The Forsaken

The Forsaken is the second opportunity for us to enjoy Elliot Chapman as Ben Jackson. In the previous story Ben didn’t feature much and that was something that was frustrating there but in this story Chapman is more much involved. The story sees the TARDIS crew land on an island just off the coast of Singapore in 1942 but there is a creepy figure lurking around striking fear into people. In fact the more fear that someone is showing the better for the creature.

The creature of the story is one that consumes fear and can change shape to look like anybody and this leads to some slightly predictable moments of whether people are the real thing or this creature impersonating them. I liked how the creature has decided to steal the gimmick of the grim reaper and that is why he dresses the way he does. The way that it was defeated at the end was quite good. It basically fed of itself which has to be a first in Doctor Who.

Due to the fact that they have cast someone as Ben, it was perhaps inevitable that there would be a story that would feature Ben in the more central role. One of the soldiers in the store is actually his dad. I thought that Elliot Chapman does a good job. I did a terrible thing of reading an opinion of this story about how Frazer Hines didn’t seem to be on usual form because he was doing more in the story. I don’t buy that argument because I thought that Hines does his usual impeccable job of sounding like Patrick Troughton. Anneke Wills is also on good form but there was a moment where she was talked into staying with the Doctor where I thought that this was a bit of a throwback to 60’s Who where the woman would stay behind because she’s a woman. I know that this story was suppose to take place during that period but it is still possible to update it a bit.

Whilst I liked this story, I thought that The Yes Men was slightly better. It was very close but this is still an entertaining story. Justin Richards is a very good writer and written a story that has a great plot and is very atmospheric which is vital in an audio adventure. The second series of The Early Adventures is shaping up to be better than the first and I am hearing good things about the next story in this series so things are looking good for the range.