Doctor Who Review: ‘Seasons of Fear’ (Eighth Doctor Audio)
By James Aggas
The Eighth Doctor and Charley race across time to stop an immortal enemy, as their second season continues in ‘Seasons of Fear.’
After the darkness and horror of ‘The Chimes of Midnight,’ ‘Seasons of Fear’ comes across as a considerably lighter story overall. It also has a much larger scale. Whereas the whole of ‘The Chimes of Midnight’ was set within a few rooms of one house, ‘Seasons of Fear’ journeys across several centuries.
There’s a lot that I really like about this story. For one thing, there’s the epic scale of it. The Doctor encounters Sebastian Grayle, a man who claims he has killed the Doctor… or rather, from the Doctor’s perspective, will kill him. He also tells the Doctor that the Earth — and indeed Time itself — now belong to Grayle and his masters. The Doctor and Charley are determined to stop Grayle, even if they must change history to do it.
With each episode focusing on a different time period, the story is rather reminiscent of ‘The Keys of Marinus.’ That story was quite ambitious in that it featured a “quest” element. Each episode of the serial would focus on a different environment and enemies. Each mini-adventure would also act as part of a larger whole.
Surprisingly, despite the serial nature of Classic Who, this “quest” format hadn’t been copied since. That is, at least, not to one single serial. (‘The Key to Time‘ arc was similar in some aspects, but each adventure along the way was given a full serial rather than a single episode.) It’s nice to see it picked up for audio, particularly as the format doesn’t need to worry about the high budget that a story with radically different environments — even across history — would require.
Sebastian Grayle is also a really great villain. He is initially simply misguided at the start of his long journey as an immortal. He’s willing to sacrifice others to achieve his goals, but still has some morals. As time goes on, however, he becomes colder and more dangerous over the centuries. I think, out of all the villains so far in McGann’s early stories, Grayle is one of my favourites.
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I also like how the Doctor is portrayed here. The Eighth Doctor plays the fool a lot in this one, and much of the time comes across as very similar to Tom Baker’s Doctor. In fact, the whole thing feels rather reminiscent of a Season 17 story like ‘City of Death.’ But there are also, of course, moments when the Doctor has to get serious, especially when Grayle really pushes him.
It’s in such moments that Big Finish give us a really clear idea of the Eighth Doctor — similar to one or two of his predecessors, but with a more emotional core. ‘Seasons of Fear’ is not the best example of the Eighth Doctor being pushed to his limits. But I do think that, by this point, the writers have a really great idea of exactly what kind of man the Eighth Doctor is.
There’s also a neat little twist with this story. In a rather unusual move for Big Finish’s main Doctor Who range, it’s partly narrated by the Eighth Doctor. Why? Well, for one thing, as any fan of the film Withnail & I knows, any excuse for McGann to narrate is a good one. The other reason? Well, I’m not going to give anything away there.
I will say this much. With a great villain, an epic but fun journey, and McGann playing the fool more than ever, ‘Seasons of Fear’ is a really entertaining romp across history… until we reach the ending.
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