The Horror of Hy-Brasil

Subscriber Short Trips #2017.2

Released: 23 June 2017

Listened: 10/13/20

Placed here, in defiance of Craig Brawley, because Zoe is stated to be a recent addition, and Big Finish says it takes place between “The Mind Robber” and “The Invasion,” although there’s no gap there. This is one of the bonus Short Trips, and an unusually long one in spite of that. It’s also one of those stories where ancient legends turn out to be Sufficiently Advanced Aliens. In this case, it’s the Irish legends of Hy-Brasil, Balor, and Eithne. Even though they’re Irish legends, Jamie is completely familiar with them, and they consider him to be one of the natives they’ve had contact with before. Balor is a scientist who accidentally doomed his people with some ill-considered time-travel experiments, and he wants the Doctor’s help. Of course, not everything is what it seems, which the Doctor seems to realize almost immediately, because he’s unusually wary and unhelpful. Stephen Critchlow narrates this one, and does a bit more voice acting than usual with the Doctor and Jamie, perhaps inspired by Frazer Hines. There’s an unusual amount of cruelty and body horror in this one, which doesn’t match the tone of the 1969 stories; it feels more like a Fifth or Sixth Doctor story. I imagine this one works better if you’re familiar with the Celtic legends the names are drawn from, but I’m not, so it falls a bit flat.