Doctor Who Review: Eighth Doctor audio ‘Other Lives’
By James Aggas
The Doctor becomes a family man, C’Rizz joins a freak show and Charley meets a historical figure, in the rather fun Eighth Doctor audio story, ‘Other Lives’.
I really enjoyed listening to Other Lives. Once again, like Caedroia, it was nice to have a Big Finish story that was so much fun. It wasn’t completely light-hearted, and there are rather strong elements of darkness to it, but on the whole, after the darkness and horror we got with Terror Firma and Scaredy Cat, it was nice to have something that was a bit of a farce.
And not just any farce: a historical farce. For once, the Eighth Doctor and his companions are having an adventure with no science-fiction elements other than themselves. We’ve had plenty of purely historical stories, at least with the First Doctor. But this is the first audio story with McGann that can also be seen as purely historical.
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In some ways, one First Doctor story it reminded me of was The Romans. Not because it was set in the same time period. In fact, Other Lives takes place firmly in the Victorian era. But The Romans was a rare historical story that combined comedy with some very dark drama.
Three Characters, Three Stories
The way this is handled is how it tells three separate stories for the three regulars. At the beginning, the Doctor and his friends are attending the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations. Of course, they initially plan this only as a holiday. But due to misunderstandings and a failed assassination, all three quickly become separated.
Charley gets to meet a very famous British historical figure. The Doctor gets to experience life as a family man. And C’Rizz gets to find out just how badly humans can mistreat those who are different.
As far as the character of C’Rizz is concerned, this is the best his character gets handled, plot-wise. Along with the fact that being alien causes problems for him, there’s a very dark element with his story, as he suffers humiliation and a loss of liberty. Even the resolution of his subplot ends on a grim note, and foreshadows just how dangerous this companion truly is.
This level of dark drama balances out the pure farce that the Doctor goes through, at least initially. The Doctor’s story is a wonderful series of hilarious misunderstandings. Things start to shake up in part 3 and the story develops in a slightly more serious fashion, but there are still great moments of humour with McGann’s Doctor.
Charley’s story is also different. I like that she got to meet a historical figure, quite convincingly, too. One of my favourite moments involves a conversation between these two characters that involves destiny and legacy. It’s the kind of conversation that could only happen in something like Doctor Who, and while it’s a small moment, it’s still a very beautiful one.
Next: Review: Eighth Doctor audio ‘Scaredy Cat’
Other Lives was such a fun story to listen to. It made me wonder why pure historicals weren’t more common, not just with Eight, but even with the New Series. It doesn’t exactly leave a huge impact on Eight’s arc, but it’s still a great little Doctor Who adventure.