TYPE: Audio Book
FEATURING: Tenth Doctor, Donna Noble
AUTHOR: Peter Anghelides
READ BY: David Tennant
SYNOPSIS:
The TARDIS is lost in battle on a distant planet. When the Doctor sets off in pursuit, Donna is left behind, and finds herself accepting a commission in the Pioneer Corps. Something is transforming soldiers into monstrous beetles, and she could be the next victim. Meanwhile, the Doctor steals a motorbike and stages a jailbreak. Well, how hard can it be to find the TARDIS, rescue Donna, and negotiate a peace? But that's before the arrival of a brutal and remorseless mechanical exterminator, bent on wiping out the insects. It may be that nothing can stop it, because this robot's solution for the infestation is very simple: kill everything.
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!
REVIEW:
It is the time of the Second Great and Bountiful Human Empire, and the Doctor and Donna find themselves on the frontier world of Rescension, where a group of Pioneer Corps soldiers are at war with the native Akwabi, beings resembling centaurs. But the Doctor quickly discovers there's more going on than meets the eye when the humans start to metamorphose into the insect Serfians.
This story is the first in a new series of exclusive audio books produced by the BBC and read by actors from the series. And as it should be, this premier adventure is read by the Tenth Doctor himself, David Tennant. He does an excellent job, deftly immersing himself in the story with energy and enthusiasm. Some of the best moments occur when David slips between himself, Donna - whom he does an excellent job impersonating - and the Doctor. He does his best to vary all of the characters, making sure none sound alike, either by adjusting the pitch of his voice or through various accents. His performance kept me on the edge of my seat in anticipation of whatever came next.
The story itself is quite typical Doctor Who. We get a less than flattering view of humanity at a time when colonialism is once again in full swing as the human race expands in and beyond the galaxy, asserting their superiority and displacing, enslaving or annihilating other species. A racial component is also mixed into the story personified by the character of General Brudge. He considers the Akwabi nothing more than savage beasts, and his racism even encompasses those he calls "halflings", humans who are not "pure bred", those who have mixed with other species. This reflects on the darker aspects of our civilization, the us-vs-them ideology, warning us about the possibilities for our future if we are unable to free ourselves from these attitudes. And that's why we're lucky to have the Doctor, an alien but at the same time someone who is also human and humanizing. He faces down Brudge unflinching, sneering at the General's warped beliefs, but towards the end he is also able to help the humans and Akwabi see past their differences and unite to battle the bigger threat posed by the Serfians.
In the end, the morality tale gives way as usual to the monsters. While humans transforming into insects is truly a monstrous thing, the real monster of the story is Surgeon Lanova, a doctor who willingly turned her back on her Hippocratic oath to become a Serfian Queen. It's not clear whether she had any moral integrity before her transformation, but she certainly has none after it, using the General's need for better soldiers to further her own plans to breed more Serfians.
On the whole I'd have to rate this as a success. A good cracking story with excellent narration, plus some added music and sound effects to enhance the storytelling. A great way to do exclusive-to-CD books and I look forward to hearing more in the future.
