The Evolving Dead [AUDIO/2021.9.16]

★★★☆☆

  In the behind the scenes featurette for The Evolving Dead, writer Doris V Sutherland mentions the old sci-fi concepts the Doctor springs from (Quatermass, etc.), and how the modern concept of the post-George A. Romero zombie makes a nice contrast to them. It makes for an intriguing idea, certainly, and my appreciation for her as a writer has grown since learning the fact. 

  Certainly, behind all the typical 'space station in a crisis' tropes, there's a very interesting concept of the Doctor as an archaic concept in the midst of shinier, more advanced horror/sci-fi concepts (an example of this would be when it's revealed that the Doctor's interference caused all the madness to start in the first place). In a standout moment, we see the Doctor "infected" and turned into a zombie; it's something I take as more symbolic than it initially presents itself to be, and I wish to see more conceptually interesting thinkpieces in the future — certainly more from Sutherland.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ  

  As it stands, The Evolving Dead ends up being little more than the usual piece of hour-long Doctor Who space station entertainment. A pity in some respects, considering how novel the underlying theme is (at least for me), but I understand that it's a bit hard to pull off something groundbreaking in the first slot of a four-story boxset. In any case, nothing stops this adventure from being perfectly enjoyable, and I wish to see more from Doris V Sutherland.