Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor Classic Companions

I’ll be honest, when this boxset was announced, it didn’t inspire much confidence. I’m not a huge fan of these cover designs, I think they look great on the War Doctor sets but not on any of the other ones. Also, the title, The Tenth Doctor, Classic Companions, doesn’t really scream an imaginative title. Luckily then, the stories inside are much more imaginative than the overall title would suggest and does a successful job of reuniting a popular Doctor with four popular companions.

Splinters, as the blurb suggests, opens with the Doctor finding K-9 floating in space following his distress call. Author, John Dorney doesn’t waste much time with introductions, the Tenth Doctor already met a version of K-9 on television but what he makes clear is this a version of K-9 who was around in the Time War and he is dealing with the fallout, following orders from Romana. Deciding to help his old friend, the Doctor and the TARDIS find themselves in Cornwall in history and Leela who is looking after a group of villagers from the evil Spriggan.

The script from Dorney feels like something from an old Hammer Horror film, with the Spriggan taking children away on their eighteenth birthday and draining their life essence away. What I also liked was that if dealt with similar themes that had once adorned The Omega Factor range, which dealt with myths and legends and told some brilliantly scary stories with them. Here things get a much more Doctor Who-y twist as Big Finish continue to add to the mythology of the Time War.

What felt a bit strange though was how rushed the reunion between the Doctor, K-9 and Leela felt. Of course, Leela has spent a lot of time on Gallifrey so the idea of regeneration isn’t something new to her, but I felt there should have been a little more made of it. But given how the story concludes maybe this was intended. What was strange was how sillily she was written, not understanding a simple play on words. Leela isn’t silly, but here she doesn’t have the same intelligence as her instinct that made her a great companion.

The opening acts of the story are strong, with the gothic horror feel that made Leela’s era on the show so famous, the final act does get a bit confusing and requires some concentration. But it does pay off the rest of the story, even if I had thought the villain was going to be Magnus Greel. But with Multiverses being a large part of film and television culture, the villain might be a bit more familiar than you think. But it gives David Tennant a chance to show how what a great radio actor he is as well as a screen actor.

The second story, The Stuntman, from Lizzie Hopley, sees the Doctor and K-9 entering a virtual reality to help save Nyssa when she has gotten caught up in the machinations of a Time War criminal. For the most part, this is another strong story, there are one or two things which weren’t handled well, but time flew past listening to it.

It is weird hearing a companion like Nyssa being a stuntwoman and even hearing Sarah Sutton saying the lines feel a little wrong. Of course, part of the story is that this isn’t supposed to be real as much of the action takes place in virtual reality. Unfortunately, as great as she is, Sarah Sutton and Nyssa don’t really get a lot to do. Instead, much of this story falls onto the shoulders of John Leeson, who gets a double role in this story. And good old K-9 gets a chance to prove what a good dog he really is. Tennant too has some great moments and some moments of genuine horror when he discovers what has happened to the victims of the virtual reality, bringing some much-needed Time Lord Victorious anger.

The villain sadly doesn’t get much to do, nor is he really played as a villain, instead, he appears to be some bloke who just happens to be there. He could be the space-station cleaner for all the Doctor, Nyssa and K-9 deal with him. It’s a shame because it renders The Stuntman as nothing more than a fun run-around, even if it does give K-9 some time to shine. It’s a shame we didn’t hear more from real Nyssa or again, her make any comment on how the Doctor has changed, especially as the 10th Doctor was modelled after the Doctor she travelled with.

The final story, Quantum of Axos from Roy Gill was another good outing, this time reuniting the Doctor with Ace. Like the other two episodes, this one starts out strong, while it slowly begins to unravel towards the end. I’m still not sure how the Axons are supposed to fit in with the Time War fallout, though I suspect it has something to do with the time loop they get put into at the end of their Third Doctor adventure.

Much of the success of this story falls on the shoulders of Sophie Aldred who is not only present-day Ace but also Ace from when the Seventh Doctor knew her. She really adds to the creeping sense that something isn’t right in the opening acts, which with the added music and creepy Axon voice, makes for a rather unnerving listen.

The cast also shares great chemistry but no doubt it will pose some interesting continuity questions for Ace’s character when she returns in The Power of the Doctor.

Had these three stories been released on their own, I doubt they’d have amounted to much. They all have brilliant opening acts, while towards the end, they seem to slightly fall down. Much of the enjoyment of this set comes from reuniting the Doctor with his previous companions and they all have fantastic chemistry, even if some of them could have been used a little more. Really this set displays what a great voice actor John Leeson is and for a one-off release should be enjoyed greatly.

For the most part, there is a lot of enjoyment to be had from these three stories, which makes some of the weaker aspects a little more forgivable. This is good, if slightly uneven, fun, which sometimes is Doctor Who in a nutshell.