The Curator's Egg

Companion Chronicles #12.1

Released: 20 June 2018

Listened: 9/21/20

As this was one of the Companion Chronicle boxed sets that Big Finish had been making the past few years, a bit more cast was available. Although Jamie isn’t in this story, Frazer Hines plays just the Doctor, and Elliot Chapman plays the main secondary character and the antagonist, as well as Ben. However, Ben and the Doctor are written out fairly quickly to give Polly the spotlight, as this is the only story from this set in which she appears. Anneke Wills gets to narrate as well. The story itself is actually somewhat silly, taking place in Dorset, using Durlston Castle and the stone globe there, but also heavily featuring cyborg dinosaurs. There’s a Jurassic Park vibe, with a mad billionaire and his scientist brother creating the dinosaurs, and of course it goes horribly wrong. The scientist is notably bad with people, and resorts to quipping when he’s nervous, which is most of the story. This allows Polly to exercise her empathy, and take charge in an action-hero way with lots of running. It’s not exactly how Polly was portrayed on TV, but it gives her a good spotlight episode. If you think of it kind of like a new series episode and just roll with the silliness, it’s a lot of good fun, especially because Wills makes the most of it as narrator.