The Pyralis Effect

Companion Chronicles #4.4

Released: October 2009

Listened: 6/15/22

Another early Companion Chronicle, this one has the potential to be something special, but unfortunately falls short. The action takes place in Kasterborous, not far from Gallifrey, where a colony ship carrying a gene bank is looking for the Doctor, as he helped their planet in the past. Unfortunately, they only remember the First Doctor, so they don’t believe the Fourth is the same person. Worse, they accidentally open a prison that the Time Lords sealed 1,000 years ago. (The Time Lords are really bad at cleaning up their trash.) You’d think this would have some interesting implications for the Doctor and the Time Lords, but it just turns into a standard-issue “strange invader” story mixed with a murder mystery. The story is told in present tense from Romana’s perspective. Fortunately, there’s much less “exasperated Romana,” but unfortunately, there’s quite a lot of “terrified Romana” instead. Lalla Ward oversells the cliffhangers, putting too much emotion into the narration. She also seems to have less agency in this story, making for a dissatisfying story overall.