The Gathering

While Peri and Erimem are in Monte Carlo on their mission, the Doctor carries on with unfinished business of his own and ends up following a trail that leads him back to Earth in 2006, and more specifically to Brisbane, Australia, and the 46th birthday party of Tegan Jovanka. But it's not all fun and happiness; Tegan has moved on with her life and is not eager to revisit her danger days with the Doctor, but someone has brought something alien to Brisbane, and danger is not far behind.

Now I'm not going to throw too much plot detail around, as this adventure is in effect a sequel to The Reaping, an audio adventure with the sixth Doctor... which is in the future as far as the series is concerned but set in the past, in 1984. Just looking at the cover art (a new feature to my blog!) you might be able to guess what alien menace is involved, so I'm not going to say any more about that angle.

Let's talk about Tegan. Indeed, let's talk about the Doctor and Tegan. The fact that we have a Tegan audio is a fantastic thing as Janet Fielding for years insisted she would never return to the role she left behind, but was persuaded finally to do "just one". Not since Sarah Jane Smith has there been a companion who's dynamic with the Doctor was such a source of amusement and joy to the viewers, although the two could never be more different; where Sarah made the business of time travel with the Doctor her life, Tegan spent most of her days grumbling about where the TARDIS had landed them this time and looking for a way out until she finally left out of disgust at the violence that follows the Doctor. Hence his return to her life is not greeted with joy, exactly, and when people start to die Tegan feels like it's the good old days. Oh yeah, and seeing as she's 46 now she actually looks older than him, which would annoy anyone.

The Doctor is never fazed by this; indeed he has gotten used to popping up in his friends' futures and either not having aged a day or with a whole new body - look how often he does it to the Brigadier. The only thing that does rattle him though is the suggestion that Tegan is only grouchy because she loves him. This I blame on the new TV series, seeing as the Doctor has changed into not just a good friend to travel with but some unattainable sex object, and the notion is starting to creep into revisionist fan factions' work. Still, it's pretty much a given that it is not going to make its way any further back than Peter Davison's Doctor. Unless there's something we don't know about Vicki and some grandpa complex she might have had.

NEXT EPISODE : OMEGA