BBC Audio adventure, Sept. 7, 1998
Sam is the Doctor’s newest companion and really starts to get a feeling for how she can make things worse by trying to help. She feels responsible for two people dying at the end and the Doctor sympathizes with her feeling. I actually expected him to do a little better at that as he has a lot more experience with that feeling. These stories really have a slightly colder Doctor, the darker side of the 8th Doctor, perhaps. Since it’s read by Paul McGann, I would believe it’s the 8th Doctor. Perhaps he “lost” another companion after Charley that made the hard side of himself come out more. Or he had a lot of time alone to mourn. I just can’t be sure. This is the third in this group of stories and the most harsh.
I like the concept of this audio, with the bear and the deer being boys who have their personalities and dress in their skins. They can be envied for their perseverance but not their single-mindedness. It is a bit simplistic at times as the part where they grow up and conquer everyone is left out. Having the pre-logue to the audio almost makes it disjointed, despite giving us the background on who each of these characters are. But they’re almost caricatures of the priest and the warrior. The oppressed warrior leader ??? does what a normal leader would—takes the “weapons” Sam provides and leads a revolution against the conquerors. Nothing goes well and since the Doctor has already made a deal with the Bear leader, it is doomed to fail no matter what. For a leader, he hasn’t much experience in strategy, that’s for sure.
Overall, it’s basically good as audio adventures go. But things just turn oddly in this story. Perhaps it’s because Sam’s a new companion or the Doctor is just more of an iconic figure, not as personable. It just didn’t impress me and I dreaded listening to it and having listened to it, I understand why. There’s a lot of pointless violence in the “name” of honor and it just doesn’t work. So it’s just good.v
8th Doctor and Sam adventure
read by: Paul McGann
writer: Paul Leonard