If I Should Die Before I Wake

Classic Doctors, New Monsters #3.4

Released: 21 January 2025

Listened: 8/6/22

Like “Together in Eclectic Dreams,” the monsters in this story are the Dream Crabs from “Last Christmas.” However, this is a completely different kind of story. It’s more dreamlike, but in the sense of myths and legends. As far as we know, most of it is the Eighth Doctor telling Charley ancient Greek myths from a second-person perspective, and Charley getting out of them, mostly using the classic solutions, but sometimes her own ingenuity. The script was written by John Dorney, from a story by Jac Rayner, so I have to admit I was expecting a lot from it. In particular, I was expecting a direct link with “Together in Eclectic Dreams,” for reasons I won’t go into here, and I didn’t get it, which is unfair, but still disappointing. This is a two-hander, with Paul McGann playing the Doctor, plus India Fisher playing Charley and absolutely everyone else, from the Fates to various monsters, including a randomly Scottish Sphinx. You can usually tell it’s her, but it’s an impressive demonstration of her range. It’s always nice to see Charley again, so I can’t begrudge that, but the overall story was a bit less than I wanted.