The Beginning

Companion Chronicles #8.5

Released:

Listened: 12/28/19

This story was created as part of the 50th Anniversary celebrations in 2013, and fittingly goes back to the absolute beginning of the Doctor’s story. Writer Marc Platt weaves in a lot of elements from the Hand of Omega to Clara’s appearance to the First Doctor, to elements established in “The Doctor’s Wife,” and yet doesn’t tell us all that much more about why the Doctor left than we already knew. He does add the character of Quadrigger Stoyn, who serves as an antagonist, but honestly, I think he has a legitimate reason to be upset with the Doctor. It’s also somewhat odd that the Doctor’s very first trip is to Earth, and he ends up influencing the development of life here. The Doctor doesn’t behave terribly heroically, but as established elsewhere, he hadn’t reached that point in his development yet, so the story ends more with a departure than a victory. Stoyn is left behind to reappear in a Second Doctor story, but I’ll leave that for later.