Doctor Who review: The Robots: Volume 1 is a strong start to the new spin-off
By James Aggas
With a decent mix of stories and exploration of interesting themes, the first volume of The Robots gets the new Doctor Who spin-off series off to an excellent start.
When Big Finish announced earlier this year that they were making a Doctor Who spin-off for Liv Chenka, I was immediately intrigued. For those of you unaware of who she is, Liv was originally introduced in the Seventh Doctor audio Robophobia back in 2011. She returned three years later in the Eighth Doctor box set Dark Eyes 2, and has been a companion to the Doctor ever since.
In fact, she still is. Because a key reason that makes her new spin-off series The Robots so intriguing is when it takes place for her – neither before nor after her travels with the Doctor, but during a “gap year”, as it were.
Last year, in the Eighth Doctor box set Ravenous 2, Liv was reunited with her estranged sister Tula on Kaldor. She didn’t want to leave the Doctor completely, but she didn’t want to pass up such a huge opportunity to repair things with her sister.
Fortunately, the TARDIS crew worked out a way where she didn’t have to make either choice – letting Liv stay on Kaldor for one year, but picking her up just seconds later from her friends’ perspectives. What she got up to during that year – and what happened on Kaldor – is explored in The Robots…
Excellent mix
The first volume of The Robots is definitely a strong start to the series. While it’s only three episodes, each of them stands out as a strong story in their own right.
Even better is that none of them fall into the trap of being a repeat of the classic Doctor Who serial, The Robots of Death. While that story is absolutely brilliant and helped to establish the world of Kaldor so incredibly well, you want something fresh and original from a spin-off series based on that world.
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And The Robots definitely succeeds in doing just that. Which isn’t surprising, as Big Finish have done well at telling original stories involving the Voc Robots, with both Robophobia and The Sons of Kaldor working extremely well at giving us new takes on the distinctive androids.
Even better is that each episode of The Robots explores different themes and gives us different viewpoints on the world of Kaldor. The Robots of Life focuses on how Liv tries to adapt with both living with her sister and staying in one place, while also giving us an intriguing mystery. The Sentient explores some interesting moral questions on artificial intelligence and the very strong dangers of it. And Love Me Not gives us a dark exploration of grief and loss.
Overall, the first volume of The Robots provides us with an excellent start. Even with so few episodes, there’s a nice sense of variety to the series, while still feeling like it has a strong overall tone. I can’t wait to find out what future volumes in the series will bring.
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Have you listened to the first volume of The Robots? Are you a fan of the classic Doctor Who story The Robots of Death? Let us know in the comments below.