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Doctor Who and Big Finish: Fifth Doctor on sale – what’s worth checking out?

By James Aggas

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The Fifth Doctor and Nyssa are once again travelling with Tegan in The Waters of Amsterdam. But problems immediately start to happen when her ex shows up…

(Image credit: Doctor Who/Big Finish Productions.

Image obtained from: Big Finish Productions.)

This week, the Fifth Doctor battles his own psyche, meets Houdini, and faces his future, in the latest sale of Doctor Who audios from Big Finish!

Another Sunday, another week of offers from Big Finish on their many Doctor Who audios! This week, it’s the Fifth Doctor that they’re focusing on, as played by Peter Davison.

Davison’s Doctor is an interesting incarnation. Following on from the incredibly popular Tom Baker, his version of the character was one that was considerably more vulnerable. A character trait that was maintained from start to finish of his run.

Unfortunately, for his character, at least, that leaves a little less room for development compared to other Doctors. We know how all his on-screen companions joined and left. (Or in one case, at least, died.) We know exactly how he regenerated. We even know why he wears a stick of celery on his costume.

So does that mean that his audios aren’t worth listening to? Not at all. There are definitely plenty of good stories that Big Finish have given us with the Fifth Doctor over the years.

In fact, one of the most popular Doctor Who audios of all time is the Cyberman origin story, Spare Parts. This isn’t included in the sale, but it is incredibly cheap to download, so it’s certainly worth checking out if you haven’t done so already.

With all of that said, let’s take a look at each of the Fifth Doctor stories currently on offer. What’s worth recommending out of this week’s selection?

The Fifth Doctor box set

The Fifth Doctor box set is a really great release to jump on board with, at least if you’ve already seen the Fifth Doctor’s first story, Castrovalva. This is mainly because Psychodrome, the first story in the box set, continues directly from it.

Jonathan Morris was actually very clever when he wrote his story featuring the Fifth Doctor’s first TARDIS team of Tegan, Nyssa and Adric. Because he realized that, despite working as a team for the rest of season nineteen, they actually didn’t know each other that well after Castrovalva.

Nyssa met the Doctor in The Keeper of Traken and joined him as a companion at the same time as Tegan did in Logopolis, the very next story. This was also the Fourth Doctor’s regeneration story, which was immediately followed by Castrovalva. So this TARDIS crew hadn’t really known each other for too long.

This becomes a key basis for Psychodrome‘s story. Each of the TARDIS crew members learns about one another, and how to trust each other. There’s also a really intriguing story that leaves you trying to work out what’s going on. It’s a really fantastic audio, one that slots into the gap between Castrovalva and Four to Doomsday easily.

Iterations of I

The second story of the box set is a little more of a classic horror story. The TARDIS crew arrive on an island, with only an abandoned house on it. What then unfolds is a story of horror, numbers, cults…and a very unusual monster.

Iterations of I is another strong story for The Fifth Doctor box set. John Dorney has written something unusual for this particular incarnation. On television, the Fifth Doctor didn’t have many horror stories, certainly not as many as his previous incarnation had. So Iterations of I is a breath of fresh air.

It’s also another great way of exploring each of these characters, particularly how they use their strengths and how they face an almost impossible situation. The team trust each other a lot more than in Psychodrome, as Iterations of I takes place at a noticeably later point. But that doesn’t mean that we don’t get the occasional bit of banter from this TARDIS crew, of course.

Overall, The Fifth Doctor box set is easy to recommend. If you’re a fan of this particular Doctor, it’s an easy release to jump on board with, and many of the characters featured are handled at their best here. A really great release.

The Fifth Doctor and his companions meet Harry Houdini. But they’re also reunited with someone they’re all far more familiar with…

(Image credit: Doctor Who/Big Finish Productions/AudioGO.

Image obtained from: Big Finish Productions.)

Smoke and Mirrors

The fifth story in the Destiny of the Doctor series, Smoke and Mirrors features the Doctor being reunited with someone he had mentioned before: Harry Houdini.

This is quite an interesting tale. While the adventure itself is almost standard for the Fifth Doctor, the exploration of Houdini and how someone like him would feel about knowing the Doctor is definitely an interesting angle.

Smoke and Mirrors has been written by Steve Lyons, who’s an expert in writing stories set in history. (First Doctor novel The Witch Hunters is an especially strong story.) So he makes the era of 1920s England come to life.

While not my favorite in the Destiny of the Doctor series, Smoke and Mirrors does a great job of capturing the era, even with a very limited cast.

Tegan and Nyssa trilogy

In early 2016, three stories were released featuring the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan. All three of these stories are on sale, and they all slot firmly into the gap between Arc of Infinity and Snakedance.

In fact, The Waters of Amsterdam begins directly from where Arc of Infinity left off. Tegan has recently lost her job, and she’s ready to join the TARDIS crew again.

There’s just one problem: her ex has shown up. And that’s where The Waters of Amsterdam gets really interesting.

Considering how sudden Tegan’s departure was in Time-Flight, and how equally sudden her return was in the very next story, it’s nice that Big Finish actually explores what happened to her in the gap in-between with The Waters of Amsterdam.

Aquitaine is an interesting sci-fi mystery. It takes a while to work out what’s going on, but it unfolds very nicely. It’s a nice slice of original science-fiction, and an interesting puzzle to work out.

But if there’s one story that really stands out in this trilogy, it’s got to be The Peterloo Massacre. One of the only times that the Fifth Doctor has been involved in a pure historical, it’s a nice shift in genre for the team. There’s a lot of tension as the Doctor is fully aware of what’s to come, and we get some very strong performances from the regulars. A highly recommended audio.

But which is the story that I’d recommend the most…?

Cold Fusion

I’ve written a great deal about Cold Fusion before. But it’s still one that I can’t help but give my strongest recommendation.

Based on the 1996 novel of the same name, Cold Fusion is a rare multi-Doctor story where the focus is much more on the earlier incarnation than the later one. But considering that the incarnation Five meets in this story is Seven, that’s not surprising.

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Much of this story sees the Seventh Doctor working from the shadows, which allows for more exploration on Five dealing with something from Gallifrey’s ancient history. Add in the meetings of many different companions and hints of the Doctor’s own personal history, and you’ve got an absolutely brilliant story that just flies by.

If there’s one thing that makes this slightly more difficult to recommend on its own, it’s that it helps to be at least a little familiar with all of the Doctor’s companions in this story. Not just Tegan, Nyssa and Adric. But also Roz and Cwej, the Seventh Doctor’s companions from the novels.

It’s not completely essential to have read or heard of them in other stories first, but it does help to make their meetings with past companions just that little bit more special. Fortunately, this month, Damaged Goods is also on sale, which is a great introduction to the characters as well as being one of Russell T Davies’s greatest Doctor Who stories. If you can get that story as well as this one, it makes for a great combination.

Out of all the stories currently on sale, it’s definitely Cold Fusion that I’d recommend the most. It’s clever, interesting, with a really strong plot and great character focus. In addition, it’s also three hours long, so you definitely get value for money. One of my favorite releases from Big Finish.

Next. Day of the Daleks – why the special edition is the definitive version. dark

Have you listened to any of these stories? If so, which one was your favorite? Or if not, which one grabs your interest? Let us know in the comments below.

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