Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #213924 in Books
• Published on: 2009-01-30
• Format: Audiobook
• Binding: Audio CD

Customer Reviews

self preservation
latest release in the third series of doctor who companion chronicles talking books. normally these feature an actor who played a companion of the doctor's on tv reading an all new story. but this one rather breaks the format.

it ties in with another big finish release Key 2 Time: The Judgement of Isskar (Doctor Who) and features the back story of zara, a character from that story. here she encounters the seventh doctor's companion ace, when the two of them are thrown together in a prison cell.

the story is complete on one disc, containing two episodes that run for roughly half an hour each. the first part involves the two ladies trying to escape, and these scenes are interdispersed with zara telling us the story of who she is and how she came to be. and a few things she learnt in the process. there's some strong characterisation here.

the second part has narration from ace, and more from zara, and fills in the backstory of what ace was doing here in the first place. this is all very clever and in keeping with the era of the show when the doctor would make cunning plans, as there's lots of crossing of various continuities involved. people who read the doctor who novels of the 1990's will notice a few fan pleasing continuity references.

everything comes together very well at the end in a way that shows you what the doctor was up to, and fills in the blanks about zara that we didn't learn in her other story.

it's an involved second episode and you do need to concentrate on it, but it's worth the effort.

and this pretty much stands on it's own so you can hear it without having heard judgement of isskar.

the disc concludes with a seven and a half minute long interview with cast and crew.

a clever tale and a clever experiment with the format. not bad at all