Doctor Who review: The Quest of the Engineer – An epic finale or a regular adventure?

The Quest of the Engineer finishes off this year’s series of Fourth Doctor Adventures. Is it an epic finale or simply a straightforward Doctor Who story?

The Quest of the Engineer – the last story in this year’s series of The Fourth Doctor Adventures – has been written by Andrew Smith. This is rather fitting, as Andrew also wrote Full Circle – the first ever story set in E-Space. Like this year’s previous Fourth Doctor stories, The Quest of the Engineer takes place in this universe, with the Doctor, Romana, Adric and K-9 trying to find a way out.

I must admit, I did have high expectations for The Quest of the Engineer. This is partially because previous stories this year have been so strong. In recent years, we’ve also had several impressive finales, including The Age of Sutekh and The Perfect Prisoners. But also, we had a particularly promising description, at least when it came to the story’s main antagonist, the Engineer.

"It seems [the Engineer] may be on the same quest as the Doctor and his friends. But can he be trusted? And who is he really?"

There’s a lot of mystery built around the antagonist in that description. And that mystery features in the story itself. So it’s easy to start speculating about who he is, especially if he’s a character that we might’ve met before. Is he someone from our universe who’s also fallen into E-Space?

Eventually, we find out who he really is. And, without going into too much detail, we find out that the villain that we’ve never heard of before is in fact… a villain that we haven’t heard of before.

A strong story on its own terms

This is an example of how too much anticipation can work against a story. Even taking The Quest of the Engineer on its own terms, the mystery surrounding the titular antagonist’s identity is left for too long, and lacks real payoff.

Which is a shame, as Nicholas Woodeson is great in the part, and the character is genuinely well-written. There are many sides to the Engineer: he’s clearly a ruthless individual, and he’s willing to go to great lengths to get what he wants. But he also has strong and very personal reasons for why he wants those things, too. In fact, ignoring the mystery built around him, I have to admit that the Engineer is a pretty fantastic villain.

There are a lot of other key points that work in The Quest of the Engineer. For example, there’s the Engineer’s henchman, Jonas. Played by Timothy Blore (who recently appeared as River’s companion Luke in The Diary of River Song: Series 7), there’s mystery built up around his character, but it’s mystery that’s given a fantastic payoff. When we find out who he really is, it’s both emotional and horrific in equal measure. So that reveal has a lot of impact.

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There are also plenty of fantastic ideas, and The Quest of the Engineer has a lot of jeopardy due to how far the titular villain is willing to go to achieve his goals. Even the world that’s featured in this story is a fascinating one, and feels reminiscent of a certain Douglas Adams story without directly copying it.

If I’m honest, The Quest of the Engineer is a pretty solid story in its own right. It’s not perfect – as I mentioned, there’s a little too much mystery built around the Engineer’s identity, and the story does have some issue with pacing, at times. But there’s honestly a lot more that works about the story than what doesn’t. It’s not an epic finale, but taken on its own terms, The Quest of the Engineer is an enjoyable listen.

Has a strong story been almost ruined for you due to expectations? Are there any stories you’ve gone back to that you enjoyed much more the second time? Let us know in the comments below.