Doctor Who review: The Companion Chronicles: E is For… is a fresh take on the superhero genre

When Susan and her friends arrive on a world where people with superpowers are feared, she finds herself developing similar gifts, before being hunted down in the first story of this year’s Doctor Who: The Companion Chronicles box set, E is For…

Last month, Big Finish released the latest box set in their much-loved Doctor Who range, The Companion Chronicles. A series focused on telling stories from the companions’ perspectives and usually with a limited cast, the range has seen a lot of creativity and given us a number of brilliant stories over the years, so I’m glad to see it return with The First Doctor: Volume Three.

Things start off strong with the opening story, E is For…. Set during the first season, the story is told from Susan’s perspective, as she’s separated from Ian, Barbara and her grandfather. Taking place on the planet Malkus, the story explores what it’s like to have superpowers (or become “Gifted”, as it’s called on this world) when everyone fears you.

The idea is not an original concept, and has been explored many times in comic books, perhaps most famously in X-Men. But Julian Richards plays around with the formula quite a bit. Setting it on another planet gives us another take on the idea, with a more openly controlling government and people with superpowers becoming more well known. So from the start, the story subverts the typical idea of superheroes with secret identities.

Richards also subverts The Companion Chronicles formula a little, too. While initially, the story looks as though it’ll be mostly narrated by Susan, as she recaps what happened to her and her friends at the start, the story quickly subverts that, and gives us more of a small-cast drama with the occasional moment of narration thrown in.

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Small-cast drama

Most of the scenes in this story focus just on Susan and Virgil, a member of the Gifted that Susan meets in this story. While they try to avoid being captured or defend themselves from attack, they share a number of scenes together where they learn more about each other. We learn about Virgil and his world and see things through his eyes. Both Carole Ann Ford and Mark Edel-Hunt put in strong performances as Susan and Virgil in these scenes, and really help to draw us into the story more.

On top of that, we also have the ever reliable Lisa Bowerman playing another key role: Colonel Maria Rage. Living up to her name, Rage is a strong antagonist for the story, as she hunts Susan and Virgil down relentlessly over the course of the story. Bowerman’s performance not only helps to make the character believably threatening, but does it in a fittingly old-school way, too.

E is For… is a really strong opening story. Taking a classic comic book idea, Julian Richards’s story makes it just a little more sci-fi, and gives us a decent Doctor Who story that fits the period well. A very enjoyable audio to start off this latest box set.

Are you a fan of the superhero genre? Do you think Doctor Who should explore it more often? Let us know in the comments below.