The Doctor's Tale

Early Adventures #1.2

Released: 17 October 2014

Listened: 1/31/20

This is another longer story, from the first set of Early Adventures. The formula hadn’t quite gelled yet, so the story mostly focuses on Ian and Vicki, with Barbara off-stage for almost the entire story. I imagine the story is more effective if you know more about the death of Richard II and the rise of Henry IV, but I don’t, really. One of the main historical characters is Richard’s queen Isabella, who is portrayed as being around Vicki’s age, and a firebrand, although historically, she would have been rather younger. The other figure is Geoffrey Chaucer, who seems like he should play an important role, but mostly just seems to tag along with the others. The plot itself is typical for a second-season historical, with the characters stumbling into trouble, getting separated, and spending the rest of the story trying to find one another again and get back to the TARDIS. It’s not a particularly strong story, which makes it a shame that it leads directly into “The Chase,” which means this is the last appearance of Ian and Barbara in this project.