One of the things I really dislike about the Big Finish audios is the frequency of "get-together" stories. Eager for you to part with your cash, they churn these things out all the time, perhaps worried that fans won't buy straight-forward stand-alone stories. Every other release has to be "an event" - to the point that they are no longer any such thing.
It wouldn't be so bad if there was some logic to the combinations of Doctors / companions, but they give the impression that someone has randomly thrown darts at a list of characters.
On screen, such events happen only on the rarest occasion. The classic era hosted only three stories which featured more than one incarnation of the Doctor. The Three Doctors almost featured Jamie as well, but Frazer Hines couldn't get time off Emmerdale Farm, but did get to have a cameo in The Five Doctors, and then appear properly in The Two Doctors. He's the only companion to feature prominently in a story outwith his regular run in the series.
The Five Doctors was the only story in 26 years to feature both lots of Doctors and lots of companions.
The revived series avoided "get-together" events for a good few years, and its first multi-Doctor story wasn't until 8 years in, when it took the 50th Anniversary to justify it.
Moffat produced only one further multi-Doctor adventure, when David Bradley joined Peter Capaldi for his final story - Twice Upon A Time.
RTD avoided having Doctors meet, other than in the short Time Crash which was produced for Children in Need. A bit of fun for charity, and whilst it fits between Last of the Time Lords and Voyage of the Damned, it doesn't do so seamlessly. We saw the TARDIS leave London, and then the Titanic hits, at the close of Series 4, with no sign of the Fifth Doctor - but Time Crash then gets stuck in this short period when we've already seen that nothing happens... So you can dismiss it from canon if you so desire, or accept as a bit of a temporal hiccup.
Things have been moving up a gear of late, however. Chris Chibnall decided to introduce another Doctor we'd never heard of - one from before the First. Once created, he couldn't get enough of her and went on to use her on three further occasions - The Timeless Children, Flux and Power of the Doctor.
The latter, being another anniversary story (this time for the BBC itself), brought back previous companions Ace and Tegan in significant roles, with cameos from Ian, Jo, Graham and Mel, but also found room to include a number of old Doctors - the First (Bradley again), Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth. These were in the current Doctor's head for the most part, though Davison and McCoy got more to do due to their old companions featuring - portraying holographic projections of the Doctor in their forms.
The episode then concluded with a regeneration with a difference - the new Doctor proving to be identical in appearance (and personality apparently) as a previous incarnation.
This is the incarnation which will lead the next big anniversary - the 60th - which is due in a few week's time. We know of a Fourth Doctor comic strip villain who is to appear, and a Hartnell era TV one, and beyond that we've heard that Mel will be back to accompany the Fifteenth Doctor for a story.
No doubt the Specials will include some other Doctor / companion references or even appearances.
After that, no more anniversaries for a decade, so hopefully the series will settle down and get on with telling good stand-alone stories.
No more gimmicky multi-Doctor, multi-companion episodes for a while, please - we get enough of that nonsense from Big Finish...
Some of us really enjoy the multi-doctor stories.
ReplyDeleteThe issue is their frequency. They're fine so long as they occur only rarely, otherwise there's nothing special about them.
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