Doctor Who review: The Worlds of Doctor Who: The Reesinger Process
By James Aggas
Counter-Measures investigate a strange case involving mysterious deaths and mind control in the second episode of The Worlds of Doctor Who.
Set decades after Mind Games, The Reesinger Process moves The Worlds of Doctor Who from one strong audio spin-off to another – in this case, to the world of Counter-Measures. Set in the Sixties and focusing on a group of characters originally introduced in Seventh Doctor story Remembrance of the Daleks, the series features a mix of Cold War-era paranoia with fringe science.
The Reesinger Process gives new listeners a good taste of that. When a series of unexplained murders and suicides start taking place all over the country, it’s up to the Counter-Measures team to find out why. Initially, nothing seems to connect them – until they find out about the Reesinger Institute and their mysterious mental techniques…
What’s interesting about The Reesinger Process is how it balances continuing the story of Mind Games while still telling a Counter-Measures story, one that new listeners should be able to jump on board with. Justin Richards – who wrote both stories – gets the balance just right. Just as Mind Games did a great job of introducing new listeners to the world of Jago & Litefoot, The Reesinger Process works well at making it clear to the audience who these characters are and what they do.
The Counter-Measures cast, L to R: Hugh Ross (Sir Toby Kinsella), Pamela Salem (Professor Rachel Jensen), Simon Williams (Group Captain Gilmore) and Karen Gledhill (Allison Williams).
Image Courtesy Big Finish Productions
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A strong story
Another thing that stands out about The Reesinger Process is that it almost works just as well as a standalone story as Mind Games does. While it is a direct continuation of the events of that story, Richards also takes a while to reveal how it’s connected. We know that mind control is central to this episode. But how could Rees – a man surely dead – be possibly involved?
Rees has less of a direct presence in this story than in other episodes, and I think it works far stronger as a result. While Rees was a perfect fit for the world of Jago & Litefoot, I’m not sure he works quite so well across all four episodes. That opinion could change when revisiting the rest of this box set, however.
Full of mystery and paranoia, The Reesinger Process works extremely well, both as an introduction to Counter-Measures and as another great episode in The Worlds of Doctor Who. Are the remaining episodes equally strong? Find out tomorrow, when we review The Screaming Skull.
Are you a fan of Counter-Measures? If you’ve listened to The Reesinger Process, do you think it was a good fit for the team? Let us know in the comments below.