Doctor Who Review: The First Doctor Volume 2 – ‘The Plague of Dreams’ (Audio)
By James Aggas
In ‘The Plague of Dreams’, an epic tale is told for the stage, and the First Doctor faces a difficult choice, in the final story of ‘The First Doctor: Volume 2’.
At last, I’m reviewing the final story of The First Doctor: Volume 2 box set. This has been a really strong set of stories so far, and the last one is no exception. Also, considering the cliffhanger to The Doctor Falls, it’s almost fitting that I’m reviewing this particular story, The Plague of Dreams almost immediately afterwards.
I’ll explain what I mean in a moment, but first things first: the story itself.
"“Pray welcome, one and all, to this, a fantasy in two acts, presented, most humbly, for your pleasure. We bring you drama and magic, angels and demons, a tale of mysterious plague… of nightmares made flesh… of a war fought both in this world and those immeasurably distant. A war, in fact, fought through the mists of time itself…”"
A Theatrical Performance
As you can see, the official synopsis doesn’t reveal much for this one. Trying to work out exactly what’s going on is a big part of the story. As you can also probably tell, it’s completely theatrical, and I don’t mean figuratively. The story is told to an unseen audience. We don’t know why that is, and companion Polly is equally confused. So right from the start, there’s a nice little mystery as we try and learn what’s really happening.
With the story told in a theater, there’s a lot of neat little tricks the main characters try and use. This is a tale with ghosts, dragons and robots. Since this story is told on a stage, however, we hear and imagine very basic effects that are not very convincing (at first). My favourite “effect” was the use of a boot stomp for the sound of a knock on a canvas door.
Something else I really enjoyed about The Plague of Dreams was how it was a story about storytelling. What it takes to draw the audience in, the importance of stories and why we love them. Very fitting for a tale from Big Finish, who’s company slogan is “We love stories”.
The End of an Era
One final element that makes this story so great? The ending. Not just to this story. Not even to The First Doctor: Volume 2. It also works very well as an ending – or rather, the beginning of the end – for the whole of the First Doctor’s era, as it very nicely leads directly into The Tenth Planet.
Now, for those who know their classic Who, you’re probably wondering why that is, considering TV story The Smugglers already seemed to do just that. Without going into too much detail, that’s directly addressed with The Plague of Dreams and the previous story in the set, The Bonfires of the Vanities. It also allows for plenty of room for more stories with One, Ben and Polly to be told, which I’m certainly happy about. And it even foreshadows a certain event from far ahead of the First Doctor, and even the Classic Series…
I absolutely adored the whole of The First Doctor: Volume 2. I’ve already listened to it twice, something I don’t often do outside of the Eighth Doctor’s stories, as there are too many audio stories to catch up on. But I’m a big fan of William Hartnell’s Doctor, and this set is a magnificent celebration of his era. The Plague of Dreams rounds off this very strong set of stories wonderfully, and even adds a lot more depth to his regeneration story. A highly recommended box set.
Next: 5 Best Nods to the Classic Series in ‘The Doctor Falls’