Storm Warning

Main Range #16

Released: 22 January 2001

Listened: 7/22/21

And so it begins. The first Big Finish story with the Eighth Doctor starts with a new theme tune, and a brief prologue in which the Doctor talks to himself quite a bit in the TARDIS. He does, however, think about Mary Shelley, so that’s a nice retroactive touch. The body of the story concerns the historical first extended flight of the R101 airship, which ended in disaster in France. The historical persons on board the ship are all fictionalized, and there’s the addition of Simon Murchford, actually Miss Charlotte Pollard in disguise, although to be fair, the disguise barely lasts a few minutes. The Doctor is extremely cheerful in the face of danger, even though he knows the fate of the R101 (I’d expect him to be agonizing over the people he can’t save), and seems delighted to have met Charley. However, this isn’t a historical; there are aliens involved on the ship, and that’s actually the weakest part of the story. The first time I listened to this, I remember the aliens speaking painfully slowly, and although they’re far from speedy, they’re not bad on the whole, and they’re only in one episode for the most part. They don’t ever constitute much of a threat, but that’s kind of the point, which makes you wonder why this isn’t just a pure historical. Unlike most of the other actors who play the Doctor, Paul McGann’s voice doesn’t seem noticeably younger here at the beginning of his tenure, nor does India Fisher, although she does play young fairly well. Gareth Thomas plays Lord Tamworth as a stereotypically bluff and blustering in-charge aristocrat who then upends expectations by behaving reasonably. The bad guy is actually Barnaby Edwards using a somewhat questionable South African accent. The story has two separate climaxes, which makes it feel a little drawn out, and Paul McGann spends too much time talking to himself, but on the whole, it’s a good start.