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| Image (c) Big Finish Productions Ltd |
The Doctor and Romana have been looking for a CVE to take them back to N-Space, but when they finally manage to find one it turns out to be in use, as the bridgehead for an invading flotilla intent on plundering the mineral wealth of the planet Ballustra.
The Invasion of E-Space is a full-on space opera, more akin to Babylon 5 than classic Who. By keeping the focus small, however, Smith maintains the importance of the Doctor and Romana, however. In fact, by teaming the Doctor up with the second narrator (Suanne Braun's space cop, Marni Tellis, has her own framing narrative alongside Romana's) gives him a larger and more direct role than in almost any Companion Chronicle to date.
Romana's framing narrative, interestingly, seems to operate without knowledge of Big Finish's extensive use of Romana II, setting her at the end of a crusade to free the Tharrils (from Warriors' Gate) from slavery. Tellis, meanwhile, is recording an account of the invasion of her homeworld and her brief adventure with the Doctor. The opening of that second strand sets up a much more authoritarian world than the rest of the script suggests, but it's a minor niggle in an engaging action piece.
The sound design is the real star here, evoking the kind of space battle that Who could never do on the screen, even in this day and age (where the story might be more at home).
Next, another audio companion, as Maggie Stables' Evelyn Smythe tells of her adventures in A Town Called Fortune.
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