Daughter of the Gods is a Doctor Who audio play from Big Finish Productions. It is the latest episode from the range known as The Early Adventures. It is written by David K. Barnes and directed by Lisa Bowerman. As displayed on the cover, the First and Second Doctors encounter each other in one of the more ambitious tales. Peter Purves shares narration duties with Wendy Padbury as well as reprising his role of Steven Taylor and providing a pretty impression of the First Doctor, who was initially played by the late William Hartnell. Padbury also plays Zoe Herriot and stars alongside Frazer Hines, who is quite busy with reprising his role of Jamie McCrimmon and also filling in for the late Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor.
One of the other more intriguing elements is that a short-lived companion named Katarina gets a new lease on life with the performance of Ajjaz Awad. Laura Elphinstone, Ian Crowe, Max Keeble are also in the guest cast. Nicholas Briggs fires up the voice modulator again grating out threats and orders as the Daleks.
Katarina is rather a significant figure in the television series in that she was the first companion to have died onscreen during the story known as The Daleks’ Master Plan which was first broadcast in 1965. Awad takes on that role which was originally played by the late Adrienne Hill.
I sort of had some trouble following the story on this one, but the chemistry between the actors sort of made that irrelevant. There was a poignancy to the idea of centering this around Katarina that made this seem rather special. The fun of the two Doctors finally meeting and bickering as expected was welcome, if not surprising since this is what usually goes down during multi-Doctor episodes.
This is probably one of those I will understand better when I listen to it again, but I found it to be rewarding due to the performance and the effort to explore a character that did not get much screen time but could still be considered a companion.
The sound effects were quite convincing. Briggs still seems to bring great joy menacing his cast mates as the Daleks.
I also enjoyed that this story sort of mixes up the pairings of companions as well. Even if the immediate coherence of the episode could stand a little improvement, I still enjoyed the effort and imagination Barnes out forth here. As always, I want to enjoy new adventures with the earlier Doctors and their companions. Purves, Padbury, and Hines are not getting any younger, and sometimes that shows in their voices, however their obvious enthusiasm and energy they still exude will hopefully be used for some years to come.
Reviews, Musings, and Other Things... 