Doctor Who: We need to talk about the amazing trailer for new spin-off series The Robots

There’s a brand new Doctor Who spin-off series out now called The Robots, and it looks exciting. But first, we need to talk about the extremely impressive new trailer for it…

So earlier this week, the first volume of Big Finish’s latest Doctor Who spin-off, The Robots, was released. We’ve just started listening to it, and expect our first review on it soon. (Spoiler alert: it’s good. Really, really good.)

But what we wanted to draw your attention to is the trailer that’s been released for it. Because it’s not like most Big Finish trailers. While they’re usually good and feature decent enough visuals for selected audio clips, Chris Thompson’s trailer for The Robots takes a distinctly different approach.

Depicted as a presentation of the history of Kaldor (the main setting for the series), we get glimpses of how life on this world began, as well as how robotics gradually developed and society became entirely dependent on robots. So if you haven’t seen the classic Fourth Doctor serial The Robots of Death that these robots originally came from, this is a good introduction to the world and the society that Chris Boucher created with that story.

But look closer, and you’ll see that not everything is as perfect on Kaldor as it initially appears…

Hints of what’s to come

The reason this trailer stands out so brilliantly is that, in just a couple of minutes, it covers so much without actually spoiling anything. Along with a glimpse of the society featured in the series, we’re also given little clues and hints of what’s to come. Things look peaceful on Kaldor now, but how long will that last?

In fact, regular listeners of Big Finish’s stories – particularly the stories focused on Kaldor – have a good idea of where the planet is heading. The Fourth Doctor story The Sons of Kaldor revealed the aftermath of a major revolution on the planet.

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More significantly, the Eighth Doctor story Escape from Kaldor – set chronologically earlier on Kaldor – hinted at things to come. Particularly in the story’s closing moments. At the very end of Escape from Kaldor, Liv – both a native of Kaldor and a companion to the Eighth Doctor – wanted to stay behind to spend some time with her sister. Just for a year. A year that, thanks to the TARDIS, the Doctor and fellow companion Helen were able to skip. And when they did come back, Liv was all too eager to get away.

But what happened during that year? How disastrous did things become on Kaldor? This trailer gives us excellent hints of what’s to come, setting the tone for the series perfectly while giving virtually nothing away. I wish more trailers were like this – not just from Big Finish, but in general. It really is a fantastic little video, so massive kudos to Chris Thompson for creating it.

What are your thoughts on the trailer? Has it made you more intrigued to check out new spin-off The Robots? What are your expectations for the series? Do you want more trailers that show plenty but reveal nothing? Let us know in the comments below.