Deeptime Frontier

Ravenous 3.1

Released: 9 April 2019

Listened: 12/26/21

Boxed set 3 opens with the story that was supposed to conclude set 2, by Matt Fitton. It’s a bit similar to the previous story in that it’s horror-themed, with characters trapped in an enclosed space, but there are more characters, and the space is bigger, as is the threat. Whereas the last story was taut and claustrophobic, this one is more explosive. We find out quite a bit more about the Ravenous, and their relationship with the Time Lords. It seems the Ravenous can do almost anything, but that makes their failure to kill the Doctor seem kind of silly. They’re described as insatiable, but their ability to play the long game doesn’t match up. The other bit I wish I hadn’t learned about them is that physically, they look like clowns. I’m not one to suffer from coulrophobia, so that just makes them seem more ridiculous to me, race memories or no. This story also introduces (in production order) Rasmus, who appears in some other stories set around this time in the Doctor’s history. He’s a Time Lord with good intentions, and the Doctor likes him, but he does tend to go about things in a Time-Lord-ish way, being very patient and dealing with things he can’t understand. We also get some hints about the Time Lords’ deteriorating reputation in the universe at large, with people saying that a polite request from a Time Lord is the same thing as a threat. The thing that this episode carries off best is the Time Lords’ instinctive panic reaction to the Ravenous, which causes them to make mistakes, to the Ravenous’ advantage. It’s just unfortunate that they look like clowns while doing it.