Start to Finish: 1.02 - Fear of the Daleks

Image (c) Big Finish Productions Ltd

The first series of The Companion Chronicles contained one story for each of the first four Doctors, so episode two features an adventure for the Second Doctor, Patrick Chapman's Fear of the Daleks, narrated by Wendy Padbury as teenage computer genius Zoe Herriott, and featuring Nicholas Briggs in the role which will surely fund his retirement and put his children through university, as the voice of the Daleks.

Once again, it's a story within a story, as Zoe Herriott recounts a story of her past travels to her counsellor. Now, this presents something of a challenge, as her memory of her travels with the Doctor were erased by the Time Lords, so instead she recounts her story as that of a recurrent nightmare, in which she stowed away in the TARDIS and traveled with the Doctor, encountering his archenemies, the Daleks.

The story makes much of the paradox of Zoe's memory; that she forgot her travels when she was one of the first major television characters to have an eidetic memory as a character trait. Captured by a mad scientist working with the Daleks, her mind is used to power a weapon and to create an assassin avatar to wield it. 'Companion gets mind controlled for the purposes of murder' is not an original conceit for the series, but the mind projector is a creepy conceit and Padbury conveys the sense of helplessness well.

In terms of other characters, Padbury's vocal range is limited. Her Doctor has some of Patrick Troughton's intonations, but her Jamie lacks even a Fraser Hines-quality Scots accent. Her Zoe, however, remains assured after all these years, from her slightly smug accounts of her own intelligence to her fear in the face of loss of control, and distinguishing clearly between the old and young versions of the character. Although the dominant mood is Zoe's fear of the Daleks and of losing control of herself, that theme of melancholy nostalgia is present again, this time through Zoe's amnesia.

As with Frostfire, the Doctor is a slightly tangential presence in Zoe's story, the first person nature of the narrative meaning that it has to remain solely with her. In fact, the Daleks are almost a secondary presence themselves, with the mad scientist Attreca as the primary antagonist.

Fear of the Daleks is another decent entry in the series, with a wildly high concept to go with its bare bones production.

Next up, The Blue Tooth, with the late Caroline John as Liz Shaw, and Nicholas Briggs and his Moog ring modulator as the Cybermen.