The First Wave is the final story of the Oliver Harper trilogy. This posh companion has been on quite a journey in such a short amount of time. It was in March 2011 that this trilogy start and since then there has been three very good stories. Like the previous story, this one starts with Oliver and Steven fighting for there lives with the end almost upon them. However this being a Companion Chronicle in a known part of the Doctor’s timeline it was obvious this wasn’t going to be the end. What we get is a story set on a planetoid that has the best name Grace Alone. This is where the continuation from the previous story sees the Doctor, Oliver and Steven expected to meet their fate as they are listed as criminals. This story sees the return of the Vardans. I thought the name sounded familiar and upon the internet I found out that they had appeared in the 1977 adventure ‘The Invasion of Time’.
The first episode seems to be over very quickly though it’s the same length as you would expect from these type of stories. It must be that the action and the story was so good that time just flew by. The second episode is far more interesting as this is where the meat of the story is. The Vardans want to use the wave signals to attack earth and then quite oddly their target has changed. The idea of using monsters/aliens from the classic era that only appeared once and didn’t have as much impact as the Daleks or Sontarans is nothing new to Big Finish. But even I was surprised that they decided to use the Vardans. They were a visual alien but they did have a distinctive sound which I have to admit I found quite annoying after a while in this story. But as the story was moving along at a pace and the Vardans are an effective if restricted threat that I was able to get past his and it didn’t impede my enjoyment of the story.
The idea that Oliver has given his life was quite a surprise and a death in Doctor Who is in keeping like was mentioned in the interview at the end of the story with that era where Katarina had died and so had Sara Kingdom. I thought the final scene with Harper was one of the nicest and most touching scenes that I have ever heard in a Big Finish play. It just seemed to fit the characters and the mood of the story. Tom Allen has been very good in all three plays and the character was totally different to what Big Finish have come up with. Sometimes his reactions to what Steven said was what made the character seem that much more interesting. I think that we’re so use to the companions getting along that reactions such as when Harper’s suit was ruined and he said “So you should” after Steven apologied seemed so different. Purves as per usual was on splendid form. His impression of the first Doctor is very good despite not sounding anything like Hartnell. It has remained consistant and does help create an impression in my mind that the First Doctor is saying those words.
I don’t know whether I wanted more stories from Harper. I think that the idea of a character created just for the Companion Chronicles was a nice one and there was potential for future stories in the main range, maybe meeting the fifth or seventh Doctors. The thing about Doctor Who is that its never over and there is always the possibility of Harper returning in future stories. As a story in the trilogy its not the best one as ‘The Perpetual Bond’ gets that honour but its still a good story and a highly enjoyable one that had a nice and emotional end to it. As the penultimate CC or 2011, its shaping up to be a good year for the series.
The first episode seems to be over very quickly though it’s the same length as you would expect from these type of stories. It must be that the action and the story was so good that time just flew by. The second episode is far more interesting as this is where the meat of the story is. The Vardans want to use the wave signals to attack earth and then quite oddly their target has changed. The idea of using monsters/aliens from the classic era that only appeared once and didn’t have as much impact as the Daleks or Sontarans is nothing new to Big Finish. But even I was surprised that they decided to use the Vardans. They were a visual alien but they did have a distinctive sound which I have to admit I found quite annoying after a while in this story. But as the story was moving along at a pace and the Vardans are an effective if restricted threat that I was able to get past his and it didn’t impede my enjoyment of the story.
The idea that Oliver has given his life was quite a surprise and a death in Doctor Who is in keeping like was mentioned in the interview at the end of the story with that era where Katarina had died and so had Sara Kingdom. I thought the final scene with Harper was one of the nicest and most touching scenes that I have ever heard in a Big Finish play. It just seemed to fit the characters and the mood of the story. Tom Allen has been very good in all three plays and the character was totally different to what Big Finish have come up with. Sometimes his reactions to what Steven said was what made the character seem that much more interesting. I think that we’re so use to the companions getting along that reactions such as when Harper’s suit was ruined and he said “So you should” after Steven apologied seemed so different. Purves as per usual was on splendid form. His impression of the first Doctor is very good despite not sounding anything like Hartnell. It has remained consistant and does help create an impression in my mind that the First Doctor is saying those words.
I don’t know whether I wanted more stories from Harper. I think that the idea of a character created just for the Companion Chronicles was a nice one and there was potential for future stories in the main range, maybe meeting the fifth or seventh Doctors. The thing about Doctor Who is that its never over and there is always the possibility of Harper returning in future stories. As a story in the trilogy its not the best one as ‘The Perpetual Bond’ gets that honour but its still a good story and a highly enjoyable one that had a nice and emotional end to it. As the penultimate CC or 2011, its shaping up to be a good year for the series.
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