Manufacturer: AudioGO
Written By: Nigel Robinson
RRP: £10.20 (CD) / £6.79 (Download)
Release Date: 1st January 2013
Reviewed by: Matthew Davis for Doctor Who Online
Review Posted: 11th February 2013
Shoreditch, London, 1963. The Beatles have beaten John Smith and the Common Men to No. 1 and satellites are being launched in outer space. Back down on Earth, strange goings-on are occurring: The normally placid teenagers of Coal Hill are running riot and a master thief is stealing highly specialised equipment. Schoolgirl Susan Foreman just wants an easy life for herself and her grandfather, the mysterious Doctor.
She wants to be liked and accepted by Cedric and all the other pupils at Coal Hill School. But there’s trouble in in the streets and bombsites around Totter’s Lane. The teenagers are becoming dangerous… Their mission: to hunt down anyone different, or alien…
Susan’s quiet life is about to spiral out of control. Having inadvertently started drawing attention to herself she finds herself drawn into a desperate situation. Suddenly, the chase is on and she and her grandfather are now the hunted…
* * *
This year marks the 50th anniversary year of Doctor Who and already the BBC are beginning to get the celebratory merchandise underway. AudioGO have recruited Big Finish to produce Destiny of the Doctor, an eleven part inter-connected series of dramatised readings.
Kicking off things we have a First Doctor adventure, set before he and Susan encountered Ian or Barbara in An Unearthly Child. You think this would be a chance to really explore some of the First Doctor’s distant past before he landed on Earth in 1963, but Hunters of Earth seems to be retreading very familiar ground. We have Susan at Coal Hill School as the mysterious new pupil who knows far too much about science. We even have a teacher who takes an interest in Susan’s odd behaviour, even going so far to follow her home to Totter’s Lane.
For anyone who has seen An Unearthly Child, this will seem too familiar, and considering the conclusion of the story doesn’t really feel logical. Why would The Doctor stay there if he has aroused suspicion only for someone else to follow the exact same path a short time later?
Despite some nice little nods to current Who such as Magpie Electricals, the story seems to tread too much familiar ground and if you know your Quatermass even more so. If there are any linking plot threads with further releases, they are difficult to see here unless you count Susan’s ominous premonition at the conclusion.
You can tell that Big Finish have had a hand in producing this release as it could easily have been a part of their Companion Chronicles range - such is the similarity of the format. There is some excellent music and sound design, including a good narrative performance by Carole Ann Ford and supporting cast member Tam Williams, but it is ultimately the story that lets the whole thing down.
Hunters of Earth is not a bad release, just not a strong one and a slightly disappointing start to the series.
