The Jupiter Conjunction (2012)

After a highly enjoyable story last month, I knew as I started to listen to The Jupiter Conjunction that it would have to try very hard to beat that story. It is written by Eddie Robson who is someone that I rated quite highly when he first started to write stories for Big Finish but it’s cooled somewhat in the last year or so. Prime example is the 2010 release ‘Industrial Evolution’ which I wasn’t wild about whereas stories such as Human Resources, The Condemned and The Five Companions are stories which are enjoyable and very strong. The Jupiter Conjunction sees the TARDIS crew arrive on a comet near Jupiter and in no time at all the Doctor and Turlough are put on trial. It’s not long before the story moves into a political style conspiracy where Earth are being tricked into starting a war because of an alien species that they have never heard of.  

Rebecca Front returns to the Big Finish world after her appearance in ‘The Mind’s Eye’ back in 2007, the BAFTA winning actress played Patricia Walton. I thought that the character was very strong and well performed by Front. If I had to pick a fault then it would be that I wish she had made it through to the end. Another person that I thought did well was Zoe Lister who played Violet Silvaner. Again a well written character that was helped by Lister’s performance. The regulars are also on good form with the fantastic double act of Davison and Strickson shining through. Fielding and Sutton also did well and it showed that the Doctor/Turlough and Tegan/Nyssa splits are the best.

The Jovians are the alien presence in this story and whilst at first I was a little put off by the slow nature of their talking. By the end I had been totally won over by them and found them to be an interesting addition. They were interesting because they seemed very powerful but not egomaniacal. They weren’t interested in being the next Dalek Empire or Cyber force but they were still relevant to the story. Philip Pope deserves praise for coming up with a voice that stands out. I don’t know whether they have enough mileage to be used in future stories but I liked how Robson started them off as the bad guys but by the end their true points were shown I think this reinforced how much I liked them.

This isn’t on par with ‘The Emerald Tiger’ but then again I never expected it to be, it did seem to faulter a little part way through episode three but I think that by this point it had earned enough of my good will that I let it slide. It’s the best Eddie Robson story for sometime and there is something about the next story which I am quite excited about.