Another
Multi-Doctor Trilogy Starts Here!
Big Finish has a history of doing the most creative things when it comes to their Doctor Who
range. From Spin-Offs to Crossovers to Villain stories, these guys really know
their stuff. And just when I thought they couldn’t get any more creative, they
go and announce their ‘Locum Doctor’ trilogy for 2015.
“I’m probably not the Doctor you were expecting.” –
Seventh Doctor
Now the idea
behind this trilogy is partly to celebrate their 200th Main Range title and
partly to see how well Doctors cope by being shoved into the lives of their
predecessors. It’s a fantastic idea to have Doctors and companions who don’t
belong together be forced to have an adventure. For The Defectors, we have Sylvester McCoy’s Seventh Doctor finding
himself at UNIT in the 1970s (or 80s) teaming up with Third Doctor assistant Jo
Grant and Mike Yates. It breaks my heart that there is no Nicholas Courtney,
but we do have the Brigadier in this piece…sort of.
This story
successfully captures the Pertwee Era and you can tell just how out of place
Seven is. Jo doesn’t believe he’s a future Doctor, he doesn’t know why he’s
taken the place of his earlier self – he’s not even sure what the hell is going
on here. These elements are the foundation on which the ‘Locum Doctors’ trilogy
is built upon.
Unfortunately, this
pair-up of Seven and Jo doesn’t exactly work. This isn’t the only problem though. This story makes (over)use of several running gags
and just kills them. I believe the same joke is (no joke) said at least 15
times over the course of the FIRST episode. It goes from funny, to not funny,
to ‘still doing it’ to ‘please STOP IT ALREADY’.
After that
complaint, comes the chemistry between Seven and Jo. While Seven is whimsical
and charming and an absolute delight, apart from common banter, the two just
don’t feel as though they work. And Jo in this story is fairly useless. She
doesn’t do much except be the person all the exposition gets dumped on. That
and being captured. It’s a less than ordinary way of using such a character.
As for the
story, well I can give you a brief overview of what it’s about, but that’s
about it. I can remember the first half of episode one, but the rest is pretty
easily forgotten. This is a bit of a shame really.
I don’t usually
focus on this, but I feel like I have to mention just how Pertwee this story
SOUNDED! Yes, the atmosphere of helicopters flying, ocean, island. This really
felt like a Jon Pertwee adventure. In that respect, The Defectors excels!
Rating this
story: 6/10. Not the Locum Doctor start I was expecting.
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