Winter is Coming
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Doctor Who Review: ‘The First Doctor Adventures: The Great White Hurricane’ (audio)

By James Aggas

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The Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara are trapped in one of New York’s worst winter storms, as ‘The First Doctor Adventures’ continues in ‘The Great White Hurricane’!

The second story of The First Doctor Adventures, The Great White Hurricane continues directly from where The Destination Wars left off. The TARDIS crew have arrived in New York, and in the middle of total chaos, Ian has just been shot. But, while the TARDIS crew are caught in the middle of a gang war, there’s worse to come. Much worse. For they’ve arrived just before one of the worst winter storms in New York’s history…

I really love the approach taken with this story, and with the whole of The First Doctor Adventures. The Destination Wars was a great science fiction story. So, it makes sense that, just like the original era, the next story is a pure historical. No other science-fiction elements involved, other than the time travelers themselves. And they’ve picked exactly the right writer for this kind of story: Guy Adams.

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Guy Adams has written for several of Big Finish’s ranges. His stories tend to be very character focused and emotionally driven. So, in a story with no aliens to fight or other worlds to explore, it makes sense for him to write a story that focuses on both history and, more importantly, people.

The people of New York

I think that’s the greatest strength of The Great White Hurricane. There’s a very wide range of characters in very different circumstances that are explored in this story. The TARDIS crew becomes separated, a very common trope in Doctor Who. But it does allow us to experience a very wide range of perspectives.

A young gang member kidnaps Susan, but he might not be as ruthless as he seems. The Doctor is looking for Susan with the gang member’s older brother, who feels more disillusioned about gang life by this point. Ian and Barbara, meanwhile, try to help a mother become reunited with her son.

All these different characters and perspectives feel completely real and relatable. There’s a lot of depth to this story. The hurricane itself only adds to that, as it forces some very extreme and difficult circumstances on all the characters we’ve been following.

There are of course a large number of very strong performances too. It’s difficult for me to single out any in particular, however, because the entire cast is so good.

Overall, The Great White Hurricane is, in terms of both writing and drama, a wonderful story to listen to, and a great historical entry for Big Finish.

Box set summary

Finally, I need to comment on how well The First Doctor Adventures works as a whole. In summary, I think it captures the spirit of the first season very effectively. A new cast is certainly strange to get used to, but I do think they perform the roles well.

In particular, David Bradley and Claudia Grant are brilliant as the First Doctor and Susan, respectively. Not only do they capture the spirit of the original performances brilliantly. They also do a great job of replicating the close familial relationship shared by the characters.

Not to mention that I adored both stories of this first box set. It’s not just that The Destination Wars and The Great White Hurricane are so strong individually. It’s also that together, they really help to recreate those early black-and-white episodes. The tone, the drama, even the ambition.

Even the little details, like how the ending of one story always leads to the beginning of another, are included here. Based on this first box set, The First Doctor Adventures is undoubtedly a very strong success, and I can’t wait to hear more later this year.

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