Shadow Planet

Main Range #226

Released: 13 June 2017

Listened: 12/27/20

This release came from 2017 when, instead of doing a trilogy of linked stories across three Doctors, Big Finish decided to do a pair of two-part stories for each Doctor. So this is another story recorded later, and driven by nostalgia for the Ace/Hex era. Unfortunately, the story is somewhat perfunctory. It’s one of those deals where a shady corporation is selling psychic enlightenment for a price, in this case by splitting off your “shadow self,” doing some therapy that never really gets explained, and then reintegrating them. All courtesy of a psychic planet which is (of course) overtaxed and suffering. The shadow versions of Ace and Hex just seem petty and sulky, whereas the “normal” versions are seemingly unaffected, so it’s not clear how the process would normally work. It’s a pretty big missed opportunity. There’s a twist involving the planet’s staff, but you can see it coming without much effort. And because it’s a short story, the Doctor pretty much knows what’s going on from the get-go, and has a plan in place that works without a hitch. That plays into the Seventh Doctor’s strengths, but it’s normally more fun when he has at least some setbacks. Pretty pedestrian, on the whole.