Smoke and Mirrors

Destiny of the Doctor #5

Released: 1 May 2013

Listened: 12/26/19

This story is part of the 50th Anniversary “Destiny of the Doctor” series, which means it’s a narrated story, in this case by Janet Fielding, who does her best at mimicking the other characters’ speech patterns while still using her Australian accent. This is one of the various times the Doctor has met Houdini, although one of the few where he actually appears as a character, instead of being name-dropped. This is one of my favorites of the “Destiny” stories, not necessarily because of the plot, which goes kind of how you’d expect for a Fifth Doctor story, but for how well it captures the companions’ personalities and reactions to a 1920s fun-fair. The “Destiny” stories also all feature an appearance by the Eleventh Doctor, which is inevitably amusing, and is so again here.