Voyage to Venus (2012)

Voyage to Venus is the first of two special Jago and Litefoot releases. At the end of the fourth and most recent series, the sixth Doctor invites Jago and Litefoot to join him on an adventure.  The thing about this release was that it was released a month early which to my recollection has never happened before, certainly since I have been a subscriber. Anyway the story takes place on Venus which is being run by women who live in a city above the clouds and pretty soon the Doctor, Jago and Litefoot are involved in a war between the original inhabitants and the women.

After being glad that Love and War was made because it was the start point for the Benny/Ace/Seventh Doctor part of his timeline. I’m glad that Jago and Litefoot have finally got to travel in the TARDIS. It’s been something that I have been looking forward to since I first watched The Talons of Weng-Chiang. But Voyage to Venus and the next adventure can’t be just about that and I’m happy to say that it isn’t. The story is pretty straight forward but amusing from start to finish. The reaction of two Victorian gentlemen finding themselves not only in a spaceship that’s bigger on the inside than the outside but on another planet in another time was what you would expect. I found Jago’s reaction to me very amusing though I thought that Jago being referred to as Jago-maam was somewhat tiresome after a while.  The idea that there is a planet run by women and men referred to as mere tools for reproduction aren’t a new idea but it works rather well in this context. The whole feel of this story was that it was more of a Jago and Litefoot story as opposed to a Doctor Who story. The stories that Jonathan Morris has written over the last couple of years have tended to focus more on being entertaining than opposed to be complicated and getting bogged down in paradoxes and stuff like that. He wrote Protect and Survive which I think is one of the best stories since Enemy of the Daleks and whilst Voyage to Venus isn’t on that level or that dark it’s still a good story with strong characters that you can either like of dislike.

Christopher Benjamin and Trevor Baxter have always been a joy to listen to ever since Jago and Litefoot first appeared back in 2009 the fact that they are thrown into a totally unusual setting was always going to be one of the selling points of this story and they both put in brilliant performances. Benjamin in particular was good form as Jago seemed to be finding it harder to deal with that Litefoot. Colin Baker is effectively the guest star of this release which is a weird way of looking at it. The Doctor wasn’t here just to get Jago and Litefoot from A to B but was also there to be the Doctor and it’s another top performance from Colin Baker and its almost the end of another good year for this Doctor. The supporting performances were all very solid and no one really put a foot wrong which is always good.

Voyage to Venus is a wonderful adventure. It was what I hoped it would be and now we can say that Jago and Litefoot have travelled in the TARDIS.  This is the third of the special releases that I have listened to and they have all delivered in different ways. The next story sees Jago and Litefoot travel to the new world and hopefully it will live up to the standard that this story has set. On a side note, you can buy this on CD for £5 and on download for £1. Yes I there isn’t much that you could buy for £1 that makes you feel like you have got your moneys worth and for £1 there isn’t really much that you could grumble at.