REVIEW: BIG FINISH – Alien Heart / Dalek Soul – A Change to the Norm

April’s Main Range release from Big Finish deviates from the norm as we are presented with not one adventure spanning four episodes and two discs but rather a double-bill with each disc consisting of a two-part story.

This is an experimental move that could be deemed controversial for ‘classic era’ listeners – as echoed by Nicholas Briggs in the accompanying interviews, but speaking personally there’s nothing wrong with a bit of controversy to shake up the status quo.

We are used to enjoying the exploits of the fourth and eighth Doctors in this format but was intrigued to discover how Peter Davison’s fifth incarnation would fare.

First up is ‘Alien Heart’ by Stephen Cole where a catastrophic event disrupting time and space and destroying a number of worlds leads The Doctor and Nyssa to an outpost on the moon of Traxana and an encounter with a horde of green arachnoids – or ‘cell spiders’ as they soon become referred to. Nyssa is soon spirited away by these gelatinous creatures leaving The Doctor to encounter Sondaral and Elthar – two investigators from Earth also looking into the strange events unfolding. And so the mystery begins…

The second adventure is Guy Adams’ ‘Dalek Soul’ and there are no surprises in guessing who the villains of the piece are! This story plunges us straight into the thick of things as the Doctor has allied himself with a group of resistance fighters on Mojox battling against Skaro’s finest whilst Nyssa is working in their laboratories creating the latest weapon to be used in the Daleks’ quest for conquest. To complicate things and further baffle the listener *SPOILERS* the Doctor is soon revealed to be a traitor, also in league with his deadliest enemies.

Both stories comprising this release are linked with an impressive cliff-hanger bridging the narrative between both tales and whilst – on face value, it appears that we have two unrelated adventures the reality is that one flows straight into the other. The best comparison to make is with Frontier In Space/Planet Of The Daleks from the Pertwee era. To say any more would give the game away (if one hasn’t already done so!).

There’s no denying that the pace of the storytelling afforded by this new format is quicker – even the musical score has a faster beat to it which really pulls the listener into proceedings. Where the tried and tested four part ‘model’ allows sufficient time to develop characters and build up the relevant scenario there’s no such formula this time. In fact, there’s a real sense of urgency to things and top marks go to Richard Fox and Lauren Yason for some top notch music and sound design which establishes that. There’s only a small cast in these stories which is perfect for what this experimental approach aims to achieve – a greater number of characters would hinder matters somewhat given how effective I’ve said that the pacing is.

My personal favourite of the two stories is the latter and the mystery that it presents in respect of why our two lead characters have allied themselves with their greatest foes. Kudos to the cliff-hanger ending between both episodes which – literally, left me hanging until I got round to hearing the rest of the tale. I’ve always been a fan of Peter Davison and his incarnation of the Doctor is my favourite from the classic era – this month’s release sees an edgier than usual take on the Timelord. He wastes no time during the early stages of in taking the offensive when Sondaral and Elthar first encounter him. It’s a welcome change and – again, perhaps a side effect of the shorter than usual running time.

Rating 8.5/10