When Doom's Day was first announced, I was quite trepidatious as to whether it would actually produce any good stories. After all, of what interest would a series of stories about a character I'd never heard of be to me? Even so, I decided to give the series a shot, beginning with BBC Audio's release, "Four From Doom's Day," the title a play on the Fifth Doctor story, "Four to Doomsday." Here, we are presented with four of the twenty-four hours of Doom's final day, as she searches desperately for the Doctor (but apparently not just any Doctor, a specific incarnation). The four stories contained within each take up one of these hours, though the runtimes are all roughly half an hour. The first story in the set, "The Steel Cascade," gives us a glimpse of Ian and Barbara's lives after "The Chase," as they encounter Doom on a cruise. It's fun to see how Ian and Barbara are unable to escape from the Doctor's influence and how they've struggled to adjust to regular life. I'm sure this is addressed somewhat in "London, 1965," but it's still nice to see them again. The story doesn't explain much about the premise of the series, so I'd suggest going in with a general idea of who Doom is and what Doom's Day is all about.
"The Martian Dilemma" is a political drama set on Mars, as Doom is sent to assassinate the Martian leader. This is perhaps the most unusual story in the set as it features no returning characters besides Doom, leaving her on her own to carry a story. Though I appreciated the story's nod to "The Curse of Peladon," I wish that the story had been set on Peladon to give us a bit more connection to the characters within. I found it difficult to care about Martian politics within the story, and a closer connection to Peladon and the Federation would have been helpful. The ending is nice though, and there's some neat work done with how fixed points in time work. "An Ood Halloween" features the return of Brian the Ood. I'm quite thankful that he returned, as I'd assumed that Time Lord Victorious was the only time we would ever see him, and it was great to see him return here, as a sort of supervisor for Doom. Speaking of Brian, it's rather odd that every time we've gotten one of these multimedia events, there's been an assassin introduced. The story is a pretty typical run around as Doom chases a target in 1999 San Francisco (sadly without any references to the TV movie), but her interactions with Brian lift this story up, and their dynamic keeps the story fresh. Something I appreciate about this set is how Doom tries to go to places where she knows the Doctor likely frequents and where there's danger, as where danger lay, so doth the Doctor. "Dark Space" is the final story in the set and sees Doom unite with the Doctor, but the wrong Doctor. Oddly enough, this was the story of the set I enjoyed least. While I liked seeing the Twelfth Doctor, it felt very average and failed to do anything particularly unique or interesting. I'm not sure why they decided to not have Sooz Kempner perform all four stories as she's the one who plays Doom, but it was also nice to hear Carson back as Brian. Though I generally found all four stories to be rather average, they were enjoyable and good quick stories to learn more about Doom's adventures, her morals, and to hint that this day will changer her and maker her more like the Doctor.
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