Doctor Who review: The Fourth Doctor returns to a familiar world in The False Guardian
By James Aggas
The fourth story in this year’s series of Doctor Who: The Fourth Doctor Adventures sees the Doctor and Ann arrive on a strange yet familiar world. But where?
After a couple of standalone stories, The False Guardian brings this series of Doctor Who audio adventures back to the main arc. And it does it quite naturally, too, as Ann Kelso is keen to investigate the mystery of the Sinestran Syndicate introduced in the first story. Considering she is a police officer, it’s a great use of her character while naturally developing the larger story.
The Fourth Doctor, Ann and K9 arrive on a strange and desolate world. Something is very wrong on this planet, particularly with time. Even stranger is that the Doctor feels that the world seems somehow familiar. But how?
The False Guardian is quite the subversive story. With Guy Adams, you never really know what you’re going to get from his scripts. He’s brilliant at writing dark and scary horror, such as last year’s Torchwood story We Always Get Out Alive. But he’s also great at writing something much lighter too, such as the Seventh Doctor audio The Quantum Possibility Engine.
Some surprises you may see coming, but The False Guardian features many more that you won’t…
(Image credit: Doctor Who/Big Finish Productions.
Image obtained from: Big Finish Productions.)
A completely (un)predictable twist?
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And that’s kind of what we get with The False Guardian. It’s a story that’s all about raising expectations and then subverting them, right down to its very title. Now, I’ll admit, you might still see through what Guy Adams wanted you to expect if you see the cover. So the ending of part one was a little predictable.
However, at the same time, Adams actually does something rather clever. Because there’s another twist in this story, one that really pulls the rug out from under your feet.
If I’m honest, I thought it was completely predictable…right until I actually heard it. Then I was saying “What?” more times than the Tenth Doctor at the end of a series finale. It’s not the greatest twist ever written, but it was well handled.
It’s difficult to say much more about The False Guardian, especially as it’s only half a story. The story will be concluded in Time’s Assassin, which thankfully we don’t have to wait too long for.
But I can say that it’s a good setup so far. Particularly since it starts to give us a good idea of the shape of the story that The Syndicate Master Plan is telling. I can’t wait to review the remaining stories in the series next month.
Next. A surprisingly common mistake about the Time War. dark
Have you listened to the first half of this year’s Fourth Doctor Adventures? Which story is your favorite so far? What are you hoping to see happen in the remaining adventures? Let us know in the comments below.