggs doesn’t explain everything to us in his script, keeping just enough plot threads hanging to get to listen to the following stories.

New companion, Nova, while enjoyable, is perhaps the weakest aspect of the set, which isn’t to say that actress Camilla Beeput doesn’t do an amazing job with what she is given, it is perhaps the handling of character amongst so many others that means that she is given little to do. And by the end of this set, let alone this story, I’m not really sure she has much of a character or why we should care about her. We learn that she is a chef, looking for a new and exciting life somewhere else, and that is fine, companions have been given worse reasons for joining the Doctor in the past, but Briggs doesn’t really explore any other aspects of her character beyond that. In fact, he makes it a focal point for why she does what she does over the course of the stories. Luckily though, Briggs imbues her with just enough likability that I’m looking forward to hearing her in future stories.

Following on from a cliff-hanger, Cataclysm goes very Steven Moffatt with the time-eddies allowing for some timey-wimey storytelling. This non-linear way of writing is something Briggs has done before, thought to a better extent with Creatures of Beauty a Fifth Doctor story from the early 2000s.

In fact, the connections with Creatures of Beauty flow into the overall storyline of this set’s villain, who gets some real exploration in Cataclysm. While I’m hardly shaking in my boots at the character of Audrey here, what Briggs does is make her appear to be a slave to the corporation she runs in the opening episode, while exploring her character in Cataclysm by showing us how she got to that position and showing us that she can still be saved. In many ways perhaps Briggs was wrong to make Nova the companion as a slightly more morally grey companion like Audrey would have been a good contrast to the Ninth Doctor who it seems is fresh out of the Time-War.

The strength of Cataclysm certainly comes from Briggs handling of Audrey and the Doctor’s interactions with the older and younger versions of her we meet throughout the episode. And to his credit, he also handles the time-travel elements with ease, probably to the extent that it would make Steven Moffat blush. It also isn’t as talky as Sphere of Freedom with plenty more action, even if that still leads to some characters not getting much to do.

But that all changes with Food Fight the third and final entry to the set. At first, I did wonder what food was going to have to do with the story, but by the end, it does make a lot more sense than you’d think. All the character’s we’ve been introduced to over the course of the set, Nova, Audrey and minor characters in the previous two outings, Lieutenant Farraday, Captain Halloran and Marcus Aurelius Gallius, played by Ben Lee, Jamie Parker and Dan Starkey respectively, get plenty of the action, Farraday, in particular, is very funny in his reactions and had me smiling at a few moments.

And, again luckily, Food Fight manages to handle the time-travel aspects brilliantly, bringing the set to a conclusion that was exciting to listen to, even if I admit that I had started to zone slightly out by the end. But out of all three episodes, it was this one that could have carried the set alone. I seem to have used the word luck a lot when discussing some of the aspects of this set and while Briggs does have some excellent writing credits to his name, for me he also has some, not-so-great writing credits. Ravagers falls somewhere in the middle for me, as one long storyline didn’t really work for me on this occasion. There is some good storytelling on offer here, and Briggs instantly has a great handle on the Ninth Doctor but there are one or two things that let it down for me.

However, having said that, I struggled with the 2005 series for years. When the show came back I was far too young to understand the Doctor’s survivors guilt and to understand the implications of war. It has only recently been that I’ve gotten to really love the Ninth Doctor’s era on television so I wonder if, in a few years time, this set will grow on me.

Let’s talk though about the leading man. Eccleston throws himself back into the role with ease and excitement and you really get a feeling that he is enjoying getting to play the Doctor once again, no matter what he might say in interviews. There is a now-infamous line he said recently in Big Finish interviews that this run at Big Finish was mainly motivated by being a paid job. And I did make the mistake of listening and reading that before going into this adventure.

While it didn’t entirely tarnish my listening pleasure, I was thinking it at certain times. But Eccleston also seemed impressed by the writing, so as long as Big Finish keep giving him excellent material like what’s on offer here, hopefully, his time coming back as the Ninth Doctor will become because he genuinely likes coming back, not something that is motivated by money.

But it also impossible not to be won over by Eccleston from the moment he turns up as he vividly brings the Ninth Doctor back to life. Like all the other actors who have come to Big Finish it does seem like he’s just stepped off the set in 2005 and fallen through one of the time-eddies littered through this script and continued playing the role like nothing happened. It also seems like he is willing to try and ignore or forget some of the behind-the-scenes shenanigans that he’s reported on for the time being. I wonder though whether recent antics from two of his series regulars will impede him from wanting to do any more past the upcoming three remaining sets. Only time will tell I suppose.

It seems like I’ve been a little harsh on this set. It was a lot of fun but reading some of the comments on social media, I did wonder whether I’d missed something. It was a good set of stories but is it Saturday teatime all over again for me? Not really. It’s great that it was for everyone else though and I suspect that in a few years, this set will really grow on me. But I think the linked three stories let down what could have been a great return for a great Doctor. Maybe if it had been the second or third set in the range, I would have possibly enjoyed it more.

With the upcoming set, Respond to All Calls seemingly giving us three separate stories, that’ll be a little more up my street. But Eccleston and the love for his era from everyone involved here makes this set more than worth getting. And it ends with the promise of more fantastic things to come, the Ninth Doctor certainly hasn’t lost any charm in the fifteen years since he exploded onto our screens. I can’t wait for this era to take me by the hand and tell me to run once again!