London Orbital [AUDIO/2022.11.8]

★★★☆☆

  Harry Sullivan and Naomi Cross make a pretty great duo. You wouldn't expect such an oddball team to work if you haven't listened to the new UNIT boxsets, but there's a definite chemistry between Christopher Naylor and Eleanor Crooks that makes every scene easy to listen to. You just care for these two characters, no matter how bogged down the overall installment gets and how that fact makes the overall experience less enjoyable.

  The premise of London Orbital shows tons of promise -- elves from fantasy warring on the streets of London? Sign me in, that's exactly the kind of bonkers idea that a Big Finish boxset is perfect for. I'd say that John Dorney delivers on the premise to the extent that I'm not actively angry about it or anything; that being said, there was surely so much more that could've been done with such an idea! We have opposing elf factions (given actual alien race names in the story, mind, I'm just saying elves because that's what they ostensibly are), gateways into other worlds including one inside the sewers (an idea I particularly love is that underneath the manhole, there's a clear stream and beautiful accompanying greenery), third party machinations of the two aforementioned factions for their own beliefs/gains, and a huge action-packed resolution. These are all done pretty well in London Orbital, but surely we could have gone more fantastical, more out-there with the kingdoms and the Earth incursion and the like? I wonder what this would've read like as a book; I'm imagining the first chapter, detailing the rich history of the Ljósálfar and the Dökkálfar, and my heart already starts to beat. Oh, how we are so frequently kept from the gates of greatness!

  This rather big tidbit aside, London Orbital is still a very enjoyable slice of fantasy-adjacent Doctor Who. Dorney's ideas conjure up one of the most fascinating Who races in recent memory (let's please use them in further, more imaginative adventures, please), and Sylvester McCoy seems to be having a right ol' time taking the mickey out of Harry... so automatically, it's an assured and engaging performance from him. If elves and their political bothers sound fascinating as a subject in Doctor Who to you, you're in for a treat.