DOCTOr WHO: DOOm COaLiTiOn 1
Eight versus Eleven
released OUT NOW! 230 minutes |
Publisher Big Finish
Creating a memorable Doctor Who villain isn’t as easy as it looks – especially when it’s a single character designed to go head-tohead with our time-travelling hero. Up until now, Big Finish have often been happier bringing back these kinds of adversaries than creating new ones, but with their latest Eighth Doctor box set, they’ve crafted their most attentiongrabbing bad guy yet.
Doom Coalition 1 also continues Big Finish’s new approach to the Eighth Doctor adventures, sticking with the multiple box set format employed for the Dark Eyes saga. This story will eventually run for four box sets (totalling 16 one-hour episodes), and pitches the Eighth Doctor against The Eleven (Mark Bonnar), a Time Lord criminal whose previous ten personalities are still jostling for supremacy inside his head.
The action kicks off when The Eleven escapes from a maximumsecurity prison on Gallifrey, intent on causing chaos and exacting revenge on the Doctor for originally catching him. The Doctor and current companion Liv Chenka (Nicola Walker) are soon pursuing him across time and space, following clues that lead them to ’60s London and Renaissance-era Florence before a climactic confrontation with the maniacal Time Lord.
The four episodes are a well-balanced set of tales that deliver satisfying drama, from the atmospheric chills of “The Red Lady” to the action of “The Galileo Trap”. Hattie Morahan is entertaining as additional new companion Helen Sinclair, while Bonnar does a good job of keeping The Eleven just on the right side of broad comic-book villainy.
The finale maybe isn’t quite as impactful as it could have been, but overall this is a much stronger, more focused listen than the last Dark Eyes box set. So far Doom Coalition is shaping up to be a thoroughly enjoyable Who adventure. Saxon Bullock
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