The Forsaken (#2.2)

  Big Finish, The Early Adventures

 

I absolutely love that Polly is constantly left behind in this story to “protect” her yet she’s always the one in the most danger because of that! And helps herself out every time as no one comes to rescue her. The Doctor, Jamie, Ben, and Polly land on a small island during WWII. The story opens with a group of soldiers being attacked by Japanese with a few of them getting away to a local town, where the TARDIS team are brought to join them by one of the soldiers. There, one by one, the survivors are being picked off by something that scares them to death, both causing fear and feeding on it.

It takes awhile for the Doctor to figure it all out but the creature realizes the Doctor knows before even the Doctor does. And mayhem ensues, with the creature chasing them around the buildings, intent on killing them all to feed and move on to larger prey on the mainland. There’s no talking to the creature to find out what it wants. There are no negotiations. So definitely more of 2nd Doctor era story. My only real complaints are that sometimes the Doctor starts to sound like Jamie, especially when he’s yelling and running around, and that there is just chaos and not a lot of getting details about the characters. Even Ben’s father isn’t delved into much. So it makes this story about the running and the chasing more than anything else.


Anneke Wills (Polly Wright/Narrator), Frazer Hines (Jamie McCrimmon/The Doctor), Elliot Chapman (Ben Jackson/Private Lawson/Andrews), Ben Nealon (Captain Freeman), Michael Jibson (Corporal Gibbs), Oliver Jackson (Private James Jackson), Gabrielle Glaister (Mrs Maggie Bishop)

Writer: Justin Richards

Director: Lisa Bowerman

Release: October 2015

© Laura Vilensky 2019