Doctor Who review: The Fourth Doctor encounters spies and dreams on Fever Island
By James Aggas
The Fourth Doctor and Ann meet Jason Vane, a superspy working for British Intelligence. But all is not as it seems on Fever Island…
Fever Island is definitely the most standalone story from the second volume of The Fourth Doctor Adventures: The Syndicate Master Plan. Which is just about right, too. With the rest of the stories in the box being part of serials, (and major serials at that,) one standalone story to get a breather from the arc sounds just right. More than that, Fever Island is a rather different kind of Doctor Who adventure altogether.
This story owes a lot to the genre of spy stories, especially James Bond. Jason Vane is a man who’s arrogant and faces danger on a deadly basis. He also seems to find himself in adventures that don’t make any sense, and seems to love narrating what’s happening right in front of him. Is he really a spy, or is something else going on altogether?
Gethin Anthony is especially great in the role of Vane. He doesn’t just play the arrogance and classiness of the character very well. He also plays other sides to him that make him more interesting and likable. It’s particularly impressive to hear him switch between such radically different sides to this character, and Anthony clearly has a lot of fun in the role.
Fever Island is an easy standalone story in the middle of a huge arc, while also presenting something more.
(Image credit: Doctor Who/Big Finish Productions.
Image obtained from: Big Finish Productions.)
A well-balanced script
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Jonathan Barnes also gives us an excellent story, too. Having written some of the best Sherlock Holmes stories released by Big Finish, he’s a writer who knows how to balance between plot and characters very well.
He’s also excellent at surprising the listener, and Fever Island has an excellent surprise. While initially it seems like a strange cross between Doctor Who and James Bond, it slowly starts to turn into something more interesting than that. He also explores some interesting themes, such as the power of dreams and how important they can be.
Overall, Fever Island is a really enjoyable little story that stands on its own very nicely. Jonathan Barnes clearly had a lot of fun writing this one, and the same goes for the cast, too. After the major twist revealed in Time’s Assassin and before the grand finale of The Perfect Prisoners, it’s an excellent breather story that also adds something more.
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Are you a fan of the spy genre? Would you like a cross between Doctor Who and James Bond (or something like it) on the small screen? Let us know in the comments below.