Doctor Who overview: The Fourth Doctor Adventures: Series 9 gives us a fresh take on E-Space

The ninth series of The Fourth Doctor Adventures features a TARDIS team only briefly seen almost four decades ago.

Image Courtesy Big Finish Productions

The ninth series of The Fourth Doctor Adventures not only explores more of E-Space, but also a TARDIS team only briefly seen in Doctor Who.

After last year’s series-long epic The Syndicate Master Plan, Big Finish decided to do something a bit different this year for their range of Doctor Who audios, The Fourth Doctor Adventures. While Series 8 gave us a brand new arc with a beginning, middle and an end, Series 9 gave us four stories set firmly in the middle of an existing arc. In this case, the E-Space trilogy.

If you’re unaware of this particular trio of stories, the E-Space trilogy was made up of the following serials: Full Circle, State of Decay and Warriors’ Gate. The arc told the story of the Fourth Doctor, Romana and K-9 finding themselves trapped in E-Space, another universe entirely.

Each of the original stories stood out for distinctly different reasons. The opening story introduced us to Adric. The second story essentially established him as a companion. (He had hidden away on the TARDIS at the end of Full Circle, unbeknownst to the TARDIS crew or even the audience.) The third and final story has the Doctor return to our universe, bringing Adric along with him, but he also says goodbye to Romana and K-9.

While the first two stories are clearly set consecutively, there’s definitely a potential gap between State of Decay and Warriors’ Gate. And that gap gave Big Finish the chance to explore a barely seen TARDIS team.

Tom Baker and Matthew Waterhouse work together for the first time in almost four decades in the Fourth Doctor Adventures.

Image Courtesy: Big Finish Productions

Exploring a short-lived team

Big Finish have given us audios before that feature the Fourth Doctor, Romana, K-9 and Adric together. One of the very best is the Short Trip story A Full Life. (If you haven’t listened to it yet, do so. It’s an absolutely brilliant and deeply moving piece by Joseph Lidster.)

But Series 9 is the first time we’ve had the entire original cast reunited since 1981, which is extremely exciting. Yes, the TARDIS team is large, considerably so. But the overall series handles it just right by exploring each character in different ways.

For example, one thing that particularly stood out about Purgatory 12 is how the story explored Adric’s grief. In Full Circle, Adric’s brother Varsh died. Not only did he die violently, but Adric was there during his final moments. However, neither the trauma nor the grief he likely would have suffered from that moment were really explored on-screen. Purgatory 12 fixes that, in a big way.

The following story, Chase the Night, puts a little more focus on Romana. She learns more about being a leader and having to make responsible yet difficult decisions. Although she doesn’t know it, she’s in some ways taking her first steps towards not only leaving the TARDIS, but even becoming President of Gallifrey.

Technically, we have fewer stories this year than in previous series of The Fourth Doctor Adventures. But that’s only because we have entirely four-part stories this year, rather than a mix of two- and four-parters, as we’ve had in previous series.

Across two box sets, we given a strong mix of stories.

Image Courtesy Big Finish Productions

Strong stories

To be honest, this shift in format is an extremely welcome change. Some Doctors work better with stories told in just one hour, but four-part stories were essentially a key part of the Fourth Doctor’s era. It allowed you to get to know the guest characters better and explore their worlds more. Four’s had some good two-part stories thanks to Big Finish, don’t get me wrong. But it’s definitely nice to see a significant change that captures the nostalgia of his era better.

And it has to be said that each of those stories works extremely well. Purgatory 12 is full of Marc Platt’s usual strangeness, featuring a variety of distinctive characters. But, as previously mentioned, it also gives Adric a chance to shine, too.

The Planet of Witches is wonderfully subversive, and goes in directions that you wouldn’t expect. Alan Barnes packs in a lot in his story, including multiple antagonists and several surprise twists, and with the four-part length, it works extremely well.

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The Quest of the Engineer was in some ways a little disappointing. But that was mostly because the Engineer’s real identity was a little too hyped up. The story as a whole at least works rather well, and while it’s biggest reveal doesn’t work quite as well as it should, there are one or two other reveals that are effective.

But my absolute favorite story this series has to be Chase the Night. It’s a simple yet extremely exciting idea; it’s an interesting exploration of how far people go in a desperate situation, and it suits the tone and harder sci-fi edge of Season 18 perfectly.

With strong stories and rich exploration of a TARDIS team that we barely got to know on television, the ninth series of The Fourth Doctor Adventures is a strong one. It’s not its own arc, but fans who loved the E-Space trilogy should definitely enjoy this series.

Are you a fan of the E-Space trilogy? Do you think this team should have been explored more on television? If you’ve listened to the series, which story was your favorite? Let us know in the comments below.