Destination: Nerva

Fourth Doctor Adventures #1.1

Released: 9 January 2012

Listened: 2/23/22

Now we’re getting into it! In 2012, Big Finish began releasing a dedicated series of Fourth Doctor Adventures. These were similar to the Eighth Doctor Adventures in format, being shorter stories of two parts, each 25-30 minutes. That results in a somewhat zippier pace, intended to appeal to new-series fans. Unfortunately, this story isn’t the strongest premiere. It starts immediately after “Talons,” and goes only a few years into the future, where some English military-types manage to get their hands on a crashed alien spaceship and somehow use it to get into space, despite the technological difficulties, where they proceed to colonize “for Queen and Country.” This could be an interesting investigation of British history and colonialism, but instead it just jumps forward a thousand years, where the Victorians are now just a generic “ooze monster” threat to the brand-new Station Nerva. There’s no good reason for it to be Nerva; aside from a couple of references only the Doctor could get, its history doesn’t figure in. Baker and Jameson both sound in good form; I could believe this is from Season 14. Also, a pre-Third-Doctor Tim Treloar plays Lord Jack, the chief baddie, but he doesn't really have a lot of lines.