Doctor Who: Regeneration Impossible from Big Finish sees the Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors cross paths. Who doesn’t love a multi-Doctor story!
Remember when the Eleventh Doctor was, quite rightly, a bit miserable after losing Amy and Rory? Well, he didn’t just stay on that TARDIS cloud. Turns out that it wasn’t just the Eleventh Doctor in Victorian London at that time. This is not the usual Short Trip from Big Finish. Regeneration Impossible is an audio drama but with only one actor. The action is all played out with no descriptive reading of prose but with music and sound design. Less of a Short Trip and more Bitesize Big Finish.
Unfortunately, regeneration has been reduced to the status of a mere plot device over the last decade. Regeneration is the basis for this story by Alfie Shaw. Mawdryn Undead did a similar thing. It all depends how you feel about regenerations being the story, rather than a tool to progress to the next story. For this listener Regeneration Impossible worked perfectly, returning to a simpler time when regenerations were not intrinsically infinite. As a result the story is logical and the drama works as a result.
Jacob Dudman has the unenviable task of trying to carry the story single handed whilst capturing both incarnations of the Time Lord. However Dudman managed to achieve it, whether recording all the dialogue for one Doctor and then recording the other separately, or switching between the two, the results are hugely impressive.
Overall
Regeneration Impossible is a unique Short Trip from Big Finish. At less than 30 minutes and a few pounds to download it is worthy of your attention. Director Nicholas Briggs combines the skills of Jacob Dudman with music from Ioan Morris and Sound Design by Adrian Townsend to deliver the perfect example of what Big Finish can do. Even without actors Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi at their disposal they can tell superbly engaging stories.
If you are a fan of modern Doctor Who then you will not want to miss out on this release! If you haven’t ever tried Big Finish audios then Regeneration Impossible is perfect for dipping your toe into the water.
Synopsis
The Doctor is in his TARDIS atop a cloud above Victorian London. He’s retired, no longer interfering in the affairs of others. There’s nothing that could make him help anyone else. Except, perhaps, the lure of another Time Lord…
The Doctor is locked in a mortuary in Victorian London, dying. He can’t escape and doesn’t know how to keep himself alive. Just when he thinks it can’t get any worse, he finds himself locked in with the one person he hates most in the entire universe.
Himself.
Credits
- Jacob Dudman (The Doctor)
- Cover Artist: Mark Plastow
- Director: Nicholas Briggs
- Executive Producer: Jason Haigh-Ellery and Nicholas Briggs
- Music: Ioan Morris
- Producer: Alfie Shaw
- Script Editor: Nicholas Briggs
- Sound Design: Adrian Townsend
- Written by Alfie Shaw
