The Beginning [AUDIO/2013.11.15]

★★★☆☆

  Once the novelty of its status as the depiction of the first ever TARDIS trip of the Doctor and Susan's wears off, you'll find yourself with a Companion Chronicle that somewhat scrambles to be as interesting -- or indeed, relevant -- as the hook that probably drew in three-fourths of its audience. Do I find the Archaeon narrative fun, engaging or intellectually stimulating in any significant way? No, not really; it's there to fill an hour's worth of time, and it's very good at that. Marc Platt is a dab hand at writing the First Doctor and Susan, and highlights of this audio drama are all related to these two reacting to what's alien to them, the lands and natural inhabitants of Earth lifeforms. As for Quadrigger Stoyn, he's an interesting enough character in this installment, but I always felt that he outstayed his welcome at around the halfway mark. His being the chief antagonist of this adventure fails to be interesting to me when he's barely in it for a good portion of the runtime. Still, even with not-entirely-convincing villain and a vigorously okay story, at heart The Beginning is less a conventional Companion Chronicle and more a celebration of the 50th anniversary of Dr. Who -- and hey, that's completely fine. As long as it flows nicely and it's not overly boring (although trust me, it gets close a couple of times), I'm content. I can confidently say I like The Beginning. Platt's love for the beginning of the show and this time period is very apparant, if nothing else, and that's really sweet to listen to.