Flight to Calandra [AUDIO/2021.11.3]
★★★☆☆
If memory serves me correctly, this has to be my second foray into the relatively (and understandably) short oeuvre of Twelfth Doctor adventures from Big Finish Productions, the first being Regeneration Impossible. I know there are quite a few opinions out there about Jacob Dudman's impersonation/interpretation of the character (some of them even being legible!), and to throw my own two cents into the cesspool: I think he does a good enough job and he shows a lot of enthusiasm for the role. That's about as much as one can ask from anyone who isn't Peter Capaldi.
As introduction stories go (for both a new companion and a new storyline stretching multiple entries), Flight to Calandra is what I call a one-and-doner — a story that does its job with minimal flourish and filler, an hour of one's time sufficiently entertained. The plot, which includes a planet of clones and transmat technology gone wrong leading to existential crises, takes a backseat in this installment in favor of establishing the various characters of this world. It's to this story's detriment that most of these characters are your stock Doctor Who people in peril, but I'm delighted to report that Bhavnisha Parmar's Time Agent companion Kiera Sanstrom stands above the rest. There's a spark to her that gets me invested immediately, and Parmar seems to relish in her time in Doctor Who every time. I didn't even know she was Yaz's sister from the New Series, which speaks to me even more about her range! It is her that I look forward to the most in the remainder of the boxset.
*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ
First impressions? Flight to Calandra seems to become less and less interested in its own proceedings as time passes, which is its greatest downfall. Matt Fitton has produced better scripts, but this mostly okay quality of Big Finish stories (especially those dealing with Doctors from the New Series) has sadly become the standard of late. I'd much rather look at the positives of the situation, and gush over new companion Kiera. I hope subsequent stories get more imaginative and compelling.
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