Between Two Worlds
UNIT Nemesis #1
Released: 16 November 2021
Listened: 4/22/23 - 4/24/23
After boxed set 8, Big Finish paused UNIT for a couple of years. At the time, they said it was because they were doing a number of different series on a twice-yearly basis, and needed to get on top of them all. It also coincided with a period when the TV show declared UNIT to be defunct, although that didn’t last too long. Coincidence? Hard to say. Anyway, the series came back in 2021 with a new umbrella story called “UNIT: Nemesis,” which consists of four boxed sets. They no longer have individual covers, and each box is pretty self-contained, so I'm going to review the whole set on a single page.
The Enemy Beyond
The primary baddie here is The Eleven, one of Big Finish’s periodic villains that they invent, see it become popular, and then over-use (see also: the Eminence). In this case, though, it’s been a while since we’ve seen the Eleven. Thanks to a tip from Jacqui, UNIT discovered a stone arch that’s been buried since prehistoric times. The arch turns out to be a portal, because of course it does. There’s a planet on the other side, and the Eleven has been there for an undetermined period of time. (I don’t know where this fits in the Eleven’s personal history, unfortunately.) UNIT doesn’t have any records on the Eleven, but they know enough about Time Lords to understand his regenerative dissonance pretty quickly. Eleven makes his escape by distracting everybody with a toxin that makes a sticky, almost indestructible, web substance? That seems pretty odd, and very indirect for the Eleven. Looks like this arch is going to be a thing for a while, but this story is mostly setup. It’s fine for what it is, and Mark Bonnar always impresses as the Eleven, so there’s nothing to object to.
Fire and Ice
Although this boxed set, in fact, this entire run, seems to be one long story, this particular episode takes a hard left turn to accomplish some other things. Specifically, it’s got Ice Warriors in the Australian outback, which is a really bad place for Ice Warriors to be. It’s also got Harry Sullivan and Naomi Cross, the out-of-time UNIT agents. Thing is, this was Harry and Naomi’s first appearance in release order, and as of the time of this writing, the Fourth Doctor story that explains it all still hasn’t come out, so we just have to take them at face value. We also have to accept the coincidence that Harry and Naomi happened to be in Australia at a medical conference, and thus available to help. When Ice Warriors are around, you always have to ask whether they’re friendly or hostile, and this time, it’s a bit of both. There’s one warrior who’s gone rogue, and another bunch who want him back, preferably with no witnesses. Which makes it a generally terrible idea for a social media influencer to butt in and try to figure out what’s going on, although pairing her with Harry for a while provides plenty of humor. Unfortunately, Ice Warriors speak slowly, and that always slows down the pace of the story, especially if negotiations are involved. The toxin from the previous story makes a surprise appearance…or rather, an appearance that makes it clear why it was introduced in the previous story. Which feels a little bit clunky, but sometimes that’s what you get.
Eleven’s Eleven
It feels like this is one of those stories where the title came first, and the plot came second. The Eleven is still trying to get back to that arch, but UNIT has moved it, so he needs to build an arch-detector. Which means he needs some alien tech. Fortunately, alien tech is scattered rather liberally around the planet. Some of it is disguised as, or mistaken for, jewelry. So the Eleven takes over a gang of jewel thieves to get what he wants. It’s not nearly as clever as the movie, though. We’re not really saddled with ten new characters; it’s mostly the ringleader Ava and a bunch of mostly-silent bystanders. This story seems like it wants to be a heist movie, but it’s a bit more procedural, with Josh and Kate trying to outsmart the Eleven and figure out where he’ll be next, while the Eleven tries to fake out UNIT while still getting the goods. Jacqui McGee makes another appearance, because a series of major jewel thefts is big news. Oddly, Kate and Josh treat her as an adversary, even though she just helped them out in the first story. It’s like she’s an informant of occasional value, but not trusted. That certainly annoys Jacqui, who takes it upon herself to find out where Osgood is researching the arch. This story feels fairly middle-ish, and I’m afraid it’s not one that will stick in the mind.
The Curator’s Gambit
This boxed set marks a shift in Big Finish’s licensing game, which affects UNIT possibly more than any other series. The events of “The Day of the Doctor” (and presumably later) are now free game, which means that the Undergallery and the Curator can be used. (It presumably also means that there are two Osgoods, but that never comes up in the story.) More significantly, it means there’s a lot of Tom Baker in this story, and he can use his natural voice, which is a bit slower and deeper than his Doctor voice. The Curator isn’t my favorite character, but if he exists, he should be enigmatic and used sparingly, which is what Big Finish does. And this story is seriously high-concept. The Curator has been asked to hide the arch, and does so inside the Undergallery, at a place that isn’t really intuitive. And the use Andrew Smith makes of that space, and the possibilities it contains, are surprising and creative. And would only make sense from a character like the Curator, as it’s outside of UNIT’s capabilities. So points for that, as well as clever use of the history of British art. However, the Eleven isn’t really a planner; he mostly just reacts to things, so while he starts with the upper hand in the story, it’s a lot of running and shouting by the end. And because this is the first boxed set of several, while the story and the box both wrap up nicely, it’s not a clean win. It’s a decent opening chapter of the larger story, and while it’s a little draggy in the middle, it’s got enough action and pacing on the ends.