Doctor Who Review: ‘Eighth Doctor Adventures: The Skull of Sobek’
By James Aggas
The Eighth Doctor and Lucie are caught in the middle of a civil war, as two crocodile armies fight for ‘The Skull of Sobek’!
It’s difficult to know where to begin with The Skull of Sobek. It’s a very strange and unusual episode from Marc Platt (who more recently wrote Sixth Doctor story The Behemoth). There are elements of mysticism and spirituality told with walking, talking crocodiles. It’s an unusual episode for Doctor Who. And yet, paradoxically, it’s the kind of story only Doctor Who could tell.
In terms of plot, it’s fairly straight-forward. The Eighth Doctor and Lucie have to face alien crocodiles who’ve invaded a sanctuary, as they look for an ancient relic. There are civil wars and fights between champions, but overall, the plot’s length is just right for a fifty-minute episode.
A fleshed out world
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However, where The Skull of Sobek really stands out is with its themes and its world building. These two distinct layers are almost intrinsically linked. For example, Platt is very keen to explore themes of balance and imperfection through “the Sanctuary of Imperfect Symmetry”. With themes of civil war and how pointless some fights can be, he explores these with the Crocodiles of Sobek.
In both cases, he really fleshes out their history and culture, giving every character important reasons for what they do. Achieving that level of detail is quite impressive for an episode of this length. While the story itself didn’t grab me, the world-building and the themes of The Skull of Sobek certainly did.
Excellent dialogue
There’s also some great dialogue in the episode, too. Sometimes, it’s banter between the Eighth Doctor and Lucie. But there are also deeper moments than that. The Eighth Doctor gives a great speech on the importance of imperfection. Lucie has a nice little moment where she wonders if she’s getting too used to death. It’s character moments like these and how well they’re handled that I really enjoy about the Eighth Doctor Adventures, and about Big Finish’s stories in general.
The Skull of Sobek is an interesting story. It’s an episode that packs in quite a lot. Not in terms of plot. The episode seems to be nicely paced in terms of story, at least. But it does include a lot of themes and a lot of world-building.
It’s not my favorite episode by Marc Platt, but that’s mainly because he’s such an exceptional writer who’s written a large number of great stories. Overall, The Skull of Sobek is an entertaining, if admittedly very unusual listen.
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